Johnson Five

One kid's junk is another kid's treasure

2009-04-06T13:03:00.000-05:00

My husband is always on the lookout for stuff that people put out by the road to get rid of. It drives me batty but some of the stuff he brings home can be pretty useful. I think my daughter is starting to join on the fun.

One day when they were out and about, she saw a play kitchen sitting out by the road and she was so excited about it. You see she already has one down in the basement but it is pretty outdated. I wish I was there to see how she was. I was told that she actually put it in the van (with a little help) and once they got home, she dragged it into the house and up the stairs to her bedrooom.
She must of been pretty proud, she even took pictures herself.

It looked fairly new compare to the old one. She even decorated it herslef.

Teaser

2009-03-30T19:52:00.005-05:00

Spring is such a teaser.
I can't believe we were doing this, just last week.

Then over the weekend we got 5-8 inches of snow. It's back to being just a little too chilly to actually enjoy like we were. The kids were even upset that we got snow but I don't think they were that upset if they were so excited to go and play in it yesterday.

Where did it go?

2009-02-26T20:40:00.006-06:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Holy cow I cannot believe that the month is nearly over. It has been busy. I got a second part-time job. My first job is a secretary and I am not getting too much hours since the housing market is down. My second job is working at the kid's school with the daycare. K3 and K4 are only half days so the kids who can't go home can go to daycare. Then when the school is over I continue to the wraparound daycare for the whole school. So it's been keeping me busy. I already ready for a day off.

I haven't been taking too much pictures because a) I am too busy working so I haven't been seeing too much of my kids and b) my camera is about to GO. I have been having so much trouble with the zoom. I try to zoom out and it only goes a few and when I take a picture, it freezes up. It's been very frustrating. Hubby seems to think that there is sand or dirt in the lens area. I am waiting for him to take care of the problem for me but he has other things going on with HIS family.

King's mother has been having some severe health issue since Christmas and she might be coming home this weekend from the rehab center. She is finally getting back on her feet and taking care of herself. King has been taking care of all her health needs and updating his parent's house to make it accessible for her. We're all excited for her to come home.

Isn't life suppose to get easier?

Well at least I've got some things to keep me smiling.

Here is a picture of my Princess.

Until next time....

It's a Party!

2009-02-11T10:23:00.012-06:00

We celebrated Monkey's birthday this weekend with the immediate families. He had been looking forward to this since the older two's birthday party in September. He told everyone that he is having a Thomas birthday.

We were all singing to him here.

Blow, blow, blow

Thomas the train made by me. It was yummy too.

Monkey tore through all the gifts within 5 mins. It was too funny.

Happy Birthday Monkey!

2009-01-29T22:27:00.002-06:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Dear Monkey,

The day you came was very exciting. You had many people waiting for you. You were welcomed to the world with lots of love. This was during the time we found out that you had a hearing loss. I don't know why I cried for you. I was worried in many ways for you. Don't worry I eventually accepted it and worked hard to give you every opportunity to any noise.

Then you turn 1. You were the cutest little guy that we could just love you up. Always smiling. I always look for our time together after the older siblings go to bed.

Then you turn 2. You try to act so grown up, keeping up with your older siblings. We had to keep you down so that you wouldn't hurt yourself but you were determined to do whatever was going on. You were learning too quick for me to keep up with you.

And now you're 3. My heart ache for the fact that you are no longer a baby. But you will always be my little baby. You are growing up too fast for me. I want you to stay little forever. I will definitely continue looking for our moments together. You have shown us so much and you have not let your disablitiy take you down. You still surprise us everyday.

You are the best thing that ever happened to us.
Happy Birthday Monkey!
I love you little man.

Love Always,
MOM

Freezing cold

2009-01-15T21:14:00.007-06:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

We've been hibernating the last few days.
Just to show what we've been doing.

"The wheels on the bus go round and round, beep, beep, beep, and shish, shish, shish.

Absolutely nothing.

Happy Holidays!

2009-01-01T21:55:00.004-06:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Best things do come in small er..big packages.

All I want for Christmas...

2008-12-18T20:00:00.000-06:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

is my two front teeth.

kids eye view

2008-12-16T09:04:00.000-06:00

Princess wanted to take some pictures so I gave her the camera. I walked off to do something and completely forgot she had it. About 5 minutes later was when I realized it, only because I saw her with it. Here are her views of part of our house.

We were putting up christmas decorations that day.

This one cracks me up. Why is Monkey holding a movie while going to the bathroom? He proudly shows it off.

Breakfast with Santa

2008-12-13T21:02:00.001-06:00

The kids loved it.

Looking out the window.

2008-12-08T09:38:00.000-06:00

I absolutely love this picture of Monkey. It's not the greatest picture but I love how this turned out.
We had a little table next to the Christmas tree and he would sit on the table looking out the window. This would entertain him for like 20 minutes. He would do this everyday last Christmas.

christmas tree lighting

2008-12-05T21:02:00.006-06:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

This is a tradition I think we will continue to do. We went to the christmas tree lighting the night after Thanksgiving with my family. It's kind of like a christmas fairy tale backstage. You walk down main street where all the stores and resturants are decorated with christmas lights. People are singing carols and Santa comes to town, on a fire truck. Then you squeeze through all the people to get up to sit on Santa's lap and take a picture. He gives you a candy cane and off you go. This is the third year we've done this and the kids love it.

Year 2005

Prince, Aunt J, Princess in front of the BIG tree.

We skipped 2006. I am not exactly sure why we didn't go. It was the year we had Monkey. I can't remember if the Prince and Princess went with my parents and we stayed home with Monkey or we just didn't go at all. I'll have to ask my mom about that, she has better memory than I do.

Year 2007

Taking pictures in the dark is not easy.

year 2008

With Santa Claus, my mom had to sneak herself into this one.

Paramedic baby catcher

2008-11-20T20:16:00.009-06:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

I have been holding this in for a couple of months. I didn't want to tell you until I found the original picture. I took me a while to find and I finally found since I wasn't looking for it. I hate it when that happens.

I didn't make it to the hospital when Prince was born. He was born on an Ambulance on the way to the hospital. He just came too quickly.

There was 4 paramedics in the Ambulance. I only know this because my mom told me. I only knew of 2. The one in front of me and the one driving, obviously. We did see one of the paramedic when we went to visit the station for Seth's birthday only because the Captain wanted us to come by.

