Fit4Life Friday

I didn't really quit participating in Fit4Life Fridays, I just took a break. But I'm back. I have been really busy lately and feeling overwhelmed, but things have kind of calmed down so I feel like I have time to think.

I am going to start out slow, so this week my health-related goals are:

• Eat the same food I make my kids eat. My kids eat very nutritious food. I don't. The reason I am so strict on what they eat is because I don't want them to grow up with the horrible eating habits I have.
• Drink anything except Dr. Pepper. I admit that I'm addicted to it, but I am going to break that addiction. I really doesn't help my acid reflux. My dad had acid reflux for years and he died of esophagus cancer, so I really need to get mine under control, and eliminating soda will make a big difference.

I am not going to make an exercise goal yet, because the thought of exercising in the heat does not appeal to me at all. As of next Friday my kids are going to be in school, so I'm thinking about walking them to school everyday and walking back home. It's just under a mile each way. That's the plan, but I'm not sticking to it yet. We'll see.

As far as non-health-related goals, I am going to make a daily schedule to make sure I get things done that I need to instead of wasting my time all day and then wondering why I have to stay up half the night to get my work done and be tired all the next day. I guess that is kind of a health-related goal since I will be getting more sleep.

By the way, it drives me nuts when people try to act like they think you've lost weight when you haven't. My aunt, who I haven't seen for about a year, came to visit my mom and when she saw me she said, "Oh, you've lost weight. You look good." I told her that actually I haven't lost weight, I've gained weight and actually I'm the fattest I've ever been, excluding pregnancy-related fat. Don't tell someone they look like they've lost weight just to be nice, especially if you're thin. People who are fat know they're fat and they know they haven't lost weight. That drives me nuts!

If you want to participate in Fit4Life Fridays go over to NspiredByFaith.

People, Slow Down

There was a story in the news today that proves that people are much too self absorbed and busy to pay attention to the things and people around them.

A man was slumped over the steering wheel of his car, parked in front of a gas pump at a very busy gas station, for 10, YES 10, hours before somebody noticed him. Of course, by the time somebody actually noticed him he was dead.

I just don't understand how this could happen. I mean, come on, wouldn't the employees of the gas station notice that the same car was parked in front of a gas pump for 10 hours straight? It sounds like the perfect gas station/convenience store to go to if you want some free beer or chips or anything else because obviously the employees have their heads up their butts instead of paying attention to what goes on around them. I can't believe that nobody getting gas didn't notice the guy. I notice the people around me when I'm getting gas. I notice what they look like and what kind of cars they drive. I mean, really, when I'm standing at the pump I look around. It's boring to just stand there and stare at the depressing dollars amount I'm racking up to fill my vehicle.

The sad thing is had this guy had a heart attack or some other medical problem he might have been saved if someone had noticed. They think it might have been a suicide. Well, he succeeded on that one if it was; however, if it was suicide it was probably more of a cry for help than an actual planned suicide. If someone really wants to die they're not going to go park in front of a gas pump at a very busy gas station and commit suicide. If that's what happened, he obviously figured that someone would notice him and call 911, thereby saving his life and getting him the help he needed.

I think this is a reminder that people need to slow down. Don't be in such a hurry that you can't even look at your fellow human beings when you're out and about. Pay attention to people. Stop and smell the roses once in a while instead of having your MP3 player or cell phone attached to your head while you ignore everyone around you. Besides, there are so many weird people in this world that looking around at them is just as entertaining as listening to music.

Works For Me Wednesday

Lately I've noticed that I never have the things that I use throughout the day handy. I am always having to run upstairs and downstairs to get things that I left somewhere. I don't even answer my phones (home and cell) when I should because I'll hear it ringing and realize it is on different level of the house than I am on and I'm too lazy to run up or down the stairs just to get the phone. Finally I figured out a solution. I went to the dollar store and bought a small plastic basket (I'm still fascinated by the dollars stores). I put my daily essentials in it and if I know I'm going to be on one level of the house for a while I make sure I take it with me and then I set it somewhere central on that level. If I'm working on the computer I try to keep it right next to me, but otherwise I just set it on the kitchen counter if I'm upstairs and my bed if I'm downstairs. Right now it contains my home phone, cell phone, a notebook, a pen, my timer, tissues and lip balm. I do try to keep my digital camera in it, also, so I can take pictures of the kids at a moment's notice when they're doing something cute, but, obviously, it couldn't be in the picture because it was taking the picture.


