The Fur Is A Flyin'

Well, I don't own a fur, but if I did it would be flying. It's Spring Cleaning time at the Watts house. And if it ain't bolted down, it's a contender to make a little trip to the nearest Goodwill. We are doing some serious paring down. I hauled six large trash bags full, plus a few other full tote bags, out of my closet alone!! And I made Ruth try on every item of clothing she owns when she got home from school. Mom's rule: If the belly peeks out or I can see too much leg, the item must go. And it wasn't just the closets and drawers that felt my wrath. I'm pretty sure we could stock a small preschool with all the toys I sent packing--some under the radar, I must admit. I'm not sure which room I'll attack tomorrow, but possessions (and small children) beware.

Double Embarrassed

So...I found my list in the bottom of my black hole diaper bag. If I was embarrassed before, well, now I'm doubly so. Not only that, but upon re-inspection of found list and a quick glance at the printer, I realized I was hunting for the wrong-numbered cartridge all along. Brilliant. But, alas, the correct printer cartridge (and the aforementioned undergarments) have been purchased and put in their proper places, so I hope to put this embarrassment behind me very qickly. And I will thank all of you to do the same.

(And stop laughing at me. It could have happened to anyone)!

I'd Like To Have That One Back

That moment when I handed over my shopping list (with two separate listings for undergarments) to the little helpy-helperton in Fry's so she could see the number of the printer cartridge I wanted to replace. She didn't know if they had it or not, but she proceeded to take it from me and show it to no less than 5 other (male) employees. By the time they had all had a good laugh looked it over and agreed that they didn't sell what I needed, the kids were restless and the baby was crying, and consequently, I forgot to ask for my list back. I was pretty embarrassed when I realized that I had left Helpy with my list. And with my shopping unfinished, I would have to work from memory. Yikes! (Though I clearly remembered the undergarments)!

When I relayed this story to my husband with a bit of a blush, he added the normal, helpful Jeff perspective: "O.k. so now everyone who works at Fry's knows you wear underwear. (So what's the big deal)?" Yeah, so I guess that isn't much of a surprise. But to have it listed there for everyone to see...

...Oh, but wait, I've just shared it with the world, so I guess it doesn't really matter so much, huh?!

"I Think I Can, I Think I Can"

This was the mantra of the day, and it worked!!! Weston went through the whole day (except for his nap) in big boy underwear and didn't have a single accident! He earned his "Potty Train" and we couldn't be prouder of him! And he's pretty pleased with himself, too!

Using The Potty Train To My Advantage

At one point today when Weston was sitting on the potty, he asked, "Where's that potty train?" Which kicked me into a rarely-used quick-thinking gear and prompted me to come up with a brilliant plan. I made a deal with Weston that if he can make it through a whole day without any accidents, I will buy him a train. He thought that was a fabulous plan and agreed to work hard to achieve the goal. He is also looking for a little supernatural intervention, as he prayed tonight to be able to get his "Potty Train" tomorrow. He wore his big boy underwear pretty much all day and only had one accident, so there is definitely hope that we could be buying a special "potty train" in the next couple of days. I'll do whatever it takes to put the diaper days behind us!

All Aboard! (whether you like it or not)

Unfortunately, Patient Mommy neglected to show up this morning--something about being up in the middle of the night with the baby.* But in her place, all of Two-Year-Old-Weston showed up. It wasn't a great combination, I can tell you. To make matters worse, Two-Year-Old-Weston was doubling as Potty-Training-Weston-In-Big-Boy-Underwear. (You can see that things are going to deteriorate quickly). After the second accident in a span of 20 minutes, there was a little display of frustration, in which Non-Patient Mommy gave that little boy quite a talking to. Weston unwisely thought the whole situation was quite funny and proceeded to laugh, laugh, laugh. Non-Patient Mommy gave him just the slightest swat on the leg to get his attention, to which he immediately produced a more appropriate sad face. The two moved off into the bathroom to clean up the mess, and Sad-Face Weston said, "That scary me." To which Non-Patient Mommy snapped, "What?! What scared you?" "That Potty Train scary me," he replied, which dissolved Non-Patient Mommy into a fit of laughter and helped her see the error of her ways.** That Potty Train scares me too, Weston.

*You surely didn't think that nine hour sleeping thing was going to last, did you?!

