That WOULD be the part he’d like. . . .

My boys favorite movie to watch right now are the VeggieTales movies.  Now, I don’t know if you’re familiar with this series or not, but it’s a pretty awesome set of movies.  Basically the premise is that they take bible stories and make them kid friendly.  Kids are thoroughly entertained all while learning important lessons.  VeggieTales teach kids about being kind to one another, compassion, being brave, doing what’s right, how to deal with bullying- it’s fabulous. 

So here I am, allowing my boys to rent and watch a bit more of these movies then I probably should because I feel that it is teaching them important things.  I’m really hoping that these lessons are soaking in. 

One of these movies is about Jonah and the whale.  Some things are edited for kids, for example- rather then getting into why Nineveh is so bad, they say that the people there slap each other with fishes.  But the basic bible story is the same, and this movie really does a great job of teaching compassion and mercy. 

So what did my boys get out of this movie?  Are they being kinder to one another?

Well, the other day I was driving them in the van when “Mr. Trouble” says to me:  Hey mom, you know what we need?  You need to go buy some fishes that are clean.

Me: Fishes?

Him: Yeah, me and CamCam need fishes that are clean so we can hit each other with them.

Not exactly the point I was hoping he’d get. 

From Eating money to Toilet aim to Killing lobsters

I LOVE preschool talk.  Just love it.  If you spend any amount of time listening, really listening, to a preschooler and what they are saying, I guarantee you’ll have a good laugh. 

There are those conversations that make you realize that, while it is possible to have a logical conversation with a 5 year old, it just isn’t possible with a 3 year old:

5 year old- Mom, when did I swallow money?

Me- I don’t remember you swallowing money.

5yo- Well, I remember that I did.  It was on my tongue and then it slipped down my throat.

Me- Well, don’t do that again.  We don’t want to put money in our mouth, it’s dangerous.  Plus it has germs. 

5yo- What’ll it do to me?

Me- They’ll make you sick.

5yo- No, I mean what do the germs do to me?

Me- I know, they’ll make you sick.  You’ll throw up.

3 year old, who’s been listening intently to the entire conversation with a look of concentration on his face- And what paper do??? It goes like this:  boom! boom! boom! (Hitting his book back and forth)  And people go ahhhhhhhhh! (Hits himself in face with book)  Like that!

Then there are those conversations that make you wonder what kind of child you are raising:

Like, when your 4 year old brings you something he’s built out of Legos and you say- “Oh, that’s so nice!  What are those, trees?”

And he replies- “No, they’re warriors of doom.”

There are the conversations you hear that make you wonder how on earth we got from point A to point B:

Nolie (aka Mr. Trouble)- (eyeing my dinner plate of tortellini)  Hey!  Do I like that?

Me- No, you don’t.  You think they’re yucky.

CamCam- Hey!  I like those!  I eat that!

Me- No, you don’t like these either.  You think they’re yucky.

CamCam- Yes I do, I like to eat yucky.

Nolie- You like to eat yucky things CamCam?

CamCam- Yup!

Nolie- Just not lobster?

CamCam- I eat lobster.

Nolie- You like to eat their bodies?

CamCam-  No!!! I don’t want to eat my body!!!

Nolie- No, not your body.  You eat lobster’s bodies.  You eat and eat lobster’s bodies and when you eat all their body then their dead. 

There are those conversations that just make you shake your head:

Like when I was talking with Nolie about how he needs to aim better in the toilet-

“Pee goes in here, not here, or here, or here.  Just here.

Nolie- And not in here? (pointing to where the seat connects to the bowl)

Me- No!!! Why on earth are you asking that?!? You don’t pee there do you?

Nolie- Yes I do.

Me- Why!?!

Nolie- Because I like to.

There are the conversations that make it really hard to be the tough, in charge parent.  Because all you want to do is laugh.

It’s bedtime at our house and, like usual, Nolie and CamCam are not settling down to sleep.  They were tucked into bed almost an hour ago and we can still hear them fooling around up there.  Time to send in the big guns- The Dada goes up.

The Dada (after a stern talk about how it’s now bedtime)- Now, do you want to go to sleep or do you want to find out what will happen if I have to come back up here?

Nolie-  I want to find out what will happen.

Dada- No, if I have to come back up, I’m not going to be happy.  So do you want to find out or do you just want to go to sleep?

Nolie- I really want to know what’s going to happen.

And then there are the ones that remind you that you're the mom of boys:

I’m sitting in a chair and Nolie comes in and sits in my lap.  He stayed awhile, which is rare for him.  Usually he jumps right up.  I put my arms around him, and he snuggled in.  So I started rocking and humming the itsy bitsy spider song to him, thinking, “isn’t this nice?”

