Wow... A six month hiatus from The Daily Goose. An un-intentional, life just gets busy, kind of hiatus. I bet you were all thinking that The Goose has outgrown her...how do you put it, um....venturesome...behavior?

Just to put the quandary out of your mind.... The Goose has not gone good. While she HAS made some serious strides in being kind to new friends & friendly by-passers, The Goose is still a wild, tenacious, plucky, but oh-so-adorable little mess,that has brought oodles of laughs at my expense.

Her hair is getting long, although it's so curly you can't tell. She has learned to bat those big blue eyes, full of mischief - although they trick you into believing that she is not capable of such, and she has learned a million new words. (oh, the horrifically funny things she says... you know, when you shouldn't be laughing, but no force of nature could get you to stop...that kind of funny!)

Yes, she has done a lot of growing & changing....And all the while, there have been a million moments that I have wanted to share with you. A million ideas to expand this blog. And yet, I've just had some sort of motivational block...well, in the sake of honesty...I've just been busy, as you'd imagine a mom of 5 would be, right?

But, I've been missing this little blog lately. The creative outlet, the reactions to The Goose's antics, and the THERAPY of just putting all of this out there... You know, those moments when you are faced with such a mess... you have to laugh, or you will cry...

Parenting The Goose, along with her three big brothers, brings me to this juncture AT LEAST once daily. And somehow, sharing these moments with all of you make these disastrous quips of parenting a little less like an "epic fail" video on YouTube, and more like an endearing clip from Americas Funniest Home Videos.

So. I have been waiting... While jotting down her crazy quips, and taking pictures of her mini catastrophes...I have been waiting for inspiration. The whopper. The big one. That instant (because it always happens that fast) she does something so rotten, at the worst moment, that brings me to either cry, or blog.

And here it is....

Oh lord.... A refrigerator raid of almost epic proportions. (I say almost because she can, and most likely will, top herself)

As you all remember from the spilled milk posts, raiding the fridge is CLASSIC GOOSIE. It's her
no-fail, go-to move to cause trouble.... And she is good at it.

I should have known she had vested interest in the frosting I was making this morning (well it's a frosting-like concoction, and a whole other story...but at least it tasted good!). She was watching it so closely whipping in the mixer..... The excited chirps and chatter should have tipped me off!..


As you might imagine, the summer days with all of the kids home, provides a more-than-ample amount of distractions for The Goose to start trouble. And, let me tell you, she takes full advantage!

Apparently, the excitement over the "frosting" hadn't included plans to eat it... I think The Goose must have thought it looked a little more like Play-Doh. And boy, was she scheming...

Somehow, while I was in the process of a minor household task, she managed to sneak to the fridge and slink back to her room un-detected. (Skilled. Stealth. She has this down to an art.)

Moments later, hearing squeals of delight, I walked into a frosting wonderland....

The pictures do not do the occasion justice. It was like walking into a scene right out of Hansel & Gretel. The rest of the brood had found the sugar-coated monstrosity that used-to-be The Goose's room....

The little punks must have thought they died and went to sugar heaven. 3 boys grazing off the splattered mess with gusto. The dog. The cat....Feasting on the buttery, sugary debris that she left in the wake of her adventure.

The frosting is on the walls, the curtains, the bed, the bookshelf. It adorns the belly of her favorite baby doll among many other newly candy-coated toys, the mirror, and...God only knows the nooks and crannies I am going to be cleaning frosting out of.

At some point, my eyes just have to stop taking it all in. And the whole room freezes. Every eye in that whole room is looking at me....3 little boys. The dog. The cat.... they are all waiting to see what I am going to do. And I did the only thing I could do. I called for reinforcement (from Boo.... my oldest child, my rock, my bestie) and we DIED LAUGHING.... because what else can you do? (besides blog about it! *wink)

Coffee Anyone?...

For those of you who don't know, I have a love affair with coffee.

I wake up for that smell, that wonderful first taste... and I don't want to deal with any household happenings until I have been properly caffeinated. There... I said it! Momma doesn't function without her coffee!

Someday...my little munchkins will figure this out.

