Boys and their legos ... sheesh

Only ok for so long

I have a chronic hair cutter. It's not Evan. This is a problem that can only go on for so long before it's a visible problem...

Best husband ever

After my repeated requests to Chad that we trade places this afternoon, which he has denied by the way, he checked mail to see if my pictures had arrived yet, then he ran home and made me an iced mocha. Best husband ever.

Well, almost. If he'd made me an iced mocha and let me go to the office for the rest of the afternoon, then he'd be the best husband ever.

But he's mighty close, so I'll keep him.

Thank you, Sweetie. The mocha is good. And Laura hasn't seen it yet, so I might actually get all of it for once.

NON-washable washable markers

Friday afternoon was Evan and Kendra's Vacation Bible School carnival. Good time. Perfect weather. Sugary treats. Fun games. Oh, and face painting.

Evan chose to be a dinosaur. Which turned out as a pretty good dragon, especially with his missing teeth.

Laura chose to have a 4 on her cheek "because I'll be 4 on my next birthday". Then she wanted to go again. What did she want that time, you wonder? "I want a 5 since I'll be 5 after I'm 4."
(Yes, I do find her to be irresistible nearly all the time. Thank you for asking.)

Then there was Kendra. Kendra wanted a ladybug. I was picturing a nice, cute little ladybug on her cheek.

Nope. Her whole face was a ladybug. A very, very thoroughly colored ladybug.

I think this would be a good time to add that the "face paint" wasn't really paint at all. It was Crayola Washable Markers. The girls doing it assured me that they were washable and would come right off. In hindsight, I should have thought about that they were high school girls who don't have young children and therefore wouldn't necessarily know that washable markers don't wash off of skin - they soak in.

That being said, we'll go back to the pictures ... with timestamps, just for fun.

They had their faces painted somewhere between 1:25 and 1:50 (1:25 is when Chad left the carnival to head back to the office; 1:50 is when we left.)

This was Kendra at 2:04 when we got home. I quick took pictures then hustled the kids to the bathroom to wash it off before it soaked in any longer.

This is Kendra at 2:18. After 14 minutes of soaking and washing her face. 

This is Laura at 2:37 after she had been mostly de-4'd and de-5'd and had conked out waiting for me to come do whatever she'd asked me to do. I hadn't made it to fulfill her request; I was still trying to de-dragon and de-ladybug the other two kids.

And this is at 3:04. After an entire hour of working on Kendra's face. Yes, an hour. 60 minutes of soaking, washing, calling other moms for ideas on how to get it off, and more soaking and washing. At this point, I gave up. I wiped over her face a couple more times with a wet washrag before bed just in case it wanted to come off. (The remainder of Evan's dragon, which wasn't nearly as full-colored as Kendra's ladybug, wore off in his sleep Saturday night.)

This is Saturday afternoon. 24 hours and a few more washes later. Chad used rubbing alcohol to get the black spots off. That way she just looked burned instead of battered and burned. I'm not sure that was necessarily better. We had a 50th anniversay celebration to go to. She got a few looks. I got more looks. And more than a couple of questions about what happened to her. (Yes, her face matched the salmon color of her shirt. No, I didn't think about it until we were in the van on the way.)

But after two sweaty afternoons playing outside, this was how she looked by Sunday afternoon. She was mostly back to her own coloring and without the waxy look to her skin. All that was left were a couple of spots by her eyebrows that finally came off during Monday's bath.

I'm now back to calling Kendra "Kendra", or "Cutie Rocket" which is what she requested to be called on Saturday, instead of "Ladybug". The kids are all back to their normally colored faces. And I'm no longer cranky about the so non-washable "washable markers" they used.

Now, the question is: Will they use the same markers again next year? And, if so, will my kids listen when I say they can only get a small drawing on a cheek instead of full-face artwork? I'll let you know next year.

Not as much as Daddy

Mommy: I love you, Evan.
Evan: I love you, Mommy ... But not as much as Daddy.
Mommy: Not as much as you love Daddy or not as much as Daddy loves me?
Evan: Not as much as I love Daddy.
Mommy: That's ok. Why do you love Daddy more?
Evan: I do love you. I just love Daddy more.
Mommy: That's ok. Why do you love Daddy more? Is it because he doesn't get crabby as often?
Evan: No, it's because he's a funny duck. And super good at snuggling.
Mommy: Yep, he is both of those things!

Blood

Laura: Did you know Jesus gave his friends blood to drink?
Mommy: The disciples? Yes, but it wasn't actually blood. It was more like grape juice or wine, and it just represented his blood. They didn't actually drink blood.

Good to know she's paying attention. But I am curious what her 3-year-old brain was thinking about Jesus giving blood to his friends to drink.

Is it just our house?

I asked the kids 4 1/2 hours ago to clean up the living room. Since then, Kendra has read the books that she was supposed to put away. Evan has gotten out Legos to build a front-end loader that can scoop the Duplos he was supposed to put away. Laura wandered away from the mess and went downstairs to find a dress-up dress, which then came up to the living room floor they were supposed to be finding.

Is it just my house that works this way?