Years went by and in September we went to a Fire Expo with my mom and stepdad. The Fire Expo had all the surrounding community in one area to show off the stuff that they do. It was pretty interesting. We got to see the Jaws of Life in action, climb a ladder and slid down a pole, and saw a scuba diver in a pool, and so on. There was this one guy that looked familiar and I had to ask if he was part of the crew that delievered Prince. It was HIM, the one who caught Prince. He was so escatic about seeing Prince since he hasn't seen him since the day of his birth.
Here they are together:

Here is the picture of the paramedic crew the day of his birth. The one in the white shirt is the one in the picture above. I kind of wish that we had Prince in the picture but I think he was in the incubator, ready to be transfer to another hospital.

I started writing his birthstory but I just didn't want to bore you with all the details so I'll finish it up for another time. Plus I like to add baby pictures because I know you all love baby pictures. I need to download them from my parents computer since they had a camera at the time.

Trip with Grandma and Grandad

2008-11-06T20:51:00.007-06:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Guess what movie this is from?

This is my mom, Prince, and my little sister, Auntie J.

Auntie J. told Prince about the trip they were going to go on earlier this summer. She told him about going to the Mississippi River, seeing where former president Grant lived, and going on a boat. Prince had has me if he could go but I told him he needed to ask grandma first. My mom thought is was so cute how he asked that she couldn't resist. So he got to go on a trip with them for the first time. I didn't mind letting him go. He is usually very good and will let them know if he needs anything.

So they took a trip out to Galena, IL to see the place where Grant lived. Rode on a boat on the Mississippi River. Then the drove over to just outside of Dubuque, IA to step out onto the field where this movie took place. I am so jealous that they got to do it.
Here's another view....

Have you figure it out yet? I love this movie.
Here's another hint
"Build it and they will come".

Photostory Friday

2008-10-30T16:25:00.008-05:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

He wore this 2 years ago. He wanted to wear it again. I am glad that it still fit. I didn't have to make another.

Here kitty, kitty!

Yep this def. suits him.

Photostory Friday

2008-10-24T10:16:00.006-05:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Sorry it's been an exhausting couple of weeks.

I feel the need to share a picture.

You know how it is to keep clothes on kids
And
To keep them from using the furniture as a jungle gym.

Pumpkin farm

2008-10-20T21:29:00.006-05:00

We went to the pumpkin farm last weekend and we had a blast. We've gone to the same farm last year and I think the year before. We went into the spook house, corn maze, the petting zoo, and the hayride.

They have had the height measurement things ever since we've been there. I know I have taken their pictures by this last year. I have to look through my pictures.
Prince acting all goofy. He's actually 43".

Princess standing tall. She's actually 41"

They both just had their annual checkup.

Monkey wasn't to keen on standing there by himself. I have no ideas exactly how tall he is. But it looks like he is 36" tall.

I should pull out last year's picture and compare.

Calling all Box Tops

2008-10-08T21:10:00.003-05:00

I have now become the coordinator of these babies for the kid's school. I sat and counted over 2,000 pieces last night. I am not done yet. More to come from the other moms who volunteer to count the rest for me. Whew, I hope it's not like this the rest of the school year.

I had to use my camera phone because I just could not find the actual camera last night. I kind of figured out where it could be, in the van, but when I open the door to go out, I could hear rain. Nah, NOT worth it. The picture quality is not THAT bad. Could you even tell?

My 100th Post

2008-10-02T21:04:00.004-05:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

I was going to do the 100 things about me and my family but I just haven't had time to sit down and write it all out. Plus it has been a rough week. Princess had the flu. I think she is doing better but we'll see how the night goes.

I'll leave it with this picture.

This just cracks me up everytime I look at it.

Have a great Friday!

Rub-a-dub-dub!

2008-09-25T22:15:00.007-05:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

3 children in a tub!

Then the perfect and not so perfect fit.

Photostory Friday

2008-09-19T07:50:00.001-05:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

For you MamaGeek!

I came home from work one day to this:

and this:

Here is Monkey so content playing

The love of Thomas back in our household. And cars, trucks, airplane, and more. Luckily most of the trains and tracks were already here from Prince when he was into them at that age. I think it's great that this stuff can be used again.

It was a beautiful, sunny day that I just had to take pictures and try to use the sunlight through the window. It was good experience.

MamaGeek-Some Michaels craft store sells them and you can use the 40% off coupons that comes with the Sunday paper. Way cheaper to do then the toy store.

Happy Birthday!

2008-09-17T21:18:00.002-05:00

We just celebrated their birthdays with the families. Prince's birthday was in August just before we left for vacation and Princess was just a few days ago. Since they're so close together, we tend to do a party with the family together. It's easier on my parents since they both live an hour away.

I like to make their cakes. I have fun with and easy way for me to be creative. I've only started about 3 years ago. Our birthdays are the only time I get to practice.

Prince's Cake

And Princess' cake.

Look at the lips, awful. But she didn't notice.

We're here!

2008-09-08T12:22:00.003-05:00

Yes were are back. We actually came home Saturday of Labor Day weekend. We're all adjusting to the new routine and it's taking some time. I will blog about our vacation soon. Right now we have birthdays to celebrate. Oy!

We're on vacation

2008-08-26T16:05:00.002-05:00

Taking a break take an end of the summer vacation. We should be back by Labor Day.
As soon as we all get settle back into routine I'll be back on to tell you all about it. Have a good Labor Day weekend.

Dog

2008-08-17T11:30:00.002-05:00

We're dog sitting for the week.

Photostory Friday

2008-08-14T21:04:00.005-05:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Prince just came home Wednesday from a 2 day trip with my mom, stepdad, and Auntie J. They went to Galena, IL and then to Dubuque, IA. He was thinking of us.
I got this...

He thought I needed something to sleep with at night.

He got a bottle opener for his daddy!

State Fair #6

2008-08-13T15:43:00.001-05:00

Group picture!

Now see the chin in the top part of the picture? That's me, my dear hubby took this picture. How nice of him!

State Fair #5

2008-08-12T12:39:00.001-05:00

Riding a fake cow.

This was by the flavored milk stand. We love going to this stand. You can buy a cup of flavored milk for 25 cents. The flavors are strawberry, chocolate, raspberry, mocha, and root beer. Yum. Strawberry is my FAV.

