Training Wheels and Two Wheelers {and potty training}

B was a beast to potty train!  We started trying several months ago but he just wasn’t going for it. 

He absolutely could, but he absolutely would not!

It was extremely frustrating.  He would be wearing big boy underwear, wet in them without telling anyone, then go change his pants.  We were constantly walking in random puddles on the floor and his bedroom smelled like a urinal. 

It was bad!

So… back in diapers he went! 

And then one day a couple weeks ago he just decided, on his own terms, that he was going to be a big boy and start using the potty.  He had a few accidents here and there but nothing like before.  We promised him that if he didn’t have any accidents at all for a week we would buy him a new bike.  He has admired C’s since Christmas. 

Long story short… he did it!! 

And now he has a new bike.  It’s not the Lightning McQueen bike he preferred… we may have steered his little eyes in another direction when we saw the price difference.  ;)

And of course he needed a new helmet to go with it.  What a stud!  These pics were taken Sunday evening in the parking lot of the church.  On the way home he said, “I like my new bike.  I love it!  It’s my favorite toy.”  And he was so proud of himself when he fell and just brushed it off and hopped right back on the bike. 

One more important thing to note is that Mr. C is now riding a two wheeler!  He didn’t do the training wheels very long at all.  About a month and a half ago we were at the church riding bikes when one of his training wheels fell off.  He seemed to do just fine without it so Anthony took the other one off and that was that!  It was pretty incredible.  C never even needed anyone to hold the back of the seat. 

It’s amazing how quickly these little boys are growing.  I love them so much! 

Here We Go Again

Look at this face…

Yep, he’s a cutie but do you also see the smirk?  He’s three now which means he’s growing horns.  Maybe you remember another little somebody being a troublesome 3-year-old.  (Read some of the older stories found here.) 

Oh three… why must you be soooo long!!  A whole year is just too much!  And yet, I LOVE that age just as much as I loathe it. 

They are so darn cute and say the darndest things. 

His favorite thing to do recently is to pretend to be different people.  Grandpa W. (my grandpa), Papu (my dad), Pops (Anthony’s dad), John (our friend/neighbor), or Dad (Anthony).  And of course each person comes equipped with props. 

Grandpa W. – ‘toy car’ (a little off road car thing that I don’t know the real name of.  He comes and gives the kids rides in it once in a while.)

Papu – Pepsi.  B will grab a cup of water or milk and pretend it’s Pepsi.  Papu always has Pepsi…. always!

Pops – bike.  Anthony’s dad is a bicyclist.  The real deal spandex, bikes that cost more than you knew a bike could, ride from Logan to Jackson Hole (Lotoja) kind of bicyclist. 

John – boat.  John owns a boat and takes us out in it once in a while.  Anthony goes with him often every summer.

Dad – could be anything.  It might be a tool or a flashlight.  Or something completely random.

Goodness sakes!  I sure do know how to get off track. 

The real reason for this post was to tell about something that happened at dance the other day.

So, there we were.  Typical Monday at dance except that more little ones showed up than normal because they were doing pictures right after.  They were all playing in the toy room. 

The toy room that’s connected to the bathroom. 

I went back to check on them only to find 5 little ones in the bathroom with plastic cups dipping them into the toilet and dumping it back in.  EW!! 

I promptly freaked out and told them to throw the cups away.  Then I proceeded to make my boys wash their hands in the sink. 

Pictures got done and we were just about to leave.  Several people had already left.  Then one mom comes into the waiting area frantically trying to get to the other bathroom yelling, “We need a plunger!  The toilet is flooding.  There is water everywhere!”

According to her son, his ‘best friend’ (that would be B) flushed a plastic cup down. 

Not a moment later we see water coming from under the wall into the waiting area.  Myself and another mom ran in to see how bad it was.  This other mom has older kids NOT involved in the incident and yet she was the first one to jump in head first and start taking care of business. 

(She’s the one with the daughter that got her butt slapped by my little C.  When I told him he needed to apologize because that wasn’t appropriate he responded with, “But why?  Daddy does it!”  Nice!!  Anthony got a stern talking to about that one! ;))

I was so grateful that she was willing to get it taken care of.  She threw her shoes off and just started scooping water up with a dustpan and throwing it into the toilet.  I started mopping and ringing out the water every half a second.  There was literally at least an inch of water on the ground. 

