Is Independence a Good Thing?!

For those of you who visit my blog, these are repeats...sorry! Anyway, here you go.
Neleah has become increasingly independent over the last little while. She insists on picking out her own outfit, brushing her teeth, washing her hands, etc. all by herself. This is normally a good thing. Recently she found the drawer where I've put all the bottles. She hasn't had a bottle since she was 1 but she likes to play with them. Mason and Neleah will line them up then knock them all down, it makes a lot of noise, maybe that's what's so 'fun' about the bottles. On occasion she'll ask for some water in one, and she's usually ok when I tell her no. Yesterday she and Mason had been playing with the bottles and she asked me for some juice. I told her no, so she went to daddy, who also told her no. I went back to trying to decorate our place and 10 minutes or so passed. I went back into the kitchen and asked Donney where she was. He hadn't noticed she'd left the room. I called for her and she came around the corner with a big smile on her face and her bottle was half full of water. Donney and I chuckled, little miss had climbed into the tub, turned the water on and got herself what she wanted. I took her wet hands and walked her back into the front room. She looked up at me with her big smile "Juice Mom!", took a drink of her water then said, "Uck Mom" and laughed. "You're so silly." I said to her. She did it again. Still completely convinced she had been in the tub, I decided I better go make sure she turned the water all the way off. When I walked in, this is what I saw...

I don't know if you can tell in the picture, but there is a nice trail of water that leads right to the TOILET! "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH Neleah!!" I ran to her and took her 'juice' from her. I too began to tell her "Uck Neleah, that is so yucky!" She did the same thing she'd been doing, "Uck mom!" and then just laughed. So you're wondering where she picked up this "Uck" sound. Well as part of her new independence, she's also been using the toilet as her sink to wash her hands! I've been telling her over and over "Yucky! No No No!" She always says "Uck" and looks at me as though she's convinced the toilet is a nasty place to put our hands. However, it's clearly not what she's thinking. It's time to potty train, maybe she'll understand that's what toilet's are used for. Just as a side note, I had just cleaned the toilet on Saturday and it was flushed! LOL
Here she is in a pull-up she put on all by herself. Yes she undresses herself too!


First of all, let me say my son has amazing upper body strength. He can pull himself up onto just about anything and he doesn't need any sort of step to get him there. With that being said keep in mind our microwave is above our stove and he's used it often, but with supervision. Anyway, when your sweet 3 year olds are laughing and saying "Shew fire", it's a good indication something may not be right. I walked into the kitchen to a nasty smell and a smoke filled room. The microwave was on and had been for 3-4 minutes. (See the video below) Mason tells me he was cooking breakfast for me. :) 0Before I picked ALL the crispy pancakes off I grabbed the camera. Needless to say, I've learned how to put the child lock on.


I'm sitting here posting this with Ma on my lap anxiously awaiting "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse." She thinks I'm "tricking" her because I keep going from my blog to this one and not to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She just said, "AAHH man mom this is an abomination!!!" (Too much Lilo and Stitch!)

Don't you wish you could really lock them up sometimes? : )

OK, this is Kiley and Cayson zipped up in our butterfly net. (We were crazy last year and raised Monarch butterflies...this is what the butterflies lived in.) Today Matt got out the net to use for something else. I walked into our front room and they had climbed in and zipped themselves up in it. The only problem was that they couldn't get themselves out of it. I was tempted to leave them in there! JUST KIDDIN!! They were actually having a blast in it and really wanted to stay in it and play, but something about this didn't seem right, so I unzipped it and let them out after a litte bit! Can I say that it was nice while it lasted without sounding like a bad mom!? : )

My addition to Kristen's post...

I was going through my pictures and found this picture of Luke and wanted to add it to Kristen post about Max sleeping in funny places. I guess he had a rough day at Grandma's house and fell asleep in her living room. I would have at least found a couch. :)

I have something that is very funny to share. My son Paiden is now eight years old and would die if he knew that I was sharing this story. When he was about three years old and we were getting ready for bed. We had just gotten him in the bath tub and he was cleaning him self off when he made a new discovery. I was sitting beside the bath tub when all the sudden in a very excited voice he says,"mom guess what, I have a ball." I started laughing of course. then he says, "holy crap mom I have two." I thought I was going to die. I have never seen him so proud of him self. Of course at that age they are in love with any kind of ball. Well he was definently pleased with him self that day. Children are great fun, and add lots to our lives. It would be so boring with out them in our lives. I hope you get a good laugh out of that one.

