manners

I'm trying to teach my kids manners. Mostly because I tire of "mom, get me a sippe!!!!" (said in very demanding 2 and 4 year old voices)

Adam's always comes out "Mom may will you get me a sippie, please" I think it's the combination of may i have and will you please. crazy kid.

Coming soon

I am breaking down and getting a new blog template. I love this template, I do. I think the polka dots give it the fun childhood feeling I'm going for. I also like that my other blog is the same, but in a different color, to kind of tie the two together.

But I'm tired of the borders being so big that it cuts off all my pictures unless I put in the small size from my flickr. So, I've started my quest for a new template. I will not rest until I find the perfect one! Check back soon to see what I decided on. :)

A Day Out With Thomas 2008

It's only taken me a week to get my pictures posted and get my blog written. But here it is! I know you've been waiting on pins and needles.

And I start with a little piece of advice. If you live in Utah and you have kids who love Thomas and you missed this year's Day Out With Thomas just go to Dairy Keen. It's nearly as good as the real thing, and a whole lot cheaper.

We left for Heber city much earlier that we needed to and arrived hungry. So we decided to grab a bite to eat, deciding the food the was probably cheaper and better outside of the big event.

Our handy dandy satellite navigation system in our Saturn Outlook told us that there was a McDonald's just down the street so we headed that way. But on our way to McDonald's we passed Dairy Keen.



And when you've come all the way to Heber City to see a train, it's only obvious that you HAVE to eat at the burger joint with a big train out front. And it was WAY better than McDonald's. They have a miniature Thomas Train that runs all way around the ceiling and we had a hard time getting the kids to eat because they were so enthralled with watching Thomas.





If we hadn't already bought tickets to ride the big Thomas we might have just gone home after lunch and the kids would've never known the difference!

But on we marched. Because Adam told me the day before "mom, we are going to ride Thomas rain or shine." So a little rain was not going to keep us from our adventure.

The rain, in fact, made it a nicer day I think. It kept away the big crowds and we had a private car for our journey. Being a rainy day the covered coaches filled fast so we chose to sit on the caboose. (or the cabooster as Adam calls it) We started outside.



But as the rain started to come down we retreated inside our private car.



We even got a visit from the Conductor.



For a child there is nothing better than watching the countryside pass by through the window of Thomas the Train's red caboose.



Yes, even in the rain we had a great time. It's a day the kids won't soon forget. So until next time....

They're 2, they're 4, they're 6, they're 8. Shunting trucks and hauling freight. Red and green and brown and blue, they're the really useful crew. All with different roles to play 'round Tidmouth Sheds or far away. Down the hill and round the bend, Thomas and his friends!

Bye Thomas!



THE END

Patience

I guess Adam has had trains on his mind since our trip to see Thomas (pictures coming soon, I promise. It's just been a busy weekend!!!!)

Anyway, this morning I was (once again) trying to teach patience to my children. I was helping the baby with something and the other two where yelling at me over and over and over again to refill their sippies.

So I made my usual "Hold on a minute please. You have to be patient with me because I'm 1 mom with 2 hands and 3 kids" speech.

Adam thought about that for a second and then said "being patient is like the slow goods train."

My little James

The kids were bouncing off the walls tonight because I made the mistake of telling them that tomorrow we were going to see Thomas the Train.

They got all excited and wanted to wear the train costumes they got for Christmas.

And Zoey was so SO excited that she refused to take it off to go to bed. She absolutely insisted on sleeping in it.



And really, what's the harm in that?

Potty Training is overrated

I have decided that I am putting my children permanently in pull-ups. It's not because of potty training accidents (anymore at least) Adam has not had an accident in months now. He doesn't even sleep in pull ups anymore. It's just that he ALWAYS has to use the bathroom at the most inconvenient times! Let me detail just a few.

There was the time that I was at Ikea and we had decided to eat breakfast there. So I have the 3 kids and we're maneuvering through the food line, I'm holding the food try in one hand (stacking the plates one on top of the other trying to make all the food fit on one tray) and holding the baby in the car seat on my other arm.

We finally make our way through the line and get our warm food set down on the table and Adam starts screaming "I have to go potty!!!" And I just sigh. Because by the time I drag all the kids to the bathroom and come back our food will be cold, if the food is still there and some employee doesn't clear it while we're gone. And I hate having to take all 3 into the dirty public restrooms. So I did something that nobody should ever do, but I did. There was a woman with one little child sitting at the table next to us and I asked her to watch the younger two kids while I ran to the bathroom. I even left my purse sitting there next to the baby's car seat. Dumb, huh? But I was desparate. And when I came back the kids where still there and all my money was still there, so I guess it turned out okay.

But I often face the dilema of having to drag all 3 into the bathroom and it's quite a chore to keep Zoey from touching anything and keep the baby happy while manuvering around the stroller or shopping cart in the tiny bathroom and help Adam, too. Sigh.

It's really bad when the bathroom is SO DIRTY that if it was me that had to go I would hold it rather than use that nasty bathroom. But a 4 year old just knows he has to pee NOW. I've actually started shopping at places based soley on how clean their bathrooms are. Seriously. Shopko does not make the list of places with clean bathrooms. Trust me on this one!

And something about Lowes is better than fiber for the child. He ALWAYS has to go to the bathroom at Lowes. And it's ALWAYS a #2 job. And this last time we were already in the check out line when he starts screaming that he has to go. And I begged him to wait until we got home, or at least until we paid. But he started to cry. And the bathroom is all the way at the back of the store! If he was wearing pull ups I seriously would've just told him to pee in the pull up. Which is why I think we're just going to start wearing them every time we leave the house. Or just stop leaving the house.

And while we are on the subject of public restrooms....did you know that there actually existed public restrooms that have no diaper changing facilities? I mean come on folks, this is Utah after all. How do you expect all the stay at home moms with millions of babies in this state to come shopping at your facility, spending all their husband's hard earned money, if you don't provide a place to change a diaper? I mean there wasn't even a changing station at the car dealership when we bought my husband's new car. They sell mini vans at this place for pete's sake!!!!! And no place to change a baby. arg.

But I digress. The point is, no matter how you look at it public restrooms and small kids don't mix. So I think I'm going to start doing all my shopping online. Or not shop at all until they all go to school. That will work for about 3 weeks until I get so stir crazy that I go out again, because apparently I'm a masochist.

Sleeping Beauty

My princess has never been much of the "sleeping in mom and dad's bed" type. Adam slept in my bed with me until he was nearly 3 years old! And Harrison sleeps with me quite often right now, too. But Zoey never did much. There have even been occasions that if she cried in the middle of the night and Mike tried to pull her into bed with us that she actually kicked and screamed and cried until she was put back in her own bed.

So imagine my surprise when a few weeks ago Zoey started showing up at my bedside in the middle of the night. She is not tall enough yet to crawl up on the bed herself so she would come in my room and just stand by it, staring at me, until I woke up and found myself staring back at her, at which point I'd pull her up into bed with me. (of course Zoey is also my wiggly-est sleeper so as soon as she was asleep again she was moved back to her own bed.)

Well, being the resourceful child that she is, she apparently got tired of waiting for me to wake up and pull her into bed she has started bringing a stool with her into my room and using that to climb up on the bed herself. I'm mostly just surprised that she has the presence of mind at 3:00 am to put together two coherent thoughts and think to herself that a stool would be a great way to get up on my bed. That's my Zoey!

Although I think that soon I'm going to need to nip this thing in the bud because I don't want Adam to think that it is a free ticket for him to come wandering into my room in the middle of the night. I just got that child out of my bed, and I'm not looking for him to come back.