The Budding Computer Guy

Yesterday, in the late afternoon, as I was preparing dinner, the twins went down to the basement to play. After a short while, Anne came up to the kitchen and said, "Mommy, Dominit being Daddy." What? "Dominit sitting Daddy's chair." Uh-oh. I went downstairs and what did I see? A little boy sitting in Daddy's computer chair, pointing and clicking with the mouse like he had done it a thousand times. When did he learn that? When I could see the screen, I found that he was surfing the JCPenney website. How did he do that?!! My two year old son is going to pass me up in a few years in computer skills!

Science 101

Yesterday we had our first science lesson. The kids and I discovered what happens when Mommy gets distracted and forgets to put the baking soda in the pumpkin bread. A humble ingredient, but oh, so necessary. Out of the oven came two large pumpkin bricks. Dan thought maybe it would still taste okay, but after a small sampling, I regret to say, we had to throw the bricks away.

Vatican Nativity according to St. Matthew

The Vatican's nativity is breaking from tradition and will feature St. Joseph's home instead of the typical Bethlehem manger scene.

Read full story here.

Was I Crazy?

Yesterday I decided that I must get the kids out of the house as they had not been out the door all week. The weather has been icky and yesterday was going to be the only halfway decent day all week. Dominic had been sick with a cold but seemed okay except for a runny nose. So armed with my list of errands, I got everyone dressed, baby fed, socks and shoes on, then the big winter coats, and then the prolonged buckling of everyone into the mini-van. Whew! I was already tired!

The first place we went was the post office. Let's just say I never realized how many doors you have to go through to get to the counter to buy your stamps! I got a few looks of "You must be nuts!" Luckily the line was small and no one had time for a meltdown. I've never taken them all to the post office before but we just had to get stamps for the Christmas cards. The postal worker gave them all coloring books, so they were excited about that. Then it took another 10 minutes or so to get back out all the doors and into the van. At least I had people jumping to open doors for me on the way out.

The next place we went was our local crisis pregnancy center where I over-read sonograms they do there. They send me a little thing I plug into the computer and I can luxuriously look at them whenever convenient at my own home. (Don't you love my high-tech names? I am definitely not a computer guru.) Then when I am out running errands, I drop it off. I didn't have to get the kids out at this stop because I just ring the doorbell and they come get it.

Then it was time to go the library to return some books, pick up one on hold, and most important, let the kids play for a while in the kids area with the puzzles and books. We stayed for a while until they had gone through all the puzzles and they each took a turn on the "computer." (an old thing not plugged in and put low for the kids) I only got one comment: "Wow, you have your hands full!" Then the woman proceeded to tell me she has 2 year old twins and we figured out that our sets of twins were actually born 1 day apart! Isn't that neat?! She said, "One baby must be easier after two," and I heartily agreed.

By the time I got all the coats back on and everyone loaded up in the car, I was worn out and it was time to go home. That cured me of my need to get out for a while!

Ridiculous ACOG Position

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has just put out a statement that all doctors should be required to refer patients to a doctor who will do abortions. Not only that, but they recommend that pro-life doctors move their offices closer to abortion clinics so that the women won't have far to go. Oh my! Read an article about it here.

Christmas goodies

Today I started making Christmas goodies. I made gingersnaps, which are one of Dan's favorites. The first year I made them I looked through all of our cookbooks to find a recipe (At that time I never looked up recipes on the internet because I never thought about it and the computer was too slow anyway!). Finally I found the recipe in the Victoria, KS church cookbook (that is the Cathedral of the Plains for anyone who has driven across Kansas on I-70). Then I looked at who contributed the recipe and wouldn't you know, it was Dan's Mom. So now I make them every year at Christmas. And they are very good!

Then I made some Fudge, great for a homemade gift! And finally, I made something new: Cream cheese mints. I even colored them green. Yummy!

So I had lots of little "helpers" this morning. The resounding theme was: "I want to taste!" "I want to taste!" Don't worry though, nobody got to taste out of the bowl! And hey, I can't think of a better way to spend a morning stuck inside during an icestorm. As long as we don't lose the electricity.

Psycho Potty Chair

Today while Dan was getting ready for work, I got up to get things started for the day. Make coffee, get breakfast going, etc. I heard Dominic and went to check on him as he went to bed last night with a low-grade fever. He felt hot again so I checked his temperature, then gave him some Tylenol, got him some juice and snuggled up with him in the rocking chair with a blanket. Then we heard it: clap, clap, clap, "All done!" And then: clap, clap, clap, "Nice job!" Our psycho potty chair was at it again. Nobody is even close to the bathroom and the little handle that "flushes" goes off by itself. Spooky! One evening, when all the kids were in bed, it starting "flushing" over and over again all by itself. As I walked over to investigate I could hear Catherine in the girls' room say, "Who did that?!" Maybe we have a ghost who is trying to potty-train! Ha-ha-ha! Maybe it is trying to tell me it is time to potty-train the twins. :(