Having all of my essentials close to me throughout the day is what works for me.

Go to Rocks In My Dryer for so many great tips it will take you a few days to read them all, but they're worth it.

Tackle It Tuesday

My tackle for this week took place yesterday. Today was Carson's first day of school (I can't believe he's in second grade already!) and I wanted him to be completely organized so everything school related would be smooth this year. Mornings last school year were a disaster. There was too much yelling, crying and tantrum throwing, and that was just me. I was constantly yelling at him to eat his breakfast, get dressed and put his shoes on. Sometimes I was still trying to get him to do these things five minutes after he should have already left for school. I want school mornings to be calm and relaxing while still getting him to school on time.

Yesterday we cleaned his room. He has been doing a good job keeping it clean and organized, but there were a few areas that needed revamped. We organized his desk and his calendar. We finally sorted through a bunch of last year's papers that were piled on the shelf on his desk and tossed a bunch and saved some. We uncluttered his bulletin board so he has room to hang new things on it. His desk now has his calendar, Post-It notes, his timer, a pen, a pencil and his Student Control Journal on it.

Last night we laid out his clothes, shoes, back pack and lunch box and did his bedtime routine. This morning when he woke up he looked at his morning routine in his control journal and did what he needed to do while I made breakfast. After breakfast he brushed his teeth, we did his hair, while dad was making his lunch, and he was ready to go with about 15 minutes to spare. It was the most relaxing school morning we've ever had.

Now he has a schedule to follow to keep him on track and he has a nice, clean, organized place to do his homework and put his school stuff.

Letting Kids Win Games

Do you ever let your kids win games to make them feel good? I don't and I never have, until last night. I've always felt that if you let kids win then they won't learn how to be good sports. I've always played age-appropriate games with my kids so they have just as good a chance of winning as I do, but I don't let them win.

Carson has always been a good sport when it comes to games. He doesn't get upset if he loses. He even acts excited for me if I win, unless I win three in a row and he doesn't win any, then I can tell he's not too happy, but he doesn't throw a fit or anything like that. Hayden, on the other hand, is an extremely poor sport. If he loses, he gets really ticked off. Even if he hasn't lost yet but he can tell the other person is probably going to win he gets mad. He is very good at matching games. He has a great memory and has a knack for winning them. On our trip last weekend I bought him a matching game with pictures of national parks on them. It is a hard game since there are 100 cards. Hayden, Carson and I sat down the other night to play it. Hayden got the first match, which was no surprise. Then I got a match. Then Carson got a match. Then Carson and I each got another match. Since we had more than Hayden had he had an absolute fit and grabbed his two cards and bent them. I told him he couldn't play anymore because he was ruining the game and sent him upstairs. That kind of behavior is typical when he gets mad.

Well, last night he wanted to play Candy Land with me. We started playing and I pulled ahead early. For some reason he didn't get mad. He got in front of me a couple of times but I always pulled ahead and I ended up winning. He didn't throw a fit. He just said, "Oh, well, you won." I asked him if had fun playing and he said he did. I told him that it was possible to play a game and lose and still have fun. I told him that I was very proud of him for being such a good sport. He was excited that he was happy even though he lost. He wanted to play again. I have to admit that since I was so proud of him for being a good sport that when it was apparent I was going to win again I cheated and looked through the stack of cards, without him seeing me, until I found the Plumpy card and I pretended like I drew that one and it sent me back almost to the beginning so he could win. He was very happy. Now I've decided that as long as he's being a good sport, even if he loses, then I may let him win every once in a while. I hope he's starting to realize he doesn't have to be a jerk if he loses, and I really hope that last night's behavior wasn't just a fluke.

