This Pandemic is Even Worse then the Swine Flu

Please be certain to take a moment today to stop and educate yourself on this growing problem. Although many of my friends (and myself included) are victims of this disease - until recently it has not been put into the light it needs.



Now - you have until May 10th to figure out what YOU will do to find a Cure.....that gives you 11 days. Start Thinking!!

Yard Work Fun

BigGuy is loving the chore chart - why? Because he has more help in getting the yard work done. I am loving the chore chart because since the kids have responsibilities in the yard - and BigGuy is generally (not always because yard work is NOT just for the guys - although our direct yard freak guy neighbors have joked with BigGuy about "how do you get your wife to mow the lawn?" a bit) the overseer of the lawn because he enjoys it - having to assign the kids a job in the yard gets him out there and moving too. Yea for BigGuy.

The only downside to working the yard with the kids - aside from all the bending over - is the complaining.
* Although they like to dig holes and look for worms - digging holes for plants is not fun.
* Although they like push all the leave into a pile and jump into them - or arrange them into a fort - pushing them into a pile and them shoving them into lawn bags is a painful task.
* Although they LOVE to pick up every stick in the yard to figure out which is the best one for roasting a marshmallow (we do this every once in awhile in the fire pit) - picking sticks up and putting them into a tidy pile so the mower can go by is akin to having your fingernails pulled out in their minds.

So to keep them motivated - and because it is now warm enough - and because we only pay them $5 for a weekly allowance and some kid in the neighborhood would charge us much more for doing any one of these tiny tasks (hope the kids got too bored with this post to continue all the way down) - we use an extra ounce of motivation for yard chores. We say this, "At the end of picking up the dog poop - after you wash your hands - you can have an ice cream cone."


And then they are all about "what needs to be done?" Even TheKing - well....until he gets hold of the rake and then is placed on zipped up trampoline duty.

Potty Training Round II

And so continues the saga of potty training TheKing. Just the other day - as I was walking through my beloved store - TARGET - I ran into one of the other moms from preschool. I was looking for stickers - preferably CARS stickers. TheKing loves anything and everything that is related to the movie CARS. Lightening McQueen, Mater, the Tractor Cows, Chick - all of it - he loves. As I was walking down the isles I thought stickers would be in I saw the preschool mom. Did the obligatory greeting - and explained that I was looking for stickers for potty training. She snickered. She has a girl. I don't have a strong relationship with this mom so I kinda jumped ahead and thought perhaps she was snickering because I have a boy child and she had already succeeded in the potty training of her daughter. So my next statement was something about how nice it must be to have a girl because statistics show that girls train earlier and faster then boys - and she snickered again, kind threw her arms up and said, "Yeah, if I actually tried to train her maybe it would work." What? She went on to say that she just didn't have the motivation to start the whole potty training effort - this being her third child going through it and all. What? I kinda assumed that every kid but mine (and CK's boy) were trained already. You mean that I can possibly get TheKing potty trained before someone else gets their kid done?

Huh........it was like motivation....I could potty train TheKing before a girl the same age was done.......kinda motivation. See - and this probably sounds a bit dopey, but my SIL, AuntB to the kids, once bragged about how she didn't even potty train her youngest. That one weekend the two oldest kiddo's decided they would potty train him and by the end of the weekend he was successful - never even looked back - just kept going like a champ on the potty. So.......unrealistically probably......I have been holding out for SuperStar and Spidey to step up to the potty plate and help TheKing hit a big Potty Training Home Run. (hey, I can hear you laughing - it isn't that unrealistic is it? I mean CK is going to pay her daughter $20 to potty train E this summer - wait, mentally I kinda laughed at that when she told me - okay, so SuperStar and Spidey training TheKing is kinda a joke).

With a new pep in my step I left the thought of stickers behind - went to get a big piece of Poster Board (for our Potty Chart - remember, I have a love for using Charts - each kid has had a Potty Chart - in fact, I only last month threw SuperStar & Spidey's charts away because I saw them as memory keepers - only now they seem too big to keep around) - got some Pull Ups - and a CARS Potty Seat. Now, have never used a potty seat when potty training the olders. But I thought with his extreme love for the movie CARS - well perhaps a potty seat with his Love on it would excite him to sit and try. Regardless - I am motivated......

We have the Potty Chart up -



We have the dedicated mom hoping to Successfully complete the training process before the other little girl in class (although the mom doesn't know I am using her as my motivation - and - the mom said straight out that she is not even going to start the process until later this summer - still.......I am going to kick her ass in this potty training competion that she has no idea we are doing). The only thing left is the Sitting - and Waiting - and finding way to Entertain TheKing so he doesn't get bored sitting on the potty - so far this is what we do:

TheKing gets even billing

So the other day TheKing watched the video of his sibs playing piano. And he went NUTS!! Loved the video - screeched at them to say "Hi" to him. Wondered why, if they were looking at him he couldn't get them to answer him. Trying to explain it I showed him a video of himself and a friend swinging in the backyard. He watched and kinda got it. Then he wanted to have a new video made with a different friend (who lives too far away to make a video with). And when I explained this he lost it again. Crying and rolling around on the floor. Very very very upset. Then all of a sudden he stopped - looked at me and asked if I would put his swinging video on the blog. I agreed and voila - the crying stopped.