The girl in the yellow, she is somebody we just picked out of the crowd so that we can pretend that we have 4 children. Just kidding! She's my baby sister, Auntie J. She's going to be 10 soon. Isn't it scary that she looks close enough to be mine? She and Prince could pass as brother and sister and have been asked MANY times.

State Fair #4

2008-08-10T06:17:00.001-05:00

There is a DNR section at the state fair that we like to visit everytime we go. They have fun, hands on things for the kids. There was a fishing clinic we participated. They all caught a fish and won a bobber as a prize.

"Whoa it's a big one".

State fair #3

2008-08-08T10:41:00.003-05:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Since I'm on the topic of State Fair this week.
I've always liked this picture of Monkey and Daddy. I can't remember if Monkey was helping himself to a creme of creme puffs or if he was going to give it to daddy.

State Fair #2

2008-08-07T10:57:00.002-05:00

Yummy creme puffs. This is one of the main things of why we go to State Fair.

Nah I just wanna play.

State Fair

2008-08-04T13:49:00.006-05:00

Animals, creme puffs, corn, oh-my.
Oh did we walk until our feet fell off.

Our 3 little cows.

swimming, swimming...

2008-08-01T11:07:00.007-05:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Every since we put this pool in our backyard 2 weeks ago. The kids have been in it every. day. since then. Monkey refused to go in it as he is afraid of deep waters or something. Finally he decided he wanted to go it the other day. King had to take a picture to prove it.

He only stays in the water for like 5 min at a time. He doesn't care much for the splashing from the other kids.

Train under-where?

2008-07-30T07:49:00.000-05:00

We been trying to get Monkey potty trained.
Sporting his brand new underwear, I asked Monkey to show me his trains. This is what I get...

Name changes.

2008-07-29T13:52:00.005-05:00

I am thinking of changing a few names around here.
Big Bro will change to Prince. (he really don't have a nickname, I just like Prince better).
Man will be King.
I will be Queen but I'd rather be called Dana since it's a unique name.
Princess will stay as a princess cuz she sure acts like one most of the time.
Monkey-the name says it all.

What are these?

2008-07-26T20:48:00.008-05:00

I have a webcam built into my laptop and I was using it to take some pictures of the kids and came upon these.

I don't know how many shots I found of her head. You can see Big Bro in the background.

Oh look here he comes. Even Monkey had to get in on it.

hmmm....

I'd like to know where my husband is when this was taking place. Oh wait by looking at the time it seems to have occurred when I was home. Now where was I? Most likely in the basement doing laundry or cleaning up supper.

Well here we are taking pcitures of ourselves in the backyard.

Photostory Friday

2008-07-25T13:29:00.003-05:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

This is Big Bro with baby Monkey. Big Bro absolutely loved having a baby brother and wanted to be with him all the time. He kept begging me to feed him so I finally let him. I think it's great. Brothers forever.

Wordless Wednesday

2008-07-23T09:11:00.001-05:00

Photostory Friday

2008-07-18T09:55:00.007-05:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

This was from our Florida vacation last summer. Our friends took us tubing and we had a great time. It was the first the kids had been on at boat with a motor.

Big Bro loved it if it went slow.

Princess was ok with it but freaked when we fell in the water. Needless to say she didn't want to do it again.

Moneky had to try out driving the boat. That's the friend who was willing to let him.

Photoshop Friday

2008-07-11T11:46:00.005-05:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

I have always loved this picture of Princess.

She was almost 2 at the time this picture was taken. I loved her hair, oh how it would get so curly. I was very sad that she has lost all her curls but she is still a beautiful little girl. It's amazing how much she has grown in 3 years.

Slow down little mommy!

Water, water everywhere

2008-07-09T21:43:00.007-05:00

Here's a few pics from the trip.

My stepdad, Princess, Big bro, and My little sister J jumping into the deep end of the pool.

Little Miss Princess decided not to jump or she had no idea what was going on.

She preferred to do the shallow side.

And here's a fancy shot of big bro. He was learned all kinds of tricks of jumping into the pool.

And where was little monkey the whole time? Trying to keep himself out of the water.

He didn't want anything to do with being in the pool. I guess it was a little too intimidating for him.
That was pretty much our trip...being in the pool and visiting with family. It was a good time and the kids did so well with the drive.
I am still battling a cold/sinus infection and recovering from being so busy the last couple of weeks. I am still tired.

on a trip

2008-07-01T18:36:00.005-05:00

We've been busy. You'll never guess where we are right now.

We are 15 hours away from home. The kids and I are in New Jersey with my mom, stepdad, and little sister. We're visiting my stepdad's family. I haven't been out here in 4 years. We are driving back home today and will be home hopefully in the morning, well my mom's house. The kids are so sad to have to leave. Big bro says he wishes we were here for a whole month only because there is a inground pool in the backyard. I hate to go but will be happy to be home in my own house and driving my own van.

I wanted to get on before we left but we just had so much to do. And then I get a cold just before we left on Thursday. We went camping the weekend before that so I was busy cleaning up from that and then turn around to start packing for the trip. I was exhausted when we finally left.

I promise to share some pictures when we get back. I even got my baby fix while I was here.

Photostory Friday

2008-06-27T13:53:00.002-05:00

This was taken around the same time last year. We took a 2 week vacation and drove down to Florida to visit a friend. We drove for 4 days, stopping for a night. We did fun stuff each place we stopped. This was taken the night we got in at Pensacola Beach. We all had a blast. It was a great vacation. We love to do it again and hope to do it next year to visit the same friend who moved to Virginia.

Water, water

2008-06-25T07:45:00.001-05:00

Chirp, Chirp

2008-06-23T22:52:00.004-05:00

This was from the Diary farm breakfast. Big Bro was super excited to hold a baby chick. He loves animals. Princess refuse to get near the cute little thing. She's afraid of any animals. I don't know what happened with her.

Photostory Friday #3

2008-06-20T09:30:00.003-05:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Princess got these for Easter last year. Pj's from the Easter Bunny and the red dress was from Grandma and Grandpa J. She had to try them all on at once.

Wordless Wednesday

2008-06-18T06:12:00.000-05:00

Picture was taken a few days after my last wordless wednesday. You can see the picture here

June is Dairy Month

2008-06-17T08:06:00.000-05:00

Moo! Moo! Moo!

