You Must Be So Proud...

This past Friday, I took the kids to Liberty, Texas for the Memorial service of their Great Grandmother. We called her Mama Darlin'. She told one of her grandkids, "come to Mama, darlin'" and the kid thought darlin' was part of mama's name. The nickname stuck.

Thursday night before the service, my kids and I enjoyed boiled crabs at the neigher's house. While I was chowing down, my daughter and the neighbor boys decided to make an art project out of my son.
They colored on him from head to toe!
With permanent marker.
It was unbelievable!


I used some witch hazel to get some of the marker off. All it did was tone down the hues marked all over him. It was late for a school night so I decided it was best to finish cleaning up my son in the morning.
I had to work from home and get some stuff done before heading to Liberty. The time got away from me. I used some baby oil to wash the marker off my son and gave him a quick bath. It was a poor clean-up job. I figured his face and arms looked pretty good and the rest of him could be covered with clothes. (I now know that GOO GONE works great at removing permanent marker from skin and isn't irritating)

What I didn't count on was that my Uncle would be picking up my son by his feet and dangle him. My son's shirt slid right down revealing his intricate "tattoos." Well, at least the minister mentioned how much Mama Darlin' loved her arts and crafts. She'd have been tickled pink seeing my son all marked up.

At that point of the day, we were attending a 55th Annual Invitational Golf Tournament and cat fish fry at the local country club. The town of Liberty is quite small-maybe 750 residents-and it seemed like all of them were there. We enjoyed ourselves and the food. The place wasn't stuffy or pretentious, but I still felt a bit out-of-place at a "country club."
My son apparently felt the sudden urge to peepee. He dropped trough down to his ankles. And with a move like something only a Chippendale dancer would do, he grabbed both sides of his diaper, pulled forward, ripped off the diaper, and tossed it away. He then tried to pee on a bush in the middle of the picnic area outside the clubhouse of the "country club." If it hadn't been so funny, I'd have been completely mortified. People were looking at my son and laughing. Some people were trying to take pictures with their cell phones so my protective daughter stood in front of her lil' brother in a sweet attempt to hide his shame.

Well, my son did lighten the mood and put some smiles on some faces. I must be so proud.

Meet & Greet

As I'm running out the door to attend a neighborhood "Meet and Greet,"
my son tells me, "Mama, I got poopoo on my leg."

I hope I don't hear him correctly and ask, "What?"

And then I smell it.

I look down to see that he has pulled off his diaper and had the massive blow-out smeared and streaming down his little legs. Oh, the timing...oh, and the stench!

I grab the container of wipes- though I need a power-washer. I did the best I could with the time I had to clean him up. Then, I realize I need to clean myself up too. I must have scrubbed my hands 10 times-and I mean scrub like I was prepping for open heart surgery.

I just couldn't imagine going to a meet & greet and shaking hands with a bunch of people I'm meeting for the first time all the while smelling like poo.
The "Meet and Greet" was held at a neighbors house in order for the community to meet the local officials running for City office. I knew there would be a lot of hand-shaking, but there was also finger-foods! Luckily, I scrubbed off the first layer of skin so my hands were clean and poo-fragrance free!

GET OUT...SIDE!!

Festivals are year-round, but something about the current weather conditions just makes me want to go festival-hopping even more. I search the local papers and internet sites for any festivals in my area. This past weekend, the Kemah Boardwalk held their annual Crawfish Festival. I didn't really care about eating crawfish there (way too expensive at $9.00/pound), I'll I wanted to do was enjoy the outdoors and listen to some great Zydeco music. Entry into the festival was free. I even took 7 kids along with me! I was often stopped by other festival-goers and asked, "Are all those kids yours?!" With every question, the title of my blog would pop into my head.
And no, I'm not a gluten for punishment!

Actually, I do know how I did it. I made sure the youngest kid (my lil' wreckin' ball son) was strapped in his stroller so he was easier to manage. The other youngsters, including my daughter, were age 5 to 8 and all well-behaved kids. I continually made a head-count of everyone. I also paired the kids up so each of them had someone to keep track of. The boardwalk is kid-friendly with lots of sidewalks to manuver around the heavy traffic-though coming from and returning to the car-I made sure everyone was holding hands.