Impressions Photo Challenge

It is time once again for the Impressions Photo Challenge. The theme this time was COLORS. This time I actually took quite a few of the pictures with the challenge in mind, as opposed to just taking pictures of whatever and then trying to match some up to the requirements. Some turned out better than others. I had a hard time with red and yellow for some reason, so those are my least favorite. Another good thing is I discovered two things about my camera that I didn't know before. I found out how to turn the automatic flash off, and I discovered there is a macro feature, although "macro" isn't really quite accurate. I can get closer to things with the setting on, but not too close or they will be blurry. All of these pictures were taken with my somewhat cheap digital camera. I started out for this challenge taking pictures with my 35mm, which is a much better camera with many more features, but unfortunately my very bad procrastination habit took over and they are still on undeveloped film. I know there are some really cool pictures there, though. I'm sure in the next few years I'll get them developed and find out for sure just how cool they were.

Without further rambling on my part, here are my pictures for the COLOR challenge:

This is a red truck that Carson bought with his very own money. You can tell by the dirty tires that it has been used a lot.

This is an orange rock formation at Capital Reef National Park. It is really red rock, but it looks more orange than red to me.

This is a lonely yellow highlighter. Trust me, this is the best picture of something yellow that I could get, unfortunately.

This is Trial Lake with its beautiful green trees and grass and reflections in the water.

I love this beautiful, bright, blue sky.

It might be sort of hard to see the little purple flowers, but they're there.

Amaya sure is cute in pink. I love having a daughter.

The picture of this brown tree in Capital Reef National Park is one of my favorite pictures from this challenge.

This picture of Spot shows why Carson and Hayden wanted to name him Spot, the black spot over his eye. By the way, he's not as innocent as he looks here.

These white flowers were seen on a hike at Snowbird ski resort.

This gray plume of smoke was from a large wildfire.

Name one thing that stands out in your mind regarding this photo challenge: Sometimes it's hard for me to find specific things to take pictures of. It's almost like the harder I tried to find yellow and red things to take pictures, the fewer and fewer red and yellow things I found that might make a good pictures. I think I need to try to look at things to see what about them would make a good picture instead of looking at things and automatically assuming they won't make a good picture. I am really happy with some of my pictures, and not so happy with others. I definitely need a better camera, but I did learn a few things about my camera that helped out this time.

To see more pictures from this photo challenge go to Digging a Hole to China and check out the other participants. There are some great pictures there.

I Love You

I'm an Idiot

On Friday when we were getting ready for our camping trip I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off and I had my cell phone in my pocket because people kept calling me about work. I normally don't carry it in my pocket but I got tired of running around the house trying to find it every time it rang. I needed to put one last load of laundry in the washer, take a shower and pack a few things and we'd be ready to go. This is where my being unorganized gets in the way of things running smoothly. I was still doing laundry and packing the day we were leaving. I need to get organized. I am doing better now than I was at the beginning of the summer, but I still have a long ways to go. I took of my clothes and threw them in the washer but didn't turn it on yet, jumped in the shower and then started the washer when I got out. After the washer was done running I threw the clothes in the dryer and started it. Within a few minutes I could hear something clanging around in the dryer so I went to check it out. I opened the door and saw my cell phone laying there, totally ruined after having gone through the washer. I was so mad at myself. How could I be such an idiot? I was really ticked off because on my cell phone plan I can get a new phone every two years and I still have nine months left on my plan. When we got back from our trip I went online and figured I would just buy the cheapest phone they had and deal with it until I could get a free one. For some reason there were three phones available to me for free. I don't know why, but they weren't cheap phones either. I picked a new phone that is worth $80.00 and I should be getting it tomorrow, I hope. I always get my phones over the Internet because they have much better deals than the store does, and the only times I've gone into the store the people have been less than friendly. I would rather not deal with people and just do it all on my own. Anyway, I know this stupid mistake on my part happened because of my unorganization, so it's just another reason to keep me on the right track to becoming organized.

Families With Children From China Picnic

Tonight we went to the Families With Children From China End-of-Summer Picnic. Well, the kids, my mom and I went. Mike had a beer-tasting event scheduled that he couldn't miss.

