The Harmonica

We have a harmonica in our house. I hate this harmonica. Ryan had it hidden on top of the refrigerator and Everest has been asking where it is. We finally relented and now there is a bit of a screaming match going on between who gets the harmonica. We don't have arguments in our house due to #2's language. We have screams and whines, which is totally fun and enjoyable on Saturday mornings. By the way, why do my kids wake up early on the weekends and we have to drag their little asses out of bed on weekdays? Today Ryan's mom and sister are coming down to babysit so that we can actually get some much needed Christmas shopping done. We are actually going to go out to dinner together (gasp!)! Last night I got home a bit early from work, we packed up the kid's pajamas and we picked Everest up from school and then Kingston. We told Everest we had a lot of surprises for them. First surprise, McDonalds. Second surprise, we let them play in the play area at McDonalds. I detest play areas (almost as much as harmonicas). We then got into the car and I told Everest to take off his drawers. He looked at me like I was nuts and then got a huge smile on his face when I pulled out his jammers. He started to put on his pajamas and then Kingston got a huge smile on his face. They didn't know what we were doing but the change in routine made them excited. We even changed a diaper in the carseat. Impressive but not nearly as impressive as changing diapers in some of the places we changed them in China. We got onto the highway and I pulled out treats. We had happy boys in the backseat. We went and took a drive through the Christmas lights on Lake Monona and then let the kids stay up way too late pillow fighting in Kingston's room. They were not in the living room so Ryan and I were quite fine with it. Our house is starting to achieve some sort of order. Having Ryan off on Fridays helps. The painter came Thursday and Friday and did our bedroom and basement. I love our basement. I want to live in our basement. I feel like I am living in a grown up house. We are starting to make it our own and starting to get rid of the aqua, red, yellow and turquoise colors that our home's former tenants enjoyed. I'm not going to lie, our house still has about twenty cheerios on the kitchen floor. Some of which Kingston ate last night. Oooops. And we still have piles of laundry but I guess this is our new normal for awhile. In about one hour, Granny Margy and Auntie Trina will be walking through our front door. We will leave them with the harmonica playing children. In fact, Granny Margy gave Ryan the harmonica for Christmas one year....bad idea Granny Margy, bad idea.

I was going through videos of China and came across this one. Looks fun, doesn't it?