The fish

Sweet phrases like "Mom I love you soooo much" and "I love heavenly father for giving me a mom like you"
He feels deep and gets frustrated easily. This week has been a whirl wind of highs and lows for him. Last night he started getting a cold and said his nose didn't work any more. He is so smart and verbal for his age. Totally reminds me of what I must have been like watching his Dad grow up.

This holiday season is going to be amazing! He wants to be 7 things for Halloween. We'll see what we end up doing.

Nightmares

Ok so many if you know about my famous night mares and I won't go in to them here but I will divulge my sweethearts nightmares! This morning he woke up saying he had the WORST dream.
It went like this.
We met a new family and we were hanging out at their house and the husband of the other couple kept changing into his birthday suit. And would ask if anyone minded! And of course in his dream I said no problems here as I totally checked him out! And then we all go outside and play KICKBALL.

He woke up all mad I was checking the guy out. Awesome! I just can't stop laughing about the kickball part! So random and totally hilarious!

211

211 Yeah that is how many posts we have here. But I guess there is that other blog floating out there that I really should print up.

Today was a great church day! Love hearing great lessons and totally being ready for another week. This week Thing 2 starts bringing home circulo de lectura which is fine I just know how well it worked for Thing1 and how hard it was to form that routine of reading it three times ect. I am going to make him read some smaller books and do them three times too lol. Thanks to R. we have a new stash of captain underpants books and I am dreading the next moves of my children. I think we might put those off and read the Box Car children for a bit then read them. :)

I have heard the magic tree house series is another one that is fun. I am thinking I want fun and not funny because of the "humor" that is used in the funny ones. I liked Junie B. Jones. But after awhile it was effecting my grammar! It is hard to hold fast to the rules of grammar and then tryin to let them go for storytime every night for a week. I would love to get on a exchange program where we all switch out our children's books evey couple of weeks. I guess you call that a library but I am not allowed to go in there with the threat of them taking one of the children hostage because of my long list of fines. I never did finish "River of Doubt"

The first possible book ban

Lets start with yesterday. Where i blogged some photos of the cutest baby and totally was ready for an easy day.

Wrong. Dead wrong.
Thing 1 came home and told me he gave a kid a wedgie. Yeah his teacher is noticing some behavioral issues that are starting to alarm me and her. He just thinks gross things are fantastically funny.I do find the story he told the class that his dad has a "toenail collection" to be quite funny. His little class mates on the other hand get farther and farther away from being friends with the kid who tells the gross stories and then laughs himself silly over them.

So I asked why he gave him a wedgie and he said he got mad about not getting to do the zip line at the playground. And added as a side note that the kid showed him his manly goods. Only he used the technical word. Pause..... what the heck! Why did he show you his junk? In response to my question he stated matter of fact, cause I asked him to.

"Well I asked him to show me his bare bottom but he didn't do that he just showed his (enter word for male part)" calmly finishing his confessional not reading the surprised expression on his face. Ok freak out mode in sued and I sent him to his room while the band talked me off the ledge of someone is taking him away from us cause he is now the kid who inspects other kid's junk.

In all my horror I did forget that there was an adorable little boy waiting to hear how in trouble he was. We sat down and had a very serious conversations about bodies and why we have them and that we don't show people those parts ect.

He is such a sweet kid and is trying to make friends in the new school he started this fall. We have made small goals at home and I know his amazing teacher is working with him at school. He really is trying to do all that he can to to be good and fit in but he has just a quirky personality. So we are working with him a little each day on things he really can improve on.

Next there was our new bed. Moobie our wonderful dog peed all over my side of the bed!! Oh my gosh killing wasn't an option but definately showing her who alpha dog was. And she knows. And I mean KNOWS. Gabe was so nervous that the Band would be mad at the dog for ever that he started yelling
"Dad you just have to forgive her! She is just a dog and doesn't know any better. To her is was just a comfortable doggy toilet"

Put on repeat.
There is the best stain removal recipe and our wonderful bed is stain and stink free! It was like it never happened! Soo gonna use this on the kids beds when they stain them!

Now for the next part of the day.... Thing 1 brings home this book from his library at school. Thanks tax payers of Davis. He was thrilled to show me something he had created in the upstairs bathroom. I knew it was some sort of classified mess. Little did I know he had decorated each toilet in the fashion you see below. Yes complete with teeth and eyes. I thought it was creative and since it wasn't done with sharpies, he and I were still friends.

Fast forward to the next morning when I send thing2 to the shower. She comes down crying and said she was scared and couldn't shower! I was pressed for time, and still needed her to eat breakfast, I told her not to worry about it get the breakfast on the table.

