Tuesday, May 5, 2009

What is THAT???

Driving around the world with my six kiddos can really take its toll on a vehicle. We clean our van out once a week and I am still amazed at the amount of stuff I find EVERY Friday. It's always an adventure of sorts, because you never know what you'll find. Sometimes I wonder if my kids just try and surprise me to get a reaction. "Let's do something really gross and watch her squirm!"

I’m not kidding, as I was cleaning it out the other day, I came across...

Some sort of rotten (I believe) fruit species… the only identifiable part was their stems (Hence the fruit analyses)
30 sheets of computer paper –some with lovely princess Martian drawings, others completely mark free but wrinkled (basically useless for the printer, now)
About 25 books, I guess to read when they get bored? As if driving with 8 people in the vehicle could ever make someone bored…
3 coats that have been missing
4 half empty various sized water bottles
5 combs
2 pairs of shoes (How they made it from the van to the house without their shoes is beyond me),
A jewelry box (Yes every girl must use driving time to properly select a beautiful accessory for the day)
3 forks (what in the-? Forks? Don’t even want to know…)
2 pairs of scissors (Who got out mom’s sewing scissors? Urgh! And just what have you been cutting?)
One small sleeve cuff off a white Church shirt, presumably cut with the forbidden scissors. (Great. It was the brand new shirt, too!)
6 of mom’s magic markers… (that explains the smell yesterday, still not sure what they wrote on…)
Fingernail polish (Heavens! Maybe that was the smell!)
2 stolen bags of chips from the cupboard (probably a week old… NICE.) now crushed and scattered all over the floor… (Eww)!
Before the cleanup was through I found several candy wrappers, school memorabilia, rocks, sea shells (I guess to keep the rocks company), DVD’s, a lone bag of groceries that had rolled under the seat (thank goodness it was canned goods!), mismatched socks, broken sunglasses and a portable CD player... But the kicker of them all was the live plant that my daughter had apparently been keeping in the minivan…

“Bailey, what is that sitting in your cup holder?”
“Oh! It’s a plant.”
“Yes, I see that… Why is it there?”
“Cause, its our Minivan Plant.”
“Oh-oh, our minivan plant… (As if every minivan had its own live plants in their cup holders) And how long has it been there?”
“Ever since we made them at school, its good for the environment…”
“Bailey, we cannot keep a plant in the van.”
“But, Mo-om, my teacher says it helps clean the air… and I thought cuz the van always smells funny, we could keep it.”
“Good argument, Bailey… the plant stays.” (Who knows, we may be onto something?)
Bet you wished you had your own Minivan Plant!

27 comments:

  1. hahaha, Bailey is a smart one!! SaWweet!!

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  2. Wow, a lot of stuff in your van. My car is such a mess. I am not as good as you with cleaning every week (or every month, or... every few years).

    But the car plant doesn't seem like a bad idea at all.

    I see that you keep experimenting with blog templates. I like this one a lot.

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  3. Hahaha - I loved this post! It's amazing what you find in the car, isn't it? And I only have the one child to worry about! I can't imagine what I'd find if I had six!

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  4. At least you don't have to worry about supplies if you get stuck in a freak snowstorm!

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  5. Kimmi-LOL! I'll let her know you say so. She'll love that!

    Lori--LOL! I know, a car plant, who knew??? And thanks! I think I've finally found the template I'm going to stick with for awhile. I was having an identity crisis for a while there! LOL! I just wasn't happy. But this one suits me!

    Melissa--Why i'm still amazed I'll never know, but I am... and hey, dont' knock one kid.. LOL! I used to have one once.. they still make quite a mess! LOL!

    J--LOL! So true. dang random english freak snowstorms. LOLOLOL! You never know when one'll crop up! Thanks! and welcome to the blog. Jenni

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  6. Wow, and I thought our car got messy with just two! I should show this list to my husband, truly. Then maybe he'll have nothing to complain about. ;)

    And I LOVE this new background! Super cute.

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  7. LOL! I'm to know I'm not the only one who doesn't have a pristine car at all times. :)

    Every time I clean it, I discover an astonishing amount of stuff. I have to say though, never a live plant. lol. Sounds like you have some creative kids. :)

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  8. My kids are teens. Believe me, the "stuff" you find of theirs is a whole lot more frightening than nail polish and magic markers. HAH!!!

