Saturday, January 30, 2010

Emily the librarian 

Misty's mom reads a whole lot, but she doesn't drive, so it's not unusual for her to ask us to pick out a few books for her whenever we're headed to the library. Her favorites are mysteries, so typically I'll just grab a few random books from that section. It's hard to know what to get for her because I don't know what she's read before, but she's not picky -- she'll read just about anything.

It surprised me though, when a few days ago she said to me, "Matt, that book that Emily picked out was the smuttiest thing I've read in years."

I didn't even realize that Misty had let Emily pick out a book for her grandmother, but the result turned out to be pretty funny, so you can bet that now we're going to let her do it every time.

Today when we set Emily loose at the library to select books for Misty's mom, she came back with this...
'My Life Outside the Ring' by Hulk Hogan

And this...
'And Mistress Makes Three' by Francis Ray
(chosen because it had a "yucky bellybutton" on the cover)

And this...
'The Pirates! In an Adventure with Napoleon' by Gideon Defoe

She also briefly considered a book about "Gossip Girl," but decided against it based on the following reasoning...

Emily: "Mom, can Gossip Girl fly?"

Misty: "No."

Emily: "Oh. Mimi wouldn't want this one then."

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Kendall's musical ambitions 

While some friends were over for dinner last night, Kendall entertained us with a musical performance.



Obviously, Emily isn't the only No Doubt fan Misty has helped create.

Also, yes, Kendall does have other clothes. She just prefers to substitute a princess costume at every opportunity.

Sunday, January 03, 2010

Why parents shouldn't sleep in 


Kendall's "donut"
Originally uploaded by MCuthbert
Misty and I made the mistake of sleeping in this morning. It wasn't a mistake in the sense of missing our alarm, but rather a poor decision we made by deciding to stay in bed under the warm covers. When you do that, you never know what your kids are up to.

We knew they were awake -- we could hear them downstairs, but we figured they'd come get us when they needed us. Bad assumption.

When I heard them rummaging around in the kitchen, I dragged myself out of bed to investigate. When I peeked in, both of our girls were dressed in their princess costumes. The were standing on stools at the kitchen counter and had out a loaf of bread, from which they were cutting shapes with cookie cutters and eating.


Emily's fancy breakfast
Originally uploaded by MCuthbert
"It's a little messy," I thought, "but not too bad -- and at least they're eating what they get out." I decided to let them have their fun, and went back upstairs.

A little while later, when Misty and I finally resigned to leave the comfort of our blankets and quilts, we discovered that Emily and Kendall had moved on to a more advanced cooking project.

They'd gotten out some dinner rolls, sprayed them with colored cake spray, and covered them with sprinkles. Emily had also gotten out one of the "fancy" glasses and poured herself some apple juice. "Look, Mom and Dad!," Emily said proudly. "We made donuts!"

They looked like the least appetizing donuts I'd ever seen, but the girls were so pleased with themselves. I was not surprised when, after a few bites, they were "full."

Friday, January 01, 2010

New Year's hoopla 


Trust me -- these things weren't nearly as annoying as the clackers, originally uploaded by MCuthbert.

Misty had the bright idea to let the girls stay up late for New Year's Eve last night. We all camped out on the floor of the living room and watched the celebrations on TV. It was fun, but Emily zonked out around 10 p.m. Kendall made it until 11:20, so she saw the Times Square ball drop, and as far as she was concerned, that meant she'd made it until midnight.

The one thing that threatened to derail the evening into chaos was the fact that Misty's mom bought the girls noisemakers. The paper tweeters that unfurl as you blow them weren't too bad, but the clackers were another story. Oh, the clackers! I need to find a way to repay Misty's mother for her "kindness." Maybe I'll give the girls air horns the next time they're spending the night with her.