Too Tired For Titles

My house is a disaster and all I want to do is cuddle with my little people today. November tomorrow? Say it isn't so.

Julie is very excited about her school dance today. Sam? Not so much. Jordan has been practicing her Trick or Treat-ing skills all morning. Sam is going out door-to-door with a group of his friends tonight, the first time without us. I pity the mom that volunteered to take that herd out on her own!

Ian still needs his rest from his operation on Friday so he will stay at my mom's with Matt while I take the girls out on my own tonight. I'm a little sad that we won't all be together this year, but it is what it is. Sam is older now and it's very likely that this is his last year going out. Why not be with his friends? And Matthew doesn't know what Halloween is, so he isn't missing out on anything. As I'm learning to let go of my need to be in control of every little detail, I'm embracing the it is what it is mentality. Tonight will be different, but it will be good.

Sam made his own costume this year. He's going out as a MineCraft character. If I was a cooler mom, I would know exactly what that meant and be able to tell you more about it. But I'm not, so I can't. Julie is going as Little Red Riding Hood and Jordan is Minnie Mouse. We aren't dressing Matt up this year.

On my way home from driving the children to school I turned on the radio. All four of my favourite stations were playing Michael Jackson's Thriller. Awesome.

I was reminded on Saturday that it was one year to the day that I learned I was pregnant with Matthew. I remember feeling a bunch of emotions all at once: shock and fear the biggest. I wore that shock and fear for the first few months before I finally settled down and accepted the reality. I didn't know how we would manage raising four children, or even afford four children. But I accepted it.

And now, a year later, I wonder how we managed without him. God's plans are always so much better and bigger than our own, aren't they? He knows what we need, and what we long for. Things we can't even imagine. He's a pretty cool guy. I feel like I'm getting to know Him in a way I never have before.

The house across the street that I've been spying on for some time is all quiet now. All the painting and cleaning and shovelling that I saw going on in here has all finished up. And as I spy out of my window right now, I see the For Sale sign going in the lawn. I have been praying for a nice family to move in. A friend for Sam maybe. Or maybe one for me.

Jordan has been making huge strides with her potty training. She has been initiating trips to the bathroom on her own and been dry for a few days in a row. She's even woken up dry in the mornings! She's been longing for pretty underwear so I think today might be the day to take her out to buy some. In my desperation to get her trained I promised her Mickey Mouse underwear. I've never seen Mickey Mouse underwear so I have no idea how I'm going to deliver on that one. Disney store maybe? Ka-ching, Kate.

Three more sleeps until I leave for the Women of Faith conference in Rochester! So excited! I still have some gift cards left over from Christmas, so I think I might use them up and buy something to take with me to wear. Perhaps a pair of pants that don't fall down every four steps because I get tired of hitching up my drawers all the time. I've been stressing about the financial aspect of this trip, but the other day Ian's agent called to offer him a magic show that will pay pretty much the same as what my trip will cost. Crazy!

Ok, that's all the time I have for now. Lots to get done before we go to my Mom's tonight.

Happy Halloween!

Counting Mine {31-45}

When I first decided to start counting my gifts they came easily to me. I found that I was carrying paper and a pen with me wherever I went because they'd come so quickly.

Now that I'm nearing 200 I find I'm slowing down somewhat. Not for a lack of gifts, but instead of sitting and thinking about them, I'm living more in the moment and slowing down and seeing them. Noticing them. Feeling them.

This past week I've had some really great moments of clarity in terms of my relationship with God. I have issues with control, and I can't give the control up to God. Bottom line, I just don't know how to. I have this deep need to be in control of absolutely everything and I don't know how to let go and get out of His way. But this past week, I realized that the more I try to stay in control of things, the less control I have. I've made a mess of so many things and having my eyes opened to something as basic as this was new for me.

And so it has started. A whispered prayer to the One who knows me the best. I can't do it, Father. I can't do it. I need you. I give it to you. And as I opened my hands to let go, He has filled them with this new sense of peace.

This week we received another blow. And while I still allowed myself a few tears in the shower, I still felt that feeling of all is well. I didn't rail at Him as I have done in the past. I just let myself cry and feel His comfort.

He knows. He knows.

None of what I'm feeling or struggling with is a surprise to Him. He knows it all.

This season that we're in is scary and it sucks. But it's also precious. This time that Ian and I have had together, and with our children, has been precious. It has had purpose. God has provided. He has a plan. I have no idea what it is, and frankly I wish He'd hurry up, but He has a plan.