The boys and I had a ‘chat’ when we got home.  A chat that stuck with them for all of maybe 10 minutes for C and didn’t even register for B.  He just laughed at me.  I don’t know what to do with that kid!   

Birthday Boys!! 5 & 3

My two oldest boys are lucky enough to share a birthday month with their daddy, whom they absolutely adore!  We thought maybe that’s how boys came for us… have a baby in March and it will be a boy!  Obviously that’s not the case.  Baby B was born in November (see part 1 and part 2)  So that’s not it.  It’s one of a few things.  Either they like sharing a birth month with a parent (I’m in November with Baby B), girls are born in odd years and boys are born in even years, or the fact that all the girls were born in temporary conditions (housing-wise… each in a different apartment) and the boys were all born while we’ve lived in this home.  {Yes, we think too much.}

Or maybe it’s the way Heavenly Father planned it ;)

Whatever the case may be, C and B get to share the month with daddy.  We always celebrate them all together because it’s easier that way, not to mention less expensive.  This year C insisted on having his own Monster Truck party.  He didn’t want to share with B.  Sharing with dad was fine, but not with B. 

In the end, however, we finally talked him into sharing and they agreed on a Dump Truck party.  Why a Dump Truck party?  I have no idea.  Why is the sky blue?

We decided to hit the zoo beforehand.  My sister gave us an annual pass for Christmas and the weather was perfect!  Besides, we hadn’t yet seen the not-so-new exhibit, Rocky Shores.  It was pretty awesome!

We all had a great time.  Everything went perfectly and no one got lost! 

Ok, ok.  It went something like this {I’m such a terrible liar!} … First we hit up the Radio Disney crew.  That was fun.

A couple of birthday boys chose to opt out of the fun and play it cool on the sidelines.

After that we headed over to the Primate Building.  Then on to the elephants.  K was so excited to get over there because she had brought her sketch pad.  She wanted to draw Zuri, the baby elephant, though I suppose you might call her a toddler by now.  She sat and sketched, I sat and nursed on a separate bench across the exhibit, everyone else wandered on a bit further and I followed once the baby was done.  I had supposed everyone, including K, had moved on.  We had quite the crowd with us. 

Soon after the rhinos our large group split into two.  Half of them had stopped for something to eat without the rest of us realizing it so we thought they had moved on.  I had seen my other two girls with my mom so I knew they were fine.  They were with their cousins and having fun, I was sure.  Anthony and I still had all three boys and my sister was with us.  I kept trying to call my mom and my cousins just to be sure but no one was answering. 

So, long story short, we finally met up at the new exhibit and realized that we had assumed K was with the other group and they had assumed she was with us.  It had been at least 45 minutes since we had seen the elephants. 

Anthony, my dad, and my sister all went to look for her and there she was… still at the elephants… and extremely frustrated.  Not scared, just frustrated.  And rightfully so!  But by golly!!  She did exactly what we’ve always told her to do, STAY IN ONE PLACE! 

And for what it’s worth, she did get to see the trainers feed the elephants and make them do tricks. 

MOM OF THE YEAR AWARD GOES TO…… um, let’s talk about that later.

First let’s look at a few pictures.

NOW we can talk about that award.  No points for me at the zoo but let’s look at the party itself.

The girls and I are taking cake decorating lessons from a fabulous lady in our ward so we took it upon ourselves to make the boys some perfectly boyish, dump truckish dirt cups!

Uum, Brooke, what in the world does that have to do with cake decorating lessons? 

Absolutely nothing except that I was so sick of eating cake at that point that I had to do something different!  And yes, we put candles in the dirt cups.  They totally went with the dump truck!!

Can I have that award yet?  Am I disqualified for not having actual cake? 

The boys were sooo excited when they were finally able to take their new dump truck outside to play in the dirt hill after the party.  (More about why we have a dirt hill soon.)

