Squatting in the Parking Lot

Something in your life really changes when you start carrying an extra pair of someone else's panties in your purse....just in case.

No, my toddler hasn't started taking Alli. But when you have a newly potty trained toddler, you don't leave home without an extra pair. Let me tell you why...

My little girl has an aiming problem. She can sit all ladylike on the potty and shoot pee straight out onto the floor... (oh, the google hits those words will bring....go away you nasty pervs. There's nothing here for you here).

So we're at a really awesome church function, and the girl's gotta go. So we go.

I take her to the ladies room. I cover the automatic flush sensor with paper before she goes near the potty, because no one likes it to flush while they're sitting there. Especially my anti-loud-flush toddler.

We cram ourselves into the teeny tiny stall and she gets settled and starts to go.

The pee immediately shoots straight out, right at me. I squeal and jump out of the way, she screams and falls in the toilet.

That's right, my little sweetie in the toilet.

So she's screaming because her butt is in the toilet, there pee on the floor, pee on her skirt (thankfully, no pee in the toilet where her butt it).

I'm trying to tell her it's okay, it's going to be okay, while trying to get her out of the toilet.

Which is when I realize I left my purse (along with that emergency change of clothing) in the sanctuary. In the front of the sanctuary.

So I pulled her little skirt back on (because I had nothing else to do) and she duck walked back to the front of the sanctuary to get the dry clothes, then back to the bathroom to put them on.

Then we had a discussion about how she needed to finish peeing. No WAY was she going near that toilet. She tried to convince me that she'd just hold it until we got home. Well, I knew that wasn't going to happen.

So we came to a compromise...

I took her out the in the parking lot and we hid between a Suburban and a mini-van so she could finish the job.

I've got to get a travel potty.

Poopin' Machine

Man, I'm beat. And I did nothing today.

But I didn't go to sleep until almost 2 last night (why oh why must HBO put Big Love on at 9? 10 would work so much better for me. we had to stay up until 12 to watch it replay!) and then had to get up every so often with my sweaty, fevered toddler.

So today we went to the pediatrician....she does not have strep (thank goodness) just some little viral thing like a cold. Except instead of runny nose and cough, she has a headache. And I think her throat hurt today.

Since all she wanted to eat today was fruit, all she did this evening was crap.

She was feeling much better though and was her normal goofy self. Which means my entire evening was punctuated by "Mom, I gotta poop, RUN!" And run I would. Even though we had put a PullUp on (just in case) and even though I have a pinch in my back from sleeping with here. I would scoop her up and run and she would giggle "Run mom, run! I'm a poopin' machine!" That she was. Thankfully, I was fast enough (and she was...well, in control enough) and we made it. Every time.

Soo, now that you've read all about my kid's crap, do you want to see some vegetables? Good, I though you might....... 'cause here they are!

First off, a pumpkin. I actually have many of these. Now sure, I could kill off all but one or two and try for a monster pumpkin...but I actually prefer to have lots of little ones. Plus, well, I'm not really one to put all my eggs in one basket like that.



And a tomato. I went with plum tomatoes this year. No particular reason.



Lastly, the teeniest tiniest watermelon ever! Isn't it cute! it's got a lot of expectations piled on it's little round head though....because out of my 4 watermelon plants, this is the only melon we've got. Grow baby grow!

A Case of the Mondays

Looks like Celia has a case of the Mondays....poor girl. She has a good excuse though. She's sick. She's contracted some mystery illness that has yet to be determined. She got up this morning with a mid-grade fever and a headache. She doesn't feel good and her whole agenda for the day consisted of laying around and picking on mommy.

First she pulled all the clips from my hair (she hates hair clips. Last week she pulled one out and it ripped my hair out. Now I have a patch of exceedingly short hair...right up front. Nice). Then we had to have a 20 minute conversation about boobies. Then about my squishy belly. Then she ripped off my shoes and picked the polish off my toenails.

In between bouts of picking at mommy she chugged Motrin and played with stickers. The saving grace of the whole day is that our good friend got a puppy (which are, in my opinion, the best kind of puppies...the kind that go home with someone else) and promised to bring it by. it is indeed just the cutest little puppy ever ad Celia is very excited because it lives at her best friend's house. So she knows she'll be seeing quite a bit of it.

