Top 5 Signs My Kids Watch Too Much Food Network and HGTV

1.  Charlie and Joe begged to stay up late last night so they could find out whether the homeowners would "love it" or "list it."

2.  I'm going to the grocery store today to buy ingredients for a Maddux Family edition of "Chopped."

3.  While playing Minecraft, Will announced that he was making houses for House Hunters.

4.  The other day at dinner the kids were predicting how many kids they each might have, and how many would be required in order to be able to have an entire basketball, baseball, or football team of Maddux cousins. Then Charlie announced that they should each have three. His reasoning?  Each sibling could take a kid if one of them had to be gone for a long period of time to appear on "Design Star."

5.  All the kids were incredibly excited to find out that the Property Brothers are not only brothers, but are actually twins.

Copycat

"Mo-om!  I can't sleep because Will keeps copying me!"

Um, stop talking?

Why I Rarely Post to the Blog Anymore

This weekend we:  came home from school on Friday, greeted Grandad and Gransan, had a snack, planned a science project, supervised the putting on of two baseball uniforms, went to a baseball game where Cort was a substitute coach and the boys substitute players, went out to eat, came home and went to bed, got up Saturday morning and got donuts before 7am, supervised the putting on of three soccer uniforms, left the house at 7:40am for an 8am soccer game, followed that with a 9am soccer game, came home, ordered from Five Guys and picked it up, ate lunch, went to the Travis Halloween carnival, worked one one-hour shift at the kindergarten booth, walked around the carnival with the kids, took the kids home so they could rest and two could change into baseball uniforms, went back to the carnival and worked two more one-hour shifts at the third grade booth, went back home to pick up the kids, went to another baseball game, came home, ordered food, went to pick it up, fed the kids, put them to bed, washed uniforms, showered and got ready, went to a friends' party, put uniforms in the dryer, "slept in" till 8am on Sunday, had breakfast with the kids, learned how to play Rummikub, worked on two science projects, went to Costco and bought a new TV and some lunch, ate lunch, supervised the putting on of two baseball uniforms, went to another baseball game, said goodbye to Grandad and Gransan, went to the grocery store, bought some pumpkins, cooked dinner, supervised two kids' showers, ate dinner, listened to one kid read, carved one jack-o-lantern, played Rummikub again, read a bedtime story, put kids to bed, cleaned the kitchen, and wrote it all down on the blog.

Glory Days?

This morning, because our housekeeper comes today, I ran around the house picking up all the miscellaneous unknown scraps of paper that my kids write on then leave around the house.

This one caught my eye.  It appears to be created by Joe.  Apparently, for only $1.50, I can have two minutes of glory.

Sounds like a bargain to me.

Best Answer Ever

So Will and Helen have a little over a full week of kindergarten under their belt, and things are going well.  Last night, I asked Will if he liked kindergarten.  He responded:

Yes!  I love kindergarten.

[Pause]

But Mom, I love you even more than I love kindergarten.  Definitely.

Dude is one quirky kid

While Joe was away at Gramma's house, he sent this to Cort and me via email.  Guess he was just looking out for us?  Or for the earth?

Knock Knock

Helen:  Knock knock.

Me:  Who's there?

Helen:  Why did the chicken cross the road?

Me:  Why?

Helen:  I don't know!

Me:  [laughing]

Helen:  No.  Really!  I don't know why.

Makes My Monday, Part Two

When I got home from work, at approximately 6:04pm, I found this countdown that Charlie and Joe had made on the computer counting down the number of hours, minutes, and seconds until we leave for our annual vacation to the Cayman Islands.

I'm as ready as they are.

Makes My Monday, Part One

For their last week at Cathedral House, Helen and Will wanted Charlie and Joe to come read to their class.

I'm not sure who was more proud -- Charlie and Joe to be able to read, or Will and Helen to show off their big brothers.

Or maybe it was me.

Joe reading "Thunder and Lightning" (a Cars book selected by Will)

Charlie reading "The Berenstein Bears Play T-ball," selected by Helen

Makes my Monday

Charlie has become a whistler.  He whistles around the house, everywhere, all the time.

The cool thing about that?  When Cort's out of town, I don't feel alone.  With Charlie whistling away, it feels like Cort's right there.

Just another way that Charlie is like his dad.  Makes my Monday.