Some fun things about C:

• Almost always tells me when he needs to go potty, even if he has to go out of his way to find me.  (Just GO, for crying out loud.)
• Says “Yes, sir” or “Yes, ma’am” if you ask him to do something… except he says, “Yes, Man!” for ma’am. 
• Has a very specific routine for just about everything.
• Tells people he loves, “I like you” and has more recently been saying, “I like you and I love you, too.”
• Laughs hysterically at potty humor (must be a boy thing).
• Really likes the Ripley’s Believe It or Not book that we have.  “It has a disgusting lady, huh mom.”  (A lady with piercings all over her face)
• Adores his baby brother and protects him from the tyrant that is B. 
• Loves when K will play with him.
• Loves to help in the kitchen when I let him.
• My favorite recent quote:  Don’t worry (to Baby B), I’m gonna be a daddy soon and you will be a C.
• Another favorite quote:  I’m gonna go live with Grandma and Grandpa (my parents) because they didn’t get a kid yet.  They need a kid.

Some fun things about B:

• Still drops the F-bomb when trying to say ‘Look’.
• Thinks he’s hilarious (sometimes he really is) and will run away laughing hysterically when he’s done something he knows is naughty.
• Bites the corners of pillows and blankets.  It’s his trademark. 
• Loves to play pretend and be different people.  His favorite people to be are Dad, Papu (pah-poo… my dad), and Pops (Anthony’s dad). 
• When pretending to be Papu he is always carrying a ‘Pepsi’ (usually water).  (Seriously, my dad ALWAYS has a Pepsi!)
• Favorite recent quote:  Mom, what time is it?  (As if the time really means anything to a 3-year old)

Pictures, Marathon, Friends…WOW!

**WARNING:  High volume of pictures… and a video… but first there’s a whole lot of babbling!  Warned again.

It was one of those weekends!  Jam-packed and so much fun… yet so much drama! 

First off, I took the kids to get their pictures taken.  My mother-in-law had given each grandchild $50 for the new school year.  Since we homeschool and we don’t get the traditional school pics every year I decided to have some taken. 

That was an adventure!!  I was worried about doing it by myself with the boys… Anthony had to work.  When I had first mentioned having pics taken to C he asked if they would give him a shot. 

I opted not to tell him that pictures are sometimes called ‘shots’…

He was satisfied at ‘no’.  So, that morning we gathered up a few personal items to take with us for the shoot.  Each child brought something meaningful to them.  For C I chose to bring Anthony’s cowboy hat and boots since C is always wanting to wear them.  We brought B’s Utah jersey, a football, and Anthony’s UTE helmet because seriously, the kid LOVES football!  And he’s got a pretty great cheer for the Utes! 

The girls brought their own things; American girl dolls for K, gymnastics outfit and doll for A, and a stuffed Goofy for H. 

The photo session went remarkably well!  Boy was I glad for that!  The boys cooperated and thought it was so funny when the lady did her shenanigans to get them to smile. 

Shenanigans… don’t you just love that word?

Anyhow, then of course there was “The Sale”.  UGH!  How I hate that part!  She had to explain to me every stinkin’ package and show me every stinkin’ special effect they could do with the photos.  I told her I was very limited in my funds.  I wanted the $3.99 per sheet deal and I was NOT going to go over $50 total! 

She didn’t care… she still went on and on about how great this package would be and that effect would be.  I didn’t physically roll my eyes but in my mind my eyes were rolling all over the place.  I knew what I wanted already!

Meanwhile, the boys were getting extremely restless so I sent K to the front of the store (Target) to buy a pack of M&M’s for each of them.  But of course the rest of the kids can’t possibly sit patiently next to me and wait… Oh no, they had to go with her. 

She came back… leaving the rest of them at the checkout to ask if the M&M pack was the right size.  Like I care what size!  Just get the M&M’s and get back here!  Silly goose.  They finally come back, eat their M&M’s, lady is still going on and on, and the boys are out of control.  K was kind enough to follow them around for a few minutes and then….

Here she comes, crying… with a fan thing stuck in her hair!  NICE!  It just doesn’t get any better.  C had got this little candy fan stuck in her hair while trying to show it to her.  We had to cut it out.  Never a dull moment!

And the lady STILL went on.

I was finally able to order what I wanted (didn’t go over the $50, hooray!) and we left.  PHEW!  Got that one out of the way.

Can’t wait to pick up my pictures tomorrow.

Now let’s talk friends… and a marathon.

