Speaking of potty...

We've been working on potty training Miss Sassypants for a while now. She does really well peeing in the potty but has pretty much always refused to do the rest of her business. She would wait for the nighttime or naptime diaper and do it then. Gross! However, we cut out the naptime diaper this week and that seems to have propelled her willingness to do her business on the potty, thank goodness!! I would have taken away the naptime diaper a month ago had I known that!

Today when she did her business and we cheered appropriately she asked her daddy if she could have a "prize". She has been begging here lately for, and I quote, "Daddy, I would like a princess bike, with princess seat, a princess helmet, some princess pads, and princess training wheels, with a princess basket and a princess water bottle." Are you seeing a pattern at all here??

We found such a bike set and made an agreement with her that if she can go 30 days with no accidents, then we will buy the princess bike with the princess helmet and the princess...well you get the idea.

She has seen a chart on the little show she likes to watch "Olivia" so she gets the concept of marking things off on a chart. She actually suggested, "Mommy, I think we need a chart." Well all righty then. I went in and started pulling out the scrapbooking materials. She added plenty of input so I finally had to wait until she went to bed so that I didn't have a supervisor the entire time. LOL She said, "It needs to be bancy (fancy), Mommy!" Ok, a fancy potty chart it is:

I had some old typewriter letter stickers, some antique flower stickers and some scrapbooking paper and the "bancy potty chart" was created. I already added a sticker to day #1 since we had no accidents today. I'll keep you updated on the progress of the process as we go along...hopefully we will be trained once and for all, then we can get the youngest started!

Testing...testing...aarrgghhh!

Small talk six for this weekend is to name six ways in which your children have tested you in the past week. Well to make it fair, I have five kids so we're going to do one for each and then a collective one at the end. lol

1. The oldest. He has decided at 13 years old that he hates me and has gone to the d-bag's house and "supposedly" refuses to come home, which is part of why we are in court. I keep trying to tell myself one of these days he's going to see things for how they are but at this rate it may be when he's in his 30s with kids of his own. It's frustrating but I love him very much and this is breaking my heart.

2. The second. He would LIVE on video games if I would let him and has also taken to just making random noises for no apparent reason.

3. The middle. Still have thumb sucking issues with him when he gets tired or is engrossed in a TV show. I've tried everything to stop this with no success.

4. The daughterling. Let's just say how DOESN'T she test me?? She's the only girl of the bunch so the boys spoil her rotten, her dad spoils her rotten and she is a one-girly girl toddler wrecking crew. She will tear up anything just for the sake of tearing it up. Drives me crazyyyyy.

5. The littlest. He assists his sister in all of her little criminal adventures and his latest thing has been throwing things at people; balls, legos, hot wheel cars(owwwww). He's got pretty decent aim for 2 years old.

6. Collectively, can someone tell me WHY when you tell a child NOT to do something, they turn around and do it again immediately???

Me: Don't touch that.
Child (Doesn't matter which one, they ALL do it, even the 13 yo): **Reaches out and touches it again**
Me: I just SAID don't touch that and I know you heard me!! Why did you touch it again?
Child: I don't know...

Sighhhhhhh. It's a good thing I love them all so much. Seriously, they make my whole world. :)

Pottymouth...

With a 2-year-old and a 3-year-old in the house, it is hard not to find yourself slipping up and saying things that you shouldn't at times. The big boys are not bad about saying things they shouldn't although they do slip up with an occasional "crap" or "this sucks", which I believe they are allowed to say at the d-bag's house but not with Mom. I am guilty of cussing at times; however, my husband is the KING. LOL And for some unknown reason, the wee ones don't tend to repeat me when I say bad words, they only seem to repeat him.

Last night in a period of 2 hours, our 3-year-old repeated 5 different bad things he said, ending with calling him a "jacka$$", at which point I sat with my hands covering my face in a desperate attempt not to die laughing. It was decided at that point that we needed something more concrete as a reminder to not curse like a sailor.

Hence:

The birth of the "Pottymouth Jar". I took an empty Folgers canister and covered it in scrapbooking paper. I tried to take a good picture of the caption but stupid digital camera didn't want to take a clear picture so it says:

The Pottymouth Jar

"When Daddy says something bad,

it buys Mommy something good."

Dear hubby said that I had to pick out something specific that I wouldn't otherwise buy for myself to purchase with the money collected, so I have decided I need one of these:

I can already picture the craft projects I'm going to do with this little beauty and the hubby already owes money in the jar today, so one of these days it WILL be mine, bwahahaha!

Friday ramblings...

If you're expecting some well-written, cohesive post today, I'll start by saying I'm sorry to disappoint. I've been stuck in the house so much lately I've got cabin fever and I'm feeling a little ADHD. However, today has been a fantastic day so far for me. Now I'm just praying that it continues...

My wonderful hubby got up with the wee ones this morning and let me get a little more shuteye. That always makes the day start off great. The coffee pot apparently got over its issue from yesterday and the coffee actually brewed correctly instead of bubbling out the top of the coffee filter thingy (which is what happened yesterday).

I won two blog giveaways, one at www.oopsicraftmypants and one at http://northernmama-northerngirl.blogspot.com - yay!

