A smile for your day

I thought this video clip was rather funny:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jETv3NURwLc

Weekends

Ah, the joy of a weekend--no school...no weekday appointments...no floor. Yep, the floor ceases to exist on the weekend. I know this happens because I can't see it anymore (not that I saw much of it during the weekdays either). But on the weekend, I've got three tornadoes running around. While I was quizzing my hubby for his upcoming test, Punkie was dumping and scattering everything I had put aside in a box to donate. Red was systematically pulling everything out of Punkie's closet to see if he could find a small toy (no larger than a golf ball--a tomagotchie). Naturally, he and Chief had been banished from the study area since they don't have any notion of what "quiet" and "indoor-voices" are. Unfortunately, they get that from me. Just ask my sisters.
Anyway, if you come to visit me on the weekends, tip-toe carefully when walking inside so you don't hurt yourself.

A good PS2 game?

Stay tuned after this commercial:
I'm not a huge fan of video games, but we've had one Chief got when he was about 5 from his uncle (thanks bro!) that is still pretty awesome for young kids. The Eye-Toy game uses a camara that comes with it to put the kids into the game. Kids love to watch themselves and this game makes them get up and move around. The playroom feature lets the kids just play and jump around while they "pop" balloons, scare fish, are swarmed by bees or spiders, make rainbow sprinkles fall as they move, and many other playrooms. There is also a single or multiple player feature for the games and they can be easy, medium or difficult. The games include boxing, shooting off fireworks, spinning plates, playing soccer, kung fu, window washing, etc. There are also profile features where you can put yourself in the game somehow, but I've never touched that. The camara also makes a great webcam for skyping. All-in-all a really great game buy.

Vegetarians and PETA--don't read!

It's interesting to watch the personalities of your children develop. Even though people are shaped by their environment and experiences, they also have their innate personalities. Take my 5 year old. He's obsessed with the idea of hunting and guns. He's never hunted, nor do we have toy guns at home (even our squirt guns went by the wayside). But he talks incessantly about these things. Tonight he even turned to his dad, whom he admires for his interest in these things, and said, "Why don't you forget Mom and marry me?"
Huh.

Moms

When I prepared my lesson for the primary kids a couple of weeks ago, I came across some cute quotes. My lesson had been on the role of mothers. I had the kids make a poem (the older kids) or draw their mom's face (the younger kids) and attach a cute pre-made poem on the inside of a homemade card. Here are most of the quotes from which I raided:

Mom SayingsCompiled & many originals by shirleyt@craftsayings.com
Collection © 1972 - 2002 by Shirley Thomas @ CraftSayings.com
{Use individually but please do not reprint entire collection or significant portion without copyright notice intact. Thanks and I hope you will enjoy!}

You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool Mom.
I smile because I'm your mother, I laugh because there's nothing you can do about it.

Only a mother can share love with all of her children, yet give each child undivided love.

The next best thing to having you as a mother is knowing that my children will have you as a grandmother.

A mother understands what a child does not say.

All moms are working moms.

Most mothers and daughters bond, but some are crazy glued!

There is no friendship
Nor is there a potion
That is as strong as
A mother's love & devotion!

Shhh! Mom is in time out!

A mother holds a special part of all that is treasured in the heart.

Motherhood is not for wimps.

Whether rich or poor,
Kids in and out the door,
Babies crawling on the floor,
A mother couldn't ask for more.

Cordless mom... recharge with hugs!

A father's love calms fears. A mother's love dries tears.

There are three ways to get something done. 1) Hire someone to do it. 2) Do it yourself. 3) Forbid the kids to do it.

A rich child often sits in a poor mother’s lap. – Danish Proverb

If at first you don't succeed, do it like your mother told you.

A real mom knows where to hunt for her missing kitchen utensils... in the sandbox.

Nothing can bring a smile to a mother's face like those three little words, "Time for bed".

If I had no kids what would I do for aggravation?

One thing moms and cats have in common. . . spit baths!

All the words in the world can't say what a hug from Mom can.

Mom loves hugs and kisses and help with the dishes!

Mom stands for "Manager Of Messes".

M agnificent
O ustanding
M arvelous

Great birthday celebration

My birthday was on Friday--naturally I've been celebrating all week long. Unfortunately, I only took pictures of Thursday night's bowling and pizza party, which means I forgot to take pics of a new yellow lab puppy my SIL picked up this weekend and all the festivites over at my PILs house. Here's a couple of pics I did take:

Here are a couple of more pics of Punkie. The other day she had gotten applesauce on her pants, so she stripped down (she's getting pretty good at that--which is why she's wearing a onesie right now). I told her to go get clothes from her dresser (since I was busy working). She reappeared a couple of minutes later with a washcloth and swimsuit (I still help her dress). Then she added a hat:

And one pic of her in her cheerleading dress (which somewhat scares me--especially with her pose):

Post 74

A couple of updates are in order. Chief lost another bottom tooth just after I posted the pic of him with two teeth missing, so he has had three missing for awhile. Here is a pic of him in his cub uniform. He is so excited to be a cub! But I'm not sure who is happier: Chief or his dad.

Here is a pic of Red making a barn. I put this in because it documents that one of my kids has actually constructed something rather than sticking to the usual demolition of toys.

Here is a video of Punkie dancing to some music. I had to choose between three very cute and fun videos. The last part of this one makes me laugh, so it won the coveted spot on my blog.

*Note: No toddlers were hurt during the making of this video.

Caution: Background consists of offensive images (dirty house). View at your own risk! {Hey, I was busy watching my daughter dance!}

Who am I?

A recent suggestion by a family member opened up a whole new "can" of questions. I've always said I didn't know what I wanted to "do" when I "grew up," meaning as an occupation--beyond the fact that I love being a stay-at-home mom to my young kids. The suggestion was that for a birthday gift I take the GRE test (which I was recently studying for with my hubby). Frankly I'm a nerd and would love to have an excuse to study the material--but that doesn't mean I have the time, I'd have to make the time--and it doesn't mean I'd do well at all. I may be a nerd, just not a very high scoring one (shucks). So my hubby and I were researching different occupations and the graduate schools for them with my personality in mind. What can an impatient person quickly get a masters for? Keep in mind I don't like dealing with people's emotional or legal battles, I don't like confrontation, am socially somewhat awkward, and I've never deeply engrossed myself in any one thing. I'm like a jack-of-all-trades/master-of-nothing kinda person. I like reading, animals (but not comfortable enough to work as a vet/tech), teaching, research (I have done some Ecology research and loved it--but am afraid I don't have as much knowledge as I'd like to progress far into the field), and a variety of other things. I still don't know though. Any suggestions?