Friday Anthony took the day off because we were going to Logan for a marathon on Saturday.  Lucky for us we have some friends that live there.  Even better is the fact that they live ON the route itself!  The very end of the route which means no driving for me in a town I know next to nothing about. 

It isn’t often that we are invited to stay at someone’s house.  I mean, really… we are a big deal!  And I don’t mean in the sense that we are really cool.  More like we are hard to take on.  We are very rarely even invited to someone’s home for an evening, let alone overnight! 

So when Kevin and Tiffany were generous enough to invite us to stay, along with some other friends of ours (that Kevin and Tiffany don’t even know), we were forever grateful.  They are seriously the coolest people ever!  Unfortunately, I got pictures of all the kids and all the husbands but not a single one of the wives.  WHAT WAS I THINKING??  This is a highly sophisticated one of Kevin.

C and their little boy were instant friends despite the fact that it’s been quite a while since we’ve seen them.  We met at the Brigham City open house before heading to Logan.  C and their little guy held hands for much of the tour.  I had originally planned on staying in the car with the boys thinking they would be asleep by then from the ride.  After all, it WAS nap time.  So, I wasn’t dressed in my Sunday clothes.  The boys were not asleep and they were not happy about staying in the car. 

We all went in… jeans and all.  I’m such a heathen! 

The temple was beautiful and C made sure to introduce himself to every usher we came across.  “I’m C!” 

Some of them were really cute about it and others just wanted to hurry him along.  I was shocked that both he and B did so well.  The last temple open house we tried was a bit chaotic with them.  My little boys are growing up! 

Oh wait… these are the same boys that ran around Target like mad men.

Anyway, after leaving the temple it was off to Logan. 

Tiffany immediately set to work making a spaghetti dinner.  Homemade sauce, breadsticks, salad, the works!  By the time it was ready, our other friends had just arrived.  He was also running the marathon.  They had a babysitter for their little ones.

Kevin and Tiffany insisted on serving us which I felt a little odd about.  So we sat… and as she brought the pot of spaghetti in she ‘TRIPPED’!  **GASP!**  She told A that she had tripped her and the food had spilled all over the table.  A’s face was beet red and I couldn’t help but laugh.  It’s like when someone falls and you immediately laugh but you don’t know yet if they’re hurt… like that. 

Then Tiffany said she might as well finish it off and dumped the rest on the table.  We were all laughing but not really knowing whether we should be.  Then Kevin reached over for the bowl of spaghetti in front of Anthony (minus the meat) and dumped it out, too! 

And then it all made sense… there were forks on the table but no plates.  It was all done on purpose. 

I SO WANNA TRY IT!  Who can I try it on?  I guess if you’re reading this I won’t be trying it on you ;)

We all gathered our portions in front of us and chowed down.  So fun!

The kids had fun playing before and after dinner as well. 

Sleep was much better than the last time we were away from home.

And Saturday was the marathon!  Anthony had taught me how to track him on Endomondo so I would know when to take the kids to the top of the street to watch for him.  That was about mile 24. 

It still weirds me out to think that people run that far… for ‘FUN’!  Really?  Is it really ‘fun’?  To each his own…

That 24 mile mark is also a water station so the K was all about helping any way she could.  That is until Anthony came by.  She planned to run the last couple of miles with him. 

H helped by handing out fruit. 

The other kids just played and waited. 

Then C realized what K was doing and wanted to join in as well.  I am so bummed that the video didn’t capture the cutest part.  Just after it rang (stupid 800 number!) and shut the recording off, a guy grabbed the water from C, thanked him, and C turned around and yelled, “You’re welcome!”  Then he walked up to me and said, “That guy said thank you, Mom!”  It was priceless.

 

The 800 number people couldn’t have waited another 30 seconds… REALLY?  GRR!

There were lots of interesting runners.  Like the barefoot guy and the blue hair guy. 

Finally, Anthony came by.  He surprised C and took a cup of water from him and ran off.  K was off as well. 

And that’s when we had a meltdown.

Apparently C thought he would be able to run with Anthony when he came by also.  Instead we had to head the other way to get to the finish line.  Anthony and K crossed and we were waiting for Nate.

