Summer Fun: A Trip to Lake Tobias in Halifax, PA

We tried to stay busy this summer (sometimes a success) and in August we made a trip with my daughter's girl scout troop to Lake Tobias in Halifax, PA.  Lake Tobias is a family-owned large wildlife park in central Pennsylvania.  They offer safari tours, reptile shows, petting zoo, a gift shop and more.  Some really great features of Lake Tobias are their practically free-range animals, unbanded gators and their prices.  It really upsets me to see large animals in tiny cages, treated poorly and neglected.  I am so happy and comfortable spending my money at this park. 
It's really exciting to see familiar animals like lions, bears (the lions and bears are quite lazy at Lake Tobias and probably the least entertaining of all the animals) and zebras (you can feed these guys!).  There are some very unfamiliar creatures as well, like the capybara, which looks like large otters and the watusi that look like cows with massive, heavy horns.  There are many different species of monkeys, birds and more that kids and adults will love to watch. 



This guy appeared to be copying the visitors.  There's seating behind him and he was trying to sit just like they were.  The visitors had the decency to use the restrooms to relieve themselves though!




A Capybara.  Very big.  There was a warning to NOT feed them.  They are bitey.



Also bitey, but no warnings against feeding them.  There were warnings not to put your head or hands too close though, because they are known to stick their heads out and take a taste. Their bite is more like a goose bite (that's really all I have to compare it with).  It hurts less than a child with sharp teeth.

Friendly zebras were also jumpy.  They ran away a lot but always returned for the crackers.



Friendly piggies.




Zach, daddy and Henry watching some animals.


On the safari tour you can feed the mammals (most of them look like different types of deer and cattle...although by writing that I'm probably making dozens of biologists rip out their hair in frustration!) and flightless birds.  The guide will share lots of interesting information about habitats and behaviors of these animals.  I get the most excited seeing the elk because they are just so massive.  My kids were probably most enamoured with the baby mammals and their favorites were any animals that came to eat from their hands.  A tip: late afternoon trips during the hot months seem to be a little less entertaining because the animals are too hot and tired to be hanging out in the sun.  Also, during mating season we were told that sometimes the male elk may charge the buses, feeling that they are a threat to their females.  How neat (or scary), depending on how you feel about large, angry animals! 



I think these were the Watusi. 



Full and lazy meant no visiting with us.



Almost close enough to touch but they were hot and tired.



Not an elk, but at least these guys were still hungry and gentle.



Buffalo?  He wasn't getting away without a pet from Amara.


In the petting zoo area you can find camels, llamas, goats, guinea pigs and other cool animals.  Not all of the animals are available for petting but the ones that are are very friendly.  Be careful though, because some like to eat clothing and hair! 



Friendly animals in the petting zoo.



Feisty camels weren't interested in us, only each other.



Jonas loved the petting zoo the most.



Henry wasn't sure what to think!



Jo probably hit up every single pettable animal there.


The reptile and exotic animal room is full of snakes, lizards, tortoises, alligators, sloths and more.  My kids were able to touch a snake and a gator!  Some of these animals were rescued from neglected homes.  They have shows at intervals during park hours where educators will teach about certain animals.  We learned about the alligators (I hope I really mean gators and not crocs!) and sloths during the show we attended. 

The tortoises are old and friendly.



This gator bit someone earlier but as long as you keep your hands away from his face you'll be fine!



The reptile show.



BIG snake!

 They also have a small playground and picnic tables for lunch and resting so day trips are made easy.  You can pack lunch or purchase from the concession stand.

Well worth the day trip! 

Rates:
$6 for ages 3 and up.
$5 for the safari tour for ages 3 and up.
Group rates are available. 

