"Why'd We Have to Have all these Dang Kids Anyway?!"

For those of you who don't know, this is one of my favorite lines from "It's a Wonderful Life". Jimmy Stewart, playing the part of George, utters these lines to his wife; as they are trying to have a serious discussion about George's predicament, while the kids are interrupting, talking, and banging on the piano. I think of George Bailey and it helps me laugh every time something like this incident below happens:

Ty and Sadie had their first official time out together this morning. I was downstairs, and hear an unusual noise and giggling upstairs. I have been packing for our trip and they had found the game "Mad Gab" in my room. They had spread all two-thousand cards all over the floor, and were playing with the time. I told them to leave my room and go downstairs. I put both of them in the hall and closed the door so that they couldn't come back in. Not too serious of an offense, it was the absolute delight they took in making a mess that was troublesome.

As I was picking up the cards, I heard another strange sound...something tinkle-y; along with the tell-tell giggles. I opened the door and found they were creating a swimming pool in the bathroom that was quickly spreading to the hall. Sadie had the bucket in her hands; Ty had obviously turned on the sink. They were filling up the bucket that we use for washing hair and dumping full bucket-fulls onto my floor. They're both in time-out. As you know, we've had serious water issues in our upstairs bathroom and had to replace the floor at least 3 times due to water damage from such incidents...I hope we're okay this time...they're both still in time-out while I cool off and clean up.

Does anyone know where I can pick up a conscience or two for Sadie and Ty?

July -- Come and Gone

In July, we finished potty training Ty, and he got a new bike! The bike pays for itself with the savings in diapers. We enjoyed the Fourth of July; we went to a parade and fireworks on the night of the 3rd. Then on the 4th, we hit another parade and then went to a fun barbecue with friends. Last month, Brooklyn also learned how to ride her bike without training wheels. She learned surprisingly quickly, with a little help from Dad. We also did our annual trip to the strawberry patch, which didn't last long in the 90 degree heat (as you can see, my kids were better at eating our picks rather than picking).

T-Bone Ty Jake Circle Mud Cow Firetruck Cow

Ty loves his name, and insists with Brooklyn that his name is NOT Tyler Jake. From his self-given name, you can see that this kid obviously has a love for cows. He loves to see them at the zoo, he loves all great dairy products...what's not to love? So, needless to say, we have lots of talks about cows. Today he brought me one of his cows and asked me to show him where the milk comes out. I showed him her udders. He was pleased, it was as if he had his own "ah-ha" moments. He then showed me the cow's udders again and explained, "okay, then if this is where the milk comes out, then this is where the ice cream comes out, and this is where the meat comes out (pointing each time to individual teets). I could only chuckle...sounds reasonable enough to me.

June Recap

My blog is in serious need of updating, and pictures. All that I have up now seem to be my sarcastic comments about life and funny things my son says...
For those of you who don't know, the only really big news around here is that we are expecting another baby in February. Next month, we get to find out whether Jake wants to keep living in the house with us (another boy), or if he and Ty will be building a man cave out in the garage (another girl).
In June, we went to Utah. The kids had fun at Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's in St. George. We spent a lot of time in the water and terrifying poor Mr. Zach (my adorable nephew). All the pictures show, he's a little overwhelmed (and maybe embarrassed) by his cousins!
Later in the week, we had a Morton family reunion at Duck Creek. The kids LOVED riding on the four-wheelers and just exploring "the woods".

Survivor

So, Jake has been out of town since Thursday...we're on a steady downhill slide at this point. I'm so tired I can't see straight.
For the last two days, Ty has woken up at 4:30 am. He's perky and ready to roll. His room has blackout blinds and a white noise machine. I've given him a clock and strict instructions to not leave his room before 6:00. I've tried to get him to sleep with me in my bed. Nothing. Tonight, I'm going to try moving Brooklyn into Sadie's room and leaving Ty in his own room (with a child gate on the door so he can't leave his room). Is that unbearably mean? Because Ty has been up at 4:30, I've been pretty much up at that time the last two days (as if being a single mom isn't hard enough). This morning I left him downstairs and went down a few minutes later to find him sitting on the floor eating Buffalo Wing flavored Doritos and strawberries.

Ty's Injury Report

Ty: "Dad, ask me what's on my finger."
Dad: "Ty, what's on your finger?"
Ty: (seriously) "It's a bandaid."
Pause
Ty: "Dad, ask me why I have a bandaid on my finger"
Dad: "Ty, why do you have a bandaid on your finger"
Ty: (seriously) "Because I got in a big bike crash!"

Note: The bike crash wasn't serious, we had a scraped finger. Jake does not believe in the magical healing properties of bandaids, but choses instead to beleive they are merely for the purpose of stoppoing bleeding. However, in this case, he was the one encouraging the bandaids, going so far as taking Ty to buy "cool" bandaids, just so that Ty isn't afraid to get on his bike again. Ty scraped his finger on Saturday, but was insistent on Sunday morning that he wear a bandaid to nursery so that he could impress his teacher (and all the cute chicks, cuz chicks dig battle wounds...or at least guys think so!)

"Real Simple" Bargain

I love "Real Simple" magazine, but only get to read it on occasion, as it's kinda pricey. It's only $5 for a subscription right now on Amazon. Don't let Amazon fool you into filling up your cart to get free shipping, if you put it in your cart and order it; it only comes to $5 total. Pretty nice deal...

Also, Walgreens is closing out lots of their summer toys. If the $5 I spent on "Real Simple" wasn't the best $5 I spent this week, my bubble machine for the kids was. All of their toys are 50% off, making the prices very reasonable for bribery, birthday gifts, and all other kid-related purposes.