After school today it was her time for confessions. She said that she had been in the bathroom and peed in a glass. I was thoroughly disgusted and asked which bathroom and she said in the bathroom but she had washed out the glass and poured it down the sink. Totally Depardeau style gross! Then I put two and two together she had been scared to use the toilets that were still decorated as attacking toilets!! AWESOME!





To wrap up the yesterday episode. I called his teacher to talk about it. She said that she was standing there and no male parts were disclosed! His teacher is pretty positive about the whole thing and says second grade is the time when they all are pretty gross and thing 1 is just extra vocal about it.

I am so thrilled she is so patient and kind to his little devious side. Maegan has used the toilet again.

And I am happy to report the dog still lives on.

The ten minute test.

The kids have had a hard time going to bed all summer and during this first couple weeks of school. The only thing that has constantly worked is what is now called "a test"

It works like this. You set a timer for 10 minutes. During the time that is set on the clock you aren't allowed to talk,open your eyes, or move. If you do you have to start over the time on the timer. If they can stay awake the entire ten mins they get to get out of bed and go play for ten mins. If you move and the timer has to be reset three times your test ends and you just have to go to sleep. Ok the trick is for every ninth time they fall asleep in four minutes you give them one or two times of "winning" so they keep the dream alive that this will be the time they beat the timer.

Both things and the fish clamor for this game and it is heaven not having to fight them to go to bed anymore.

Thank you guy who told us how he used to go sleep when he was young in some random talk.

Thing1 on Hair cuts

Me: Thing 1 you have to brush your hair if you keep it long!

Thing1: I don't want to cut it I want it long so they let me into Girls for Life! (the community girls club)

Me: If you don't brush it I cut it!

Thing 1: No!

Me: If you keep it long they arent going to let you into Boy Scouts! They will send you to Girl Scouts!

Thing 1: (big sigh looking up with his eyes closed) COOOOOOOOOKIEEEEEEES! CHocolate Cooooooooooookies

So this week google plus is my friend

I really like the set up better than FB. I like the features and circles better :) Just now getting all my friends over from FB over there ;)
We have been bug hunting and messing around at home with our house trying to get organized and more clean. GO figure I think this is always the case. But we want to move thing 2 out of the Kid room and into the "girl Room" it will be fun to see if she is ok being alone:)
She sleeps so soundly I don' t think having the office be in there with her will be a problem. We'll see.
Thing1 is getting better and better at reading in English we have been working hard to teach him all the funny quirks and rules and he is picking it up really well. I just hope we can catch him up by the end of this next year :)

Summer time and grasping a schedule

This has been a fun and super swimming summer for the kids. It is the first year of summer darts where they go five days a week. The fish aptly named goes three times a week to mini darts and is totally loving it.
These are the goggles that we already lost at the manor pool swimming. Goggles have been a challenge to keep a hold of. A sharpie comes in handy everywhere I turn lately!

The season started out cold and really really has warmed up. It was 104 on Tuesday and the pool had to turn people away!

We'll see how the rest of swimming goes!

Learning life the hard way. Precurser to Parent Fail 101

So we are wrapping up another school year here at Ditty Head quarters.
I planned in making books for each child and taking pictures of their classroom. That way they can remember the set up of their class rooms and what they liked to play with.
Thing 2 and I had our first beauty day where she got her hair cut.
Thing1 tried out his hand at vandalism this weekend so his punishment has lasted extra long.
Finding out that when he gets in trouble he really does a bang up job of it. No pun intended. He was so excited about the shape of the broken glass it wasn't til much later that the full weight of what he had done caught up to him.

In other news we have been taking pictures a bit more frequently.
I love the babies but when your youngest is four and you've tried for a full year to have just one more. It is really hard to put the babies down and shoot the camera!! I am thinking we just need to do more baby shoots.

Here we go again!!

Tooth Loosing Time

Teething and now loosing teeth really? Can I tell you how much I love blogs now for forever capturing this??

Where is the time going?

Sitting in the three minute zone at my child school waiting to pick him up. It's thing one. And I am thinking "oh my gosh where has the last seven years gone?" I have this totally sweet Seven year old toothless wonder. I am going to miss this stage! I love them all right now! I just want to freeze my boy right now. Never want to see him grow up!
Oh man his chess skills are kicking my behind!

We play games once a week with his class and their families. It is math focused so they are learning and having tons of fun.

Blockus and checkers are a common favorite. This last week I came across the game of "Perfection"
The sound of the timer alone shot me back about 25 years! Then the memory of pure panic driven scrambling to match up rhomboids, squares, rectangles and the elusive quarter pie piece of tiny plastic into separate holes. It added a whole new element of terror as you realized all your hard work went up in a horrible yellow cloud of Chaos at the end if 60 short seconds.