Tomorrow morning we'll have to re-evaluate. If she still has a fever we pay a visit to our favorite pediatrician, Dr. Steele. He is an excellent doctor...plus he makes the most realistic bird sounds I've ever heard. Both my kids like him a lot. Except while there we'll have the gaggingly pleasant strep test....because apparently there is a version of Strep that the only symptoms are fever and headache.

If she doesn't have a fever then we have two options to consider. It could be another popular virus that's been going around (again, only symptoms are fever and headache) and we're done. Or it could be stage one of some very fun disease that ends with a rash. You know, chicken pox, 5th disease, or any other number of fun scratchy things. In any case, I'm keeping her away from other kid for the rest of the week until I see if anything else is going to pop up.

In other news, I had a breakthrough in time management today. Not only did I get my 2.5 hours of BzzAgent work done, I also did a bunch of laundry and some other really important housecleaning things. And some random sit ups. And ate a bunch of ice cream. And got bit by a bunch of mosquitoes. I think that's all.

Pimpin' da blog...

Yup, it's that time again. Time for me to spent countless hours finding cool stuff to do with this thing. (Mostly, just figuring out how to work the cool stuff!)

So now..I'm broadcasting a feed. You can subscribe to me. You know...you and my 37 other daily readers. I don't know exactly what you're supposed to do with it, but you can do it.

I basically had to do this so I can get a cool scrolling thing in my signature (ha, you think I blog a lot...you don't know the half of it!) for Babycenter. Some other cool mommy had one...and I just felt compelled to follow suit. I would never copycat anything in the real world, but in the blog world, watch out! I'm totally ripping off all your cool stuff. I totally give you credit for it though.

Some other minutia from our week of vacation...

- Dove Ice Cream bars are the nectar of satan. Seriously, those things are evil. I can eat a box a day. I you shop like I do (using coupons to stock up when things are on sale for free or very cheap) do not fool yourself into thinking you can make 20 boxes last the summer. I don't care if they do only cost .45 a box. YOU JUST CAN"T DO IT. They are too good.

- I got a job. Just a little one. It's pretty cool though. I've been doing this thing called BzzAgent for about a year. Basically, they send you cool new products to use and tell your friends about. It's work of mouth advertising. They want you to be totally honest....if you don't like a product, say so. If you do, say so. That's all. They usually give you little samples or coupons to pass out if friends are interested. Anyway, if that's not cool enough, when you tell them who you've talked to (or Bzzed) then you get points. Which you can trade in for some neat things...DVDs and stuff. Well, someone has to read and respond to every report that is submitted....and that's what my new job is. Well, not every report. There are lots of other people with my job, I'm one of many who review reports. I love it. Except now I get to read about all these other cool products that aren't offered to me (some are regional test markets) and I WANT them. In a bad way.

- Pool trip yesterday bit the big one. First, the line was too the parking lot when we got there. Not a good sign. For some reason neither one of the kids were all that into it (they usually love the pool). Then a very bad thing happened with someone else's baby and they had to clear the pool and call 911. We don't know what happened, but it creeped us out and we left. I could rant all day on the reaction from the other swimmers.

We took some pictures....but every picture of my family has someone else's butt crack hanging out of their suit in it somewhere. Like a public pool version of "Where's Waldo". There's just too much butt crack hanging out at the public pool....well, most places anymore really.

I did take some photos of the kids playing in our tiny backyard pool....which they enjoyed much more than the real thing. Before we get to the picture....have I mentioned yet this week how awesome my son is? I realize that most 10 year olds would be bored out of their minds stuck in the backyard with their mom a baby sister. But this kid is always just so happy with the world that he has a ball, anywhere he happens to be!

So here they are, swimming laps in the pool.


You've got to be careful swimming laps in such close quarters. Kicks in the face are not fun.



Okay, so we're all warmed up. On to activity 2....Jordan's lesson on "How to place your face in the water and blow bubbles". Celia is skeptical, but gives it a try.



Oooo, she doesn't like it. Moving on.



Activity 3 is dumping water over Jordan's head. I would say this is awful and mean, but he asked her to do it. She's just following orders.


Lastly, an order from mom. Bail, kids, bail. Empty that pool! They try and hit me with water...but I'm safely far enough away from them.