Three Year olds!

Enjoy the Swing -

They Say We Forget the Pain of Childbirth - When Do We Forget the Pain of Chidrearing?

Just before I came downstairs to do something relaxing in my craft room (which didn't include posting a blog) I did two things - first I put TheKing down for a well deserved nap (I deserved his nap, not him) and second I sat down to flip TV channels. Not sure exactly why I ever do this during the day - there is generally nothing on. Today I made one flip from 22 - 60 and stopped. There was a show on called Spouse Swap or something like that. BigGuy hates these swap shows. I am always curious about the family dynamic differences. So usually the beginning is interesting to me and then the middle and end aren't. Probably the counselor in me - where are these parents coming from in terms of child rearing? what are they going into for the week in terms of child torture? Then my interest is lost. The episode that was on was a mom who had 2 teenage kids switching places with a mom who had 3 triplet 7 year olds, 2 that were girls (sounds easy enough to me). The mom of the triplets was scared of being with teens (that isn't me - we have tons of teen nieces and nephews we get on with). However, the mom of the teens was horrified to be spending time with 7 year olds! That is like the easiest age ever in my opinion!! At 7 they can speak for themselves, they can follow directions, they can help out with the cleaning, they can express what is wrong or what they need - I love 7 (mostly). This mom did not - she described her coming week as "Brutal".

Brutal. Is it brutal? Hmmmm......

Remember how after you had your first kid (if you did the birth giving) and it hurt a great deal and you wanted to just curl up and sleep and recover? Never wanted to do it again? Or thought for certain it would not be wise to do it again? Then a few years later you decided you HAD to have another baby and WANTED to do the birth giving again? Even though the last time you did it the experience gave you months worth of story telling about the horrible adventure? Why would we want to give birth again if it hurts so much? They say it is because the joy of having a child makes us forget the pain of childbirth. If that is so then why did this mom hate 7yr olds so much? Is it possible that perhaps people can forget the Joy of Child rearing just like they forget the Pain of Childbirth? Not that there isn't Pain related to Child rearing - I think some of my previous posts can document that.

Yet I can't imagine going into another persons home and thinking any age group is Brutal - well, maybe the 3 year old age, but even that has it's upsides.

Hard To Believe

It is just amazing to me how much older Spidey, TheKing and SuperStar look in just 1 year. This is an Easter to Easter photo collage for each kiddo. Each have about 4" height growth too!

Spidey is on a Role

Lately this boy is Killing Me! with his silly statements. He is so quick and sincere about some of the things that he says that I have to hold in the laughter.

Like when he said that I was "too old and married to have a crush on anyone."

The other day he was looking at me as I walked across the room and said, "You got some junk in the trunk." What?????? That one I was pretty sure he didn't get so I asked him what he meant by that - he said, "You have a big butt."

On Easter, as we were making the meal together Spidey said something about how his future wife would be making all the meals because that is what women do. What????? BigGuy was right there and he said something along the lines of, "You mean if your wife enjoys doing the baking. Maybe you will do the baking." (keep in mind that we had all worked together to make the corn bread, chocolate pie, potatoes - BigGuy had done the meat all by himself). Spidey looked at him as if he hadn't been with us the entire morning having FUN helping out and said, "No that is what the women like to do so that is what they are for." What?????????? I knew to let that alone and BigGuy corrected him - nicely. Spidey looked at him - nicely and then trotted away. Before I could say anything BigGuy said, "Well, this is partly because it is what he knows. You love to bake and cook and that is what he sees most of the time." Hmm....maybe - or maybe we need to get BigGuy to do more of the domestic stuff (not that he doesn't do A LOT already - but maybe if he did everything in the kitchen for about - oh 5 years - then Spidey's brain will even out a bit).

Post Script - so to add on a bit about Spidey - this week a few boys in class had a fight. 4 total boys were involved, although it was 3 separate incidents. In 2 of the altercations the word Jackass was used. This one was new to Spidey. He came home FULL of the story about how one boy pushed another - then the other one bit him and then the first one called the other one a Jackass. Spidey also told me the word means Braying Donkey and that he didn't see why that would be a BAD word, but that he knew it was and that people really shouldn't say the word Jackass because the word Jackass could hurt someone's feelings even though it really only means Braying Donkey. So don't say Jackass. Jackass is not nice to say. You get where this is going right? He worked the word into as many sentences demonstrating that you should NOT say it as he could. Yesterday, when he phoned my mom to thank her for the wonderful jelly she makes and gives us, I heard him talking for at least 15 min. about how you should not say the word Jackass.

