Month: July 2013

Santa’s Helper

| patmcg

SantaLast night when tucking Claire into bed, she sheepishly told me she had a question.  “I heard from Harper and some other kids that maybe Santa Clause gets help from parents.  Is that true?”  I said with a smile, “That’s a secret, I can’t say a word.”  Claire said, “I knew it!  You do help!  It’s a secret!  That means you do help! ”  Claire was smiling ear to ear and was very excited.

I was a little confused at this point.  Why was she so happy and excited?  Isn’t it sort of a let down if the parents “help”?  Then Claire cleared it up.  She asked, “What is Santa like?  Is he nice?  How exactly do you help him?”

I stuck by my vow of secrecy.  Claire had one last question.  “Who decides if the kids are naughty or nice?  Is that Santa or the parents?”

This coming Christmas may be interesting.

This Week in Laundry

| patmcg

laundryThis week’s laundry tells the story of a tough few days.

  • 1 load for Molly vomiting on clothes, blanket, and lovie
  • 1 load for Molly  post-recovery sanitation
  • 2 loads for Claire vomiting
  • 2 loads for Claire  post-recovery sanitation
  • 1 load to clean the giant dog towel after taking Muffin to the groomer
  • 3 loads for Molly urine accidents on car seat
  • 1 load for Muffin urine “accident” on Claire’s bed
  • 1 load of guest sheets
  • 1 load for Claire spilling fruit punch all over the front of her dress at summer camp
  • 1 load of wet swimming gear from Friday evening swimming
  • 1 load for Molly BM accident on swim suit and on a dress at school
  • Plus 3 loads of normal laundry aside from that mixed in with the above

I will refrain from enumerating all the babysitting checks this week from half-day camps and sick days.

DC for July 4

| patmcg

We took our annual-ish trip to Washington DC to see the girls’ aunt Cindy and uncle Tim.  First a few photos…

 

And a few highlights…

  • After meeting Tim & Cindy for dinner on the first night, once we were back in our rental car, Molly asked, “Who were those people?”
  • We visited the Spy Museum, which was very cool.  Claire was a little freaked out that spies are real and kept asking if they are good guys or bad guys.  The answer: both, but even bad ones leave kids and normal people alone.  Molly liked to push whatever buttons she could find, climb stuff, and watch the James Bond video over and over.
  • Molly was wondering why we sold our car at the Austin airpot, bought a new one at the DC airport, then bought our old one back when we cam back to Austin.
  • We also got to see the Lincoln Memorial, which was Claire’s first choice of sights to see in DC.  She had learned a lot about Lincoln in school and also from talking about history with me and Kit.  Plus, and perhaps most importantly, the Lincoln statue was a featured hero in the movie Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.
  • We also walked by the White House, but the girls were too hot and tired to enjoy it or even really notice it.
  • Over the course of the 2-day, 3-night trip, we also saw our friend Andrea in Silver Spring, Tim’s and Cindy’s friends near Mt. Vernon, and met our other friends at a Whole Foods in DC.
  • We saw the official National Mall fireworks out the car window as we drove home from Mt. Vernon.  What could be more American?
  • At one point, Claire was in tears asking us to slow things down, as she was getting tired of “freaking around”.
  • Molly was wondering if it was “still America” when we got back to Austin.  It did seem like a lot of trouble to go on that airplane for a long flight and still be in the same country, I guess.  We would later decypher the “still America” thing meant the 4th of July holiday.
  • The day after we got home, the girls were tired and grumpy, but at least they saved it for after the trip.