If I had $100...

McKenna's elementary (which just opened last fall) recently celebrated 100 days of school! Whoo-Hoo! If that ain't a reason to celebrate, I don't know what is. For school they were required to bring 100 of something. Having forgotten about it until the night before, I went all out and sent 100 straws to school with her. Brilliant, I know.

So, apparently they had other exciting "100" activities that day, one of which was making their own little book called - what else - 100! McKenna brought her book home the other day and I'm not sure whether to be amused or concerned. Either way it made me laugh. It also made me wonder if I should seek out help for her...

I know you're all dying to see what she had to say. So let's check out page 1, shall we? But first let me add for my own vanity that this is not McKenna's best show of artistic ability. She was either feeling lazy this day or they didn't have much time to work on them. Ok, I'm done making excuses - page 1:



A NEW FAMILY???
And not just a new family, but a new family she can get for $100 that would also include a sister. Well, that's just great. I'm not sure I can handle the fact that McKenna would rather have a cheap new family that the lame one she has now. *sniff* When I asked her about this, she just giggled and said, "I messed up on that one." Way to make it all better, right?

Whatever, let's move onto page 2.



100 candies...I guess that's pretty normal. I mean, who wouldn't want 100 candies, right? Unless you're a parent that has to keep saying, "If you ask me for ONE more candy, I'm throwing it all in the GARBAGE!!"
My favorite part of this one is the look of sheer horror on her stick figure face at the idea of having 100 brothers. I'm guessing if we have another baby and it's a boy, her life as she knows it will be destroyed. No pressure.

Here's the best one - page 3.



Yes, that does say cil (aka kill) myself; yes, that is a knife in her hand; and yes, that is blood...lots of it.
This is usually the type of picture that is followed up by a concerned phone call from the school counselor. But either the teacher didn't look over these 100 books, or she saw the logic in the picture. As McKenna said when I asked her about it, "I don't want to be alive in 100 years. I'd be so OLD!" So you see, perfectly logical that she would want to brutally kill herself with a knife at the age of 107. Honestly, who wouldn't?

The last one isn't nearly as...uh...entertaining, but is still worth looking at.



Again with the candy. If you're wondering how many times a day I threaten to throw away the kids' candy because they constantly ask for it, I would have to say...100. I can't blame her on the vechubls (vegetables) though. I can't say I'd like to eat 100 of them either.

If you feel the need to leave a recommendation for a good child psychologist - be my guest!

Battle Wounds

Nathaniel is up and moving! Over the last two weeks he has nearly perfected the art of walking (and, might I add, he looks pretty dang cute doing it.) He's also the conqueror of stairs and climbing onto most stationary objects. So really, it's quite disappointing that his first note-worthy injury should come from crawling, something he's been doing for months. His hand slipped while crawling on the tile and he did a spectacular (ok, fine, a really dull and unimpressive) face-plant. He came back up screaming and covered in blood and sporting this fancy new look.



How humiliating! This is where Nathaniel - if he were a little older - would insert some trumped-up story about a bully twice as big as himself and a cheesy line like, "you should see the other guy!"

Nothing shows my motherly love for him more than making him pose for pictures only minutes after the previously mentioned lip bashing, so that our family and friends might have a few minutes of entertainment. On a side note, I hate how pictures never do an ouchie justice. It really looks worse in person...poor guy.

The Doldrums

I have decided that it is now my goal to not have to start each new post out with, "Sorry I haven't been posting lately..." So I'm not going to apologize, as I don't want to break my new goal, and I'm pretty sure no one has been too heartbroken over my inactivity anyway. So instead of apologies, here's my excuse - life is so dull right now. Seriously. I always forget just how much I despise winter once the holidays are past.

We have been up to absolutely nothing the past few weeks. The kids have enjoyed their usual unhealthy amount of television and my camera is covered in an impressive film of dust from lack of use.
Brandon is so busy with work,school, and studying for the abnormal amount of tests he has to take, that I sometimes forget he exists. I probably would forget completely, if not for the aura of stress that sits at the kitchen table reminding me that I have to keep the kids semi-quiet. As for myself, other than "celebrating" a certain birthday I refuse to acknowledge (I'm sorry, I simply can't be 30, it's just not possible), I've just been working, reminding myself that I should probably start exercising again someday, failing miserably at keeping the house clean and cooking nutritional meals, and I've - of course - been reading. I'm afraid I'm not much fun to talk to these days, unless you want to talk books or hear me complain. (I expect my phone will be ringing off the hook with people dying to spend time with me after reading this one!)

Overall, life is good...just dull. Keep checking in! I'm bound to have more tales of fascinating nothingness to share soon!