Special Helper

Today at school GG got to be the Bible teacher's special helper. She was so excited about it last night that I didn't think she was ever going to fall asleep. I guess this is something new they just started and she was the second one chosen. She has really excelled this year in school. I can't believe she is reading. It is so cool to listen to her read!!! This was what she read today for homework...

Mother had to ask Pam to help.
The task is to help Bill.
Pam must give Bill his lunch.
The lunch is in the cup.

Pam has a mug, too.
Milk is in the mug.
It is fun to help Bill.
Bill is glad.
Pam is glad to help Mother and Bill.

It is absolutely amazing to hear her read this, I don't think I was doing this type of reading until I was at least in 1st grade. She has also made some really good friends. She is my little extrovert :)

We are about ready to go to a wake for J's aunt who passed away a couple of days ago. We have prepared the children for what is going to take place. GG is so sweet she wanted to color a picture to put in the casket...she has never even met this aunt. We decided it would be a better idea to color one for grandpa because it was his sister. She hates to see people sad so it should be interesting to see her compassion come out today to people she hasn't met before or only once before. She is so caring towards others...just one of the reasons I love that little girl so much!!!

Lessons learned...

The first was something J and I learned about Red. He does not like dogs. We were at the Irwin's house and their neighbors came over to show them their new dog. J took Red over to the dog so he could get a closer look. Red started to cry. I just thought it was a fluke because the door was opened and I thought he was cold. Well then on Saturday we went to my dad's house and they have a dog. Red watched her the whole time we were there. The dog even jumped up on the couch we were sitting on and then jumped back down, Red started shacking and then cried, that completely freaked him out. Then last night the kids and I were watching America's Funniest Home Videos and they had a segment with dogs...Red cried when he saw them. I am really hoping he will out grow that because during the summer when we are outside there are tons of dogs that walk down our street and Jack (our neighbor) feeds them and usually lets the kids do it!

The second lesson learned was for GlamorGirl. That is you have unacceptable behavior at school you will have to ask for forgiveness. Friday she spent the day in KAP J was subbing and she wanted to stay. I thought I'll just stick around for the pep assembly...I really wanted to see a pep assembly at a Christian school. So I brought Monkey lunch at school and had him take a nap with the kids who stay all day. While he was sleeping I went to see GG to do her reading with her. Wanted to get it done because we were going to the I's for dinner. Well this is when she was bad. She started screaming and throwing a fit...I know...I know my little girl? But she is so sweet. Well she let out some true colors that day. All of the teachers in that wing stopped class to come check out the noise in the hallway. They thought someone was being hurt. No it was just GG not wanting to read the right lesson, and being stubborn. I told her she could do the right homework now or we can just do it at home. I finally got her settled down with help from her teacher telling her that she is suppose to do the lesson I had told her. She did do her reading homework but today she had to go to each teacher and ask them to forgive her for disrupting their classes. It was hard for her but I was very proud of her for doing it because it was the right thing to do. They all gave her a hug after she said in the sweetest little voice, "I'm sorry for screaming and interrupting your class." I think she will think twice before she throws another fit like that one in public. Life is learning.

The brain sucker!

J was rubbing Monkey's head and told him it was a brain sucker, do you know what it is doing? Monkey shock his head no. J said, "Starving" Then he asked Monkey if that meant he had no brains? Monkey said, "Yes, I have no brains." I stepped in and said, "That's not true. You have brains in your head." So J looked into his ears. And said I don't see any brains but I see popcorn. Remember the day I was pulling popcorn out of his ear?!?! We all just laughed. Then J looked again and said, "I do see some brains in there!" What goofs:)

Grandparents

Today we came over to my dad's house and on the way there we talked about the kids great grandparents who passed away last year. It turned into a conversation about divorce because GG wanted to know why she had so many grandparents and why my mom and dad didn't have the same last name. I didn't think I was going to having this conversation with her...ever. But I did.

The last couple of nights we had fun, Thursday night we went to Starbucks after we dropped the kids off at Cubbies. It was the one our babysitter works at and so she got us a good deal. She is a really great kid. Very talented artist too. Then last night we went over to the I's house...GG's future in-laws! One of the twins likes her and so does the one her age. I honestly wouldn't have a problem if they got married. We had a good time talking while the kids played.