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  9. Too funny!
    I just wrote a Kids Cooking magazine column that instructed the kids that if they didn't have cornflakes or breadcrumbs, they could just collect a cup's worth of goldfish crackers from the minivan seats and use those instead! Glad to hear my van isn't the worst in the world.
    I gotta get me a van plant, though. Maybe for Mother's Day.

    Nikki

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  10. LOL! I'm still trying to get past the 'clean the van every week'. I sometimes get to mine once a month....

    Great post! Thanks for sharing.

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  11. Well that's it... I guess I'm off to find my own minivan plant. My sister always teases me that she can usually make a meal out of the stuff on the floor in the backseat of the van. No one ever sits back there until people come to visit.

    Yes, I definitely need a van plant.

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  12. A minivan plant. I'm not sure I want to give my seven year old any ideas. It's amazing what you find in a van. Articles seemed to seep into the tiniest of places.

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  13. My mechanic once said he could feed Guam with the French fries he found on the floor of my car.

    Thanks for the good wishes and comment over at www.EightDaysToAmish.com. A savvy friend of mine suggested I ought to take the post down because it might spook agents.

    But I didn't want you to think I'd missed your sweet comment.

    Have a great day/night/week/month . . . .

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  14. I can't imagine how you even do it!! I had one girl--ONE and I went nuts!
    Thank you for your prayers--it means so much to me that you would take the time to pray.

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  15. Why are you cleaning out a van with all of those wonderful treasures inside? You know if you take away all the treasures they will just have to try harder to impress you next week.

    Are you going to report next weeks findings? I think that would be an interesting post, the minivan roundup. LOL

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  16. Ah, the black hole that is the minivan. What goes in never comes out. Oh, wait, you said you clean it once a week. Mine, not so much. I try not to think about it until it starts to smell. I know, eww.

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  17. That is the cutest minivan story ever!! I can tell I would love Bailey. :) I can only imagine the quantity of stuff in your car with six children. My one wants to bring the toy box everytime we get in.

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  18. That is so funny, Jenni! A minivan plant...only a very brilliant child would think of that. Anyway, you are reminding me how much I need to clean out my car.

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  19. LOL You could have said, "The van smells funny because of....." and piled up everything on the ground next to the van~
    But then again, thats just priceless and what would Motherhood be without rotting food in the car and various unexplainables!
    So, now I'm adding up the mess my 2 daughters did over the years in my car, and adding 4 more and ..........I get the picture!
    Rebecca

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  20. It's like a junk drawer on wheels with its own plant that's awesome!!!

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  21. Hahahaha!! You make me laugh so much! Aren't kids great??

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  22. A mini-van plant. Love it! That really made me smile! ;)

    I love lists -- I had a Creative Writing teacher during my undergrad college days who said if we're ever stumped on what to write, write a list of what's in our purse, under our bed, in our cupboards, etc. This is a telling, sweet, fun list!

    PS: Found you via a writing related blog -- forget which one, I skip around so much. ;)

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  23. Archaeologists could learn so much from our minivans!

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  24. Decorating the vehicle with earth friendly items -- there's a smart kidlet!

    (I'm so crazy, I wrote the other day that you had 8 kids! Musta been thinking about the hubby and pets.) :)

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  25. HAHA! I was laughing so hard by the end of this I started CRYING! That's AMAZING! And I seriously never thought all those things could fit in a minivan! AMAZING!

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  26. I'm a first time visitor but had to let you know you are freakin' hilarious!!! Holy Cow, I just about fell out of my chair laughing. I'll be back for sure. Looks like we have a couple friends in common. Pink Ink is in my critique group, and your new blogger Christine is an awesome friend.

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  27. Thanks everyone! I don't know if I'll have time to answer you all back before blogger closes on me again--I've wanted to though! As I've read each comment through my email, I've smiled, laughed, talked back to you! LOL! And even said, "howdy" to me new readers. I'm glad you all enjoy my insanity! LOL! Love you! Jenni

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