Up the Down Staircase...

...or in other words, Oh, Crap!
Today's mess will not have a picture, for which all readers can be especially grateful. Shortly after taking the kids over to see Grandma Lorna, the kids went downstairs to find Grandpa. Sarah, who unfortunately is not quite old enough to start potty-training, went down with the other kids, but came up shortly thereafter. She played upstairs with me for a few minutes then started back down. I didn't think much of it, but about thirty seconds later, Rich came up and informed me that there was a large brown streak going down the entire staircase and his son wasn't poopy. I followed the trail down to Sarah, who fortunately was being attended to by Greg, then quickly grabbed some cleaning supplies to take care of the other mess.
Sarah had no problem spending her remaining visit clad in a diaper, and fortunately, everything came out of the carpet.

Quoting Ellie

Some of my favorite Ellie quotes that are just too good to forget:

• It's a Wonderful, Wacky Wednesday
• It's a Cleaning Day . . . PARTY ON!
• Just because it's not a toy doesn't mean it's not fun to play with
• (after telling Ellie that the treadmill was only for Grandma to use) Okay, let's play house. You be the baby and I'll be Grandma. I'm going to use the treadmill.
  
• Could I please have some "flexible" noodles for lunch (cooked ramen versus "crunchy noodles," or uncooked ramen)
• We don't talk about the potty unless we are going potty...or if we are saying "Potty ON!"
• Would you like me to shake my booty?
• (from the thirteenth article of faith) Indeed we may say that we follow the Adam-magician of Paul
  

Go Greased Lightning!

Today I promised myself that I would write something absolutely darling that the girls did to show that they are not always rambunctious hooligans, which they aren’t, but I’m afraid that rather than doing something cute or clever, today my little Elle-belle turned her cold cereal into confetti, decided that birthday suits are best, and the coup de grace (or should I say coup de gras) thought it would be a good idea to audition for the cast of “Grease” as one of the T-birds complete with Vaseline-slicked hair. My poor daughter’s scalp is now as red as her hair from all the cornstarch and soap I have used in a failed attempt to de-goop her.

I must blame myself for her hair experiments, though. When I was pregnant with Ellie, I told everyone I was going to name her “Beauticia," and I fear that might have been some bad karma. :)

By the way, it is worth double clicking on the image to get the full effect of the Vaseline!

*Flour Power*

Apparently the old adage “Two heads are better than one” could be rewritten “Two heads are more destructive than one.” Ellie had a partner in crime today, her older sister, Becca.
Since most of our bills are due at the end of the month and today is the 28^th, I thought it would be wise to spend a couple of minutes online to get it taken care of. Apparently I was wrong. While I was working on the laptop in my bedroom the girls were anxiously engaged in a not-so-good cause. In the five minutes it took me to pay the bills, the girls dumped not one, not two, but three bags of flour and a bag of sugar onto the floor. I will admit as I was cleaning it up it really is a lot of fun to play with, but definitely not worth the cleanup effort. As a consequence for their behavior, the girls were forced to take a long, cold shower (their idea of corporeal punishment). Now, however, they have both assured me that it wasn’t worth it, and hopefully we can wait until Christmas to make our next snowman!

Water, Water Everywhere...

I think I must have a mischievous sprite living in my house, because I don't think it is humanly possible for one child to move as quickly as Ellie does. As I was getting Sarah up from her nap, I heard a crash out in the hall, and came out to find the contents of our first aid kit scattered on the floor and Ellie precariously perched atop two stacked chairs. I ran over to the closet, pulled her from her perch and reminded her that medicine is not for little girls. Since it was lunchtime, I sent her downstairs to wait while I cleaned up the contents of the spilled kit.
When I went downstairs, I stepped into a wading pool in my kitchen. A broken bowl and empty sand pail served as the centerpiece to the new water park, and when I asked Ellie why she had dumped water on the floor by the pail-full, she told me that it was to clean up the lemonade she had spilled. Sure enough, half of the floor was covered in water and the other half was a sticky, syrupy mess.
Ellie disappeared while I was cleaning up the water and when I went upstairs, I discovered that my daughter could be a hairstylist for Vogue. Since I don’t own any hair-wax, Ellie figured out an alternative. She found a tube of Neosporin that I had missed in my attempt to clean up the first aid kit, and used the entire contents on her newly cut hair. If anyone is wondering what Neosporin looks like when used as a pomade, here is your answer.

A Cut Above the Rest

I have a feeling much of this blog will be dedicated to our second daughter, Ellie. She is the one who typically keeps us in stitches, and will be most likely to receive the first stitches. The other day Ellie asked Becca to cut her hair. Following which, I trimmed it to make it even. Apparently I didn't trim it enough, though, because Ellie followed my lead and chopped the very front of her hair off. I have fixed it as well as I could, but there is only so much you can do to cover up hair that is only a quarter of an inch long.