Barely a "bog-wothy" day...

Weekends are funny for us. Usually the best laid and most exciting plans lead to disaster. But if we try to be mellow and stay around the house...bigger disaster.

Today we made it out of the house but kept it simple.

Our first stop was Best Buy. I've been thinking about getting a netbook but haven't seen one in person so I wanted to try one out. Best Buy had a couple but they won't be getting my business. They had them spread throughout the computer department so you couldn't easily comparison shop. How stupid is that?

However, I will be spending our upcoming school vacations and maybe all of summer there. Our Best Buy recently started selling musical instruments and they have a whole room dedicated to... DRUMS! Our boys were in heaven! I figure that I can lug in a mini-fridge and microwave from the appliance department and never need to leave the drum room. The boys should be easily entertained for several weeks.


Note to self: Buy earplugs before next school break

Upon leaving the store, I said, "That was great. That might even have been blog-worthy!" To which Jack (not yet 4 years old) said, "Mama, what's bog-wothy mean?" "Uh...nothing dear." I'm figuring it's too soon in his young life to let him know that I'm just keeping him around as fodder for my blog, right?

From there we headed to a park for a picnic and some much needed active and outdoor time on the playground. Jack's new favorite activity is to jump from high things. Luckily he only does this at the park where he can land in soft sand. Today he asked me to climb the rock wall and jump off with him. "Uh...no thanks, dear." To which he pointed to the airplane overhead and said, "That's higher and you jumped from one of those." Touche.


I should have jumped with him. I'm kind of regretting that I didn't. Instead he got a "Uh...no thanks, dear." Maybe next week...

So what's a guilty mama to do? Buy the kiddos a popsicle of course!

Is it wrong to have a favorite?

I probably shouldn't be saying this. I mean, I feel guilty even admitting it. But I have a favorite. Is that wrong?

No, not a favorite kid! A favorite blog.
I don't remember how I stumbled upon Denise's blog, There's Always Room For One More, or even how long I've been reading it but it's what inspired me to start a blog. I didn't use to read many blogs but after reading every post at There's Always Room For One More I would think to myself, "I've gotta start writing too. If my blog is half as entertaining as hers I"ll be happy."

Denise is a mom to 6 kids ranging in age from 21 to 1 (I think). Her family is a mix of adopted and biological kids (like my own will be someday). Her writing is filled with humor, grace, playfulness and strength. And in honor of her 200th post she is doing a giveaway.

If you don't read it already, I highly recommend it (obviously):

Random Tip #74

Try this handy and easy tip when you run out of your usual hair styling product: Have your child suck on a lollipop until it's good and sticky. Then have them gently dab the lollipop on your head in several areas. Use your hands to arrange your hair in your desired style. Remove your hands quickly as the lollipop juice begins to set. (You wouldn't want your hands to get stuck to your head, now would you?) Repeat as needed.

This tip sponsored by Logan!

Too fast!

My baby's all grown up. It seems like just yesterday I was giving birth to him and in the blink of the eye he has grown into such a mature young man.

Okay, maybe I'm being a bit dramatic. But today was Logan's first day of nursery school.

I guess I should qualify a couple of things:
He's not really our baby in the sense that he is the much younger child in a long line of kids. In reality he's our second and he's only 15 months younger than Jack. In many ways we treat the boys as though they are the same age.
And it wasn't as though I just dropped him off at school and left. At his and Jack's co-op school, parents usually attend for the first two weeks. Because Logan is already very familiar with the school from having attended on my work-days there, I'll probably only stay with him for a week.

Logan hates having his picture taken by the Mamarazzi. This is him on the way to school this morning:

And Scott wanted a photo of him returning home his first day (as we did when Jack started) but when I bring him home he's always asleep. So I tried to get his photo as he left school.
Shoot! That's the wrong son! Let's try again:
Can you see that big grin as he runs away from me and straight for the playground?

And to top off an already pretty good day, today was my first diaperbag-free day. That's right folks...for the first time in nearly 4 years I went out with a purse! I have no need for a diaperbag since none of my babies wear diapers anymore. Hurray!

I should qualify though that I did have to carry two other bags containing: 3 lunches, 3 sweatshirts, 276 changes of clothes for Logan, 4 pounds of playdough (that I made for the school), 1 large Sigg bottle, a SLR camera and a heavy book.

I'm not sure anyone could tell I was carrying a purse underneath all that other stuff but I knew it. Hurray!

"Not me!" Monday

I did NOT mutter my stress/crisis mantra, "I will survive this day. I will survive this day. I will survive this day.", while my children acted like whirling dervishes in the crowded checkout area in T@rget. I did NOT receive alarmed stares from others as they heard me.

I did NOT eat a cookie while looking up info on a weight loss website. I am NOT eating another cookie right now.

I did NOT tell an irrational and sleepy 2 year old that if he didn't use his indoor voice he'd have to go outside. I definitely did NOT do this at 2:30 AM when it was frigid outside. I definitely did NOT go outside with him twice in in the middle of the night an effort to snap him out of his 2 hour long hysterics.

I did NOT sit on my butt and read in bed while Scott took the boys out one morning this week. I would NOT have done that when I had (and still have) 153,872 things I should have been doing.

I did NOT roll my eyes and hang my head in the grocery store while trying to explain to Jack for the 34 time what a demolition derby was (as he recently saw one in a Herbie movie). I did NOT get weird stares from others as I explained that some grownups think crashing their cars is fun but it's not a safe thing to do.

I did NOT let Logan eat yogurt while peeing in an effort to help along our potty training. That would have been disgusting!


For more "Not Me!" Monday posts visit MckMama's site.

Deja Vu

A mere 15 months ago I was potty training Jack. It was the worst month of my life. 2 and 1/2 years old is young for a boy to start potty training but because he was scheduled to start nursery school we had to do it then. To make things more complicated Logan was 15 months old and couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about. He would frequently hang on me while I tried to peel Jack's wet clothes off of him or, worse yet, Logan would walk through Jack's pee puddles. Then I'd have 2 kids to clean up!
So you can imagine how excited I was when I realized that I would need to start potty training Logan after the holidays (as he is scheduled to start school in January). Logan is much less interested in potty training than Jack was. And he could care less if he's soaking wet. So far we are not doing well.

Here are all the essentials that a young boy needs while potty training:

Chart to show progress (or lack thereof):

Stickers for bribery:

M & M's for bribery:

Picture of the play kitchen he'll earn at the completion of his mission:
Small potty:

Family toilet seat and stool:

Fruit loops for target practice:

Bucket to act as a urinal:

Portable DVD player with Herbie Fully Loaded:

Books, pull-back toys and a flashlight to keep him entertained:

Extra underwear:





Here are all the essentials that a mama needs while potty training a young boy:

Once upon a time...

A year ago...

Two years ago...

Three years ago...Four years ago (on our babymoon in Hawaii)...
Eight years ago (on New Year's Eve)...

I once heard a quote about parenting...
The days are long but the years are short!

This couldn't ring more true for us. It is amazing looking back at these few old photos of the boys to see just how much things have changed. And though the days are long (very long, especially over the winter break) I wouldn't change a thing.