Keep writing…Keep writing…
Cosette and Leo got a little crafty with some empty boxes from the recycling pile last night. Cadence was seriously impressed with their ingenuity, and already has plans to snag the elf house and turn it into a clubhouse for some of her dolls.
Henry still isn’t quite sure he’s okay with what these elves are up to. He is now showing only mild interest in their antics when he first wakes up, and then spends the rest of the day ignoring them.
Time to write letters to Santa!
If you’ve never heard of the game Bean Boozled, let me take a moment to fill you in (because this is one game you definitely don’t want to agree to play unless you have full disclosure of what’s about to happen to you). Basically, you’ve got a box full of jellybeans. You spin the little wheel, pick the matching jellybean, and eat it.
Easy enough.
But this is where things start to get messy. See, the evil overlords at Jelly Belly thought it would be fun to hide awful-tasting jellybeans in the mix and make it into a disgusting (and sort of hilarious) game. So you spin the wheel and that little orange-flecked jellybean you choose might taste like peach, or it might taste like barf. Black jellybeans might be licorice (which is horrible), or they might be skunk (who knew licorice flavor could get any worse?).
Stevie and I were first introduced to Bean Boozled at his Dad’s house in New York, when Stevie’s nephews TJ and Tyler busted out the box to play the game with Cadence. I politely declined to join in. I don’t really enjoy jellybeans to begin with, so there is sure as hell no way I’m going to pop a jellybean in my mouth that could either taste like coconut or spoiled milk.
Nope. No thanks.
But Stevie was curious enough that after a few moments of all of us egging him on, he decided to test his luck. He choose the orange-flecked jellybean, popped it in his mouth, gave it a couple chews, and then bolted for the sink to spit it out.
You guess it, barf-flavored.
Fast forward to this year and Cadence happened to spy Bean Boozled on the shelf at Hobby Lobby. She wanted to prank some friends, so we picked up the box, and it sat in our cupboard until Halloween when we got to talking about it with some friends and decided to bust out the box and show them what it was all about. I’m not sure if our friend Jeff just has tastebuds of steel or the flavors mellow with time, but he ate a couple dozen of the Bean Boozled jellybeans and said they all sort of taste the same.
Cadence was excited this morning when she got up and saw that Cosette and Leo decided to play. Cosette is either going to get a taste of blueberry or toothpaste (which Cadence says is a good choice because both options taste pretty good). Leo looks a little ill, like he may have gotten a bite of canned dog food or moldy cheese. Henry saw the elves had candy and immediately reached to grab a bite, but I managed to distract him with a bowl of oatmeal and a banana muffin. I mean, the kid has already barfed on the carpet once this week, I don’t need a repeat performance because he happens to choose a jellybean that tastes like rotten egg.
He’ll thank me one day. And so will you. Beware the Bean Boozled invitations people.
The elves surprised Cadence and Henry with a visit from Olaf today…well, Olaf in toilet paper form. Either way, the kiddos were excited.
This morning was one of those mornings–one you read about on comedic parenting blogs or see played out on a primetime sitcom where you laugh along at the utter ridiculousness of the chain of events while simultaneously nodding because, well, you’re sorta feeling like you’re having deja vu. It’s the kind of morning where, right there in the middle of it, you don’t know whether it’s more appropriate to crack up laughing or squirm uncomfortably in your seat.
I want to preface this by saying we have three morning types in the Romano house:
You can probably imagine that some mornings are hard in our house. Between the dog acting like a starving lunatic, Stevie and Cadence hustling to get things done, and Henry and I needing a few extra minutes to get ourselves pulled together, there’s a bit of chaos. And those mornings when I hit the snooze button a few extra times (like this morning) are the worst because suddenly everyone is up and forced to scramble.
Don’t get me wrong, I can scramble when I need to. But I usually do my best work when I’m at least half-caffeinated. And Henry…well, Henry usually does his best work when we give him enough time and space to just sort of wander around without any sort of agenda for 10-15 minutes.
No such luck today.
Henry went to bed just after 7:00 pm last night, but I still had to wake him up when I went in his room at 6:10 this morning.
Already a bad omen.
He was okay as I got him changed, even chatting a bit and smiling as he downed a big cup of milk.
Cadence was excited to show him the shenanigans the elves had been up to–taking selfies and hanging printed copies of the pictures all over the house. Henry thought the first photo or two were funny. Then he started to get a little wary (probably about the time his little brain started working out that if the elves hung those photos all over, that means they were running all around the house like creepers while he slept).
I was trying to get him some breakfast, and Stevie was trying to usher him into the living room to get his socks and shoes on so he was ready, and suddenly Henry was having none of it. He started gearing up for a tantrum and swatting at Stevie.
So, Stevie calmly carried him over to a timeout spot, but just as he was trying to sit him down, Henry threw himself backward and head butted the wall. That just pissed him off. And he decided to yell at the top of his lungs to let us know how pissed off he was, but he ended up overdoing it, gagging, and puking up a good portion of the milk he just drank all over himself and the living room carpet.
That was about the time I was wishing there was some sort of magic morning do-over button.
But like most 2-year-old tantrums, it was there and gone. Once we got H-man cleaned up and changed, got a little breakfast in his belly, and then off to school with a banana muffin (which he is currently obsessed with and would eat a half-dozen a day if we’d let him), he was totally fine. Me, on the other hand…I needed a few quiet moments to myself, a cup of coffee, a little writing. And then all was right with the world and I was ready to start my day.
Happy Monday everyone!
Cadence burst into our room so early this morning Electra wasn’t even up yet. She’s definitely her Daddy’s daughter. She wakes up way too early running in high gear and she has two volumes…loud and louder-because-I’m-really-excited.
Here’s how the conversation went…
Cadence: “Mom! Dad! It’s gonna make you so crazy when you see what the elves did to the eggs!”
Lori: “What? Why? Did they break them?”
Cadence: “No.”
Stevie: “Did they make me some breakfast?”
Cadence: “No!”
Stevie: “Damn! I was hoping they made breakfast.”
Lori: “Yeah that would have been really awesome.”
Stevie: “Right!?”
Cadence: (exasperated sigh) “No guys they didn’t break anything and they didn’t make breakfast. They drew funny faces on all the eggs with Sharpie markers! Wait til you see!”
Lori: “Oh, well I guess that’s just about as cool as breakfast.”
Stevie: “Yeah, we’ll come down soon and see. Why don’t you go make breakfast?”
But she was already gone.
She was excited to show Henry later, and he still wasn’t quite sure what to think.
I get it little buddy. These elves are trouble.