We got to eat some eggs and bread with the cows over the weekend. YUM!

Photostory Friday #2

2008-06-13T06:04:00.003-05:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

This was taken on their first day of school. Today is their last day of school. Amazing how the year went by quick. They have grown a whole year older. They both are very excited for summer vacation to start. Princess will be done with K3 and Big Bro will have his Kindergarten graduation ceremony this morning. I am excited and happy for him. Three months ago we had quite a scared that he wouldn't be passing kindergarten because of his reading level. We've worked hard on reading words and books. Great job Big Bro.

Happy Birthday Man

2008-06-11T08:00:00.001-05:00

We love that you can impress us of your strength as a father and husband. You are the greatest! Thank you for all your hard work. We love you.

Love,
Dana, Big Bro, Princess, and Monkey

Photostory

2008-06-06T10:33:00.006-05:00

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Monkey did not want to get out of the bathtub when I took him out to put on his pj's. I had gone in the kitchen for something and heard the kids screaming for me. He decided to go back in.

Wordless Wednesday

2008-06-04T06:18:00.000-05:00

2-3 weeks old!

Talk about Tuesday-home tour

2008-06-03T22:17:00.000-05:00

I am going to quickly do this since I am tired and I now have a chance to do this. I've been dying to do this all day. Since we have remodeled our kitchen, we stil have limited space the can be used. Over the weekend while we were at Menards looking at those chrome pull out baskets to put in your cabinets. We decided that we were not going to get those since I didn't really care for the chrome. But we did find something else that can help us organize the kitchen. So I installed it on Sunday and viola.

I am loving it so far. I stil have to bring up my cupcake pans and a few other pans that I have still in the basement. It's slowly coming all together. My pantry should be done in a couple of weeks.

You can read what other have to talk about at The Lazy Organizer.

Reality check!

2008-05-30T09:04:00.007-05:00

It's Friday, Friday!
What are we going to do?
Do nothing! Yeah right!

I must try, relax.
I must try. Cuz next week will
be busy, busy.

Soccer, ballet ends.
Make cake and pasta salad
for the parties treats.

I can't believe it!
Ten more days of school left, eek!
No more sunrise wakes.

What will I do then?
Sleep in? Oh wait, I forget.
I still have work. Rats!

Check out other's Haiku.

I don't know...

2008-05-29T13:27:00.000-05:00

what it is this week. I have been exhausted. All day yesterday I did nothing but yawned. It was annoying me! I haven't been in the mood to do anything but do nothing and sit. Our wireless for the laptop has crapped out on us. I can still use the desktop computer with internet in the basement. But do I have to? I like being able to sit in the living room and have the tv on at the same time. Not to mention being comfy and warm. I ended up watching tv and fold laundry before going to bed. We do have a friend coming over tonight to help us figure out what the problem is.
I stumped myself yesterday. I went to the grocery store Tuesday morning and bought a few things that I could make for supper this week. I picked up 3 packets of seasoning to make chinese with and set them on the handle part of the cart. It has a really shallow basket type like to hold papers and such. I checked out and went to work. After I got home and empty out all the bags, I couldn't find the 3 packets. I was standing in the middle of the kitchen, scratching my head. I could of swore that I put them on the cart. I checked the reciept and I never bought them. There were two things that could have happened. It must of fell off the basket in or I just walked out of the store with them on the basket and never saw it. I thought the second part was kind of odd but you never know about me.

Wordless Wednesday

2008-05-28T08:21:00.003-05:00

Haiku Friday

2008-05-23T06:30:00.002-05:00

Going on a field
trip with the kindergartners.
Nature here we come!

Nature Center to
learn about plants, flowers, trees.
Oh, how do they grow?

So excited to
learn like 5 & 6 year-olds.
To be kids, again.

Check out other's Haiku Friday

Wordless Wednesday

2008-05-21T08:28:00.002-05:00

new kitchen

2008-05-20T11:06:00.017-05:00

Today I will talk about my kitchen. We had a pipe burst underneath the sink back in January and from that point we decide then that we would finally remodel our kitchen. We have always talked about replacing the cabinets and floor but never managed to get to it. So this kind of forced it. We never did think about doing what we had done. All of the work was done by my hubby and with the help of his father and brothers. I wish I had taken more pictures. I didn't think we would do as much as we had done.
I absolutely love the new kitchen. It is so much brighter in there now. We still have a lot more to do. Or it seems that way. We still need to add the trimming, put in a new window, and finish the pantry. We're also gonna work on the mudroom to put the frig just beside the wall and add some heating vents since there isn't any. I also like to reconfigure it all to utilize it better. It's just not working out, for me anyways.

Old Kitchen

corner where the stove and frig used to be. Look at the wall. ICK!

The old flooring

new kitchen

The frig used to be in the corner. Love the more counter space.

Now it's temporarily on the other side of the room.

The frig will eventually be put on the other side of the wall in the mudroom. We're getting a new pantry and door to the right.

Our new flooring

Close up of the countertop.

One of my favorite part of the kitchen. The other is the dishwasher. Loving it. This is an undercabinet storage of the sink section. You know the area where the sink is? It looks like there is a drawer there but isn't. Yeah that part. It's even got a ring holder.

Big Bro

2008-05-16T08:43:00.005-05:00

I am glad to say
Big Bro's made it to level C.
Way to go Big Boy.

We knew you could do
it. Hard work is paying off.
One more level yet.

Check out others Haiku Friday

Flowers!

2008-05-13T20:51:00.004-05:00

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Reading

2008-05-13T09:07:00.009-05:00

I am having a hard time thinking of what to talk about beside of what's going on with Big Bro. So I'll talk about it anyways. I am a little upset so I don't mean for this to sound depressing. I guess I am asking for help.

Big Bro is in kindergarten and is having trouble with reading. He knows all his letters and sounds to each letter. He knows a lot of the one syllable words. But he has trouble sounding out the longer words and putting them together. He can do it with help. So on the way to school this morning he told me that he is in Mrs. R's reading group. His class have small guided reading group and they work with different teachers or volunteers and a few other students. He says that Mrs R makes him read hard words and he can't do hard words. He was practically in tears about it. I try to explain to him that things can be hard and when we practice we get better. Kind of like learning to ride your bike without training wheels. Remember? "Yeah".

