The Attack of the Cookie Dough

What do you get when you don't read a cookie recipe all the way through before you start mixing the ingredients?

This:




Crap. How am I going to get all of this into the mixer?



Well, obviously I'm not but I can try until it looks like this and then I'll have to - ugh - mix it by hand.



That sure is a lot of cookie dough. It was like a scene from The Blob with cookie dough spilling out all over the place. But I was willing to take one for the team and ate the cookie dough that spilled over. ;)



But it sure was a mess. I couldn't clean as I go because I was in a battle with that dough. I really needed an industrial sized bowl but had to do with what I had in the kitchen which wasn't much.



But you know the really bad thing is? I had made this mistake before and had noted on the bottom of the recipe that I should half it before making them again.

Can you say blonde moment? :)

Scenes From The Farm

A few scenes from the farm.





Awwwww, puppy, puppy, puppy...

Stupid Kids

Stupid kids.

Sometimes you see kids do stupid things that are just kid stupid things. But it looks fun - if you're a kid and don't know any better. You're sure that you did something equally stupid when you were their age. Like climbing out of your bedroom window onto the front porch. Not that I did that or anything.

And if you see them doing the stupid-but-not-too-dangerous-thing, you don't want to necessarily stop them. Because what their doing is not that dangerous and you should let you kids do some stupid things so the can learn to make wise choices. Or not.

And, if you're lucky enough, you actually catch them doing it AND you actually have your camera handy. Such was the case on Thanksgiving at Sheldon's house.

Sheldon's dad built a swing on this branch of this big ol' tree. It's super fun and super fast and I know that the kids will have fun for years on it playing the "underdog."

Yes. They have named their game.

And this game requires at least two kids to play it properly.

STEP 1: The kid on the ground pulls the first kid back as far as they can.



Unfortunately, the kid on the ground sometimes has her work cut out for her when the kid in the swing weighs 20 pounds more than she does and the kid in the swing doesn't care and just tells her to suck it up and deal with it. PULL!



STEP 2: The kid on the ground (who has somehow managed to pull herself up off of the ground) runs as fast as she can in the other direction.



STEP 3: Here's where the stupid part comes in - in case you haven't figured it out yet. The kid on the ground releases the kid on the swing...much to the kid on the swing's delight. Wheeeeeee...



Anyone see the problem yet?



I'm pretty sure that kid on the swing is starting to realize the problem. If not, see step 4 below.



STEP 4: The kid on the swing suddenly realizes the problem as evidenced by said kid on the swing's face.



The whole point of this game is to swing but these kids know that inevitibly they will slam into the tree. And yet they do it anyway. Stupid kids.

But even though they're being stupid kids (and I mean that in the nicest way possible), I'm glad that they have this big ol' tree and swing to play on because it will be lots of fun in the years to come.

And that is the whole point in life for a kid. To be a stupid kid. To have fun. And, most importantly, to survive it. :)

I Can't Drive 55 - Part 3

What is it about the little electric cars that the kids just love?

Susan and Wilson have the perfect property for the kids to drive the jeep and drive it they do. Unfortunately, there is just one jeep and four kids.

But...move over jeep. There's a new hummer in town courtesy of Nanny and Poppa. They were the favorites of the grandchildren. That pork chop lasted for at least five minutes. Until the kids got the keys to the cars.

Then they were off. It didn't matter one iota that it was 30 degrees outside.

They were busy chasing each other.




And, once Mary Mayken found a way to get outside with them, she was NOT going to be left out. She "wanna ride" and ride she did. :)



Every once in a while, one of them would get their feelings hurt because the other one would ride off from them. And by "one of them"...I mean Owen.



Or maybe that was when he got himself stuck in the corner of the fence and couldn't get out and I had to push him out. Right after I got my picture, of course. Because I'm an awesome mom like that.

And this last picture reminds me of when I was a teenager and riding around talking to my other friends who were out cruising Belvidere Plaza or the Mall. But these pictures look more like the wheat fields that kids use to meet in. Of course, I wasn't one of those kids. :p

And, yes. I grew up in a small town. And yes...this picture is probably a foreshadowing.



Oh man. I wish that driving a car was still this much fun and not a means to an end or a way to complete a chore. I love that they are still little enough to drive these cars - and have fun doing it!

Scenes From Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas to all!



And yes...those were gangsta signs Owen was throwing at the end. Meh.

