Last night I was at the computer (working on this blog actually) while Jordan was getting ready for bed. He had just gone to the bathroom when he came over and informed me that his butt hurt. So I told him to bend over so I could see if anything was wrong. While he's bent over pants-less and I'm leaning over to see what's going on, our neighbor walks up to the front (screen) door to let us know that he put Jordan's bike by our garage door. So he gets a lovely view of me inspecting my son's butt. I started laughing hysterically, told Jordan it looked fine, but he could put some ointment on it if he wanted and thanked the neighbor. Meanwhile, Jordan looked up, startled, fell over and crawled behind the coffee table to put his butt out of view.
Read More*Note - If you are easily offended by hearing about #1's, #2's, or the use of the word "potty" in place of the more formal "toilet" do not read this post.*
Not to brag or anything (okay, yes, I am bragging), but Sasha has been officially fully potty-trained since about mid-June. That's right, day-time, night-time, at home, in public, no more "little potty" potty-trained. Although she still sometimes has accidents during the day when she doesn't quite make it to the toilet in time, or forgets to "scootch" back enough (causing pee to shoot out between the toilet and the toilet seat), she's never wet the bed. Sometimes she wakes up and cries until we take her to the bathroom, some nights she sleeps through. In case you couldn't tell, this makes me really really proud and really really happy.
Read MoreI've suspected that Sasha's been having nightmares for a while now, and last night confirmed it. I was in bed sound asleep when all of a sudden at 12:30 I heard Sasha start to cry over the baby monitor. The crying quickly escalated to screaming, and then I heard her thump out of bed and run for the door. I went upstairs and she was laying against the bedroom door sobbing "I'm scared of spiders" over and over and over again.
Read MoreI got this idea from a friend's Facebook post. ("Wouldn't it be fun to get a peek into what others do on any given day? Today, tell us what you did! All the details.") Here's mine from yesterday:
Read MoreSo, here I am, typing away at 2:30 in the morning when I should be sleeping. This week really dragged me down. It started with a really busy weekend, which was fun but not at all restful.
Saturday we went to a pancake breakfast, then took the kids to the bank. We decided that Jordan and Karlye are old enough to have an allowance ($1.50 a week, split 3 ways between church, savings, and spending - woo hoo!) and to start learning to manage their money. In preparation we emptied their piggy banks and had them deposit the money in the "big bank". It was even more fun and educational than I had planned because they got to go in the back with the teller and watch all of their change be counted.
Read MoreJordan's friend Mya came over after school yesterday. Jordan was so excited all weekend about it. Yesterday morning he came down for breakfast wearing a WI Badger sweatshirt. He informed me that he wore that shirt to Mya's when he went there to play, and she loves Bucky Badger and she chased him around all day, so he thought she would chase him around all day that day too. Then he said, "I'm going to stand by Mya in line, and I'm going to sit by Mya on the bus. That's my plan for the day." After breakfast he made me go upstairs with him to see how perfectly he'd made his bed and laid out his pajamas (which he never does) so that his room would be nice when Mya came over. There was a lot of talking and giggling and running around yesterday afternoon. When they finally sat down to color, I overheard Jordan telling Mya that God says you have to love everyone, and that means that he has to love her too.
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The person Jordan talks about most from Kindergarten is his friend Mya. This is a picture that she made for him the other day. I think it's too cute not to share. (The back of the picture, in case you're wondering what the arrow leads to, is a graph that Mya drew. Because, as Jordan's recent schoolwork stated, "Graphing is Cool!".)
Read MoreToday was one of those on-the-go days, the kind where you can barely catch your breath and grab a drink of water between errands. It started off, as so many of my days now do, with me fighting with Jordan about the amount of breakfast he needs to eat to be prepared for school. This morning he thought that should be none, and I thought some would be better. I gave my usual running countdown til bus arrival time, while he threw an even bigger fit than usual. Finally at 8 minutes and counting he wolfed down his breakfast, speed-peed, threw his shoes and backpack on and ran out the door. (Nope, no time for proper dental hygiene today).