Things I never thought I would say

I think every Mom stops at least once a day and thinks, "I can't believe I just said that!" Usually the words would never be placed together in a sentence. Well lately I have been laughing about all of these. Here are a few of my favorites:

• The sword does not go in the toilet
• Pooh is not funny
• Why are you licking my leg
• Glue is not chap stick
• Boys don't wear panties, they wear underwear
• Girls can't be princes, or Darth Vader
  

Well there are the ones I can think of at the moment. You notice most of these come when kids are doing something "creative". :) Post things you have said and have a good laugh at yourself. Laughter is the best medicine after all.

The Things we go through for our Kiddos!

Recently I was reading Mandy's blog and it brought back a memory that I just have to share with you. I will begin by saying that at the time this happened I did not find it funny at all, but as time goes on I have to admit, it's pretty funny.

When D.J. was in Kindergarten he rode the bus to school. In the middle of the year the school decided to change the bus schedule. The change put him at school 30 minutes early and the whole bus route was different. Being the loving mother that I am, or paranoid, I decided to follow the bus to school so I could see what the new route was.

I guess I made the bus driver nervous so she asked all the kids to look at the car behind them and asked if it was any one's Mom. Of course my little D.J. said, "No, it's not mine." So she called the police. I was pulled over and the police officer would not believe me that my kid was on the bus. He said the driver asked ALL the kids and everyone said, "no." I was so mad. Honestly, why would I be following a bus, in my pajamas, no bra, hair not done, no shoes, with my screaming baby in the back seat, if my kid wasn't on the bus. Finally, after what seemed like forever he let me go, but not without telling me that the city police have my license plate number and if I get caught following a bus again I would have big problems. I immediately called Trevor to get some sympathy but he was laughing so hard I hung up on him. Later that day when D.J. got home he told me all about the bad lady that was following them to school but told me not to worry because the police came and took her to jail. I didn't have the nerve to tell him it was me. I just said, "oh, good thing!" To this day he doesn't know it was me.

To top it all off, that night was a ward party and guess what the talk of the neighborhood was? Yep, the BAD person following the bus to school! Trevor kept looking at me laughing. I gave him the evil eye, you know the one that says 'if you say anything you will die'!

Like I said, not funny at the time, pretty funny now!

The things we go through for our kids!

So here's the lesson for the day... don't follow your kids bus to school or make sure your kids know what your car looks like!

Does it matter if the colors mix?

I made Isaac a batch of play dough today. I split the batch into four sections so I could make different colors. After kneading in each of the colors (which took almost twenty minutes) Isaac went to work mixing all the colors together. At first I told him no, but I soon realized that I made it for him and he could do whatever made him happy. It worked out in the end...it occupied him for like fifteen minutes or so. Isn't that always how it goes. :)

I couldn't take a picture fast enough...He had already started mixing.Hey, at least he's happy.

Here is his creation. Maybe it's just me but mixing colors is a big "no no."

This is Maxwell sleeping on the couch. He is quite a funny little boy. He falls asleep in the funniest places.

Check him out!

Yep, I let D.J. wear a belt around his head like a headband all day!
He wanted to so bad and I just thought, "it's not worth the battle."

I know that your kids have come up with some funny outfits, post

your favorite picture so we can all have a good laugh at our kids

expense. :)

OK...I'LL BE THE FIRST...HERE'S MY STORY!

Oh my sweet boy Cayson! He is trouble....today I walked into the bathroom and found his toothpaste tube sitting on the counter. This isn't unusual, what was unusual was the large amount of toothpaste in the toilet next to the counter and the wet toothbrush on the floor. I walked into the other room and asked him what had happened. He got a huge smile on his face and said, "Mom, I brushed my teeth! I can do it by myself!" GROSS! Luckily the toilets were clean and luckily I have a new toothbrush for him. Let's just say I did a really good toothbrush session on him after that. How do their little minds come up with this stuff?

Welcome!

I am so excited to finally get this blog up and running...
Feel free to post as often as you would like. Also check back often to see all the adventures everyone else is having at their homes! Hopefully this blog will become a place where we can all have a good laugh once in a while and remind us that we are not alone in this crazy thing called....Motherhood!