When I think of the struggles that we have faced this year, are currently facing and those that are still coming fast, I wonder if God isn't stripping everything away from us so that when He does show up, it will be crystal clear that it is all because of Him and the glory will all be His.

As hard as things are...don't I want that? Don't I want people to see God's glory in our lives? To change our circumstances so that people will see that it's all from Him? To show people that no matter what things look like, He is always at work in us and around us?

I do. It's hard, but oh yeah...I want that. I want Him to be glorified in this. I want people to see who He is, and what He does, and how He loves.

Oh how He loves.

The gifts that I've been counting, the ways that He blesses me every single day when I stop to look for them.

I'm finally, finally getting it. He loves me.

Me.

31} sunlight on my face
32} knowing I've done something to make Ian happy
33} my mother's voice
34} feeling my child's hand in mine
35} napping with Jordan and feeling her warm body snuggled up to mine
36} sand underneath my feet
37} making someone laugh
38} a fresh nightgown, straight from the dryer
39} smiling
40} all the windows in my home, letting the sunlight fill each room
41} retreating to a quiet room in my house and having one of the children seek me out for a hug
42} family movie nights
43} my mom's egg salad sandwiches
44} an unopened box of kleenex
45} cool pillows

If you are counting your own blessings and blogging about them, will you leave me a comment with the link to your blog, or share them with me at katieb38@hotmail.com? I'd love to know how you are being blessed through this journey!

Counting Mine {1-15}
Counting Mine {16-30}

5QF ~ October 28

Happy Friday peeps!

This week seemed to be busier than usual. A few highs and a few lows, but overall a pretty good week.

The highlight of my week was Wednesday evening when I met up with my dear friend Linda for dinner. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was to see her. I've been pulling away from people a lot this year and it felt so good to reconnect with her again.

Dinner was delicious and the company even better. What a lovely, soul nourishing evening.

Tonight we headed out in search of a pumpkin farm once the big kids finished their homework. We ended up at a farm we've been to before that has horrible, horrible customer service...but hundreds of pumpkins.

Watching my children search out the best pumpkin is something I never get tired of watching. Julie picked ours this year and Ian will help them carve it on Sunday or Monday after school.

Today will be a busy one as Ian is having surgery this afternoon, so I have to get my Littles packed up and over to my Mama's for most of the day. But the weekend will be a slow and quiet one with just the six of us while Ian rests and gets waited on and spoiled. :-)

So, let's get this Five Question Friday show on the road!

1. Do you prefer cotton, silk, or flannel sheets?

I like cotton the best, and I love it when the sheets are cool. In the winter time ou bedroom is always so cold by the time I go to bed, and I love how the sheets are always cool. LOVE IT. I hate feeling hot when I sleep. Sometimes I whip off my blankets and turn the fan on full blast and just lay there. Meanwhile, Ian is wrapped up like some kind of Burrito Boy.

So that said, flannel sheets are out. We have them but I'm always so hot that I don't ever want them on our bed.

And satin sheets... oh mercy. We have those too. Nothing like sliding right off the bed onto the floor, which may or may not have happened to me. Once or twice. I'm not telling.

2. What time zone are you in?

I actually had to google this one. Eastern Standard Time.

3. What is your favorite part of the holiday season?

I love time with family, our family traditions, and all the great food.

4. What is your favorite "wintry" drink? (It doesn't have to be an "alcoholic" drink!)

I don't really have one. I like hot chocolate but really I'm most happy with a cup of tea. I don't like egg nog. That stuff is just nasty. Barf in a carton I always say.

5. In your opinion, what is the worst job in the world?

Oh I can think of a lot of them.

Trash collector. The people that clean up after crime scenes. The military personnel that travel to soldiers' homes to tell their families that they died in combat. Anything that deals with blood or guts.

Ok that's that.

Did you notice the sidebar photos I added of the children? I love them. The photos and the people in them ;-)

Have a great day everyone!



Head on over to Mama M's blog My Little Life to join in on the fun!

Just Some Stuff

You know that warm feeling of contentment that just wraps itself around you all out of the blue? I had a moment like that today.

The sink was filled with breakfast dishes. Willow was barking and charging the window at his neighbour dog friend walking past. The phone was ringing. Jordan was singing at the top of her lungs. Matthew was crying in his jumperoo, wanting to be picked up. And I was in the bathroom, plunging up the pieces of a pull-up diaper that Jordan had tried to flush.