Highlights from our Christmas so far:

+ Ken wrapping all of the presents last night since I was in bed all day with a stomach virus. He also took Shane to tennis, cleaned up the house and prepared the tree for Santa. And did a good job!

+ Owen had to be woken up at 7:00. At first, I thought that he snuck downstairs because he was so far buried in the covers I couldn't find him. Shane had been awake since 4. He was also the last one asleep, visiting us at least twice to tell us something.

+ Shane and Owen's big present from Santa was a trampoline. Any bets on how long it will be to put it up? Be kind.

+ Shane's big presents were a electric circuit board.

+ Owen's big present was a huge R2D2.



Here's Shane and Owen opening up presents from Nanny and Poppa. Joan and Darrel were here when they opened theirs (an iCoaster for Shane and Mario stuff for Owen (is there anything else?!)



I guess that Owen's not the only one who misprounces things. Every once in and while, Shane will come out with a doozy. Glad that we captured this on camera. :)

With all of these new presents, what do you think that they've been playing with? Their 3.99 Bakugan toys. Yep.

Figures. :)

You Know You've Done It Too

You know that you've done it to at one point or the other so don't laugh at me when I report my latest blond moment.

And, yes...there do seem to be a lot of those. But, in my defense, most people do them too. They just turn around, whistle and pretend that it never happened. I just happen to find them funny. And life is all about being real. Right?

So, anyway, I was so proud that I actually got out Christmas cards this year. Patting myself on the back at a job well done.

Maybe I shouldn't have done that.

Ken brought in the mail the other day. He was laughing and handed me a card.

It was a card that I sent to one of my friends. It had all of the pertinent information on it except her address.

Oops.

But in my defense (because I always have a defense!), I had a few cards set aside that I needed to get the addresses. In an effort to help, Ken sealed the envelopes (how smart am I to sluff that job?!) and must have just grabbed the few that I had set aside by accident.

Yeah. That's what happened and that's what I'm going with.

Anyway, a few more came back. One to Jeff and Marcie. At an old address. I think that I remember them moving now. Because their last Christmas card bounced too. To the same address I'm pretty sure.

Oops.

And...this was the same Jeff and Marcie that my in-laws got their card a few years ago instead of getting the correct one. It would be Jeff and Marcie though. I guess they will haunt me forever.

I wonder where they went anyway. I do miss them.

So...how many of you had returned cards this year? Be honest. It can not just be me. Although, it's a Christmas tradition now.

One that I could do without. lol.

Love Those Goofy Faces!

I love taking pictures of kids.

Mostly I love taking the unposed pictures where they have no idea that you're taking them. Or they don't care.

The posed pictures are absolutely the hardest to take. So, I usually ask them to do a goofy faced shot. It looses them up when they start to whine about getting their pictures made.

Shane and Owen have gotten quite good at them. Sheldon is learning. Mary Mayken is, well, Mary Mayken.



And, I've started doing this with grown ups too. They give even better faces that the kids.



Here's a few others from the same photo shoot.



Such angels. Looks can be deceiving, don't you know?




I didn't order up a goofy face. Owen just can't help himself. It's his current smile. :)



Here are Sheldon and Mary Mayken with both of their grandfathers. Even though the men aren't looking at the camera, I love this picture because the grandfathers are both looking at the girls - right where their focus should be.



So next time you're taking pictures, ask your subject to give you a goofy face. You may be pleasantly surprised at what you get.

You're Wearing WHAT To School?

I love it when Owen uses the wrong word for something and continues to use it unaware that he is using the incorrect word. Like when he says "caterpitter" or "psghetti".

Shane rarely uses a word incorrectly anymore and quickly corrects Owen in a "I'm so smart and you're such a dumb little brother" way when Owen says these cute things.

Ken also corrects him.

Thanks, Mr. Webster, for taking the last bit of cuteness and innocence away from me. I appreciate it. :(

Anyway, this week is spirit week at the kids school. Today is dress in your jammies day so we were busy discussing which one of the 20 pairs of Mario pj's Owen should wear.

Owen: "Don't forget my flippers mom. We're allowed to wear our flippers to school."

I thought I was going to spit out my drink.

SHANE: "Mr. Freeman said that we're not allowed to wear SLIPPERS to school, Owen. Weren't you listening to the announcements?"