Movie recommendation: Sky High. It was a really cute/cheesy kids movie that had no bad words. It was rated PG which we don't really let the kids watch but after we watched it we both agreed that it is an acceptable movie for our children.

Our day

Oh my goodness I was not happy with GG this morning. She woke up at 6am wanting to watch tv, I told her to go back to bed because she had another 1 1/2 to sleep before we needed to get up and get ready for school. Of course, she didn't go back to bed but started playing with her polly pockets. Now it wouldn't be such a big deal, but today is a really long day for a girl who normally goes to be at 7:30 at the latest, she has Cubbies tonight and that doesn't end until 8:30. I told her that after school she was going to have to take a nap...guess how long it took her to finally "let herself" fall asleep? I say "let herself" because she was completely fighting it. I put her down at 1 and she went to sleep at 3, yes 2 hours she laid in her bed calling out and telling me she had already slept. For some reason she thinks that she can take a nap for 10 minutes! I haven't made her take a nap in almost a year now, she does normally have to take rests on Thursdays but since she was up so early I *made* her take one. Her Cubbie leaders will thank me. So it is now after 4 and she hasn't even started her homework and she is sleeping right now. After I post I am going to go wake her up and have her do the homework which will take all the time before dinner. That is ok tonight because we are having a pot roast so I can work with her and not have to be doing other things...and J is home to tend to the boys. Monkey and I just got done playing Mr. Mouth, it is a really cute game the kids got for Christmas, J took Red to the movie store for some Daddy and Red time so I got out some playdough for Monkey so I could update. I love listening to him play and his imagination! Speaking of Monkey he did the funniest thing the other day. We had gone to the store and one of the things we got was toilet paper. J asked him to take it to the bathroom and just set it down. Well a few minutes later I went into the bathroom and I opened the cabinet to get a new roll out because one was needed. It looked like someone had just thrown the rolls into the cabinet. So I asked J if he had asked one of the kids to put it away. He said, "No, Why?" I then told him what I had seen in the cabinet and he then told me he had asked Monkey to put the toilet paper into the bathroom. I asked Monkey if he put it away and he said, "Yes, but my arm was getting tired. So I didn't put it all in there." I had to try really hard to control my laughter...his arm was tired from whipping the toilet paper rolls into the cabinet! I guess that is one way to put them away :)

As promised!

I took a look to see what was on the schedule for the spirit week and tomorrow is slipper/stuffed animal day and Friday is school spirit/crazy hair day. So I think those two days will be easy. Today is J's first day off and that is always a great time as family bonding goes. We were going to take the kids sledding but GG had ear issues today at school but seems to be doing fine now. I just don't want to risk her getting an ear infection from the strong wind we are having here. We thought about taking the kids skating but we are in limbo with that decision as well. I just got back from running errands (paying bills) and J and the kids played games while I was gone. Now they are cleaning their rooms so I thought I would update real quick before blogger has it's scheduled outage. I'm outta here...

Barbara Manity...

is a little song we like to sing in our house! Except we substitute the word Barbara with one of the kids name mostly Red's because he is usually the one I sing too. But the other kids names fit in nicely too! It is from the Veggie Tales in case you think it sounds familiar and you just can't place it.

Red Manity...Manity
You are the one for me...one for me
Sent from up above...up above
You are the one I love...one I love

As you can see it is a great song to sing to a child, especially a baby :) This weekend we went to a birthday party and the older two kids got pixie sticks in their goody bags. They have never eaten one of them before so I let them have them after dinner. We ordered pizza and GG my little piggy ate 5 pieces and Monkey ate 3, which is as much as I ate. I decided they ate so good I would give them a treat. It was hilarious. I poured it in their mouths. It was so much sugar they didn't know what to do with it! It was a good laugh.

