Friday Shenanigans

So last week I had posted about our awesome son.  His lively personality helps ensure there is *NEVER* a dull moment at our house...

Yesterday afternoon, he caught me completely off-guard when he asked, "What's inertia?  And is it a property of matter?"

Whoa.

Then a few hours later, he came downstairs with a giant pile of socks that he'd excavated from the bottom of the closet.  He dumped them on the floor, then proceeded to sniff each of them individually and proclaim them either clean or dirty.

I laughed entirely too hard at this activity, but did manage to grab the camera.

In other news, our daughter missed out on a nail painting birthday party last weekend, so she asked me to help her do her nails on Monday evening.  Love that she still likes to do things like this with me...

* * We now interrupt this normal blog post for a mini-rant.  I hate manicures and pedicures.  I don't find them relaxing or fun, I think they're a waste of money AND time, and I am constantly gobsmacked by how much people spend on their nails!  And frankly, I hate that little girls are thinking this is normal to shell out $20+ each week.  I can say with complete certainty that the only manicure party A will ever have would include a basket of supplies from the Dollar Store on our kitchen table.  OK, deep breaths and step away slowly...

On a funny note, we were having a little family chat after dinner last night about how some of the kids' friends are allowed to do different things - specifically stuff like playing M rated video games, watching whatever they want on TV, or staying up late at night.  We told them that we set rules for them because we love them... A shocked me when she said something like, "I think the strict parents are the best."  That is not something that you expect your 9 year old to say.. and while obviously we're not parenting based on their approval (ha!) it was nice to know that she does understand that we love her and those parameters are for their own good.  Kind of wish that I could have recorded the moment so I could play it back to her in the future when she complains that we're too strict ;)

Finally, I share a photo of our living room a/k/a the laundry station.  This is what it looked like 4 minutes before I had a group of ladies arriving for an informal Bible study.  And know what?  I didn't freak out and stash everything in our bedroom.  I knew we'd be sitting around the kitchen table rather than in this room, and I chose to be real.  And know what?  One friend actually told me she loved that I'd left it sitting there, because she felt more comfortable about the piles she had at her house.  Our living room doesn't always look like this (although it has been pretty crazy the past month or so as I've been selling off a ton of unneeded things, and I swear the process of sorting always means it looks 10x worse before it gets better!!) but I'm learning to let people in even when it's not perfect.  Because here's a little secret: *I* am not perfect, and pretending to be is ridiculous and exhausting.  And frankly I could use a few more friends who are accepting of my imperfections -- and what better "test" is there than airing our laundry? :)