Of course this was done in a "I'm cool...you drool" way. And nevermind the fact that everytime I ask Shane what was said on announcements, he can't tell me one thing.

ME: "Shane, be quiet. Owen, what are you talking about?" (Honestly, I just wanted to hear him call them flippers again.)

OWEN: (Responds to both Shane and I at the same time in a screeching defensive way.) "UH-HUH, SHANE! I can so wear my flippers. Mrs. Sellman said so."

SHANE: NO YOU CAN'T, OWEN! And they're slippers, not flippers.

OWEN: YES I CAN, SHANE! They're flippers.

And, so the argument goes on.

I decided to end the argument because I have already read the note from Owen's teacher that it's okay to wear the flippers so I interject to knock Shane off of his high horse. Or so I think.

Not missing a beat, he responds that Mrs. Sellman is wrong not him.

Kids...gotta love them.

Then Ken corrected him on flippers. :(

And the best thing about Owen using the wrong words? He will defend himself to the death that he is right.

Until he figures out that he is in fact wrong. Then he will change course, defend that equally as vigorously and then emphatically deny that he ever said the wrong word in the first place.

He's so funny. And predictable.

And so am I. Here are they are ready to go to school. I think that I like pajama day at school tho. It was much easier to get them out the door!



With his flippers. Which are now slippers. Thanks, Ken and Shane!

Munchkins

I was going through my photobucket account today and ran across this video that Ken made with the kids.



Dorks.

Cousins

I love that Shane and Owen like to go to Sheldon's house and play. They have the perfect house for kids. They can play outside all day long without me having to worry about someone snatching them. The only thing that you have to worry about is the horses and them stepping in a pile of horse poop.

And, let's face it. They're boys so they probably wouldn't even notice if the later happened. lol.

I took some pictures of them during Thanksgiving. And by "some", I mean that they were bargaining with me to stop taking pictures. Here are a few of my favorites.



You're right, Shane. Sheldon isn't taller than you. :p



Yes, Mary Mayken. They are weird. But, you will be one of them one day too. I'm sorry but it's true.



One of my favorites. They're trying to figure out how to get past the horses to get into the barn to play in the cool loft.






So by the end of the afternoon, I think that the last deal we made was that they would let me take their picture together if I took Mary Mayken back to the house.



So Mary Mayken and I headed back to the house right after that. A deal is a deal afterall. I'm sure that she will work it out with her therapist when she's an adult. :o)

But until then, I will continue to take as many pictures of these little cuties as possible.

Invitation to Join My Pity Party

So, whose corn flakes did I pee in to deserve all of this? (Well, there is probably a long list of people who I have made mad in the past but we'll just pretend that there's no one on this list, m'kay?)

Seriously. My back is killing me. I haven't done laundry in a week and it's piled up. I finally had to do some today because Shane came into my room this morning and said that he didn't have any clean undies. Oops.

Not even those pair that he wears as a last resort. (Yes...even 9 year olds have those last resort undies.) So, I'm doing laundry now.

You may have noticed that my blog has been lacking pics lately. Well, that's because the external hard drive that held all of my pictures crashed and burned. For those that know me know that this is catastrophic. Awful. Ugh.

But don't worry, mom. I still have the Thanksgiving pictures on my camera. But I don't have the heritage pictures, the Disney pictures or any other pictures that you can think of.

Every now and then I'll think about something and then I'll get all sad because THOSE were the pictures that I lost and haven't scrapbooked so they're gone. Ugh.

I had all of these witty posts planned for Christmas and well, now you're suffering too because you'll not get to read those posts because the pictures that accompany the post are gone. And well, without the pictures, it's just not as funny. :*(

But this is all okay because 1) I have been blogging so I do have some pictures that I can save. 2) I did upload some pictures to my costco pictures before everything burned so it's not all lost. 3) I have scrapbooks so my memories aren't all gone. Just my pictures.

And, it could be worse. We have our health (except for my stupid back) and a house and a job. So, all isn't lost. I'm just giving myself a pity party and I'm forcing you all to attend. LOL.

So, feel free to add your own pity party to the comments. Misery loves company and complaining does make you feel better. :)

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Owen and I were snuggling in bed yesterday. Okay, I wasn't really snuggling. Owen was. Sort of. More like using me as a trampoline. I was laying on a heating pad with a pulled back muscle, wishing that Owen would stop moving and jostling me. Stop moving = move as much as possible to Owen.