See, here's where I stay. Safe in my chair in the corner of the yard....in the shade of our tent. Notice the little wet butt prints my girl left on the chair. She's still freaked out and comes running if a motorcycle goes down the road.

- Last big from my week....a vacation at home is only a moderately good idea. It's been nice and all, but we haven't really gotten that much done, and the house is trashed because "I'm not cleaning that up, I'm on vacation!"

School's Out for Summer!

Today was Jordan's last day of school. He was half excited, half sad. He enjoys school, but we have some fun summer stuff planned.

Plus today was the final day of his being grounded from the Wii (this kid neglected to turn in 3! spelling papers last week and brought home a D!). He's been missing it for a week. He had big plans today. Since it was an early release, he planned to sprint home from the bus and play Wii.

Mission accomplished.

Today was also his first day of swim team practice. He's been swimming for a few summers, but I'm hoping the swim team might give him some more confidence with his skills. So far I really like it. The instructors seem great.

After dinner we went for a walk on the Rail Trail again...and guess what? I finally remembered the camera!

We decided to go on MCTrail. I really prefer the Mon River Trail...but the kids love that tunnel.


So here we are. First glimpse of the tunnel (south side) and we have to let Celia out of the stroller. I'm amazed how much walking those little legs do!



Off they go! Have I mentioned how Celia adores her big brother. Where ever he goes, she's gotta go too. He sits down to rest, so does she. He tosses a rock, so does she. He pees in the woods....well, she does that too.



Ready and waiting, at the entrance to the tunnel.



Break on through to the other side.....


It's actually a lot longer than it looks as you stand at the entrance. I think it's 1500 ft....



So here is the north entrance. Step out, turn around, and look up. There you go.



And to your right we have a waterfall....



Then we walked. And walked and walked. We walked a whole mile. Even Celia.



So turn around and head back to the car. There they go.....

Curly Girl

Well, Friday was kind of a down day, so Celia and I decided to play with her hair. We put it up in the cutest little twisties (because it was also blooming hot all day!) and by evening, she had some curls!

She still has that soft, thin baby hair though, and after sleeping on those curls all she had left the next day were a few pretty waves. I'm sorry, but have you ever seen a little girl quite so pretty?

Don't be fooled by that pretty face though. Chris says she was wretched all during the game. Even my friend who usually compliments Celia on her sweet nature commented that she was a fireball. In fact, at one point she was so loud that she distracted me from my coaching from all the way across the field. Apparently, two games within 24 hours is just too much soccer for a toddler to watch.

Stay tuned for highlights from our weekend games and other escapades!

He'd forget his head, if it wasn't attached.

This is what I tell Jordan's teacher as I drop his forgotten lunch off for the 47th time this year.

"Yeah, we've figured that one out too" She smiles and replies. Seriously, he'd be walking around like this:

Instead, he just takes funny pictures of himself with my MacBook camera and runs around forgetting some very important, non-attached things. Lunches, homework, money, socks...

Celia has a great time taking the lunch to his school. She feels like a real big girl. We don't stick around long though, because we had important stuff to do.

Like sit in my fancy smancy lawn chair and take pictures of Celia running around the yard and playing with the hose.


I know, I know, big waste of water. Not an environmentally friendly activity. In my defense, I only turned the water on a trickle and turned the hose on mist. Mostly so she couldn't spray me, but it did also help conserve water.



Oh, but my fancy smancy chair....boy do I love that thing! It's a cross between a folding camp chair and a lounge chair. It's heaven....in aluminum and mesh. We bought it when I was about 4 month pregnant with Celia. We were walking through Sams Club, and I spotted it. After 4 months of battling a rather wretched case of morning sickness (that lasted all dang day) in front of equally wretched middle school kids......I wanted nothing more than to sit in it. I gave Chris my "I really need that chair" eyes and told him my summer plans entailed sitting in THAT chair, in the shade, and not moving for 3 months. I think I even gagged a little, just to get the point across.

So we bought the chair, and I did sit in it all summer. We even took it to the beach and he carried it down there for me every day. And it's been sat in every summer since.

Okay, I have to rant about shorts. I just want to buy a nice pair of shorts. No one sells nice shorts this year.

