Children, Crafts, Colds, Cereal

Jaclyn pretending to take a nap with Jayden

All five of us have been SICK this weekend. Well, the kids and I were sick all last week, but then on Friday Josh came down with the nasty cold too. So our entire weekend was spent coughing, wheezing, sniffling, and aching together. But hey, at least we did it as a family! Below are some other things that happened around here...

(above: Jaclyn; below: Joanna)

The girls painted on Saturday...

But the real treat to wake up to was on Saturday morning! Both Josh and I were feeling miserable so when the kids woke up at 6:30 a.m. we: 1) changed Jaclyn's diaper, took Joanna to the bathroom; 2) fed and diapered the baby, then put him back down in his crib; 3) turned on morning cartoons; 4) gave the girls sippy cups and bowls of dry cereal; 5) snuck back in bed for another hour of sleep....

...we thought that we were pretty smart. Kids' immediate needs are met plus we get some much needed shut eye...

...but we soon discovered that our clever little plan backfired...

...because THIS is what we woke up to!!!!!!!! One of them (I'm assuming Joanna) got the box of cereal that I left on the kitchen counter and they covered THE ENTIRE house with cereal! I'm not exaggerating, either. Between the girls spilling the cereal and Jayden crawling in the mess when I got him out of his crib later, we had cereal trailed from literally one end of the house to the other. Needless to say, the baby ate his cereal on the fly that morning! I think he's chewing on some in the picture below. And if you look close you can see cereal stuck all over his pajamas.

The yard really needed mowing and it couldn't wait another week. So even though Josh felt like a zombie, he bucked up and cut the grass.

Joanna's thinking: Hurray! I'm so glad to be outside today enjoying the warm weather!!

Jayden's thinking: Huh. My sister sure is happy to be out of the house. Dang, this fist tastes GOOD!

Jaclyn's screaming: CHEESE!!!!!!!

Yummy cookie, mom!!

Do you think he's thinking to himself, "I'm so glad we finally have a lawn to mow?!?!"

Riverdance Ramsey style

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Guess who's potty trained

I'll give you a hint. It's not Josh. But bless his heart, he's almost there!! hehehe

No seriously. I am considering the fact that we are officially down to buying diapers for only two of our three children a modern-day miracle.

Joanna has finally decided to do the deal once and for all. For the past ten months or so she has gone back and forth. I think some days it became more of a power struggle between her and I than anything else. She even stays dry at night already!! I can't believe it. Honestly, I thought it was going to be a bigger pain having a child out of diapers but boy was I mistaken. It's so much easier! She's gotten to the point that we don't have to remind her anymore to use the potty; she'll take the initiative and go on her own.

I've even noticed a difference in my hands these past few weeks. Changing fewer diapers means fewer hand washes throughout the day which means that my hands no longer resemble alligator skin!

Can You Relate??

With Mother's Day just around the corner, I thought that ya'll might enjoy these two videos from Hilary Weeks. Many aspects of motherhood--well, womanhood, for that matter--are universal. Hilary, don't feel that bad. My favorite parts of the day are bedtime and nap time too!!!

George Carlin on Aging

Josh and I are both turning 30 this year. Thirty. Oy vey.

Hold on, I'm getting a little verklempt.
Talk amongst yourselves. I'll give you a topic: A Thighmaster is neither a thigh nor a master.


Discuss.



Okay. There. I feel better.


In fact, Josh's birthday is next Tuesday. Mazel Tov, honey buns. Honestly, I can not articulate why I have trepidations about reaching this milestone. I know that age is completely relative. You could be 30 and act like you're 80, or you could be 100 and live like you're 20. Take my dad for example. If you asked him how old he is, he'd probably reply, "I'm 60 years young." His outlook on aging is unlike anyone else I know. Granted, I don't think the man knows how to turn on a computer, but he's not laying around waiting to die, either.

Besides, it's not like 30 is old at all. Especially since it's 2009 and the average life expectancy in our country is 77; not 47, as it was in 1900. I think the biggest reason why I don't want to turn 30 is because it means that I'll no longer be twenty-something. Not to kvetch more than I already have, but because we live in a culture that esteems youthfulness, I just feel like when I turn 30 I'm going to turn into an old yenta and be worth bupkis. There's some Yiddish for you Linda Richman.

Here's what the late George Carlin had to say about aging. I never, ever imagined that I would quote George Carlin on this G-rated blog, but here we go. There's a first for everything!
_________________________

George Carlin:

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids?

If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions. "How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five!

That's the key. You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back.

You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead. "How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!" You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16!

And then the greatest day of your life . . . you become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony . . . YOU BECOME 21. . . YES!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk. He TURNED, we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 . . . and your dreams are gone.

But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60. You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70!

After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday! You get into your 80s and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime.

And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; "I was JUST 92."

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half!"

May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!