Thousand Word Thursday

The Crap That Comes With Motherhood

If only it all came inside a diaper.

This morning we needed to go out to the local elementary to register Matty for kindergarten. I had totally forgotten that registration was yesterday, so we headed off early this morning to get that done. Not hard to do when Matty AND Jossy were up by 6:45. Matty came in to let us know he had peed his pants. Great way to start a morning.

I tried to get a few coupons to print out so that we could do some quick bargain shopping as long as we were out for registration and driving Daddy to work (yep, still no working Jeep,) but the coupon site and my Internet refused to cooperate. I gave up and figured it didn't matter if I wanted to try to take the kids to the zoo for the free admission today, but then Dan reminded me it was supposed to snow. Hmmm, maybe we'll just have to skip the free day and pay the regular, outrageous price another time when we're not going to get frostbite for the sake of seeing a few animals. Pet Smart is heated anyway, right?

After dropping Dan off at work, the kids and I drove over to the elementary school. While I was filling out a million forms, the kids were running around behind me as quietly as they're capable of (which is about one decibel lower than a broken garbage disposal.) Jossy suddenly says, "Mommy? Mommy? Poo!" Love that she always saves this special treat for when we're out and about. I told her she'd have to wait. I knew I had an extra diaper out in the car and could change her once we were done registering. She kept reminding me every few minutes she needed to be changed. Thanks, Jossy. I couldn't tell by the smell quickly suffocating the entire room.

Then she wasn't the only one that had poo in their pants.

Matty came over quietly and said, "Mom? I just got poo in my pants. I thought it was gas and I let it out, but it wasn't! It was poo!" Seriously?! CRAP!!! (Obvious pun, sorry.) He told me it was just a little and I was hoping maybe we could make it home, but he seemed really uncomfortable, so I gathered up my million forms and packets and headed for the sick room bathroom.

I'll spare you some details from here on. Let's just say the underwear was thrown away, the poo wasn't solid, it wouldn't wipe off much, and I had to convince a reluctant little boy that it was okay to go commando since we had no other choice. All the while trying desperately not to gag on the smell or start crying. No, I saved that for the ride home. Seriously, could he have picked a better time for his first poo accident in more than a year???

We got out to the car, I changed Jossy in the trunk, got everyone home while crying to my husband on the phone over everything that's gone wrong today, cleaned Matty in the tub, and started the laundry. I still have to fill out all those forms and take them back to the school office at some point.

Sometimes I wish someone else was the mom around here. Then I could just hide under the covers with chocolate and a laptop and wait for Spring.

Silly Girl

What would I do without my silly sleepers to entertain me at night?
(Sorry these are blurry. I wasn't going to risk waking her with a flash.)

Not quite sure if that's enough dolls to sleep with . . .

Fashion is not something you can teach. . . unfortunately. She demands to wear her boots just about everywhere, and these necklaces are a frequent accessory.

I like a girl who knows that the only place good enough for her is the best seat in the house.

I think the sunglasses are meant to help George feel better about being pushed around in a pink stroller. Maybe no one will recognize him.

Just now I heard Jossy in the upstairs bathroom. She's had a fascination with the toilet lately so I dashed up there and found this. Guess George needed some help going pee. Luckily, he never touched the water.

I'm really not sure what she's doing by covering him with wipes. I think I may not be the only one who needs a vacation after today. Poor George.

Nothing Alike? Really?!

The kids and I were looking at their first Christmas albums today when I noticed these pictures. This is for everyone who tells me my kids look nothing alike.

Thousand Word Thursday

Blog Makeover

Maybe it's a result of the drab weather outside or just a need for change in my life. Whatever it is, I've been dejunking the house and organizing. Why wait for Spring??? I can't get much done at a time with the kids, but it's coming along. Since I've been in that mode around the house, I figured why not revamp the blog? I was really getting sick of the other look after more than a year. The pictures of the my kids in the header were so outdated but I wasn't sure how I wanted to change it.

Megan pointed her readers over to Clover Lane to view the video I recently posted about. I loved the simple yet unique style over there and noticed on the sidebar that the author taught you how to make a similar header. So for those of you who are interested, here's the link to where she explains how to make this type of header using Picasa (a free editing program from Google you can download.) I like how she changes hers once a month and may get on board with that. So far I'm really happy with the change and am already looking forward to a new header soon. I appreciate the compliments I've gotten, so thank you!

