Cardinals and Bulldogs

Well, I did it! I finally finished my final two assignments and have completed all of my course work for my Master's Degree! I'm elated! I formally graduate on May 9th, although I will not be walking. Then I can say that I'm both a bulldog and a cardinal- a Butler grad and a Ball State grad! Just wanted to share my good news. I want to shout it from the rooftops, but this will do! :)

Hidden Talent

It isn't everyday that you conquer a task that you've been longing to master. Today was that day. No, not for me- for Mairin. I will need to preface a bit for you...

Molly Kate loves television. Yes, I am THAT mom. I indulge my children with a dose of television on a regular basis. Anyway, Molly Kate has a thing for this very strange show called Yo Gabba Gabba. Within the context of the show they do a short segment on hidden talents. Tonight's talent showcased a bizarre man playing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" with his hands only. Mairin, after seeing this crude display of "talent", says, "That is weird."

Now- onto the good part...

Mairin walks into the kitchen, clearly knowing what she wants (as is usually the case with her). She rummages through the utensils until she unearths IT. She shines it a bit, and puts it to her nose. CLANG, it falls to the floor. Again and again, to no avail. Must be the spoon... Three spoons later, still no action. I suggest that we Google "How to stick a spoon to your nose", as I do for every question I cannot answer myself. We did, and of course we found a fine expository piece on this topic accompanied with photos. We followed each step meticulously. Did it work? Well, you can be the judge of that...

Spring Break is a misnomer...

Spring break has come and gone, as it seems to quickly do each year. This year we stayed home to get the house prepped for the big selling... We worked our tails off! Pat painted the bathrooms, the cabinets, changed the hardware, and I decluttered. Having three little kids provides a great deal of clutter. Clutter that I didn't know we had. Clutter that spills from the nooks and crannies of a house. Now we have a house that is cleaner than it's ever been, and I'm wound as tight as ever! We put a sign in the yard on the Friday before Easter, assuming we had time to "finish-up" the things we've still got to finish-up... Guess what! We had TWO showings today (the Thursday after we put that sign in)! Ummm, wait! We're not finished-up!

No worries, though. This house shows really well and I got home in plenty of time to clean. Seeing as we had no flyers or marketing devices at all, I made a quick one at school. Maggie asked, as I was hurrying her to the car, "Why is everyone so stressed-out?" She followed that up with, "Mom, your new name is the Clean Queen." Those who know me can stop laughing now... :)

Sounds like the first family really likes our house. There are always nit-picky things that people say (don't like the half fence, driveway's cracked) that make me want to rebuttle. Selling your house is a touchy thing. They clearly don't know that the half fence keeps the baby in the yard. They didn't get to see Maggie ride her bike around the court for the first time, or Mairin in the Barbie Jeep chasing the neighbor's kids. They've certainly not felt the fear of noticing that Casey's not in the yard anymore, followed quickly by the relief as she comes bounding from across the street. I'm quite sure they couldn't sense the hope and love I felt when I brought our three babies through the door of their "new" home for the first time. Certainly they've not enjoyed the night-lights of the annual Cornhole Classic! There are a lifetime of memories stored here. We just need a bigger house now, one that will hold all of the upcoming memories that life has in store...

Thing a thilly thong...

Yep, Maggie lost the other tooth. Now she's a speech therapist's nightmare! It's really a good thing because I don't know how much longer I could have endured looking at her spindly tooth hanging (literally) in the center of her gummy mouth! It was disgusting! She kept pushing it out and resting it on her bottom lip, like a hillbilly version of herself...

Our friend, Randy, came over tonight to save my husband from our tornado of a house. Randy came early and sat through dinner with us. Maggie grilled him about his family's visit to the zoo yesterday. As she did he caught a glimpse of what we've been referring to as her "Nanny McPhee". He mentioned that he's quite the tooth puller, and I suggested that he give it a try (bribing Maggie with computer time if he got it out). Sure enough, without even a whimper, Randy yanked that tooth right out! She looks so cute I can hardly stand it... Thank you, Randy!

However, with every tooth pulling comes a loss of money. Somehow, teeth have gone up in value at the McAndrews home and Maggie received $5 for her other front tooth. Having $5 in her pocket is like a giving AIG a bailout... she can't spend it fast enough. So, I convinced Mags that she ought to save her cash and combine it with what was sure to be an equal amount when she lost the second tooth. She did, and insisted that when the second tooth came out she was getting a fish. Guess what I'm doing tomorrow...

April Fool

That's me...
This morning, much like every other morning, I got up a bit late, opted out of showering, got myself "ready" and then turned on the hall light to warn the girls of their impending wake-up. Mairin was ready to face the day. She jumped up and immediately asked if I'd curl her hair today (yes, I love that). Maggie however, well, she is like me. She's looking to get up a bit late everyday. Unfortunately, her late coincides with mine, making me later and grumpier. While I was curling Mairin's hair I asked Pat to get Mags going. He comes running breathlessly back into the room to tell me that Maggie has thrown-up in her bed (again)... UGH! It's my day to call in... Not cool... I head in there with my sympathetic mom face on to be greeted by a smile filled with loose, crooked teeth and a little girl giggling furiously. "Gotcha, Mommy! April Fools!" Good one...

On the way home with Molly I called to see how the girls' days were. Mags told me she marked her star card (behavior sheet) for being bad in class (definite grounds for punishment). I asked why, and she giggled that giggle and yelled, "APRIL FOOLS!" into my ear! Not again! Then she told me that she lost her tooth (that crooked, loose one mentioned earlier). I didn't believe that one. "Sure, nice try..." Turns out, she really did. Now she only has one front tooth hanging on by a thread. I told her that the tooth fairy pays double if a kid loses both front teeth in the same day because she only has to make one trip. Too bad, though, I couldn't get it. Heck, maybe I'll leave her a note from the tooth fairy- "Sorry Kid, I'm broke! APRIL FOOLS!"