It's not for lack of material that I haven't been writing, just lack of time. Jackie is in rare form as we head into the Christmas season. Dennis dressed up as Santa for the pre-k holiday party yesterday. Jackie took one look at him and declared "That guy's not Santa - it's just my Dad" and stormed off in the direction of a holiday craft. She had me in stitches the other day while I was setting out lunch boxes. "What's for lunch?" I reply it's pb&j. "I don't like peanut butter" she declares. "Since when don't you like peanut butter?" says I. "I don't know" replies Jackie. " It's like one day I just snapped".

She has a new best friend, Jacob. Jacob is an adorable 4 year old boy - just as rough and tumble as she. While the other kids are playing, those two are climbing trees and pretending to be a pack of wild dogs. That's great unless they attack some unsuspecting preschoolers who happen to play near thier den. They spent all morning together, then were playing at the same birthday party for three hours. On the way home, she declared that she missed him already. Ahhhhh. Her first friend her own age! It's a wonderful thing!

It's the most wonderful time of the year.....

Jackie is learning Christmas songs and singing along with the 5' Santa in the living room. Heard this morning...."There'll be much mistletoeing and folks will be yelling..." first thing this morning...
Now she's sitting down to breakfast and pipes up "Hey - can I get a drink overhere? I can't take it much longer!" Ahhhh....it's going to be a good day!

aiming high

so I'm looking at Jackie today and tell her that I think that she is getting taller. She stands up against the wall that we measure the kids on and - nope - she's the same as she was in August.....
well - that's not o.k. with Jackie - so she grabs her own pencils - stands up against the wall - and draws a line over her head about 3 inches up....
then writes her name on it laughing manic laugh....
Loving it....

hmmm.....

It's still dark out and Jackie is next to my bed.
"Mom, can you get me some tape?"
Opening one eye, I answer "What do you need tape for?"
"Don't ask any questions, just get me the tape".

hmmmmmm

We have a WINNER!

Dinner tonite. Jackie hands me her vegetables. "Here ya go Mom! You win the broccoli!"
I think I've been had.

The best dog in the world...

Most people think that their dog is great. You haven't met Molly. It's not that Molly is sweet, a good watchdog or super smart (although she is). What makes her the best dog in the world is that she has not taken a bite out of Jackie. Today I walked into the kitchen and caught Jackie sneaking Molly's water bowl out of the kitchen. Upon return bowl to it's proper place, I notice that the food bowl is also missing. Follow the trail to find the food bowl in the Master Bath Shower...with Molly...sitting there patiently waiting for someone to open the door for her. Tonight I walked into my closet to find Molly hair all over the rug. Because Molly got a hair cut...
What do you think I could get for the world best tempered dog at Westminster?

superhero

Tonight...."Did you know that Spiderman is actually a boy. That's why they call him Spider MAN"
"I don't want to be a boy or girl. I want to be a Ninja" (This while climbing the stairs via the bannister).

professional aspirations

So the topic of discussion this morning at the breakfast table is "What do you want to be when you grow up". Cami is talking about college. Marin pipes in that she aspires to be a teacher, so she needs to go to college as well. Jackie adds that she wants to be a "Get Away". A "Get Away" I ask, what does a "Get Away" do? "Well, you steal stuff and then you get away". Ahhhh....I wonder if that requires an advanced degree.

singing

Cracking up yesterday a.m. After the Jackster informs us that she can't brush her teeth as her toothbrush is a "goner" and resembles a "dead, hairy chicken", I hear her singing in the bathroom. On closer examination, the lyrics are "I'm gonna eat your lunch, I'm gonna eat your lunch.".

Thank you Lord for giving us a child in our older years to keep us laughing everyday.

Big girl now....

So we moved Jackie into a booster seat yesterday. She's is pumped out of her little mind. Now that she has officially hit 30 lbs. she's street legal. She and I took a little spin over to Target just to try it out (and make sure that she didn't think she could get out and start walking around the car while moving). She's so excited she starts into an adorable rendition of "O - How I love Jesus". I told her that I needed to get a video of her singing. She replys "Yeah - put it up on my website.". Cracking me up.

family day

at the beach. We're fishing with friends, everyone having fun. The bucket holding the bait fish is fascinating to the Jackster. She picks up a long, dead fish and asks Dad if she can cut the fins off (yuck)! She played with that fish all afternoon, like a barbie or something. The fish danced, sang, swam back in the water. The fish got buried and then reincarnated. Very interesting.

terms of endearment

So Jackie woke at her usual time - 3 a.m. - to come and join in my bed. Although she is usually wide awake, she is not usually amourous at this hour (or any other hour for that matter). But last night was different! She snuggles in with me and says "I love you" Ahhhh... I say "I love you more!" She says "You are cuter than a pineapple". Now, I might be shaped like a pineapple, and slightly prickly at time, so I'll bite. "You are cuter than apples and oranges, Jacks" Now we can sleep.

yo....

Jackies new moniker for me is "homeslice"
As in "Yo - homeslice - can I get some more juice over here".
Not that I'm complaining....
I'm down with that.

where does the time go....

Talking to Jackie just now - setting up the schedule for the year and noting that we'll be doing Kindergarten Round-up in the spring.
Mom " Where does that time go?"
Jackie "It goes to Cal-i-vein -i - a"
Mom "Calivania?"
Jackie "Yeah - only you don't know how to get there and neither do I. Even English people don't know how to get there".

Well - that explains alot.

Jackie and school...