Concert Time

The Olders are getting better and better at playing piano. I am a combined Proud and Jealous at their abilities. Perhaps some day I will get to learn to play myself. Yes, yes, I hear some of you thinking, "Why not learn with the kids as they learn." I was doing that. I practiced each time they received a new song and pretty much completed Book I at the same time. To their credit - it keeps getting harder - and you really need to pay attention. So what is the problem? Just practice more? Well.........the problem is that there are 3 children living here and they won't let me. Wah Wah Wah - right? Yeah, well I have to pick and choose my battles and learning Piano is not one of them. If I were to attempt to play at this point I think I would either go insane or kill the piano. Since the piano is on loan to us from BigGuys Uncle & Aunt currently living in the Czech Rep. - I would only have insane to choose from. These clips are not of the Olders doing a fabulous job playing their song - just the opposite (kinda). This is the day AFTER they received their new songs to practice for the week. These are clips of them practicing the song 1x through. You will please notice all the background noise.........
and Spidey - he likes to take his time inbetween notes as he plays. It can drive a person bonkers trying to figure out if he is done with the song or not.....

This Time He was Being Really Good!!

So this morning TheKing has swim lessons at the gym we attend. The routine is we go an hour early and I exercise for a bit on the cardio machines - he plays in the kids room - then we both go to his swim class (where he swims and I watch). Monday evenings BigGuy does the same thing with the Olders. Last week he took TheKing with him as I had PTO - so he had TheKing's kids room membership pass and my membership card is attached to that. He had not returned them to me - so I had no way to easily get into the gym. I phoned BigGuy and he never answered - even did his cell phone 10 times in a row (I can be annoying when trying to get what I need). He never answered. I admit that made me a bit cranky.

Add in that TheKing then threw a fit not wanting to go. Then I turned the house upside down looking for where BigGuy might have stashed the membership cards. Nada. Then TheKing took a bunch of his cars and threw them under my van. We had to leave regardless to get to swim classes on time - and at this point I could still get in about 20 minutes on the cardio. So we went - to TheKings screams of his cars being under the van. Hmmm...........if I ran over them who would be at fault?

My frustration level is starting to fray now.

We get to the gym. They look my name up - as you know my last name is not simple and they have to look and look and look and look - finally finding it. Let us in. We skip to the children's room. They will let me leave TheKing "IF" I fill out a new form - go back to the desk and have them look my membership number up so that I can fill it out - wipe his hands - do a back flip - turn circles while touching my nose and singing the national anthem. Okay, I am exaggerating - but - if I did go back, wait for them to find it, then return, fill out the form - there would have been maybe 10 min. left and TheKing would have thrown a fit from not having enough playtime in there (he really enjoys it in there). So we skipped it. Instead choosing to go on the track and walk/run for a bit.

I have never used the track. I do NOT run. I walk, but I can do that on a treadmill. This seems to be most peoples choice as there were only 3 other people on the track.

TheKing loved it. Run - walk - run - walk - giggle. The track encloses 2 basketball courts. These courts are enclosed by nets from floor to ceiling to keep the balls from bouncing onto the track. The others on the track were greeting TheKing - he challenged a few to races that they did not accept. He was fine. He was actually being really good. Then he wanted to sit on a bench. So we did. After sitting things started to turn in TheKings attitude and the track started to be more crowded (so I figured to keep everyone happy we would leave)- but it was time for swim anyway - so we started across the basketball court to the other side where the exit door was. We were IN the court area - surrounded by nets - no way TheKing could be bothering anyone - when a new woman passed by on the track. We are opposite sides from her on our way out only TheKing decided to run around the court circle giggling. The woman waved her arm to catch my attention and told me we were not allowed on the track. I pointed out we were not on the track and gave her a "thumbs up" sign (which was supposed to mean "we get it we are leaving"). I didn't know any rule stating the kids could not be on the track. Still she kept up after my "thumbs up" telling me to leave. I nodded (but now I am irritated) and said we were not bothering anyone in the unused basketball court - and she responded by saying that we are bothering a lot of people. So I gave her another "thumbs up" (although I will honestly admit I was thinking of using another finger instead) and stuck my tongue out at her. You know - the ultimate insult - the tongue stick out. I bet I scared her. We were leaving though - swim class beckoned. Off the court we went - across the track - sitting on a bench to put our jackets on to leave - and then she lapped us. Of course - just as she passed up TheKing darted onto the track - I knew she had eyes in the back of her head and that she was about to give me the business again so I screeched, "No King, come back - stay away from the crabby woman who doesn't understand children." TheKing stopped dead in his tracks and came back. The woman glared and said she was crabby because he was there.

Now - we were never in her way. We began leaving before TheKing ever had a chance to scream, become upset or obstinate (and I know the signs so I was really watching). I admit I could have ignored her and left quietly - but my morning hadn't gone well and she baited me (still....no excuse on my part....I should not have given in to my own crabbiness). What was wrong with her though? When did she forget the Joy of of being alive and encountering new people with a smile?

