If you didn't think I could get any shorter. . .

The formating was rather difficult between scanning & then posting. . .never did quite figure it out. . .that's why the spacing is so erratic. Enjoy! You can click on each picture to make it bigger. (because you know you want to see a giant Tanya. . .) It's been said that the third picture of me closely resembles Gus.

I must share.

So we have this new bathroom in our bedroom & haven't used it much except for the potty because the bathroom isn't all the way completed.

Anyway, Randy asked me about a month ago if I thought that bathroom stunk. (We are not really sure if our the guy that put together our toilet knew what he was doing) I thought it sort of stunk. . .and we left it at that. Well, just the other day, I was finishing up breakfast & Randy asks me (inquisitively might I add) "Will you come & smell the bathroom?"

I immediately thought there was something the matter with the plumbing in there & so I took heed & got up from the table & went into the bathroom. . .By the way, I took a huge wiff wanting to make sure I knew exactly what our plumbing problem smelled like that I might be able to later describe it to a plumber. . .a GINORMOUS WIFF. . .kind of like when you are at the doctor & the nurse says, take 2 BIG deep breaths in. . .

Sure enough, it stunk. . .

"It smells like poop, Randy! . . ." (at this point, shocked & worried about the toxins that are children might be breathing in) And then right before I was about to say, "What do you think the problem is?"

Randy blurts out "It is poop. . .I just pooped in here!!" We both died laughing.

Sick, huh? It reminds me of the time I ate Randy's boogers. I'll save that for later.

Do YOU have any funny stories?

Glowworm or Ila?

Her daddy thinks she looks like a glowworm. . .what do you think?

Anyone need a new alarm clock? This one never fails.

It has been a struggle to get Charlie to get out of his bed on his own when he wakes up. Yes, my almost 3 1/2 year old (as well as my almost 2 year old---i think he learned it from his brother) sits in his bed & hollars (loudly might I add) until I either go in and get him, or until he gets tired of screaming. (usually 45 minutes-1 hour)

At any rate, Randy & I have tried every way we know how to get this child to get out of his bed in the morning without being prompted & without screaming so that he doesn't consistently wake up Gus (they share a room) & the whole family for that matter, at 5:00 a.m.

We worked out a reward system. Charlie wakes up & comes out of his room, without screaming & without a prompt & there is a treat waiting for him on the table. And yes, if he doesn't get up without yelling & screaming. . .I show him the snack & say "sorry Charlie, maybe tomorrow" and then I put it in the cupboard. At naptime, it is usually a sucker or a fruit snack & in the morning, usually gold fish, a granola bar, and some water. He was able to choose what things he wanted for his reward. Well, this has only worked three times for us (at naptime) and that was about 2 months ago.

After this time had passed with no improvement on his part, we were still offering the snack on the table & talking about bedtime & waking up & what charlie's part was. He understood it completely and could recite it to anyone who asked, but rarely did what he was supposed to. . .until this morning.

Last night, before bed, our neighbor Eleanore came for dinner & left some cookies for the boys. . .so, I told Charlie that if he got up out of his bed without fussing & without me getting him, he could get a bag of cookies. At this point, I was losing hope that he would catch onto the idea. . .so my rewards were getting big. . .presents, candy, soda, yep, soda, and now a bag of cookies. I am desperate at 5 a.m.

Well. . .4:45 a.m. . .and I hear Charlie come out of his room & head straight for the table. I snuck back in my room & tried to resume sleep. . .it never happened but that is a different story. The point is that Charlie did it & all it took was a big bag of cookies. I will keep you posted on tomorrow morning's happenings. When we all woke up, he was also rewarded with a little toy. I'm hoping this made a lasting effect. . . because you know what they say, when Charlie wakes up, everyone wakes up.

PS: I am convinced that Charlie has an internal alarm clock. . .no matter what time he goes to bed, he wakes up at the same time. It's crazy. . .the later I go to bed, the later I want to sleep. . .not him---put him to bed @ 6 pm. . .up 11 hours later. . .put him to bed @ 9 pm. . .up 8 hours later. We don't need an alarm clock, we have Charlie.

I could go for some eggnog right about now.

Let me say that I have gotten some pretty fun videos of charlie singing, gus catching a football & ila kicking & smiling like crazy. . .but for some reason the blog isn't letting me upload my videos. Sad! I do hope that everyone doesn't tire of seeing pictures of the kids. Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend. We had some of Randy's high school buddies & their wives & kids over for some food & fun--his friend Eddie's girl Avery-11 weeks old-has long, red hair---it's too cute! To top it off, she was also wearing a retro 80s sweat band to keep her hair back. Adorable! The guys sat around & talked about all of the crazy things they did when they were in high school. . .and the women counted the number of times they've heard the same stories before. . .it's fun, though, because randy is an excellent story teller. Charlie had his way with the chocolate dessert when nobody was looking & Gus tried to kiss on whatever baby was closest to his mouth. . .

Out with the old.

Charlie told me today that he couldn't wear his cowboy boots to preschool because he couldn't sit criss-cross-applesauce when he had them on, so he wore tennis shoes instead.

What do you/did you say? When I was a kid, we called it sitting "Indian style."

Special.

Charlie wanted to say the prayer at lunch today.

In the prayer, he said, "thank you for letting dada to go work, thank you for my friends to come over & play, thank you for the food to nursh (nourish) body (my body), thank you for Gus & dada & thank you for baby Ila to come from Heavenly Father"

I almost cried. The baby Ila part just melted my heart.