 

That’s when C decided he was hungry.  He ordered a hot dog.  Unfortunately for him I hadn’t brought any cash with me at all.  My purse was at Kevin and Tiffany’s house.  So he just stood there with hunger in his eyes.  The lady finally gave him a pack of Starburst.  Anthony apologized for not having anything to pay with.

 

Nate crossed, we took pics, went to The Pizza Pie Café (gotta try it if you haven’t!), then headed home… TO THE UTAH VS. BYU GAME! 

More about that in another post.  I’m pooped!   

 

 

My Sweet Little Man

Before I launch into the first of (probably many) homeschooling posts, I have to document the happenings of this little guy.

I know it’s not the greatest picture of this little stink, what with crumbs all over his face and all but gosh darnit!!  He’s still just the cutest little thing!  He’s at one of my favorite ages where he’s trying to say new things, trying to put sentences together, and just figuring out how to be the cutest little stinker around.  It just has to be documented or I’ll forget it. 

So, in no particular order, here are a few of my favorite things that he says or does:

• First and foremost… the F BOMB!  That’s right, he says the biggest, baddest cuss word of all.  And we laugh every time.  You would laugh too if you heard it because although it sounds like the F bomb to everyone else, I know that he’s really saying, “Look!”  It always sounds something like, “F***, Mom!”  And it doesn’t matter how hard I try to correct it, it still comes out naughty.  Recently it has started to sound a little more like, “Fook”… rhymes with Look.  So that’s happy!
• He calls dinosaurs, “Rrawr”. 
• His favorite movie is Toy Story and wouldn’t you know, Buzz Lightyear is his favorite character.  He calls him ‘Buzz *pause* Er’  and Woody is ‘Oody’ (rhymes with Foodie), and Jessie is ‘Jessies’.  B is always walking around pretending he has a laser on his arm just like Buzz.  And we have to tell him he ‘can’t fly’ when he’s wearing the Buzz costume we have that is 3 sizes too big.  Then he gets up on the fireplace ledge thing (what is that called anyway?) and jumps off to prove that he can, in fact, fly!
• B’s belly is also a baby… just like mom’s.
• He’s learning to fight with his big brother.  C is very aggressive towards B sometimes and B is finally learning to defend himself.  Is it bad that I’m ok with that to a certain extent?  However, lately he has resorted to biting C… which I am NOT ok with. 
• “Owsh” … that’s his word for shower
• “Oosh”… shoes
• “Choo choo”… train
• B will walk into a room and say, “Dooo – een?”  That’s his way of asking, ‘What are you doing?’
• When asked what he is doing, his answer is always the same… ‘Farting!’  I believe this is because a few weeks ago we were at an ice cream place for my mom’s birthday.  B got a funny look on his face at one point and started (excuse the bluntness) pooping.  My mom asked him what he was doing and he said, “Farting!”  We all laughed really hard.  He got a reaction so that’s his answer every time now.
• B is very sensitive when it comes to others feelings.  If he sees someone crying he always asks if they are ok.  “Ok?” as he is nodding his head.
• This kid is a jokester!  He loves to laugh and he loves to make other people laugh.  He’s always doing silly things trying to get people to laugh. 
• Pillow biter!  This one is so cute and yet it drives me NUTS!  He’s always been a biter… ever since I first started nursing him on day one!  The reason I quit nursing him was because he had teeth and he bit me so hard that I bled… TWICE!  And not just a little bit, a LOT!  That was only with 2 bottom teeth.  I knew once he got the top ones in I might end up without a nipple!  (Sorry, TMI, I know).  He’s always fallen asleep with something in his mouth from the time he was teeny tiny.  Usually a wad of blanket.  Now he sees the corners of pillows as chew toys.  His own pillow and a couple of mine and Anthony’s are now crusty hard from him chewing on them.  And yes, I’ve washed them but they’re still crusty.  And he just keeps chewing.  Silly boy. 
• “Ups”… straw (I have no idea how he got ‘ups’ out of straw)
• He is a momma’s boy.  Though he idolizes his daddy also. 
• “Beep-ee-you” … Grandma (my mom)
• “Pops” … Grandpa (Anthony’s dad)
• “Hen” … C

Just For Fun… Can’t Believe I’m That Far Behind!!

