Oh ye of many titles...

Bear with me for a bit. You will understand the title, I promise.

My kids have the hurls again. Only two, thus far. But I am waiting for the inevitable crushing of my hopes and dreams, when the third, if not both other adults, end up rushing to the bathroom as well. Right at the beginning of a busy week. Ain't it always that way? I had actually originally planned this blog as a product recommendation. Thusly, I would have titled the blog "Best thing since sliced bread".

This product:

Is my hero! I find it makes cleaning my bathrooms much easier. Something about bringing a product with me, as well as the required rag/paper towels, then the laundering process afterwards, always made cleaning my bathroom a bear. But, I keep this bad boy under the sink. I open, I wipe, I throw away. Done. Makes nice for when unexpected guests come over, and I feel the overwhelming urge to clean, as well as disinfect, my bathroom before they notice... Or for when my oldest child actually makes it to the bathroom (yay!!!) before throwing up, and can disinfect between bathroom visits. I'm just saying. I love 'em!!!

Now, back to my kids.... I am reaching out into the blogosphere for some motherly reassurance... I feel like my kids get sick a lot... More than I felt like I did as a child. Thankfully, whenever that happens, I can always trace it back to several other children who have had it, so I'd like to think it is not coming from my homemaking skills or culinary deficits. But, my question is this: Have these last 2 or 3 years been pretty hard on any one else's kids, or is it time to take mine to the immunotherapy place and pump them full of Vitamin C? Thusly, that blog title would have been "Mother seeking reassurance."

And lastly, just 2 days ago I was thinking it is probably time to wash my kids sheets. I am not the type of person who feels the need to wash my sheets weekly. The kids take baths before bed, and, well, I am just not that dirty of a person. I won't tell you how often I do wash them, for fear of inciting a riot, or some ugly name calling (which at the very least could end in something like "Nonsheet washer!"). But, it was about time. I was decently busy for the rest of that day, but vowed to wash the sheets when the weekend was over. Saturday night, I was awoken by the melodious sounds of my 18 month old son "coughing". And, when I say "coughing", I think you know what I mean. As I stripped his bed and started a load of laundry at 1 am, I remember distinctly thinking to myself, "Thanks Heavenly Father, for getting me off my arse." Thusly, that blog would have been titled "God's sense of Humor" or "All in God's Time". I honestly can't decide which I like better.

However, since I am rolling all these topics into one, you can see where my confusion and lack of decision making skills ended up with me surrendering to the title above. And thus it is written, and so it shall be done. Amen. :)

Kaitlyn's hard day

Let me just preface this day by saying a few things: Firstly, Kaitlyn is my most klutzy child. Most children go through a klutzy phase. Kaitlyn's seems to be lasting for 2 years or more. We think she would be the ideal cheerleader, since she is featherlight, and loud. Except we would be worried she would fall off the top of the pyramid. Secondly, she had stayed up late several nights in a row visiting first with family, and then with friends... That never bodes well for anybody...

This particular day she had been whiny all day. And slow. Always walking a step behind me. After we ran errands, I got her out of the car, then walked around to the other side to get Dylan out. Contusion #1: she collided with the side of the van (which was NOT moving at the time). I guess she just wasn't watching where she was going.

After I comforted her, I put her back down, retrieved my things from the van and went to unlock the door. I turned to help Dylan inside (he is at the "do it myself" stage, even though his cute chubby legs can't really raise up high enough to get him up the 8 inch step). Contusion #2: she collided with the brick wall leading to the door. I mean, come on people! Its not like the brick wall jumped out and surprised her!

I comforted her again, and promised to give her bologna for lunch (her current favorite). She came inside and piddled around as I got lunch ready. Then I told her to go get in her chair. Contusion #3: as she was climbing into her chair, her foot slipped, and she hit the bottom of her chin on the table. Oy.... Really? REALLY?!?!

After lunch, she went to nap, and just about had a mental break down. Her blanket was in the wash, and wasn't quite ready for the bed yet. I know, bad mom, not being prepared for nap time, but, lets just say it wasn't my fault the blanket had to be washed.

Sometimes, its hard being a 3 year old....

Little Fairs :)

The community that my Grandfather (technically in law) lives in has a little fair kinda thing every year. This year was the most well attended I have seen it. The girls have started to remember it, and love going.

There were all kinds of attractions. Hubby liked the blacksmith. There was a cane sugar guy. And a BBQ lunch with raffle door prizes. Bands and singing, as well as the Prettiest Rooster Contest. Who wants to miss that?!?!

There was also face painting. The girls went first. I didn't even think Dylan was interested. But, he "eh"-ed his way up into the chair and held still for the lady to do a quick painting. He even had to use the mirror to see the end result. Just like his sisters. Monkey see....
This is what Kaitlyn picked out. The "Scary Hat".

This is what she looked like after one trip down the water slide thingy...

Not her favorite, apparently.

This is what Kari looked like after one trip down the Shark.

And there she goes....

It didn't take more than once for her to get hooked.

While Dylan kept getting closer and closer.

I think he thought we wouldn't notice if he did it slowly. We couldn't let him go because there were several "big kids" and we didn't think he could hold his own. Surprisingly, Kari elbowed her way through with the best of them :)

Going back to the car after a fun day.

I just couldn't resist taking the picture :)

Dress up

I have no idea what we were supposed to be doing that day.