Lake Tobias is located at:
Lake Tobias Wildlife Park • 760 Tobias Road, Halifax Pa 17032

The Weaver's go Gutzy with a Gutzy Gear Party

I was given the opportunity to review Guzty Gear products by MomSelect.  They provided me with enough product and activity sheets to host a super fun party. 
Gutzy Gear is a way for your to affordably and easily express your creativity, with their strap covers and huge assortment of patches that are attached with velcro for simple removal and trading opportunities.  The strap covers can be used on backpacks, seat belts, instruments, bicycles and scooters and on so much more.  There are dozens of patch styles for boys and girls, and you can use one or a dozen and change them whenever the urge strikes.  Their website,  http://www.gutzygear.com is loaded with fun activities for kids of all ages, like creating your own Gutzy, sending Gutzy e-cards and virtual Gutzies. 

I invited all of our friends over for games, snacks and Gutzy Gear fun right after the first day of school.  They all arrived wearing their backpacks and as you can see, they are quite under-decorated and blah. 

Look at those sad, sad faces, all because they have terribly boring backpacks.

Let's take two; not all of those faces look sad enough.

Now if only I had Photoshop...

Our party-goers ranged in age from a 4 year old preschooler to a 12 year old 7th grader.  Not everyone arrived to the party sure that they wanted to participate, but everyone was curious to see what it was all about. 
We started off the party with Gutzy Bingo.  Some of the kids used Lego pieces for markers...we had to get creative!  Everyone had a lot of fun with Bingo but our time was short so we only played one round. 

 

 

Playing GUTZY (BINGO) and snacking.

Why yes, I do take a lot of pictures :)

Lego markers for BINGO!

Why have one winner when you can have 10?  We kept playing until we had enough!

We had a few late arrivals and  no surprise...they were sad with the state of their backpacks too. 

They're miserable, I tell ya!

 Next we had an awesome contest: the kids created their own Gutzy designs.  Even a parent participated and created a personalized Gutzy!  Get ready for it...you get to see ALL of the entries (except for one because all he drew was a circle then left to play video games so I eliminated him.  Love you, Jo Jo!). 

I think this is some cartoon character.  This was one of our top 3 entries, by 7 year old Amara

A top 3 entry by 7 year old Makaley.  Hearts galore!

Butterflies and tie-dye hearts are definitely a MUST!

Gutzy flower patch.

I have no idea what this is.  A cute bat, maybe?  Do it, Gutzy! 

We have a few entries here: a sun/moon, row of hearts and a baseball.  I hope all of these will be made!  With a little more color ;)

A personalized Gutzy.  This would be awesome!

I think it's a baseball and bat.  And a circle.

Cute!

Geometric Gutzy "logo" patch.

Not sure how the little hearts will fit but tiny heart patches would be really neat.

This was another top 3 entry by 9 year old Brayden.  A really great jet!  I bet these would be popular.

Silly face- love it!

 Okay, which one would you have voted for?

After everyone was done and the winners were announced we moved on to the main event: Gutzy Gear backpack-decorating time!
I was too excited to take "before" pictures of the products, so you'll just have to trust that the boxes and packages are easy to open (none of that crazy packaging that makes you wonder if a bomb won't get your toys out of the box).  Each Gutzy Gear strap pack of 2 comes with 1 Gutzy Gear face patch already attached to help you get started.  The kids dove into the project of arranging their Gutzy patches on their straps.  A few kids needed help getting the straps wrapped around their backpack straps but otherwise it was noise and fun and simple.

It's MINE!

Helping out friends and trying to trade.

Love the paw print patch!

Deciding where to put a patch.

Someone is VERY happy with her results!! 

He decided to put all of his on one side.

More assembling.  I warned you about the pictures, right?