Someday... it will dawn on them that there is a magic potion which turns Mommy from haggard & snarling into beautiful & caring & ready to handle every ones problems. It's like a real life Disney movie in my own house ... a magical transformation every day! At least that's how it feels after I get my first few sips down.... Have you seen the movie Tangled? Then, um yeah... it's kind of like that...you know what I'm talking about!

Perhaps my romance with coffee is necessary... My children are known to wake-up at 4:30am... demanding breakfast and engaging themselves in either spats or silliness. (whichever one the morning brings is guaranteed to be over-the-top, wake-up-the-whole-house kind of loud!)

Honestly, it takes some sort of major caffeine (and more importantly, morning prayer) to slip into "Mom-Mode" and shrug off the fact that I would like to wake up with my normal time-zone!

So, how does The Goose fit into all of this "coffee talk"?... Do you suppose at the age of 2, she has me figured out already? After all, she is a bit smart for her own good. (MY own good is more like it)

Maybe she thinks that the magic potion that puts mommy in a good mood every morning, will also make me less aggravated at all of her miss-adventures. After all, she has raided the fridge, pantry, and bathroom multiple times today.

Or maybe, this is the beginning of a brilliant idea to steal some of these magic beans for her plastic pretend coffee pot. Of which, I thought was SO cute & a must have Christmas present...was not one of my better gift ideas. Seriously, the child will go to any length to gather any sort of liquid for this thing... But that is a whole other story!

Truth is, I have NO idea what she thinks she is doing here, but she has certainly inspired me to get back to blogging... It's been far too long, and I have many stories to catch up on.

In fact, I could sit and write for hours upon hours, about the rotten things The Goose has been up to lately... But for now, I think I will go have another cup of coffee!

Have you been wondering where we've been? I bet you've thought The Goose has been good, huh?...

                                                                 Who? Me?


Well... let me tell ya. We have been busy around here. And of course, The Goose's antics have plenty to do with that. (I have to say, that I've been a little slow on the draw... getting pictures taken in the moment. Somehow a blog post about getting "Goosed" isn't quite the same without a photo to go along with!)

We've been keeping busy around the house. Among other things on the home-front, I've been cooking more from scratch, drowning in laundry, and making an attempt to keep up with the yard. (Ugh... first it rained a million acorns, and now we are halfway through a billion leaves.)

Try as I might to stay a step ahead, they keep getting the better of me. I think The Goose might have noticed. Here she is trying to help...

You can tell that she is really determined . She was working so hard at getting those leaves pulled up... check out her feet. She was giving it everything she had, and I was just rolling with laughter watching her.

It didn't last though... after a few minutes, she gave up to go play "golf" on the front porch (hey a big stick works for a club, right?) while mom finished up. Can't say that I blame her!

Thank goodness Dear Daddy will be home soon to give us girls a break ;)

potty business...

While I am not formally "potty training" The Goose at the moment, I do exploit any interest she has in the toilet with excitement and encouragement... After all, she is my last one in diapers & it will be a happy day when we no longer have that expense. Changing poopy pants isn't exactly fun either, right?

So yesterday, The Goose decided to barge into the bathroom while I was in the shower. Uh oh... we all know this means trouble! (If you are new here, go through the older posts until you find the story about the mascara wand being used for a toilet bowl brush... It's one of her best.)

In attempt to distract her from all of my cosmetic goodies, I let her brush her teeth. This is one of her favorite things to do &  it usually keeps her busy for awhile. (I'm thinking at least until I get done with my shower.)  All was going well, until I hear the toilet lid... Oh crap. Oh crap.... what did she throw in there?

In that split second, I am imagining all sorts of items she could have tossed in & simultaneously remembering the mascara incident. (yes, I am scarred over that one.) So I pop my head out to see what kind of  "cosmetic soup" she was cooking up in the toilet and.....

Nothing!

Surprise!... She was trying to sit on the potty! Ding Ding Ding.... a perfect potty training opportunity and I am stuck in the shower. Go figure. Not wanting her to get hurt, I told her.... "Why don't you sit on the frog (pictured below) and go potty?" And she says "Ok!.....Mom." (She always has a long pause in between what she tells you and your name, which cracks me up!)

