Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on.
~Bob Newhart
I could not be more thankful for laughter. Thursday was a wallop of a day. If I couldn't have laughed at the absurdity of it all, I never would have been able to deal with each turn of events. (Read yesterday's post if you want to see what happened.) This week's list will be all about the other things which gave me a chuckle or a giggle or a full-on guffaw this week.
As I was leaving for my night of volleyball in my church league, Buttercup looked at me and asked, "You're wearing your pajamas to volleyball?" My reply: "Dear girl, when at home they are called pajamas. When I go to volleyball, they are called sweats." I was touched to know she was watching out for me, though, even if it was only because she didn't want me embarrassing her.
Grace's video. I want to be this clever, but I will settle for simply knowing how to make a video.
This conversation in the van with Cuckoo. I had to laugh to prevent myself from crying. And vomiting.
Cuckoo: I can only eat one thing in the van. Guess what it is.
Me: (seeing that lately, his fingers are always in his mouth) Your fingers.
C: No!
Me: (knowing we eat several snacks in the car after afternoon school pickup each week) Crackers.
C: No!
Me: I have no more guesses. What one thing can you eat in the van?
C: Boogers.
I've been making myself laugh this week on my Facebook page. Doesn't even bother me that only a few people see my hilarity. It makes me laugh. For example, I posted this...
If you can't seem to locate a library book, all you have to do is go to the library and pay $25 for the book. Within 3 days someone will yell, "Hey, I found the library book!" Voila!
after I paid for the second book which had been missing for over a month. Giant found one under his bed, and Turken found one on a shelf in the big boys' book closet soon after I plunked down the cash.
I am not a fan of Valentine's Day, especially for little kids, but I'm not going to forbid my kids from participating in the kindergarten Valentine's Day party. However, instead of paying for cheap, boxed, stupid cards, I helped Turken make these "valentines" to pass out at school:
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It's a sucker. With a pretend mustache on the sucker stick. Always a hit with the kindergarten set.
The boys were poo-pooing the men's figure skating I wanted to watch. There was some basketball game on another channel, but I refused to let them turn it on. It's the Olympics for Pete's sake! Phoenix chose to voice his displeasure by annoying the tar out of me. Lucky for him, I found his commentary to be funny.
"Why isn't he tackling anybody?"
"Which team is he on?"
"Why is he doing doughnuts on the ice?"
"Hey! He touched the ground! Is that legal? Or...OR it just shows he's in control. Yes. He must be in control. Control is important."
"Is this the long program or the short program?... Nevermind. It doesn't matter. They all seem long."
"Oh! He's in bonus time! Is this like Monster Trucks?? Is he going to try to crash? Maybe lose a skate? Run into something?"
"Everyone cheers whenever they spin. I'd just spin the whole time."
"Except their faces are always red when they stop spinning. That can't be good."
Cuckoo insisted on shoveling the moment the snow started falling at 11:00 on Friday.
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That snow he is trying to shovel is actually ice left over from our snow storm last week. He never moved a single scoopful.
This is that same walkway and porch at 1:00:
We ended up with more than 5 inches. He didn't shovel a single flake.
The endless snow and cold are taking its toll on us all. Each of us has his own ways of coping, be it hibernating in a bedroom, actually wearing more appropriate clothing, or finding ways to play in it. Cuckoo's coping mechanism is my favorite. When the really big flakes started falling on Friday, he went for denial. Every time Turken or I mentioned the snow, Cuckoo yelled, "It's not snow! It's toilet paper!"
I was telling the kids about the church parking lot behind our house when I was a kid. Every time it snowed (which was often. I lived in the snow belt of northern Ohio.), the parking lot would get plowed, leaving gigantic mountain ranges of snow. We played on those snow mountains for hours, sliding, digging forts, playing tag, and any other game our minds could conjure up. On a whim, I told them I'd find a church parking lot with mountains of snow for them to play on. COW, Buttercup, and Star shot down the idea, thinking I'd lost my mind.