Well, that's not true. I found some really nice ones at Banana Republic, but I'm not paying that much for a pair of shorts. Especially ones that may not look that great on me. I'm not quite as tall and leggy as the models they use....plus I sure won't be wearing heels with them!

Because I did go try on some shorts. The breezy cotton gauchos that look so comfy and cute. They made my butt look to be the size of New Hamphire! it was awful. I was embarrassed to be wearing them in front of my toddler in a locked dressing room.

I looked at some other shorts. They were so tiny I could have tanned my butt cheeks while wearing them. No thanks.

So I'm stuck with my breezy skirts....which I really like. I got two last year form Gap that I love. They are reversible....so it's really two skirts in one! Stretchy smocked waistline....very forgiving of the extra ice cream I might like to eat. Casual enough to wear over my swimsuit, still dressy enough to wear to church.

They do have a really irritating habit of flying up and (hmmm, how did Dave Mathew's say it...) showing my world, well, to the world at large. In the parking lot of Burger King nonetheless, while trying to change my toddler in my friend's Suburban as she is doubled over in laughter at my backside flashing all of Sabraton while I try not to drop my squirming toddler in an effort to cover my own butt.

Thank goodness I've never been one of those trendy, thong wearin' mamas!

I guess I'll just make sure all my panties match my outfits again this year....or at least until I can find some good shorts.

Baby Saying Big Words

Here's a video showing off my family at their best.

Celia is a little parrot who will repeat anything she hears, so we're taking advantage of it to get her to say some funny big words. Until she starts stripping off her pants.

Jordan is feeding the words to her and cackling like a hyena in the background.

Chris makes an appearance in the end to say "Hey, I don't think you were recording"

Umm, yeah, I was.

Things that make you go EWWWW!

Number One on the List of EWWW:

The smell of my house late last week. Stank. I mean nasty. The bad part was that I couldn't really figure the smell out. First, I just though it was that stale smell that I feel like the house gets after days of rain. Nope. Then I thought it was the Cantelope I had ripening on the counter telling me in a not so subtle way that it was time to be cut up. Nope.

Could not find the smell anywhere. Chris came home and I'm wandering the house, sniffing. Trying to find the odor. I did mention that it smelled kind of like a sippy cup that someone had forgotten....but that couldn't be it because I'd looked in all the usual "hidden sippy" places. Under the bed, in the bag, behind a chair, even the toys box.

Well, the weekend came around with glorious weather. Windows wide open, ceiling fans on bringing the fresh spring air in....it was great. Smell was gone.

Fast forward to this evening. I'm doing my wander around the house putting select random things away (not cleaning....it's 11:00, I'm just wandering really). I scoop up some stray wooden food and turn to deposit it in the "wooden food basket" of my daughter's kitchen (her cabinets are so organized. Why is it I can keep her cabinets looking nice, but not my own?) I spy the spout of a cup poking up through the fake fruits and veggies. Gross-ola! I knew I smelled something stank. Luckily it's trash night, so that puppy when straight to the curb.

Number Two on the List of EWWWW:

My sweet daughter has some unusual tastes. last week I made some bacon crumbles for salads and such over the weekend. She had been sneaking a few of those after they cooled, but that's alright. I can understand a love of bacon. Plus, she didn't get that much before I put them in the fridge.

She did manage to sneak in and hook the mug of harded bacon grease (otherwise know as LARD) off the counter and dig in. I walked into the kitchen (looking for her because it was quiet and quiet is bad!) to find her licking a lard covered finger clean. I screamed, gasped, gagged, danced around making noises of disgust. She just wanted to know "Mommy, why you take my cheese away?"

Number Three on the List of EWWW:

Same sweet princess dumping half a shaker of salt on the counter, then methodically licking a finger, placing in the salt, and licking clean. The worst part is, even she thought it was nasty, but she just kept right on doing it!

Number Four on the List of EWWW:

On the way home from soccer I was blissfully singing along to my cd. I glanced in the rearview mirror to discover that both boys had two fingers in their mouths. Straight from the soccer field mud and muck covered fingers. Yeah, they are both 9, but I guess if you put your index fingers between you molars and bite kind of hard for awhile, then take your fingers out, hook them together and pull, it feels strange....or painful....or something. I also forgot to mention this to the other boy's parents. So guys, if you read this before I remember to tell you....whoops, sorry about that. If the boys get worms later in the week I'll treat you to a worming treament! Yummy.

