Cute Little Stinky Boys!

As a single mother I knew there would be things that I would not be able to teach my sons. These are things that can only be taught by a male. Seriously, I thought that those days were far off until my sons were nearing their teenage years. Little did I know that some lessons were to be learned before the age of six. The first lesson being the dreaded toilet seat in the bathroom. During potty training the boys learned to sit down when they needed to do their business. My oldest son started school and found that all the boys stand up when they use the bathroom. So wanting to fit in he started standing. My youngest son seeing this decided that he wanted to stand too. Since we moved in October they now have their own bathroom so no big deal for me because I don’t have to worry about falling into the toilet or sitting on a wet seat. Unfortunately, I did not take into account the aim factor. Cleaning the house this weekend I had to complete that horrible chore of scrubbing toilets. Now me and Katelyn’s bathroom not so bad. Sweep the floors, clean off the counters, scrub the tubs and it sparkles. But walking into the boys’ bathroom it was something out of a horror film. I remembered the scene from the movie Daddy Day Care where Eddie Murphy’s character goes into the bathroom after one of the boys and he is horrified by what the little boy left for him to clean. That was me! My face was probably worth a thousand words. I could not figure out where to begin. Dis-gus-ting!! The walls, the base boards, the floors, the trashcan, the seat cover….you name it they got it! I threw on the yellow gloves, grabbed the bleach, spic-n-span, scrub brush and any other chemical that happen to be near and went to work. So the new rule in the house is I don’t care what you do at school but in this house you SIT! No standing over the toilet seat unless you want to clean up the mess. I am sure this is nothing new for mothers with sons but it was an experience I will soon never forget.

Brandy's Top 10 Never Again List

So my sister-in-law, T, gave me the idea to construct my own 'Never again' List. Today a ton of them popped in my brain and I had to jot them down.

1. Never again go to bed with a million things swimmin around in your head. (You will only wake up @ 1am reading O magazine, eating a cup of ice cream and watching a sappy love dvd)

2. Never again give a 4-year old a piece of chocolate in the car in 70 degree weather.

3. Never again tell your 6 year old he can do anythin he sets his mind too. (You end up with the Olympic tryouts in your living room)

4. Never again answer the question, "Mommy, why can't you be President of the United States." It only leads to more questions.

5. Never again try to cram 3 kids and 2 dogs onto a queen size bed for bedtime. (Unless you enjoy a foot to the face and a paw in the gut)

6. Never again eat day old chili (after it sat out all night).

7. Never again forget God is always there to rescue you.

8. Never again spend your last $8 on McDonalds :)

9. Never again mail cash via USPS. (You will only spend the next week praying it did not get lost)

10. Never again send a text to someone that might save it and hold it against you later.

Am I old?

One night as we were driving home, I was rocking out to one of my old Mtv Party to Go Cd’s (so 1990’s) and the song Boom shake the room came on. And the kids stopped what they were doing and started jamming with me. After the song was over, Katelyn asked who sang that song. So I told her that Will Smith (one of her favorite actors) sang it. Looking just as cute as can be, she looked at me so puzzled. I must have been wrong with the name. So she very a matter of fact said to me…Will Smith is not a singer. And I said to her “oh on the contrary my dear that is how he started his career.” So as the weeks progressed I dug out, “Getting Jiggy with it”, “Ring my bell”, “Parents just don’t understand”, “Men in black”, “Miami”, Freakin’ it”, Wild Wild West”, “Just the two of us” and “Summertime”. She was so fascinated with this new found knowledge. So then I asked her if she knew that Will Smith was also on television. And she says of course. He is on the television when we play his movies. So I told her how he starred on a television show called The fresh prince of bel air. I told her all about Hilary, Will, Ashley, Carlton and Uncle Phil. Boy, was she impressed. (Now of course she wants me to get all six seasons so she can watch the show). But this got me to thinking…am I that old that today’s generation does not know that Will Smith was once a rapper? That Willard Christopher Smith Junior is more than a big mega movie star actor. He has success in music, film and television. He started his career in the 80’s as a rapper. He was a part of the duo DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. I know the answer is yes, I am old. Although 31 is not so old to some…1980 was not that long ago that’s an eternity to a 7 year old. I will just have to mark this day as the day I realized I was old L

The 1st Five get a Goodie

So my friend gave me a great idea to "pay it forward". This sounds like so much fun.....I thought I would give it a try.The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you! This offer does have a few "rules of play":
1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make --- but I hope you do!
2- What I create will be just for you --- one of a kind!
3- It'll be done sometime this year (most likely it will be in the next month).
4- You have no clue what it's going to be. Well, a pretty good bet it will be made of paper!
5-The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog!

The first 5 people to leave a comment wins a handmade card or gift (or both!) by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

Ready, set.....who will the first five be??

Saint Patricks Day 2009

The kids and I made the trek down to Denver for the Bellco Saint Patricks Day Parade. We met Sammi and watched the parade. It was so neat. It was a nice sunny day and so many people were out. The parade was like 3 hours long. Lots of floats, Irish dancers and bagpipes. The kids got loads of candy and trinkets thrown at them. After the parade we went over to The Rio Grande Restaurant and met Roy for lunch and drinks. It was such a fun day!!

CSU vs BYU girls basketball

On February 11th the kids and I went to the Women’s CSU basketball game at Moby Arena in Fort Collins. This was the first game that we have attended at CSU so the kids were super excited. A couple weeks leading up to the game I taught the kids the rules of basketball and how each team scores points. We attended a kids league game with Shannon and Jimmie’s son, Jadon but this was our first game in a big Arena.

The kids also watched a video about the Harlem Globetrotters to see a game in action. We hope to go see the Globetrotters in-person when they come to Loveland in April.

The Women’s game started at 7 with BYU leading against CSU in the Mountain West Conference. CSU being ranked 7th place and BYU in 4th place. The CSU Rams played BYU Cougars back in December and lost 61-43 so this was a chance for them to redeem themselves. Unfortunately, as exciting as the game was, they were unable to clinch the victory. Although, CSU has some really great players. Britney Minor had to be our favorite. She is a great athlete and physical player. Hopefully we will be able to attend more games this season.

FINAL SCORE 53-51

My Big Boy

My baby boy turned 4 on January 24th. I am so proud of him. He is growing everyday and the things he comes up with sometimes is amazing. Last night after hearing a clip on the news about people clipping the hairs off the tails of several horses and another of people stealing plow blades to sale, he comes up to my room and says “Mommy the world is crazy”. I turned to him in extreme amazement. At 4 he has already grasped the concept that people are doing bad things to each other making life extremely difficult. He is brilliant in everyway and I love the little guy dearly.