Of course, after thinking about the exchange - and feeling I could have done a better job of it all - I went to the front desk and apologized for my behavior. My exact words were, "There might be an older woman who will come up here and complain about a woman and her small child. That would be us. We were apparently bothering her while we were on the track a bit ago." The desk attendant (a woman) said - and I kid you not - "Those older woman are always bitching about something. As long as you stay off the track until 10am you are fine. Don't let them bully you." I admitted to her that we were on the track prior to 10am (remember - I had never been on the track before this day and didn't know there was a rule - now I do). She said not to worry and just be careful in the locker room - and giggled.

We didn't go into the locker room. Now I am afraid to ever go into the locker room.

You Just Can't Make this Stuff Up - well.....I suppose you can, but why would you?

Before you read this post I must present this:
WARNING - This Blog May Contain Some Wording That Will Create Visuals In Your Head That You Do Not Want To Have - PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK (This is especially true for parents of BigGuy & HalfPint).

Another Disclaimer - well, I am not as certain this is a disclaimer as it is that I need to say out loud (in typing) that I did have a conversation with my friend, SS, and she said this was okay to post - that it was funny and not TMI. Some things are easy to write about - other things you WANT to write about, but then you think......hmmm.......maybe if I have to think about it I shouldn't write about it and then you think........screw that I will anyway. So let's see what happens.

Now - if you read here (and I am sure you do) you know that a few months back - Valentines time to be exactish - the Olders began to have outloud conversations about what they knew Sex to be. Not that they knew exactly what Sex is, but I overheard them having conversations about what they Think it is. Not that they were not accurate in their definition - just their definition left some gaps in the complete understanding of what went into the definition of the word Sex.

Continuing - so you also know (because you read on a regular basis) that after these conversations were overheard BigGuy and I approached the Olders to have more indepth conversations about the Birds & Bees (what the heck is the reason for the saying The Birds and Bees anyway? Have you EVER seen 2 Birds or 2 Bees getting intimate? Ever? Maybe it should be the Dogs and the Cows - that I have seen - generally often with Jake & Sunny). Anyway, so over the past few months we have been trying to slowly work the whole Dogs & Cows (let's see if we can start a confusing trend) subject into casual conversation (ha!! like it has worked at all - not at all - of course I am not good with subtle, I do this - "So have you thought of any questions you might have about sex since we last talked?" - not apparently subtle enough because No Matter How Interesting whatever they are doing is they get up and leave me almost instantly). Still we continue to make the subject as Comfortable as we possibly can so that eventually they do come to us and ask us something (or we pray they do).

Of coures BigGuy and I are innovators - we like to think about all angles of the way to teach. Okay, BigGuy isn't - just I am. BigGuy is good at just saying, "Well, that didn't work. Wanna get a snack?" I try to reinvent the wheel and come up with a Bigger and Better Plan. However fate stepped in on us.

Now like I said - I wasn't sure how much TMI this post would be for some - and it took me a week or so to write it. So this isn't written lightly - well, it is written lightly, but not without thought. Oh I give up - I am just going to write it.

So.....It was Easter weekend and we thought that perhaps since we weren't going to STL to visit family we should do fun stuff with the kids. Thursday I took them out during the day to play some of their energy off. Later we let them invite friends over for a sleepover. They stayed up late and got up early. Then Friday we went bowling and had a family movie night - we watched Get Smart - up latish for them (adding up how sleepy they are getting?). Saturday we had donuts and then we went to the Skating Party Spidey was invited to. We all went - BigGuy and the kids skated - I milled around with TheKing after he quit the skating (I wanted to skate, but it would have been throwing money away). After we took the kids to pick out Lunchables (yuck!) and then came home to relax a bit. They were pretty tired after 2 late nights and a lot of activity. They were completely vegged out in front of the TV when BigGuy and I decided to carve a little time out for ourselves. We had basically run them into the ground and they looked really tired! That meant we could probably go undisturbed for a bit. I invited BigGuy upstairs.....you see where this is going right?

This is Where Visuals may come into play and some may want to just stop.....

Now - generally when BigGuy and I are having an Afternoon "Treat" I insist that we stay clothed from the waist up. JUST IN CASE we have a party crasher if we are dressed from the waist up we can recover fairly quickly. This particular day BigGuy talked me out of that - the kids were tired - they had just eaten - they were watching a movie - BigGuy had locked the door - I was convinced. I asked just to make certian, "You locked the door right?" He looked a tad annoyed since I think I asked this about 6 times. A bit into the "Treat" I even started to relax - it had been 5 minutes and there were no peeps from downstairs - we decided it didn't have to be a Quickie "Treat" - 10 minutes and we are really enjoying ourselves - and then all of a sudden we hear feet running up the stairs -

Probably sounding panic'd I reiterated, "You locked the door right?"

