Big Girl Steps

Yesterday I bought my very first luggage set, ever! I've never in my life actually owned a suitcase. In the traveling I have done, it's always been with backpacks and duffel bags — diaper bags even.

This is major big girl stuff right here!

I'm so proud of this set of suitcases, especially because they are purple! (to match my laptop, of course) They have spinning wheels on the bottom and two-position locking pull bars. The boys love pulling them across the floor and spinning them around. Right now, Keagan enjoys hiding his toys in them and playing with the zippers.

It wasn't until I got them home that I realized they are made by Oleg Cassini. I personally care very little about brand names and fashion so I had to laugh at myself there. I just care about how durable they look and the set was under $100 so the price was right.

I have a set of purple suitcases! (doing the happy Snoopy dance!)

I also got an "Phone Pod Universal Smart Phone Holder" and I LOVE it! I clip it to Keagan's stroller and he is happy and content to play Angry Birds Space and watch Blues Clues on Netflix!

Ok, so now all I need to do is book our flights and arrange for transportation to and from the airport for us all. sigh. I just want to vomit thinking about the air fare and travel stress but I'm excited to see my family and friends in June and July. I can't believe it's been two years since we've traveled back east. How time flies. Now it's time to fly!

The Bird Is Back

Update!

The Blue Bird has been found. One of his classmates discovered it on the floor in the classroom and it appears to have fallen off of his lunchbag.

Lucian is very happy to have his little birdie back!

My Little Bird Is Angry and Blue

Grammy sent Lucian one of these plush blue Angry Birds backpack clips for Easter. He cherished that little thing! He kept it clipped to his lunch bag and I loved it because it helped him to remember his lunch bag! (In case you don't already know, my little boys are obsessed with Angry Birds and I have no place to complain because it's mostly my own fault!

Well, today something awful happened. His little blue bird has gone missing!! We fear one of the kids in his class may have unclipped it from his bag and taken it. We hope that's not the case! We're hoping it might have fallen off his bag and will end up in the Lost and Found. (I've already checked though.)

I felt so bad for him, his little heart broken and wondering where his bird could be and if someone took it, who could have done such a thing to him since he's such a good friend to everyone. There were tears and he needed a hug, but even that didn't take away the pain. I could see how let down he felt. It's only Kindergarten and already he comes home telling me that certain kids are picking on him at school. I've even witnessed a little bit of it too, but it's so hard to tell with kids this age what they are trying to communicate.

Feeling like I had to provide him with a creative outlet for his frustration, I suggested that perhaps he could create a "Missing" poster like people do when they've lost their dog.

And so I present to you his 2-sided flyer that he designed all himself. Let's see if you can "read" what it says.

I think it says, "Do not get it!" which I think means, "don't take my bird" or "don't hold my bird hostage!" I Think it's interesting that not only did he draw the Do Not circle with a line through it, but also depicts the bird inside of a cage. At 5 years old, I'm not to expect him to write his words in order. Right now he just writes out what he thinks and puts the words wherever they fit.

I think this sign says, "I want my bird and I want it new. You get it?" and then it's either "in 10 minutes or else!" or "It's mine." I think maybe the brown line is a slingshot? He also lists his room number and teacher so you know where to return it. Basically he's trying to say, "I want my bird back unharmed. It's mine and I'm mad it was taken from me. Bring it to Miss Izzo's room 10 or else there will be trouble! That part worries me a little so I'm going to ask his teacher before class what she thinks about it since Lucian's idea was to show it around to his classmates. We'll see what Miss I says about it first.

A few weeks ago, Lucian was carrying around a little trinket. It was a little, plastic, heart-shaped pendant on a string necklace with a picture of Cinderella on it. Lots of times he comes home from school with a new bauble he earned from the "Treasure Chest" for good behavior and he always proudly tells me how he's acquired his new prize. This time he didn't say anything so I asked him how he came to have it and he said he found it on the playground. I explained to him that if he found it then that means that some child has lost it and that he really shouldn't keep it.

This went on for a couple of days as he hemmed and hawed about turning it in. Finally, after using empathy to explain to him how some other child might feel having lost their little prized possession, he agreed to turn it in to the lost and found in the front office and that it was the right thing to do.

Now, it has happened to him except we both believe someone has intentionally unclipped it because it occurred during a class field trip to the zoo today. Angry Birds is a pretty popular item at his school and I've seen children with these little things clipped to their backpacks, sometimes in multiples, so I've no doubt that it's a coveted collectors' item right now. It's hard right now to think it just fell off of his bag, but I really hope that's the case and that good Karma will prevail and someone will turn it in.

I Declare Today is Wash Your Entire Living Room Day

I'm having an Easy Care Extra Heavy Gentle Fast Cold Rinse kind of a day.
First I awoke to Lucian exclaiming, "Mommy! Keagan just peed on the floor right there in front of the gate!"

Sure enough, there was a diaper-less little cherub running around the living room, asking for more water for his sippy cup.

I used the last of the carpet cleaner to clean up the mess. Went into the bathroom and stepped in a puddle on the floor. I assume it was also pee.

When did we get a puppy?

Got the kids cleaned up, dressed and off to school to drop off Lucian at Kindergarten. My only saving grace this morning so far was not encountering any asshole morning parent drivers. Ah, but the day is still young and there's always afternoon pick up.

Then I got busy refilling all that needed to be refilled throughout the house while Keagan quietly played in the living room.

Wait. Quietly? Well that's a red flag that something is amiss now isn't it?

And now we come to...

Exhibit A

Evidently, Keagan thinks our carpet needs more flavor so he decided to raid our spice rack and dump sprinkle cinnamon and —I'm gonna guess— Italian seasoning — onto the carpet. And the chairs. And the throws. (I know they're called throws but because you throw them on a piece of furniture, not the floor.)

Exhibit B

Do you see the footprints in the cinnamon?

This is precisely why we have crap furniture covered up with slip covers and decorative throws.

Right now my entire living room is in the washing machine preparing for the rinse cycle.

I have yet to vacuum the floor because I have yet to eat breakfast. It's already 11:30 am — or it's only 11:30 am — the glass is neither half empty or half full around here because it's usually been spilled out onto the floor.

The floor can wait and I need a freakin nap while Dr. Destructo is napping.

Why bother getting mad when I can just get even?

It's Not A Fort It's A Castle

Did you know that you can compose a blog post on your phone using an SMS text?
This is pretty cool the way it's working for me. Of course, it has its limitations like lack of formatting or the ability to add an image (it's not MMS).

Probably the best part is that it's free. Right now I'm composing this post on my iPhone 4S. If Hubby weren't sleeping right now, I could even use Siri to dictate this text.