The picnic is potluck and I think it is so funny to look at the variety of foods that show up. I made ham fried rice, except it didn't have ham in it because I whipped it up at the last minute with ingredients I had on hand and I didn't have any ham. I used brown rice instead of white rice like I usually do because I didn't have any white rice. It was really sticky and didn't seem to be frying up well and I considered not taking it. But then I tasted it and it was delicious. At the picnic I saw one guy lift the lid up, look at it, get a disgusted look on his face and pass by it. I think he moved on the the bucket of fried chicken someone bought on their way to the picnic. After the picnic I felt pretty good because my bowl was completely empty and there were some people who had almost all of their food still there. I felt bad for them. For some reason I don't think a bowl of spaghetti looks very appetizing at a Chinese picnic in the park. I think Hayden was the only person to get a helping of the spaghetti, and most of it ended up inside his sandals and on the ground. I was telling my friend about how we go to these potluck events a couple of times a year and she said she would be scared to eat the food because they are people you don't know and you have no idea about how clean or dirty their kitchens might be, or how clean or dirty they themselves might be. It makes perfect sense, but when you're there and there is so much food that looks so good I think you forget about stuff like that. I haven't gotten sick from one of these functions yet so it must be okay. We have learned to go for the food when they first announce it's time to eat because if you wait then all the good stuff is gone and you're left with slim pickings.

The picnic was in a park so we basically just ate and then watched the kids play for an hour or so. I only personally know three people who've adopted kids from China and two of them never show up to these things. The lady who does show up is single and has two daughters. Her youngest daughter was in Hayden's preschool class last year so Hayden is always excited to see her. Unfortunately she isn't as thrilled to see Hayden and is mean to him. It makes him feel really sad and he would keep coming to me and telling me she was being mean. I kept telling him to quit following her around, that sometimes girls are just mean to boys and he should play with someone else. He just couldn't stay away from her, though. She was mean to him at preschool, too. I think he just gets excited when he sees someone he knows and wants to play with her. He whined all the way home about her. She won't be going to the same school that he does this year so we'll only have to see her twice a year at the most, and hopefully one of these years she'll quit being mean to him.

The next event is in February for Chinese New Year. As Amaya gets older we'll let her make the decision about whether we go to these events. She may not want to go, and if she doesn't, that's fine. I think it would be good for her to see some other kids adopted from China at least sometimes, but it's not a requirement. There is a Chinese teacher at the preschool that wants to come with us to the Chinese New Year get-together next year and see all the kids. She is very excited to have Amaya in her class, but it won't be until next year, if it even happens. The teachers can't request students and the parents can't request teachers unless it's an important reason. I think it would be great for Amaya to have a Chinese teacher, so I hope I can convince the school to let Amaya be in the Chinese teacher's class. They learn Chinese songs and have a Chinese New Year celebration. The preschool doesn't have a lot of diversity in it, so I think it would be good for Amaya to see at least one person who looks similar to her.

The picnic was fun and I love seeing all the little Chinese kids. There are even a few little boys in the group. They are so cute. I didn't take any pictures because I was too busy trying to keep track of three kids who all wanted to go three different directions.

Anyone who is thinking about adopting or is in the process of adopting from China, I can tell you that it will be worth the long wait times that you are enduring. When we adopted Amaya I think the wait times for referrals were the shortest they'd ever been, six months. It was so hard to wait six months. I can't imagine what it feels like to have to wait as long as the wait times are now. Just know that in the end it will be worth it. Kids are great, even if they drive you nuts sometimes.

I'm Back

We just got back from Mike's annual family reunion. We went to Fish Lake and camped, fished and hiked. We had a great time. Most of the people stayed in a few large cabins, but we weren't willing to pay $500 to be cooped up for five days with Mike's relatives so we stayed in our tent away from everyone else and just went to the cabin to eat dinner. I think the kids had more fun camping than they would have at the cabin with a bunch of old people anyway.

We hung out at the lake and fished one day.

It rained for a few minutes but we were prepared.

We have the best tent ever. It is huge and it has a bedroom. We can add two more bedrooms if we want, which we will think about doing when the kids get bigger.

We had to take corn for dinner one night so the kids and Mike shucked it. I was too traumatized from an earlier event to help, but I did muster up enough energy to take a picture.

We went out on a boat fishing one day. Amaya really likes hanging out with her grandpa.

We found an orchard and picked some peaches and plums.

We went to Capital Reef National Park one day and hiked.

Carson thought this rock formation looked like The Thing's skin.

Carson and Hayden carried rocks with them on a three-hour hike and then wondered why they were so tired. I tried to tell them it wasn't worth it to carry them because we were in a national park and they couldn't take them home, but they said they wanted the exercise.