**Attitudes on both sides were much-improved after Weston's nap, and the afternoon went along much smoother. He even kept the big-boy underwear dry for several hours and had many successful attempts at the potty.

Oh What A Beautiful Day

Today was such a fun day. We moved Max into the crib in his room last night (as opposed to the cradle in our room), and he slept a whopping NINE HOURS!!!!! You read that right. Nine hours. How fabulous! If I had only known, I would have kicked him out of our room long ago!

Weston tried out his big boy underwear during the first half of the day. And he did moderately well. With a few more days practice (and a little more attentiveness from Mommy), I think he'll get the hang of it.

Ruth told us the most hilarious (to us--to her is was very serious) story at dinner. It began, "Today was better. I had a meeting with Mrs. Towler to discuss So-n-So's behavior." What?! Turns out there was some sort of altercation on the playground (carried over from last week) in which some girls wanted to play "Cowgirls" and others wanted to play "Agents," and they just couldn't seem to work it out without a little intervention. The best part was that Ruth had no idea what "Agents" was, but she was sure she didn't want to play that and was convinced the other little girl was being "unfriendly" because she was insisting on playing that. It was Kindergarten drama at its best!

We finally managed to connect with the UPS guy today, and so we now possess the latest in video technology--a video camera that fits in the palm of my hand, weighs almost nothing and doesn't use tapes! It's very cool. Now we will be able to entertain ourselves and all of you on a regular basis with the likes of this:

Another Fun Weekend

We Interrupt This Program...

We're off to the lake this afternoon, since Ruth doesn't have school tomorrow. We will surely return on Sunday with stories to tell and pictures to view. Hope you all have a wonderful and safe weekend!

Ruth's Day In The Sun

We began the day a little earlier than normal so we could go up to the school for the Jaguar Pride Assembly. Ruth was awarded one of these Jaguar Prides back in the Fall, and she received another one a couple of weeks ago for contributing positively at her school. The assembly was extra-special for Ruth today as she had 2 parents, 2 brothers, 2 grandparents and a great-grandparent there. (I might add that it was nothing short of a miracle getting us all up and ready and out of the house by 7:15)! Ruth was absolutely beaming with pride when we left her this morning! And we are all as proud of her as she is of herself!

Ruth's day continued to be special when I took her out for a girl-only night tonight. We went to see Horton Hears A Who, which was a really fun movie that we both enjoyed. Then, we went out for dinner (just the two of us) at Jason's Deli. She was thrilled to have me all to herself, and I was overjoyed at getting to have some one-on-one time with her. I know I won't have these days forever, so I cherish every minute of them while I do have them.

Playing, But Not By The Rules

Well, I've been tagged, and I never was really very good at being "It." So, instead of tagging others I'll just share my fun facts, and we can all go about our normal lives. But first I need to think of my fun facts. Hold on...

...Hmm, this is kind of hard. I'm trying to think of some things you all don't already know, but I'm kind of an open book here.

...Well, I may just have to put facts, whether known or not, so here we go:

1. Jeff and I met in high school at Student Council camp in San Angelo, TX and were pen pals for about a year before ever having a date. We started dating in college and were married right before our senior year. This year we will celebrate our 10th anniversary.
2. I spent three weeks in Africa when I was 17.
3. I LOVE to travel!! Any time. Any where. Just let me get my purse.
4. All of my kids have at least one name that is a family name--Ruth was Jeff's grandmother's name, Wayne (Weston's middle name) is my grandfather's name and Max Andrew comes from Jeff's dad (Maxie) and Jeff's grandfather's middle name.
5. I just realized that No. 4 is actually facts about my kids rather than myself, so I'll try again and hope to stay on task: My maiden name is Pope and when I was a kid I wished my parents would have named me "Hope Pope."
6. My massage chair is easily my favorite piece of furniture. It would be worth going back into the house for if there was a fire.
7. I have an unreasonable fear of cockroaches and have been known to use an entire can of Raid on just one of these disgusting creatures. (I also have an unreasonable fear of rats, but you already know all about that).
8. I love to scrapbook, though I don't have much time or space for that at the moment. I also like lots of other crafty things--but never, ever anything that involves sewing.
9. I always drink a Diet Dr. Pepper at 10:00 in the morning, if possible. And sometimes I treat myself to another one in the afternoon.
10. I do not ever step on a scale, unless forced to at a doctor's office. Nothing good can come of me knowing and obsessing over that number.
11. (This is a bonus to make up for No. 4): I enjoy crossword puzzles but only ever work the one in the airline magazine when I'm flying somewhere. I also like logic puzzles and sudoku puzzles and wish I had more time to play around with them.