My opinion: I really like these!  I was so sure that the straps would look silly on most of the backpacks, particularly the ones that weren't black but they all looked great.  I think there should be more strap cover colors (and I'm not a huge fan of the yellow liner on the strap covers).  The style options are huge and fabulous but I'd love to see sparkly and shiny for girls.  The best feature of this product is that you don't have to do ANYTHING to your backpacks.  It's completely risk-free!  If your child decides she doesn't like the flower or he doesn't want fries this week they can change it (or trade it) in a snap.  The velcro is also very strong.  There is no chance that these will fall off, but they are still easy to change.  Trading already happened at the party but the kids are very excited to get into it more.  All of the kids were very excited to start the Gutzy Gear trend. 
Another mom's opinion: the straps should balance out and come with 2 patches.
The kids' opinions: They were so very excited to wear them to school.  One was relieved that it was way more fun than she expected.  The older girls thought that maybe the patches would be a little too child-like but they were pleased with the selection.  One was adamant that he not get more than the face on his straps.  He is 4 and that's how I'll explain his refusal. 

After we were done our party all of the kids got together to let us know how happy they were with their backpacks after the Gutzy Gear took over.

These are some seriously happy children!

P.S. Grapevine rumors are that Toys R Us has them on sale, at least locally. 

And now...who wants to WIN!

Where Do You Go Gutzy?  Get creative and show the world how you go Gutzy.  By participating you have the chance to win more than 100 gift cards from Toys R Us, worth a total of more than $500!!  To enter just go to http://www.facebook.com/gutzygear and tell/show them how you Go Gutzy by Sept. 7, 2012.

Um...Why the Power Rangers?

I was browsing my blogger stats and was totally astounded to learn that the majority of traffic to my blog is because of the Power Rangers.  When I say the majority I mean like a huge number of visitors end on this one post.  Approximately half of all of my page views over the life of my blog were of my Power Ranger post but this month it was more like 90%. 
 
In 2011 I wrote about them one time.  It was some blog project.  I figured it was a good fit because I grew up loving them, the kids like them and I was all sorts of excited to find out that they were still around and still a show that could be a great influence on my growing children.  Sure, they are fighting imaginary monsters but they are super cool (yes they are!) and they teach great lessons to young kids.  

Anyway, according to my Blogger stats (which aren't the same as other stats, but they're reasonably close) in the last month Weavers Wobble was viewed almost 3600 times.  Normally I don't get nearly that many views in one month; my normal number of blog views per month is under 1000.  Over 3200 of the views were of my one Power Rangers post!     


But why is my Power Rangers post so popular, especially compared to everything else I write?  I know my writing is kind of boring and I'm not complaining, just really, really curious.  Does anyone have insight about this?

It's Amazing: I Made Up My Mind and Bought Some Measuring Cups!

I was having trouble deciding which measuring cups I should buy a few weeks ago.  No one helped but amazingly, I figured it out on my own.  If you know me you would know how big of a deal this is.  I can't decide on anything.  I usually end up letting other people decide things for me.  So it's with great pride that I announce that I've purchased the West Elm Fish Measuring Cups and I love them!!  It took many days and lots of thought before choosing them.  
They don't match a thing in my kitchen (nothing in my house matches though, that's the downside to hand-me-down furniture and decor.  But on second glance they do sort of match my Pfaltzgraff Ocean Breeze set that's no longer a set.  It's no longer a set because half of it's broken but I'm not too too sad because I got a killer deal when I bought mine.  My cups were a little smaller but I got 21 pieces- 4 dinner plates, 4 salad plates, 4 bowls, 4 cups, 4 tiny plates (saucers?) and a giant serving plate for...$12.  And yes, you read that correctly!  Twelve dollars.  How?  Maybe because we lived near the plant and they had tons of extras?  I found them at a festival at my local fairgrounds that had nothing to do with dinnerware.  In the 11 years that my hubby and I have lived together it's one of the biggest non-electronic purchase we ever made.  Sad, huh?  Like I said, most of what we own has been given to us by someone else.  Not that I'm complaining but it's great to say "I bought that and it's something I love".   

Are you still with me?  Sorry for the digression...it happens a lot.  

Anyway, I'm super happy about my mommy's day purchase and use them often.  I'm really afraid that I'll shatter them in a moment of distraction but so far so good.  And they are just so darn pretty.  If you ever wonder if you should buy the functional or the functional and pretty and the price comparison is fairly level I say with gusto, "go with pretty!!!".  I love looking at the bright and colorful fishies hanging out in my kitchen.    