We won't be purchasing that game;)

Ice Cream traditions!

Tuesdays are Ice Cream days I love it. Saturdays are Farmer's Market day and now we have Friday fun days.
I am loving the warm weather but cloudy the last couple of days.
There is this fountain that has a clock on top and all three of my kids this Tuesday licked the water! To the pure disgust of the family we met up with. Yeah if you hang with us your gag reflex maybe tested.

This weekend was awesome

Lounging= cleaning reminders. I can't believe the loads of laundry that have piled and unpiled themselves as we listened to conference. I know, I know, I need to listen and pay attention right?? Well you haven't seen my house lately and the transformation that has taken place.

My bedroom alone just threw up three trash bags full of clothes for the SWAP on Wed. And that was from the clean bins! I am going to be shocked at what is next. The kids helped after they each sat and with the computer in their laps for a single talk. Thing 1 watched the E. Oaks talk and said.

"This guy says "Desires" so many times MOM!"
Lol he did sit and listen to the whole thing.

The Band and I watched the inbetween messages on Sunday. Totally both of us lost it on the E. Holland Mormon Message about the young family and the Dad who broke down in the car. Huh did that hit home? Yeah just a bit.

Can't wait to do more laundry and listen to the conference again!

Spending too much time on the net? Maybe.....

So marketing the Photography business is just exhausting! Today I was in Borders, Peet's coffee, Common Grounds Coffee shop, the co-op and of course Mother and Baby Source passing out fliers. We are going to post it on the Wiki and on Craig's List. It is already posted on Yelp and I am so ready for some results lol. Only I know that there needs to be more canvasing and letting people know about it.

Last time we didn't have a sitting fee and we had so many cancellations. Lesson learned. So we now have sitting fee in place and are ready to rock!

The blog has been updated with the most recent shoots and we are ready to rock! I am just thinking maybe I am missing something. What else could we do to let all the moms know about the mother and baby shoot? I know the readership of this blog so really this is a rhetorical question. Maybe a news paper ad? Costco board ad..... Maybe we'll see what happens :)

Spring and the haps

Weather is getting better:) Poor Band and his allergies. He just might have passed them on to Thing 1. Poor kid has been all stuffed up, but not really sneezing. Who knows anymore I just don't want to talk about being "sick" anymore. I love the temperature right now! It is so crisp and yet getting on the warm side. Can we say BBQ?

I want to be a NINJA!

So what do you do when all three kiddos are dying to improve their lethal skills and are this serious about it? Thing 2 really had her serious face on the entire time. We really lucked out and got some awesome shots of everyone. They crack me up so bad!
My friend M. leans over and whispered to me "sorry i didn't know it was weapons week" hahahha. Are you kidding me there is only one way to really hook kids on martial arts. Let them swing around foam nun-chucks! Then, let them dream about doing everyday, all day, for the rest of their lives. Thing 1 and thing 2 each hit themselves in the face at least twice. And they loved every slightly stingy moment of it!
{This is where I should insert a donate to my children karate fund button from paypal. Ehh maybe later.}
We had an awesome adventure.

Thing 2 turns six!

Six is a big switch. And practicing telling people that you are now a year older. Holding up one more finger. No not really for my little thing 2.... she has been telling everyone she is six for the past four months. Yes, this does include the "Santa" at the Band's Christmas work party.
So now that is out of the way here we go with the celebration!

Thing two came to me about a week before her birthday and said that she wanted a Ninendo DS. I was shocked that she was so keen on it, but she does play her little "game girl" as she has named it. So I told her we could look at one for Christmas. And I said the boys would be sad if she was the only one that had one. She said she is a great "sharer" and would have a good time making sure they all got equal time on the DS. As long as she had it all figured out. She didn't get the DS this year for her birthday but now we know what to get her for Christmas.

Thing 2 loves animals real or stuffed. Ice cream is her favorite desert. She loves playing freeze tag at school. Pancakes are her favorite breakfast. She loves playing soccer in the school yard with all the boys. She has a "stocker boy" in her kinder class named lil D. Yeah that may need to be a whole notha' post.
She loves the little girl group that our community started called "girls for life" cute huh. They get together every week. She hates missing this very official meeting. She loves having friends over for play dates. Loves going to the library and only likes leaving because she can check out the books on the electric scanner. Art is definitely her thing and she still spends oodles of time drawing and having fun making cards and letters for her friends and neighbors.

She can be often found sneaking into our bed at night.

