Him - Nah!

ElderChild brought her music assignment home.  She plays tenor sax and was required to select a piece of music to work on, and then present to her teacher for evaluation next month.  She brought home a selection from the Harry Potter movies.  The scores came with the sheet music plus a CD that played both music-with-sax, and a no-sax play-along version.  She was having difficulties deciding between 2 pieces.  I asked her the names, to give myself a reference, and one was a "him-nah!".  ... What?  "It says 'Him-nah'!" ... I pondered this a moment and asked her if it was anything like a "yaatchet"  ... she was confused.  I asked her to spell "him-nah". ... So she did.  "H-Y-M-N." ... "Hun, that says 'Yaatchet'... but we pronounce it 'him'..." .... Been teasing her ever since, that she's playing the "Yaatchet-song"...

Faking it.

Last February I purchased tickets for the family to see Marianas Trench in concert (A Canadian pop band... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHyYzezYWe0 ) but didn't tell the kids.  They continued to hear ads and continued to wish they could go.  They've never been to a rock concert before.

Last week YoungerChild pleaded to be allowed to go, wanted to use her own saved-up money to buy tickets, no less.  It was agonizing but we managed to continue to deny her the concert, telling her tickets are expensive, the show is sold-out, anything we could think to tell her other than "the truth".

We managed to stay completely mum.  Concert day arrived and I developped a plan to keep the secret right until we arrived at the stadium.  I kept the girls thinking they were going to their regular activities at the YMCA.  I "accidentally" lost track of time so that they were running a little late, but that's OK, we'll still get there.  Then Hubby called home pretending to be very sick and needed to be picked-up at work.  So off we went, but in the wrong direction for the YMCA.  As we neared his office I apologized to the kids that I should have dropped them off at the YMCA first, because now they were going to be a full half-hour late.  They weren't very happy with me but without anything they could do to alter the situation they accepted my apology.  With hubby safely in the car I headed to the expressway - the fastest way to the YMCA.  But oh my: I took the wrong exit.  ElderChild lamented "It's like we were never meant to get to the "Y" today!".  I held my tongue and pulled into the nearest parkinglot, explaining I would just turn the car around so we could get back onto the expressway.  And then I promptly parked in that lot.  The kids had confused looks on their faces, not quite having realised that we were at the stadium.  I sighed, as tho I was exasperated with the drive... reached into my purse... and produced the concert tickets.  It took a moment for the kids to realise what was going-on...

SQUEALS, SCREAMS, CHEERS, HUGS!!

Once we were inside and had found our seats, YoungerChild leaned over to me and said "Mommy, you fake "taking a wrong turn" much better than Daddy fakes being sick!".

Hot Chocolate Explosion

ElderChild polished off an Extra Large hot chocolate from Tim Hortons.  Discussion ensued about how quickly she might "explode", and the resulting hot-chocolate-and-guts mess we'd be left to clean up.  YoungerChild of course asked the requisite "If she explodes, can I have her room?".  I cautioned her that her sister's bedroom would come-with a floor full of dirty underwear, to which she immediately responded "No, I'm going to have those buried with her!"

Tattle Triumph

So YoungerChild heads out to play in the most recent snowfall. ElderChild eventually caves-in to childhood enjoyment (she *is* only 13 still) and heads out to assist with the day's snowfort.  The sun begins to set and I find myself calling the kids indoors.  Suddenly there is a loud shriek and wailing moans and the hollers of "I'm sorry!".  I (sadly) opt to check it out.  ElderChild informs me (before forming her alibi) "I didn't mean to hit her in the head when I threw the shovel at her!"  (um... you threw what? on purpose?) ... With ElderChild self-proclaimed guilty-as-charged, YoungerChild suddenly ceases her "fatally-wounded" wailling... and we get on with our evening.  Nothing more said. Sigh.

Tuck-And-Roll

When we're running tight to our schedule and I'm dropping the kids off (usually at the YMCA) precisely at the time their activity is set to start, as I'm pulling the car up to the door I'll say "OK, tuck-and-roll!", implying we're so "late" that I'm not even going to stop the car for them to hurry-up and get out fast (I *DO* stop the car, tho!).

The other night we were heading home at about 11pm, a late night after watching a friend's performance in a musical production.  As usual for this hour the kids were pleasantly quiet in the back seat, with the bonus that they were both busy munching on granola bars for a handy late-night snack.  We approached a familiar intersection, and from the back seat, out of nowhere, we hear YoungerChild, her mouth partially filled with granola bar, announce "Sis, there's your school!  Tuck-and-roll!"

Geography Lesson

ElderChild is playing the board game RISK with one of her friends.  They're still getting the game underway, locating the countries so they can place their pieces.  Friend is having troubles locating Great Britain.  I tell her "It's right next to England." and she suddenly, promptly locates it.  ElderChild then scans the board, and informs me "Mommy, England's not on here!"  ... pause a few beats then proceed laughing at ElderChild until she figures it out.  She actually smacked herself upside the head for her "blonde moment".

Rhymes with orange

We’re driving in the car and YoungerChild is examining a loonie she found on the ground.  “Hey mom, this loonie is from 1987!” so I respond “Oh!  That’s mine!  I dropped a 1987 loonie… on the ground… at your school… last week…” and she actually handed it over to my outstretched hand!  Hardly a beat passed before she realized she’d been tricked and demanded I return her dollar.  So her father takes advantage of the situation and tells her “Did you know that if you say “oranges” slowly enough, it sounds like “gullible””.  YoungerChild spent the next several minutes repeatedly trying to say “oranges” as slowly as possible as we encouraged her “Slower!  That’s still too fast!” … 

“ooooorrrrrrraaaaaaaaannnnnnnngggggigglegigglegigglegiggle” she figured it out.