Then as I was checking my email, I got a comment on my reading list from one of the authors!!! How exciting is that?? I can't wait to get to the bookstore and buy her new book - I've seen some previews of it online and I've got to say, I have kind of a girl-crush on her. LOL Oh here's a link to her book, check it out, it's GORGEOUS. http://www.steinerbooks.org/detail.html?id=9780880107020

I got two more requests for paperback swap books, so I got those ready to mail and put them out. I feel sorry for the poor postal workers during weather like this - I don't even like poking my nose out the door, much less having to be out delivering mail in it. It makes me wish I had some styrofoam "to go" cups hanging out in the cabinet to hand him a hot cup of coffee as he passes by our house.

The Christmas tree is STILL up...so much for my idea that it wasn't staying up one more day, argh! Even Paul, who was originally on the bandwagon with the 3 year old that it was fine to just leave it up, is saying "People are going to start talking about us like we're weirdos if we don't get this tree down..." Ah well, I've been talked about before, it won't be the first time and certainly won't be the last...

It is snowing AGAIN!! Big, fat, fluffy, white flakes are coming down as I type this. The temperature is currently 3 degrees with a windchill of -11. It's pretty in a nightmarish sort of way. I've got cabin fever something awful but don't want to drag everyone out and then go through rounds of sickness and colds...

So far the children seem to be staying in their rooms for naps. HALLELUJAH!! I guess I should get a few things done before the natives start getting restless. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!

Small Talk Six

OK so I know the topic for this week is "Six Ways You've Decided to Change Your Life in 2010"; HOWEVER, I've done like 3 posts on my intentions for the year, reading lists, etc so I'm pretty well over it by now. Instead, I'm going to do "Six Ways You've Decided NOT to Change Your Life in 2010". :)

1. As I sit here drinking my first cup of coffee in the morning, let's just go ahead and put it out there that I have no intention of giving up caffeine....probably ever. I need it. It makes everything right with the world. So poo on you health experts, leave me and my coffee & Diet Coke alone.

2. I am not going to give up on teaching my children manners. In this day and age where it seems like manners and respect for other people have flown out the window, it makes me even more determined to impress upon my children that having manners and respect for yourself and others is vital. So guess what kids? There will still be no elbows on Mom's dinner table, the words "may I please" will be more likely to get you what you want, and you still need to say "thank you".

3. I am not going to continue to try to live up to my mother's unrealistic expectations. I live in a house with five kids, two dogs and a messy husband. Guess what? My house is not going to pass the white glove test and probably never will. (Hey lady, you had two kids, 9 years apart in age and you were miserable to live with - we rarely felt like we could even play.) I want my kids to enjoy life to the fullest and if it takes a bit of clutter to achieve that, then so be it.

4. I am not going to leave the Christmas tree up for another day, regardless of how my 3-year-old daughter feels about it. ("It's beeee-youuu-ti-ful Mommy, I want to leave it there! Pwease don't take it down!) Tonight I am waiting until she goes to bed, having the hubs get the boxes out and we're packing that baby up - I'm sick of looking at it.

5. I am not going to stop cooking healthy meals, sorry children and junk foodie husband. We are still going to continue to eat veggies, no matter how much you loathe them, yep even you, Mr. Man. The entire contents of the grocery store do not reside in the frozen food aisle, family, deal with it.

6. I am not going to apologize for who I am or my choices in life. I've made some mistakes, some whoppers. I'm the one that lives with the consequences of them and I do the best I can with what I have. I'm not going to be perfect ever and I'm okay with that.

Well those are my six things I'm not changing. I'm sure I could find more but those are the big ones off the top of my head as I contemplate my second cup of coffee. Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

New Year, New Post

Happy New Year to everyone! I think writing the first post of a new year is rather intimidating. I'd like to say I woke up this morning with a whole new me, but I didn't. I'm still the same old me with the same old issues and same old messes to clean up. However, I'm trying to remember that it's a blessing to be me and have issues and messes to clean up; otherwise, I'd probably be pretty lonely and I definitely wouldn't have anything to write about.

We brought in the New Year very low key this year. The hubby played World of Warcrap (I hate that damn game), the boys are at their sperm donor's, the little ones went to bed on time and I sat and flipped through the various NYE specials on TV (all of which were horrible) and knitted. Geesh, how old does that make me sound? Oh well, I am justifying it by saying I was doing something productive.

The first day of 2010 I would say has been par for the course around here...streaking toddlers, marking on walls, emptying the refrigerator while Mom is in the bathroom, and a general refusal to nap (however, they are at least staying in their rooms so I can't complain TOO much). I got the living room cleaned up from the two mini tornadoes that played in here earlier and the kitchen is half straightened. I'd love to close my eyes and nap but Lord knows if I close my eyes even for a second, my two little stinkers will escape from their rooms and proceed to destroy anything in sight.

I added a couple more books to my reading list so I can go back and update that post later on and I finished a few more inches of a scarf I'm working on for a friend. Now I think it's time to go hop in the shower before the hubby comes home from work and surprise him by actually being in clothing today instead of PJs. Hey, if you were a stay-at-home-mom, you'd stay in your PJs too, it's ok to be JEALOUS! LOL

Thanks for sticking around and reading my nonsense. Here's to hoping we have a lot of fun nonsense to write about this year!