Rugrats and Dirty Rugs

"What kind of man do you think I'll be someday?" asked a boy to his mother. "Well, I think you'll be the man that you are now," replied his mother. One time, I told my husband that same sentiment. I said that I believe our sons will be the men that they are now. He told me that a man changes too much to be the same person he was as a boy. I partly disagreed. I even used him as an example. When we were dating in college, my husband didn't have a car so he borrowed a friend's bike to go to the store which was a mile or more away to buy me a rose. He rode that bike all the way back to our college campus carrying the rose in one hand and steering with the other. When he got to my window which was on the top floor, he threw rocks at it to get my attention as he usually did. When I saw what he did for me, I thought it was the sweetest thing in the world. I reminded my husband of this history of ours and told him he is a very sweet man. He infor...

SUPPOSE Suppose, my little lady, Your doll should break her head; Could you make it whole by crying Till your eyes and nose were red? And wouldn't it be pleasanter To treat it as a joke, And say you're glad 'twas Dolly's, And not your head, that broke? Suppose you're dressed for walking, And rain comes pouring down; Will it clear off any sooner Because you scold and frown? And wouldn't it be nicer For you to smile than pout, And so make sunshine in the house When there is none without? Suppose your task, my little man, Is very hard to get; Will it make it any easier For you to sit and fret? And wouldn't it be wiser, Than waiting like a dunce, To go to work in earnest And learn a thing at once? Suppose that some boys have a horse, And some a coach and pair; Will it tire you less while walking To say, "It isn't fair"? And wouldn't it be nobler To keep your temper sweet, And in your heart be thankful You can walk upon your feet? - Phoebe Cary ...

I've never seen the movie Arachnophobia and I never plan to. My husband saw it before we met and he was never the same after that. When we were newlyweds living in a small apartment in Florida, I came to understand my husband's aversion to spiders when he found one on the ceiling above our bed. I was in the kitchen when I heard him yell. I run into the bedroom thinking, "What in the world?" His reaction seemed funny to me since he had a broom in his hands ready to do murder. It was just a spider, for Pete's sake. He asked me if I had ever seen the movie. I said, "Of course not." Four babies later, we end up battling another spider together. I'm being lazy as usual during my last trimester and I'm on the couch when I hear the boys yelling, "There's a tarantula!" over and over again. I turn to see what is going on and see Nat and Justin hovering on the stairs. Aidan is walking around looking for it and Caleb is no where to ...

This is what happens when you leave Southern Colorado for a week on vacation in July. For more WW go to 5 Minutes for Mom .

Some kids can understand concepts naturally. They can learn as easy as a snap of the fingers. Some are a little different. Those children need a little more help learning basic concepts and understanding them. For instance, this crayon is first and that crayon is last. Some kids just get it without being taught. Others need reinforcement on the words and positions. I love my homeschool curriculum. It gives me the choice of whether to teach the basic concepts or just give them the worksheet and say, "Read the directions and do it." I have the same curriculum for two of my sons each in a different grade. With one son, I am able to say the latter. With the other son, I must teach the basics. It is rather interesting to me that each of my sons have come from my womb, and yet they are so very different from each other. I have one in kindergarten and occasionally he manages to surprise me into laughter. It has been a joy to teach him because I believe it has brought u...

My youngest son has been jipped. With the other boys, I diligently worked along with them to get them potty-trained. I encouraged them and bribed them, but with this last one.....there's no bribery left in me. I've come to the point in my life where I just don't have the time to take my son to the potty chair every hour or two hours of the day. With three kids to homeschool and a house to keep clean, the poor kid has to potty-train himself. Of course, I put the potty chair within easy access and put a basket of big boy undies next to it. Instead of bribing him, I threaten him within an inch of his life. "Don't you dare pee-pee on my carpet, kid. Do you hear me?" He just looks at me with this sullen look on his face and says, "No pee-pee." Occasionally, he will try to please me and pee in the potty chair. We will jump and dance around the potty chair like little Indians hooping and hollering in joy. All we need to go with that is some war ...

Little hands and fingers are so precious. I love how chubby and dimpled they look. They can get into a lot of trouble, though. You can usually find handprints on the walls and follow the trail to your little one. The anger usually subsides a little for me when I take their little hands and wash them. Those things are just too darn sweet for me. Last Friday, there were a lot of little fingers running around my house. All sorts of sizes, but all little compared to mine. Those fingers were very busy that day. They played Nintendo, held hands, played with all sorts of games and toys, played outside, ate lunch, and.......fed the dog. I thought I would introduce our dog to the kids so that she wouldn't have to be in the garage all day. In 100 degrees heat outside, the garage is like an oven. I should have left her there. The kids just loved her and she got along with them just fine. She especially enjoyed the little fingers feeding her bits of food. I didn't notice thi...

Living in Southern Colorado where the environment is a semi-desert, we are up to our eyeballs in snakes, lizards, rabbits, mice, and prairie dogs. Often we will see a hawk roaming the land for one of its many prey. It's like a smorgasbord out here. My boys are fascinated with the creatures of this land. I could well do without them thank you very much. Thinking of all the snakes that are hiding in my backyard gives me the chills and I recall a particular time in my life when I was totally creeped out by the nasty things. My husband and I were basking in dream land when we were jolted out of our sleep by a hard knock at our apartment door. It was past midnight and Nathanael was just a baby sleeping peacefully in his crib. When my husband opened the door, he was greeted with a formidable policeman. The man informed us both that he got an anonymous call from someone who saw a snake crawl underneath our door. I immediately went into my son's room ready to defeat this slimy foe in c...

I love boat rides. I don't get to go on them very often and when I do I'm in heaven. It's so relaxing to me and thrilling as well. We have friends from our church that got a speed boat for a song and they came to visit. We all trooped to the lake with our swimsuits and towels ready for the time of our lives. They hooked up the raft to the boat and the boys had a wonderful time hanging on for their lives as the boat sped around the lake. Justin and Aidan got to sit inside the boat and Aidan looked bored off his rocker, but I knew I'd never get him off of it without drugging him senseless. At one point, Nat and Cabe were holding onto the raft with a girl about Nat's age between them. They were staring straight ahead with looks like hodey-hum when all of a sudden the girl slipped right off the raft into the water. Neither one of my boys noticed. About twenty seconds later, Nat looked casually over at her and when he didn't see her next to him did a double...