On the way home we passed a wildfire. Carson was very worried about the horses and cows in the area, but I told him that if the fire were to start heading towards them their owners would move them so they would be safe.

It was so nice to get away from home and the heat for a few days. Staying at the lake was nice and cool. Capital Reef was the only hot day we had. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins and painting rocks and riding bikes. We had fun hanging out with family, but were glad we got to leave everyone else in the evening and go to our own camp and lay on our picnic table looking at the stars and sit around the fire roasting marshmallows.

One interesting thing we discovered was that in another campground there was a family (or a few families, it's hard to tell) of polygamists camping there. We wanted to drive through the campground to see how it compared to where we were staying. As we were driving along we saw a group of men walking and they looked a little out of place the way they were dressed. Mike told me they were polygamists and I didn't believe him, until about five seconds later when we saw some of the wives and children. They were all wearing their long, old-fashioned dresses and carrying babies. They had tons of clothes hanging out to dry and there were kids everywhere. We actually drove through the campground several times over a few days just to look at them. I wanted so bad to take some pictures, but I didn't want them to see me and every time we drove through they stared at us so there was no way I could take a picture without them seeing me take it. Mike said, "What are they going to do, chase you down and take away your camera?" I don't know if they would have or not. They outnumbered us by about 100 to 5 so they had the advantage. I was jealous of the few "regular" families that were in the campground because they had a close-up view. If we had been in that campground I definitely would have got some pictures. It was very interesting. I've never seen real, live polygamists before, even though I live in Utah. Okay, I take that back. I have seen people I know are polygamists, but they were the type like on that show Big Love. They live in the city and have regular jobs and you would never know they were polygamists unless you knew of them.

I had one traumatic experience. I have to say "I" because it wasn't traumatic to anyone else. After fishing one day we came back to the tent because we wanted to try to get Hayden and Amaya to take a nap. Mike and Carson decided to go around the campground with Mike walking and Carson riding his bike. I went in the tent with Hayden and Amaya. I was reading a book while they were supposed to be going to sleep. After about 15 minutes I realized there was no way Hayden was going to sleep, so I told him he could color or read books and he was fine with that. Amaya still wouldn't sleep either, so I laid down next to her because I knew she would sleep that way. I figured I would lay down until she fell asleep and then I would get up and continue reading. She soon fell asleep and, unfortunately, so did I. I think I was asleep for about an hour. I woke up and rolled over and Hayden wasn't there. I panicked. I started yelling for him and ran out of the tent. No one was around at all. Mike and Carson were still gone and Hayden was nowhere in sight. Now, Hayden is a major mischief and just the type that would wander off. I was so mad at myself for falling asleep. I knew there were two possibilities: either Hayden had gone out and wandered off, or Mike and Carson came back and then left again with Hayden and didn't bother to wake me up or leave me a note to let me know he was with them. I knew that last scenario was a possibility because Mike can be an idiot that way. I woke Amaya up and put her in the truck and started to drive around the campground, up and down the main road and along the lake getting out to check to see if they were fishing. There was no sign of them anywhere. I was getting more upset (thinking Hayden was lost) and more pissed off (thinking Mike had him and didn't tell me) the more I drove around. I went back to our camp and there was still no sign of them so I drove some more. I went back one more time and the three of them were sitting innocently at the picnic table. I got out of the truck, told Mike what an idiot he was and went in the tent. He said that he and Carson had come back from their walk and Hayden came out of the tent and told Mike that I had told him he could come out, so Mike believed him. I pointed out that lately 90% of what comes out of Hayden's mouth is not true, and he agreed. Later Mike slipped up and said that he knew I was asleep so he thought they would go for a walk and let me and Amaya sleep and he realized it was a mistake to not let me know. Hayden could see how upset I was and came in the tent and cuddled with me and told me he loved me and I told him I loved him and I was just scared that he was lost. Anyway Mike actually admitted that he screwed up (which is really hard for him to do) and apologized and everything was okay. We explained to Hayden that is why it is not a good thing to lie about things. After that Mike and the kids shucked the corn while I recovered in the tent, until I realized I needed to get a picture of them.

Overall we had a great trip and the one trauma didn't end up to be anything bad after all. Now it's back to reality.