The other kids trusted me.
 |
| To give you perspective, the person running is Phoenix. He's 6'1" tall. |
OK, your turn. Tell me what you are thankful for this week. What made you laugh?
Have a lovely day!
Your hosts
A Fly on our (Chicken Coop) Wall, Considerings, Finding Ninee, Getting Literal, I Want Backsies, Mother of Imperfection, Rewritten, Thankful Me, The Meaning of Me, The Wakefield Doctrine
Oh dear, my girls ever so often also boycott my attempts to watch Olympics as well. But the comments are priceless. I hope you enjoyed your volleyball training! And good that your daughter takes care of you :-) Have a great weekened, Christine!!
ReplyDeleteVolleyball was great fun, as always. I'd appreciate Buttercup's help a bit more if the "help" didn't come with a sneer and condescension. :)
DeleteThank you!
What made me laugh this week? Your Thursday post, and the fact that I remembered to tell John about it during our nice Valentine's dinner at the fancy restaurant. I refrained from relating it then, but I told him as soon as we got in the car. Then we both laughed at our "romantic" conversation.
ReplyDeleteAfter Thursday, no wonder Cuckoo insisted the snow was toilet paper!
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Oh, Kristi, you make me laugh! First, that you spent your date with John discussing our septic tank woes. But even more so...how did I not make the connection!?!?!?!? OF COURSE he insisted it was toilet paper! HHAHAHA!
DeleteOh my...Cuckoo. And his "snacks" in the van. Gross. And funny b/c it's not my kid. Fantastic.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, exactly zero snowball fights have ended without a child crying.
Thanks for making me laugh as you always do, dear friend! :)
Completely gross. I'm hoping you'll still be my friend after this. I promise, we all wash our hands frequently.
DeleteGlad to know it's not only my kids who cry from a snowball to the face.
You're welcome. :)
I love your conversation with Cuckoo in the van - gross but very funny.
ReplyDeleteWhat made me laugh this week? Several things really, the best one late on Wednesday. Just gone midnight I realised I had a missed call from my son on my mobile at 10.20pm so I rang him thinking something was wrong but he said he was okay; on asking where he was he said he was in the bedroom. I thought he meant the bedroom at his own place but he said "No, the one next to yours". My reply was "Well if you're in the next room to me why the **** am I talking to you on the phone??" I hadn't even heard him come in, and the dogs didn't even alert me - some guards dogs they turned out to be! lol
So gross. Kinda funny. :)
DeleteThat story is hysterical! And your dogs are not guard dogs. Sorry. :) My questions for you now...Did you hang up? Did either of you get up to go talk to the other?
Actually yes. As soon as I realised he was in the next room to me I went along there while I was still on the phone, and when I opened the door there he was, sitting on his bed with phone to his ear and still talking to me!
DeleteSheesh! I'm sure you must be tired of all that snow by this point eh? I had to laugh at your kids' commentary on the figure skating. Now I have to figure out what this donut thing is that he's talking about....
ReplyDeleteSo, so, so very tired.
DeleteI did, too. I hate laughing at it, though, as it only encourages them. The donuts were those big arcs before going into a tight spin. Or a jump.
your Thursday post was somehow sad and hysterical at the same time... boogers... KACK!...We used to live in the projects and the plows would come through the neighborhood and make these ginormous snow banks on which we would play king of the mountain...the catch was that there was usually a sidewalk that was flooded with icey cold knee deep water between the banks... you didn't want to get pushed off the mountain...
ReplyDeleteIt was sad. So, so sad. But I am glad others could laugh about it. Makes the sadness of it a little less painful. :)
DeleteA snow mountain with a moat!?!? Yikes! I'm guessing you took a tumble into it at least once.
It is snowing again as I type this. I AM SO COMPLETELY TIRED OF SNOW!!!!
ReplyDeleteEven if it means great big mountains of snow to play on.
Thanks.
I can't decide which of these is my favorite...all so completely wonderful in their own sad way, right? Kidzilla drew a rather sizeable blue crayon circle on the white walls in the upstairs hallway last night. It has to be more entertaining to have several and actually have to go about the process of determining which child was the offender. Around here when we get "I didn't do it" the answer is "of course you did." And that is the end of the fun.