Measuring Madness or...For the Love of God Please Help Me Pick One

I never thought measuring cups and spoons would drive me crazy, but it's true.  I have been obsessing for weeks over "the ones".  I am kind of bored with functional but ugly cheap plastic cups that don't hold up well in the dishwasher.  And in my house if it's not dishwasher safe it's gone.  So I've been pinning my favorites when I come across them.  I've been searching the web to find new and better measuring cups.  I decided that monotone is not for me.  That and no cheap plastic are my rules.  So I've narrowed it down and need some help deciding.  Because I don't think my hubby will be too happy with 3-5 sets of measuring cups.  
 
So here are the runners up:


West Elm's Fish Measuring Cups

Anthropologie's Milk Bottle Measuring Cups



Pros:

Price is a very reasonable $15 with FREE shipping!

Adorable matching butter dish (which I need to buy anyway)

LOVE the colors, probably my favorite colors out of all of them.

Cons:

When stored they don't look as nice as some of the others

There used to be a matching set of spoons but they are no longer available...not really a con but a :(  

Pros:
-Looks great when stacked
-Simple, blends well with any decor (which we don't happen to have to worry about anyway since I can't decide on a wall color for my kitchen and cabinet, countertop and floor redos that are needed aren't in our budget)
-Grea display piece
-Inside is colorful

Cons:
-White gets dirty
-A little pricey at $24 (plus shipping?)

Anthropologie's Cucina Measuring Cups

Pros:

-Great colors

-Okay price- $19.95 (+shipping)

-Matching (expensive) measuring spoons (but they're just as cute)

Cons:

-Not as cool sitting on the counter as others

-Complaints about measuing accuracy

Urban Outfitters' Turtle Measuring Cups

Pros:

-Countertop status= PERFECT!!  The stand is awesome and adorable.  Flip the cups and they are the shell.

-I like the colors

Cons:

-A little pricey at $24 (+ shipping)

-Not dishwasher safe...but I'll mostly be using them for dry ingredients

Urban Outfitters' Sheep Measuring Cups

Pros:

-Perfect on counters

-Adorable and neutral

Cons:

-Price- $24 + shipping

-Not dishwasher safe

-White gets dirty

Pier 1's Ceramic Turtle Measuring Cups

Pros:

-Love the colors and design

-Perfect on the counters

-Okay price- $20

-No shipping fee (they don't ship) and they say they're in stock at my local store

Cons:

-I can't think of any

Two's Company (on Amazon) Birds & Trees Measuring Cups

Pros:

-Perfect on the counter when stacked

-Rearrange them!

-Neutral white

Cons:

-By far the most expensive at $30

-White gets dirty

-Lacks a 1/3 cup (1, 3/4, 1/2, 1/4)

There are many more worthy of honorable mentions but that would take all day and I'm already indecisive.  They are all so cute!  I want one of each, but I know it isn't practical.  It's pretty easy to narrow it down to a few.  For instance, I don't want to pay $30 for one so I can eliminate the birds and trees.  Although I love the Cucina cups, I wasn't gushing over them like I did some of the others.  The sheep get more cons than pros.  But I still have 4 left to choose from.  Decisions, decisions! 

Which ones would you buy?

P.S. This post is full of links sending you to purchase pages.  None of them are affiliate/sponsored links.  I actually don't want you to buy any in case you pick mine and then the're sold out of them.  I'd be so mad at you.   Unless they turn out to be crappy and break.  Then I'd feel sorry for you and secretly pat myself on the back for not jumping the gun. 

I'm Weird, Okay?

I hide my weirdness like some people hide the fact that they collect bugs.  But 30 changed my confidence.  I'm only going to hide my weirdness sometimes.  Like in public.  But I'll only sometimes care about what the internet world thinks of me.  By the time I'm a crazy, mean old 80-something I might be totally free of caring.  You'll see what my kids do. 

