Free Willy!!!!

My young son has decided that life sometimes is best lived without a diaper.

Well, young man! You should at least learn to march right to the bathroom when you decide to piddle.... and aim at the potty chair, when you're in there, not at my leg! Hmph!

He first ripped off a poopy diaper, left it in one of the girls' bedrooms, and deposited a puddle by the dining room table. I discovered the little yellow puddle, cleaned it up, cleaned him up, put on a fresh diaper, and went to wash my hands. While I was in there, I decided to go to the potty myself, and while I was sitting there, he marched in, started chatting to me, and as I was looking down at him, I noticed what looked like a string blowing around (I assumed blowing from the vent air) .... then suddenly felt warmth and something wet draining down my leg. It was a little yellow string...or stream...! I yelped, he stopped mid-stream, walked a little bit away, then as I was looking at him, laughing and laughing, he proceeded to unload another stream right in the direction of the bathroom vent!

By this time I was just howling and trying so hard to tell him to stop all this nonsense already!!! He just looked at me and finished draining his bladder!

My goodness, kiddo! I mean, I understand freeing Willy every once in a while but please!!! Tell Willy to just keep it in his bladder unless he's at least aiming at the potty chair!

On the positive note: As I was cleaning up one of the puddles, one of my lovely daughters said, "Well, on one hand it's not so bad! The cleanup always smells so good!" I have Pine-Sol and water in a spray bottle so I don't have to get the mop bucket out for every little mess.

Little Miss Izzy!

Yesterday: I was sitting on our over-sized recliner, leaning forward, pouring over some homeschool material when I hear this chirpy little 2 y.0. voice say, with utter disdain, "Oh, yUUck! What's that?" I asked her, "What's what?" She said, "That!" I had to look back to see what she was looking at and I see her hanging on the arm of the chair to my right, staring at my back...or, a little lower. I was aware that my shirt and my pants weren't quite connecting so I asked her, "What? Is there something on my back? Or...are you talking about my...uh....plumber's crack?" (They all know what a plumber's crack is) She said, "Your butt crack!" (I know, I know. I shouldn't allow them to say butt, but....) I was getting up right then to go to the bathroom so I proceeded to do so, with my delightful little Izzy following close behind, with her little button nose crickled up but with a very pleased and entertained look on her face, saying, "Hee, hee! I saw your butt crack sticking out! Your crack just keeps comin' outta your butt, hah Mom? Hee, hee, hee!" I had to (a-hem) crack up over that one!!!

And, one more Molly/Viva exchange: Molly was busy telling me a story or explaining how she would love to redo our whole house (and I have to admit, the girl has a lot of really good ideas) when Viva walked up and very clearly, and very impatiently, was waiting for a chance to say something. She tapped her foot a little. She tried to get a word in edgewise. But, Molly wasn't done! She sure wasn't going to pause in her idea telling for her sister! I finally waited for Molly to pause between sentences and glanced in Viva's direction and gave her a nod to go ahead. Viva asked her quick question, I answered her with an equally quick answer, and she was on her way back downstairs. As she was retreating down the stairs, Molly did a low gutteral sound in the back of her throat, obviously displeased and annoyed with the interruption. Viva quickly paused as she was ready to twirl down the second flight of stairs and asked, with disbelief in her voice, "Did you just...growl....at me?" She sounded just floored. Like Molly had never....growled... at her before! We (Molly and I) just cracked up as we heard her feet patter the rest of the way downstairs. They are just too funny sometimes.

Oh, and yet another of their latest: Molly, just out of the shower, tells me, "And don't worry, Mom. I cleaned up after myself!" I've been just nagging them to put everything back how they found it (foot towel hanging over the tub edge, baby ducky bath back in the tub, their towel hanging up, dirty clothes out of the bathroom) after they shower. I glanced at her and realized she had showered so praised her for her good deed. Viva, deeply absorbed in her book, apparently missed the exchange (or acted like it at least) and glanced up and told Molly, "Jeez your hair is greasy!" Molly, without a pause, replied, "Thanks! Like your face?" and they both proceeded to chuckle. I guess Molly's latest quip to every insult Viva hurls her way is, "Yeah. Like your face!" and it usually fits the exchange....somehow! They are just too much, those two!!! :)

Birthday Party and Such...