Wild And Crazy Weekend With Some Of Our Relatives

We had a fun weekend at Jeff's parents place at Lake Buchanan. The big kids rode the SeaDoo (or SeaBoat as Weston likes to call it). They also received new fishing poles and practiced their casting. Ruth got her first "grown-up" pole in a pleasant pink, and she is very proud of it and of her ability to cast. Weston got a rocket launcher pole, which very nearly took out the back door and Granny Wanda's head--not on Weston's casts, I might add! We played several games of Scrabble, of which I managed to win a couple! Weston covered his face (nay, his whole body) on at least three occasions with various foodstuffs. And Max charmed everyone with his adorable smiles. It was a great time! Can't wait to do it again next weekend!

Short and Fat

Max had his two-month check-up today and his first round of immunizations. He took the shots (all five of them) like a man, hardly crying at all. Now that he is gaining weight, he's going at it with gusto. He weighed 12 lbs. 9 oz. (75th percentile) and was 22 in. long (20th percentile). He is hitting all the appropriate milestones, and the doctor said everything looks really great.

Two Months Old

Today's Special

Patient Mommy decided to pay us a visit in honor of Spring Break. Yay! And because she decided to play with us, Ruth got to do something she doesn't often get to do. She got to plan the entire dinner menu, make the shopping list, do the shopping and make all the food. It was pretty much an all-day affair, but it was so much fun! And on the menu? Pizza Biscuit Bears, Sailboat Salad, Mr. Taco Bean Dip, Peanut Butter Teddies and Root Beer. Wish you all could have been here!

How To Celebrate The First Day Of Spring Break

1. Sleep in.
2. Make muffins--and if they have chocolate chips in them, all the better!
3. Eat said muffins in the living room while watching back-to-back episodes of Little House On The Prairie.
4. Play with your siblings.
5. Pick up lunch at Subway.
6. Eat said lunch at RadiJazz, after running through the parking lot in the rain.
7. Slide, jump, run, laugh, sing, skip, climb, throw balls, roll down hills, etc.
8. Repeat over and over.
9. Take a nice little siesta.
10. Dine at the Luby's of your choice, making sure to get Jell-O.
11. Play several hands of Go Fish.
12. Stay up late.

Does Anyone Have The Time?

'Cause we definitely don't! We went about our morning in a leisurely way. Then, about 10:45 I laid down with Weston for a nap. I woke up right at noon and made my way downstairs. When I got to my computer (after a stop at the bathroom and maybe another quick distraction or two), it was 1:15. How could this be?! I check the microwave clock: 12:15. The oven: 12:15. The living room clock that runs on battery power: 12:15. Huh. The computer still says 1:15. Why is that? Oh, I know. It's all that fighting I did with the computer yesterday--re-starting it several times and even popping the battery out--and the computer is trying to get in the last punch. That must be it. And that's easy to fix. We spend the rest of our day in ignorant bliss. At 4:30 I go to the grocery store. Jeff calls me after I've been there just a few minutes. "I figured out the time problem," he says--and I think he means computer problem that caused the time to be off--"the time changed last night." Right. I knew that. (But I still think the computer hates me)!

The computer hates me

I have been fighting computer battles all day--and mostly losing, I think. Needless to say, I don't have any pictures for you tonight. Sorry. Take my word for it, though, I have really cute kids and we had a really fun weekend.

“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”

--Oprah Winfrey

We had much to celebrate today. First of all, it was Friday--which is always worth celebrating. But today was a special Friday because it marks the beginning of Spring Break for Ruth. We all attended a cookout at her school today to kick off the special week. I think that's the first time I have ever had a hamburger at 10:25 in the morning! But it was a fun time, and Ruth was thrilled to have us all there--and her friends were almost as excited to see us as she was!

