What is it

that possesses cute little toddlers like this

to stick random stuff up their noses?
A very distraught David came up to me yesterday saying, "Owie, hurt!" That's when I found the small sponge paintbrush missing its tip.

After a quick peek up the offended nostril proved unfruitful, we resorted to more desperate measures, complete with mommy pinning the boy and daddy using a little pen-light to aid in a more thorough examination. Lo and behold, there WAS in fact something dark stuck way up in there. A very unpleasant procedure followed--including more pinning, attempted kicking and much screaming (I swear it was David, not me...), banishment of the ever-growing-wide-eyed big sister, and long-skinny-tweezers-removal-of-the-ugly-squished-piece-of-sponge-paint-brush.
We're all a little bit older, a little bit wiser, and a lot bit grossed out. And David keeps walking around repeating his lesson-learned-the-hard-way: "Nose, owie." Points to nostril, "No, up nose." That's right, cute little guy, remember that one.

What's with these 2 1/2 year-olds anyway? I think we've done this before--a little deja vous...
I guess we're 2 for 2 now.

"Thomas Hour"

a.k.a. "Witching Hour" for the kids. You know the time of day? Anywhere from 5:00-7:00 pm, depending on when Dad makes it home from work. You've given your all for the whole day, crossing things off your to-do list, feeding and changing the kids, playing and enjoying each others' company for at least a good portion of the day.But no matter how good a day it's been (or bad, because of course some days have very little of only good), there comes a time at the end of every day where we all start to go a little crazy. Or a lot crazy. The 5 pm itch, which quickly elevates to a pull-my-hair-out-if-you-whine-at-me-one-more-time-and-you'd-better-wait-til-your-dad-gets-home-and-no-you-may-not-have-one-more-cookie-because-it's-almost-time-for-dinner kind of nuts, if you will.
Our new solution? Thank you, Youtube Thomas the Tank Engine video clips! It is fast becoming a favorite time of the day. See those happy faces? There's no beating that at 6:05 while waiting for Dad to make it home. Even better is the fact that 4-year-old Anna can navigate the "recommended videos" with a mouse on her own, so they can watch clip after clip without my help. Makes that last 30 minutes much more blissful all around, and Dad gets greeted by happy smiles when he comes home. So how do you spend your "witching hour"? Do you have a brilliant bribe, err activity, that helps you through that last stretch of the day?