"Yes, the door is locked." BigGuy reassured me. Then BOOM - the door was open. "You said you locked the door!" I squeaked. BigGuy insisted, "I did lock the door." - only clearly he hadn't because the door was wide open and there stood our 7yr old getting a visual lesson. Our body arrangement was very traditional - BigGuy was on top and he was the one that Spidey had his eyes set on - in a very Deer In the Headlights sort of a way. Lucky for me BigGuy takes up so much space - I don't think Spidey even noticed I was there.

"Ahhhh...." Spidey started with, "Ahhh...."

"What do you want Spidey?" BigGuy said - not able to move for fear of revealing too much of himself.

"Ahhhh....can I have a carrot cake cupcake Mom made? They are down in the kitchen and I ate all my lunch and I was wondering if aaaahhhh....." Spidey said quickly - although it seemed to take forever.

All of a sudden TheKing popped in from around Spidey - jumping up and down screaming, "I wanna cake. I wanna cake too."

BigGuy cut both of them off by saying, "Yes go get a cupcake that is fine. Close the door."

Spidey was gone - running down the stairs probably more out of confusion then need for the cupcake any longer - but TheKing stood in his spot - screaming and jumping for a cupcake. We told him to go get one - that Spidey would help him - but he wouldn't go - so BigGuy got up and went around to convince him Spidey would help and closed the door (and really locked it right) after TheKing was happily now screaming at Spidey to get him a cupcake.

Seriously.

We got dressed. Now my thought was - We did not have to give him a Learning Visual - we could have rented books from the library like other parents do - this was far too much information - this could mess him up for life and he will never be able to have sex like a normal person - and that BigGuy would have to for certain talk to him right away. We went downstairs. Spidey was eating a cupcake at the table. He looked up and grinned. We sat down with him. Spidey said, "Dad you were all naked." BigGuy said, "Yes I was." And that seemed to be it. BigGuy didn't say anything else - Spidey didn't say anything else. Was this it? So I kinda nudged BigGuy and he asked, "Do you have any questions?" To which Spidey said, "Ah were you doing the sex?" And then I left. I have always been good about this stuff, but I was going to laugh and that wasn't right - was it? BigGuy said there were a few more questions that had nothing to do with anything and Spidey came and sat with the rest of the kids watching the movie. He doesn't seem twisted for life - at least not yet.

BigGuy will never be trusted for door locking ever again.

Update!!!!! New Things You Can Do!!!!

Huge news!! You know how I am always hinting that I Would LOVE To See Comments From My Favorite People? and you know how most of you have said, "Well I don't have a Blogger ID thingy, so it is too much trouble...."? Well............today is your lucky day!! Actually we made the switch a few days ago - I just had a bunch of blogs already scheduled so I held onto the info - MJB got the word though (Yea MJ). Now - after you read a hilarious blog here you can VERY EASILY leave a Fabulous Comment. You do not need a Blogger ID Thingy after all - I just wasn't saavy enough to figure that out very easily.

Why Am I Now Figuring It Out? That is PartII of the New Things - SuperStar has started her own blog! Yep. She has been asking if she could do a blog - earned a really nice Kodak camera for her cookie sales - and now she wants to blog and show pics of her life as told by her (no more of my interpretation of things). Her blog, My Life, will be dif though. You can not just log into hers. Sorry. Too much paranoia from me to allow that and BigGuy backed me up. So hers is by invite only. If you have not received an invite leave a note here and we will send you one - after you pass the Security Clearance.

Crushing Not Allowed Apparently

So the other day I posted a entry about my crush on Ryan Gosling. And I actually got a Comment!! No, not from anyone I know - yet at least - but it was a comment and anyone who reads here on a consistent enough basis knows that this is what I hope for - someone to comment (not that any of you who know me personally take the time to do this - yes, that is a hint - yes, I do like the emails - yes, they are more personal........but still how bout a comment every once in awhile?).

Moving Forward - the person who posted also left an address for the blog that she runs - Daily Miss Mash. The basis of her blog is my Crush Guy. She blogs about him - mostly him - it looks like a few other cuties too - but mostly him. Since she has whole blog about him I won't try to claim him and instead I will gladly share. As I was looking through her blog and watching a video of my Crush Guy's band (yes, he is not just a great actor - he also has a band.......that I admit I don't quite get the music of....but maybe that is only because I can't always understand what he is saying) Spidey and SuperStar came in and started watching too.


DEAD MAN'S BONES - "NAME IN STONE" from biz3 publicity on Vimeo.

They stood on either side of me and just sat listening. If you listen to this enough times you can start to understand the words better.......but I am still not certain what the meaning is.....However, at the time I wasn't really wanting to listen to it more then one time - other things to do - and Spidey asked me the quetions, "Why would you want to listen to that?" Since he asked I proudly told Spidey that someone had left a comment on the blog and I was looking at her blog - at the same time SuperStar began looking at the pictures on the blog and noticed they were primarily of the man from the movie we watched together a few weeks before. "Oh, it is the guy who played Daphne's boyfriend, Fred, on ScoobyDoo." she said matter of fact.