The Party Setup
All Decked Out....Compliments of the Big Girls

Birthday Girl

The Guests

The Party After the Party (A Tea Party)

We had a fun and relaxing day for Kai-Kai's 6th birthday. I had worked the night shift before so wasn't really sure how I was going to hold out and pull it off but I didn't have to worry. My husband took a bunch of the littlest ones out to pick up the last of the party supplies, my second oldest swept, mopped and did the last minute pick up, I worked on baking the cake and some Finnish sampyla (buns), and dishes, and our oldest decked the place out. She did much better than I could have ever done. I told the girls that this is it, decorating now officially is their job! They love it and I love it!

The nice thing is we have enough family to have plenty of kids to come as the "real" party guests and of course moms and dads and siblings are welcome to entertain the rest of us and we all feel like we got to have "friends" over, not just the birthday kid. :) Another nice aspect of family filling the whole guest list is Mom doesn't have to stress about anything needing to be fancy. Family doesn't care....you're supposed to be able to just truly relax in the presence of family and they still love you the same, whether we pulled it off perfectly or not.

We missed Joni (my sister) and her family this year though! We have enough kids the same age that we usually have them for most of our parties too but this year they are overseas!!!


Okay now some fun stories. We have plenty of these usually, I just forget to post them:

Funny little Izzy story: Tonight, looking out the window and seeing some very dark clouds in the sky, combined with it just getting dark for the evening, gasped and said, "Oh! Look! A ma...ma...matado (tornado) is comin' to bonk down our house! Better hurry downstairs!"

And....I was just finishing a poopy diaper on our little guy when I noticed Izzy straining and grunting. I personally had just had my fill on poopy diapers for the day so I asked her, "Hey! What are you doing? Are you pooping?" She turned and nodded. I told her, "Quick! Go poop in the potty chair!" And her quick reply, "Uh-uh! I'm not potty-trained...I'm NOT!" I told her, "Well! I think it's high time to get potty-trained!" And our Kai-Kai then gave her input on the matter: "You know what though? The potty chair for is when you aren't potty-trained. You know why? 'Cause there's no water in it!" Good big sisterly advice! I needed to say no more. :)

And, some fun big girl stories...I forget to post these. Sometimes I get too focused on the cute little kid stories that go on around here. These big girls are just getting to be a hoot, I'm telling you! So I just have to share some of the fun things they come up with:

Today, making a birthday cake and decking out the house for Kai-Kai's 6th birthday, we just kept a rolling dialogue, the oldest two and I. One of very many humorous conversations:

Molly, putting up streamers and curling pink ribbon, decorating the cake and such, decided to cut up small pieces of the curled pink ribbon to put right on the cake. It was darling. Viva, obviously a little concerned for the safety of us and our guests, asked, "What if people think these ribbons are edible and try eating them and...choke?" Molly: "Oh, no one's that dumb!" Viva: *sigh* "I guess that means I stand alone!" (in other words, admitting she was a little....dumb...?) And we laughed and we laughed....and Viva looked blankly at us and said, "What?" But this is all just a part of her humor. Sigh, what I have to live with, my big girls developing their own sense of humor and I have to hear it all the time....we do really have a good time with it!

We just got a couple of free, super cute kittens. I know! More pets!!! These girls have a way about them sometimes...that's another post in itself! So, anyway, after we had had them for a week or two, one of them appeared to be ill with something. It just slept, hardly did anything, didn't play, eat much, drink much, etc. The girls were highly concerned. They were bugging and badgering us to bring it to the vet. We tried to explain to them that by the time the diagnostic labs would even be back the cat would either be dead or recovered...it just isn't worth putting tons of money into it at this point...let's just wait and see. We have so much food that falls on the floor that they gobble down before we get a chance to sweep it up..we had just had chocolate cake about the time it fell ill. I was pretty sure it was something it ate.

