Gratuitous Cute Kid Picture

I finally picked up the photos- I think they are well worth the wait

If my head wasn't attached

First of all- the backstory...

I have always had the kids photos taken professionally (well at JC Penney's so professional is a relative term) at 3, 6, 9 , 12, and 18 months old and then on each birthday. For D and K we took the first set right after they came home and then get on the "schedule" for the next level. So K was almost 8 months old when we did hers in August and I picked up the photos at mid September (cause it takes a couple weeks from photo shoot to photos printed) But because I wanted her on the schedule and she has learned to sit up in the interim between 8 and 9 months, I scheduled her 9 months photos for around her birthday date- which happened to be about a week after I picked up the other photos.

So...
So last week I realize I can't find the new photos anywhere. I remember (I thought) picking them up. B and I tore the house apart looking for the photos when B says "are you sure you picked them up"

Well of course I picked them up- I remember taking the 3 little kids with me and we had dinner at the mall and I put the envelope with the photos in the car.

After a phone call to the studio the next morning, turns out the photos are still at Penneys waiting for someone to pick them up.

Several times I left the house to do errands, including picking up the photos but for a host of reasons (like they are only open to 7) I never made it to the mall to get them. And since I had just picked up photos a couple of weeks ago I "remembered" picking up these photos too. Apparently I am not the person you want in charge of anything that requires memory of actual events.

Oh and the photos are still at Penney's waiting for me to come pick them up.

Breakfast with Elmo (or how to traumatize a child)

D loves Elmo. In fact, his name is one of the 3 words she can say clearly. We had an opportunity to attend a Breakfast with Elmo as part of a museum exhibit developed using Sesame Street. Everything was going great- D was enjoying the food and having a good old time, until Elmo arrived.



Not that we were surprised but she would not go near Elmo. She would wave from a distance but that was it. X was more than willing so we hoped that would push D and convince her but no such luck. K isn't sure what to think at all.







We did eventually get all four of them to pose, with B's help, for a photo with Elmo.



We tried to get D to get near Elmo one last time before we left breakfast but as you can probably tell from her body language she wasn't go near him



In the exhibit, the kids posed in front of 123 Sesame Street and D visited Elmo's World, where she was fascinated to find Elmo's fish Dorothy, just like on TV









But of course their favorite thing was the digestion exhibit, complete with burps and poo. Not that I am surprised by this at all...

Never a Dull Moment

The kids noticed the other day that there was a small hole in the window screen right by the kitchen table. It didn't take long before Arizona noticed the hole, too. And it took even less time for X and D to realize that food can pass through the hole to Arizona. Now we have a much bigger hole...










When you have four kids you would think that a moment of peace and quiet would be a welcome event. However... what it really means is that it is time to go see what is going on. This initially appeared to be a fun game with my laundry hamper... Turns out they have D trapped under the hamper. And before anyone calls child protective services or anything- she was laughing her head off. When I told them to let her out, their response was "why- she likes it" Who could argue with that logic so I pulled out the old parental stand-by "Because I said so!"

Funny- the next survivor series

Someone sent this to me and it was too funny not to pass on. There will be an official update to the blog this week. I am speaking at an adoption class tomorrow but hopefully by Wednesday at the latest- and I will even include photos. Anyways- enjoy....

HERE ARE THE PARTICIPANTS FOR THE NEXT SERIES OF SURVIVOR

Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and 3 kids each for six weeks.

Each kid will play two sports and either take music or dance classes.

There is no fast food.

Each man must take care of his 3 kids; keep his assigned house clean, correct all homework, and complete science projects, cook, do laundry, and pay a list of 'pretend' bills with not enough money.

In addition, each man will have to budget in money for groceries each week.

Each man must remember the birthdays of all their friends and relatives, and send cards out on time--no emailing.

Each man must also take each child to a doctor's appointment, a dentist appointment and a haircut appointment.

He must make one unscheduled and inconvenient visit per child to the Urgent Care.

He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function.

Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned house, planting flowers outside and keeping it presentable at all times.

The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done.

The men must shave their legs, wear makeup daily, adorn himself with jewelry, wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes,keep fingernails polished and eyebrows groomed.

During one of the six weeks, the men will have to endure severe abdominal cramps, back aches, and have extreme, unexplained mood swings but never once complain or slow down from other duties.

They must attend weekly school meetings, church, and find time at least once to spend the afternoon at the park or a similar setting.

They will need to read a book to the kids each night and in the morning, feed them, dress them, brush their teethand comb their hair by 7:00 am.

A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be required to know all of the following information: each child's birthday, height, weight, shoe size, clothes size and doctor's name. Also the child's weight at birth, length, time of birth, and length of labor, each child's favorite color, middle name, favorite snack, favorite song, favorite drink, favorite toy, biggest fear and what they want to be when they grow up.

The kids vote them off the island based on performance. The last man wins only if...he still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment's notice.

If the last man does win, he can play the game over and over and over again for the next 18-25 years eventually earning the right To be called Mother!

Please- Only One Baby At a Time

They always tell you to expect regression when a new sibling joins a family but really neither A or X had much (or any) regression after the younger ones came. But they were also older when it happened. A was almost 4 when X came, almost 7 when D came and 8 when K came. X was 3 when D came and 4 when K came. D was only 2 however when K came and apparently 2 is the magic number for regression in our house. She has been climbing in the Exersaucer to play in it. The first couple of times she got stuck and cried while waiting for someone to come rescue her. Of course, that didn't stop her from going right back in. Now she has learned how to climb out which is an improvement but we are still working on climbing in ONLY when K is OUT of the Exersaucer. The first several times D didn't seem deterred at all by the fact K was sitting in the only seat. All and all, no biggie and I thought if this is the big regression I can live with it.

Then one day I walk into the kitchen to find this...







Yes she had put on a bib, climbed into the high chair (I have no idea how- the girl's gonna be a gymnast) and was patiently waiting for me to feed her. And no, giving her food to feed herself was not acceptable- she wanted fed like the "ma-me" (baby) So I fed her a cup of yogurt with a baby spoon and she seemed very pleased with herself. I should add this is the same high chair she would NOT sit in happily when she was a baby.

She has not made a return trip to the high chair after I told her she had to eat baby food next time. Apparently, there is a limit to how much she wants to be a baby. Now if I could just get her to sleep in her own bed........

Because it is my blog and I can

and because I think it is an very important issue and the more people who make their opinion heard the better-
Tell your congresspeople to permanently protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Drilling will not result in marketable oil for at least 10 years and the oil is only predicted to last 6-12 months. Drilling is too big a cost for too little a gain.