What a Weekend..

This weekend was wicked. Both kids have been puny. The animals have been wacky. It's the first day of Autumn.

Morely:

Monroe is *probably* in heat and we've had to separate her and her Adams which is turning out to be a very loud (ie they are barking in their sadness) endeavor. We do NOT want puppies right now - we are aiming for spring - so a necessary task.We've had to completely rearrange ALL the birds. They are currently all in the front chicken yard now, Adams is in the water fowl yard with Lambie, and Monroe is in the dog yard (since the inside dogs are both fixed). It's not ideal, but doable for the couple of weeks to make sure we don't have more babies right now.

We discovered about 5-6 ingrown pieces of rock/gravel/dirt/goo in The Boy's belly button that I had to physically remove with tweezers and actually DIG, dig out. It was NASTY. Only to find out he had *never* ever washed his belly button. Ewwwwww. Actually ingrown into the skin folds inside his belly button. I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to dig them all out. What an embarrassing thing to go to the doctor for! We had a lesson on how to bathe as well.

I got some fascinating news via Facebook that made me feel really fantastic about myself and my life choices as a person. I do enjoy watching other people's train wreck life choices to realize I am no longer required to be part of them. Ahh schadenfreude..

Both kids have been running a low grade fever for about 4 days now. I'm fairly sure it's just a long virus since my mom had the exact same darned thing and decided it was "an allergic reaction to the flu shot", but it's still no fun since they're super grouchy.

I managed to finally get some pictures taken of the kids.

I've been behind this year on pictures and they were both good sports about posing for me.

Think Outside the Box.. Or.. Eating Witches.

You know you spend too much time around little kids when there is no  : BOX:  when you think of ideas. I was babysitting for a close friend the other night and the girls were talking about Saint Patricks Day and Leprechauns (all mythical creatures get a capitol in my grammar book, BTW). They had made a catcher for their naughty Leprechaun and came THIIIIIIISSS close to catching it.  As the conversation progressed, I realized I was going to have to explain to their parents that I *might* have given the kids new ideas for Leprechaun catchers. I did not come up with the originals, just improvements.. A nice floss trip wire with a laundry basket drop never hurt anything..

The younger of the 2 girls, as I was leaving their room from tucking them in, asks what I'm going to do with the Witches - should they show up. Having been horrified for a little while of the witch in The Wizard of Oz I went with a suitable age appropriate answer.  " I'm feeling a little bit snacky, I'm gonna catch the, and eat 'em." I had to explain how I would catch flying Witches (by the ankle of course), cook (roasted by the fire), and serve them (with a smidgen of cinnamon and sugar), but the wee girl was no long worried the witches were going to get her. I also told her that the flashlight the older girl has was a Witch Deflector Shield. Surely, not a flashlight so the older girl could read that book I just handed her.  I must admit I do love those two little girls almost as much as my own two, they're such great kids. 


I guess it sounds like I'm spinning a ton of tall tales for someone else's kids. And I am, in a way. But they're little kids. They're hearing the horrible news in Boston, Texas, and everywhere else and still having to deal with bullies, and horrible bad things. If I can make the Witches and Leprechauns go away while their parents are away for a much needed night out by a Witch night light and a tale of me eating them? Heck yeah! I do it for mine kids daily. I'll chase monsters away like this for as long as I can, because before too long - they won't go. They'll creep in and hide in the shadows and then stay and be real. They have psychologist, specialists, psychiatrists and every other specialist out there telling us how to help our kids. This is how I help mine. I chase the monsters that are HERE away. I can't do anything about Boston. My 6 and 8 year old just needs to know that bad people have and will do bad things and we will keep them safe with every thing there is. But worrying about it won't fix it. So, put up your Witch light and your Leprechaun catchers because it'll be ok.

Schmogasborg of Hash

I've been lazy about a number of things lately. I could claim "busy", but really, I got lazy the last little bit and have been prioritizing the To-Do list.

