Help Wanted

Doug & Andy are turning three soon. Jim and I sing in the choir at church and it is a small choir (especially without college students) so our help will be needed during the summer. So I put up a "Help Wanted" sign I thought I would share with you because I have received several comments that it was funny....
Wanted: Willing victims volunteers to sit on with Andy and/or Doug during the church service. They would need corralling guidance from the beginning of the service until the Children’s Moment and then they can escape leave to go to Children’s Church.
· Doug and Andy will be 3 on May 19.
· Jim and Susan are needed (and would like) to keep singing in the choir if possible.

If you are willing to help please let Jim or Susan know. We would not inflict bestow both boys on you at one time unless you were insane willing.

Did you know....

Did you know that the sound of milk leaking through a wicker chair seat onto the kitchen floor is the same as the sound of someone peeing.....

Oh, and spilling your milk doesn't mean that you have "finished" it.

Laughing baby

Several weeks ago Jim was sent a link to this video of a laughing baby. Doug happened to watch it with him.

I didn't realize that Doug remembered the video until today. It took me a minute to figure out why he kept trying to give Jo little pieces of ripped paper.

Here is the link for the video on Youtube.


However, with Jo it didn't work....she just wanted to eat the paper.

Monkey see...

Monkey see monkey do…
Andy has always enjoyed “cooking” and will often prepare meals. Sometimes they are almost completely imaginary (like who else has ice cream that dispenses out of the door handle…) and sometimes the involve play items. Sometimes the play food is actual play food and sometimes it is other items like magnetic letters or puzzles pieces.
Yesterday when I was getting lunch on the table Andy was putting his lunch on the table. We ate lunch. Then I cleaned up and put leftovers in Tupperware. When I turned around Andy had cleaned out the Tupperware drawer and was busily stowing his leftovers. I had a whole assortment of Tupperware with magnetic letters, puzzles pieces, and plastic food that was stacked and stored in the living room.

The End

Today I took the kids to the library. We have only been one time before and that was several months ago (we've had a few things going on since then). The boys were very excited about the books. We picked out several. Doug really wanted one about dinosaurs and we found a couple that were board books. Andy really wanted one about big machines but we couldn't find any in the board book section so we got to use the computer to look up one from the junior nonfiction section. The boys looked at the books as we drove in the car and every time Andy would finish a book I could hear him say "Amen."

Perspective

Yesterday I was standing there with Andy when one of the cats started scratching his ear using his hind leg.

Andy looked at me with a big grin on his face and said, "The cat wave at me, mommy!"

Out of the mouths of babes...

This morning some guys came to correct some things about the gas line to our new cook top. If you ask Andy about it he will tell you that "my friend Bob the builder" came to work at our house.

Then this evening, we were putting the boys to bed. We had put on pjs, brushed teeth, read stories, and then were tucking the boys in when Andy suddenly asked Jim where his hair had moved to.
Uh....Andy decided that the hair had moved from the top of daddy's head to daddy's chin.

It's a good thing they're cute....

The boys were getting ready for bed. I was doing something with Jo and Jim was working with Andy who actually decided to sit on the toilet (unfortunately I think the only thing that got in the toilet was the pee guard for the potty seat). I realized that I hadn't seen Doug for a little bit and that things were awfully quiet. With my mommy senses tingling I went searching for the child. I called his name a couple times but didn't get an answer so this heightened my suspicions even more.

I walked into the kitchen only to find Doug standing in his pajamas in the middle of a very large puddle of water.....

Earlier in the day the kids had put two of those little figures (a pirate and a treasure chest) that you soak and they grow to 600% the original size into a very large clear plastic tub (like the kind of container you would put 10 lbs of flour in). Doug had wanted to see or touch the figures and had apparently tried to get at them himself. He didn't spill quite all of the water...there was still about a half an inch in the bottom of the container. I definitely know where the low spots are in the floor now as it took three large bath towels to clean it up and the water had "ripples" and "waves" as I pushed it all together. He, of course, was wearing footed pjs and they were dripping wet.
I suppose the bright side of all this is that now at least half of the kitchen floor is clean.

You know it's time to go home when...

So we went to this Mexican restaraunt we like and the boys ate really well, and were well behaved up until the very end. Then you know it's time to go home when they start running laps around the table and barking like dogs....

One more way to know you are a parent

I realized that I forgot one way to know you are a parent...or at least a parent of small children.
*You know the exact sound and feel of stepping on and crushing that one cheerio that you missed sweeping up.