Spirit Week

Today was mix 'n' match or backwards day. Let me take a minute to paint you a picture of GlamorGirl's outfit! She had on a long sleeve turtle neck with red and white stripes, on top of that she had a green t-shirt with pink sleeves that said Irish in pink letters in the middle, she had on purple pants with a white stripe down the sides, a yellow sock on one foot, a blue sock on the other, a white shoe on one foot and a black shoe on the other. She was looking pretty good! Tomorrow is Super Hero day and she wants to be Violet from the Incredibles. So we got a bunch of her clothes that were black and red and made a costume that will work. I colored an incredible sign to put on her so people know who she is, not like she won't tell them! The next day is occupation day and I think that she is going to borrow Monkey's dress up outfit of a Train Conductor. That is all I have planned so far I need to figure out the rest of the week. I'll let you know what she did at a later date because I am drawing a blank as to what the theme is for those days. Yesterday I was playing Polly Pockets with GG and I was looking through all her shoes to see if she even had matches to them all and she ended up with two without a match. I asked her if we should throw them away and her response was, "No, because I can use the shoes for a Silly Wacky Wednesday day like I have at school." I thought that was pretty creative of her. They don't have that for a month but they have talked about it at school, she had no idea that today was mix n match day because I forgot and remembered after she had gone to bed. So I picked out her crazy outfit while she was sleeping.

Cute story: Monkey got roller skates for Christmas, the kind that you wear shoes with, well he has been putting them on the last couple of days and skating around on the carpet. Apparently he thought he was getting good and decided that he was going to try the tile. I told him to be careful and this is what he said, "Look mom, I'm not going to fall." No sooner did he get those words out of his mouth, did he fall on his butt. He started laughing and so we all laughed. Then he headed towards the kitchen that has hardwood floors. I told him not too but you know a 3 year old has a mind of their own and he took one step onto the hardwood and fell. Needless to say, he was done with flirting with the dangerous surfaces and went back to skating on the carpet! This summer should be fun both GG and Monkey have skates :)

No church today for Red and I

Yesterday we got up early for the kids' friends birthday party. We had to drive an hour away, about 2 minutes before we needed to leave to make it there on time Red throw up all over the floor and himself. So I called the family to let them know what happened and to see if they still wanted us to come, it was just mucus that he threw up. I think the snot settling into his tummy made him feel sick. They told us to still come so I cleaned him and floor up and we left. While at the party he threw up all over J and my lunch. Don't ask it was a very freak thing...J was holding him and when he started to throw up he turned him towards where my food was sitting. So that made two. Then we got home and J left shortly after for work. I was getting the kids some dinner and I was hold Red and out came number 3 all over the kitchen floor. At least it was easy to clean up. No sooner then I cleaned that up he did it again and then a minute later again. Making the total 5 times. I called J to tell him I was not taking Red to church tomorrow because he had been throwing up. I sat down to eat my food and I had him in my lap facing the side and once again he threw up making that the last time for the night. He slept fine all night and this morning I was so tempted to just take him to church because I REALLY wanted to go. J thought it best for us to stay home so we did. He has been fine all morning. I just hope that was the end of it because I am so completely ready for him to be 100% better.

Life Saver!

I discovered a technique that has proven to be very effective. It has saved us twice now. The first time with Monkey and the second time with Red. I'll explain...I have realized that nighttime parenting can be very stressful when an accident/throwing up is involved. Just night waking is fine but when you have to strip down a bed and then put new covers on, it can be a lot for someone who isn't completely awake. So this is what I have come up with, I put a fitted sheet on the bed with a towel in the spot of the most likely problem area (Red would be up by his mouth and Monkey in the middle where he might pee) then the mattress pad and then another sheet over top of that. The reason for this is when the first sheet gets soiled you just have to remove it and the mattress pad and the bed is still made! You simply lay the child back down on the towel that is already there! Then if they soil the towel, it is much easier to change then a fitted sheet. At first I was just using the towel on top of the sheet but it would get messed up to easy and so I figured this way would be better, plus you never know when they will get sick or have an accident, this way you are prepared always. J called last night, the calm before the storm! Yes, early this morning after Red slept so good until about 5:30am when he then threw up all over the bed. I changed him while J ripped off the bedding then we went back to sleep. It was great. I got the most sleep in one night than I have in about 5 days last night. So today has been major cleaning and sorting through things that we don't need anymore. Feels good to finally get to that stuff.

Warning I have alot to write about...

Yesterday was very busy...in the morning Red and I had Bible study. Then we got the kids and ate lunch, headed over to GG's doctor's appointment. Then home so GG could do her homework which we had just enough time. Then back in the car to get J from school and off to get GG's pictures taken. Then to Dinorex! That was a lot of fun and their pizza wasn't bad. I think next time we go I will definitely print off the coupons for getting the wrist bands. Then home, bath, bedtime routine and then to bed. In more detail GG's doctors appointment...just to get an idea of what a little peanut she really is she weighed 38 pounds and was 42 inches. I had them weigh Monkey too and he was 36 pounds. I couldn't believe there was only 2 pounds difference!