She is not a night owl. 8:30 comes along and she will just ask where she can lie down to go to sleep. She has always been easy about her sleep schedule wish that would transfer over to her brothers :)

The Graham's came over and so did some of the neighborhood crew. She did some opening presents there as well and got new roller blades! Now the only one missing blade action is the Band and the Fish. We will have to wait for family skate pictures I guess.

There be Leprechauns in these parts

Ok Seriously we had so much fun planning all of this and yet we didn't even scratch the surface of what my buddies did. Next year I tell you Next year! And when I went to record the milk I thought I had pushed the button but didn't. Guess it was a wee bit earlier in the am than I had thought.
I couldn't tell who was more excited me or my kiddos.

Knitting is not my favorite.

So I promised my friend some hats for her cutie little boys..... And I thought knitting was a good idea..... I think I'll be sticking to these.

Free cycle you are my hero!

About four years ago we got a dining room table on craigs list, and now it needs some makeover love. I am talking three years of forks, knives, and spoons being etched into it. Not to mention the playdough tools and pencils and pens and fun projects that we all love to do over here.

So I went on to Freecycle and someone had a sander! I am just waiting now for three days of sun in a row :)
It is amazing too when someone actually knows how to refinish furniture. So now for the research while the table waits to be refinished.

The Fish is turning......

Four FOUR how did we get here so fast? I swear I was just getting a handle on him being a baby and now he is a little man.
Who loves:
1. Toy Story Legos
2. School
3. Going Swimming
4. Dancing in the Kitchen to "This is Halloween" from "The Nightmare Before Christmas"
5. Watching Movies
4. Wearing Hats
5. Digging in the Sand
6. Painting
7. Playgrounds
8. His Puppy
9. Riding his bike
10. Seeing Aunt Lindy
11. Popping Balloons
12. Flip Flops
13. Carousel rides

Sick is the winter theme.

Philm

So I have been messing around with the camera lately.... It is fun and I love it.

Crafting is Therapy until it becomes your drug.

This is the kindergarten project we did for the auction comming up on Feb. 5 at the local art center. We started with photo copies of the little plants had each student color them in. Then taking all the left over scrap booking letter supplies we made the lables. Put about three to five coats of Mod podge on them. Sealed them up and glossed them with a nice acrylic sealer* and stuck them all in a pot.

I had so much fun with the kids and seeing them color so carefully was so much fun.

Finding the 25 different plants was the difficult part.

Oh and the sealer mishap.

**sealer mishap: used sealer outside to spray twenty five spoons. Inhaled enough to not be able to read for about 6 hours.

The Band asked me where I was married as a general knowledge question.... yeah took me a good minute to answer. It was like a cloud was hiding all the thinks I knew I knew. I paniced and started to get a raging headache then I yacked. Felt a bit better. The Band aired out the house and took the "dried" project outside. Then I went to sleep it off. Woke up still a little hazy but could read.

Scary.

Moral of the story: USE acrylic Sealer for a longer periods of time, indoors if you would like to erase all memories of your wedding and children's names.

Southern California Trip

Ok we had a blast! The sand the surf and the trip to knott's were so much fun. It was so fun spending time with the family and seeing the Uncles again.

we are still talking all the time about the Log ride and the cousins jumping over the uncles. It is time to look into moving closer to family. I




Fry throwing contest at In and Out was so funny! So glad I got it on video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBqFdDfogL8

The fish

Need I say more? Well ok there are a couple of things that are necessary. This kid is my loop. He wants something and he puts it on loop til he gets it. Over and over and over again until I have to put him in a totally new world of wonderment to help him for get his loop or give in. I usually give in and thus finding the loop effective he continues. He is so my baby of the family. Still three and turning four soon and still has the "ridiculous Binki"

One evening he was looking for said binki and said, "Mom where is my STUPID binki. Well long ago we had declared Stupid a bad word and so he was being emphatic about it.

I asked him not to say stupid to which he replied,"Moahnnmm! Whewah is my Ri-DIC-uh-lous binki?"

He is so fun loving it is so fun going new places with him. He always thanks us for taking him places that are really fun and even for the not so FUN ones. There is always a good ninja move or ski mask to wear around the house. He loves playing dress up and costumes are his favorite.

We see a new movie and he wants the costume of the main character. Last week it was Mega Mind. I think if I just painted his head blue that would do the trick. He has a most enormous noggin. But it is so cute and he is starting to grow into it-unfortunately.

I love his cute little "do you wemember when" stories and he goes on and on about how we went to the farmer's market or someone's house. He frequently remembers going to Adele's house and feeding the parrot. And talks all the time about the Waites.

He just melts my heart when he slips his little hand in mine and says, "Mom, I love holdin' yow hand." Yes I am a sucker for my little Fish. :)