Finished at Last

So, I quit my job with Western Pathology a couple of months ago. It just got to be too much to juggle for me. Since then, I have been working to finish a few things that I just couldn't get to while I was working.

For example, I cut out a nightgown for Naomi and a pair of pajamas for Gavin in the fall of 2008, but never got around to finishing them. I finished them up a couple of weeks ago and thank goodness they still fit.

Also, Brendon and I (mostly Brendon) have been working on terracing and building retaining walls in our back yard. This project has also been recently completed, and I can't resist posting a picture of all the hard work.

Canning, Costco and Train Blankey

I've noticed in many of the blogs that I follow that people have posted pictures of the canning they have been doing. I thought I should get in on the action.

Thanks Costco!

Today Gavin was talking to Train Blankey in the type of sing-song voice typically used for infants or pets. He was saying "You're such a good blankey. I love you."

Officially a Teenager

Benjamin turned 13 a couple of months ago, but in my mind he is only just now officially a teenager. This is because last night we were toilet-papered for the first time by Benjamin's friends. It isn't a very good job, Naomi figures they only used 3 rolls based on the centers she found.

Brendon says he would be really embarassed to do such a poor toilet-papering job. I just find the whole thing very amusing. (Maybe more so since Benjamin gets to clean up the whole mess.) I'll post a couple of pictures of the job for your enjoyment.

Gavin & The Potty

This morning, Gavin asked me for some new play-doh. I have some unopened containers up in my pantry and he wanted one of them. I told him he could have one if he would go potty on the toilet.

We went into the bathroom, and he tried to go, but couldn't. About an hour later, he yelled very excitedly that he had poop in his potty and could he have some play-doh now. I have to admit I am a little skeptical about things with my children, so I did a little inspecting.

It turns out, he had a bowel movement in his underwear, then dumped it into his potty. I explained that this didn't count, and that he had to actually go potty in the potty. Gavin was disappointed. He really thought that it would count.

Last Day of School Dilemma

Every year at this time I have the same dilemma. Today is the last day of school for my children. Soon they will be coming home with backpacks full of all the crap they have had in their locker and or desk for the past year. They will include lots of work they have completed and want me to look at and adore. They will also have broken crayons, mostly used erasers, pencils only an inch or so long, nearly filled in notebooks etc. And all of this stuff they will want to save in the name of playing "school".

I really want to throw it all away, but since they will be home during the day, I can't throw it away without them noticing. Plus also, this is really a lot of stuff just to go missing all at once. How to get rid of it all???

Broken Foot and Broken Heart

On Sunday, Gavin injured his foot coming down the spiral slide. He was riding on Naomi's lap, and we're not really sure what happened. I do know that he was crying really hard, and then spent Sunday evening sitting on the couch watching "Gavin shows".

Yesterday he was pretty much back to his normal (really, really busy) self, but he wasn't walking. He just crawled around the house to get to where he wanted to go up and down the stairs and everywhere. Then when he wanted to stand he would pull himself up and stand on one foot. I would watch him try to put his foot down and as soon as it touched the ground it obviously hurt because he would pull it right back up again.

By yesterday evening I had decided that something must be really wrong with that foot because he wasn't using it. So, I took him in to the doctor and had some x-rays taken. It turns out that he has a tiny, tiny fracture on one of his bones. It isn't big enough to bother casting (I'm sure a cast would really annoy him), so we're just going to let it heal up on its own. The doctor thought he should be bearing weight on it by Friday and that it should be totally healed in about 3 weeks. Little kids have amazing bodies that heal really quickly.

In case anyone was concerned, this hasn't slowed Gavin down one bit. He manages to be naughty even if he can't walk. Yesterday, he got into the garage and spun around (on his bottom) in all the dirty gravel that the SUV has tracked in all winter. He was a dusty mess just in time to go grocery shopping.

...and about that broken heart. I had to wait a few weeks to tell this story. Benjamin has given me permission to share, but it's been a while and not quite a painful as when it first happened.

Benjamin knew a girl that he had had a crush on for months. Some time back, he had a friend approach her and ask if she would "go" with him. The girl said she wasn't interested in Benjamin, but that she would "go" with his friend. For Benjamin, it was a really bad day at school.

Potty Training & Upping the Gross Factor

For the past several months I have been trying to potty train Gavin. I have purchased some toys I know he loves and every couple of weeks, I take a day, and I put him in underwear. Then I put him on his potty every hour or two hoping that he will go, so I can reward him with one of the toys. Usually I give him an m&m for sitting on the potty when I ask him to.

I have purchased underwear with the Disney characters he loves. He really likes wearing them, but he still hasn't gone to the bathroom on the potty. Not even once.

So a couple of days ago, I am giving Gavin a bath. He stands up in the water and says, I am going to pee in the bathtub. Then he does.

The little stinker knows what it feels like to need to use the bathroom. He just won't do it on the potty. Arghhh!

...And then there's Gabby. She is technically potty trained, but most days she leaves at least one pair of peed in underpants in the laundry room for me to clean up. Yesterday, though, she took it to new level of gross. She left me a pair absolutely full of peed-in-sand. I'm not even sure how she was able to get so much sand in her underpants. What a mess to clean up! Needless to say, she is grounded from the sandbox today.