Hubby needs a blog and Celia-isms.

Looks like Chris is ready to jump on the blog train. He's seen how much fun I'm having with my blog and wants to get in on the blogging fun himself. Plus his good friend Mikey has a cool blog, and Chris wants a cool blog too. All that's holding him back is a name. He just doesn't know what to call the thing. I'm no help, because as you can tell I'm not that good with coming up with creative, catchy names. I did ask him what his blog would be about....radio, computers, sports, recording, personal. His reply was "yeah, all of that". Suggestions anyone?

Some cute things Celia has been up to lately:

My personal favorite: All it takes to elevate me to heavenly status in her eyes is a towel on my head after my shower. Then I immediately become "Angel Mommy". For at least an hour, every request is posed in the sweetest voice "Can I have a drink, Angel Mommy"

The new shocker: "Noy noy". Noy noy is her phrase for anything she doesn't know the word for. Last week, we were playing the name that body part game in the tub and she let me know exactly where her "noy noy" was. I then explained what exactly that part was and she ran around the house screaming "va-GI-na" at everything that moved. Then while visiting friends, immediately after I shared the noy noy story, she walked up to a woman can caller her "Noy noy". Sorry about that. She wasn't calling you a vagina. She just didn't know your name.

Um um um um um um. The standard reply to any open ended question. You've just got to give this girl a choice, or else she's overwhelmed.

When asked "What's your favorite animal" she replies "Bubby is. He's a puma"

Jesus Needs a Cookie.

Only a two year old can say something like that and be completely serious. And only a mother can reply "You just tell Jesus he needs to wait until after dinner for cookies" with a straight face. Honestly, the only reason I didn't laugh it because I really needed to pee, but Celia really doesn't want me to for some unknown reason. All I know is that I can't pee when someone is screaming at me not to pee. It's some wacked out version of mommy boot camp or something.

Back to Jesus and his cookies. First, you must know that my girl has a bit of a thing for Jesus. Which is adorable in it's own right (though a bit mortifying since every time we walk into Lowes she starts squealing "I want to see Jeeeeesus!" at the top of her lungs. Ugh, I hate blow up yard decorations...even if they do depict our Lord and Savior) When we go to church she is always sure to hunt up a baby doll and claim to care for baby Jesus (so what if he's in pink?). She likes Jesus. But she is also trying to use Jesus for her own little agenda.

Next, here is the Jesus who is requesting cookies.




That's right, I have a Jesus action figure. Isn't he the coolest thing ever?

Don't misunderstand. This is not some little idol to carry around and worship. He can't save your soul anymore than a Spiderman action figure can really websling. Honestly though, if you're going to play with action figures, you might as well play with a Jesus action figure. Isn't Jesus the greatest action figure of all time. I mean, if you think about it....Spiderman can swoop in and rescue you from eminent physical danger....but he can't do a darn thing for your soul.

Plus, in addition to the "Jesus needs a cookie" line he has inspired other timeless classics like

"Whoops, I just sat on Jesus"

and

"Girls! Stop fighting over Jesus. If you can't share Jesus, I'm going to take him away!"

Slinging Mud and Flinging Poo

No, not the preverbial mud thrown around by politicians and talk show hosts. Drywall mud! Our bathroom is finally to the point where I can get in there and do something....so I started taping and mudding the joints today. I'm half excited, half terrified I'm going to mess it up.

Unfortunately, the timing couldn't be worse. Last week, I had NOTHING going on. I was bored out of my gourd. This week we have guitar, church, MOPS, and I'm planning to taking the kids to Charleston friday night. That's usually how it goes though...I'll just get as much as I can done and finish it next week. Then we move on to tile. Woohoo!

Celia was a little angel while I was working on that and the zillion other things I had going on today. But she did NOT want to take a nap. I put her in there, thought she went to sleep, and came down to fix my lunch. Just as I sat down to some really good potato skins I heard the patter of little feet and clanking of toys. I figured she could play for a few minutes while I ate and then I'd go up and play the "take your nap bad guy". When I finally went up there, can you guess what I found? That's right. Poop. In the family room. That little monkey had pooped, removed her skirt, taken off the diaper....and THREW the poop into the family room.