Umm, yeah… it’s a bad sign when you look back at the pictures on your computer and realize that you forgot not only Father’s Day but your own child’s BIRTHDAY as well.  Not really forgot… just never blogged them.  Let’s not get the two confused.

And those cinnamon rolls I promised… yeah, so, I hope you weren’t holding your breath on those.  ;)  They’re still coming.  Eventually. 

But for now let’s backtrack and take care of some unfinished business.  FATHER’S DAY!  The Birthday post will have to wait… gotta do this chronologically.  I’m weird like that. 

This year we didn’t really buy anything (other than junk food ;)) but we wanted to do something more than just cards and well wishes for Anthony.  I found this idea on Pinterest…… about a billion times.  Seriously, I think I saw hundreds of different versions of this and I just thought it was so stinkin’ cute we had to give it a go.  It didn’t really cost a whole lot.  Just bought the sodas, some candy, nuts, and sunflower seeds.  I already had the scrapbooking supplies so there was no added cost there. 

I had told Anthony a few days before that I was going to get a ‘treat’… SODA!  He requested root beer so off I went.  He had no idea that I needed the bottles for his gift.  Unfortunately, when I went to grab the root beer I realized that the bottles weren’t clear. 

We just couldn’t have that.  So, I bought a different flavor and told him they were out of root beer. 

He was bummed.  So, the next day what does he do?  He goes to store to find that the shelves had been ‘restocked’ with the root beer.  K was with him and tried to convince him not to get them because she knew we still had 3 bottles of red soda at home that needed to be drunk (?).  But, he’s a man…

Men don’t listen to reason  ;)

And so, I forced the kids to share two of the bottles and dumped one down the sink.  Who am I kidding?  I didn’t have to force them.  They would have happily downed the third bottle as well but I just couldn’t bare the thought of that much sugar and red dye in their little bodies. 

That night (the night before Father’s Day) we set to work.  Anthony knew we had a project going on and that he was not allowed upstairs.  He had been banished to the dungeon for the night.  Fortunately for him the ‘dungeon’ is his happy place… there’s a TV, I mean, c’mon! 

This story is getting pretty long.  I know it could have been shorter but remember, this is my journal.  You may not need all the details but I do.  :)

Let’s get to the pictures, shall we?

We had so much fun making this!  And the girls thought writing on the tags was so fun.  Anthony originally took this to work but found that customers were so intrigued by it they wouldn’t leave it alone.  So, three days later it came home again. 

And now, just because I feel the need to share… LOOK AT WHAT B DID TO MY (uh, I mean OUR) COMPUTER!!

Good thing we have a wireless keyboard, eh?

Friday the 13th!

I am not a superstitious person.  Not usually.  But man, oh man!  This past Friday… the 13th, did NOT go my way! 

Actually, I hadn’t even thought about it being Friday the 13th until about noon when I posted this on my facebook wall, “Wow! Barely noon and already we've had our washer overflow, 3 bee stings, and a curtain rod bent and pulled out of the wall. Awesome!”

To which one of my friends replied, “It's a Friday the 13th kinda day!!!! Lol!!!!” 

That’s when it hit me.  No wonder it’s been a crazy day!  And that’s when I decided that I was homebound for the day.  I was NOT about to go anywhere.  Who knows what could have happened! 

So, let me set up the scenario.  All of the above happened within 15 minutes! 

I had just gone downstairs to change the laundry when I noticed the laundry room floor was covered in water.  NICE!  What had happened?  I knew when we acquired the washer from my sister not to turn it to the Super setting.  She warned us that it would overflow.  Other than that, everything worked great.  Then just last week it started acting funny when I put it on the Small setting.  It would just keep washing and rewashing so if I didn’t catch it right after it’s spin cycle it would fill up again and start over. 

Hmm…

The only setting left was Large.  I remember teasing Anthony about it, “Well, once the Large setting stops working I guess we’re sunk!”  And then Friday it happened.  The large setting overflowed the machine!  Luckily, the next day, after a little probing of our good friend Google, we found a youtube video that allowed Anthony to locate and fix the problem.  Only the Large setting works still.  We don’t know what the problem is with the other two settings. 

Anyway, as I was surveying the damage done by our not-so-good-friend, Mr. Washer, when I heard C come in from the backyard. 

