My Accomplishment

I did this while we were on our vacation.

The much needed Vacay

I needed that vacation, going back to work this week has been insane!  I'm officially working in my new job capacity, which has left me extremely busy.  Add to that the stomach bug I came down with Wednesday evening, and had to take half a day off Thursday, and I'm ready for this weekend!  Lots of exciting stuff happening, so more posts to come soon.  For now, a few vacation photos.

Dana and Mo in front of Snoqualmie Falls

The kids in front of the Museum of Flight

The kids and I in front of the Falls

At the Train Museum

More Train Museum

Nonsense

Today is my first day back to work after a wonderful vacation/stay-cation.  Feel free to sigh with me.  I really enjoyed reading all the potty training suggestions and commiserations from my post last week.  We still have no progress, but Safeway brand pull-ups were on clearance before the trip, so I have to be happy about that.

I'll be back with some photos from our time off, but for now, some nonsense:

I had a dream where Dana and I were talking to a vet and he told us "the colonoscopy on the cat..." I woke up wanting to laugh at the ridiculous thought of a cat having a colonoscopy.  I am now calling Hemi "colonoscopy cat."

3 am and I are tight.  We are best friends.  If I can re-learn how to sleep from 3 am to 4 am, I will gladly ditch 3 am.  So maybe we aren't best friends.

When I wake up in the middle of the night and I'm hungry, I like to imagine a giant cup or pitcher filled with a thick vegetable or split pea soup.  I just tilt my head back, like a sword-swallower, and pour that thick goodness in until my tummy is full.  That has actually been an ongoing fantasy of mine for years.

I also have this visualization when I'm really sick and my glands are swollen.  In that fantasy, a needle takes out everything in the gland and it magically stops hurting.  Wouldn't work in real life, but sometimes it makes me feel better imagining it.

Mo had a dream the other night that I ate a rat sandwich.  Now he has been lecturing me on making good food choices because rats and mice are not healthy to eat.

The boys were both playing near Dana and standing up.  One of them lost balance and fell on his butt.  Looking over, he saw that his brother was still standing, so he reached out and knocked his brother down.  Sibling rivalry starts early.

Kaia has started telling people that Morgan is home schooled.   I'm not entirely sure what she means by that, but I love that it makes me sound like a way better, much more organized super mom.  My idea of home schooling right now is watching Super Why with Mo and not replacing "Super" with "Stupid" when the song comes on.

Super Simple Swiss Chard

The kids and I ate Swiss Chard for the first time ever on Sunday. A large cooler of chard had been brought in and set on the Harvest Table at church.  Kaia wanted to take some home, so I encouraged her to fill one of the small bags.   I looked up several recipes online, and they were all similar.  Saute in olive oil and garlic then add a bit of balsamic vinegar.  I never follow directions, so here is the recipe I created.  I was surprised to find that it tasted really good, and the kids even finished what I gave to them.

1 teaspoon of bacon grease
4 or 5 big chard leaves with most of the stem removed
2 tablespoons of Balsamic Vinaigrette salad dressing
Saute chard in the bacon grease in a pan until the chard is heated and softens a bit.  Then add the salad dressing and enjoy!

Poopy Pants

This weekend has led Dana and I to the breaking point, which could also be called the screaming point, or the "this kid will have to be home schooled for the rest of his life" point.  Morgan has been fully pee trained for a long while now, but he will not poop in the potty.

As if having spent the last 7 years of our life changing diapers wasn't bad enough, we are now changing diapers on 2 babies and cleaning poop several times a day out of Mo's rear and pants.  It is gross!  He knows when he needs to go, he knows how to go, but he chooses to do it in his pants.  He does this even after long conversations about how he cannot poop in his swimming trunks, and if he feels like he needs to poop, he should come inside and get on the potty.

We implemented the lose 5 toys each time you poop your pants rule on Saturday after the 2nd set of poopy underwear.  I took away 20 toys Saturday.  Another 10 on Sunday, and I think I may still need to take a way another 5. 

We also said no to anything Mo wanted at Fred Meyer and later at Wal-Mart.  If he wants any toy, movie, game... he will poop in the potty.  He also needs to stay out of Dana's and my bed.  7 days is all he has to complete to earn a toy.  I think however his room will be empty before then.

We've tried so many different things, and so far, nothing has worked. We are going to be taking an overnight trip this week, and poopy pants are not going to be easy to deal with. Anyone have any good advice? 

Washington DC

We survived the heat, the humidity nearly killed us, and Obama didn't come to our awards ceremony.  We went to Obama, or his likeness anyway.  We didn't do nearly as many things as we would have liked, but our time was short and it was too hot to be active.  We did an evening tour of the monuments, which were phenomenal in spite of a power outage.  A ticket on the double decker bus allowed us to view much of the city in comfort and provided a nice way to get around town.  Overall it was a fabulous trip.

Birthday Gift #1