Flarp On The Sheets

I said I wanted a break from potty training and I guess I'm out voted 3 to 1. Yesterday I dressed them in the typical 1 piece outfits and disposable diapers hoping that they would just stay dressed. It didn't work out that way at all, they were stripping left and right every time they peed or pooped the diapers were a flyin'! They went so far as to remove their diapers and place them on the baby dolls. Then Ava started bossing her sisters, "Chloe dipah, now...come here!" She was ordering them to come to her and let her put the diaper back on them after they ripped it off. Chloe actually went over and laid down and let her attempt to put it on her! I was thinking maybe I should just let Ava change everybody and forget the potty training.

Today I just put cotton training pants and tee shirts on them all. I was mopping up pee most of the day and they were entirely naked most of the day too, don't worry there is no carpet. I'm wondering when my days will stop revolving around messes. If I'm not cleaning up after somebody else I'm cooking for them. When I get the dishes unloaded from the dishwasher there is usually another load waiting to go in or I'm cooking/baking again so there will soon be another load. The dishwasher runs on average 4 times a day at our house. I try to wash the big pans by hand to save room and run it less but it doesn't help much. When the kitchen is clean the rest of the house is a wreck. It's like shoveling the sidewalk in a blizzard. Now that school has started I am trying to keep up with the laundry better. I put away about 11 baskets of clean laundry last weekend and I don't want to let it get that bad again!! I am able to do 3 loads easily each day but that doesn't keep me ahead of the pile when you add in sheets, blankets and pillows with pee, sheets and comforters with "flarp" on them and regular bedding.

If you don't know what "Flarp" is...you probably don't have any little boys. It comes in a container and you can get it at the Dollar store. It's a putty sort of substance but a bit wetter and slimier than silly putty. You push your fingers into it and it forces air into it making loud and super obnoxious fart sounds. The best laughs around for a buck! This is especially hilarious when mom is on the phone talking to the Dr.'s office or the Mortgage company. I went in to shut off Logan's TV and found him sleeping with his hand covered in Flarp. He had apparently molded it around his hand like a glove and then he fell asleep like that and it stuck to the sheet and dried out so it's like silly putty on the sheet.

Oh yea, the white cat from my post in May...well she has taken up permanent residence here. We found out from the neighbors that she was dumped about a mile down the road and kept getting ran off until she ended up here. Wonderful. And to add to the joy I'm feeling she has given birth to 4 chubby little kittens in the playhouse. I'm not sure where to move them to where the big dogs won't get to them but they are about 3 weeks old. We need to move them though before they start pooping on the deck. It's not a poop deck and I refuse to clean up after them too. Enough I say!

Spiders Sir!

I haven't blogged since Memorial Day or something like that. It's been bothering me so I am finally back. I promise I am not turning this into a Military Blog. :)I guess the reason I haven't bothered to post is that I really didn't have much to say that wasn't depressing. I wasn't feeling very funny. Knowing that Austin was off at boot camp was really hard for me. It might sound silly to some of you that have never done it, it isn't the same as sending them off to college or getting a first apartment. It isn't simply the physical separation of being in another time zone that got to me. It wasn't thinking of the physical and mental challenges that he would have to endure or the yelling and screaming of Drill Instructors while spit flies and being IT'd (Intense Training) to the point of nearly collapsing because somebody in his platoon screwed up. I know my son better than anybody on this earth and I knew he could handle all that. Although I missed him terribly and getting a letter from him was like Christmas morning, it wasn't missing him that bothered me either.

I was having a really hard time thinking of him being sent to war. I know that he will be deployed, it's just a matter of when and where he will go. I was terrified. I cannot honestly say that I am not still afraid but it is getting easier. I am so proud of him and his willingness to make a commitment to something greater than self. I am proud of him to have the courage to actually do something about his desire to make a difference. This whole thing has caused me a lot of stress, as some of you know enough to make my hair fall out, I want to laugh about it but it hasn't stopped yet. I am totally going to get one of those Dolly Parton wigs though if needed! But anyway I did some research and found out that the total number of fatal casualties from this war is something like 4,334. That's a lot. That scares me. But to put it in perspective the death toll on US Highways in recent years has been well over 30,000 on average. That's per year.

My oldest stepson has been to Iraq and came back in one piece so I know it's not a death sentence. It's just hard, but maybe I should be more worried that Levi is getting ready to get his learners permit to drive. Eeek.

To end this on a silly note...well first I have to say Support our Troops, google it and there are tons of ways to help them even if you are anti war, nobody hates war more than the men an women who are there fighting it, they still need help from the home front. Thank a Veteran too, most of them still see terrible things when they close their eyes at night and they need to know that what they have been through was not "for nothing".

OK, on with the silliness. Austin told me in a letter about swim week. They have to swim with full gear and heavy packs, helmets and boots etc... and they have to jump into the water simulating jumping out of a helicopter and other scary stuff. Some of the Recruits cannot swim or are not strong swimmers. The DIs are there to make sure nobody drowns but lets just say it ain't summer camp. So one day they are all getting screamed at beside the pool and one of the Recruits is looking nervous. The DI picks up on this of course and goes over to ask him what he is afraid of and he says he is afraid of drowning. The DI tells him he is safe and he will not let him drown. The Recruit does not look any more confident so the DI gets mad, "What else are you afraid of?" The Recruit responds "Spiders, Sir!". They all had to bite their lips on that one.