Two nights ago on GG's birthday I tucked her into bed and told her about the day I gave birth to her, it has become our tradition and she LOVES to hear about the day she was born. So I was telling her and she says. "Did I come out of your butt?" I said, "No". After I was done with her I got out her scrapbook and J and I sat on the couch looking over all the pictures of her as a baby. We talked about what a joy and blessing she has been in our lives as a baby and now as a big girl, who can do so much stuff. It has been so cool and neat to see her grow up. And she is still growing. I remember for about the first 3 weeks of her life I would just lay in bed and watch her sleep. J would always tell me to go to sleep but I caught him watching her sleep too. I still go in her room and watch her sleep!

Last night was about the 4th night now that Red has had a hard time sleeping because he is sick with a runny nose and it makes it hard for him to breathe laying down. So we have to hold him. J knew how tired I was because apparently when I get too tired I become spacey. The last few nights J has slept with Monkey so that he can sleep, which I recommended because it is no good if we are both sleep deprived! Last night about 2am Red was crying and it was probably the 3 time he had woken up since 10pm. J came in our room and said, "Why don't you go get some sleep in Monkey's room and I will take Red." This was ok with me because he wasn't even interested in nursing. I got 2 1/2 hours of uninterrupted sleep. It was amazing! That is what I love about J, he does things to help me without me even asking for it. I was completely prepared to get no sleep but having that sleep has totally helped. Now I told you Red is sick with a runny nose. His newest thing is if the snot is running down and we don't get to it in time, he curls his tongue up and starts licking it. It is very gross but really funny to watch! He has also started to point at things. I think that is so cool when they do that, because you can say things like, "Red's number..." and then he holds up his one finger. Also I think it was yesterday J was talking to Red and all of a sudden Red said as clear as day, "Hi Dada" we looked at each other and said, "Did he just say 'Hi Dada'".

And last but definitely not least is Monkey. He has been himself just cracking us up. He was in his room playing the other day and I walked in to see what he was doing. He had buzz lightyear on one of his dinosaurs, riding it like a horse. I swear I have *never* met a kid with more imagination. He can turn anything into something else and entertain himself for hours. Most nights I have to carry him out of his room to eat, which is funny because he LOVES to eat!

Birthday Girl!

Every night before bed I pray with the kids well J was home last night so he prayed with GlamorGirl first, then I did. He told her that tonight would be the last night she would be 4 and she said, "Tomorrow I will be a whole hand!" It was cute. So today everytime we want the kids to give us a high five we say give me a "GG". Also last night after I got the streamers hung up and J blew up all the balloons to put on GG's room she woke up to go potty. It was about 11:15 and she called my name and then started to walk into my room. I redirected her to the bathroom where J was getting out of the shower because he had just cut his hair. She pulled down her pj bottoms and started to sit on the toilet. J told her, "GG don't forget to pull your undies down too." So she started to take off her shirt. She was so out of it, I helped her get her undies down and wiped her and then put her back to bed. I kissed her and told her "that was the last time you are going to pee as a 4 year old!" This morning when she woke up and saw the streamers, balloons and birthday cards hanging on her door she was super excited we almost didn't get her to school on time. I love seeing her face light up with excitement like that. Then J, Red and I came to school at 10:30 with her birthday treat, ice cream sandwiches, and got to sing Happy Birthday with her class. When school was over we got the kids and headed over to Dinorex were she wanted to eat but they were closed. So we took her to her second choice, Photo's, and they gave her a birthday sundae! She was pretty tickled about that. We came home and gave her the last of her presents...another 100 puzzles, which she is doing right now, and she got more birthday cards and phone calls! She is such a blessing even though she is sometimes difficult! I love her so much.

5 going on 15...

So GlamorGirl will be 5 tomorrow, yes she will be a whole hand!!! She is doing her homework right now and decided that writing her name isn't good enough anymore. She has taught herself how to write it in cursive, and she does a pretty good job too. I think she is always going to want to know or learn more...she has so far in her short 5 years.

Randomness...

In the past week I have called three different people and there responses were one of two, "I was just thinking about you and was going to call you." Or "I was just going to call you." I found that somewhat random!