Yuck - I mean, not yuck, Freddie Prince Jr. is fine and all, somewhere I am sure there is a fan club all devoted to him, but he isn't my Crush Guy - so I quickly corrected her - "No, this is Ryan Gosling." She responded with, "Oh your Crush Guy."

"What? You have a crush on him?" Spidey said in a parental type shocked voice. I had no qualms with telling him that I have a little crush on him so I said, "Well, yes, he is a very good actor and he is an attractive man."

"But you are too old and married to have a crush on anyone but Dad. You love Dad." he said as he looked at me with his face all twisted up like he was going to ground me for the thought.

Now, I do like that he is of the mindset that you should be totally devoted to the person you are married to. I really like that. I also like that Spidey gets how much I love his dad. Because I do. BigGuy is more then a Crush Guy though - he is my BigTime-AllTime-MostWonderful-BestFriend-Love Guy. A Crush Guy could never compare to what BigGuy is in my life. In my case being married is a very positive experience - I married the exact right person for me. Neither of us is perfect and we both love that about one another (at least I think BigGuy loves that about me). Still.............to "old" to have a crush??? I don't think so........I have a huge crush on BigGuy!

Crazy Hat Day

We were going to skip a day without a post. Figured I would start slowing down a bit. I admire the people who are able to blog everyday about something - the time they put into typing out each blog - the ability to think of something clever or at least interesting to keep peoples attentions. My goal was to try to keep pace with them - noticing of course that they sometimes slow down and keep posts a few days inbetween. So I was going to space a few - like I do with Made By Creative Me (yeah, because those aren't spaced out because I am not finding time to be creative - ha!). Anyway, then last night happened.

SuperStar came home ALL excited about Crazy Hat Day. She had it all planned out that I would drop everything I am doing (because that would only mean we didn't eat dinner or anything else necessary to prepare for the next day - okay, honestly it only meant we wouldn't eat dinner because everything else was done - and honestly, I didn't even really have dinner planned, BigGuy was supposed to be out of town and we were going to have cereal or sandwiches or something - with fruit (that last comment is for MJB)).

So SuperStar comes into the house - she has changed the plan because she will not be staying home with us - she wants to go see her friend, MB, perform in her 3rd grade musical. However, she needs me to help her make a Crazy Hat for the next days Friday Fun Day. I ask her what she is thinking. Well...........what she is thinking is we will find some "flame like" fabric, cut it into flames, get a headband with devil horns on it and then after fashioning the flames together sew them onto the devil horns. What? That sounds like a huge project - we don't have "flame like" fabric - in fact we don't have any scrap fabric, but the fleece we did scarves with. Plus.......that sounds like a huge project to be done in 2 hours for tomorrow. Plus......uuhh...honestly, I just don't want to do it.

My response was, "Uhh.......my sewing machine is currently broken due to the needle breaking off into the carriage - sorry that won't work." This was totally true by the way.

SuperStar countered with, "Oh, that is okay, you can just hand sew it all." With a big cute eager smile on her face.

My knee jerk response was, "No way." With a big cute smile on my face.

"Okay, I will sew it all on myself. I know how to do it." With a determined look on her face.

"Well........I don't have time to oversee that project, you are leaving in 2 hours and handsewing all that will be too hard to get done in one night." But my heart felt squishy looking at her determined happy face falling to sadness. So I added, "What about making a Cone Head hat. Daddy can bring home some ice cream cones and we will glue gun them on." She wasn't taking it though so I added, "okay you can use my glue gun and whatever stuff you find in the craft box downstairs to make a Crazy Hat."
The glue gun totally cheered her up and she was off like lightening to create this:



Spidey also wanted into the Crazy Hat Day scene, but he didn't care so much what his hat was. When he heard mention of ice cream cones stuck to his head he was totally on it. He approached me and said simply, "I'll take the Cone Head hat." and the deed was done. We phoned BigGuy - he stopped at the store - Spidey dug up a hat he wanted to use and we glue gunned them on.


The only down side to Spidey's hat is that he sees it as Edible. By the time he left the house he had already eaten the tip to one of the cones off. My guess is by tonight he will have eaten most of his hat.



And that is today - 4/17/09 - Crazy Hat Day!! The post just had to be done.

How You Entertain A 3 Year Old

The following photos are How You Entertain a 3 Year Old that is COMPLETELY Done being in a Museum...........

Take a Picture


They say, "Let me see." You show them - they are happy....

Take another...


They look - hoot with happy....

Take another....


They look - hoot with happy....

Take another.....


You get the picture - right?

Pun Totally Intended!

The Chore Charts

While there are many thing I love to do, one of the ones I love the most is to DESIGN things - then admire how cool the Idea and Design is (because they are totally originally completely all made up by me - not really, just in my head). And then......redo the whole thing over to be even Bigger and Better!!

What? You are a "Why Reinvent the Wheel" kinda person. Hmmmmm.....I don't know what to say to you - except that by NOT reinventing the wheel you are probably finding a lot of free time to do other things........where is the fun in that?

