More stories to come!
Our Favorite Family Stories - Once upon a time...
1. Cat Bathroom - Every year Richard would help the Easter Bunny hide the kids baskets. One year after gathering all the eggs that held clues - the first egg leading you to the second, the second to the third, etc., the kids were left with a group of letters that they needed to unscramble in order to find their baskets. Devon, Aaron, and Minka were struggling to figure it out for several minutes when Jeanine walked by and looked down at the jumble of letters and announced it was "Cat Bathroom" as if everyone could see it immediately. Ever since then the term "cat bathroom" explains the unexplainable in my family.
2. "Gracious" - The kids would like to forget this one. It started one Christmas. With a blended family it was too hard to try and make sure each kid had the same number of gifts. The simple truth was they had different extended families making it impossible. Once I realized this, I announced to the kids that I didn't want to hear any compliants. Not a word about she has more, I like his better, etc. All of our kids were spoiled beyond ridiculious. I told them to remind them I would say "gracious" and that would mean stop behaving selfishly. Well, it worked like a champ. It worked so well that the kids started using it amonst themselves as well. If Minka was sharing lollipops with Jeanine and Jeanine started to whine she wanted the purple one Minka would blurt out "gracious". We still use this word regularly -- although often in a sarcastic tone!
3. Slaves for a Day - Why I went after midnight to check on the girls is still a mystery but I did.... thank goodness. I opened the door to their room and was hit with the smell of plastics burning. There the girls were... with a small candle melting plastic things. Next to the candle was a small custard cup half filled with water. I was beyond angry. I quickly grabbed everything and dumped it in the kitchen sink flooding it all with water. Then I went back into their room and threw up the windows (it was cold) and told the girls to meet me in the living room after breakfast. Devon, being rather new to the family asked if they were in trouble - as her sisters were telling her to "shut up" The girls took their time eating breakfast the next morning. Richard told them I was waiting and the longer it took them the madder I'd be. Finally, with heads hung low they came into the living room. I told them to sit down. Then I waited about 5 minutes before speaking. I betcha the girls thought it was a lot longer than that. Then I pronounced punishment. I told them they could have burned the house down with all of us in it. I decided they had to spend the entire day cleaning the entire house to get a clear idea of what they jeopordized. They weren't allowed to goof off or they would get an additional day. They cleaned toilets, baseboard heaters, scrubbed floors ALL DAY LONG with a short break for meals. I'm sure the girls got into things I'll never know about but I'm betting it wasn't playing with fire in the house. After the day of punishment whenever they were doing something seriously wrong -- all we had to say was "slave for a day" to get them to stop.
4. Jeanine and Minka go exploring - Jeanine and Minka hit it off right from the get-go and together they were a hand full. One of the first times they played together (long before we became a family) the two of them went exploring -- without permission. They were 6-7 years old and Richard, myself and my room mates at the time, were frantic looking for them. We spent a half an hour searching and hollering, worrying and searching and hollering some more. Finally the phone rang, and it was a sweet older lady telling us that the girls were at her house having lemonade and cookies. They had managed to get lost in a wooded area and came out the exact opposite side from where they should have. We had to drive a good 15 minutes to get to them. When we picked them up they seemed completely unphased about being lost - they got snacks out of the deal.
4. Gosh, Darn, Shoot - When Jeanine was about 4 years old she wanted nothing more than to use curse words. I explained that curse words were for grown-ups but she could say Gosh, Darn or Shoot if she didn't abuse the use. For weeks she would use her curse words as if they were a rite of passage. Then one day when we were making cupcakes for her class, I asked her to get me eggs out of the fridge. She dropped an egg onto the kitchen floor. She put her little hands on her little hips and proclaimed clearly and loudly "SHIT". I reminded her "Don't you mean Shot?" to which she responded very sincerely, "No Mom, this is Shit!"