Thanks Nessie!!

OK, so my kids are pretty adventurous when it comes to trying new foods and all... IF they don't know what it is they are eating! The standard answer to the nightly question (asked 4 times over) of "what's for dinner?" had been "Food", but every once in a while I would have the wild urge to lie, uh... I mean tease, my kids. Short ribs became "lizard legs", fish became "sea monster", etc. etc. Well, last night was Sea Monster Night. Thanks to using Nessie's name, my kids ate EVERYTHING. I have to say, it's the one time I have been grateful that Bryan had to work late and missed dinner with us because there wouldn't have been enough!!! I made 7 (yes s-e-v-e-n, that's not a typo!) large tilapia fillets. When I say large, I mean large! They were about 5-6 inches long, about 4 inches across!! Kaylee ate 2 whole fillets, Ethan ate 2, Jaden tried a bite of mine and didn't like it so he filled up on cucumbers and rice pilaf, I got 2 bites of mine before giving it up to Ethan, and Jacob was king- he ate 3 whole fillets! I heard "I don't like fish, but I love sea monster!!" eight times. And yes, I was counting!

Who Knew??!

Who knew that they make size 2T BOXERS!! Yep! Don't ask me what for, but I am grateful! I think we got the pooping in our underwear uh... licked! Jaden has been potty trained for number one for a couple of months now, but we were having such a hard time getting him to use the potty for number two. It STILL makes no sense to me. After all, it seems to me that going number 2 is a... more active process let's say. I accidentally discovered that if he went without undies of any kind (after I had had my fill of washing out undies one day, I said, "commando it is buddy!!") that he won't poop in his pants! The only thing I can think of is that the undies are tight/close fitting on the legs and he associates them with wearing a diaper... Anyway, the good news? We are on day three of the boxers and we have used the toilet EVERY SINGLE TIME! YES! Hopefully I am not jinxing the whole thing by writing about it, but I am totally stoked!! Now it would be a total bonus if I could find cheaper boxers then 2 pair for $5!

More for the Money!!

Well, it looks like we are getting more than a tax return on April 15th!!

Do You Think She's Old Enough to Run For Office Yet?

OK, Kaylee came home from school today with her last weeks worth of work. Her teacher sends it all home at once, stapled together with a note that includes the number of D or F papers that need to be signed and returned... Not the case here thank goodness! All her papers were A's but one and it was a 90% (an A is defined as a 94% and up!!). Anyway, in her stack of papers there is a reading test. Those of you who know Kaylee, know that this is her strong suit. I mean, come on! The 10 year old is reading Eragon, a 497 page book by an author that has quite the vocabulary himself! Anyway, the reading assignment for her class was a book on Rosa Parks. The last two questions on the test are short answer questions. Number 19 reads: "Why is Mrs. Parks proud to be an American?" Kaylee's answer? " Mrs. Parks is proud to be an American because slavery has been abolished, child labor laws have been established as the law of the land, women have the right to vote and have taken their places in politics, the arts, sciences, and business."

Whoa.

The last question reads: "What does Mrs. Parks think is the duty of every American?"

Kaylee's answer: "Mrs. Parks thinks the duty of every American is to show the world that we are able to correct our mistakes- including homelessness, poor race relations, and violence- and move forward to a better society."

Her teacher summed up what I was thinking, by saying "Excellent answers. The BEST!"

Her Grandma, upon hearing Kaylee's answers said "Sooooo.... is Kaylee old enough to run for office yet?"

Do you think she deserved the A100 that she got? :)

Ummm...

Jaden just walked up to me and informed me, "I'm poopy... too bad!" and then turned around and walked away. *sigh*

And You're OUT!!

This morning Jaden made me just crack up! He is pretty well potty trained, but if you don't take off his "night-time diaper" right away, then he'll just use it instead of going to all the trouble to use the potty. This morning I didn't get to him fast enough to change him into underwear and so he was poopy. I took the diaper off and cleaned him all up. Now, the thing with Jaden and diapers is that he really and truly believes that they are HIS. When I change him, he HAS to be the one to carry the diaper to throw away. Most of the time that is just great, but stinky ones.... well, they go straight out to the outside trash and he has a hard time getting the back door open. I tried to get him to let me take it out this morning, but he INSISTED. So I told him, "Jaden that one is soooo stinky that it needs to go out to the blue garbage can outside." He looks at me and says "-i*click* own?" (Jadenese translation: "The big one?") "Yes," I said, "the big one out in the back yard." Jaden said, ""o-tay!" and headed out of the room. As he goes around the corner to head downstairs I hear, "tin*click*y i-a-per, oow ouda ear!!" (translation: "Stinky Diaper, you're outta here!!"

Obsession

Alright. Today it's all about Jaden. Jaden L-O-V-E-S anything to do with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. He is obsessed. He got a little stuffed Donald for his birthday... he had a Toodles cake... he got a mickey mouse look and find book... he carries Donald everywhere... he sleeps with him every night... he FREAKS out if someone else picks Donald up... you get the picture! Mickey and Donald rock his world! OK, so last night we took the kids out for a celebratory Chinese dinner (everyones' favorite) 'cause we survived the first week of school! Yeah! Anyway, the Chinese place we like is in Midlothian, about a 25 minute drive away. We are headed up there and as expected, Jaden fell asleep in the car. We did not want him to fall asleep in the car! He is horrendous when he wakes up! I wanted him to eat before he fell asleep. Since I was driving, Bryan kinda turned in his seat and tried to wake him. He called his name, moved his head side to side, rubbed his chest... nothing, not even an eyelid flicker. So Bryan breaks out the Donald Duck voice (he actually can do a really good imitation of Donald!!). Jaden's eyes fly wide open, he sits straight up and yells at the top of his lungs, "DONALD DUCK!!!" and then his head falls to the side again and his eyes close right back up and by the next breath he was snoring again. Bryan and I were laughing so hard that I am sure we were a driving hazard!