grease-monkey

This morning before church, while I was getting the dishes straight and Jermaine had left for a church meeting, there was a knock on my door. It was one of the deacons from our church group, coming to gather our fast offering. I was so proud to be able to greet him in my pajamas and robe.
Just as I'm about to write a check by way of donation, Jeffrey comes to the door diaper clad (I had removed his clothes earlier) and carrying a 1lb container of vaseline that Jermaine keeps on his side of the vanity in our Master bathroom. Jeffrey had decided he needed a greasing. It was all over his body. From that moment forward my life became crazy and as a result, I was late to our 11:30am sacrament meeting. Luckily they haven't banned me from attending church and I am still happily married!

MORAL OF THE STORY: Lock your bedroom doors.

Non committed triathaloner

I got a gym membership for Christmas. I have Jermaine to thank for it: THANK YOU Jermaine!!! Always attentive to my needs, including my hopes of becoming fit and doing some running and some triathaloning this year.

So now I'm a full-fledged gym goer and I'm learning the ropes of this new lifestyle. It consists of a high number of women with fake boobs. Not that I go around starring but sometimes you can't help but recognize the facts of what is all around you. I generally strive not to make eye contact in the gym, with men in particular, and when I enter a locker room full of scantily clad individuals. At these times I try to look at my target: the machines to which I am headed when out on the floor, or the locker straight ahead of me while in the locker room. I am usually safe when out on the expansive floor. However, when it comes to the locker room, my target is very often being guarded by a set of fake bosoms. C'est la vie.

As for the pool: I made the mistake of swimming laps one day. I only swam for 10 minutes. CRAZY I KNOW! But that was all the time I had to dedicate at that moment. During that time I gulped down at least a quart of water. It wasn't until after the fact that I realized my goggle-clad eyes had beheld large amounts of body gunk floating around in this water, which caters to hundreds of bodies from ALL WALKS OF LIFE---! When I happen to run by the windows on the track that overlook the gym pool from two stories above, I feel like I'm starring down into an enormous bathtub of brownish-yellow water that has not been drained for far too long. Perhaps I exaggerate?

So now I say a prayer in my heart that I won't contract an STD anytime I wade in the gym pool. Yes, I am partially paranoid...but better safe than sorry, right?!?! I've decided never to put my head under water again, until management corrects the filth.


With this said, I feel a whole lot healthier and I anticipate some good runs/races this year!

Daddy training

at it's best :)

Three Times a Charm

Yesterday, I started morning dishes while, behind my back, Jeffrey moved a stool over to the counter, climbed on it, and as any capable monkey would do, grabbed the nearest fruit and started to devour it...

making sure to discard any unfavorable spots
I carried him to the sink with me, cleansed the store bought produce, robbing it of its sticker and returned Jeffrey to his chair to continue his fest.



HOURS LATER
Yes Jeffrey is still wearing the same pajamas and playing the same tricks on me...

I took the pear out of his hand and washed it. He started to cry initially but when I returned the fruit to him, he went merrily about devouring his feast.


TODAY
I think he's formed a habit. I'm glad he's one capable little boy. I didn't even bother washing this morning's pear. We will see if any adverse effects follow. I highly doubt it.

Noelle stayed dry through the night while wearing her underwear. This is not the first time but I think I need to trust more in her capabilities. This is a good thing!

With that said, a 61 year old lady I visit told me that in her day and age, children were potty trained by 2 years old and the generation before her the children were toilet trained by 1 year old.

I think I need to raise my standards. Next kid I have I'm going cloth. Heck, I might start with Jeffrey thus sparing the environment and see if I can't get him trained by this summer...

He was SO THIRSTY...

that he started drinking the milk straight from his bowl full of cereal...



or he might have been imitating what I usually do when I give him cereal (drink the milk down so he doesn't dump it all over the place)



and then tragedy struck... :(
It wasn't the best start to his day.

$3 spent in a big way

Our family has expanded with very little effort on my part.



Jermaine found these $25 value animals for a fraction of their worth at the local grocery store the other morning



My children have shown them the proper welcome into our family...



from forcing meals on them to clobbering them lovingly, anywhere at anytime.

Random thoughts...daily

Everytime I see this painting as I walk by our dining room, my eye catches on one particular spot:


this guy right here. And I think to myself,



"Why Dr. Phil, what are you doing in this painting?"

Stimulating Conversations

This morning's stimulating conversation, which occurred during breakfast, revolved around "other" names, or in other words, nicknames. Lillian and Noelle were asking me on Saturday what my other name was and at that time my mind drew a blank. Ryan decided it should be Strawberry but I don't know that I WAS SOLD on her idea.

So this morning the brain juice was flowing due to my kinda early workout and I had a brilliant response to their questions about my other name. But first we reviewed the kids nicknames:

Ryan=Pumpkin
Lillian=Loo-Loo
Noelle=Boo-Boo
Jeffrey=Buddy-Boo

Then they came to me and it seemed like a really easy rhyming game so my very easy response came out as


Moo-Moo


which means that Jermaine's nickname in terms of my easy rhyming game came out as


Doo-Doo.


No one laughed like I did. In fact no one laughed at all except for me. Instead Ryan looked at me as though I have a sick mind...someone confess and admit that you laughed too.

OKAY! HAVE A GREAT MONDAY and let it trickle into the rest of your week ;)

Ryan has a weekly planner she brings home from school. There are little assignments she must complete. They revolve around social ethics. This week we covered "listening." Here are the results of her assignment:



Can anyone guess who she drew?




Might I add, she's very pleased with her drawing, especially the hair which, like her parents, she knew needed to be cut.