The experience was not painful. It was pleasant, because the kids were great listeners. Plus, they just wanted to have fun too and didn't want to have to leave any earlier than necessary!
Thanks, kids! Bay Day at the Boardwalk is next!


(One of the boys was too shy to be in the photo)

Mom's Philosophy

I'm a big fan of Philosophy products and the company has a Mother's Day contest to celebrate mom's and their wisdom...

GRAND PRIZE:
RUNNER UPS: the 20 finalists each receive more than $170 worth of philosophy best-sellers:amazing grace firming body emulsion (16 oz.)amazing grace glycerin soap duoempowermint hot salt scrub (23 oz.)empowermint body mask (8 oz.)kiss me lip ointment in pinkpurity made simple facial cleanser (8 oz.)hope in a jar facial moisturizer (1 oz.)philosophy tote

Big Sister, Lil' Brother...

I know Easter was a few weeks ago, but I had to share this amuzing, sibling photo...

You Shaved My Son's Head???

I wasn't going to blog about the following incident because my anger had not yet subsided and it still doesn't quite make sense to me. But, I've since been asked several times, "Why on earth did you shave your son's head? He had such pretty hair." Well, I didn't shave his head. Nor did I give permission for the scalping.
Over a month ago, while I was enjoying BBQ and beer at the World Championship BBQ Cook-off, my son was begging my neighbor to cut his hair. The neighbors' boys have the "military fade" haircuts and the dad recently shaved his own head. My son wanted his head shaved too. The neighbor attempted to call me and another neighbor I was with at the BBQ, but could never get a hold of us. So he decided to listen to a three-year-old and shaved my son's head.

I noticed several missed calls from my neighbors' phone and finally spoke with them. They were both very apologetic, but assured me my son really, really wanted his hair cut. HE'S THREE-YEARS-OLD!! After the shock wore off, I took the news pretty well. I was disappointed and angry, but getting mad wasn't going to make my son's hair grow back!

I had fun the rest of the night and picked up my kids in the morning. The wife brought my son to me and there was no hiding my opinion. At that moment, I realized I'd never seen my son without hair. He was born with a thick head of hair and never lost it. Well, I almost lost my temper then. I remained calm as she told me how still my son sat while he was getting his hair cut--shaved. My son had just had his first real hair cut two weeks prior and wouldn't sit still with me holding him. The hairdresser thought she was going to cut her finger or my son's ear. I thought if my son sat that still maybe he did really want his hair cut. BUT, regardless, it's just not right not to get permission from a parent first!

There is one good thing to come from the whole ordeal-if you read the previous post, the head-shaving probably saved my son from getting lice...

BEFORE... and AFTER...

LICE the best way to get rid of them

During Spring Break, I discovered my daughter had lice. My mom was babysitting for me and found some bugs in my daughter's hair. It's absolutely horrifying and disgusting! I immediately treated the entire household-my daughter, my son and me.

I had first treated my family with NIX. An over-the-counter product you can buy at the drug store. I was ignorant and didn't do my homework. You don't want those kinds of chemicals penetrating your childrens' heads-especially since more than one application is usually necessary. My sister gave me some all-natural products called LiceKiller.

I'm 35 years old and never had lice-so I thought...I'm still not convinced I actually have it. I mean, I don't itch and I've not seen anything in my hair. But my sister checked out my scalp and believes she found some eggs. (Half of those infected by lice don't itch and if you have eggs, you have lice).

Battling lice is no fun and it's not easy. But if you don't do it right the first time, re-infestation is almost guaranteed. The key is getting rid of the eggs. This requires hours and hours of combing the hair with a special, fine tooth comb.

I didn't want to take any chances, I've also bagged up most of the pillows and stuffed animals in my house and set them in the garage for at least 7 days. I'm vacuuming more often and washing the bedding every day. I've treated everyone with the LiceKiller. Plus, because I'm not able to comb out my own hair, I'm soaking my hair in olive oil and wearing a shower cap to bed for at least 3 days in a row. The oil is supposedly suffocating any unhatched eggs. I'll do one more of the LiceKiller treatment at the end of the week just in case any of the lice survived. I've not seen any more eggs in my daughter's hair and I never found any in my son's hair. I'm hopeful the treatments will be complete this weekend and I can start saving on my water and gas bill!

