Captain Potty Blocker

My name is Baby Sis, and I am potty training out of spite.  

Every time Mommy tells my brother to go potty, I race in ahead of him and body-block the toilet, insisting I must go first.

Brain Freeze

 Toddlerhood is full of tough life lessons.

Baby Sis just learned a very important one:

Ice cream is...

...worth it!

:)

Doughnut Day

Last weekend was Biggest Brother's 15th birthday. In honor of his day and his interests, we decided to pack everybody up, purchase an absurd amount of doughnuts, and have breakfast at the skatepark. I know it probably sounds more like torture than a treat to make a teenager get up at 6:30 in the morning on a weekend, but he and J actually prefer skating at ridiculous hours when they can have the whole park to themselves.  Go figure.

Chat Conversation End

This is what it looks like when our family shows up at the skatepark.  Which is also why we go early; we kind of monopolize the real estate when we're there.

Bubs was the first to hit the ramps.

Unfortunately, he did actually hit the ramps and got a mean case of road rash.  But he's a tough guy.  And really, when you're three, there are very few things

that Skittles don't fix.

He took a breather up on the ledge with Big Sis and watched

Biggest Brother,

Younger Brother,

and Daddy skate the pool.

Everybody skates, actually - or is learning.

Except for me.  I definitely don't skate.

But Big Sis will be giving the boys a run for their money in no time.

Little Sis and Princess A are getting their bearings too.  Ha!  Sorry, I couldn't resist just one bad pun. 

I love Little Sis' board.  It's so cool!  It's a penny board with a see-through deck and four different colored wheels that light up when they spin.

She's working on staying vertical,

but she has her own style too.  ;)

Princess A just got a new board. 

She picked out all of the pieces and parts.  It has pink grip tape - and trust me, that's important!

Even Baby Sis likes to come along.  Daddy gets her on a board from time to time, which she loves, but it gives me a heart attack!  She was actually standing and rolling hands-free for a couple of feet yesterday.  I can't watch! 

Mostly, she just slides down the ramps.  Which is great fun, 

but causes a wardrobe malfunction or two.

A few more times around and it was time to walk over to the actual park.  There's a playground just across the parking lot that the littles like to go to before we leave.

I love this gang!

We often have to divide and conquer to accommodate naps and transportation and such, so it's really nice when we can all do something together.

The hit of the whole morning was this carpenter bee, who was apparently quite enticed by J's colorful tattoos.  It stayed on his arm for a solid 20 minutes, following us everywhere we went.

Aww, look how cute!

Happy 15th, Biggest Brother!

Monday

As I was making a pot of coffee this morning and the big kids were eating breakfast, Baby Sis, who had already eaten, was nicely having a one-person tea party in the corner of the kitchen. 

I thought.

I assumed her cup was empty until she stood up and water spilled out onto the floor.

Not thinking too much of it, I sopped up the water and went back to making coffee.  When she passed by me two more times, gingerly sipping from her cup with a slurping sound that was a little too convincing to be air, I got suspicious.

"Guys, who keeps giving her water?"

 - silence -

That's when I followed the slurping noises around the corner to find Baby Sis, who is clearly too short to reach the faucet, ladling water out of the toilet.

"No, no, yucky!  We do not drink out of the toilet!"

 - a chorus of screams, giggles, and barfing noises from the big kids -

(I don't know what everyone is screaming about - it looks perfectly good to me.)

I have never been so thankful for the small blessing of my 3yo remembering to flush the toilet upon his departure moments earlier!

Good gosh.

Happy Monday!!!

Partners in Crime

 Fact:  Toddlers are the fastest criminals on the planet!

This morning, Big Sis appeared to be having some sort of strange allergic reaction.  I was waiting for a call back from the pediatrician, and when the phone rang I answered it and hurried out into the garage.  Because let's face it, it's basically impossible to have a coherent phone conversation in my house.

I was on the phone for maybe 5 minutes - maybe.

I walked back inside to discover that "someone" had given the dog a 5-pound smorgasbord of dog biscuits.  5 POUNDS!  Okay, 5 pounds minus 2 cups, because that's what remained inside the 10lb value box of treats that had previously been half full. 

 There were treats strewn from the basement stairs, through the playroom, through the other half of the basement, up the stairs, down the hall, and culminating in a true canine pot of gold, the dog bowl, which was filled to overflowing.  And there was a crazed beagle racing around collecting biscuits like a kid on an Easter egg hunt. 

(This was one instance where I actually cleaned up the mess before reaching for my camera lest the dog become absolutely sick.) 

I didn't have to look far to find the guilty parties.

Yep, that's them.

They're typically not hard to pick out of a lineup anyway, but "Beanie" there wasn't doing herself any favors.

There were plenty of alibis,

and an old fashioned snitch or two.

But "Beanie" was caught red handed.

We had a serious conversation -

 "You can't feed Libby so many treats.  It will make her sick."

Bubs:  "No it won't.  It will make her happeeeee!"

Lucky for toddlers, they aren't just fast criminals, they're pretty endearing ones as well.

{HAPPY}

"And the Grammy goes to..."

Today was cold and rainy.  Younger Brother was helping me by providing a little entertainment for Bubby and Baby Sis so I could get the morning rolling.  But there is no small entertainment in Brother's world.  He is excessively creative, and once he's onto something his ideas tend to snowball.

This morning was no exception.

When I walked past the living room the first time, he was playing a parachute game on the rug with Bubs and Baby Sis.  When I walked past the second time, the parachute was on the wall, covered in Christmas lights, cameras were being hauled in, and a crowd was assembling.

Clearly, a major production was in the works.

And, oh, it was!

Bubby is a Coldplay fanatic.

Re-enacting concerts he's seen on Roku is one of his most favorite things to do.

And he takes it seriously!

What is that?  

His smolder?  lol

I guess the camera crew must have called for "smolder."

It just might be Bubby's dream come true.

And brother was the perfect man for the job.

(This one is my favorite!)

He was so inspired, he dove off the stage into the "crowd."

"Encore!  Encore!"

 Turns out, there was an encore.  Apparently, this was only dress rehearsal!  They played a second show for J when he got home from work, complete with ticket sales, ushers, and popcorn.  The lead singer may have gotten distracted and left the stage several times to steal popcorn from patrons in the front row.

I have to admit it was one heck of a concert!

When Bubby gets his first Grammy nomination someday, let it be known -

I got his first autograph!

:)

Production Manager:  Younger Brother

Set Design:  Younger Brother

Sound Specialist:  Big Sis

Lighting Directors:  Younger Brother, Big Sis

Lead Video Operator:  Little Sis

Grip:  Baby Sis

Lead Vocals:  Bubby, feat. Princess A

Background Vocals:  Little Sis, Baby Sis