We had girls begging and pleading, scheming and plotting, "I will sell my Nintendo DS...and all the games....and give up the DSI that I will earn for getting my black belt in karate...and all my next year's Christmas and birthday gifts..." was a couple of the girls' promises. Then as I was doing laundry, one of the girls came downstairs with the cat and said, "Now look, Mom. You gotta see this. Watch what happens when I put this cat down...it just curls up in a ball and doesn't do anything." She puts it down on a pile of laundry, which it proceeds to roll down, and pick itself up, and walk away. She says, "Hmmm, well, now watch it. It will just sit down now..." It didn't. It kept walking around, quite perkily... She didn't quite know what to say. She just said, "Hmmm, he looks pretty good now!"

News spread fast throughout the household and minutes later, the one that had promised to give up her Nintendo DS...and all the games...and the DSI she was gonna earn... ran downstairs all excited. She said, "Wow, he's looking just fine now! I am so glad I didn't actually sell my DS...and all my games and stuff. That would have been such of a waste of money!!!"

That story has much more...mostly including Dad and Viva bantering about bringing the cat in (Viva) and practicing being a vet and trying to diagnose the illness herself (Dad's argument). Somewhere along the way, they discussed the possibility that the diagnosis is probably the Tamiflu...which then Viva triumphantly announced the next day, "I am going to tell Dad that I've diagnosed it! It was the Tamiflu!!!" not realizing that Tamiflu is actually an antiviral medication. I had informed her of this but she apparently wasn't listening. We've had some fun, at their expense (cause I think Dad was in on the original possible diagnosis of maybe Tamiflu), with that diagnosis!!!

We have a really bantery household...we rib each other all the time!

I'm Trying to Simplify...

...my whole life. Can you tell? I've turned my blog background into simple white. There. Except, how on earth do you remove that blasted "cutest blog on the block" logo from the upper left-hand corner? I mean, I'm not even using their background right now. Or banner. I tried to remove it from the HTML spot where I originally put in on but no such luck.

***HMPH!***

Funny(ish) story: Last night I was browsing around Walmart with a bunch of my kids and a couple others, yakking on the phone with one of my sisters about which prepaid cell phones are the best to buy, when I heard from a group of teens behind me (a boy's voice), "Aurinkolasit," which means "sunglasses" in Finnish. I promptly turned my head and asked, "Missa?" which means, "Where?" I saw one of the two girls who was walking with two boys gasp and put her hand over her mouth. I heard one of the boys echo after me, "Missa?!?" Then I just laughed and told them in Finnish that I had guessed they were Finnish when I saw them earlier in the store.

I saw them later outside of the store, sitting on the curb so I went up to them to chat a little. I told them I had seen them earlier in the store and just thought that they looked Finnish but had kind of forgotten they were in there so was surprised to suddenly hear, "Aurinkolasit," behind me...

One of the boys said in perfect English, "That was me!" as the other boy was explaining, "Yeah, the funny part is, the one who said it was an American. I didn't know he knew any Finnish, so first I heard, 'aurinkolasit' suddenly, and turned and said, 'Huh?!' and right away heard, 'Missa?' right after. I was so surprised, like, 'What just happened now?'"

I laughed and asked the American boy, "Have you been in opisto (a school) in Finland?" He said, "No! I only know about six words in Finnish, and that was one of them! I just felt like saying it!"

So, without even trying, two Americans kind of messed with a few Finns' heads for a moment there! :)

Funny Izzy story:

Couple weeks ago I had a friend over here, trying to visit. We had constant conversation flowing, however, from my two year old. Suddenly, at one point, she spied my 5 y.o. didn't have undies on and got irate and told her, "Yuck! You don't even have undies on. That's 'gwoss', go put a diaper on!" Our 5 y.o. told her, "You go put a diaper on!" Izzy happened to be standing right in front of me so it looked like our 5 y.o. was looking at me. Izzy just looked at her incredulously, then swung her head in my direction, looking at me with a chuckle and said, "You don't wear a diaper! Haah! Right? You wear undies! Right? Great BIG undies, right? Like THIS big, right?" and flinging her arms out wide!!!

Well! Maybe big, but not that big!!!

But I just laughed and agreed with her. :)