Hello there, saggy pants!

So, I was getting Lucky down from dinner tonight and realized I had not changed his diaper all day -- and I mean ALL day. Daddy got him dressed this morning so I didn't even put the first one on.

This is not the first time this has happened. There have been many days in my six and half years with at least one child in diapers (ugh, that is horrible to think about) that I have not changed a diaper until there was a stench in the house that was screaming, "YOUR BABY NEEDS CHANGING!!!"

Just a couple of weeks ago I was putting Lucky in the car and noticed that he was a little soggy. I totally forgot about it until later when he kind of whimpered and walked up to me and I noticed he had wet himself. He looked like my 3 year old after an accident. I thought that his diaper had been on so long that it had leaked. Daddy got ready to change the diaper and as he started to pull off Lucky's pants he said, "What in the world?" I looked over and saw Lucky's diaper was hanging out of his pant leg! Oops! Poor baby was probably wondering what was going on when he started to pee and there was nothing there to catch it.

You would think I would have learned from that and he would never have saggy pants again. Yeah, well...

Tell me I am not the only one that does this. I am looking for some reassurance here, so if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all!

ring...ring...

Me: Hello?
Some Guy: I had a couple of guys wake me up in the middle of the night last night, just thought I would return the favor.
Me: What was that?
Some Guy: mm hm!
CLICK!

That was the conversation I had at 3:30 this morning. I was awake until almost 5:00 wondering what that phone call was all about. I kept thinking of a way that one of my kids could have accidentally called someone the night before? Why would Some Guy be calling me? Why was he so vengeful anyway? It was just so weird, and unsettling.
So, maybe I am supposed to pay it forward, too. Hm, who will I call tonight? Maybe you better sleep with your phone close to your bed, or better yet, turn off your ringer!

From the Mouths of Babes

While searching for something on my favorite scrapbooking site I came across some fun questions to ask your kids. I printed it off and have been meaning to do it since then. (the paper was printed 9/30/2006, I think I have waited long enough) So, with that list and another list I found at the website Family Education, I made my own list of questions I thought would be fun to ask Ned. Dusty is a little young for most of the questions so I will make a different list for him later.

I know it is long, but keep reading, it is worth it!