ReplyDeleteYou're right - church parking lots have THE BEST snow piles. Somehow it's far less filthy than snow piles in say shopping center parking lots. That has to be about God, right? ;)
Glad you can laugh at these...you know, so you don't cry.
I don't know if entertaining is the word. Poor Kidzilla, not having anyone to blame things on. :)
DeleteThey are less filthy. And the 5+ inches we got on Friday covered up the bit of dirt that was there.
Reading this, I couldn't figure out whether to laugh or cry at Cuckoo either...but he's got a great sense of humor and so have you!!
ReplyDeleteIt's just awful, isn't it? Yet I can't help but laugh.
DeleteSo what you're saying is...you're going to wrap up Cuckoo and send him to Canada so he can insist upon shoveling our driveway?
ReplyDeleteNo?
Damn it.
We were watching men's figure skating and my 5 year old hard core hockey player says "Why are those hockey players wearing pretty uniforms and they have no sticks. That's silly."
You said no too soon! I would have considered it! :)
DeleteOf course he's a hard core hockey fan. You live in Canada! I like that he called them "pretty uniforms" the most.
Your kids are totally adorable and that sucker thing is a riot--yer kewl. xox jean
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteFirst off - I love the link you posted to the video on Grace's website. I'd never been to her site before and it is beautiful (and the video rocked).
ReplyDeleteI laughed at your son "helping" with the shovelling. My kids sometimes "help" too and we actually have little shovels for them. I remain hopeful this will mean they will actually help in future years.
As for snow piles - we have an ice rink at the community centre near our house that ships out the snow from when they clear the rinks well into the spring so there are mountains of "snow" you can play on when you are no longer in winter weather. My eldest has had many a fun time on it when the goal of the outing was to actually visit the park next-door to the rink :) That pile is HUGE though! Such fun!
I do like reading Grace's posts. It reminds me of the days when I had 4 kids ages 4 and under.
DeleteGood for you, letting your kids "help" when they are little. When they are older, they may not (probably won't) LIKE to help, but they'll know how and won't put up much fuss, as it will be routine.
I have seen the zamboni dumping the "snow" before! Those piles would be so much fun! Especially when it's warmer outside.
I just remembered and wish I'd of added to my post today ..... I was watching this comedy show out of Montreal the other night on TV and for an hour I was in stitches. Every comedian was hilarious. The host of the show was Whitney Cummings. Such a funny woman!
ReplyDeleteAs for the snow ..... let it melt, let it melt, let it melt..... PLEASE let it melt :)
Don't you just love it when a comedy show actually lives up to its name of comedy and leaves your stomach hurting from laughing so hard?
DeleteI really, really want it to warm up. I'm thinking just about everyone is tired of it by now. Even in our church bulletin, there was a blurb, "Whoever has been praying for snow, please stop now!"
Oh how I loved that video! I commented that whenever I'm asked that question I answer 'Harder than I have my entire life.' Because it's the truth! Thanks for sharing that! And thank you ever so much for sharing boogers. I knew that was going to be the answer at the end but had to finish it anyway. Just....yuk! How did you not at least gag a little? I know I do when I catch my 6 year old with his finger in his nose!
ReplyDeleteThat is a serious snow mountain but I bet they had fun! I am very sure that you are sick of the snow. I hope it ends very, very soon.
I love your answer to Buttercup about your "pajamas". That is classic!
Isn't Grace a hoot?! Good answer to the question. It is nothing but truth.
DeleteYou knew!?! I was not expecting the boogers answer at all. Even though I know plenty of kids who do it, it's just too gross to contemplate.
So, so sick of the snow.
Thanks!
…very long driveway!