And there it was. So unexpected. This warm feeling of all is well. Our circumstances have not changed, things are still as difficult as they have been. Yet out of the blue, while plunging away like my toilet's life depended on it... was this sense of everything is going to be ok. And even now, hours later, I still feel it.

I've been longing to feel an ounce of that for so long now and today I got it.

Thanks God :-)

Last night I cooked chicken in our toaster oven. Did you know you could use a toaster oven to cook chicken? Well I didn't. I mean I do understand the OVEN part of toaster OVEN. I felt like I was MacGyver last night. Like I invented fire or something equally as awesome.

Today has been a very low-key day. It's cold and rainy and I feel the dampness in my bones. the Littles and I just hung out and cuddled lots today. Jordan has been playing "doggie" for the last hour and she barks more than my real life dog does.

Remember when I told you about the house across the street with all the garbage that I posted a picture of? Well...there's been a lot of activity going on over there these last few days. They were shovelling something in there on Sunday. Shovelling! Then they ripped up all sorts of carpet. Today a couple of guys were painting and wearing what looked like hazmat suits. I am dying to know what the inside of that house looked like for them to have left so suddenly.

I think I just bumped myself up a notch on the Nosy Scale.

On Sunday, we all headed out to a lovely park for a picnic and to take some more family photos. It was a gorgeous day and I enjoyed being with Ian and the children so much. I felt like we really soaked up the day and I loved that. Several times I felt like I would cry because I was so happy. Moments. Beautiful moments.

I'll be posting some of our pictures soon. I've posted before about my older children's rights to privacy and safety, and they've both given their permission for me to post a picture of them in my sidebar. They even chose which photo themselves. I'm excited to show them to you.

Awhile ago we got Netflix. At first I was in love with it, then I forgot about it. Ian told me that it now had a whole bunch of new stuff added but I didn't really care. But then...THEN he told me it had 100+ episodes of the original 90210!

!!!

I watched the original episode then went snooping and saw that they had Season 4 episodes of the NEW 90210 so I watched one of those. OH MAH WORD. Just when I thought it couldn't get more exciting, Ian told me I can get Netflix ON MY PHONE!!!

Between toaster oven cooked chicken and 90210 on Netflix, I'm not sure I could handle much more excitement this week.

That's it for now. Over and out.

Counting Mine {16-30}

I wish I could find the perfect words to use to tell you how my heart is changing.

Slowly but surely... it is softening.

The more gifts I count, the more peace I feel.

They come to me constantly and unexpectedly.

Some make me laugh out loud.

I love it.

And He loves me.

16} freshly polished nails
17} singing my favourite worship songs in church
18} the feel of Bible pages
19} getting lost in a good book
20} the colour orange
21} laughter around the dinner table
22} freshly bathed children
23} watching my daughters dance with their daddy
24} cracking an egg into a bowl and not getting any shells in it
25} a nap on a Sunday afternoon
26} warm, soapy dishwater
27} forgiveness
28} suddenly remembering what my father's voice sounded like
29} a full cookie jar
30} catching all green lights when I'm in a hurry

If you are counting your own blessings and blogging about them, will you leave me a comment with the link to your blog, or share them with me at katieb38@hotmail.com? I'd love to know how you are being blessed through this journey!

Counting Mine {1-15}

5QF ~ October 21

This week has gone past so quickly and I seem to have accomplished very little. It's been cold and rainy and that has affected my mood and energy levels incredibly. Even with the naps I've been having this week, I still can't boost up my energy. I hope I'm not getting sick.

Today will be all about getting caught up on the housework and laundry that has fallen behind. I want to be able to go into the weekend with a clean house.

Being that it's Friday, it's time for some Five Question Friday hosted by the beautiful and funny Mama M over at My Little Life.

Chip chop... let's get to it.

1. Where do you escape to when you've had enough?

The bathroom. Seriously, it's the only place I can go for privacy.

Sometimes I get little fingers pulling on the bottom of the door while hearing "what doin', Mommy? What you doin' in der?" But not often.

I'll tell you a secret...sometimes I'm not even doing my business in there. I'm just sitting on the edge of the bathtub and reading a book. Sometimes I just close the toilet lid and sit there and pray.

Shh. Don't tell anyone or I'll have to find a new hiding spot that's legitimate.

2. What shows are you watching this fall?

Dancing With The Stars, Greys Anatomy, Desperate Housewives and a new one, Revenge. Oh mercy do I love that one. Drama, drama, drama!