*How many teeth have you lost? 2
*What is your favorite thing at school lunch? Apple. Lots and lots of fruit, and sometimes this yummy kind of pineapple.
*What is your favorite sport? basketball
*What are you best at in sports? dribbling the ball
*When you come home from school what do you like to do? rest
*What do you do best? At school-Math
*How old is Mommy? 30
*How tall is Mommy? How do you want me to say it? Do you know how many feet? Like 3... of your feet, wait, like 6. Because it's like 1,2...6 (he lifted his foot and measured me with his feet)
*What time does Mommy wake up on the morning? 7:30
*What does Mommy do when you are at school? Teach Dusty's school. (It was my turn to teach Alphabet club this past week)
*What do you love about your mommy? When you give me back scratches
*How old is Daddy? 34
*What is your daddy's favorite sport to play? basketball
*How strong is your daddy? pretty strong. (said with a big smile!) Remember that time he lifted those big metal things (some weights Daddy got a few years ago and has used a few times) they are really heavy, I could barely even pick it up.
*What is Daddy's favorite TV show? basketball, and football, any kind of sport, really.
*How tall is your dad? Um, like 20 feet tall, wait, like 10 feet tall. Well, actually no, because that is how tall a weed can grow.
*What do you like best about your dad? When he plays with me.
*What is our favorite movie to watch as a family? I don't know, because I haven't asked anyone.
*What do you do when you are really silly? You mean when I am laughing? Yes. Pee my pants. No, I mean what do you do that makes you laugh. Act like a monkey.
*What is your room decorated with? Um, names and 2 beds. (It is true. Sadly there are really no decorations, just the boys names on the wall and their beds.)
*What is the best thing about you? that I can read
*What is your favorite cartoon? transformers
*What is your favorite color? brown, pretty much every color
*What is your favorite dessert? raspberry cake
*What is your favorite drink? What is that drink with root beer with ice cream in it? Root beer float. Root beer float!
*What is your favorite food? roman noodles, stir fry
*What is your favorite holiday? Christmas, when you get all the presents AND my birthday. Those are my most favoritest ones.
*What is your favorite ice cream? the green, mint kind
*What is your favorite movie? Simpsons
*What is your favorite place to go? Sears, to see Daddy.
*What is your favorite restaurant? McDonalds
*What is your favorite sit-down restaurant? McDonalds
*What is your favorite song? I'm not really interested in songs. OH! The first song in High School Musical 2. The one about school's out. They say Summer, Summer, and then everyone starts to say it. And then they start to act all crazy and they throw up all of their papers! Aaaahhh! (apparently I need to get this movie, this was his best response the entire time!)
*What is your favorite store? Sears
*What is your favorite time of day? School time
*Where would you like to go on vacation? maybe somewhere like the beach now that I know how to swim
*What is your favorite snack? ice cream in an ice cream cone
*What is your favorite toy? transformers
*What are your favorite bed time stories? Linky-Link stories
*What is your favorite book? Green Eggs and Ham. That's easy to read. It only has 63 pages and I do it in like 20 minutes.
*What is your favorite subject in school? Math
*Who is your favorite teacher? Mrs. Irvin, pretty much all of them.
*What do you want to be when you grow up? a firefighter or a painter
*Who are your friends? CJ, Mason, Ryan, Adam, Kason, Taylor
*What awards have you received? M&M's for doing that word search in 3rd place. (he has actually won awards, but this was obviously the best reward!)
*How tall are you? 1,2,3...7. 7 and a half! (measuring himself with his own feet)
*How old are you? 6 and a half
*How heavy are you? in between 40 and 80 on your thing (scale). Maybe in between 20 and 40.
*How much does Daddy weigh? 100
*How much does Mommy weigh? like 100, too. You guys are pretty close ages, so you have to weigh pretty much the same.
*What time do you wake up? I don't know, sometimes I sleep in, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night. I wake up like every time in the night.
*What do you eat for breakfast? marshmallow cereal
*Which of these do you think would be best:
a. Dinner with everyone at the table and the TV on your favorite show.
b. Dinner that everyone chose what they wanted from the fridge and no one ate the same thing.
c. Dinner with the whole family together and no TV on.
the 3rd one
*If you could have your room any way you wanted how would it be? like this (he jumped up and started acting like a monkey) No, what would it look like, not how would you act? like have transformers all over the place. Would it be clean or dirty? clean. And who would clean it? Dusty, because he makes all of the messes in my bedroom.
*Are you a good friend? mm hm (nodding)
*If you are afraid or sad what do you say to yourself to help yourself feel better? I can't really even do that.
*If you could redecorate our house how would you decorate? like a party
*What is the most fun thing our family has done lately? made stuff with noodles. You know, like that project thing. Noodle art? yes
*What is beyond the stars? maybe more planets. One that is called uga bulla
*What is the nicest thing a friend has done for you? helped me
*What are two things we should do next time Daddy has a day off? go to Jump Zone and get ice cream
*Do you believe in heaven? yes What do you think it is like? I don't know, it's a pretty fun place.
*If you could have a weird, unusual pet, what would it be? a twenty-thousand-eyed rabbit. Why would you want that? Because I would poke all of it's eyes out, and only leave two of them. And smash them all up and give them to an ogre. (Gross, at this point I just said that that was enough and moved on. I am sure he could have kept going with that one!)
*What have you done in school, or sports, or anywhere, that you were especially proud of? Almost making a goal in the last play, in the last game of soccer.
*Do you think girls are better with, or without make-up on? without
*How much TV do you think kids should watch each day? Like only two shows. At least 2.
*What is the grossest thing you can think of? throwing up
*Tell me something you remember from Kindergarten. I don't really remember anything. You can't think of one thing? there is so much stuff stuffed in my mind that some of it is way back there. Like right there. (he points to the back of his head)
*What would you do if you were invisible for a day? pretend that I was a ghost and scare people at school, because of all the mean things that they've done to me. I'll just scare them away. What mean things? They called me names.
*Who do you think you are most like in our family? Daddy and Lucky. Why? Because they have the same colored hair and the same colored eyes.
*Why did God make moms? So that more people could be born. Then more moms would be there. But there's only one mom at our house.
*What are moms made of? skin, blood
*Who is the boss at your house? you and Daddy
*What is the difference between moms and dads? That the dad is pretty much the craziest one and moms not.
*What does your mom do in her spare time? SCRAPBOOKING! And I am mad at you! Why? Because I want you to stop, I don't want you to do the scrapbooking. Why? Because I want you to play with me, ALL OF THE TIME! (gee, kid, why don't you tell me how you really feel?!) :)
*If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be? (Like I even have to ask after that last answer) That you would stop scrapbooking. That there was no scrapbooking in the world. If I figured it out, you wouldn't know, I'd keep it a secret.

5 ways to keep your sanity

Having 3 sick kids at once could make any mom go crazy. I am a worrier, and my kids all had high fevers for several days. I am constantly worried about febrile seizure. I know, not likely, but it is still a very real fear of mine. So, with all of the children on different ibuprofen/Tylenol schedules I was up several times each night forcing medicine down my children's throats. Never mind the fact that during the day there was a constant whine from one child or another.

Well, today I had had enough! I seriously thought I might go crazy. Thank goodness my hubby decided not to go in to work until 5:00pm or I might really be in the loony bin right now. Speaking of my hubby, the poor guy has had no sympathy from me the last few days, even though he has been working through a pretty nasty flu. I guess I used it all up on the boys. Sorry, honey!

So 4:30 came around and Daddy had to leave for work, and I was stuck in the house, by myself, with three little children that were all starting to feel good enough to be acting like little boys do, but not all of them were well enough to be going anywhere. Another day stuck in the house. What is a mommy to do? How can she stay sane?

Well, this is what I did:

1- Look online for ideas to use up all the energy the kids have from late naps.

I tried to find an exercise video that they could do while watching it on the computer. I did not find one. So I just decided to be the instructor myself. I had them pretend to climb a rope, build a snowman, and pop like popcorn, etc.