With Big Bro he doesn't like challenge. If it's too hard he gives up very easily unless it's something that he really wants to do. We keep telling him that if he keeps trying you will be able to do it. With the reading thing, it's getting to the point where he'll fight with us to sit down and read a book to us. To the point where he is screaming and crying. It upsets me to see him act this way.

I talked to his teacher,Mrs H, when I got to school about what was said and she'll move him into Mrs C's reading group. She told me that he is still reading at a Level A. They have to be in Level D when school ends which is 5 weeks away.

I had call hubby about all this and he feels that we should take away all the things that Big Bro likes to do in order to work on this. I hate to do that. I know how frstrating it is to learn things in school. I had a rough time with school while growing up. I don't know what else we can do. We go to the library once a week and pick out books for him to read. I usually pick pre k-grade 1 or level 1 for him and he picks out books for me to read to him. If he wants something we tell him it is worth 1 book read to us. He sometimes is ok with that. But we like him to try to read at least 2 books a day to us. I really would like him to be able to enjoy reading books. It's something that I love to do. I love to read books, when I have a chance.
Anybody have any ideas that could help encourage reading? Thanks for reading this.

Take a look at what others are talking about over at Lazy Organizer for Talk about Tuesday.

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-09T09:25:00.004-05:00

Happy Mother's Day!
Flowers, Chocolate, Jewelry?
Nope. Let me be, please.

I feel better

2008-05-08T15:00:00.000-05:00

Yes! I can finally swallow without pain. Whew. At some point I thought that was never going to happen but I had come to my senses and realize it will happen. Soon. But I am still taking it easy. I don't want to do too much and then be too exhausted to do anything. Having strep sure wore me out. I am glad that I am better. I can now focus on things that need to be done. Which is what I am trying to figure out. I am writing out a list of things that I like to do within the next 6 months. But that'll be another post.

Wordless Wednesday

2008-05-07T09:32:00.004-05:00

MULTITASKING?

Talk about Tuesday

2008-05-06T21:16:00.007-05:00

When I thought about my shoes I thought that I didn't have that many shoes so this should be a simple project. I am such a picky shoe person. I only like certain kinds and I like comfort. I can't stand wearing shoes that are too tight or just doesn't look right. So I've managed to take them all out this evening and viola this is all that I own.

Sadly I only have one pair of tennis shoes. The pair of sandles next to my tennis shoes I hardly ever wear, heck I don't even like them so I was thinking of getting rid of those. The 2 sandles next to that are my sandles I wear to the pool. The sandles on the bottom left are my absolute favorites. I bought them last summer and almost wear them everyday. I even wore them today since it was gorgeous out. The black sandles I wear to work when I wear black pants or for fancy occasions. Then the next brown pairs are o.k. They just feel so big and clunky and I'll wear them occasionally. The flip flops I bought at Target for a dollar a couple years back sand I really can't stand to wear them because the thingy between the toes bothers me. I think they are cute which is probably why I keep them.

Next to those frilly flip flops are my work shoes during the winter. They are the most comfortable shoes I've ever had. I really need to go back to the store to see if I can find the exact same pair. I absolutely love wearing the shoes next to the black ones. I wear those whenever I have a chance in the winter. Those brown shoes above that are my brown dress shoes for work. I like them but they are too big for me so I need to get rid of those. And then to the left of it are my black shoes that I've had since before having children. I used to wear those for going out but now they are just too tight now but I hate to get rid of those.

And last these my snow boots. I can't stand my feet getting cold and wet when I help out with shoveling.

Here they all are, well excluded a few, on a shelf in our mudroom.

Head on over to Lazy Organizer site to read about what others have to say about their shoes. I am sorry I am too lazy to add the banner right now. I promise I will next time.

Weekend

2008-05-05T10:03:00.007-05:00

I tried to enjoy the weekend as much as I could but it was hard. I am still enduring the strep throat pain. It is still so difficult to swallow. Saturday it rain off and on. I tried to do a few things around the house. I even vacuum and mop a section of the basement and that wore me out. I took a 20 min nap after that.
Sunday was a better day. The sun was out and my mom and sister came to visit. We spent the most part of the day outside. I was hoping that soaking up the sun would help take away the pain. It helped, a little.
I finally got a call from the doctor's office. She's is switching my medication. I hope this works. Really Fast!

Sick, Again!

2008-05-02T08:09:00.003-05:00

This is really no fun. Being sick with strep that is. I am so glad that I saw the doctor yesterday morning. The sore throat started after taking Princess to her speech therapy on Wednesday. The pain just got worse as the evening wore on. I woke up yesterday with it hurting worse then when I went to bed and I could barely swallow. The school had said that strep was going around and I was waiting for Princess to get since she's had it before. I wasn't expecting that I would get it. I must of picked it up with I volunteered in Big Bro's class last week. It is still sore today and it hurts to talk so I am staying home from work, again. Yay, too bad I can barely move because I have tons of stuff to do aruond the house. I have an excuse, the doctor said to get plenty of rest.

Wordless Wednesday

2008-04-30T21:29:00.012-05:00

Thunderstorms

2008-04-25T10:51:00.004-05:00

Thunderstorm warning,
So humid, blackening clouds.
Need to brace for....BOOM!

Lights are flickering.
Will we be sent home early?
Nope, We have back up.

I rather be home
with my blanket and a book
then sit here at work.

Little Helper

2008-04-23T20:55:00.004-05:00

Headphones, anyone?

2008-04-20T21:57:00.004-05:00

I am really looking forward to Friday. I gotta wait a whole week now. I went to the Audiologist on Friday to pick up my hearing aid from being repaired. For some odd reasons one decided it didn't want to work anymore. So after 2 weeks I finally went in. I had mentioned to my Audiologist about getting some sort of headphones to hook up to my hearing aids. It doesn't make sense for me to get headphones and not wear my hearing aids. I mean hello, I need them to be able to hear, right? So why do I need to to take them off. Anyway, she called the manufacturer about being able to do so. Since it's still under warranty, I got them 2years ago, they'll replaced them with hearing aids that can do the headphone hook ups. But I do have to pay for the device(called a boots) that hook up to the hearing aids. I just cannot believe that I don't have to pay for brand new hearing aids. Yippee. Now I can ask for a MP3 player for Christmas since I've already had my birthday. Hehehe I am wondering now if I am able to use them with my cell phone and my phone?!?! Didn't think to ask. I gotta head of to bed. It was a long weekend.

