Occupy Potty Chairs

All across the U.S. tents are pitched in protest of big business. The international protest phenomenon "Occupy Wall Street" has now reached stay at home moms (SAHM) in the mid-west. Mothers of toddlers all across the mid-west are gathering in protest of toddlers who refuse to occupy their potty chairs and these moms mean big business! The mothers are demanding that their toddlers stop going "wee-wee" and "poo-poo" in their "big boy" and "big girl" pants and do their "business" in the potty like big boys and girls. Protesters grew alarmed when one toddler defiantly went poo-poo in his underwear during the protest. Police were called to the scene before any more pants were soiled.
Mothers carried protest signs and extra back-up pairs of undies while demanding free pumpkin-spice-soy-decaf-lattes, extra hot, be delivered daily at 3pm. They also demand the right to no longer watch Elmo Potty Time a dozen times a day. And furthermore require that all "big business" be done in private by both parties. Toddlers everywhere are encouraged to occupy their potty chairs immediately so that mothers can return home.
"Please. Please. Please. Go poo poo for mommy on the potty! And don't forget to flush and wash!" said local Brookings SAHM, when asked by reporters what the main message was that the Occupy Potty Chairs movement is trying to send.
The occupy movement's next big protest is in Sioux Falls, SD on Wednesday.
Mothers of potty-training toddlers are asked to not play Elmo Potty Time on the computer for the day but join the movement instead. Let's encourage toddlers everywhere to occupy our potty chairs and push for real success!

 

 

Cute Things

The Things have said some pretty cute things lately. I wish I could write them all down as they happen so that I could remember them all. But I can at least capture a few.

Yesterday morning Thing 1 was memorizing a verse for his Good News club at school. The verse talked about loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us. Later as we drove to school he told me that he had prayed that morning for a fellow classmate to learn to be a better kid. Apparently this kid isn't very nice. I don't want to sound like I'm patting myself on the back. In reality we didn't spend more than a few moments even talking about the verse. But I was really glad he happened to mention his little prayer to me. It gave me hope that we are making inroads into the Kingdom in his heart. I might still be pulling my hair out at mealtimes to get them to sit still and stop goofing off, but it is moments like these that let me know at least a little of what we are trying to teach are kids is getting through.

Tonight at dinner Thing 2 was commenting how much he looooveeesss spinach. And lest you get a false impression of my parenting abilities when it comes to getting my kids to eat healthy foods don't let it fool you. It is just a strange anomaly with him who is by far my pickiest eater. The kid doesn't even like cheese even though he was born in WI! Or peanut butter! You get the picture. But anyways, he then pipes up with, "I hope there is spinach in heaven!"

Later as I was tucking them into bed Thing 1 prayed, "Thank you that Daddy can get time alone with you and that he will come home tomorrow." (Hubby is on a personal retreat for some extended time alone with God). And Thing 2 asked if he can have his Nee-Nee (blankie) in heaven. I said "no" but he quickly devised a plan that if his Nee-Nee dies then it will go to heaven and be there for him.

Thing 2 is also still planning on building a rainbow house in our backyard to live in with Thing 1 and their wives. Thing 3 is now welcome to join them. But it should be noted that Thing 1 told me today he doesn't ever want to learn to drive so his future wife will need to be willing to drive him every where in addition to the aforementioned accommodations. And Thing 2 thinks that possibly the girl he marries someday will have the same color hair as him. This all remains to be seen...but I thought I'd better write it all down now so some day when they want to move far far far away from their sweet mama I can remind them of the original plan.

The only sort of funny thing Thing 3 said to me lately that I can recall is, "I'm gonna kick you in the b___" Ummmm, Excuse me?!? Why, yes, he does repeat EVERY
THING he hears and it often times isn't appropriate but almost always hard to keep a straight face while I correct him.

A few Pics from FL

We are spending 6 amazing days sans kids in FL. This trip is partly due to our sabbatical and partly a delayed big trip for our 10th anniversary last year. It is definitely the longest we have been away without the kiddos. And though I miss them every day it is a treat to be footloose and fancy free!





Things I love:
Warm weather in Nov!
Extended time alone with hubby and God.
Amazing friends who keep our Things making this trip possible.
Yummy, yummy,yummy food!
Good times "playing" tennis with good friends. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!

Halloween Pics

I love living in a small town. And I love our awesome children's museum. This year they hosted a Halloween carnival complete with games, tickets to be redeemed for prizes, face painting and ice cream. The kids had a blast. We arrived after the major crowds so the lines weren't too long. Every had a good time!




Carving pumpkins at the very last minute! I wish I could have gotten a pic of the squirrel inside T1'a jack-o-lantern happily munching away yesterday!

Thing 2 is an off the charts ENFP, everything in his life is a party. Despite my best efforts I gave into his constant petitioning for a party. When he started inventing games for it before I had even agreed to one I knew I was in for it. Luckily I got away with just inviting one favorite neighborhood playmate and her folks over for a short dinner before trick-or-treating. And bc the Eye-Ball-Race and Spin the Gourd games were included along with a few Halloween shaped jello molds T2 was satisfied.


This year we tried something new. We went to campus to do trick-or-treating in the dorms. The college gals all thought the Things were "SO CUTE" and they made a haul in a short amount of time! I liked seeing the students, being inside where it was warm and eating a few chocolate candies along the way (just to keep up my stamina, of course! There are a lot of stairs in dorms!).