If you watch Revenge too then you have to let me know because I'm dying to discuss it with someone.

3. What was the longest road trip you've ever taken and where did you go?

I've driven to Florida many times, so that would be the longest. My Mama and I would take one route down there and spread it over three days so we could shop all the way down there and all the way back.

When Ian and I drove there with the children we did it in just two days because we took a different route and he wouldn't let me stop to shop. Anywhere.

4. Do you plan on taking your kids to Disney World?

We took Sam and Julie to Disney in 2005 and then again in 2007. I'm glad we got to go back since I cried the entire time the first trip because I was so excited.

I'm hoping to be able to go back in a year or two so that Jordan and Matthew can enjoy it as well. Jordan especially because I've never known anyone to love Mickey Mouse quite like she does.

5. What is something people would surprised to know about you?

I think most people would be surprised to know how shy I am. I'm actually very shy. Small talk just about kills me, and then I end up rambling and saying all sorts of really dumb rambly stuff, which has me cringing for days afterward.

Ok, that's a wrap! I hope you have a wonderful Friday!

Head on over to Mama M's blog My Little Life to join in on the fun!

Things Kids Do That I Don't Understand ~ Take Six

Why can't they do this when it's the crappy toilet paper? Why must they do this to the good stuff??

I have no words.

I'm Really Going!

It's been a very exciting week for me, mail-wise.

On Monday my tickets arrived for the Women of Faith event in Rochester, NY next month!

I thought I was already excited about going.

And then I saw the seats.

FLOOR SEATS!

Now I'm really excited about going!

And then, just when I thought nothing could top my excitement... this arrived on Tuesday.



My picture is horrible but ohmygosh I have a passport!

I feel like fleeing the country! Oh, wait a minute... I will be next month. :-)

So it looks like I'm really going.

At the beginning of this year I prayed that God would open up a way for me to get to this event, knowing that it wasn't in the budget. And then this opportunity came along. Amazing.

Can it get better? YES. Because this morning I opened my email and had received a comment from a lovely woman who wanted to know if I had any plans to meet up with any of my readers while I'm in Rochester. WOW. I'd never even thought of that! Great idea, Cassandra :-)

So, if you will be attending the Women of Faith event in Rochester, let me know and maybe we can arrange to meet up!

No Sales For Me Thanks

While shopping at Walmart yesterday I came across a display of Dr. Seuss books.

And then I saw the sale price.



Yikes.

Couldn't they have made the price $6.67? Or $6.65?

There's just something so strange about seeing this particular number together with a display of children's books.

Creepy.

But maybe that's just me!

Counting Mine {1 ~ 15}

Recently I've been reading one thousand gifts by Ann Voskamp. She writes about a dare given to her by a friend: to count one thousand things she loves.

Her gifts from God.

And by doing so, she learns what true joy is. She reaches a level of intimacy with the Lord and she is able to let go, to trust Him. To see Him in each moment, to live each moment fully for what it is. To be thankful for everything and to see that all that is given to her has been lovingly given by the Lord.

That thankfulness always precedes the miracle.

I want this joy. This level of intimacy. The trust. I need it.

I want to feel close to the Lord and to be thankful for what he has given me. To draw close to him and know in my heart that he loves me. I have head knowledge, but I need heart knowledge too.

Even more, maybe.

So this morning I decided to start my own gratitude journal. I planned to just list ten to see what I came up with, but before I knew it I had 79.

I am humbled.

And there are more. Many more.

So, I decided to post my one thousand gifts as I go on this journey. Not so much for everyone to read them, but for me to have a place to store them.

And so I will begin.

1} being a mother
2} a cup of tea in my favourite mug
3} listening to worship music in the kitchen and hearing Julie singing along in the next room
4} my mother's hands
5} swinging ponytails
6} looking across the room at my husband and seeing that he was already looking at me. And then... he winks
7} the hum of the dishwasher in the late evening
8} rain against the windows
9} checking the time and seeing that it's 3:16, a reminder of John 3:16
10} a joke that makes me laugh for days
11} watching baptisms - death of old life, beginning of new
12} promises kept
13} meeting new friends in unexpected places
14} the quiet that settles after the children have all been put to bed
15} being the first to use a brand new jar of peanut butter

Each Sunday I will share more of my list with you. If you feel prompted to start your own list, or you are already compiling your own...will you let me know? It would be such a blessing to know that others are on this journey to thankfulness and joy as well.