I am totally excited, GG came home with this book challenge given from Six Flags. The goal is for each student to read or be read to 6 hours by Feb something. If she accomplishes that goal she will receive a free admission ticket to Six Flags. I smell either daddy/daughter date or mother/daughter bonding time. We have already read 1 hour in two days. It is so easy to reach that goal because we read to the kids ALL the time. Oh yeah it is recreational reading so homework isn't included. The one thing I love about that school is they encourage kids to read, big time. GG has been doing "Book it" through Pizza Hut for about 4 months now. Next year will be cool because Monkey will be apart of the reading programs too.

Another random thought... our friends, Jason and Kristy, that have been married for 6 1/2 years are pregnant with their first baby!!! J grew up with this couple and I have known them for almost 10 years it is really neat to see them expecting! It almost makes me want to have another one but I said ALMOST, I'm good for now ;)

Attitude

Here is a very interesting quote and one that I agree with!

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life... The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you... We are in charge of our attitudes." ~ Charles Swindoll

The funny thing about this quote is that it was put in package J had ordered from a snowboarding company. The company moto is "Attitude is Everything" and it was followed by this quote. But it definitely came in handy this morning after getting very little sleep because Red is either teething or getting sick, either way I didn't get much sleep. I decided to embrace a good attitude and go to church and today has been great. I don't even really feel that tired!

Campin' Out

So last night I was in a spontaneous mood. For dinner we had pot roast that I had started earlier in the day and we ate it as a picnic in the living room. Then we laid out blankets and got our pillows and blankets from our rooms and watched Incredibles as we camped out. It was fun all 3 of the kids fell asleep while the movie was playing as did I. However, I did end up putting the kids in their beds because I was cold on the floor in the living room so I thought they would probably be too.

The highlights of today:
~I got a new bra at the Mall to replace the one that broke!
~we got a hot pretzel while we were there so the kids could taste it and we also walked through the Rainforest Cafe, that's always a treat
~At lunch J saw one of my old college shirts and we laughed at what was written on it.
~we were talking about my R.A. (Resident Assistant)and GG sounded it out and said that says "RAH" it was pretty funny
~Red pooped out of his diaper and the only one home to help me was GG, Monkey was sleeping, she is a great help and I am so blessed to have her!
~tonight I have my Bible study through church and I expect it to be a blast like always and my friend Marni is coming to watch the kids and they absolutely love her.

Show and Tell...

I have been telling GG for the last couple of weeks that she can bring Red in as Show and Tell but on the Friday mornings I didn't want to get him ready to take to school. So today, of all days, rain and all I took him with so GG could tell about him. It was really cute to hear what she said about her baby brother Red! I know that Red had fun too having GG tell her class about him and show her class how she makes him laugh :) Then her teacher told me before I left that the other day while the kids were doing an art project GG was telling her friends in the class about "the pill" and how sometimes mommy's take it so that they don't have another baby. I couldn't believe it we have never talked to her about "the pill" or what it does. I am very cautious about what she watches so I know it isn't something she learned on tv but she is very observant so I think she might have overheard J and I talking about my needing to get a refill on my?!?! Who knows.

Anyways after school GG and Monkey's friends were going to McDonalds for lunch and invited us to go with them so we thought sure why not. Even though the thought of their food didn't sound good to us. The things parents sacrifice for their kids...like eating crappy fast food so they can be with friends. While we were there my bra broke! I have never had this happened before but the strap that goes over your shoulder and attaches to the cup ripped. It was very uncomfortable and my breast kept falling out of the cup that kept falling down (because there was no support to keep the cup up) so I had to wear my coat the whole time we were there.

Scrapbooking!

The ladies that I have playgroup with want to start scrapbooking and since I have been doing it for almost 5 years I have accumulated a lot of scrapbooking "tools" so we are going to start meeting once a week, separate from our playgroup and scrapbook. I am really excited especially because I got a really awesome new kit from Liz for Christmas and I have been wanting to use it. So tonight while the kids were at Awanas I started organizing the pictures I have and I only got half way through them. I am hoping before I go to bed tonight I have them completely sorted so that I can start up again with my scrapbooking. I love looking back at the pictures I have already done and even going through the pictures I just have laying around. It is amazing how truly fast kids grow up!

God is GOOD!