That right there is why God made children so cute. So you would have to fight the urge to laugh (because everyone know that totally undermines discipline efforts) instead of fighting the urge to throttle them.

Heathens!

We're heathens I tell you!

We totally skipped out on any church this morning. I knew it was going to happen since Chris and I were still up talking at 1 or 3 or whatever time it was. This whole time change thing has me all messed up. It was late though. But we hadn't had time to really talk (about a bunch of nothing) in a week so we each had funny stories to tell. We also needed to fight with the alarm clock since it was also very confused by the time change.

Missing church is something we haven't done in.....years. We don't go when we're at the beach (churches are hard to find on the Outer Banks) and I missed about a month when I was pregnant with Celia. (I spent most of my time while pregnant hugging the toilet and praying to God that he get me through pregnancy alive, so I think that totally counts. Plus, I'm sure all the church people appreciated that I did THAT at home instead of in the middle of service).

Anyway, Chris rolled out of bed with Celia when she got up at 6 or 8 or whatever time it was she popped into action this morning. He has the ability to turn on cartoons and then go back to sleep on the couch...which I can't do. I was very grateful for the opportunity to snooze alone. In bed.

When we finally all got moving, we decided it was a great day for a bike ride at the parking lot of the middle school. This was Celia's first "bike ride".


Here are Celia and Daddy exploring the school. Dad went to school here for a year of high school. Then they built a fancy new school and this one because a middle school. It's still a great building and I love it.



Celia is riding her bike with all she's got! Dad was a bit disappointed that she didn't "get" the whole pedal thing, but this girl can move!



Once she gets bored riding her bike, she finds a great big pile of leftover snow. Celia loves snow and was delighted that since it was so warm (almost 50) she didn't have to wear gloves and could actually touch the stuff. Mom was thoroughly grossed out because this particular pile of snow was covered in cinders and other nasty looking dirt....



Come here little girl, let me eat your fingers! Not really, but that snow was cold and required some serious hand warming.

There's Jordan. He's been zooming around the lot this whole time satisfying his need for speed. He also briefly considered crashing his bike off a platform into a big pile of snow, until mom informed him that would likely result in blood or broken bones.



So that was our afternoon of family fun. We left when some unsupervised punk with an undesirable vocabulary showed up wearing a shirt that said "Beer. Helping ugly people get laid since 1930".

Adventures in Hair

I'm always surprised by Celia and her Girly-Girl tendencies. Don't get me wrong, she's a bruiser. She can take a fall with the boys like you wouldn't believe. But she LOVES to dress up and get her hair fixed. She also loves to put on makeup...thankfully she doesn't know the brushes I give her have nothing on them.

But I am surprise....how did this thing come from me. I'm the anti-girly-girl. There was nothing I hated more than getting my hair fixed....okay, even brushed. I only wear makeup because I have bad skin...I have two skirts. Not stylish, not trendy...barely even feminine. But somehow this little girl that came from me is a budding fashionista. (Did she get it from her dad? That's a scary thought!)

So after our braid yesterday she is all about hair fixin'. She brought me the comb first thing and asked for more "stars" in her hair. So today we tried some french braids reminiscent of Pippy Longstocking. Isn't she s cutie?!?

First stop after a success full hairdo is always the mirror. She loves to check herself out!






Jordan is on his way home from school (early) as I type. I'm getting so fed up with the public education system this year that I'm actually beginning to look fondly on homeschooling! I've always been staunchly anti-homeschool....but they've had less than 5 days of school for all of February and this first week of March! I know...a lot of weather is something you can't so anything about. But we had tons of days where school was cancelled because of cold. A few day when it was cold and they did try to have school, a bunch of angry parents called the board office! Really people, bundle your kids up! Children's education should be a priority.

Well, now the teachers are talking about a strike. First off, were you asleep when your professor covered salary? Because mine did. Several times. I knew darn well what I would be paid for every year of my career. You don't choose to teach for the money.