Happy changing!

Not the Day I Had Planned

Stinks when things don't turn out right, doesn't it?

With Dan having the day off work, we planned on some family fun while getting things done. We wanted to go to a sale at RC Willey (partially for the free lunch and the fun of testing out couches with the kids,) then over to ToysRUs for a sale and to use a gift card, then back home for Dan to change the fuel filter for the Jeep (supposedly simple), and finally a quick journey out to FINALLY buy an elliptical for me! I've wanted one for years, have researched and looked at them a ton, and today was to be the day we made our purchase!! We even spent our "Valentine's date" opportunity on Saturday just to go look at machines while my mom watched the kids.

UNFORTUNATELY . . .

Things weren't the best out shopping with the kids this morning. They did alright off and on, but there were many . . . issues. I'll leave it at that. It's not that entertaining and not the big problem of the day.

We got home just after 2, put Jossy down for a nap, then Dan took off for the auto store to buy his filter. He gets really horrible gas mileage and someone had told him to try replacing his fuel filter. Someone in the ward said he might be able to help him change it later in the day. When Dan got home some of the young men in the ward were out on the street chatting and decided they wanted to help. One had an automotive class before so Dan thought they could figure it out together. After all, everyone had told him how easy it was! And once he finished, we'd be able to take the Jeep to go get my elliptical. YIPEE!

FIRST PROBLEM: I was upstairs researching on the computer when I heard Dan moaning his guts out downstairs. I wasn't sure I was hearing right and he wasn't calling for me, but eventually I just had to go make sure he was okay. He wasn't. He had gotten fuel in his ear and it was killing. We weren't sure what to do besides flush it out the best we could. It wasn't helping, and I wasn't sure if he need medical attention or not, so what did I do? What we all do: go search on Google. I ran upstairs, quickly looked it up, and found a few answers from people who had done the same thing. (Good thing he isn't the first person to have this happen!) We tried their suggestions, but it only slightly eased the pain. Finally his ear was flushed out enough that he felt okay going back to work with the boys. Phew!

SECOND ISSUE: After another long hour, I went out to check on things again and learned that they had accidentally broken the fuel line and it wasn't going to be an easy fix at all. They wanted to move the Jeep out of the garage at that point so that they could clean up the spilt gas, but when they tried to turn the power on just enough to put it in Neutral, we heard gas splashing onto the concrete. Not good. So they hosed things down the best they could to clean it up. At this point these poor teenagers were losing their fingers to frostbite and went home. We tried calling several people in the area to see if they could help him fix things enough to get it to the repair shop, but didn't have much luck. Dan got cleaned up, and ran to Walmart to get some better supplies to try and fix things himself the best he could. It's sad that he was wearing one of his favorite shirts and his best pair of jeans when he started things because he thought it would be a quick project. Now they're covered in gas and I don't think it's safe to wash them. :(
He spent about 8 hours today working on this, not even getting dinner besides Jossy's leftover banana, and he still isn't able to do it. We're hoping someone in the ward can help him tomorrow (the man who was originally supposed to help him today doesn't know if he can) just enough to get it to the shop. We can't even tow it because we can't get it out of the garage without putting it in neutral and having gas leak everywhere.

I feel so sick from the fumes in the house. Air freshner and open windows just aren't enough. :(

I've always given him a bit of a hard time for not understanding automotive stuff, so having something like this fail for him doesn't make him feel the best. We both feel so bad this happened when we both wanted him to succeed. Now we're just hoping for a way to get it into the shop . . . somehow. Being a one-car family til it's fixed isn't easy with our schedules, but you do what you have to do. I'm sure it'll all work out someone.

Here's hoping for a better tomorrow!

Let the Years of Hair Damage Begin!!

We had a little fun this morning getting ready for church. :)

She wasn't a big fan at first, but once she found my lipstick to keep her entertained, she did a little better. I didn't set the curling iron too high because I didn't know how her hair would do with it. Too bad she has hair like her mom that doesn't hold curl very long, but she sure looked cute while it lasted!