He was screaming!  K went up to see what the fuss was all about and brought him down to me saying that she thought he had been stung by a bee.  Sure enough there was sting to both the back of his head and his hand.  Though I think it was a hornet or yellow jacket because there were no stingers in his skin.

The next thing I know B came in screaming, too.  The same scream, which most likely meant another sting.  Yep, on the arm. 

Right now I am going give a little shout out to some of my BESTEST friends in the world… Melaleuca and Lavender! 

We’ve had stings before and done the ice cubes, meat tenderizer, mud… nothing takes the sting away and nothing helps the swelling go down very quickly.  K and A both had stings on the same day several years ago and both were in pain all. day. long! 

I decided to try one drop of Melaleuca on each sting (to prevent infection), followed by one drop of Lavender (to take the burning/stinging/itching sensation away).  The boys were ready for play within seconds…. literally. 

No sooner had I done that than I look over and they (along with H and A) are playing in the kitchen curtains and have pulled out the rod was bent.  UGH!  Luckily I’m married to a handy man! 

One hour later, this is what the stings looked like! 

C wouldn’t let me take a pic so I had to sneak that one in.  For a minute I thought I had taken a pic of the wrong hand but it’s not!  B just had a red dot but no swelling.

Luckily, the rest of the day went pretty well!  And no, we didn’t end up going anywhere.  I was scared, I admit it. 

 

Happenings

So much for writing “every day” in December, eh?  I’m trying but I’ve been extremely busy with… boys.  All three of them! 

B has been busy taking lessons in the art of tantrum throwing.  He’s a quick learner.  Of course, it helps that he’s got the gold medalist himself as a mentor.  Oh, not only is C teaching him how to throw himself to the ground in protest any time he doesn’t get his way, he has also taught him how to spit (see here and here)!  B doesn’t quite have it down yet.  He still has to gather it up in his mouth for a few seconds before there’s enough to actually spit out.  Even then, it falls to the floor slowly…. after pooling on his chin first.  It’s pretty much awesome.

C has been busy not only giving lessons in spitting and tantrum throwing but he’s perfecting his aim in the throwing department.  Just yesterday he threw this angel at A.  She now only has one wing…. not A, the angel. ;) 

C is also working on his artistic abilities.  I’ll have to take pictures tomorrow.  I might have been too upset about it today.  There are several ‘mysterious’ blue colored pencil marks (some are quite large) in several different areas of the house.  Everything seems to be his canvas; the girls’ freshly painted pink bed, the couch, a large section of wall in his bedroom (the same wall with the nail polish), and the wall next to the heater he likes to sit on when it’s blowing (next to the couch). 

Speaking of said heater… look what I found down in there when C removed the cover today. 

Too bad we had just thrown the bodies of these dolls away because the heads were nowhere to be found.

Anthony has recently cooked up some shenanigans as well.  My favorite is this… (The one on the bottom looks horrible but I promise I wash it!)

Me (as I’m washing my cookie sheets after they mysteriously showed up in the sink):  Holy cow!  What happened to my pans?  Why are they all scratched up?  That’s weird!

Anthony:  What do you mean?  Is something wrong with them? 

Me:  Yeah, they’re scratched really bad!  One of them is even gouged and has a sharp piece sticking up.

Anthony:  Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize it did that. 

Me:  What do you mean?  Did you do this? 

Anthony:  Yeah.  That’s how I moved my pool table the other night. 

(We rearranged the basement so we could actually use it as a family room.  The pool table [which is a very heavy slate table] usually has to be moved by several men.  Anthony was too impatient to wait!)

Apparently he used the cookie sheets under the back two legs of the pool table so that it would slide easily.  Then he just Supermanned it!  But really, couldn’t he have at least put a towel over the cookie sheet to prevent scratching them so badly? 

Silly him!  Silly all of them. 

My boys… I love ‘em!  How boring life would be without them!

**P.S.  Next week and the following should be full of recipes and gift ideas.  Stay tuned!  The girls and I have lots of plans!**  

 

Yeah? Yeah? Yeah? No!

B sure knows how to get what he wants.  Just watch!

B with Grandma and Grandpa

 

I actually have a second video but haven’t downloaded it yet.

Now, tell me you wouldn’t give in!