Who needs vaccinations?

I sent my two year old and the child I babysit out to the backyard to play... within minutes, I hear them spewing and sputtering. 

This can only mean one thing:

Water.

But not just any water.

Water that's been sitting on top of a plastic container for two days.

Outside.

They're sticking their tiny faces in it and drinking it.  Occasionally, they spit it out. 

*sigh*

And I'm having another one....

How to train your toddler

For a few months, now, Quin's been telling me when he's "pooping" (that's his term for both forms of potty, at the moment), and we've been talking about where we go potty and have sat him on the toilet a time or two to see how he fares. 

We decided it was time to buy a potty seat to start getting a little more serious about this endeavor (it'd be nice to have only one tiny person to buy diapers for, come January, you know?).  I'm not pushing it, just introducing it.  If he's not ready by January, no biggie, but we're going to start, nonetheless.

I wanted him to try it out and "bond" with it, if you will. 

And he did. 

This is gonna be a piece of cake.  ;)

World Record Worthy

Natalie:  "Quick! Take a picture! Take a picture! This could go in the Guinness Book of World Records!"

The record:  Longest standing poker chip tower with a two year old in the 2 ft. radius.

Bad Parenting

To get this, you have to read this first.

WHAT? and all its glory

My two year old has taken to responding to a lot of what I say with the most annoying response, "What?", as if he didn't hear me. 

I tested him the other night by whispering a question to him after a series of repeating myself and a bunch of "what?" follow-ups...

He answered the question just fine.  I'm thinking it's not his hearing but a newly discovered way to prolong a conversation or simply just use a new word. 

Whatever it is... it's driving me nuts!

hee hee

Ah, to be a kid again!

Overheard from the backyard:

"Natalie! Stay away from my kids!"

"You're a horrible babysitter!"

"Stop! Don't let them fall off the edge or you're going to have to give me some of your kids!"

"Could you make me a child?"  "What color?"

Kids = water balloons

Spiritual Education in all its Glory

During Sunday lunch, we talk about what we learned in church that day.  My kids' replies were blog-worthy, to say the least.

When we asked Natalie what she talked about, she said, "Figi, Mexico and somewhere that starts with an "m" where they wear wooden shoes."

???

OOOkaaaay... geography in church.  Always a good thing.

After some digging, we decided Holland (the Netherlands) was the "m" place she was trying to refer to... and that the point of the lesson was no matter who's praying or where they pray from, Heavenly Father hears our prayers.  It's funny what they take from the lessons given. 

When we asked Quin what he talked about, he shouted, sort of all stuttery, like he couldn't get it out fast enough, "SEX!" ---------   At least, that's what it sounded like...  I'M the nursery leader and I assure you, that is not what we talked about.

Then he went on to describe the gummy bears and chocolate animal cookies he had for SNACKS.  Guess he got a little excited about what he "talked" about.... silly boy.

When Matt was talking about what he learned (where we go when we die), he asked, "What happens to us after we die?" The answer he was going for was not what Andur had in mind:

"We start to rot and decompose!"

And this, folks, is why we talk about what we learned in church.

Capturing a moment

Three kids.

Three popsicles.

Not enough days left in the summer.

My daughter is wearing a newly purchased, very thick and fuzzy, warmwarmwarm jacket.  I think that's her way of stickin' it to the man.  The man being the 90 degree weather we had, yesterday, when I took this.  That's my girl.  ;)

Redefining pregnancy

Parasite:  Noun /ˈparəˌsīt/ 1. An organism that lives in or on another organism (its host) and benefits by deriving nutrients at the host's expense.


I just thought that was funny.

"Mommy, yook! A big rock!"

For being campers, we haven't done any camping this summer.  So, Saturday, we decided to pack it up and go to Devil's Tower for the night.  It was awesome!

The "big rock", as Quin was calling it (taken the morning of our trip):

Walking down a path we found by our camp, we found a cool amphitheatre next to Prairie Dog Town - here they're investigating the holes:

From there, we found another path... that took us to some sculpture thingy:

I know this is hard to see, as I took it at night, but if you look closely, there's an iiiittty bitty light, sort of on the left of center - that'd be a crazy "big rock" night climber at the top of the "tower":

Starting on the short, easy trail around the ginormous landmark:

Of course, we had to walk on the paw prints we saw around the trail:

In search of the perfect walking sticks:

We had to keep telling Natalie, if you can't lift it with one hand, it's TOO BIG: 

Even Quin had one: 

Quin loved smelling the trees - they smell like vanilla! I swear some even smelled like Red Vines... mmmmm:

A mama and baby deer walked right across the path not too far in front of us.  Quin kept inching closer and the mom would not move - she had this I-dare-you-to-step-closer look in her eye.  Matt finally swooped him up and we went on our merry way:

It was fun! I hope it's not our last camping trip of the year, as the best camping weather is yet to come (as well as off-season prices)!   :)  Good times were had by all.

Pac-Man and Clyde

This month, we picked "sewing" out of our monthly family learning jar.  So, I had Andur and Natalie draw up their own patterns for something they wanted to make, then we cut them out, traced them on material, cut that out, worked up the details, they did some stuffing and sewing and here's the results:

Pac-Man and Clyde.  The picture's goofy because they were being silly and it was all I could do to even get them to both face me at the same time for a quick picture.

We're hoping to create a family quilted wall-hanging, so hopefully we can get on that, soon.

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate: Almost as controversial as abortion or religion

Do you vaccinate your kids?

I'm an avid vaccinator and flu shot getter, myself.  Although, when it came to a new one to be given to young babies (can't remember what it's called, now), red flags flew up in my mind and I passed on it.  Never regretted, it either.

I still believe one should be proactive in their childrens' protection against the odds... and I came across this article that I thought was well-put, simple, and just plain common sense. 

I think what it comes down to is what feels right for you and your family.  I do, however, in general, think being vaccinated is a smart thing to do.

What do you think?

Silly boy

Quin was playing with the LIFE game cars, so I decided to review his colors:

Holding up the red, "What color is this?"

"Red!"

Holding up the blue, "What color is this?"

"Blue!"

And so on with yellow, green and orange.

Then to white:

"What color is this?"

(whispers) "Ice cream!"

He knows white, I just thought this was funny.

Moments like this...

I'm starting to approach the part of summer that has me seriously considering military school... but then... 

then.....

a rare moment such as this, occurs:

... and it's almost enough to get me through the moment she came storming in grumpy because he was putting cat pooh-smelling dirt in her bucket.

Almost.