Mystery of the climbing baby

Yesterday I left A in the downstairs play area while I went outside to help Roy with some yard work. K was taking a nap and D was supposed to be playing in the same room as A. After a bit, I heard A crying so I went in to check it out. She was upstairs in the kitchen. Naturally I interrogated D. He swears up and down that she was downstairs when he went in to the bathroom and upstairs when he came out. There was no one else to help her. So do I believe D and think that A climbed the stairs herself or do I think D is trying to trick me?

Turns out, he was telling the truth. Today A made it half-way up the stairs before D noticed her. She saw us looking at her, got all excited and promptly tipped over backward off the stairs. Apparently she can climb the stairs aaaannnnnd she can fall down the stairs. Good to know.

Funny Little K (edited to add another)

Last night when I put K to bed I gave her very emphatic instructions to not wake up her sister (they share a room). So when I went in after 10 p.m. to remind K that she was supposed to be sleeping, K proudly told me (in the world's loudest whisper), "I didn't wake up A! I didn't wake buh-buh-baby!" (Buh-buh-baby is one of A's nicknames.) And she was right. Although, it spoke more to A's ability to sleep through noise since K was up there talking to herself, singing and banging things around.

This morning, out of the blue, K announced, "Mow (rhymes with cow) needs a nipple drink."

In the second one she is shhhhhhh-ing and rocking. Mow was promptly put to bed when he was done with his drink.

K is potty trained. FINALLY!!! but she still wears a diaper to bed. Tonight we put her diaper on then watched a movie. She pooped in her diaper. I asked why she pooped in her diaper and not in the potty. She laughed when she replied, "I poop in the potty the polka-dot diaper get wet!" Of course. Silly me.

I was trying to hide

I am babysitting today. I thought maybe I could hide out and talk about the adventures we've been having. But the kids (3 five year olds, 2 two year olds and the baby -- admit it, you're jealous) found me. If you don't hear from me in a few weeks, send reinforcements.

FHE (warning: lots of links!)

Last night we had two other families come over for a combined Family Home Evening. It was a lot of fun. This is the third month we've done this. We usually have it the first Monday of the month, but my kids were sick.
So, anyway, it was our month to host. This means I spent all day cleaning like a mad woman and cooking awesome food. We had Enchiladas with homemade Green Sauce and Cafe Rio style chicken. For dessert I made these Mint Brownies. It was an excellent dinner -- even if I am the one saying it. The brownies though, yeah, special occasion brownies. They are good and super rich. They do take a bit of time and effort though. So if you want a simple mint brownie I suggest making a simple brownie or use a brownie mix then placing Andes mints on top as soon as you remove the brownies from the oven.
Dannelle did a great lesson about the Savior's admonition to Peter to "Feed my Sheep". She had this cute craft where the kids traced their hands then turned the tracing upside down and filled it in with cottonballs to make little hand sheep.
It is alot of fun to get together with our friends every month. It does get at bit crazy when you consider the kids. If you take D out of the equasion there are 5 kids 3 and under. There's another family that usually comes but she just had a baby. That will make it 7 kids 3 and under. D is the far away oldest at 5 - and the biggest.
In other FHE news, I am planning on making a lesson about the prophet Elisha from the Old Testament for my FHE packet group. Anyone have any ideas about Elisha activities. I am thinking I will make a little flip book telling some of the miracles of Elisha. I'm also thinking about making Elisha Go Fish cards. My friend's husband is a great artist and can draw any illustrations I need. What do you think? What would you do to teach your kids about Elisha?

Random Random Randominity

We seem to have broken through the...uh...barrier with K. I think it was the proper combination of reverse psychology ("Don't you dare poop in my potty!") and bribery (Trident Gum). Put those two together and K will do practically anything. Practically. She is just stubborn enough that when you tell her not to do something she will. This could be a big problem later in life....
A is getting two more teeth. She currently has her bottom two middle teeth. Now she is cutting her top two on-either-side-of-the-middle teeth. You know, the teeth between the front middle and canine. I don't know what they are called.
I was at a yard sale this weekend and found SAFETY KIDS!!! Totally 1980's music/dialog discussing safety practices such as "look for a grandma or mother with children" or "always use the buddy system". Man. The memories. Naturally I bought the tapes and coordinating coloring books.
I donated a few things to this same yard sale (it was a fundraiser for the ym/yw in the ward), including a small table and three chairs. This caused no small amount of consternation for D. He clung, screamed, whimpered, grabbed, yelled, cried and just generally carried on. Being the loving, sensitive person I am, I laughed. I know. That sounds so terrible. But he was seriously hilarious. When he had finally calmed down and I could keep a straight face, we talked about how it was just "stuff" and stuff is replaceable. We can't keep all stuff that comes our way or we wouldn't be able to even get out of our house. It was a good talk. Still, if D has a hoarding problem as an adult we will know where it started.
I need a new camera. Mine only takes blurry or over-exposed shots. I have had it for nearly 6 years now. It has had a good life taking literally thousands of pictures. So if you have anything to say about cameras, please please let me know before I buy one.
I went to the store yesterday and totally planned of buying a squirt bottle. I forgot. *sigh*

All this about a squirt bottle?!

So I started to mop the floor today. Stop. I do mop. Occasionally.
Anywaaayy.... I have a swiffer that I like to attach a regular old washcloth to for mopping purposes. I use a squirt bottle to spray the floor and the swiffer/rag combo to wipe it up. Simple.
Let me explain my history with squirt bottles. I have never in my life bought one. I am not opposed to buying a squirt bottle, I just don't "get around to it". So what usually happens is my mom comes, tries to give haircuts with out a squirt bottle, takes pity on our poor bottle-less household and purchases a squirt bottle to leave here for next time. This new bottle lasts for a while and is very hand when it comes Sunday and we comb D's hair. (Really. We only comb his hair once a week. Unless he can't find his hat.) Eventually something happens to the bottle and it disappears or gets eaten or something else mysterious.
This time, Roy threw it away. Sure it had a hole in the bottom so I had to keep it tipped on it's side so as not to leak. Sure we had stopped using it for regular hair combing experiences. So it would seem perfectly logical to throw it away. Except it had a job to do. A once a month (or so...) mopping engagement wherein I would use it again.
And mom isn't due to visit for....uh....well, we don't actually have a visit on the horizion.... And I could buy my own, but I won't. Honestly, I know me. I'll forget at the store. I won't make a special trip. Seriously, I just won't buy one.
So this is silly and dumb, but I really was getting annoyed at Roy for throwing the squirt bottle away. How dare he rock my boat?! Why can't he just leave well enough alone?! Yadda yadda, you know the self talk rant.
Then I realized something: I knew when he threw it away and said NOTHING. So how annoyed can I be? In my mind I thought, "Hey, I still use that." But out loud I said NOTHING. Because....uuuuhhhhh. No reason comes to mind. I guess because it had a hole in it and therefore the garbage was a perfectly reasonable place to put it. However, next time Roy wants to throw away my perfectly good garbage that is still serving a purpose I am definitely saying something.

I was putting on my makeup this morning.

Look what I found:

The one I like.

The one I don't like.

Life is full of never-ending surprises with K around!

*sorry about the blurry pics. my camera and I are in a fight....*