Never Too Young

So many directions I could go with this post. I debated over titles such as "Our New Maid" and "My Very Own Cinderella" to name a few. I could talk about how we whip our children into shape early, making them earn their place in our home, bla bla bla.

Truth is, Jossy loves to help with chores. I figure I better use that as long as I can! It's stinking adorable to watch her and awesome to have a little more help around here. She saves my back a ton of bending over!
I love that she took the time to fold that little washcloth while she was still taking stuff out. :) She emptied the whole dryer for me. I only had to bend over once to bring the stuff from the back towards the front so she could get it.

She's also a pro a putting stuff in the washer, too (Though I do have to keep a close eye on what goes in. Her brother's ties and various packaging materials have not been appreciated.) I love how she dives headfirst into the hamper to get to the bottom.

Have a Sucker!

Matty and I had a lot of fun making his Valentine's cards for his preschool buddies. I got the idea from some women at church who explained what they had seen on a TV show. They turned out so cute, we may have to do this again next year!

We took this picture . . .

. . .and turned it into this:

Then Matty got to decorate with hearts and
write names on them.

Our first picture ripped as we tried to cut the slots for the sucker. I was just going to give it to Jossy to play with when Matty decided he wanted to make one for his daddy, too. So sweet of him, especially when you know how much he really wanted that leftover sucker! :)
So cute, huh!?

Thousand Word Thursday

I saw this on another blog. Thought it might be fun to try.
So here's the first installment:

The Gift of an Ordinary Day

This is for all those mommies out there who need a boost. It's hard doing the same things every day. There's always laundry, wiping noses, making sandwiches, breaking up fights, perhaps even feeling a little smothered with attention when you just want a minute to yourself. (Who knew going to the bathroom alone would become such a luxury?) So if you need a little help seeing the positive of the stage you're in, here's a little video brought to my attention by Megan. It made me cry.



These days of doing the same tasks over and over seem to drag on, but then I look at how quickly my kids have grown and think "What happened to my babies?"

I know several mothers who are so good at enjoying the little things of childhood with their kids. They inspire me to do better, to be better. I've been focusing on finding joy in my days since last summer, and this video is just another inspiration for me to keep doing that.

Driveway Beatification

While taking down the Christmas lights yesterday (yes, we just got around to it) Jossy was playing with some chalk on the driveway. She wanted me to draw with her, so I picked up some chalk and started to write "We Want SPRING!" It didn't take long for the neighborhood kids to want to come help. Our driveway became quite the giant art project! :)

Dan's amazing contribution:
This little cutie spent forever on coloring the
letter "I" and wouldn't let anyone else help.
Her finished product:
The most complete picture I could get of our project:

Now we need more chalk. Spring would be nice, too.

The Begger I Turned Away

The kids noticed a little visitor at our back door last week. I'm not much of a cat person (mostly because I can't stand the thought of hair everywhere) but this was the closest I've ever come to wanting one. This cat seemed like the sweetest thing and wasn't bothered at all by my kids banging on the door. If I couldn't visibly see the cat hair coming off of it and sticking to my door, he might've found himself a new home.

Sorry, kids.

Sorry, cat.

Not Exactly Beethoven

I was working upstairs while the kids decided to play around on the piano. They were laughing hysterically, so I had to go down and see what was going on. Jossy for some reason thought every noise Matty would play was HILARIOUS! Of course by the time I grabbed the camera the laughter wasn't nearly as much, but I caught a little bit as well as some oh-so-awesome head bobbing action.



If only they always got along this well.
Life would be so much easier.

Waiting for Daddy Part II

Waiting for Daddy to get home is hard.

But it's a lot more fun when drapes are involved . . .
and a good friend to play with while you wait.

(To see "Waiting for Daddy" part 1, click here.)

Sunday Afternoon

This is one way we pass the time in this house.

Matty chose this pose. Love it.

I know my girl has crackers in her mouth here,
but it was still too cute not to share.

Jossy came up with this pose on her own, too.
I think she was trying to fold her arms.

Maybe someday soon I'll have more than the window lighting and a $3 sheet from Walmart to work with. Looking forward to that! Though I will say I've definitely gotten my use out of those $3. :)