Of course I think the teachers are grossly underpaid in West Virginia. But it's a state job and we live in a poor state. Plus, I don't think a strike is the right way to effect change. I think it creates a big ethical question mark to say "Your child's education is the most important thing. As a teacher, I'm sacrificing a lot of myself to put your child first. Unless you won't give me a 6% raise (or whatever that other union is lobbying for)....in that case it's not so important after all"

I really don't think most of the teachers feel that way. They definitely want a raise, but I think a lot of this strike thing is peer pressure. A union rep decides this is what we need, and this is how we get it, and like sheep we all just follow along. If you think that statement sound anti-union, it's because it is. First thing I was pressured to do as a new teacher was join the union. "Join the union, pay the dues, you need to for your own protection!" I know I'm living in a very naive world where I believe that two adults can just talk and come to terms with things about a child's education and not require litigation over it...but that's the way I think. And if push ever came to shove it and some sue-happy parent sued me over something, then I'd just take all that money the union wanted me to pay them and get myself a lawyer. I always worried something like this would come up while I was working and I'd have to be the oddball who DID go to work. I wonder how many teachers feel the same....how many of the are going to call in sick because they feel that's the only way to get a much needed raise and how many of them are doing it because they don't want their union rep bawling them out about not supporting the cause.

I lost my train of thought and forget where that was supposed to be going....but basically I don't like teacher's unions and I don't like strikes. There you have it.

A picture for Daddy

Celia sat still and let me do her hair up pretty...and she's dying to show it to dad. Check it out hon!

Walkin' the Walk

Now the Walk I'm talking about is not a much heard about walk of pride or walk of shame....it's the Walk of my sweet little girl cruisin' for trouble. If you have a toddler, you've probably seen this walk. It's quite different than the "I need to walk up Bubby and smash his Legos walk" (though Lego smashing does occasionally occur on this Walk). Also different from the "find a quite place to poop walk". Very different than the "I'm deep in pretend land hunting in the forest walk".

This particular walk is marked by it's slow, meandering way through the house. Lips slightly pooched out, head swinging side to side scanning for something to get into. It is the walk of a restless toddler.

This is a popular Saturday morning walk. Lately, Pappy (my father-in-law) has been coming by and working with dad in the bathroom. That means two of her favorite men in the world are in there. She can hear them, but she can't see them unless they come out to cut some wood for find supplies. (Bubby, the other popular man in her life is either still sleeping or curled up in bed with a new book). For weeks she could watch them, through a secret window she discovered in the dining room. There is a plumbing access panel in the wall. Since the bathroom had NO walls, and the panel has a habit of sliding open about 4 inches....there was nothing between her and her men other than a thin sheet of window plastic mommy put up to keep dust out of the dining room. Toddles bliss.....quietly spying on the men until you couldn't stand it anymore and had to yell "Wha'choo doin' in the guys? Wha'choo doin'?"

Well, last week the walls went up. No more looking glass into man zone. So this morning she's walkin' the Walk.

I leave her to it for awhile because I'm a firm believer of kids entertaining themselves.....and I don't obsessively follow her because she it 2....old enough to wander her own home. But I keep pretty close tabs on her because I know she's looking for something to get into.

First, I came down from the bathroom (the working one....even mommies have to pee) to find all men in the bathroom discussing the plan for the day. No sign of Celia. I knocked and asked if she was in there (it's a small room, so it's best not to just swing the door open and check. You're likely to wack someone with the door....and I'm not one to impede progress!) They do take her in on occasion when they are having discussions. Her input is important after all!

Nope, she's not there. I listen closely and can hear the cat food clattering around in a way never caused by a cat, so I go down and find her making the cats some soup in the basement. The cats love that by the way.....they are impressed that a 2 year old has the time and skill to make them a gourmet kitty meal. All these adults do is dump some chow out of a bag and walk away. It's almost a trade off for all the toddler tail pulling and squishy hugs they must endure.

I bring her back to the living room and she goes right off again. This time to the dining room to poke at the plastic and lament that her window is dark.

Lastly, I find her on a kitchen stool, sniffing Pappy's coffee. This is a little scary because I have found her several times giving different toys a bath in my tea. And one memorable occasion I found a toy IN my tea....I'm pretty sure she put it there.

