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Dec. 3, 2006
"Be sure to drink your Ovaltine!"
If you are a fan of the holiday classic "A Christmas Story" as we are, then you'll understand the title line.
Poor Ralphie had consumed Ovaltine for months in order to save enough labels to order his Little Orphan Annie Secret Decoder Pin. He watched the mail for weeks waiting for it to arrive only to decode his first secret message and find that it was a crummy commercial for Ovaltine. His disappointment was palpable.
We had a bit of a Ralphie moment this week. Ikea opened in Sacramento back in the spring and like everyone else, we had to check it out. They have a very nice, secure play area for the kids and as part of their attempt to keep you coming back, they gave each of the children "Lady Bug Cards" to keep track of their visits. After the 6th visit, each child gets a prize.
It is a fantastically effective ploy. The kids bugged and bugged until we had finally racked up six completely unnecessary visits to Ikea over a 9 month period. They had seen other children choosing small stuffed animals on previous visits and they reasoned that these would be the prize they would earn after 6 visits.
Now my kids need another stuffed animal like the ocean needs salt water, but they wanted one none the less. And besides, earning such a 'major award' for six visits to such a fun place seemed like a win/win.
And so last week we made our way back to Ikea for our 6th and prize winning visit. The kids were very excited. They did their time in the play place just waiting for me to return so they could claim their prize. When I appeared, they asked the attendant where they would find their 'award'. "Oh, its already in the box with your shoes," they were told. You could feel the anticipation as they peered into the box.
Sadly, it wasn't a stuffed animal, it was a ladybug foam frame craft kit. A crummy Ikea commercial that had to be painstaking assembled with 'lots of glue'. Two of the kits remain unopened. The third is scattered throughout the house - not a drop of glue has touched it.
Ah, the joys and disappointments of childhood. Thank you, Ikea, for keeping the tradition alive.
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My Blog
A few years ago, when our oldest was 4 and her two brothers were both in diapers, my in-laws were a few days into a visit from their home 3000 miles away when my father-in-law noticed that the rug under the dining room table was in serious need of vacuuming. He is not prone to domestic duties (his wife is a great housekeeper) but seeing the need, he decided to try his hand with the Hoover. As soon as 'Grandpa' declared his intention to get out the vacuum, four little feet ran for the toy box to get vacuums of their own. We had one toy vacuum and we improvised a second from a 'popper' push toy. The baby, who was not yet walking, was right in the thick of things on all fours, never one to be left out. Grandpa, trying to maneuver the self-propelled 'Wind-tunnel' around the 10 foot rug while avoiding the table legs and dodging his three little helpers, remarked in exasperation, "I just wanted to clean the rug, I wasn't looking to start a three ring circus." Welcome to my life!
About Me
My name is Tiffany. I am a 40 year old mother of 4. My husband, John, and I planned to homeschool even before we married 18 years ago but it would be several years before our oldest would be ready to start on this journey. We had our children in alphabetical order, quite by accident at first, but once we got started, we figured we had to keep it going. They are Alyssa 10, Brendan 9, Chase 6, and Emily 4. Our 4th baby, D, miscarried at 13 weeks. We have no intention of making it to Z.
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