Who Does Number Two Work For?

Okay, so something strange is happening in my upstairs bathroom. Pardon me for being so blunt, but there has been poop "mysteriously" appearing in the toilet. "How does that happen?" you may ask. If you've never been in my house, the kids' bedrooms and bathroom are upstairs and our master is on the main floor. Bryan and I never use the upstairs bathroom, but in the past few weeks, we have discovered "mystery poop" in the upstairs toilet, which noone in my house will take responsibility for. Jena swears she flushes and Brayden insists he doesn't use that bathroom (unless he did it when he was sleepwalking, which is his excuse for lots of things since he has been known to pee in strange places while sleepwalking). So unless Izzy has magically potty-trained herself and is holding out on us or the cats have learned how to use the toilet, we have a mysterious visitor who likes to occasionally leave a present in our toilet. As I think about this situation and try to solve the case of the mystery pooper, I'm reminded of the bathroom scene from Austin Powers with Tom Arnold and Mike Myers . . . "WHO DOES NUMBER TWO WORK FOR?" Apparently in our house, number two doesn't work for anyone.

My Bubble is Burst by an 8 Year Old

As I was cleaning out some of the kids papers from school the other day, I came across this. It was a card Brayden made at school right before the holidays. What appeared to be a very inappropriate drawing for an 8 year old, was actually a menorah. (What IS it with boys and their phalic drawings?) He was learning about different winter holidays at school and had made a Hannukah card. When I read the letter inside, I was amazed by his choice of words. I don't know if you can tell, but the last line says "You have light shining in your heart". (Well, actually it says "You have light shinning in your heart", but what's one extra 'n'?) How touching! Two thoughts were running through my mind as I read that - A. My son MUST be a gifted writer and B. I must be one heck of a mom for him to say that about me.

I was so touched, I gave him a huge hug and thanked him for writing me such a nice letter. When I asked him what made him think to write that, his reply was "We had to use the word 'light' in our card".

Oh, the love of markers!

I thought Kate Gosselin was mean for not allowing her children to have markers. Even her oldest two kids who were like 7 or 8 at the time weren't allowed to have them in the house . . . geez! I know they're messy and easier to stain than crayons, but there's just something about coloring with marker that feels so darn good.

I've never been one to stifle my children's creativity. For being as OCD as I am when it comes to other things, I've always let them have markers, Playdough, watercolor, paints, Moon Sand - you name it. That's part of being a kid!

That was before my dear third child was old enough to discover markers. I don't know exactly how or when it happened. I'm sure it was one day when I was watching soap operas and eating bon-bons. (What are bon-bons, anyway?) Since then, it's been a constant source of amusement in our home. Yes, I said amusement. I think it's funny when Izzy colors herself with marker from head to toe. Hey, sometimes you've gotta laugh, or you'll cry.

To help tame her marker obsession, I bought her some of those Crayola Color Wonder Markers for Christmas. The kind that only writes on special paper. She hated them. As soon as she realized she couldn't color on herself, she got pissed and that was the end of that.

So last night as I'm cleaning up from dinner and the kids were playing in the basement, I hear Brayden yell, "Mom, you better come see Izzy!". That's never a good sign. Expecting her to have gotten into something, most likely a marker, I wasn't too concerned. It doesn't take a whole lot to faze me these days. Then I see this . . .

If you look closely, you'll see that she even colored her teeth. After Bryan gave her a bath and a good scrubbing, her face is still stained blue. While he was attempting to wash the marker off, I gave Brayden and Jena each a gallon sized ziplog bag and had them search the entire house from top to bottom and collect any marker they came across. When they were finished, I put the bags of markers on a top shelf in a cabinet where I knew they would be safe. And do you know, after getting her bath and clean pj's on, that little stinker, STILL managed to find one in a drawer the kids forgot to check.

Confessions of a Blogging Slacker

If you're one of those people who read my blog when I first started it and then gave me a hard time for not keeping up with it, well I've got news for you . . . I'm Baaaaaaaack! It's only been a year and half. Geez, has it REALLY been a year and a half? Wow, time really does fly when you're working full time and raising three children and a husband!

So, yes, I confess I have been a blogging slacker. I have several friends who have wonderful blogs that they update weekly, even daily, and it just reminds me of what a slacker I am. Not only am I a blogging slacker, I'm also a Facebook slacker. I love Facebook. I love blogging. But I also love my children and husband (most of the time) and the daily chaos that exists within my home doesn't leave much time for anything else. By the time I DO have a chance to sit down and blog, it's 10 pm and all I want to do is pass out on the couch.

I am going to TRY to keep my blog updated more often, but don't hold me to it! Here's some cute pictures of my kids who are alot older now than the information in my profile. Maybe I'll get around to changing that one of these days . . .

Wish I could write more today, but I've gotta get to Wal-Mart before the Easter Bunny visits!