We have light!

2008-04-17T11:58:00.005-05:00

We fought over what kind of light we wanted in the kitchen. We both had the same style that we like but Man wanted to go with the long, rectangle one but I wanted the square one. I didn't care for the rectangle one because that's what we had orignally and it gave off too much light. Guess who won?

I was proud that he actually agreed with me. See I know what I am talking about.

Rollar Skating

2008-04-10T09:20:00.003-05:00

We went rollar skating a couple of weeks ago when Man had the week off. This was the second time that Big Bro and Princess has gone. This time I brought their skates and they had a blast. The skates the rink provides was so hard for them to stand on their own two feet.
Big bro (sorry it's so small, I'll fix it later)

Princess

Monkey

Man decided that we should let Monkey try. He loved it and wanted to keep going but oh my back. And I wouldn't dare let Man do it because of his bad back.
I am going to have to find skates for him.

We're gonna go again on Sunday for a birthday party.

kitchen progress

2008-04-04T11:58:00.007-05:00

The painting is done.
Now the flooring can be done.
Ooh we are so close.

I am all giddy about getting the kitchen remodel done. I keep dreaming of having a nice kitchen. How things will hopefully be a little different. No more of getting frustrated trying to close a drawer. Or freezing our tail off while we're eating our meals in the winter. Before we are completely done we still need to replace the windows and redo the doorway to the mudroom. yay

Butter lickin good

2008-03-20T09:40:00.004-05:00

We were watching a movie last Friday and I heard a thump. This is monkey with a microwave popcorn bag.

He was sitting at first.

Quilt

2008-03-19T09:41:00.005-05:00

My mom made me this quilt. I got it for christmas but she was not finish with it until recently. It it so pretty. I love it. Thanks mom!

I've been wanting to get into quilting. I have to first get back into my scrapbooking and get myself caught up with that. Than MAYBE I can get into quilting.

Kitchen update

2008-03-04T13:11:00.005-06:00

We've been busy. We had run into a few setbacks. We had to put up more wood to frame the wall, add some outlets and switches that we almost forgot about, a telephone cord, and buy more drywall since we keep screwing up on the measurement. We're learning as we're going. Then Man had his ingrown toenail removed and so he was off for a weekend. So after this weekend we got about 95% of the drywall in and started patching all the holes and cracks. If I keep working on it for an hour each night, hopefully we can paint this weekend. I am not getting too hopeful but we'll see. It would be nice though.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I picked up Big Bro from school on friday and he saw a student teacher drive past.

Big Bro: That's one of the big kids in our class. We have 2 big kids and they are not K5 kids. Their names are Matt and Mohammed. and they have those things that straighten out your teeth.

Me: You mean braces.

Big Bro: Yeah bracelets.

Then last night Big bro came down and wasn't feeling too well. This was about 11:00pm.

Big Bro: I guess I can't go to school today.

Me: Uh you've already been to school today. It's still nightime, daddy and mommy haven't even gone to bed yet.

Big Bro: oh (he had such a confuse look)

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T08:51:00.002-06:00

I got a sweet card from Big Bro.

Dear Mom,

I love you because you do the dishes.

LOL!

So much better!

2008-02-05T08:38:00.000-06:00

I feel so much better. That was probably the worse strep I ever had. I used to get them all the time when I was a child. My last one that I remember was when I was in middle school. The doctor had threatened that if I get another one, my tonsils were coming out. Never did happen. I never got another one until my second year of college. Then that was it. Strange. My hubby had ask me "Does it really hurt"? I am assuming he never had it. EVER. Otherwise you would never forget how much it hurts.

I was thinking this morning about our kitchen. I've been wanting to do a meal plan and now that I am getting a new kitchen I better get going on that meal plan. I like to have at least 2 months worth because this is harder that I thought. Maybe it's not that hard but getting started it is. I have a nice organized recipe box so now I need to use it. I'll let you know how it goes.

Sick!

2008-01-29T15:34:00.000-06:00

Having strep is not fun to have. I should have known that I would get this since all 3 kids have had it. YUCK! Recovering from it is taking forever. I am actually looking forward to taking my antibiotics. I am ready to go to sleep now.

Foil runway..TA DA

2008-01-22T10:14:00.001-06:00

He is so proud.

The stuff that went.

2008-01-21T22:18:00.000-06:00

Yes a table had to go. We had at least 4. It just had to go. I was just using it to store stuff on.

That heart blanket has made it's way to the garage. Man wants to use it as a sheet to lay on when working on the vehicles. I had to tell him that my mom made that blanket. He says "I guess she doesn't want to see that in the garage". Umm yeah.

Minus the laundry baskets of clothes. Monkey has a habit of dumping them out and then diving into the piles like he's going into water.

I am so glad all that stuff is gone.

We interrupt this broadcast......

2008-01-20T03:03:00.000-06:00

So much for organizing that closet. It's probably a good thing I started cleaning out my basement to make room for a temporary kitchen that I didn't know that I was going to have. I am very happy that the stuff went on Friday when it did.

Boy this below freezing weather is cold. Man came home from work Saturday morning to tell me that it is -18 degrees with the windchill.

That means our kitchen pipe underneath the sink is frozen. Happens to us every year. No big deal. We'll just put the heater on it to thaw it out.

We were either too late or it just couldn't take it anymore that the pipe burst underneath the sink. Man and I were standing at the sink because Man could hear water running.

Looking down on the floor "Um, where's the water coming from"? We throw open the cabinet door and water was just spraying out of the pipe. Man ran downstairs to turn the water off and I ran to the bathroom to get towels.

Guess we're getting a new kitchen sooner than we thought.

We had been planning on remodeling the kitchen later this year. When the weather was just a bit warmer. Ever since we bought the house almost 5 years ago we've talked about redoing the kitchen. Now here we are, we have no choice but to do it now. We might as well.