Today my Bible study started back up and it was so great to be there and learn more about biblical principles on raising children. I have really have gotten a lot out of this study so far. J and I don't do New Years resolutions because we figure what's the point no one ever sticks to them so when we first got married we made a resolution to never make a resolution again. And that was the first time I ever kept my resolution!!! Anyways, J and I are reading the Bible in a year in chronological order. But this is not a resolution! It is so nice to be reading it with him, we have been able to talk about what we read and talk about what we learned from the Bible that day.

Another thing God has shown me how good He is, is through our house. Our bathroom drain got plugged up and wasn't draining. Through people J knows at work we were able to get it fixed at a pretty good price. Of course, it did put a little strain on the check book but I know God will provide somehow, I trust him. But I look at our house and location and I am so amazed that we live here and are able to pay our bills every month.

I also see God's goodness in my new nephew who was born today to J's brother Joe and his wife Virginia. He was a healthy 8lb 14oz baby boy. I just can't wait til we can go see them, have to work the details out with J first!

I will leave you with this verse:
Psalm 85:8 "I will hear what God the Lord will say; For He will speak peace to His people, to His godly ones; But let them not turn back to folly."

Wonder Child!

Over the last few days Red has taken off his pj bottoms 3 times. The first time I thought it was just a fluke but he has done it two other times. How in the world does a 7 1/2 month old know how to take off his pants??? I guess he just likes to be naked. He must get those *wanting to be naked* genes from his daddy! He has been so fun lately learning new things and expressing himself more. I'm just so glad he is apart of our family. It's amazing how much love one person can have for another person...it is so natural and easy to love someone that is your parent, your child or even your sibling but to love someone who isn't blood related is so amazing! If you haven't gotten it yet I am completely in love with my husband, J, and its weird to think but I love him even more with every passing day! Sure I might not always like things he does but I always love him.

Birthday Mania

From the time we got up this morning until about 5 minutes ago when I put the kids to bed we have been doing things for GlamorGirl's 5th birthday party or playing with her new presents. Her party was from 1-3pm today at the school. When we got up and ready this morning Monkey and I went to get some last minute preparations plus Monkey picked GG out a gift from him. He got her a sponge Bob puzzle with 100 pieces. She had a blast at her party and received some wonderful new things. Among the gifts were but this is not everything or even close to being everything she received...a Cinderella dress up dress, Crocodile Dentist game, play make-up, Cinderella felt book, clothes (all very cute) and many many puzzles. About the puzzles J and I were talking about what we were going to get her for her birthday and I suggested to J spelled out so GG wouldn't know what it was P.u.z.z.l.e she had this thinking face on and says, "I know what that is...PUZZLE!" I couldn't believe it the little stinker sounded it out. I guess spelling things out, so the kids don't know what we are talking about, around GG is over. After the party and clean up we came back to the house (with friends from out of town) and GG built the puzzle (51 pieces) of the United States that J and I got her and she didn't need any help which I was surprised because it wasn't a normal puzzle where the pieces fit into each other it had a boarder and an empty middle in the shape of the US and each state was it's own piece except for the really small states, they got lumped together with another state or two. Then we played the crocodile game about a million times they loved it. Then she wanted to build the puzzle Monkey got her and I thought she might have difficulty with that one as well because it was 100 pieces but she did it all by herself! She has to take after me because J does not like puzzles but I love them. Then for bedtime stories we read her new books she got and played another game. Needless to say, we had a very fun filled and busy day. GG's real birthday isn't for another 10 days but J had today off and that is why it was early. On the actual day she is bringing in ice cream sandwiches for a treat and then we are going to Dinorex for lunch. Plus, all the other things we do to make her day special :)

The boy has popcorn coming out of his ear!

During lunch today I decided I wanted to see if I could trick Monkey into thinking he had popcorn growing in his ear! I showed him my empty hand and then put a piece of popcorn in it quickly before I reached for his ear. I pulled out a piece of popcorn every time. He was laughing so hard I thought he was going to pee his pants. GG got concerned and examined Monkey's ear very carefully and then laughed when it kept coming out! Monkey kept saying to me, "But I don't feel any popcorn in my ear!" It was a pretty silly lunch today :)