Nolie- Guess what I did mom?

Me- Hmmm?

Nolie- Guess what I did mom?

Me- What?

Nolie- I tooted on your leg.

You know you’re the mom of little boys when. . .

Your dining room table is actually a fort

  

 

If necessary, you could feed a small family out of all your baseboard heaters.

You open up your window to get some fresh air, and find that it is actually a carport. 

Your kitchen cabinets…

 

…are harder to get into then Fort Knox.

 

Your baby gate…

…is being held in place with cable ties…

 

…because someone worked overtime to pull it out of the wall.

 

You pull back YOUR bed covers and find this:

 

More of lunch ends up on the floor…

…then in this tummy.

Your sound system and DVD player have to be barricaded. 

When you manage to clean one room….

 

…only to pay for it in another room,

  

…and another. 

I Love You Guys!

    

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Edited to add:  I’m so excited because today I received an email from the SITS girls telling me that I am the Sits Girl in the Spotlight!!!  If you have NO idea what I’m talking about, then you have to check out the SITS website.  I love them!

And if you’re interested in the blog post that the featured picture prompted, here it is.   

 

Shhhh. . . Everyone freeze or they’ll get up!

We are still doing the no TV thing, and 99% of the time it is still going smashingly, but, I will admit, there still is that 1% of the time that:

Blue’s Clues is Awesome!!!

 

I wonder if stamps are figured into the cost of raising a child?

Recently I sent The Dada a text message that read:  You’re out of stamps. 

To which he replied:  How can I be out of stamps?  I just bought some.

To which I replied:  Because certain people in our house do not understand the meaning of the word “stamps”, but they do understand the meaning of the word “stickers”.

Yes, once again my boys were up to no good.  CamCam had his back to me, and I heard some paper crinkling.  I kept looking over, but didn’t see anything.  I assumed he found a little piece of paper on the ground and was playing with it.  But eventually I asked him what he had.  He said “Stickers.”  I figured he took some stickers out of his potty reward stash and was playing with them.  I don’t know why I haven’t learnt my lesson by now.  Why do I always assume my boys are playing with something normal? Why haven’t I learnt that their little imaginations never take them to toys or stickers or plastic containers?  No, their little mischievous imaginations take them to makeup drawers, markers, trash and anything that would waste my money. 

When I did finally go over to them, I saw that they had gotten into our stamps and put them everywhere.

“Who put these everywhere?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” said Mr. Trouble.  “CamCam and me?”  And then, get this, he says, with a sense of pride and accomplishment in his voice, “We worked very hard.”

Like I should be thanking him or something!  “Wow boys!  Great job!  I am so impressed that you put these very expensive stickers all over the room.  Way to go!”

 

---

This is pretty cool.  All our doorknobs should have a stamp on them.

 

If your going to play with stamps, there must ALWAYS be an attempt to mail a baby. 

  

 

So if you think your boys are up to no good never, never, never ask them about it and take their word for it.  Investigate.  I assume I’m being taught this lesson by toddlers so that when I’m the mommy of teenagers I’ll know better.

Thanks boys.

I swear we do NOT drink out of the milk carton!

Sorry for the abrupt ending, but can’t you just picture that gallon of milk tipping up higher and higher and then splashing all over CamCam’s face, him pulling back in horror, and the milk emptying out all over my floor???

So can I, that’s why I dropped the camera and ran.

How many people get to play Wheel of Fortune?

Last night my brother hosted a Wheel of Fortune/Jeopardy party.  He’s been working MONTHS on this, and it was an absolute blast!  He built the entire setup himself, it was incredible.

    

See?  I kid you not, it was a life-size replica of The Wheel. 

 

And here’s the man of the hour! 

A couple of hours before we headed over there, I was making cupcakes to bring.  CamCam LOVES cupcakes.  What little boy doesn’t???  He kept walking in and out of the kitchen, “Mom?  Cut-cakes ready?”  He could smell the sweet aeroma and thought for sure I was holding out on him.

He watched me bring them out of the oven and asked if he could have one.  I told him no, they were too hot, and plus, we were bringing these with us to Gickey’s house. 

He kept an eye on them for me while they were cooling.  “Mom!” he said, while poking one in the top.  “Cut-cakes not hot anymore!  Can I eat one?”

He came running into the kitchen when I was frosting them.

“Mom, can I have one cut-cake?”

”No CamCam, we have to bring these to Gickey’s house.”

“How ‘bout this mom?  How bout this- you give one cut-cake Gickey’s house, and give one cut-cake for me.”

Little CamCam, he has a solution for everything.