Chore Charts are becoming one of my favorite Design Items. Back in STL I had created a chore chart primarily for SuperStar - it was supposed to help with Homework, her bedroom and various other little items that would just organize her as she started school. Unfortunately she didn't really need it - her homework was almost already done - and everything seemed to fall into place pretty easy. Moving here we decided the kids were old enough to do some serious chores.......so I created a BETTER Chore Chart. This one had Header sections like HOUSE - KITCHEN - PETS - PIANO and HOMEWORK. And it worked pretty well.............until it didn't get used much anymore.

See I have a perfectionist streak. The Permanent Ink that I used to create the chart so that we could then use a Wipe Off Marker to keep things updated did stay Permanent. Now I ask.......what part of Permanent means "easy to erase off"? So I started to find it too tedious to try to stay within the lines of my well designed Chore Chart because of the damn ink. And found that it needed to be redesigned.

Here we have the most updated version of the Chore Chart........
Chore Chart 2009



I really think this one is it. Sleek, easy to read and definately above the rest. However, in doing all this creating and recreating I realized that perhaps the reason I keep needing to redesign the charts stems from the fact that the children (whom I love) stop doing the chores. Maybe the question isn't "what kind of betterment can I put into a Chore Chart?" to make them successful........maybe the question should be "why do they get away with not doing the chores?"

My first instinct is to blame BigGuy. These things tend to be his fault. When I leave everything falls apart (or so I like to think - no, I was not one of those New Moms that didn't trust the dad to stay alone with the baby - I TOTALLY left with my girls and gave BigGuy his well deserved Dad Alone Time - I just came back and complained about how he didn't do things the same way I did. Gosh - seeing that typed out makes me wonder if there is something wrong with that method? Naah...probably just fine). Perhaps if BigGuy paid more attention to the chores the children are supposed to be doing they would get done and the Chore Chart 2008 would have been a complete success.

Or Not.

Now...........and your heads will probaly spin..........as I get deeper into parenting and marriage I find that perhaps I am not SO PERFECT after all. Just maybe.....and this really could be a big stretch of everyone's imagination.....just maybe I have some issues. I know, you are begging me to say it isn't so - hear me out before you take me off the pedastal........I think the Chore Charts aren't successful in part (maybe .25%) because of me. Yes. No, no...I really think this.

Why you ask....well there are a few reasons;
a) Even though the chores are writtne and known - the wonderfully talented head of the class children STILL need to be reminded to do them. So I do. And then I do it again and again and again and again and again.........and this act is in my Top 10 Least Favorite Activities. So after awhile I just don't. And I do the chores.
b) The chores the children really want to do - like Load the Dishwasher - Laundry - Sweep and Vacuum.....I can not stand for them to do. Why? You think all help is good help? WRONG!! Kids sweeping is not real sweeping - you have to sweep behind them - so why bother having them sweep at all? What? For the experience? What experience the one where I sigh heavily - thank them falsely and then get caught Re-doing it later and "hurt" their feelings? Right - whateeeverrrr. Then there is Loading the Dishwasher - ack! My dad is a Loading the Dishwasher right freak - and he trained me to be a 2nd Generation Dishwasher Freak (sorry to call you out dad, but it is totally true) and I really don't want to pass it onto my kids - or have a bunch of broken dishes - so the kids don't do this one. Based on these you can just imagine why Laundry or Vacuuming would drive me bonkers...
c) Didn't I mention earlier that I am a Perfectionist? While I see this as a definate Strength........other don't......my children included. Now in my defense - I try to balance myself with BigGuy's opinion on cleaning (don't get me wrong - he isn't a slob, but dishes in the sink for a few days won't make him lay awake at night and it will me). With the balancing I am able to leave the Olders rooms alone - they are allowed to live in their natural 7 & 9yr old glory without my judgement (and there is judgement) until I can't see the floor or I spot food.

There are many other things that I can think of. Funny, BigGuy does have his triggers - like when SuperStar or Spidey leave underwear on the bathroom floor - or even worse - the socks and shoes left all over the family room TV area - he hates those things............or perhaps he just pretends to hate them so I will have sex with him. Hmmm.....now that I think about it...........

Well.........back to creating Chore Chart 2010.