We spent the rest of the weekend rearranging and arranging a place in the basement for our temporary kitchen. Man was anixous to rip the cabinets out and he did. We're sure of what was causing the problem. There wasn't enough insulation up in the rafters so that would explain why we kept getting a draft in the kitchen. We also went to Lowes, Home Depot, and Menards to look at everything that we need for a kitchen. decision, decisions, decisions. We are defiantely going to get a dishwasher. I am super excited about it. I'll lose a cabinet space but I don't care. I won't have to spend 20 mins of my time washing dishes. Yay.

I am looking forward to that.

Off you go

2008-01-18T09:29:00.000-06:00

Purple Heart just happened to call me last week asking if I had anything to donate.

YES! Please come.

Next Friday?

It's a date.

I am hoping all this stuff is gone by the time I am home.

Last night I walked down into my basement after bringing all that stuff up and couldn't believe the room we have. I took a deep breath. I felt so much better. It was like a chip of my shoulder. Before I went to bed I had to make one last sweep around the house to see if there's anything else I can get rid of. I couldn't think of anything else.

Well, except one thing. The TV stand that's in the upstairs closet that I am dying to reorganize. I need to wait for the shelves to be put in so that I have something to put the stuff (that in the tv stand) on before getting rid of the stand.

A rough week!

2008-01-18T09:21:00.000-06:00

All three kids have colds. Big Bro got his on Sunday and he is pretty much over it. Princes woke up Weds morning with a stuffy nose and was talking pretty funny. It was cute. Her nose is still runny and now beginning to cough. I have a feeling we'll be pulling her nebulizar out this weekend. Monkey has the worse of it. Not only does he have a stuffy and runny nose, he has strep. For 3 days his fever would stay consistently around 102 degrees, even with Tylenol. He saw the dr yesterday and started antibiotics. I hope the meds starts kicking in soon because I cannot handle another sleepless night.

Tagged

2008-01-11T09:35:00.000-06:00

Kelli tagged me to list seven things that you may or may not know about me.

Here goes:
1. I hate having a job. I only work because we would not live the way we do on just DH's income.

2. I went to college and graduated but I am not working anywhere near my degree. My degree? Therapeutic Recreation. My job? Part-time secretary. Go figure.

3. I love my the job because of it's flexiblity. I can come and leave when I want to but I always come and leave at the same time. Hehe I mean I come in at 8:30 and leave at 2.

4. I am the oldest of 3 children. A brother who is 27 and a sister who is 9.

5. And no she was not an oops. She was planned between my mom and stepdad(she's his only child).

6. I used to play the violin. I quit in high school because I didn't like the orchestra teacher. He was mean.

7. When alone in the car I sing in the car to my favorite songs on the radio . I may not always get the words right but who's listening.

I think I will tag Lori because she takes awesome pictures and needs more visitors.

My shelves

2008-01-10T12:21:00.001-06:00

I asked my husband to put in shelves in our front closet. Half of it was used for coasts and the other half was being used as a bathroom closet. Since our only bathroom is small we put almost everything in here. So he set out to the garage one Sunday and stayed there for 6 hours and built me a shelf unit.
Uh not what I had in mind but ok.

It didn't fit. Unless he took one of the legs off then is it would.

Big bro thought is would be an awesome bunk bed for them.

Instead we put it down in the basement next to my scrapbooking counter that Man made sometimes after we moved in.

A picture of the area he made some time ago.

It's great to use as a buffet table when we have parties.

I am so happy to have this shelf. It makes things look so much better.

Back to the closet.
Man just placed the shelves in this time.

I guess he really wanted to use it as a bed.

I've added more stuff in since I've taken this picture. I got those canvas totes from Lowes. I think they're really cute. Before I buy anymore organizing bins I wanted to use what I have and place those in. I will take a picture of the finished project.

Our next organizing project is to do the closet upstairs. I am looking forward to do that one.

clothes all laid out

2008-01-04T18:48:00.003-06:00

Here are clothes but where are kids?

Big Bro?

Princess?

oh, whew!

They're in bed.

See the previous post about this one.

I am proud

2008-01-04T09:23:00.000-06:00

After reading this post over at Take 90 West She totally nailed it on the head about how I have been feeling.
I sometimes feel like a broken record player.

I sometimes feel like a maid.

I sometimes feel like I have so much to do but so little time to do it.

I want to be organize but how do I do it?

I really want to spend more time being with my children.

I REALLY want to spend time doing thing that I want to do.

It's has been very frustrating. I am finally taking a stand this year. Things are leaving our house that is taking up space in our small house.

Do we really need 2 non working vacuum cleaner that when we have 2 working ones? No
I also need to teach my hubby to let things go. Is it really necessary to keep clothes that you wore when we were dating? And you not wearing them anymore? Do you honestly think you're going to fit back into those clothes?

Yep we really need to work on that.

I figure if I get our house as simple as possible, hopefully that'll evolve into making things simplier.

I only can hope.

You know how I felt like a broken record? I think my record is working.
Last night when we got back from the library my children hung up their coats and put their shoes, mittens and hats AWAY. I almost couldn't believe my eyes. Even the little one was doing it. I was so happy. Big bro said to me "Why do you leave your shoes out, I trip over them".

I wonder who does that sound like?

It didn't stop there.

They put their dirty clothes in the hamper.

Brushed their teeth.

They even picked out their clothes and laid it all out on the floor.

I really enjoyed the moment.

Do you think it'll happen again soon?

Monkey Trouble

2008-01-02T11:38:00.002-06:00

so nice to have help

2008-01-02T11:22:00.001-06:00

~'Tis the season to be jolly~

2007-12-21T10:22:00.000-06:00

I wish I was done with the holiday shopping. This morning I had dropped Big Bro and Princess off at school, went to the grocery store, dropped the little monkey off at home with Man, stopped at the post office to buy more stamps and mail the christmas cards, and stopped for gas all before coming to work at 9.

Actually I punched in at 9:01.

Phew! And I still have more errands to do. I need to go to Blockbuster to get gift cards. And somewhere else, it's escaping my mind right now. Oh Menards or Lowes for more gift cards but I will send Man on that mission.

It's been a crazy week! Wednesday night Big Bro had a winter concert and he was supper excited about it. He even took a shower, gelled his hair, put deorderanton, AND put Man's cologne on. He did very well singing and dancing with his classmates. Overall it was an awesome concert.

Yesterday we made snickerdoodles for Big Bro's class and chocolate chip mini muffins for Princess's class. We headed to the library for our weekely story hour. Boy I was dog tired by the time I was able to get monkey off to bed.