Trapped Miners in Utah

I usually don't want to talk about news events here, but I feel like I need to right now. I am watching the news and I am just sick about those trapped miners in Utah. Part of the reason it really bothers me is because I live in Utah, so it is a very local story. Another part of the reason it bothers me is because my brother works in a mine, not in Utah, not in a coal mine, and not underground. He works in the control room of a gold mine running the computer system, but he has gone underground several times to check things out, which my mom just found out about and she was not very happy about it.

My feelings about the trapped miners swings back and forth from thinking that they are probably dead to having hope that they are still alive. Yesterday the rescuers heard some unidentified noises coming from the mine and they gave them great hope. They are in the process of drilling a fourth hole down in hopes of finding them alive and being able to get some food and water and other supplies to them until they can dig them out, which is predicted to take over a week.

Just tonight there is some devastating news. There was another collapse at the mine and eight rescuers were injured, some critically, and one rescuer was killed. They have life-flighted several of the injured men to Salt Lake City where there are bigger and better equipped hospitals to deal with their injuries. Hopefully they will recover from their injuries. These new events are devastating for two reasons: (1) there are injured rescuers and one fatality; (2) who knows how far this will set them back in trying to reach the trapped miners, and hopefully, if they are still alive, this new collapse didn't affect them.

I just want everyone out there who prays to pray for these men and their families, and for those that don't pray, just send out your good thoughts. It is a very sad night.

**UPDATE**

On the news they just announced that a second rescuer has died.

**UPDATE**

They just announced a third fatality. This story just keeps getting more sad.

Happy Birthday To Spot

Today is Spot's birthday. He is 1 year old now. I wish he could understand what I say (besides the word "treat") because I would tell him that he is a big boy now and it is time to start acting like one. No more digging holes in the backyard, no more trying to use our flower beds as toys, no more ripping wallpaper off the walls, no more chewing up blankets, and for crying out loud, calm down. He is almost as big a mischief as Hayden is.

We got Spot when he was about three months old. He was a Christmas present for the family, but we had to get him a few weeks early because we got him from the Humane Society and there is no way we could have gotten him and tried to hide him for two weeks, and we didn't have any family members that wanted to keep a dog for two weeks for us. Besides, since we had just gotten him I didn't want him bonding with anyone except us. Mike and I went and picked him out and brought him home. The kids were at Mike's parents' house so he went to pick them up and while he was gone I put a big bow around Spot's neck since he was a present. When Mike and the kids got back there wasn't quite the initial reaction I expected. They walked in and instead of running and hugging him and being excited they were in total shock. They just stood there and stared for quite a while. Finally they realized he was theirs and they started petting him. That went well for about 10 seconds until his little, sharp, razor-like puppy teeth started biting everyone. It was a pretty traumatic first few days because all the kids were scared of him. We had to keep them separated until Spot learned how to play without biting constantly and the kids realized that he wasn't being mean, he just wanted to play and shredding up their arms and legs and Carson's ears was just his way of playing.

We told the kids they could pick a name, and Carson and Hayden both came up with the name Spot and agreed with it. Even though it is a rather unoriginal name, just the fact that those two agreed on something was enough reason to keep the name. They picked the name Spot because he has a big spot over one eye.

By the way, when we first got Spot Amaya was terrified of dogs. It was pretty mean of us, I know, but I knew she would get used to him very quick and overcome her fear of dogs. We kept him in a separate room from her for the first few days and slowly she got brave and touched him once or twice here and there and within a week she wasn't scared of him at all. Now she loves him, except when he tries to get her food, then she yells at him, "No, Spot."

Hayden plays with him the most and loves to give him treats. In fact, since Hayden wakes up very early every morning, before anyone else, we know he sneaks into the treat jar and gives Spot treats every morning. Sometimes when we finally drag ourselves out of bed Hayden will be in Spot's crate with him petting him and giving him hugs.

Carson likes to play outside with Spot and throw balls or Frisbees or sticks for him to run and get. Carson gave Spot his very first present. It was just before Christmas and we had gone to a family party where we do white elephants. Carson's present was actually a squeaky toy shaped like a bone and he was so excited to give it to Spot when we got home, and to this day it is still Spot's favorite toy. It is the only toy he hasn't ripped to shreds, even though it is just cheap plastic.