So she moves over to the frog potty as I stick my head back under the shower to rinse all of the soap out of my hair... I am thinking, Yes! This kid is so smart, she's going to potty train herself.

Clearly, she had the right idea, but is a little misinformed...

After a quick rinse, I poke my head back out & there is The Goose.... Slightly straddling the frog potty, and sticking out her tummy & would-be boy parts...."Goin peeeee....Mama!" she tell me ever so proudly, as it's running down her legs.

Ummm...I guess this is what happens when a plucky little girl has three big brothers! Oh lord, I was laughing so hard, my stomach was hurting... So even though I had a lovely puddle to clean up off  the bathroom floor, I'm counting this as progress!

If you have a funny potty training story, I'd love to read it! Have a great weekend friends!

The Goose And The Broken Eggs....

I have few words for this....

The irony is that we were all watching Problem Child 2 when she toddled in to grab a brand new carton of eggs... Is that a bad omen? I wonder if that movie with the adorable little girl with the huge frown gave my little Goose some inspiration? Like that's all she needs!

Needless to say, I have shiny floors and a ton of towels to wash. (Yep, it's been one of those days.)

With fall starting to settle in, The Goose has been catching some extra Z's in the morning... which is a nice treat in comparison to the 5 a.m. ~footsteps trucking down the hall~ alarm, that woke me nearly every morning this summer. Oh yeah, 5 a.m. & right in the middle of that perfect sleep. Thank goodness for coffee, or I would be a zombie.

The extra time has been nice this school year, as I have 3 little boys to get ready. Thank goodness for Boo's help, or we would never get out the door! So naturally, without a peep from The Goose this morning, I am trucking along the morning routine thinking she's sound asleep...Until I get to the kitchen & hear giggles bounding down the stairs from The Goose's room. Uh Oh. This usually means trouble. And then I hear a second voice...

Her dear brother Munchie Brown (technically, his name is Chase, but we rarely go by names around here!) had decided to sneak upstairs and wake her up. Lil stinker. So I hear them, full of chatter & giggles... and decided to give them a few minutes since they were obviously working on something big. (I at least want to get dressed before opening the door and discovering whatever disaster was awaiting me!)

So after I'm decent, I head over to The Goose's room, ready to fling the door open & catch my little turkeys by surprise. There is nothing better than the faces they make when they get busted right in the middle of doing something rotten!

Thankfully, they heard my footsteps & beat me to the punch. The Goose comes running out the door, excitedly stomping her feet in this little jiggy dance, and she says "MOM!! Tea Party, eat Cookies!" Munchie Brown isn't far behind her & he says "Mama, we made you a tea party."

It's complete with a candlestick and everything. Isn't this the sweetest thing ever?.....

The Goose Is Back...

Hi Friends, sorry for the recent hiatus. Last week was busy busy busy... and this week started off a bit stressful. (No thanks to waking up with a bat flying around my bedroom.... but that's a whole other story!)

 So, the kiddos have been trickling back to school over the the last couple of weeks, and as of Monday.... It's just me and The Goose. Funny how the quality time with mom brings about new interests. We've been learning French... Bonjour! is her new favorite word.... so cute! And we've been out and about, running errands & playing outside on nice mornings..... (Reminds me of Boo, when she was little.) And of course, The Goose has done plenty of sassing and created many calamities!

At the start of this week, she spent a lot of time looking for Chase. He was the last one to head back to school, and I think she is a little bored without him. Apparently, my attempts at playing with choo choo trains are just NOT the same! So how bored could one little girl be?....

Can you believe your eyes?.... Yes, that is The Goose doing laundry, and I'm wondering if I should be buying a lottery ticket. She must have been either really bored, or been feeling extremely generous to take a break from plundering the pantry and spilling anything liquid from the fridge! (You know, her usual forms of entertainment.)

She pulled all of the wet clothes into the laundry basket, and put all of them into the dryer... All by herself. You can tell by her face that she is really proud! And I am thinking, that I could really get used to this...

Now, if we could just work out some kind of arrangement on doing the dishes.... life would be great! LOL!