2- Make noodle art. I could not get any more creative without making a really huge mess that I would have to clean up.

3- Give them a snack. That will keep their mouths shut for a little while! Besides, they could really use the extra vitamin C.

I could not believe how much Lucky loved the oranges. He wanted more, so he decide to steal from his brother.

4- Put the kids to bed. Ok, that was a given.

5- Do something for yourself. I decided to make a nice potpourri pot with the orange peels, some cinnamon, and vanilla.

So, I am sitting, enjoying the yummy smell and blogging, yet again (I guess I don't have much else to do when I can't leave the house).

Aaaah, much better. Now, any ideas on what to do tomorrow??

Texas or bust!

This past week Daddy took a few days to spend with Ned before he went back to school. We decided to take a quick trip to see Grandpa Roger and Grandma Sylvia. We had a great time.
Before we left we decided to get a portable DVD player, our old one broke a while ago. Lucky thought it was the coolest thing to be able to hold a TV in his hand and touch the screen.

Ned and Dusty shared the second screen in the back seat.

The very best part of the trip was spending some good quality time with Daddy after his busy season at work.

We arrived on Thursday evening in time to have Grandpa's delicious soup (made with several vegetables he grew himself!) and to meet some really nice friends of Grandma and Grandpa's.

The next morning we relaxed and visited. Daddy decided to put Mommy's necklace on Lucky, it looked quite nice, actually!

After a relaxing morning we all got dressed and went out to play. Lucky found Grandpa's gourds he was making in to little bird feeders. He sent a couple of them home with us and we look forward to painting them and hanging them.

Grandma and Grandpa's back yard is HUGE. We loved running around. I wish we had a yard this big, I could get so much done in the house and it would never get messy (except for the dirt ,bugs, and all other nature that the children would drag in).

Dusty and Daddy started "fencing" with some sticks they found lying around.

The boys played hide-and-seek. 1...2...3.....

"Ready or not, here I come!"

Daddy decided to hide in a tree. Probably not a good idea for someone that broke their foot just over a month ago.

Lucky wanted Daddy to help get him up there too, or maybe he was trying to help Daddy down.

Lucky loved being outside, he cried and cried every time we took him back in.

Ned helped Grandma get a branch to the firewood pile.

Dusty decided that if Daddy can climb a tree then so can he! Although, the tree was only about a foot taller than he is.

We forgot Lucky's coat. Mommy thought Daddy got it, Daddy thought Mommy got it. Oops! So Daddy shared.

Ned and Grandpa.

Flying baby!

We were able to pet the neighbors horse!

Lucky was reaching to pet the horse but would not get within 5 feet without Daddy.

Before we left the house Ned and Grandma played a game of Chinese Checkers.

Grandma and Grandpa took us to a nearby veterinary clinic where they have several kinds of animals. They had a few camels, deer, a zebra and other animals that we did not know the names of. We were so happy when one of the camels came near the fence. We never would have guessed that it was going to let us feed it and pet it. It was really a great experience. We were a little nervous that Dusty would have a bad reaction with his allergies but he did fine. His eyes were a little red the rest of the day, but as much as he loves animals I know he thought it was worth it.

We arrived home late Friday night. Thanks for the great visit Grandpa and Grandma!

With our mini-vacation over it was back to our normal lives. Saturday morning Dusty woke up with a fever that did not end until Wednesday.

Ned and Lucky were fine for a couple of days...

But it caught up to them also. :(

Thanks for Sawyer the bear, Grandma, he has been put to good use!

So, now all of us are sick, wishing we could go back a week to the wonderful time we had in Texas.

There was a video I wanted to put on here but I could not figure it out. It really shows how my husband (most men, really), and now my oldest son as he grows up, act during a cold. Here is where I first saw it on my friend's blog.

reminder

Like Father, Like Sons

Yesterday I was trying to take a picture of my poor little boy, Dusty was so sick and looked so sweet laying on his daddy's lap. As I was trying to take the picture Daddy started making silly faces. I said, "Daddy, stop, you always pull funny faces when I am trying to take a picture." Now, always was probably not the right word, but he does do it quite often.

This happens with all of the little boys in the house too. I know it must be annoying to have a scrapbooker as a wife/mom. I take so many pictures, let's say an average of 500 per month (and that is probably too low). You see, I have to get the best shot possible, even if it takes 50 pictures to get the perfect picture of the baby crawling for the first time. If I am going to spend the time to scrapbook it, it better be good!

So, I understand when my family gets tired of me taking their picture, but if they would just do what I want it would be over so much faster. Sometimes these crazy expressions are not on purpose, but are often intentional (very often as the boys get older). Usually the problem is that I want everyone to continue to do what they were doing and act naturally, but the camera comes out and they just can't help themselves!

I found some pictures of all of the boys (including Daddy) where they have a funny look on their face. With so many pictures taken each month there are bound to be some interesting shots. I probably get more completely crazy pictures than I do really great shots. So why not show these off too?

DADDY

NED

DUSTY

Lucky

Maybe Daddy gets it from Nana!