Memorial Day 2009

The girls are so funny to watch while they play. Ava was pushing the Fisher Price lawn mower down the hall and Piper was sitting on a little booster seat right in her path. Piper started to fake scream as if to say "don't run over me." Chloe ran up to her and stood in the path, then she proceeded to give hand signals as if she were a little traffic cop! It was the funniest thing, I have no idea how she knew to do something like that.

10 minutes later I draped a blanket from the couch to the recliner to make a tunnel for them to crawl under. As soon as I was done straightening it out, Chloe tried to do a belly flop right on top of it. Splat! Then she looked at me like what'd ya do that for?

Praying for the boys in Alpha Company at MCRD, San Diego and also our fallen heroes today.

A Marine news story clip

http://www.kten.com/Global/story.asp?S=5309421 Click on this link and find the video of this news story. I found it interesting. It shows a bit about Marines.

Summer is here! When does school start?

It's been a busy week. Logan is done with pre-K now and so I don't have free time during the day anymore :( Levi is getting a hair cut this weekend! The Disney kid look has gotta go. The cat is gone already, it couldn't handle the stress! We fed her good and nobody pulled her tail, it was just the noise and all the commotion I think. I have lost another 8 pounds putting my total loss in the last 8 weeks at 30lbs!! Yay, it's amazing how much more active a person can be with stomach muscles. If you count my preggo weight I could say I have lost 78 lbs! Wow thats sounds better huh?

Today I am wondering if my house will still be standing after the littles are bigger. I had problems with teens tearing up stuff-mostly punching holes in walls, some foster kids that destroyed things like tvs, and now we are losing blinds and screens out of the windows!! One screen in the living room where the girls watch for the bus ;has popped out at the corner and of course WE didn't notice it but THEY did and it is now pulled and tugged out really far. We can't open that window now until we fix the screen because they could fall out and heaven knows that they would throw out every toy in the house! And let all the flies in, the girls run after flies and shout NO! at them and wave their arms to shoo them away,lol. The sliding screen in the dining room has a rip in it where everyone holds on to open and shut it. Yesterday Logan rammed the Cozy Coupe into the sliding screen door and made 2 more holes where the wheels hit it. He is lucky he knocked the door off the track because I couldn't get the door open far enough to get at him! BUT-trying to help, Levi jammed on the screen door and when it came loose--it smacked me right in the face!! I started yelling and the boys scattered pretty fast at that point. I have a knot the size of a marble on my eyebrow. Whoever thought of installing that dumb door like that anyway? It isn't a sliding door; but the screen is. The "door" part is a regular glass door on one side and a solid non-opening door on the other. Duh? It's in the dining area where you are supposed to have a table. How can you have a table when the door opens up into the room and the room is so tiny anyway and there is another regular door right on the other wall. I would love to be able to extend the kitchen/dining room out farther. There's no hope of that happening until the girls start school though. 

Snowy in May and ginger monkey antics

We have a new family member. She is a white cat with blue eyes, she came out of the woods and I went out and snatched her up before the dogs chased her away. She is really thin but really lovable, we fed her and she has been here for 2 days now. She doesn't belong to any neighbors so she was most likely dumped off. We had to put our kitty Fluff a.k.a. Fluffernutter to sleep a couple of months ago because of health issues. She was almost 14 years old. I had decided to wait and not get a kitten until the girls were older, I have enough messes to clean up for now. But when this kitty came I guess we just decided she chose us and for now she is just staying outside in the play house.

I checked her out and made sure she wasn't sickly or mangy before I called for Logan to see her. I told him come out on the deck, he won't believe what's out there. He smartly said "what it's snowing?" He's 5 and just getting the hang of sarcasm. He ran out and saw the pure white cat and shouted "It's a snowy cat!" So that's when she became Snowy. Logan wanted her to come inside just as badly as she wanted to and I told him "No, she might not be potty trained." He said I should just teach her. Well that's just what I need, another potty training mess maker. NOT.

Here is a clip of what it's like to potty train triplets. They are 21 months now and all about becoming independant just like any almost 2 year old, but when there are 3 of them it makes for a circus. In the clip you can see my ginger monkey on the big potty (it's ok she's covered) and the other 2 are right in there getting in on the action, Piper keeps flushing the toilet and Chloe keeps saying "kankoo" that's monkey talk for Thank you. Chloe also is shouting No! when I ask her to get off the potty. Normally I just pick her up and remover her and she lays on the floor throwing a tantrum for a couple minutes but for the movie I thought we'd leave that part out. :) I will also put in a pic of the little potties that I bought for them. They are used for scooters on the hardwood floors and also make great dolly chairs. Nobody has an interest in peeing in them at the present time.

Logan only has 2 more days of Pre-K next week and then he is off for the summer! Levi has a couple more weeks or so. The girls enjoy watching the bus come to drop them off every day. Ava is still tiny enough that she needs help up onto the couch.

I love summer and love having my kids at home but at the same time it's hard because I run out of things to entertain them. Maybe this summer will be easier because the girls are old enough to "play" and go outside. I can dream can't I?