Trip to the Dentist

The kids didn't go to school this morning because we had a dentist appointment. It was Monkey's first time getting his teeth cleaned and I must say he did a great job. He did keep asking if it was going to hurt and the nurse who cleaned his teeth was very patient and kind with him. I stayed with him while he was being worked on and GlamorGirl was in the room with J while he got his teeth cleaned. Then it was my turn and I needed to get a full set of x-rays done. That was horrible. They took 18 shots of my teeth. Six on each side of my mouth and three on the top front and three on the bottom front. By the time my teeth were done being x-rayed GG was done and she wanted to watch me get my teeth cleaned and of course I said, "Sure!" Well let me tell you I think that was a big mistake. Here I am on the chair with my mouth wide open and the nurse has her hands in my mouth cleaning my teeth. GG is standing right next to the chair and I bet she couldn't get any closer to my mouth with her face if she tried. She was so interested in seeing what the nurse was doing. It was really kind of funny. Then the nurse was polishing my teeth and she took her foot off of the pedal, that makes the brush spin, to get more polish on the brush. All of a sudden we hear the brush going and the polish is flying all over the room. GG had stepped on the pedal making it spin when it wasn't in my mouth! It took us a few seconds to figure it was her. Then after the nurse was done the dentist came in the room and GG stepped on it again. At least the second time there was nothing on the brush to do any harm. As far as I know none of us had any cavities...that is always great news. When I was growing up whenever we went to the dentist we always went out to eat afterwards either at a restaurant with our dentist or to eat back at the dentist's house. He and my dad wrestled together in high school so they were pretty good friends, hints the reason we would go back to his house after our appointments :)

Want to Paint?

The kids got paint books for Christmas, the kind that have water colors. We normally do the paint with water, a lot less messy! I got each of the kids a cup of water and told them not to use too much or the paper would get soaked. Next thing I know Monkey has the cup and is asking, "Is this too much water?" As he is pouring it onto the page. I was like "What are you doing?" Then I explained to him that he was supposed to dip the brush into the water and then in the paint so he could paint, as I was laughing historically. Water was everywhere...on the table, floor, and his pants. At least it was just water! After he figured out how to use the paint he was fine. It didn't even dawn on me to explain how to use the paints because he uses them at school so I really don't know what was going through his head today. But it was pretty funny.

To change the topic real quick. I have been being bugged by members of my family, I won't name names, about Red eating real food. He sits on my lap during dinner most nights and he doesn't even grab at the food. He does watch it go from my plate to my mouth but that is it. It is recommended that you wait until the baby shows interest in food by grabbing at it, not just watching. Well today J read over my LLL meeting papers about starting solids. He thinks Red is ready too, because of the ages listed not by the readiness cues. But I am the mom and I'm telling you he IS NOT ready. So to prove my point I cut up a green bean tonight and put it on Red's tray. He picked one piece up smashed it in his hands and then threw it on the floor. The rest of it was just played with and none of it went anywhere near his mouth. And the only reason he picked up the first piece is because I pointed it out to him. He is not ready or he would of put it in his mouth. My guess is that he will want to eat real food in about 2 months. But I am going to go by his cues not the books!!!! I will finish with saying he will get to eat real food when he is ready.

No childcare...

We didn't get home until 1pm from the party we went too on New Years Eve. So on Sunday the 1st we had a difficult time getting up and getting ready. We got to church right at 9:30 when it started and they had already began singing. I told J I would take the kids to children's church and then go up stairs with Red. I had all 3 kids and we headed downstairs. All the rooms were dark, even the nursery. Oh no I thought no childcare. I guess I have to take them to the mother's room with me. Now if you don't go to our church you wouldn't understand how small this room is so let me try and paint you a picture. It is big enough for about 8 to 10 rocking chairs to be lined up next to each other and about 3 chairs deep. That is it in a nutshell. When we walk in we see Al and his 3 girls ages 2, 5, & 7, Jen and her 3 kids ages 10 months, 4, & 6, Dan and Anne and their little baby boy and the pastor's wife and their little girl. Then us! It was crowded and LOUD! I didn't hear any of the service and we got told to keep the kids quiet twice. It was unreal there was nothing for them to do. At one point Monkey walked over to the window that looks down on the congregation and with two fists pounds on the window and screams, "THIS IS BORING! THIS IS BORING!" I, of course, stopped him but it was already done. Then I found out that the pastor's wife had told him what Monkey had said good thing he is young and has a good sense of humor! And knew it was because Monkey was bored out of his mind and not because his sermon was boring :)