And it will be awesome (if you're me).

Important Questions

The most important (and nagging) question today is:
Where the heck is my library card? 
Why do I need it, you ask?  I'll be happy to tell you.  I got a Kindle for Christmas.  And I'm too cheap to buy books.  I love borrowing them from the library through my Kindle.  It's like a present that keeps giving.  Beautiful.  But you need your card number to borrow it and I had it saved on auto complete but then Jason did stuff to our computer and now that's gone.  Damn computer geeks making my computer better but my life suckier. 

My next question:  Did anyone notice that I changed my blog design?  It was a substantial change but I kept the same colors.  Now a really super awesome change would be if someone took pictures of my family and turned all of us into our own Weeble and made some of us leaning one way, some the other.  Of course I would be centered perfectly because I'm awesome and I'm the steady crutchy Weeble.  Who's up for the task of designing this sweetness at the great price of free? 

I Had This Awesome Idea

I was all set to write about something.  I was even sitting at the computer when I got my bright idea.  Usually when I have a decent topic to write about I'm in the shower or the car and you can't write in the shower and my purse is always lacking this important tool.  Then by the time I can get to one I forget what I wanted to write.  But I guess it's not the fault of the water or the car or the purse...it's me.  I know this now because I was at the computer and had a great idea and went to the compose page and promptly forgot everything.  Shoot. 

At the same time that I was forgetting what I wanted to write, I was complaining in my head about a pair of headphones sitting on my desk.  I was trying to watch a video and saw that the volume on the speaker was turned up pretty high, but I couldn't hear anything.  Then I noticed those headphones.  I don't even know how to describe them.  They look funny and they are really hard to put on your ears.  It always takes me a few minutes to figure them out and I forgot to pause the video and it ended up being one of those that moves on to the next news topic and then I was annoyed at the weird-looking headphones. 

Since I know me and I would want to know what they look like I thought I'd share my search for weird-looking headphones. 

Doesn't that book beg to be read?

My results didn't turn up a pair of weird-looking headphones.  Just a book called Dei Dreamer and 3 pairs of regular-looking headphones.  Shake my head, Amazon.  You need to adjust your algorithms.  Weird-looking headphones and regular headphones are NOT the same thing!  Then I did a search for headphones that go over your ears (seriously lacking in the part of my brain that uses descriptions this morning) and BINGO!  EARHOOK Headphones!! 

I included the link in case you need a pair of confusing headphones.  They actually work well once you figure out how to put them on your ears.

So now you know.

The Night Time is the Right Time (for Weirdness)

This week my night life has been more active and interesting than my day life.  And I'm not talking about clubs and bars, dancing and drinking.  I'm talking about bed.  And not in a dirty way. 
I have a cat that prefers to drink out of cups of water.  He especially prefers the glass of water I keep by my bed.  I especially like to push him off the bed when he rudely wakes me up in the middle of the night with his face in the glass of water that I really wanted to drink.  I try to keep him out of my room but he finds his way in.  This has happened ever since I went on vacation over Christmas break.  He must have thought I was leaving him forever and decided to become an incredibly attached kitty.  The other night was one of those nights.  I woke up to his butt in my face and his face in my water.  His water bowl was full.  He's so rude.  Then I couldn't go back to sleep because I was really thirsty but too tired to walk downstairs to get more water.  Plus I left my shoes in the hallway that night and I can't put my bare feet directly on the floor unless I want the monsters under the bed to get me. 