Why Kaitlyn was in her "ballet" with a gazillion necklaces around her neck.
Or how they got around Dylan's neck.Or why the poor boy looks like he is strangling himself to get them off.
*Boy needs a haircut... I'm just saying.....*

Life is just like that sometimes.

Dylan's 18 month pictures

Last time it worked out. This time, not so much. But, here are links to Dylan's cute pictures... I think, if you click on them, you can see them.

Image Center - Olan Mills Portrait Studios

Image Center - Olan Mills Portrait Studios

Image Center - Olan Mills Portrait Studios

Image Center - Olan Mills Portrait Studios

Image Center - Olan Mills Portrait Studios

Image Center - Olan Mills Portrait Studios

Image Center - Olan Mills Portrait Studios

Image Center - Olan Mills Portrait Studios

Image Center - Olan Mills Portrait Studios

Messy Chillens

I made these a little while ago. And, because they have oatmeal in them, they are healthy for you... Right? I don't quite know how to "sprinkle" cookie dough, but they turned out well, none the less. My children enjoyed them, at least.... See? :)

Benji

My sweet girls got a few different versions of Benji from Nana and Pop. Benji goes here. Benji does that. Benji even goes to Italy! I was kind of surprised they watched the movies as many times as they have. This is the first time they have shown much interest in a non-animated movie...

Well, I tell you that to tell you this. I work out in the morning. I like to be sweaty only once a day, and shower only once a day. Sue me. I used to do it early enough in the morning that Dylan was still asleep and the girls were down stairs watching a movie. Now that Kari has started school, that doesn't work so well anymore. I get up and get her (and hubby) out the door. Once we come back from dropping her off at school, Kaitlyn settles down with the portable DVD player, while I exercise, and while Dylan gets into things, causing me to have to pause my work out and either rescue him from whatever height he has climbed up to and can't get down from or clean up whatever mess he has made.
Now, I told you all that, so I could tell you this :) (Now we get to the good, juicy part....) One day as I was working out, Dylan was over playing in the trash, and Kaitlyn was watching a movie. Benji to be specific. This particular Benji movie starts with him being a stray and having multiple "friends" that he visits on a regular basis. Each has dubbed him with a name, and each has special treats/tricks they do together. Anywho, for one reason or another, they all have a bad day on the same day and send Benji away, and there is a montage where Benji is walking through the grass field alone, while sad music plays in the background. I was at a water break in my workout, luckily, otherwise I might not have heard it. But, I did hear it. I heard a small sob. And I turned to see Kaitlyn, semi-quietly crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said "Benji is sad, because nobody likes him anymore." Now, I can't tell you how many times she had watched this movie before. And, I had never seen her cry over it. But, today, for whatever reason, she was feeling particularly vulnerable. And, it broke Kaitlyn's heart. And in turn, mine. Thankfully, by the end of the movie, Benji is the hero, and one of the families has permanently adopted him... (as much "permanently" as you can when they still allow him to be a stray and "socialize" with others). And Kaitlyn forgot all about it. She has since watched the movie several more times, and doesn't cry. But, that day it really got to her. It was pretty sweet :)

The Pencil

Kari has discovered bartering. I would prefer that she abstain from this particular activity, but it seems it is inevitable. And, I suppose she has to learn somehow that not all trades are in her favor (since she has always been able to easily manipulate Kaitlyn and Dylan). And, as harsh as this sounds, since I can no longer protect her, she also has to learn that sometimes, there are "Indian givers".... :/

A few days ago, she came home with a beautiful red pencil. It didn't have an eraser

(the former owner had chewed it off). But, Kari, being ever the practical person,

installed the "over the pencil" eraser, and kept chugging along on her homework. A few moments later I heard "I love you."

I said "Aw, Kari. I love you too." She turned to me with complete innocence in her eyes and said, "Mom, I was talking to my new pencil."

Yeah. Thanks, kid. Thanks a lot....

Dang Panel

While working on some of our household renovations, my children have surprised me. They spent a good hour in the crawl spaces of the house under the kitchen with their daddy while he routed some things. I won't even go under there, and they were all over the place. They were dirty when they came out too. Yuck!

The other thing Kari agreed to help with was rerouting a wire for us.

Here is the offending panel. Pretty ugly.

And because it is a cinder block wall, it couldn't be recessed and hidden with a nice picture frame. So we decided to move it to a more accessible, more desirable place. It was quite easy to do. In theory.

The main issue was drilling a hole through some blocking. Kari was the only one who could fit. And, she actually volunteered to climb in there.

Unfortunately, when she actually pulled the trigger on the drill, I think it smooshed her finger, and that was enough of an experience for her.

This is her practicing. However, it was unfortunately too little, too late. She wouldn't climb back into the trusses. She is a brave girl, none the less. My hero!

And yes, the panel did get re-located. Not a problem.... Unless you count all the problems that come with re-locating a panel. But, those don't count, do they?

Curtains

Dang if Blogger's issues, and my recent apathy made me completely forget to post yesterday... Doah! Oh well. As a token of my sincere guilt I hereby name this blog: SUPER CUTE PICTURES BLOG. And thus it was written, thus it is done!

This is what Dylan did while Kari (and sometimes Kaitlyn) worked on the model... I must admit I feared for my curtain rod (as Dylan is a heavy hitter at times) but everyone made it out unscathed. Enjoy!