fun times...

Cailey and Braden have gone through 'bathroom' phases that usually ended in some kind of mess. They've also all been caught 'red handed' several times with sneaking treats...but NOTHING like little Miss Kinsey lately!

Cailey: The main bathroom memories that stand out to me involving Cailey are the time she fed her friend, Rebecca, deoderant when they were two (Yes, Rebecca did eat it but she is a healthy six year old today:) and just messing around with the toothpaste. We were SHOCKED with the whole deoderant thing, but Cailey didn't really have the opportunity to get into a lot of things because I was ALWAYS with her. (Guess that's what happens with the firstborn.)

As for the goodies, Brian's favorite memory was when he worked for a company here in Raleigh and was paid hourly. It paid the bills, but was pretty hard on him. He'd go to work, come home for dinner and bedtime routine with Cailey, then head back to work until 12:00am or later. One night he came home (at midnight while I was sleeping) to find Cailey sitting on the floor in front of the TV amoire with EVERY VHS and DVD pulled out and sprinkles all over the floor. Apparently the only thing she could open in the pantry was the sprinkles. She was so proud of herself until she heard, "CAILEY ANNE BARBOUR". We still like to laugh about that!

Braden: He went through the bathroom phase too and usually just opened up things and poured/dumped them out. Don't get me wrong, it was frustrating, but not dangerous. The worst one with him involved toilet paper and lotion...enough said:).

Anyone who knows us well knows that our oldest two have had food issues over the years. Well, when Braden was two he opened the oven and took some baked shells out of the baking dish that was BAKING and ate them. HELLO!!! I had no idea until I went to get it out of the oven and was totally confused. I knew some were missing but couldn't figure it out until I asked Cailey about it. She said she didn't eat them and then I turned and looked at Braden who willingly admitted that he did it. He said he was hungry. OH MY WORD!! I'm SO thankful that he didn't get burned and thankful that he definitely won't ever be doing it again. He learned a hard but good lesson that day.

This brings me to the reason I'm doing this post. Kinsey, Kinsey, Kinsey. Lately she's been getting herself into trouble while we are doing school. Everything she's doing is totally normal and the other kids did similar things but ENOUGH ALREADY!!! My sweet little Kinsey isn't learning the first or second OR THIRD time around:).

Last week (when we were still doing school downstairs) she came down and asked for a snack. She said she wanted cereal. I said ok and then looked up and noticed she had brown stuff around her mouth. I asked her what she ate...her typical answer is, "I do nofin wrong". Ok...so I told her to come over and immediately smelled peanut butter on her breath. OH NO! It suddenly hit me that I had bought Reece cups for Halloween and put the bag in my room. (They were in a bag with toothpaste and shampoo and I just totally forgot to put the stuff away). I told Cailey to run up and see how many she ate. I expected Cailey to say one (and that the other one in the pack was still there). Cailey said, "Ummm...Mommy.....I think you should come here." Great. NOT what you want to hear. So I ran upstairs and found ALL TEN Reece cups gone. Five packs. 10!!! The brown papers were all over my bed, our cedar chest and the floor...along with smushed peanut butter bits in the carpet. Oh...and HALF the tube of toothpaste was missing! I never did find where it went and she said she didn't eat it. She only came down because she wanted a SNACK!!! I couldn't BELIEVE she was asking for a snack after all that! Let's just say that she didn't get a snack. And no...she never got sick.

Fast forward to THE NEXT DAY. Now she DID get in big trouble for the day before but CLEARLY didn't learn her lesson about staying out of our room because when it was time for her to come down I looked up and saw mascara all over her face. I must have not been thinking straight because I didn't take a picture:) but once again I said, "Kinsey, what did you touch?". Her response, "I did nofin wrong. Not me. Nofin". Kinsey, Kinsey, Kinsey. I took her to the mirror and showed it to her. "Oh....dat... I sowwy I not do it gin" (I'm sorry, I won't do it again). I REALLY don't want to have to lock our door. I want her to just learn NOT to go in there and to obey us.

The next day we did school upstairs in our new homeschool room. Kinsey's room is RIGHT BESIDE the homeschool room. I left our door open and closed hers while she was playing. I really thought I'd hear the door if it opened. WRONG. Cailey went out to get something and said, "Mommy, Kinsey just came out of your room." UGH!! I called her in and once again asked her what she touched. I was pretty frustrated at this point. Oh...and I had an eye infection from my contacts the day before (something I never had before) and was wearing my glasses. Kinsey looks at me with her cute little face and says (in a mouse-like voice) "I toush your contat." What?? WHAT??? You touched my contact?? I was SO proud that she told the truth and ran to see. Sure enough my contacts were opened and had been messed with. I'm guessing (from the eye infection) that she had been messing with them before I put them in.

I know this too shall pass...and all too fast. I'm not wishing this time away. I've already seen how quickly seven years pass by. I just want to keep these funny stories written down so when they look back they can laugh. Cailey already laughs at the 'sprinkle' story and asks us to tell her it over and over. I've learned that kids are resilient....and they want to be just like us. Kinsey always wants to exercise with me, put make up on (which I really don't do a lot), and be with me. Braden always wants to help me..with EVERYTHING. He has such a servant's heart. Cailey wants to grow up TOO fast. She wants to be older, wear deoderant, and shave her legs. I keep telling her that she should enjoy this time because later on these 'grown up' things will be a pain. I love these kids and am so blessed to be able to watch them grow up.