Finally I whipped out my mommy secret weapon: Valentine's. Yeah, I know it's March now....but she doesn't care. She also doesn't care that mommy bought boxes and boxes of leftover Valentines and stickers at Target's 90% off clearance for year round Valentine fun. Just give this girl some supplies and she's content to make everyone in the house a "bowentine" and then deliver the mail. She also pretty happy to put the stickers all over the place, including my couch and a few really itchy ones on my neck. Every few minutes she comes up to check on me, asking "Do they hurt momma? They don't hurt, do they?" I assure her they don't and she goes right on giving out "bowentines"

Mortification at the Post Office!

It's been a whirlwind morning so far! Jordan actually went to school today, but on a two hour delay. I blew off making cookies for his classroom party last night to go out with Heather (we were both getting cabin fever after being stuck inside with all the kids all week! We planned coffee, but the little coffee shop near out house closed! For good! Boo!) So I had to whip u some cookies this morning, get my packages ready for the post office, get everyone clean, dressed and out the door. I had just got both the kids and all Jordan's stuff in the car (cookies, Valentines, teacher gifts, backpack, and a project that was due today) and realized I forgot to pack him a lunch! So back inside to throw something together.

We got him dropped off at school and then Celia and I went to the post office. My normally sweet, well behaved little cutie was a firecracker this morning! She yanked free of the mommy vise grip when I was trying to pay to ship packages and started doing laps around our tiny little post office, screeching and laughing. Which wasn't too bad, but then a guy came and she ran smack into his butt and grabbed with both hands REALLY high up on his thigh. We really couldn't get out of there fast enough.

I'm leaving you today with our newest family video: "Vadar's Invasion".

Paper Mache and Dress Up

We're having a pretty productive snow day. Celia spent part of the morning changing into different dress up outfits. This one was her favorite. She told me "Mommy, I'm so excited to be a princess!" Jordan had on his ninja gear...because every princess needs a ninja to look out for her. He spent a good bit of time working on fractions (we're not there yet!) I made bread. It's very good, but didn't get a good crown on it. Which means I'll eat a tons of it, but no one else will. Mmm, carbs! Then we got to work putting paper mache on balloons so Jordan could make a model planet. They both had a bunch of fun, but I think it's going to take forever to dry. I see myself spending a good bit of time with a hairdryer and some goopy balloons this afternoon! I'll leave you with some shots of our balloon covering fun!

What happened at nap....

or during naptime I should say. Because there was no napping today.


I'm really starting to get scared that she's giving up her nap. I'm not sure I'm ready for that. Of course, I'm one of those mean mommies that puts you in your room for two hours every afternoon whether you're sleepy or not! So she started off really good today. I could hear her talking and playing on her bed, which is fine. After about 40 minutes I heard her get up so I went up and told her to get back in bed. When I helped her in, I noticed her onesie was open and her diaper was gone. Well.......that's something that's just terrifying to me! Onesies have been my saving grace on keeping some clothes on her butt on days like this where she has NO interest in the potty! No more...I don't know what I'm going to do now.

I decided to grab a quick shower while she was still contained in her room since it's the most child safe room in the house. When I got out I found her re-arranging furniture so she could boost herself over the gate. She's just SO smart. But scary devious smart....not cure cancer smart. Well, she might be. She's only 2. It's a little early to tell.

Jordan had an unexplained meltdown at the dentist today and REFUSED to open his mouth for the little filling he needs. We're going back on monday.....armed with the option of laughing gas. I'm not really saying much about it because he's mortified that he acted so badly. He said in the car on the way home that he thought he was getting "soft" since he didn't even flinch last time he needed a filling (two years ago, so it's been awhile).

Learning to Eat Pizza

I bet you thought you just always knew how to eat pizza.....not so! Once upon a time your mom used to cut it up into teeny tiny pizza squares, then you had to figure out how to do it the right way. Celia has decided she is quite the big girl, and did NOT want little pizza for lunch. She wanted BIG pizza, so here she is, doing her best to eat it!





Other than a nose full of sauce, she did pretty good!

She also tried to help me make fondant this morning! Whew, what a mess. I debated taking my rings off (I never take them off for anything) and I'm so glad I decided to. Just looking at the mess of melted marshmallow made my hands sticky! I had that stuff everywhere. But now I have a nice looking ball of shiny icing. I just need to figure out what to do with it........