Priorities

Jeb was notified on Friday that he would be laid off and his position eliminated June 30th. We'd been semi-prepared for this, but the reality of it still always seems to catch one off guard.

Over the weekend I had explained to Alanna that we were going to be just fine and tried my best to reassure her that she had nothing to worry about. I told her that Daddy was going to get to stay home with her for the summer and wouldn't that be fun! I told her that we'd need to be more careful with our money, but that she didn't need to worry about a place to live, food to eat, or clothes.

She looked up at me and said, "What about toys???"
I explained that we could still buy toys, but we probably wouldn't buy things as often and we'd really need to think about the toys we want and budget them in.

She looked panicked and asked, "What about Happy Meals!!???"
I explained that we probably wouldn't go out to eat as often, but that many times Mommy has a coupon for McDonald's and that she could still get a Happy Meal once in a while.

She looked downcast and declared, "We're POOR!!"
*sigh* No, honey we're not poor, we're just fine.

I suppose though it's all a matter of perception. When you're six, those happy meals can seem pretty important even if she's only getting one maybe 2-3 times a month. It's a treat, and she is not happy about that treat possibly going away.

Yesterday, she announced that she had packed her own lunch to help save us money. I told her that she didn't need to worry about that and that her lunches were all paid for through the school year. She declared that it was ok, she still wanted to take her lunch because "then I get to be in the front of the lunch line!!!"

Again...it's all about priorities.

Thoughts about God

The other day Alanna was thinking about God and made a couple observations out of the blue.

"I think God and the angels come down and sit in empty movie seats."

"Technically there's only one boss and that's God."

Random Acts of Kindness

I just absolutely love this photo.  At first blush, it looks like she made out like a bandit with Easter baskets.  But the truth behind the photo just makes me so proud...

Alanna had another follow-up appointment scheduled for the week of Easter and the week prior to her appointment she told me that she wanted to make Easter baskets and take them with her to the Children's Hospital for children that may be having surgery over Easter or have to stay in the hospital rather than being home.  She never ceases to amaze me with her kind heart.  I told her I thought it was a wonderful idea and that we could certainly go shopping to get things for Easter baskets.  She picked out all kinds of goodies and was grinning ear to ear when they were put together.  She's wearing her Daisy Girl Scout vest because we thought it was also a great opportunity for her to earn her caring and considerate petal.

She was so excited to deliver the baskets and practically bounced in to her appointment.  

On the way home we saw a man holding a cardboard sign.  Now that Alanna is beginning to read, she saw the word "hungry" on the sign and asked me why he was holding it up.  I read the sign to her and she immediately responded with concern, "Mommy, can we give him the strawberries you bought at Costco?"  There was a container in the car from when I'd run an errand at lunch.  My heart broke as I had to explain to my caring little girl that I couldn't stop the car but that we would continue to help by giving to food shelves and helping where we could.  

She wanted to know other ways we could help so the following day we learned about Random Acts of Kindness and took chocolate bunnies to the firemen at the firestation near our home as well as handed out a plethora of bunnies at the Post Office.  The lady at the Post Office behind the counter said she never knew the Easter bunny was blonde with piggy tails!  

Afterwards, we reviewed what random acts of kindness are and I asked Alanna what her favorite part was.  Her reply?

"Seeing people smile."

Pony Cars

Another from the Daddy files:

So there Alanna and I were driving to Nana’s. And she started talking about cars. So I said “what kind of car would you like our family to have?”
To which she replied with a beaming (and mischievous smile on her face) ”…A Pony Car!”

“Well what kind of car is that honey?”
“You know, a Pony car.”
“I am sorry darlin’, I don’t know what a Pony Car is.”
“Yes you do…like on the internet.”
“Ah, Alanna I see so many things on the internet that I can’t possibly remember them all.”
“Daddy, you know what a Pony Car is.”
Is that like a carriage? Like in Cinerella?”
“No.”
“Is it a My Lil Pony Car?”
“NO.”
“Well can you explain instead of raising your voice?”
“Ok…Like on the test.”
“What test?”
“The internet test.”
“The Internet Test?”
“Yes the one on Facebook.”
“You mean the Logo test on Facebook?”
“Yes! The test we took together!”
“Pony Car huh?... You mean a Porsche of a Ferrari??!!”
“Yes! That would be a nice car wouldn’t it daddy?”

Africa

Straight from the Daddy files from this morning's car ride to daycare:

So MPR was on the radio, and they were talking about the young men that have been missing and turned up in Africa.

Alanna fixated on this and I reassured her that she was safe as the kids they were talking about:
1-are boys
2-are about 18-20 years old
3-All went to a church in Minneapolis (actually a mosque, but I did not want to have to define that also this morning)

To which she replied…”oh good, we are never going to a church in Minneapolis right?”

I then said “no its not Minneapolis’s fault, its just that Africa needs soldiers and they are trying to get them wherever they can.”

To which she said “Oh yeah, they don’t even have enough to eat, but at least they can play games, and mini-games right?”

And I said “what?!”

A: “Like the Mommy show.”

D: “What Mommy show?”

A: “The Africa mommy show where they don’t have any food and play games…”

D: “You mean, Survivor?”

A: “Yeah Survivor!”

Alanna's Snowy Butt

Alanna's helping me write this update and decided on the title of the post all by herself.

Tonight when we got home, I went down to the curb to get the garbage cans.  I turned and looked up the driveway to see Alanna intentionally and enthusiastically plop down into a huge snowbank.  No snowpants on, bottom first.

I hollered up the drive, "Alanna!  Why are you sitting in the snowbank?"

She replied at the top of her lungs so the whole neighborhood could hear, "Because my butt likes snow!"

I Won!

Without fail when our evening babysitter is over, Alanna is bound to say something noteworthy.

Last night was date night and sure enough, Andrea had a pretty cute quote from Alanna to share.

Alanna likes to play Pokemon, a LOT and often she'll actually play against herself to try out her decks.  Last night, she was playing and told Andrea, "I was playing against myself and guess what!!??" (pure excitement in her voice)  "I WON!"

Difficult Conversations

We had a couple difficult conversations yesterday with Alanna.

On the way out the door to Pokemon League she asked, "Is the Easter Bunny a person in a bunny costume?" Needless to say both Jeb and I looked at each other with our jaws dropped open.  After a momentary pause to quickly put together how I should respond I asked her why she was wondering and what she thought.  

She said she was just wondering.  I explained that yes, the bunny we go see at the Community Center or the mall is a person who is a "helper" and is dressed up in a costume.  I asked her though how she thought the eggs got delivered to Grandma Jackie's house.  She replied that they were put there by the real bunny, so I think we're still good through this year anyway.  

She followed this up with a question about Santa Claus which we answered in much the same fashion.  That both he and the Easter Bunny are as real as she believes they are and that they need lots and lots of helpers to make every child happy.  She seemed content with this.

This evening was even harder.  At bedtime she started crying and declared, "I don't want to die."

After about literally 2 hours of reassuring and answering questions between Jeb and I she finally calmed down and was ready to go to sleep.  We still don't know quite what brought that on, but I suppose eventually every child asks about death.

At one point in the discussion she looked up at me and said, "Mommy, I think it's like a cocoon.  This is our old body and once we die we shed our cocoon and get our new body in heaven."

I was stunned and told her that was exactly right and a very nice way to describe it.  I also asked where she had heard that (I thought maybe at Sunday School). She said she had just decided that was what it was like and hadn't heard it before anywhere.  Very insightful.