ReplyDeletethe thing about driveways, is the that while you can ignore (or do a partial job) on a deck or a porch, the drive totally has to be passable. A sign that we are getting tired of the snow here is that this last storm, we decided to drive up and down as much of the driveway as possible, thereby decreasing the amount of snow that has to me shoveled.
soon… the calendar says so
Ha! We didn't even bother shoveling/snow blowing a flake after this last bout. 5 inches just doesn't even sound like much anymore. Although, the grooves in the drive where we've driven say otherwise. The warm temps better come soon, or we're going to get stuck.
DeleteI know! Buttercup's birthday is in March, and her birthday is only 2 weeks away. Soon...
Wow, your kids are absolutely adorable! I can't believe how much snow we've had this winter, we (in NJ) have at least 18 inches on the sides of our driveway and walkways, and we're going to get another storm tonight. What a crazy winter.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I hear you about the library books, same thing happens here :)
Why thank you! I think they're pretty cute myself. :)
DeleteThe winter has been unbelievable. I can't get over how much snow and freezing cold temperatures we've had.
I'm glad to hear about your library woes. Not because I want you to go broke from library fines, but that I'm not the only one who has this happen.
Not sure I could've...no make that I know I wouldn't have been to deal with your poop-filled day on Thursday! YOUZA!!!
ReplyDeletePJ's vs. Sweats...INDEED!!! LOL!
The sucker/moustache Valentines....SO FUN!!!!
WOW!!! That's a LOT of snow!!!
Gee...this comment sure contains a LOT OF CAPITALS!!! i'll stop now.
have a good week!!! ;)
I wouldn't have guessed I could make it through Thursday without breaking down. You never know until you try! :)
DeleteIndeed!
Way, way too much snow.
Hahaha! As I read the comment, I was thinking, "Wow, Diane is quite excited today, using all those caps." I really did!
Thanks!
PHOENIX IS OVER SIX FEET TALL??? Are you serious? Or was that a joke? either way, that's a shit-ton of snow!!!
ReplyDeletealso this made me giggle cuz it's SO the same thing here: "when at home they are called pajamas. When I go to volleyball, they are called sweats" LMAO
No, he really is. In 7th grade he started growing at a quick pace, and has yet to slow down. His feet are size 13, so we're expecting pretty tall. And yes, it's a ridiculous amount of snow.
DeleteI don't know how she couldn't see the difference. :)
We ended up with about 20 inches. And no school again. Oh, and it's supposed to snow tomorrow. I'm not excited. However, we did go sledding, and built a snowman and that was awesome. Except that I was the one who was hit in the face with a snowball. Again.
ReplyDeleteI love your idea for the Valentine's party! I'm totally stealing that next year! (wait, is that okay??)
THAT is a lot of snow at one time. It did look like Tucker had a lot of fun in all of it. Did you cry when you got hit?
DeleteSteal away!
boogers in the car - ACK! have to laugh. I feel bad for everyone who's been inundated with toilet paper, er, I mean snow. You certainly are blessed with much to laugh about!
ReplyDeleteAck, indeed!
DeleteI am blessed, and thank God every single day.
Did I miss something, because in that picture of Cuckoo "shoveling" the walk, it looks like ALL HIS BEAUTIFUL CURLS HAVE BEEN SHORN OFF! Say it ain't so!
ReplyDeleteThat is one big pile o' snow. Makes our piles look rather pitiful. But that's okay. You keep all that snow up there. Just send me enough for an occasional snow day.
I was always the kid who caught the snowball in the face, snow inside the neck of my coat, crying.
I do hope you went to Walmart after volleyball in your pj pants, I mean, sweats....
Yes, his curls are gone for now. Every day, he would push his hair away and say, "I NEED a haircut!" The cowlicks got out of hand, and as much as I loved them, it was time.
DeleteYou sure? I can box some up for you!
I got plenty of snow down the neck of my coat, but I don't remember crying. You wimp. :)
Ha! Never!
TOTAL wimp.
DeleteYour kids are too cute and funny. I love that you all are finding ways to cope. I would not be too happy dealing with all of that snow myself. That big snow hill looks like it was so much fun for them to play on!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteIt is a fun hill, and we've played on a couple more since. What's not to like about a snow mountain? Well, besides the cold and wet. :)