seven little things.

1. Things are wild around here. Everyone has a cold of some sort, Chris is crazy busy until Christmas break, and I'm trying to get some sort of handle on Christmas. Today shopping for aunts and uncles turned into an emotional breakdown over a Barbie Dreamhouse (What?! You don't even like Barbies!), so hopefully everyone ends up with a present. Or we'll shop when we get to Idaho, and my only store options are Walmart and JC Penney (I heart you, Pocatello. Never change.) The good news is John can once again breath through his nose and Q's bright red chapped nose seems to have been magically healed by Vaseline. And Chris completed a major presentation today without going into a coughing fit, a major win considering all the coughing the poor guy has been doing.

2. We are working toward full potty independence with Carly. The girl is so dang smart, she picked up on how much faster and easier it is when I wipe her, so she has been making me help her every single time. Trying to break that habit because she is fully capable of doing it herself. She has a chart she has to fill with stickers, and then she gets the Dora watch that she salivates over every time we go to Target. Well, yesterday she was going potty "all by myself!" and all the sudden she is screaming. Like, intense screaming. I run in there and she had, I kid you not, fallen in the toilet. She was expecting her Cars seat to be there, but it wasn't, so she didn't brace herself and fell right in. Oh, dear, it took everything I had not to laugh in her face because she was totally traumatized. Luckily, there were no lasting effects.

3. This morning I was singing "Deck the Halls" and every time after the "fa lalalala" part, Quinn would sing "la la la la." Like, for reals. She had never really made that sound before, but I would sing it, and she would right after me. I die.

4. You should probably know I'm hard-core addicted to Vampire Diaries. Chris says I'm channeling my inner 16-year-old. Unfortunately, that 16-year-old is not nearly as inner as I thought. Is it ok to want a cardboard cutout of Stefan Salvatore for Christmas? I'd only use it to scare off bad guys, of course. But really, whenever I see someone outside in the dark I kind of expect them to attack me or vanish into thin air. So far neither has happened. I will keep you posted. But for the record, Chris told me to watch a show he wouldn't like so he wouldn't get distracted, so I chose Vampire Diaries and he approved. But every once in a while he will sit and watch an episode with me, and I dare say he seems a bit interested, even if it is purely looking for an excuse to escape schoolwork for a bit.

5. Today at the thrift store Carly found a magnifying glass that was still in its package. She called it "a spyglass!" and I knew she had to have it. All day she carried it around, looking at things through it. She got a million comments at Target because she seriously looked amazingly unique in her crazy self-picked outfit, studying marks in the tile with a magnifying glass. She is the coolest.

6. PS. I'm becoming a thrift addict. I've been getting Gap, Carters, Children's Place, OshKosh and Old Navy clothes in perfect condition. And I found some awesome Calvin Klein jeans for me for $5. Some people think its gross, I know, but that is what washing machines are for, right? Everything we had for Carly was brand new, and I'm realizing kids just go through too many clothes and get them too dirty to buy everything new. At least in the phase of life we are in, having three kids and a single student income. Of course, I also found John a few $3 sweaters at Target, and found $6 sweaters and red skinnies for me. So bargain hunting works, too.

7. Yesterday I woke up and I really was just over being a mom. Just right then; just that day. I wanted to do whatever I darn well pleased, not wipe bums, force feed tiny mouths, and get screamed at all day. Well, we spent the day at home, playing Simon Says, coloring purple Christmas trees, rolling around on the floor, and watching entirely too much tv. And you know what? Holy crap, I love these kids. I would not trade this job of mine for anything. It is so stinking hard, but how can you not just want to watch every move they make and be a part of every single second? I just have to, because I live for them and they are my life's work. They rock my socks.