Pedigreed Housewife World

One of the coolest things in life, no matter how old you are, is watching a magic trick and being completely stupefied as to how it works.   One of the most indulgent things in life, no matter how old you are, is chocolate.   Today I’m combining the two, and using chocolate to demonstrate nature’s great magic trick – phase changes – solids to liquids to gases.   Usually I prep the kids with the ideas we’ll explore the next day before bedtime.   I think that the terminology sinks in a little and the kids have time to start to question things so that we have a more fruitful discussion and experiment the next day.   Last night I was telling Briana before bed that tomorrow we’d be making chocolate lollipops just like her friend Mitchell did for his 3 rd birthday party favors and we’d be looking for how the chocolate can change, based on how hot we make it, from a solid piece of chocolate, to a liquid like hot chocolate, to a gas.   Briana looks up at me an...

I have come to discover that while I was only in labor twice, giving birth to one beautiful girl each time, I actually have 4 kids.   I have Briana and Abigail at home and I have Briana and Abigail away from home – totally different kids.   Ok, not “totally”, but as it relates to listening to me they are quite differently behaved when we are away from home.   That isn’t to say that they are badly behaved when we are out.   They are still very much my wonderful little girls, but apparently excitement overrides my authority when we aren’t at home, especially when it relates to my saying it’s time to go home.   While I want my kids to have a blast on our outings, I worry that their safety will be compromised if they ignore my instructions.   And, to be totally honest with you, I also just hate it when one of my kids is arguing with me or running around crazily while strangers stare disapprovingly at me.   I try to turn a blind eye, and depending on the...

My kids are getting to an age where they are engaged in the television shows that they watch.   They ask questions about what’s going on and act out the stories after I turn the tv off.   They apparently also act them out in school since last week I learned that Briana put on a play wedding dress and married a boy in her class.   On the way home from school as she was detailing her post-marital plans with Brigham, I asked her where she got the idea to wear a wedding dress and get married.   She said “Chloe told me.”   Chloe?   I didn’t recognize that name.   “Is she is Ms. M’s class?” I asked.   “No.   On tv.”   Oh, Chloe’s closet.   A cute little 10 minute show on Sprout that I don’t think we’ve watched more than 3 times in her lifetime.   I guess one of those 3 episodes was about weddings.   Abigail is the same way.   A few days ago she asked me to “turn on tv” and I said no.   She went and got the remote, b...

Briana frequently tells me that she knows a lot about fashion.   Particularly when she doesn’t like my outfit or when I’m wearing my “Ugglies” as she likes to call my Ugg boots.   I have to admit that she does have pretty good fashion sense and most days she picks out cute outfits and accessories for herself and Abby.   The outfits she picks for me are usually really cute too, but most days unwearable because she doesn’t understand sizes yet and I’m too proud to say, “Mommy can’t wear your beautiful outfit because she hasn’t been able to fit into those pants since college.” This week she expanded her usual “I know a lot about fashion” to include “I have a passion for fashion”.   I don’t know if anyone but me remembers an ad for Bratz dolls from about 5 or so years ago that went “Girls with a passion for the fashion mall…Little Bratz”, but that jingle runs through my mind every time I hear her say it. Somehow this week she also got it into her head that she wants ...