Top Ten Ways to know you might be a parent

After arriving at work this morning, only to look down and find a splotch of spit-up on my shoe, I think it is time I do a post I have been thinking about for awhile. In honor of those of you who have been dealing with sick children, here is a list of how you might determine whether you are a parent:
Top Ten Ways to know you are a parent:
10. You have ever arrived some place and suddenly realized you have a little bit of spit-up/snot/poop/puke on your clothes.
9. You have been so distracted getting dressed that you have arrived someplace and suddenly realized you are wearing two different color socks, two different shoes, or your shirt is inside out/backwards.
8. You are used to referring to yourself in third person. (Mommy is going to go potty now.)
7. You know what I mean by my sister’s phrase about children being “help more work.”
6. You find yourself repeating things at least twice. You find yourself repeating things at least twice.
5. You have ever told someone (a person not a pet) to stop licking the table/floor/window/etc.
4. You have heard strange sentences coming out of your mouth. (My favorite lately was thanks to a box of toys my sister sent along that allowed me to say “Get the hack saw out of the train area.”)
3. You can name all of the characters and sing the theme song to a TV show that is animated or most of the characters are puppets.
2. You have ever picked a booger out of someone else’s nose.
1. You are used to getting interrupted and don’t have time to completely finish a….

Funny Boys

Last night we ate pizza for dinner. It was homemade pizza and Doug (who appears to be getting a bit pickier than he used to be) was happy because there were cheese pizza slices for him. He was funny because when the pizza was about half gone he started saying "pizza gone" and pushing the last slices on mommy and daddy. He would say "daddy pizza" and Jim would tell him that he was full. Then when I picked up the last slice he got this gleam in his eye and his mouth made a little "oh" as if to say I was in trouble because that was not supposed to be my piece. When I took a bite you could hear an audible intake of breath and then he started chanting "bite, bite, bite." He is such the little frat boy.

Andy's latest thing has been to say "I have work to do. I'm not finished with my work." He will then proceed to use his play tools to "work" on all sorts of things. He adapted a plastic Halloween pumpkin as his toolbox, but if you look in there he has play kitchen tools, Fischer Price Little People, play tools, musical instruments, and much much more.

I scream, You Scream...

Last night after choir we stopped at TCBY on the way home.
The boys were very excited about eating chocolate frozen yogurt. They got to sit at the small table that this store has. They were smiling and greeted everyone who came in or was already there. It also doesn't matter what I have...they want to eat out of my bowl even if I have the exact same thing they have. Jo enjoyed it too. She was like a little bird with her mouth open to eat frozen yogurt. She ate enough that her little chin was shaking because she made herself cold.

Anyway, the boys danced around and ate their frozen yogurt and my frozen yogurt and were singing and commenting and we had to keep them from buddying up to closely to everyone who was there. The girls behind the counter just kept smiling at them.

Finally, most everything was eaten and it was time to load up and go home. Doug was wearing a pair of overalls that had snaps in the bottom for changing the diaper and the snaps had come undone. So I decided to snap them up before we headed out to the car. I set him down on a chair and started snapping. When I got to the crotch area I realized in horror that I was seeing things I shouldn't! There was no diaper.

Low and behold one side of the diaper must have let loose and the diaper had worked it's way down his leg and the diaper was stuck in the pants down at the ankle.
Of course this was one of the many places that does not have a diaper changing table in the restroom, so I had to whisk him out to the car and get things set right. I am just glad that we didn't end up with a puddle of anything on the floor because I have no idea how long he had been "exposed."

I had to look twice

We are veeerrryyy slowly unpacking. I moved a few bookcases into the appropriate places a brought up some of the books for the kids.
Later Jim was putting the boys to bed. We usually all read the story together but I was finishing up feeding Jo while he was getting the boys to bed. I was expecting that Jim and the boys probably choose a book from the box because they were books that hadn't been seen for at least 7 months, but was not prepared to come in on the middle of Jim "reading" a piano book to the boys. Doug & Andy had chosen a "book" that was actually piano music...and not only piano music but the words were in another language.

Happy Meals

On Tuesday night Jim wasn't feeling well and didn't want to even smell dinner. So I took the kids out and we went to Wendy's. Now, with twins I have usually purchased a meal and split it between the two of them. When they were really little it was a kids meal, but as soon as they were eating more than that we switched to splitting an adult meal. The end of all this is that my kids don't realize that kids meals at fast food places come with a toy. Unfortunately Doug wasn't feeling well and fell asleep on the seat, but Andy had a great time. He was very excited about the frosty and he looked at me with great excitement and a little bit of disbelief that he was going to be able to take home the toy that came with the meal.