I still have more things to do. I hope everyone has a happy holidays.

Snow

2007-12-11T11:31:00.000-06:00

This is probably our 4th time its snowing since the first of December. I don't know which is worse getting all kinds of snow in one big bang or in intervals? Right now I am not liking the intervals of snow. School was cancelled today since there was a winter storm warning. I was so glad because the Big Bro and Princess were up sometimes during the night. This allowed them to be able to sleep in, therefore I didn't have to deal with the morning rush to get to school on time with their crankiness. I had to be to work and here I sit waiting to drive back into the snow. Later I take Little Monkey to Audiology appointment with the other 2 kids so that I don't have to rush home in time for DH to leave for work. It'll be fun.

We lost a tooth!

2007-12-06T11:23:00.000-06:00

My 5 year old finally lost a tooth. We are very excited about this. We were all totally surprised when we found out that he had a loose tooth. Before this the discussion of the toothfairy never came into our conversation. Big Bro was actually scared of the fact that he had a loose tooth that he never even told us. I discovered it when we were eating breakfast Saturday morning. He was having a little trouble eating and when he was talking to me I notice it wiggling around. The tooth finally came out after some serious wiggling and pushing it back and forth Tuesday after school. He was totally surprised that a $1 gold coin appeared underneath his pillow the next morning. I feel like I am reliving my childhood.

My excitment is over!

2007-11-20T09:22:00.000-06:00

The weekend went good but it was too short. I have to say it was nice and relaxing. I had to work teaching swimming lessons Saturday morning while the kids were at a friend's house. They didn't want to leave when I arrived to pick them up. I managed to get them in the car 2 hours later and we stopped at a fruit market to pick up some fruits since we have been lacking those the last couple of weeks. I was actually craving a banana. As we make our way through the fruits and vegetables somehow it became a candy store. Why on earth would you put the candies at eye level of those children? I hate saying no but when it comes buying candy when we have halloween candy sitting at home, um the answer is NO. As were checking out all I heard was begging. ugh! Let just say we didn't leave on a good note.

Sunday came and I decided to go to the mall for lunch. It went smooth, surprisingly. Up until I went into Kohl's to take a look at the sale. That's when it all breaks down. Little Monkey refuses to stay in the stroller. He is so happy to run around with the other two. I had to quickly get out of there and head home. That was enough for me. Daddy finally decided to come home about 7 as I am getting the kids ready for bed. So much for getting them to bed on time.

Since DH was gone all weekend he gets to make up for it by taking week off. He had orignally planned to go deer hunting until Weds but his brother had to go back to work yesterday. It was nice of him to be home last night. We've decided that we're going to redo our kitchen within the next 2 months and went to Home Depot to take a look at cabinets while DH's other brother Ronnie stayed at the house with the kids sleeping. We only have 7 feet of base cabinet space and possibly 6 ft of wall cabinet space. I really want to have a dishwasher so that already takes up 2ft so we really only have 5 ft to work with. We plan on going with the basic and hopefully we will figure out what we can do. Wish us luck.

Is it wrong of me to be excited?

2007-11-16T11:53:00.000-06:00

My husband is leaving at 4pm today for the weekend of deer hunting. I cannot get past this overwhelming excitment of him being gone for 2 days. 2 days! It is one less person to worry about for 2 days. I get to spend the weekend with my kids for 2 days. I've already planned our dinner meals and sitting down with a movie and popcorn. I was thinking of heading over to the mall to christmas shop with the kids but the idea of it seems too much already. I hope it doesn't go too fast.

See ya Monday!

A little more done

2007-11-13T12:51:00.000-06:00

Saturday I had the afternoon to myself after I got out of work. So I figure I would take the time to go out and buy some stuff to use for organizing with. I went to the Dollar Tree and found a few things to use, which I still haven't used yet. Then headed over to the Family Dollar and wasn't able to find what I wanted and then stopped by Target. I found quite a few things there to use. I organized my utensil drawer. I even went through and tossed out things that are not worth keeping. I even bought a dishrack to organize the coloring books and crayon. I saw it on a blog and for the life of myself I can't seem to remember where. So I give them the credit because it stuck with me ever since I've seen that post. I know I really do need to take pictures so you all can see what's been done. I am just glad that it's actually getting done.

The next thing that I really want to tackle is planning my meals. I really want to have a meal plan so that DH can start doing it and going grocery shopping would be easy to do. I actually have everything in one place but now I just have to sit down and figure it out and make it a habit. I just have a hard time doing the sitting down part.

Isn't kind of sad that I am really looking forward to this weekend when DH is away? Granted I'll have to kids with me but no husband to have to worry about. I plan on getting a good movie (something I know he won't watch) and relax. That's about all I have planned for now.

I am working on it.

2007-11-09T13:24:00.000-06:00

I have been working on organizing things around the house since I am an organizing wannabe. I've been following a few of the organization blogs and have been inspire to get crackin on organizing the house. Just doing a little bit of at a time is what seems to work best for me. Weds I went through our spices and threw out what we've had since we moved into the house and combine some since there were duplicates. Last night I was able to go the dresser and 2 small drawer bins sitting on top of the dresser in our front closet. There is no room in our teeny tiny bathroom, so almost everything gets put in here. It was actually bugging me the last few months to clean it out but never took the chance to. I just did it during the commericals of "ER". I threw away old makeup, nailpolish, stuff that haven't been used in the last year and arrange it in an organized fashion. I have to say I am really proud of myself. I felt like I a burden was lifted off my shoulders because all I could do was sigh when I was done *aahh*. I am hoping I can get to do my pantry closet in the kitchen tonight. Beings it's friday I tend to do something with the kids instead of hanging around the house like we do all week. I haven't figured out what to do but we may just head over to a friend's house and play.
Have a good weekend.

Daddy wants to be fat.

2007-11-07T10:46:00.000-06:00

I don't know how this conversation came up between Big Bro and I on our way home from school. He had ask why people are fat. I went into the explanation of how people come in different shapes and sizes. I also explain that exercise and eating healthly play a very important role and how people can't help or maybe don't care. Then he says "Daddy wants to be fat" and giggles. I had to chuckle myself as I was remembering my husband standing by the kitchen table with his belly sticking out and hands on it jokingly saying "I wanna be fat".