So after her initial meet the teacher day, I had a sleepless night. It just didn't seem like a good match after all. So we've changed her last minute into another program (after reviewing their discipline policies at length). She seems to be much happier at a Christian school - and I think that the 11th commandment (thou shall not lock your student in the closet - not matter how many people they bite) should work in our favor.

school bells

So, all the kids joined Jackie at her pre-k orientation yesterday (plus Meg, an adopted cousin). They helped me fill out a questionnaire about Jacks. Hmmm....what is your child's worst behavior issue? What is your child afraid of? What comforts your child? How do you fit a kid with a personality as big as Jackie's onto a little piece of paper. I figured that the best thing to do was to talk to the teacher directly. "When Jackie makes a face...you'll know what face I'm talking about...rather like a rabid lion....everyone should take 3 giant steps backwards.

Problem solved.

Oh, and if she's sad, offer up your armpit and no one will get hurt.

Expecting....

Jackie's new thing is to snuggle up beside me and pat my belly while saying "I like your baby." Really, not amusing.

ummm....

Marin and Jackie playing today - don't know exactly what happened to make Jackie turn and yell down the stairs "YOU DO NOT DO THAT TO THE MASTER". hmmm

the breakfast table

So, we're enjoying breakfast this morning with Auntie Cindy. Jackie is recounting a story about the time that she got seperated from us at the opera house. Ian add libs abit and suggests that maybe Jackie met up with a scary lion while she was there, to which she replys "Lions don't go to the opera!". I shot back that was because lions don't sing well. "Mom, you are so ANNOYING!" sigh...

rabid dogs at the pet store and more

This week, my wonderful and brave friend Cindy is in town with her son great Mitchell are visiting us. Den and I had a business conference to attend, so for three days Cindy braved it alone here with 6 children. Cindy loves the pool, and makes full use of it when she can here, so the other day she and Jackie and Ian were poolside. From what I hear, Jackie decided that she was a dog in the pet store and that Ian was suppose to be the customer. So she locked herself behind the pool fence and was barking at Ian. Ian, however, didn't seem to be in a buying mood and Jackie started screaming at him "YOU' SUPPOSE TO BUY ME! BUY ME IAN!" which naturually made Ian and Cindy laugh so hard that they couldn't do much else. I mean, who wants to buy a mad talking dog? Well, eventually I guess Ian bought her, and when he opened the gate to get her, she bolted out of the pool area and down the street to the neighbors house, with her siblings in hot pursuit. My poor elderly neighbor Joan was abit taken aback when a barking Jackie started scratching and howling at her front door. Well, after collecting their elusive pet, the kids brought Jackie back to Cindy. Cindy scooped Jackie up in her arms and Jackie promptly bit her. Bless her heart, sure hope she's had her shots.

somebody's messing

so..Jackie is at the lunch table with 6 other kids today. She starts loudly chewing everyone out, yelling so loud I can't quite figure out what the problem is.

Jackie: "Somebody keeps messing with my eyes!"
Mom: "You're eyes?" (I'm thinking that they are twitching or something). "Are they moving really fast?"
Jackie: "No - somebody keeps TAKING THEM!"
Mom: "Somebody's taking your eyes?"
Jackie: now howling "NO - THEY KEEP TAKING MY ICE"
Oh....
the tragedy of melting ice.

just a day in the life of a Mom laughing....

Jackie: "Mom, can I have a bite of your apple?"
Mom: "Sure, pumpkin."
Jackie, handing back what's left of the mangled apple core "It's all yours baby".

Jackie, after helping Mom in the garden
"Mom, you've gotta come over here and see this, I'm a GENIUS!"

Mom: "Jacks, you've gotta pick up the mess you left over here"
Jackie (to the tune of Selena Gomez "Tell me tell me tell me something I don't know something I don't know something I don't know...."

Jackie at the dinner table, in reference to something that happened during the day
"I have MAD skills - you don't want to mess with me!"

New name.

Inspired by a good family friend, we have changed the name of the blog. Keara's B.F.F. recently asked her Mom for a w.w.j.d. band, apparently for reasons stated above. And it got me to thinking, what would jackie do in most situtations? So, I took a wander through a typical Jackie day.

1) After waking up, in my bed, she loudly demands my presence. She wakes up at her leisure. I bring her breakfast in bed, which she eats while she watches an educational program. (self-improvement).
2) When she feels she's up to it, she arises and dresses in clothes of her choice, with no deference to style, color, weather, or her Mother's pleading to what would be considered appropriate. (She dosen't care a rat's pa-to-tie what other people think about her)
3) She fills her day with various activities, mostly of her choice. She's learning to play well with others, express her forcefully with still being respectful other people's feelings, share, and not bite her friends. It's a process. But she never misses an opportunity to stand up for what she believes in, to ask for what she wants, or to go to great lengths to get what she wants. Tenacity is her middle name.
4) She believes completely in herself and her abilities. And understands that her positive energy effects others. (Yesterday at the park, while getting out of the car, she annouced "Everyone is going to smile today when they see me. It's because I'm so beautiful".
5) She rarely misses an opportunity to sing, laugh, or take out her enemies.
6) She loves passionately, stands firmly on her opinions, and has a short memory.
7) She has yet to meet her limits, not does she look for limits.

So Meg, you're right to consider w.w.j.d. And thanks for sharing your idea, cause it's helped me think alot about w.w.m.d. today.

God is watching you!

Marin and Jackie were called in yesterday for bickering, at which time Marin told me abit of a tale regarding the events of the situation. After a conversation about the atrocities of lying, I made them sit down to watch a Veggies Tales movie about said trangressions. Jackie turns to Marin on the couch and advises her that "God is watching you and He is MAD!". That wil teach her!

The Clan McLean -

First post - for no particular reason other than I'm messing around with different background programs and I need a place that I can mess up on! Ha Ha! Been messing up on my kids for YEARS so it's just a logical progression, no?