That Girl Makes Me Laugh

We have had a week home together after visiting Indianapolis at the beginning of our Christmas break. I meant to write earlier about that visit, but time slipped away from me this week. Tony is blessed with at least 10 days off around Christmas each year and I often find myself sad on this day when the break is almost over. I keep thinking, "Man, I wish I had gotten more accomplished." However, this break has been a pretty good balance of getting things done and having plenty of play time. It's time for the kids to go back to school tomorrow and you can tell that not just by the calendar, but by the fact that they are kind of all done with each other today. It has overall been a very peaceful and fun break though.

Elise has said several really funny things this break and I wanted to share them now so that I can remember them. For Christmas this year she asked for "artsy" things. She has a new loft bed with an "art studio" set up underneath it. The art studio had become a bit of a disaster zone and when I told her she needed to clean it up she said, "Mom, you just don't understand the life of an artist. We need to be surrounded by our materials everywhere." So much drama from such a small artist.

This morning when I couldn't find either of the two brushes I keep in my bathroom, I had a pretty good idea where they might be. Why does one person need two brushes when every other member of the family has their own brush? Because this one person keeps getting her brushes stolen by a certain redhead. I asked that redhead if she had seen either of my brushes. She said "I used one to brush the rug in my room this morning, but I haven't seen it since. You really should come up with somewhere to keep your brushes because you are always losing them." In case you didn't read those pronouns right, after stealing my brush to comb her rug, she told me that I needed to have a better place to keep my brush since I am always losing it.

After my sister in law told us that they are having a hard time coming up with a name for their baby that is due in five weeks, Elise had an idea on the drive home. She said, "What if they just name it 'baby' until it becomes a child and then they could change the name to 'child,' and then to 'teenager' and then to 'adult." I'm sure Katie would have gone for that idea if name changes didn't require so much legal work.

On New Year's Day, Elise woke up and said it was time to go shopping for new 2011 clothes. I told her that her 2010 clothes were just fine, but she told me in China they replace everything at the new year because keeping old things is bad luck. Not sure if this is even true, but I told her "This ain't China, sweetheart."