If you suspect your child has lice-take action immediately!!! Wash everything, spray everything, treat with LiceKiller and comb, comb, comb!!! And please tell everyone! It is horrid and though it may be embarrassing, lice invest and the fastest way to spread lice is being silent.

THE FACTS OF LICE:

-Anyone can get lice-it has absolutely nothing to do with cleanliness or economic status

-Classic symptoms include constant itching and vigorous scratching

-Life expediency of a louse is from 3 to 6 weeks. The adult louse feeds about 5 times a day by piercing the skin with its claws, injecting saliva, and sucking blood. The life cycle of the head louse has three stages: egg.nit, nymph and adult. During their lifetime, a female louse can lay up to 150 eggs at a rate of about 6-8 per day. Head lice are oval in shape and classic coloration is yellow to white, but lice do turn a reddish color when feeding. They prefer to hide within 1/2 inch of the scalp on the hair shaft.

-The female will lay eggs on any fibrous material or hair and the eggs/nits will hatch within 7 to 11 days. If you see eggs, you have lice. The newly hatched nymph takes 8-9 days to become and adult; the age at which a female starts laying eggs. An adult female can crawl 3 feet per hour. The eggs can survive between 4 to 10 days of of a host, virtually anywhere in your immediate environment, but once hatched the nymph must feed on a human host in 24 to 48 hours, or they will die.

-Mature lice are tan to grayish white in color; the darker the hair, the darker the lice will appear. Eggs and nymphs can be translucent or clear in color. Adult lice have six legs and are about the size of a sesame seed.

-Lice cannot jump or fly, they simply crawl or fall off the hair to move or get away from danger. Their claw-like hooks on the end of each leg help the lice to stay attached to your hair or in your environment. Lice prefer hiding in your hair at the base of your neck and around your ears. (The best place to apply lice repellent!)

Another video testament to Neurofeedback & Autism

I'm so inspired by this woman-I had to share...(click youtube link below)

LYNETTE LOUISE WORKS WITH AUTISM PART 2

HAPPY GO TEXAN DAY!

Howdy, yall!
Does your state do this? We just love Go Texan Day down here-everyone gets to be a cowboy or cowgirl for the day! Yeehaw!

No picture with this post...

You'll soon understand why this post doesn't include a photo. I wasn't even sure I would write this particular post as the subject is revealing and embarrassing but damn funny. I just had to share it...

It was the night before my husband was flying out-of-town. He played with the kids one last time before bed and got them all amped up! They did not fall right to sleep that night. The hubby and I began watching "3:10 to Yuma" and tried to ignore the kids babbling to each other in their room. I'd call out occasionally for the kids to "hush up because it's night time."

My hubby and I were really enjoying the movie. We noticed our son sneak up the stairs. He tip-toed ever so cleverly up to our bed. We pretended not to notice-it was the last night to snuggle with the kids before hubby left town. Our daughter soon went looking for her brother and ended upstairs in our bed as well.

My hubby and I continued to watch the movie and then I heard a clanking noise upstairs. I ran up to tell the kids they had to settle down and go to sleep! I discovered the kids rifling through my bathroom drawers. I figured my daughter was getting into my eyeshadow and her brother was just following suit. I told them "to get in bed right now!"
My daughter quickly hid her hands and dived into the bed. She kept her hands hidden in the covers. I asked what my daughter had in her hands and told her she had to give it back to me. She replied, "I can't get them off, mommy."
I'm imagining hair ties as tight bracelets around her wrists and told her that I'd help her. She slowly pulled her hands out from under the covers.

Her two small hands were in tight fists and each was covered with a condom.

It looked like she had on surgical mittens.

I almost fell over - it was not AT ALL what I expected to see. I managed to control my laughter while I pulled the condoms off my daughter's hands. (Snap) She never asked about them so I dodged that bullet! I tucked the kids back in bed and went downstairs. I said to my husband, "Guess what your daughter was wearing?" and waved the condoms in his face. His mouth fell open and he managed a "WHAT?" He couldn't believe it either.

(I shared the story with my aunt the next day and in case you have the same questions she did...yes, the condoms were NEW and I have no idea how my daughter got the second one over her hand?)