Have a great Sunday and start counting ;-)

Other People's Garbage

I have a number of weird interests. If you've been reading my blog for awhile now then you've likely picked up on some of them. But one of my weirder interests is in other people's garbage.

Please don't misunderstand me... I am not a garbage rooter. I don't look through people's garbage, I just look at it.

Say I'm walking Willow for instance. I might walk slower to make a mental note of people's recycling. I may not know many of my neighbours but I know the ones that have babies, who eats a lot of pizza and who has a major pop addiction.

I have, on occasion, rather excitedly told Ian something along the lines of "You should see all the garbage the house on the corner put out!! Go by and look!"

Wow. I don't know what scores higher on the Lame Scale...the fact that I do this, or the fact that I'm actually telling you I do it.

No matter. We're all friends here.

So, in light of this weird interest, imagine my joy when I saw this:



This is my neighbour's house across the street. They started putting furniture items out on the curb on Sunday morning. I saw a bench that would fit perfectly in my front hall for the children to sit on while putting on their shoes, so I sent Sam over to ask if we could take it. The dude was so excited that it was going to "a good home" as he put it. We ended up with two of them. One is sitting on my front porch and one is in the front hall. We also scored a low coffee table that we've put in the playroom so Jordan can sit at it while she colours and does her crafts.

What is in the picture is what's left after various people came by and picked through it. Now the house is empty and there's a realtor's locked box on the door.

Sigh.

There you have it. I love checking out other people's garbage.

Please come back to this blog of mine... I'm not totally crazy...

Weekend Wrap Up

I love long weekends just as much as the next guy but do they ever mess me up. It feels like Sunday night, but really it's Monday night... so I feel like I'm already running behind. Am I the only one that feels like this??

I'm kind of glad the weekend is over to be honest. I love Thanksgiving but it just didn't feel the way I'd hoped. Saturday was dinner at Ian's parents' house and last night we had a delicious turkey dinner at my lovely Mama's house and my belly was happy. I love turkey and Mama knows it.

In the midst of my Eeyore-like state, I am thankful for many things. For a husband who loves me (even when I'm at my most unlovable), and four beautiful, happy and healthy children.

This afternoon we all headed up to the conservation area for our fall pictures. I'm never happy with pictures of myself but Ian said once he's done with them I will be.

Today my sweet blog friend Jennifer from The Days of a SAHM captured a screen print of my 20,000th tweet. While I'm impressed that she caught it...I am somewhat embarrassed that I tweet so much. Meh. Some things need to be said. In 140 characters or less. Donchaknow.



In case you were wondering what earth shattering tidbit of news I felt I needed to share in 140 characters or less, I said Potty training is sucking the life out of me. Why does it have to be so hard?

Yes, tweet number 20,000 was a complaint. Nice.

But it's true...potty training IS sucking the life out of me. It's coming along slowly but surely. I'm a briber. I'll find out what she wants the most and I'll dangle that carrot in front of her until she gets moving. She desperately wants pretty underwear, so that's the carrot. She'll use the potty but she doesn't like the interruption of the whole thing. But...she can't go to Sunday school until she's fully trained and that makes her sad. We'll get there. She's a smart girl.

I'm starting to wonder if I'm going to make it to the Women of Faith conference next month. I've got my hotel booked, passport photos taken and the application on the counter to fill out. I think I know who I will ask to be my guarantor and then it's just the 11 hour wait in the passport office to submit it. But I'm concerned about the financial aspect of it all, if my beloved van will make the 9 hour round trip and will my passport be ready in time.

But... I did pray at the beginning of the year that God would make a way for me to attend this conference, and He did. I need to trust that all the details will fall together. But it's hard. We're hoping for good news this week and that's all I'll say about that at this point.

That's about it. I'm exhausted and tomorrow will be a busy catch up day.

Bye for now :-D

Proud Of My Boy

It's Thanksgiving weekend and I'm just not feelin' it this year. It's my favourite time of the year and I'm just not into it.

I am emotionally and physically sick from stress and it sucks.

Meh. Life goes on.

Sam really impressed me this week. His friend *C* lost his dad suddenly on Monday and Sam asked to go to the viewing to pay his respects to the family. He came home from school and changed into something more appropriate and we headed over. I was prepared to go in with him as he'd never been inside a funeral home before, not to mention ever seen a casket, but he said no, he'd be fine. We went over a few things and he left me in the car.

An hour and fifteen minutes later I went in to check on him to make sure he was ok. There he was, sitting with *C* and a group of their friends, right up near the casket. He was ready to go but didn't know how to break away.