Anyway, so, out of the blue, he asks why my boobs hang down to there. Then he pokes me to make his point. Sighing, and twisting in pain, I start to explain to him why my boobs hang down to there but I decided it wasn't worth the effort so I just said "because" and left it at that.

Sigh. Out of the mouths of babes.

The Unintentional Gotcha

Once in a while I'll video tape the kids doing stuff and not realize what really happened until I go back and look at it. Those are the best videos!

Listen carefully at the end to Mary Mayken and Wilson's exchange. Ken and I were rolling laughing. Too funny.



Evidentially, Mary Mayken thinks that she's in charge. But I guess that Wilson showed her because he never fell down. LOL.

The Spelling Gene Strikes Again

Bless his heart.

Owen is really working hard at his spelling but genetics have a funny way of showing up when you least expect it. He's got an uphill battle in the spelling area for sure.

Owen has spelling words every week and this week his words consist of words that end in -ish, -ash and -ush. So we're going through his spelling words and I asked him to spell 'flush' and he spells it 'f-u-s-h.'

I corrected him and asked him to say the word first and then spell it.

He gets really belligerent (imagine that!) and says emphatically "F-U-S-H mom. Get it? It's right."

Kim: No, Owen's it's not. You're missing something.

Owen: FU mom. F-U. Okay? THAT IS RIGHT!

Of course, I revert to a 12 year old and start giggling because my six year old has just told me FU and doesn't have a clue what he said.

He just continues in his argument and I decide to let it go because I've lost the argument anyway. It's like arguing with myself. Sheesh.

Don't Hold Your Breath!

There are a few of my unnamed friends *ahem* who are organized and on the ball and have already sent out their Christmas cards and wrapped their presents. You know who you are. I'd like to be organized and efficient.

But I just don't happen to be one of those people. I'm a juggler and those balls almost reach the floor before I scoop down and throw it as high as I can into the air.

So, don't hold your breath and this isn't a contract that is legally binding, but I *may* actually get Christmas cards sent out this year.

*May* being the operative words.

Since I'm a list maker, I'll give you a glimpse into the process:

- November 1 - Contemplate whether I can get away without sending Christmas cards for two years in a row and determine if I don't send them for two years in a row, I'm off the hook forever.

- November 5 - Contemplate whether I should actually write a Christmas letter this year. After all, I still have the Christmas paper that I bought to write letters from FOUR years ago.

- November 15 - Still contemplating whether to send cards or not. But only because I'm at Costco picking up some other pictures and see the Christmas cards and start feeling guilty.

Especially because I sent Joan and Darrel a Christmas card a few years ago that I meant to send to Marcie and Jeff. You know...I always wondered why Marcie and Jeff never responded to my long note on the back. I wonder who got Joan and Darrel's card that year!

- November 25 - Wonder to myself who I'm trying to fool thinking that I'm going to send Christmas letters. Ha. Those letters just aren't going to happen. Again this year. The paper will be in the same place next year. It's only a little yellow.

- November 25 - Blow off sarcastic question from Ken as to whether we're going to send out cards or not. Well, it was only 1/2 sarcastic. There was some truth to his question.

- December 1 - Have another conversation with Ken who flat out asks me if I'm sending cards this year or not. He won't let me out of the conversation without making me feel guilty that even Ken noticed that I didn't send out cards last year.

Nevermind that last year I was planning a trip to Disney, working like crazy and planning the school's Pancake Breakfast fundraiser.

- December 7 - Collapse from running the Pancake Breakfast at the kids school this year (which I swore last year that I wasn't doing again) and decide that I should *probably* send out cards this year.

So I go onto Costco.com to find a decent picture that was uploaded before our computer crashed and lost all my pictures and design the card. I make a mental note that I will pick it up on Monday and tell Ken emphatically that they WILL go out by Friday.

So Monday comes and goes and I just didn't make it there.

So, if I don't get them out by Friday, I still have next week.

And, if I don't get them out before Christmas, they'll be Happy New Years cards!

Surely I can't be the only one who scrambles to get everything done before Christmas.

I may lose my sanity this year, but I WILL get cards out before Christmas.

Or, at least I'll try to!

Comics Are For Everyone!

It's so funny how comics can capture a snapshot of your life in three or four little frames.

We know that I love comics.

We know that Shane loves comics.