When I did finally go back to sleep I had a dream about zombies.  I didn't know it until the end, but it was the sequel to a previous dream about zombies.  In this one I was on a main road in my town that leads to one of the highways.  I was walking and suddenly I saw zombies.  I had a conversation with my friend Mel about it and she asked what kind of zombies they were.  I didn't know there were different kinds and I was going to say they were probably Asian zombies, because they all had dark hair and eyes but I didn't think any of my other facebook friends would get my humor and instead I told her, "[they were] fast and mean and limpy. Their faces were gray-ish and their eyes were black. They all had black hair too. Maybe it was just a black and white dream.".  I thought that sounded more appropriate.  Anyway, the fast, mean and limpy zombies were very violent, like zombies usually are.  They were clueless if you pretended you were a zombie (wish I had known that from the start, some people might have lived) and they didn't eat each other.  After surviving my way down the highway I found a building and hid with some other people.  Then I ended up hiding in an elevator with Joseph Gordon Levitt.  After we separated I made my way to the west coast and when the goverment found out how to kill them (this is when I relized this was part 2 and that the stupid government already knew how to kill them but forgot) I was reunited with Adam Brody and another guy and girl from the first part, whom I didn't recognize.  We were in some firehall-style building and people were making food for the survivors.  We chatted about how we made it and then my alarm clock started beeping. 
That was my most entertaining dream in a while. 

Last night I was peacefully sleeping and suddenly Jason woke up with a start and said, "whoa!".  I wake easily when a person talks or yells- I'm always ready for an emergency or something I guess.  I was far away on the opposite end of the bed from him, totally out of reach of him.  I asked him what was wrong.  He said, "holy crap," then asked me if I just pushed him in the face, kind of hard.  Obviously I hadn't because I was too far away.  I was so sleepy and out of it so I just told him that it definitely wasn't me and that it was probably a ghost*.  He seemed to accept this explanation with a, "hmph.".  Then I proceeded to tell him that if a ghost pushed him hard in the face that it probably had a good reason and that he should get up to see if there's something it wanted to tell him.  He actually got up then.  I don't think the ghost really had anything to say to him, except maybe "go pee".   I then had dreams about a creepy ghost waking me up.  
I don't know if it's important or not, so I'll say it just in case.  I believe in paranormal.  But I'm a skeptical believer and tend to not believe unless I see it myself or the person telling me tells a good story and they are trustworthy (and not on drugs).  I have seen things that absolutely could not have been explained before.  In the house where I currently live (8 years) there has only been one time something happened with my son, who was 2.  It could have been a dream so I discount the event as such.  If this was indeed a ghost it may have just been travelling through and couldn't resist him/herself a practical joke. 



*I'm so creative and persuasive when I'm sleeping.  I should be a sleep writer. 

This is What Happens When I'm Gone for a While

My life has been so boring that I haven't really bothered writing about it.  Sometimes my kids will say something I want to remember but it's few and far between so I just end up boring my Facebook friends with the info instead of writing about it in detail here.  Now I can give a big boring update all at once.  Ready?

So, since I've been here last we've celebrated two birthdays: my baby Henry turned 2 on March 30 and my daughter Amara turned 7 on April 19th.  Henry got everything he wanted- babies, a football, basketball, baseball mitt and a bunch of other sports crap.  He is obsessed with sports.  He never put his cake in the oven for "you and me".  Instead he did it for "baketball hoop!".  It's cuter than the 2 year old singing Adele.  I should record it.  He also wanted more motorcycles, Legos and Zoobles and got them.  Then promptly lost almost all of it.  Amara didn't want a whole lot- she asked for an Ipod.  When I told her that little kids in our house don't get $200 presents she apologized for asking for something so expensive then asked for a camera, mp3 player, some dolls so she would have toys to play with when her friends came over, Zoobles, Xia Xia Pets, Lego Friends and a pull up bar for her doorway (yes, I'm serious).  After some discussion she decided she wanted to upgrade to a second-hand Nintendo DSi (she had the Lite) with games and accessories and I surprised her with a nice tea set and a Xia Xia home (junk).  Her brothers got her a Xia Xia shell, an itty-bitty stuffed bunny and a Lego Friend set.  Her friends and family ended up getting her everything else on the list (except the pull up bar), so she was a very happy birthday girl.  She also received money and decided she wants to save it, so now I'm searching for a bank that offers youth banking.  The credit unions have some awesome accounts but I don't know if they can become a member if their parents aren't.  I might look into it if I don't get distracted by something new.   