Slipping on the 3rd

BigGuy and I often tell TheKing that since he is the 3rd child it is not easy to fool us. He is our tantrum thrower. The olders didn't do the tantrum thing - much - they weren't perfect, but they also didn't throw big giant tantrums with screaming and hitting. TheKing doesn't hit a ton - usually it is a very baby like slap - but the intent to maim someone is in his eyes when he does it. And the whole thing is completely for our benefit. When he was little (like he is soooo big now at 3) and he got upset he used to drop to the floor, look up to make sure we were watching, and then bang his head on the ground (usually just 2 or 3 times). Our STL house had vinyl tile and carpet everywhere - so this never did too much in the way of hurting him. Then we moved. Our current house has hard ceramic tile in the kitchen and wood floors everywhere else on the first floor. After we moved - and TheKing threw a fit he would follow the same routine - drop to the floor, look up at us to make sure we were watching and then bang his head. Only it hurt - and then he was crying for a reason (albeit one he imposed upon himself) and then we would hold him and comfort him because there was a welt rising on his forehead. This happened maybe 5 times and then his routine changed. The new routine followed - He would throw a tantrum, drop to the floor, look up to make sure we were watching, look down to see where he was on the floor, move himself over to the nearest throw rug (most fits happen in the kitchen) and THEN look at us again to make sure we were still watching (we were giggling by this point) and FINALLY start to hit his head on the floor (very gently). After the first time - when we stopped giggling - we told him we were very impressed he figured out how to keep himself from getting hurt. Not being the result he was looking for he changed his routine on future tantrums.

Now - with the Olders it was a bit different. SuperStar was our Starter Kid. We rushed to most things she did and tried to "reason" with her. Gently, sweetly, using all our child psych skills. With Spidey it started to morph. With him we picked what we rushed to. If I was doing something and it was a fabricated "need" then he waited - something SuperStar never would have had to do. Spidey also got away with a few things because of our attentive absence - like when he called 911 because the Barney episode that day taught them how to call for emergencies. Cops showed up - BigGuy answered the door - they offered their assistance in response to the 911 call - BigGuy was baffled - Spidey sat on the staircase looking through the support beams completely denying any involvement. So we slipped with him a bit.

With TheKing we find we are slipping even more. None of the Olders ever got to do this........



At least not that I can remember. Maybe BigGuy remembers different.
* We never let them (at 3 years old) have a TV for any amount of time in their bedroom.
* We never let them watch TV right before they took a nap or went to bed because this might happen and sound sleep does not occur while a TV is on.
* We certainly NEVER let them sit (or lay) this CLOSE to a TV - ever.
* In general SuperStar did not watch TV without an adult with her when she was 3 yrs old (in general - meaning MOST of the time) - Spidey did though. > < span>r>
Yet here sleeps our 3rd child. The child that BigGuy and I let have the tiny VCR tape playing TV (we bought it before there were travel DVD players for long trips with SuperStar) in his room last weekend because his sister and brother both got to watch a movie in their room - and - let's be COMPLETELY HONEST - we have realized that we can buy ourselves a few minutes of "peace to focus" when all 3 children are occupied. This particular morning I had a deadline on something I needed to do - and watching the Teletubbies in his room quietly for a minute helped me accomplish that goal. No, I am not watching with him (although I have seen this video a bazillion times over the past 9 years). Yes, he is FAR too close to the screen. And Yes, he did start watching 30 minutes before nap time - so I knew this was a possibility. I found him at nap time - took the pic - turned off the TV - put him to bed - and then kicked myself in the butt for lazy parenting.

Will I do this again? Being COMPLETELY HONEST? Yep. Now the real question is - given that he is a 3rd child and we have had 9 years to become good parents - given that we would most likely never have let SuperStar do this - might have let Spidey do this - obviously let TheKing do this - do at least make certain the videos are G rated and family viewed -

Are we:
a) Good Parents
b) Realistic Parents
c) Inexcusable Parents
d) Lazy Parents
e) Smart Parents
f) All of the Above (I will give you all an out choice - because at one time or another we have fit every answer)

Happy Easter

Yeah, yeah, I know - after that Easter Basket blog the message I am sending out on the Easter Holiday should be MORE spiritual and LESS comic - but this is funny.....and cute......and funny.........so let's pretend these Chocoalte bunnies are on their way to church and they run into each other and this is the conversation they have.......that makes it more spiritual right? No? Oh heck, then sue me.

So..........are you a Bunny Butt Biting Fan or a Bunny Eat Biting Fan?

Dying for some Easter Egg Pics?

Thought you all might like to see the fun we had dying Easter Eggs. And "no" - TheKing did NOT drink the dye - he had some blue drink with his dinner.













SuperStar called the finished products "Tricked Out Eggs" - this was the first year that the whole Easter Tradition was more Fun then Work. Yea!!

Usually I'm totally against Porn, but I am trying to be more open minded this year and honestly, this seemed to be pretty sexy......




I like to get these things before I have to be asked.



I made some Niman Ranch lamb tenderloin with garlic, black pepper and Indonesian soy sauce for dinner. I hope that sounds OK.



Is that the baby? I'll get her.



As long as I have legs to walk on you'll NEVER have to take out the garbage.



Don't want anyone "falling in" in the middle of the night.



Oh look, the NFL playoffs are today. I'll bet we have no trouble parking at the crafts fair.



I don't have to have a reason to bring you flowers.



Hold that thought for a second. I want to pull over to ask for directions.

Also, honestly, BigGuy is pretty good at keeping most of these pornographic things in our marriage - except for maybe the 1st one and the one referring to watching sports - the one about.