Read MoreI really don't want summer to be over, ever. We got a postcard in the mail yesterday with the kindergarten registration dates. I'm going to miss Jordan so much once he starts school - all day Monday through Friday. Sasha and I will be lonely and bored, I think.
Read MoreI, as I imagine most people would be, am pleased any time my children show evidence of possessing interesting or unique talents. Sasha's predilection for squirting pieces of food out of her nose, however, is not my favorite discovery. First there was the fettuccine incident, and now we've had an olive incident.
Read MoreLast weekend I did my second craft fair. In case anyone couldn't tell by the fact that I've been MIA on any and all social networking sites for the last few weeks, I was a bit busy getting ready. Translated that means, running around like a crazy chicken with my head cut off. But I made it. And I even made some money.
Of course, I didn't have nearly as much stuff made as I wanted to/should have, so I didn't make nearly as money as I wanted to/should have. But I did make a small profit after covering my entry fee. And Justin and I had a nice relaxing (ie. kid-free) day together manning my booth. The weather was beautiful and the park where the craft fair was held was very nice. I sold some of my fabulous peppermint bath salts, a cute and cool girl's poncho, one of the water bottle holders I'm so proud of, and a whole bunch of beaded elastic bracelets.
Read MoreWe have tadpoles swimming in our backyard. I really can't believe it. I stand in the dining room and look out into the middle of our backyard and I see what seems like hundreds of tadpoles swimming around, sometimes even leaping out of the water. The kids think it's fabulous and have taken to wading in with Jordan's butterfly net to catch them.
Yes, the marsh is now covering about half of our yard, the new compost pile is completely underwater, and the willow tree we planted on what used to be the edge of the marsh is drowned under several inches of water. A family of geese (mom, dad and three babies) has made our yard their home (ie. toilet). Yet I can't find it in myself to be upset. Our home has been spared unlike so many others, and the kids are having a blast. Plus I can get a lot of weeding done in the garden while they're tadpole-hunting.
Read MoreI like rain. Actually I love rain. It makes me moody and happy all at once. One of my favorite feelings. I love to watch rain, listen to it, stand out in it, smell it. I just wish my backyard wasn't full of it. The marsh behind our house has officially taken over our yard. Last year's compost pile is a foot under water, and the new one is well on it's way to being submerged. While I was fine with losing about 8 feet of the the thistle field that was the back of our backyard, losing approximately half of the backyard to water is a bit much. Actually the front yard is pretty much one giant puddle too. Ah, well...not much I can do about it.
Read MoreThe other night for dinner I made fettuccine and scallops with a wine butter sauce. Classy right? So the kids and I are sitting down to eat when Sasha starts choking. I look at her, and can see no evidence of food in her throat, at which point I start to panic. I can't remember if she's had seafood before or not, and figure it would be just my luck that she would be allergic and going into anaphylactic shock.
Read MoreSasha's Vocabulary List: mama, dada, papa, food (which can mean food or, in combination with boob-grabbing, "nurse me NOW"), cheese (which also means any kind of food she likes), ba (means bath), poop, truck/sock/quack/cracker (all pronounced "cock"), hat, bankie (blanket), Jo (Jordan), Ka-ee (Karlye), eye, nose, teeth, cheeks, chest, foot, shoe, ball, bike, Abbie (the neighbor girl), baby (usually in reference to her baby doll), me (while admiring herself in the mirror), boop (means book), a wide array of animal sounds with gorilla (complete with chest thumping) being the current favorite, and several I'm sure I'm forgetting.
Read MoreI don't know if it's the winter blues or what, but this week just doesn't seem to be getting any easier. I've got a headache that won't quit, and my life has shrunk (was it ever any bigger?) to work, home, and the car. Maybe I'm just too idealistic. I've got a few dream lives stuck in my head, and I don't see any way of making my life more like any of them. Why do I have to be so moody anyway? I complain so much I irritate myself, so I'm now going to attempt to be positive.
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