We went to the pet store today to pick out some presents for Spot. We got him two large stainless steel bowls, one for food and one for water, so he can quit using bowls from our set of dishes. We also got him a rubber ball with holes all over it and a bag of treats. When we got home Hayden got to give him the ball and Carson got to give him a few treats. Amaya didn't care so she just watched. Spot was loving it. Then we all went outside for a while so Spot could play with his new ball. He had a ball with it.

Hayden thought we should have given him a birthday cake, but I told him it would make him sick, which Hayden translated to, "If Spot eats a birthday cake he will die." I'm sure Hayden will be up sneaking treats to him first thing in the morning.

Overall I think Spot had a pretty good birthday. I can't believe he is a year old already. He has learned a lot this past year, but there is so much more he needs to learn. I think obedience training is in the near future.

Size 5T Straight Jacket Wanted

Hayden has been an absolute mischief for the last five days and it is driving me nuts. He has been caught: standing on the back of the couch and jumping off (numerous times), doing somersaults over every piece of furniture we own, standing on the arms of the rocking chair "surfing", standing on the edge of the kitchen sink to look out the window, standing on the toilet and pushing the screen out of the bathroom window to look out, standing on his toy box and pushing the screen out of the window to look out (luckily we have a one-story house so it's not a long drop if he were to fall out, although the rose bushes below his window wouldn't feel too good), stuffing bouncy balls in his underwear to "hide" them, sneaking candy and hiding behind his bed to eat it, using a screwdriver to open a brand-new bottle of Tums and eating one (I counted how many were left so I know he only ate one), picking all of our tomatoes and eating the ripe ones and throwing the green ones in the road, turning on the water outside and leaving it running too many times to count, completely messing up Amaya's bedroom numerous times (he's banned from her room but that doesn't stop him from sneaking into it just to mess it up), knocking a bunch of books off the shelf at the library, riding his tractor through the neighbors' (yes, numerous neighbors) grass and flower beds even though Mike was right there with him yelling at him to stop, trying to push Amaya out of the tractor while driving at full speed, throwing food and then blaming it on Carson and Amaya, kicking Carson in the eye while watching a movie, teasing Spot to no end, and I'm sure there are other things I'm just too tired to think about right now.

He's been in time-out approximately 500 times in the last five days, and, as you can tell, it's not helped one bit. Time outs are overrated. I don't know what his problem is this week. He's happy and having fun, but he's making the rest of us miserable. Yesterday, after he'd been in time out for about the 10th time he asked me what I wanted him to do and I said, "Stop being naughty," and he said, "I don't know how." The second half of today he was a bit calmer and didn't get in trouble at all, so I'm hoping the worst of it is over and he is getting back to normal.

He's been such a mischief this week that I am posting one of my favorite pictures of him from a few years ago so I can remember what a cute, sweet boy he is most of the time.

Works For Me Wednesday

Since school is starting in a few weeks for my kids, I decided I wanted to read some fun books to each of them that pertain to the grade each one is going into. I will have a preschooler, a kindergartner and a second grader this year. So I went to my library's website and requested a few books about preschool, a few books about kindergarten and a few books about second grade. There are some really cute books out there. For each grade I just typed in "preschool" or "kindergarten" or "second grade" and then searched through the results until I found some that looked good. Hopefully they are as good as they look. I do know for kindergarten there is a cute series of books about a teacher named Miss Bindergarten. Carson read some of those books when he was in kindergarten and really liked them, so I will check them throughout the year for Hayden. I'm not sure how high up in grade level they write books like this for kids, but I will continue to do it until they are old enough that there aren't fun books about their specific grade. I highly doubt there is a book out there called, "The Night Before 12th Grade," but I could be mistaken.

Reading fun books to my kids to get them ready for whatever grade they're going into works for me.

Go to Rocks In My Dryer for a ton of great tips. It sometimes takes me days to get through them all, but it is definitely worth it.

