On Hunting, Ice Capades & Poor Parenting.

So as it turns out, there's a little Hunter in all of us. 

Some of us hunt deer, elk, javelina...

Some of us hunt for deals at Target, 

and the three wee ones hunt for flies. 

Oh yes. Fly hunting has become an actual sport in this house the past few days. 

There's fly sighting....with the littles calling out actual fly locations for the others.

"Dhere. Dhere he is. Quick! Get im. Dhere he goes!"

And there's stalking...with actual children crouching at the knees lurking through the house, fly swatters in hand, peering around corners in true hunter fashion. 

And then there's the killing. There is some serious stark-raving-mad waving of fly swatters in the air, on the cupboards, on the floor, etc. in the same frantic, even spastic fashion-just like their father does it, by the way.  I may or may not be leading that charge with my very own red swatter...

And then there's the celebrations after the kill. 

"Good job, mommy! You got im! You got dat fwy!"

What then follows is freaking hilarious. As if they've immediately forgotten that they JUST cheered ME on for killing the fly, I accidentally-on-purpose fling it so that it lands on the floor in front of them.  And at the very moment that it lands, I say "There he is! Get him! Get him!"  And just like crazy people, that dead fly gets deader and deader and deader as it its guts get squished between the grates of a pink, a green AND a blue fly swatter. Poor flies. They never see it coming. 

The kill.  

Examining the fly carcass. 

Know what else I have pictures of?  Adults dressed like Toys skating around an ice rink while mesmerized toddlers stare in awe. 

I am of course talking about Dis.ney's Toy Stor.y on Ice.

Have I mentioned how much I love my kids? 

They are so crazy sometimes, 

so sassy other times, 

so mischievous most of the time, 

but so darn cute all of the time.

{I'm their mom, what can I say?} 

There was a troop of us. I mean a troop besides just MY troop. My dad and Genise, my good friend and resident Bunchkin sitter, Niki, and the Pearsons- Anabelle, Brian and Jaxon. We all headed out with half of Tucson to the opening night of Toy Story on Ice! 

The cool mother that I am dressed my kids in matching 'Curious George' T-Shirts. Why? Um, I'm not sure really. I guess partly because I couldn't find 3 Toy Story T-Shirts in the sizes I needed  and partly because these shirts were long sleeved, brightly colored and in the right size. And cute to boot.

Aside from Halloween, I don't know that I've ever dressed them the same but there's definitely something to be said for quickly identifying your 3 kids in a big crowd, when you only have to look for one outfit. Alas, here we are. 

My little family.  

Niki and 2/3 of the Bunchkins. 

Niki, Brian and a different 2/3. 

Colton and me

Temptation is rough. 

But I didn't buy myself anything. {hee hee}

We didn't buy them anything, either.

Because they really didn't need it. 

And much to my surprise, they didn't even throw a fit. 

Probably because standing at the top of the arena looking down was mesmerizing enough all by itself. 

That little girl's head is the little girl who sat right in front of me. In front of her? Yeah, that's the ice. For real. The kids LOVED being able to see everything so close up. 

Brian and Ethan

Genise, my dad and Colton

I couldn't NOT smile watching them watch the show. 

I was sitting there thinking about all the times we went to the Ice Capades as kids. 

It's all so magical when you're this little. 

Best seat in the house. 

Though Ethan also seemed to enjoy watching the show from this vantage point. Crazy kid. 

And there was popcorn. 

Yummy buckets of $10 popcorn. 

Which promptly fell straight to the floor only minutes after we bought it. 

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? 

Now just try and contain yourselves. I, Ami Bunch, mother of triplets confess to letting my kids (and maybe even my friend's kid) eat popcorn off the floor. 

Yep. I said it. 

I tried to detract them, I did. 

But they were like flies to sh#@.

It was 4 against 1 and frankly, that was a battle I did not care to fight at that moment. 

So I just let it go. 

I mean honestly, they eat crap off our floors all the time. 

Please, try to contain your disgust for a moment because the best part came when the young dad up and  behind us tried to get my attention and then proceeded to point to the kids eating the popcorn off the ground. 

I smiled politely and just kind of nodded my head nonchalantly {knowing full well what he was pointing for}. 

Somewhat distressed, he points again and this time adds some urgent sign language for 'eat' to let me know that the kids are EATING the popcorn off the FLOOR.

{Cuz surely I must not have seen it right?} 

Imagine his horror when I smiled back and said, "Yes, I know. I'm okay with it." 

And then he smiled an awkward smile, and actually laughed a bit. (Probably in disbelief, but in MY mind, he's thinking, "You're so COOL. I only WISH my wife were as easy going as you. I wish MY kid could eat popcorn off the ground.") 

Yeah. That's how the story will go when I tell it from now on. 

Besides, whose stupid idea was it to give my kids a freaking 25 minute intersession?

 That's totally asking for trouble. 

Maybe I should've been embarrassed that my kids know as much about Toy Story as they do, but I wasn't. I was proud as they called out every character's name like they were beckoning their best friends to come over by them! 

Thanks for the fun!  

There were some happy little kids tonight... 

Good memories made, for sure. 

And just think, someday, they'll be taking their own kids to some new age Ice Capades show and they'll remember this moment....

Isn't it great to be a kid?