Now you know that Ken loves them too.

He came home and asked me if I saw the Blondie strip today. When I said no, he said that I really needed to read it.

Sighing heavily, he said that he and Dagwood were like one person and he totally gets him. {Click to enlarge the strip.}



And now, through the power of the comics, you have a glimpse into our daily dinner conversations courtesy of Blondie.

Except, I'm much sneakier than Blondie. I would never tell Ken I used tofu instead of meat.

Blondie's a novice. ;)

PS - No, Ken. Before you ask, I've never substituted tofu for anything. ;)

It's Inevitible

When you're potty training, it's inevitible that you're going to have an accident. It's going to happen. Count on it to happen at the worst possible moment too.



But that's okay because there's always another day. And we're still proud of ourselves and want to show off our Wiggles undies.




Okay, so these pictures are a few years old but they still make me laugh. I wasn't planning on blogging about potty training but came across the pictures and got a good giggle out of them and wanted you to also.

I think that Ken is in the background of one of the pictures washing Owen's sweat pants. I'm quite certain that he wasn't amused at me taking pictures. lol

What A Morning

Yesterday morning was a fun. It's awesome to have such a great start to the day.

I went to start the car and came back inside to find Shane with a bloody face and Owen with a huge red mark on the side of his face. They were both mad and started telling (ie - yelling at me) about what the other one did.

I never did figure out what the fight was about. I didn't care really. As Bill Cosby would say...I just wanted peace and for them to stop yelling.

They got a good talking to (much like the ones that my mom use to give to Susan and me I'm sure) and lost their video games all week.

And - the worst part - they had to hug and say they're sorry and they love each other. I know that was the worst part for me when I fought with Susan. I pulled that right out of the bag of mom tricks. Hope you don't mind, Ginny!

I can see my future. And it's not pretty. I've never seen them fight like that before. Ugh.

Pancakes! Pancakes!

In our household, we have pancakes on the brain these days.

Shane has learned how to make pancakes and now wants to make pancakes and bacon for breakfast every weekend. Hey...more power to him I say.

He's got the cooking part down.

Now he just needs to get the cleaning up part down too and we'll be all set.

I've got pancakes on my mind these days too. Because I'm a stay-at-home-sucker whose mouth said yes when her brain said no, so I'm coordinating the kids school Pancake Breakfast fundraiser this Saturday.

To say that I'm a little crazy this week (okay, crazier than normal) is an understatement.

But...we all know that if I weren't doing 1 million things at once, I would be bored out of my mind.

And that would be worse.

Apparently, Owen has pancakes on his mind these days too. Check out the book that he checked out from the library today.

Pancakes! Pancakes! by Eric Carle.



Now that's an appropriate book for children!

I Agree!

Yes, Shane. I agree with you totally.



You absolutely do rock!*













*This picture taken in Pittsburg in August 2006.

Powder of Tartar...Err...Or My Most Recent Blond Moment

Who knew that this:



didn't equal this:



Apparently everyone else but me.

Sadly enough, even Ken knew it.

So in a truly blond moment, I bought tartar sauce for Ken to make his butterscotch meringue pie thinking that it was cream of tartar.

Stop laughing. Because I know you are.

I should interject here that I've never made a meringue pie (and I don't eat them really either) so I have no clue what the ingredients should go into them.

And in my defense, I've never even used cream of tartar. Ever. In any recipe or with any food.

So when I went scouring the isles at the grocery store, dizzy from the crowds of Thanksgiving shoppers, I was looking for Cream of Tartar. As soon as I saw the Tartar Sauce, I figured that was what I was looking for, patted myself on the back for finding it and got the heck out of there. (It was creamy!)

Afterall, I was looking for Cream of Tartar NOT Powder of Tartar.

As soon as Ken saw it, he started laughing and googled what I was suppose to buy to show me what Cream of Tartar was.

And when I returned the Cream of Tartar to the store, the manager got a good laugh too. (Ken also got a good laugh that I would actually return the Cream of Tartarm instead of just keeping it to ward off further embarrassment.)

And when my mom got into town, Ken made sure he told her also.

And then she got a good laugh too.

And now you, my dear two readers, can also get a good laugh at my most recent blond moment.

But, I really think that we should start a petition to have the name Cream of Tartar changed to Powder of Tartar.