Books About Farts

A couple of months ago I took the kids to a bookstore where they had story time. We were the only ones there. The woman wanted to read Walter the Farting Dog to the kids. She asked my permission because she said a lot of moms don't want it read to their kids. I know that any book having to do with farts would be sure to keep my kids entertained, which is why I went there in the first place, so I said it was okay with me. She told the kids that every time the word "fart" came up in the book they were to make farting noises with their mouths, so they did. They had so much fun. I'm sure other patrons of the bookstore weren't having as much fun, but you only live once, and I'm sure not many people get to sit in a bookstore making farting noises with the approval of the store itself.

Anyway, today Hayden, Amaya and I went to the library. I saw another Walter book entitled, "Walter the Farting Dog Banned from the Beach". I decided to get it. Hayden came over and read the title and said, "But, Mom, you don't like naughty words so why are you getting a book about farts?" I said, "Because it's funny." It must be quite a popular series because they have them in English and Spanish and even Latin. I guess farting is universally funny.

Tackle It Tuesday

I have one big tackle, one small tackle and one fun tackle for today.

The big tackle is to go through each room in my house (except for two of them because they are not ready yet) and make sure they are clean and organized. The rooms are already organized, they may just need a touch up here and there, and they need to be dusted and vacuumed and/or swished and swiped (according to FlyLady). This tackle will take a good part of the day, but I will feel good when it's done.

The small tackle is to go through the kids' clothes and see what still fits or doesn't and what I need to buy for school. They already have new shoes and Carson and Hayden have some new clothes, but Amaya doesn't have any new clothes and I'm not sure what will still fit her from last year. I'm afraid she will need a whole new wardrobe. At least she can wear summer clothes for a while so I won't have to buy everything all at once, plus her birthday is coming up so she'll get some clothes then. But, for the boys, they have to wear uniforms to school (public, not private), so I need to go through all of Carson's old clothes and see what still fits him and what can be handed down to Hayden. Hayden has a few new clothes that he got for his birthday, but he is going to mostly be wearing hand-me-downs. Unfortunately, Carson is extremely hard on his school clothes, so I'm not sure how much can be salvaged. He falls down on purpose because he thinks it's funny (I don't) and rips holes in his pants. I did patch some of them from last year, but then he just ripped through the patches, even though I cut them out in the shapes of dinosaurs because I thought he would think they were cool. He did, but not cool enough not to ruin. Any pants that have holes in them I am taking to my mom and she is going to make them into shorts. Then, towards the end of last year he thought it was funny to start poking holes through his shirts with pencils. It really makes me mad that he is purposefully ruining good clothes that his brother could wear, saving us a lot of money. This year I'm making a new rule. Any of his clothes that I can tell were ruined on purpose, I am taking money out of his dinosaur bank and he has to pay for new ones. Anyway, here is the pile of clothes I need to go through (I know some shorts are missing and they are probably in the laundry):

The fun tackle of the day is to gather up some of our library books that are due today, gather up the kids and go to the library for a while. We love going to the library, although I can't say it's relaxing because I have to follow Amaya around while she pulls one book after another off the shelf and leaves them on the floor. Maybe that will be another tackle, teaching her to only take one off at a time, look at it and then put it back.

I was going to tackle starting to potty train Amaya, but after she stood on one of Hayden's books and peed on it and made him cry I decided I wasn't in the mood to start tackling that yet.

He Needs to Bulk Up

Today in the mail I got a free tape measure to help in buying the right size underwear for my kids. It's just a paper tape measure and then it has the range of sizes underneath the measurements so you know what size underwear your kids should be wearing.

I measured Carson and Hayden and found out that they are both wearing underwear that is two sizes too small for them. Also they wear the same size underwear, even though Hayden is 2 1/2 years younger than Carson.

I know Carson is skinny. He is almost anorexic looking. The funny thing is he eats like a pig. He eats so much sometimes I think he's going to make himself sick. He just is extremely hyper so he burns off everything he eats.

So far his stick-thin body hasn't hindered him in sports yet. He's played baseball, soccer and golf. He can run really fast and is really quick in soccer. He can hit the baseball pretty far and run the bases fast in baseball (his catching needs some work). And golf...well, he's just started so he's not that great yet.

The funny thing is that with the different coaches and instructors he's had in the three different sports, the only one that told him he needs to bulk up a bit was his golf instructor. How many bulky golfers are there out there? Well, okay, I'm bulky but I don't think it helps my game any.