I was so proud of him for doing that, and for doing it all on his own. He said he felt good about going.

How fast they grow.

Well, I'd better run. It's 2pm and I'm still in my jammies. I need to shower, do my hair and get Matthew bathed and dressed so we can head out.

Hope you're enjoying your Saturday :-)

5QF - October 7

I was too lazy to type my 5 Question Friday today so I got the bright idea to vlog instead.

Jordan decided she wanted to vlog as well.

It's noisy. It's distracted. It's my life.

It's the first and last time I vlog with my Littles.

You have been warned.



Have a beautiful day!

Head on over to Mama M's blog My Little Life to join in on the fun!

Oh My Ears

Do you know what this is?



I'll tell you exactly what it is.

At the moment, it's the bane of my existence.

Julie's lovely teacher has decided that they must learn this annoying little instrument. And they must learn it now.

I remember having to learn it in middle school and I hated every second of it. I never did learn how to play Three Blind Mice like my classmates did, thus setting the stage for a life filled with musical failure. I gave up trying to learn it and just moved my fingers and made a blowing face whenever my teacher looked in my direction.

The sound. Oh the sound...

It makes my ears bleed.

I want to break it in half and stab my ears with it.

I don't care how talented you are on a recorder - and I have yet to meet anyone who is - it does not sound pleasant. No one has ever said "Oh my! Now that man just sounds just lovely on that recorder!" No one. No where.

I prefer fingernails on a chalkboard, or children's whining to this sound.

I hate it even more than the sound of bagpipes. And I really, really, really, hate bagpipes.

I made my mom and Ian promise not to play bagpipes at my funeral. I need to add a No Recorder Either clause in my will as well, I think.

Pray for me. Pray for my ears. But most of all, pray that this music unit ends soon so I can bury this annoying little noisemaker in someone else's backyard.

Amen.

Applique T-Shirts

Ian gave me the best gift EVER this weekend.

Time for myself.

And how did I choose to spend that time?

Sewing!

I am still very much a beginner and learning as I go along. I tend to stick to easy projects that I can finish before frustration sets in, and even though they may not be perfect, I enjoy the feeling of having created something.

I tried my hand at appliqueing t-shirts some time ago. Simple letters on shirts. I put them on the Littles and no one laughed at me, so I figured maybe they weren't so awful.

After seeing all different types of applique work online I figured I was ready to try my hand at it again.

One popular idea is to applique a tie on a t-shirt for a little boy. Ian created the template for me and this is how it turned out.



I thought it was adorable and dressed Matthew in it for church the next day.



Jordan loves Mickey and Minnie Mouse. She loves them. Every day we have to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse about three times.

I wanted to try making something Minnie themed for Jordan, so again I called on my wonderful Ian to create a template and size it for me. This is the end result.



*sorry for the blurry shot - Jordan was in motion when I took it *

And here she is with hers on just after church.



It's an easy and inexpensive sewing project to do that turns out pretty cute.

Cost To Make: Approximately $10-$15
Time To Make: 1 1/2 hours

Things Kids Do That I Don't Understand ~ Take Five

Things have been pretty quiet on the Things Kids Do That I Don't Understand front.

Well, until Thursday that is.

When Julie came home from school and came upstairs to say hello, I noticed that she still had her shoes on. She knows my rule about no shoes in the house and before I could open my mouth she spoke.

"I know what you're going to say, Mom. And I'm sorry I still have my shoe on in the house."

I looked down and sure enough she only had one shoe on.

Before I could ask my question she spoke again.

"The reason why I still have my shoe on is because I can't get it off. See?"



"I guess you're wondering how this happened, huh." she asked.

I raised my eyebrow and nodded yes.

She said that she was pulling her jeans on after gym and didn't feel like taking her shoes off first. One pant leg worked fine, but the other got stuck.

"You tried to pull your skinny jeans on over those huge clunky shoes?" I asked.

She nodded and told me that she tried to fix it all afternoon but she couldn't get the leg over the shoe, nor could she take the shoe off at this point.

"I figured you would help me when I got home." she said, shrugging.

I tried and tried to pull her jeans and shoe off but they wouldn't budge. Even with me bracing my foot against her butt, I still couldn't pull it off. All I was doing was yanking with all my strength while she laughed her head off.

Finally Ian came in, grabbed her leg and pulled the jeans and shoe off.

We made her promise not to do this again.

And that's Take Five of Things Kids Do That I Don't Understand.