Although, if it were named Powder of Tartar, we wouldn't have this awesome story to remind us of Thanksgiving 2008 and how I am truly meant to be a blond!

The Apple Don't Fall Far From The Tree

Apparently, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree as I'm finding out. I was cleaning out some things this weekend and ran across this comic strip. It got me to giggling and thinking that there are two things going on in this old Nancy comic strip from 1991 that make me giggle.

1. My mother cut it out for me. I guess now we know where I get my love of comic strips and cutting them out comes from.

2. I am getting the ultimate payback because I have three messy boys that I live with. Yes. I said three. Because Ken definitely counts as one of them!



I guess that this post is for my mom really. Because now she can kick back and laugh as my kids put me through what she went through. And, it's all thanks to a little comic strip that she cut out so many years ago and gave to me.

She obviously saw something in it that reminded her of me. ;)

Testing Their Instincts

Today was like most Sundays. I was busy doing chores dealing with the kids. Ken was preparing for football madness and also helping with the chores and kids. Owen was being...well, Owen. And Shane was outside playing with Rachel. Never mind that it was 45 degrees.

I got a call from Scott (Rachel's dad) warning me that there was a sales person walking around the neighborhood. Score one for good neighbors!

Scott was leaving (with his older daughter in charge of Rachel) but he also wanted to warn me to keep a good eye out on the kids because they were in the cul-de-sac and the sales people were giving him bad vibes. So, I kept an eye on them (peeping through the curtains of course because I didn't want to deal with sales people either).

About three minutes later, Shane and Rachel came inside saying that they were getting weird vibes from the sales people and they wanted to get away from the situation.

That makes me really happy because they recognized a potentially bad situation and exited out of it. You always hope that you give your kids the tools that they need to survive and listening to your instincts is definitely one of those skills.

And those two passed this test with flying colors.

The Sneaky Mom Rides Again

As a mom of two school age children, it is a constant battle (and I do mean constant!) to get them to eat healthy. Okay, I battle with their dad too but he's pretty much a lost cause.

So I have been at war for quite a while now but I haven't been blogging about it much because I don't want to tip off their dad because 1) he's also a target and 2) he'll rat me out to the kids.

But, this time is different. This cake recipe that I made is just so good that I have to share it with you all. This has a seal of approval from my mom, my dad (who thinks that a vegetable is french fries), my kids and, yes, even Ken.

It is a modified version of a cake that my sister made with the bad, but oh-so-yummy white flour. I changed some of the other ingredients too.

Mom's (that's me) Sneaky Cake

2 cups of sugar
2 cups of whole wheat flour (I use King Arthurs 100% Whole Wheat Flour)
1 tbl. baking powder
1/4 cup flax seed, ground
3 eggs
1 (individual) cup of unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
2 small jars of apple/blueberry babyfood

topping:
1 cup of powdered sugar
1 tbl. lemon juice
milk to thin out the frosting

Mix all of the cake ingredients together and pour into a (sprayed) bundt pan and bake it at 325 for about an hour.

I suppose that you could mix the dry ingredients first, add the blah, blah, blah, but that's not how I roll. Just throw it all into a bowl and mix, high fiving yourself the whole time because you know that they are going to happily eat something healthy without the battle!

For the frosting, add the lemon juice to the powdered sugar. If it's not thin enough, add a tiny amount of milk. Just use your spoon to drizzle it over the cake after you take it out the oven.

Note that you could use 1 cup of oil in place of the applesauce and I'm not sure that the baking soda actually does anything. You could also probably get away with more flax seed than the 1/4 that I used. I'll be gradually adding more in until I get in as much as I can get away with. Because I'm sneaky like that. ;)

Note the cake is on my fine china cake platter. Yes. It's that good!



So, there you go. If you make it, let me know how it turns out. Most of all, enjoy it battle free!

An Open Note To Owen

Dear Owen,

If you are going to sneak candy, you should probably not leave any evidence that it was you. But, that's okay. Because, as your mom and warden, I appreciate you letting me know what you're doing.

Love,

Mom

P.S. Maybe Aunt Susan can give you some hints on hiding things from your mom and dad. On second thought, scratch that. Don't talk to Aunt Susan. Keep doing what you're doing.

P.S.S. I know. I know. You didn't do it. It wasn't you. But, that is your potatoe head. And it is sitting beside the candy. And there were empty wrappers left on the table. Okay. Maybe it wasn't you.