Things that haven't made it to the top lately:
Grocery Shopping (more out of lack of funds than "lazy" but that's an entire story on it's own)
Taking pictures
Updating the blog
Folding laundry (it's been getting washed then stashed it random places ;p  )
De-cluttering the massive piles of crap piling up in HUGE ginormous clumps all over the house.

I have gotten several, non essential, things done that have been on the forever list done though. I baked a rather fantastic looking cake for a very good friend. She is one of the best friends ever and has done so much for me over the years. I would do anything she would ever ask. She's reaching a GIANT life milestone and needed chocolate cake. I'm very proud of her for making her life choices that she needed to make because sometimes, they suck.

I actually ended up making this same cake for C for Father's Day. The kids thought he would like it because C really, really LOVES chocolate. It's a chocolate cake with chocolate icing, chocolate ganache, with chocolate chunks on top. It was good, but I already have plans for my next cake. I have to find someone to pawn it off on who doesn't mind me stealing 1 try-it piece to see if my experiment worked. I want to make a chocolate cake, with whipped cream or chocolate (I haven't fully decided yet) and cherry filling in the middle, chocolate icing on the outside with the same ganache and then instead of the chocolate chunks - globs (decorative of course) of whipped cream with cherries on it about an inch or so apart. Not that I've thought about it.


We've gotten a Slip-N-Slide for the first time ever this year. The kids LOVE it. I do know why we waited until they were older to get one though. They hurl themselves at the most grotesque angles at the ground and half the time they fail to slide anywhere. And yet, they love it and keep doing it. It's really special when they face plant.

Anyhow, I'm going to attempt to take more pictures of our summer time adventures, because we really HAVE been doing a decent amount of relatively fun kid type stuff and I just need to pull the ol' camera out more. I took a couple this morning when they were talking their "pets", I'll try to add those tomorrow - it was A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E.  I just don't know where the days go sometimes.

Procrastination.

If there was a way to sing an ode to this word, I would. It is a great plague of doom around my house. My spouse is the leader of The Procrastinators. There are 2 wee minion followers that obligingly follow his postponement teachings to a T. Oddly, C complains they "never listen to what he says", but they sure mimic his less desirable procrastination techniques. My personal favorite is the: I'll do it here in a little bit. A little bit NEVER COMES.(Or comes with a giant fit, sobbing, screaming, crying, kicking, biting, etc.) So.... We we are in Boot Camp of Time Management. I must admit that this first week has been an epic failure, but the misery that poor time management has brought may have made my point for me. No video games, no movies, no actual really *fun* stuff until the mandatory items (IE school and chores) were completed. I have each a detailed list on Monday morning of what had to be completed before Sunday at bedtime.

Neither started until Friday morning. They had to cram their entire weeks worth of school into 3 days (and I planned enough for each for 5 reasonable days), their laundry, errands, and other mandatory items into Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (today).  I think they wanted to see if I was *actually* going to make them do it. Hahhaahaha Yep. Sure did. Gonna do it next week too (and the week after that, and that.. and that..). I am happy and very proud of them that they managed to get it ALL DONE by noonish. I DID add in an extra bribe if they managed to get it all done before late today. Especially since T2 had a new concept with his math that he found very hard at first. But, once they gave up procrastination and set a timer (Ok, well T1 did anyhow) she got it done remarkably quickly. If an ice cream bribe teaches them the correct way to NOT procrastinate, ice cream it is. I think they actually got a lot more done with their school with this list method than they had been previously as well. I know there are some with the "What? School, in the summer?" But, realistically, it does work better for us. There is no refresher time with restarting, no re-gearing time, no resettling into schedules and routines. I want them to enjoy the summer, but I don't want to have to strangle them either. Plus, if we decide to go somewhere or someone gets sick, we can just push it back a few days without a concern. And there are several times in the summer the weather just is too hot to do anything. But, in the spring this year, there have been several days the weather was gorgeous and we just felt like playing - so it all works out eventually. Well, mostly. They end up ahead on the mandatory 180 days per year, but too many is better than not enough.

Here, lately, 1 & 2 have been into dress up a lot. This is one of my recent favorites.