I was a Cityville (on Facebook) addict for a while.  Recently I've almost stopped playing, going from a few times per day to barely once a week and only for a few minutes each time.  Go me!  
I'm still a Pinterest addict.  I love my Kindle like I love water.  I enjoy both necessities and rarely leave the house without them.   
I guess I scratched my eye a few weeks ago after taking an hour nap in my contacts.  I have glasses but I can't see out of them very well.  I have another pair that I can see better with, but they don't stay on my face.  Every time I think my eye feels better I put my contact back in, only to have my eye explode in pain again after a few hours.  Then I look and my eye is incredibly bloodshot and I'm back to square one.  It hurts.  I don't have insurance and it looks like a visit to the eye doctor will be necessary...this is going to cost me.  Suck. 
There's absolutely nothing else to say about me.  I'm just not that interesting. 
Oh wait, it seems that everyone in the world has become an advocate of me getting married.  I guess that's interesting.  It sure was interesting one day when a handful of people, unbeknownst to one another were planning, discussing or commenting on our upcoming (unknown) marriage.  The discussions are still trickling in every few days too.  Jason and I have been together for 11 years and our kids think we are married.  My daughter was horrified when she asked for the ring, dress and photos and I had nothing to produce.  I maybe should have told her then that it's because there was never a production date but it was just easier not to have that potentially long conversation.   So I picked out a ring (that I'll never get because you can only order it online and that's too big a committment to make online) and decided on Jason's metal then made dinner and promptly got distracted by other stuff that doesn't cost as much money or time.   

My 4 year old has been cracking me up a lot recently.  Just the other day Jonas was with us at Cracker Barrel and we had just been served our meal.  Jason and I always get breakfast and the little boys got some kid food.  He saw my grits and freaked out.  He said he didn't want any of his food; he just wanted "that".  Being the nice mommy that I am, I took Jason's grits and gave them to Jonas.  He polished them off in seconds and...said, "May I please have some more porridge?" .  I laughed so loud that the entire restaurant was probably giving me dirty looks.  We live in Pennsylvania.  It's not okay to laugh in public.  But seriously, what kid asks for porridge?  Where did he hear it?  I'm still laughing.  Then the following day he was browsing through my kitchen (I'm pretty sure that if he doesn't become a police officer he will be a chef.  He could really go the extra mile and be both), grabbed something and ran to me.  He said, "see mommy, you still have a spatula!"  (I had thought I broke them all) then went on to say, "Now, can you make me some flapjacks?".  This wouldn't be a weird word except that I have never, in my entire life said the word "flapjack" unless I was talking about the word.  No clue where he got that one either.  Oh, and Jo is FINALLY potty trained.  FIIIINALLLLY! 

Henry, who was practically trained by about 20 months completely quit trying.  Those two are constantly on opposite ends of the spectrum. 

Zachary, my 10 year old, has made it his life goal to ruin his little sister's life on the pretense that it's she who is ruining his life.  It's super annoying and I'm totally out of parenting ideas so I often just ignore them.  They fight so often and it's practically impossible to split them up because there aren't enough neighbors to ship them off to. 
And I'm ruining his life because I nag him too much.  That's me saying it, and not him.  I know I do it but what else are you supposed to do when a kid won't take a shower, clean his room, leave his sister alone, pick up his toys when he's done with them unless you are on them about it at least 15 minutes out of every hour?  I seriously need to know!  
On a good note, he is doing great in school.  He doesn't try as hard as he should but he gets by with good grades.  Next year might kick his skinny butt if he tries to pull off his first year at middle school like he has been these past few but I know he can do it if he tries.  He's been taking piano for the last few years and he's been slacking on that also.  As far as I know he's doing well, but I think he'd do better if we had a piano in our house.  I'm working on that but I have a lot going against me.  

Did I talk too much?  I'll talk about the nighttime stuff in another post.