Farmer's Almanac

Kevin has been looking at the Farmer's Almanac to see when we need to plant our garden. We were looking at it together over the weekend and saw in the "Best Days" section that there is a best day for potty training. For the month of February the best days for potty training were the 14 and 24. So I decided that I would work on potty training with Luke for the millionth time on February 24.

Did it work? Was there something magical about February 24? The answer is ........ NO! He didn't even sit on the potty. I tried to convince, bribe, manipulate, and any other thing I could think of to get him to finally throw those diapers away and become a big boy. You might say (like Kevin) "You need to make that boys sit on the potty. You are the one in control." After much battling with Eli on potty training, I learned that you can not MAKE them do it. As bad as I would like to man handle him to make him do it, it just leads to fustration on my part and his part. So last night I went to Wal-Mart and bought another package of diapers in a size 5. I couldn't find a size 6 (the biggest size) in the cheap diapers and I refuse to pay to pamper his big bottom in those expensive name brand diapers.

About a month ago, we did get him to tee tee in the potty once. So I am living on that small victory that maybe we can get him to do it again soon. Maybe we might try the Farmer's Almanac's best days for potty training again in March. But I am beginning to believe that the Farmer's Almanac is a bunch of hog wash.

I couldn't resist taking this picture of the boys last month doing their paperwork together!

And if you have any tricks or suggestions on how to get a 3 1/2 year old to use the potty, please leave a comment.

New Motor + Antique Tiller = Newique Tiller

When we bought our house last year, we inherited 40+ years of junk from all the previous owners that we found in our attic and in the shop in the backyard. Kevin actually collected up enough scrap metal from the shop to buy a bass guitar. And there is more scrap metal out there. Kevin is always in the shop trying to organize it and clean it up. He says he still has a way to go. I wouldn't know. I don't go out there because there has been sightings of rats (some might call them field mice but they are ALL rats).

One of the things that he discovered out in the shop was an old rusty tiller. When we were looking at buying this place last year, we talked about planting a garden. So when Kevin found the tiller he got excited. Honestly, when I saw the tiller, I didn't think there was any hope for it. Kevin took it to a small engine mechanic in Hughes Springs, and he thought the same thing I did. Kevin was told that it would cost more to fix than it would to buy a new one.

Kevin didn't like that answer. He called a company that he worked for right before we got married that is a wholesale distributor of small engine parts. They quoted him a price for a new engine. It was a little cheaper than a brand new tiller. So he ordered it. I really thought it was going to be a waste of our money and his time. But he showed me....it actually works now!

Our Newique Tiller

Here are some more pictures of the condition it was in and of the little mechanics helping Daddy.

We aren't sure the manufactor of the tiller. After uncovering some of the filth, we discovered it used to be bright green.

Luke, the farmer, is happy with his tractor that "that man" worked on for him. And if you are wondering, Luke farms acorns, flowers, and corn.

Hopefully a garden post and pictures want be too far behind!

Prince Luke goes to a Royal Tea Party Birthday

On Valentine's day, Luke was invited to a Royal Tea Party to celebrate his friend, Campbell's 4th birthday. The invitation said the the Princesses and Princes should wear their royal attire. Umm.. an easy thing if you have a girl but a little more challenging if you have a boy! Lets see, we have a cowboy outfit, spiderman, batman, superman, a couple of Star War costumes, LarryBoy, but nothing that was anything close to prince attire. Kevin suggested him using his Armor of God gear to be a Knight in Shining Armor but Luke was determined to be Prince Charming. So I put my thinking cap on, went through the closet, bought a crown, borrow a slipper and finally came up with a Prince Charming outfit.

Prince Charming calling Cinderella!

Tana, Campbell's mom, is a very creative and talented lady. She put tons of details and time into making this party special.

Tana made tutus and put them on the girls chairs. They got to take them home as a party favor. The boys had a wide wire ribbon on their chairs.

A place setting fit for a princess!

Place setting fit for a prince!

I was asked to speak at a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting in January on party planning. As a door prize at the meeting, I gave away a certificate to make a child's birthday cake. Tana won the cake. I had fun making a girly cake. After seeing this party though, I think Tana should have been the party planning speaker instead of me!

All the children had a blast at the party as you can tell.

The Birthday Girl
Princess Campbell Claire and Prince Luke

Luke got to set at the table with the birthday girl!

All the kids in front of the castle and Tana and Greg made out of cardboard!

Update and a story

Things have been crazy busy around here the past few weeks. I have actually had several blog worthy things but just haven't had time to post any of them. I actually started a post on January 27 that I never finished. I am hoping to play catch up this week and possibly get caught up if that is possible!

But for now, I have a funny Eli story.

Today in school we started learning the letter U. One of his activity sheets today had him looking at the word in the box at the beginning of the row. He was to find the match word in the three or four words that were listed following the boxed word and place an "X' on the matching word. I had him sounding out the boxed word for practice and because I was loading the dishwasher while he was working at the table. He got to the last word on the page and he started sounding it out.

Eli "b ...u... "

He stops sounding the word out and proclaims "Momma this is a bad word."

I stop doing dishes walk over to check out what four letter word that has the letter U in it is my my son's reading workbook. I scan the the page and the last word on the page was but. I try to explain to him the meaning of that word was different than from the word he was thinking. It is extremely difficult to explain when you are trying not to laugh!