This evening was also the official celebration of Ruth's reading--a big party for finishing Black Beauty and Heidi. Ruth revised her original tent-camping plan in favor of the more practical living room camp out. We picked up Peproni RollsTM* from Double Dave's, popcorn and Ratatouille** from the movie store and then set up our beds in the living room. We just love celebrating these little moments, and we feel like the kids will remember them fondly even into adulthood--at least we hope so!***

*I don't know if I'd be alive today if it weren't for Peproni Rolls. Thanks to Aggie Bucks and Double Dave's "Two for Tuesday" special, I ate them at least once a week when I was in college. I ordered them so often that the people who worked there knew me by name. This was before the reality of counting calories ever even occurred to me. Since I've been out of college, I have had the rolls a few times but certainly not often, so tonight was a real treat.

**I can't think of when we have all enjoyed an animated movie so much! It was really fun! And it didn't have a super-evil bad guy like so many of the children's movies do these days. We would definitely recommend it!

***I do have pictures of all this celebrating, but my camera and my computer are not speaking to each other and cannot be persuaded to work out their differences tonight. Perhaps if they can put their disagreement behind them tomorrow I will post some pics.

Oooh Baby She's Got It

de·ter·mi·na·tion
n.

a. Firmness of purpose; resolve
b. A fixed intention

Ruth came home from school today determined to finish her book (Heidi). The thing was, she was only about half-way finished, and Jeff and I were pretty skeptical that she would actually accomplish this. It's not that we weren't rooting for her, we just didn't think she had the attention span for it. But she proved us completely wrong! She sat down and read...and read...and read--10 chapters, 113 pages (57 text pages)! She just wouldn't stop (except for dinner)! We even told her several times that she could always finish it tomorrow, but she insisted on staying with it so she could have a special treat tonight--ice cream. (The actual reward is tent-camping, and we just didn't think that would be much fun in this crazy WINTER weather)! She just continues to amaze us, and we are so very proud of her--not only for her incredible reading, but also for her fierce determination!

Big Day

It was a big day around here today. First of all, there was a rash of e-mail changes. Jeff and I both got new e-mail addresses, and Ruth got signed up for an address of her own. You have all been spammed with the updated addresses, so we'll be expecting to hear from you soon!

The other big event of the day was me putting new sand in the sandbox. The kids went absolutely crazy! You would have thought I filled it up with candy and told them to eat until they were sick! I hadn't realized how much they have missed playing in there while it was out of commission because of having left the lid off during a few too many rain storms and then put it back on before all the water had evaporated. Can you say mildew?! (And no telling what all kinds of diseases)! Ick! Anyway, it's all clean now and the kids are thrilled. They probably played out there for an hour and a half. Eight bags of sand at $2 a bag is a steal in babysitting dollars! Unfortunately, I didn't trouble myself to go inside for the camera. But trust me, it was fun times! Winter is supposed to be bothering us again tomorrow, so I'm glad they got to enjoy being outside today.

Hope you did, too!

Jumping the Gun

Was it really I who declared it the official end of winter only two days ago?! Surely not! Surely nothing so ridiculous would enter my thoughts! Because clearly it is still very much WINTER. And my plants are all going to die. Perfect. Cruel and depressing is all that is. Just when I was ready to don the flip flops, too. Oh well. I'm in serious need of a pedicure, so I guess I can keep my little piggies covered for a little longer. (There is just the slightest chance that all of this could have been predicted, since I have jumped the gun on Spring just about every year of my adult life. I can't help it; the lure of the first few warm days and the Siren song of flowers in bloom gets me every time)!

W for Weston

Weston is getting pretty good at saying the alphabet, and he is particularly fond of the letter "W"--for very good reason! He can identify that letter in books, on signs and anywhere else words and letters lurk. Tonight he took his ownership of the letter to another level when he became distressed that every page of the book we were reading before bed didn't have a "W" on it. "Where's my W?" he would ask. And then he would scan the book until he would find one. And he's not above claiming the "M" if need be. After all, "M" is just a "W" standing on its head--although I think I finally got through to him that "M" is for "Mommy" and he can't have it! I guess I need to special order one of those books where they put the kid's name in the story. That way "W" really will be for "Weston."

Enough Is Enough

Today I declared "Mandi's official end of winter", which I do every year around this time. A girl can just take so much winter, you know. So, to celebrate Spring, I moved all my plants out of the garage and into the bright sunshine. Many of them were quite happy in their cozy little winter home, so they came out blooming. That makes me really happy! And the smell of mountain laurels was in the air. It won't be long now before the bluebonnets make their appearance! I can't wait! I love Spring!