The Beauchamp FamilyYes, we really are this geeky…

It’s Spring Break around here. Which means the teacher husband, the work at home mom and the two Elementary kids are ALL home ALL the time. Add in a technological melt down at the mom’s office and it’s pretty crazy. The kids are basically given free reign as long as they stay out of the way and the parents are surviving on humor and coffee.

There’s a friend over, which means they all want to sleep in the same room. There’s been a LOT of giggling this week as the kids float around with sleepovers and playdates and whatever else there is going on. It’s midnight and I hear an argument between Jamie and Cassie erupt. One of those that is probably minor but loud. The friend (J) is not involved, but is cowering on the bed like “seriously, people, I’m an only child, WHAT is the deal?” I walk in, where they both try to tell me the various transgressions…

Me: “Wait, I don’t care. Jamie, apologize to Cassie.”
Jamie: “Sorry, Cassie.”
Me: “Cassie, apologize to Jamie.”
Cassie: “I didn’t do anything!”
Me: “….” (the look)
Cassie: “Sorry, Jamie” (only a little grudgingly)
Me: “Now, Cassie apologize to J”
Cassie: “I didn’t do anything to her.”
Me: “I said…”
Cassie: “Fine, whatever. Sorry, J”
Me: “Jamie… apologize to J”
Jamie: “I’m sorry, J, for fighting with Cassie over nothing while you were here.”
Me: “Oh, that was a good one.”
Jamie: “Yeah, I know” (fist bump)
Me: “Cassie, apologize to me, please.”
Casssie: “But I…”….. “okay, sorry!!!”
Me: *sigh* “Jamie…”
Jamie: “Yeah, mom, I’m really sorry that we were arguing and interrupted your work and you had to come in here to do this.”
Me: “Oh crap… you are getting good at this.”
Tom: *laughing nearly hysterically*
Me: “Yeah, we have a politician on our hands here”

So those that know my girl, Cassie, know that she’s one of the sweetest and most conscientious kids out there (oh and she can totally suck up as needed too).

She came home last week with this (notice her answer to #25):

I’m not sure if I’m more amused by the answer she gave or the fact that her teacher gave her full credit. That rocks.

Then, I must wonder… did she do this because she didn’t know the answer and wanted to suck up enough so maybe the teacher WOULD give her full credit? Not that I think she’d do that (no, not that sweet innocent little angel of a girl)…

Anyway… enjoy! I laughed and made her cry. I wasn’t laughing at her answer (well, I kinda was… that mom of the year award continues to elude me!)

The kids come stalking into the kitchen just now, both with super determined looks on their faces.

Oh boy. This will be fun.

Cassie: “Jamie bonked me on the head for no reason.”

Jamie: “I bonked you on the head for a reason, you weren’t listening!”

I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing…

At least he didn’t deny it, right?

Okay, so the title was to get your attention…

Cassie hasn’t really asked about sex or anything like that and we decided it was time (more on that in a minute) to fill her in a little bit before the kids at school told her god-knows-what. After her shower, I sat down with her in my bedroom and asked her if she had ever heard the word “sex” before. She said yes and I asked her if she knew what it meant. She proudly told me “It means love.” Awwwww… ya know, I think that’s the most apt description I’ve ever heard.

So, anyway, the big reason I brought it up to her is because she hadn’t asked and I knew we needed to have that talk soon. But also because Tom is scheduled to have a vasectomy this week. Can I just say, “Yay!” Our kids are 8 and 10. We’ve been married for 18 years. Everyone in this house can wipe their own butts and buckle their own seat belts. We’re done with the baby-making part of our lives and I’m looking forward to not having to deal with any accidents, quite frankly.

So, yeah, we haven’t told the kids about that yet, but I figured it would be easier to explain why Dad has an ice pack on his crotch later if I addressed it now.

One more funny… when the doctor asked if Tom was doing this for himself or his wife or what the deal was, Tom said that he was doing it for “us”.  I think that’s probably the most apt description I’ve heard too.

Snippy-Snip, baby!

PS – before anyone can tell me I’m oversharing more than I should, I asked permission before posting this news

Tom and I were driving home tonight from a night out with friends and I was telling him I kinda hoped he didn’t get a substitute teaching job on Friday so he could go to the kid’s holiday parties at school. It’s just not my thing. He said, “Oh, I love it, the kids have so much fun and it’s a great time.” I replied, “Yeah, but there’s a lot of them. And they all want candy.”

I think he thinks I’m kidding… dude, they are all hopped up and entirely too loud. I love kids. I love my kids. I even like most of my friend’s kids. But 15 stranger’s kids… oy.

We were snugging Sunday morning, Cassie and I. She was being a sweet and giving me tons of kisses and hugs.I really love weekend mornings, the kids are relaxed and always ready with hugs and kisses. It’s also when I know they will talk to me more than just a mumble here and there. But usually it’s about getting as many hugs and kisses as I can out of them. I figure they are still young and sweet and eventually they won’t want to share the love (well, not with me anyway… eep!)

The conversation went like this:

Me: Will you always have kisses for me?
Cassie: Yes, always
Me: How about when you’re 10?
Cassie: Of course
Me: How about when you’re 13?
Cassie: Yes, Mom!
Me: How about when you’re 15?
Cassie: I can’t make no promises about that.

Sigh. Yeah. That’s what I thought.

So tonight at dinner I explained to Jamie and Cassie that I was going to start looking for a job outside of teaching. The teacher market is pretty flooded right now and there is basically no hiring going on until next summer. While sitting on my computer tonight Cassie comes into my office and we have a little conversation:

Cassie: “Why don’t you wanna be a teacher any more?”

So I explained that it wasn’t that I didn’t want to, there just weren’t any jobs.

Cassie:”You just gotta stick with it, Daddy. You’re a good teacher. It may take a while, but you’ll get hired.”

Then she added,”Acourse, it could take YEARS! You just gotta stick with it.”

From the mouths of babes….I really do want to teach more than anything. You can bet I’ll be flinging resumes again next summer.

Jamie told us a joke today at dinner and I thought it was funny enough to share…

The phone went green green. I pinked it up and said yellow.

*giggle*

The Tooth Fairy has been busy in our house, there are teeth falling out all over the place. It’s kinda crazy, actually. I posted about the trick the tooth fairy pulled earlier, they both lost their teeth on the same day and she brought them each half of $10 bill. Apparently, Jamie hatched a plan…

They’ve both had loose teeth for a while again. Cassie is, of course, babying hers and refusing to help it along at all. This morning Jamie’s tooth was so loose and it was poking him, so he pulled it out. No problem, no more tooth.

He just came in here and was asking me about the Tooth Fairy (he knows, yes) and then ran off demanding that Cassie pull her tooth too. Apparently he thinks the old broad is going to cough up another $5 each. *laughing* If he succeeds, she might just have to… hmmm…

He asked Cassie thought and she ran away screaming “No!!!” so I doubt he’ll get his wish.

He came in and told me what happened and then said, “Geez, mom, you’d think she’s going to keep it forever and give it a name already!” I cracked up. My little boy is getting my sarcastic sense of humor alright. LOL

Maybe the old fairy lady should leave him a $20 for spite. *laughing*

Tom made these amazing burgers a few nights ago along with some baked french fries.

Jamie, who recently has started actually eating potatoes in other forms pipes up:

“Wow, these are kind of potatoey!”

Which begs the question… what did the 9-year-old THINK french fries were made of?

Oh, and Cassie has lice again. I guess we didn’t catch them all last time. ARGH! I’ve come up with an insane mommy regiment to get rid of them this time. I mean it! This is war, people!