Last-Minute Save

One of the upstairs toilets flooded tonight. Not just a little overflow either. Thankfully, I caught it before it made it to the one-year-old-next-week hardwood floors in the hallway.  But not before it leaked down through the kitchen ceiling and down the kitchen walls.  Lovely!  I now have a new stain on my ceiling.  I am so, so, so, so, SO thankful that it doesn't seem to have damaged any of the ceilings I've already scraped.  I'm pretty sure I would have had to take to my bed for a few days if that'd happened :)

J was fortunate to be out of the house during all of this craziness...Lucky Duck! :)

I would say this would be a pretty cruddy day...but we ended on a sweet note as C prayed:

"Dear Lord, thank you for Mommy because if she wasn't here we would be in a hot mess."

Totally unsolicited and perfectly timed encouragement from my little Daddy's Boy :)

Old Habits Die Hard

Or so they say...but I guess when you are an independent, strong willed kiddo, and you decide you want to stop sucking your fingers (that you've been sucking since you were 2 months old), then those old habits are HISTORY! :)

A week ago, G told me that she was going to stop sucking her fingers. And stop she did!  No bribing or threatening necessary!  

As far as I'm concerned, this is really amazing!  She sucked her fingers A LOT...when she was upset, tired, bored, at home, at school, in public restrooms (YUCK!)...you name it.  

I'm really proud of her.  She's a determined, persistent little girl!  

She still sucks them at night.  Which I think is totally understandable.  But it bugs her.  Every morning she wakes up and "confesses"  her finger-sucking :)  I tell her not to worry about it.  That it will come.

My baby really is growing up!

4 Months Old:

18 Months:

2 Years:

I guess past this point, we started asking her to take her fingers out of her mouth before we took the picture :)

WHO THROWS A SHOE!?!?

Well...apparently my son does...into a basketball goal on his way from the bathroom back to the classroom.

So, I ask the boy why he chose to do such a thing.

His response..."because they [the shoes] were loose."

As if that is a perfectly reasonable solution to loose shoes!

And "they" say women are hard to understand!?!

[And yes, this was definitely one of those "fighting to keep as straight face while you lecture on self-control and good judgment" times :]

Never a dull moment...

Make-Up Day or MAKEUP Day?

Gracie went back to school today, but had to leave early because she wasn't feeling well. As we were leaving, the Director mentioned that since they'd canceled school on Friday due to the ice, they are holding a make up day tomorrow.

Gracie: Mommy, can I go to Makeup Day tomorrow at school?

Me: No, I think you'd better stay home and rest up. You'll probably be ready to go back on Wednesday.

Gracie: OH MAAAAAAN! I LOVE MAKEUP!

[Mommy's light bulb comes on]

Me: Ohhhhh...no honey. A make up day isn't a day where you get to wear makeup to school. It is an extra day that you go to school because you missed another day before that.

Gracie: Oh. Ok. Well, Wednesday is Cowgirl Day....

Few Funny Things

That happened over the last week or so...

#1 - G got in trouble at school on Monday.  Apparently, she hijacked a little boys coloring sheet and started coloring it FOR him because he wasn't coloring it to her satisfaction. She maintains she was "helping" him.  What a little control freak...no idea where she gets THAT from! :)

Yes, we had a talk when she got home...but it was definitely one of those times I had to hold back the smile.

#2 - C is supposed to be memorizing the 10 commandments for school over the next two weeks.  He was given the option of memorizing a 10 commandments song and singing it for his teacher OR a list of the 10 Commandments and saying it for his teacher.  Monday, he said he wanted to sing the song.  Tuesday, he came home and said he'd changed his mind.  (I assumed this was because he didn't want to sing for his teacher...I was wrong :)   When I asked him why he changed his mind, he said "The song has more words.  The list has less words.  I'd rather do the list." Mr. Pragmatic. :)

#3 - Last week I found a copy of a R*bert F*rber July Flower print at Goodwill.  I was pretty excited because I'd seen them before and really like the vintage look.  It was $5.00 and snatched it up.  I showed it to J and he was so-so on it...said it looked old :)  But he agreed to hang it in our bedroom for me this weekend.  After he put two (one hole was too low for my liking...he's very patient with me) holes in our still freshly painted walls, I hung the picture up.  Here is the conversation that transpired:

Me:  [as I was hanging the picture] See,  isn't that pretty...Huh...J, what is that in the vase at the bottom of the picture.  Is that a drawing of naked men?  What are they doing???

J:  That's...HO NOW!  That's three dudes...SKETCHY!

Me:  [Taking the picture down and putting in the To Donate pile] I'll go steal another picture from somewhere else in the house to cover up those holes in the wall.

(I hadn't noticed previously but sort of hidden in the vase was a "bonus" picture...kinda looked like the style of Leonardo Da Vinci's David...not sure what that style is called)

Dads' Doughnut Day

Yesterday was Dads' Doughnut Day at C's school.

A few weeks back, each 1st Grader invited his/her dad to school for the morning and then worked to earn $3.00 to "treat" Dad to a doughnut and coffee.  Their teachers helped them write essays about Dad that they shared with the class and the dads. 

Here's C's...it might be my favorite of all his creations :)

The trip that he's referring to is one that we took over FOUR YEARS AGO! 

Not long after G was born J and I decided we wanted to do a little something special for C.  J took the day off and we went to a really neat county park about an hour from the house.  

It was a fun day! :)

Leaves Through The Years

One of the reasons we bought this house is because the yard is FULL of mature trees like this one...

Sooo it stands to reason that we spend a fair amount of time every year tending to leaves...lots and LOTS of leaves :)  Thankfully, it isn't all toil and drudgery.  C and G make it fun for all four of us :)

As I was looking at these pictures that J took on Saturday, I was reminded of  other pictures we'd over the years of this same Leaf-Raking Event :)

Some years were decidedly less joy filled (C at 10 months old)...

His grumpy disposition toward leaves didn't stick though (C at 20 months old)

Some were REALLY sweet :) (C at 32 months and G at 7 months)

Unfortunately, we don't have pictures to represent every year...it was still a fun little trip down memory lane none-the-less :)  These old pictures make me a little sentimental.  But then I remember one VERY important detail and am brought right back to an appreciation for today...the older they get the more they can actually HELP us with all these BLASTED leaves :)