My hamper floweth over

Twenty-four hours from now, the half packed bags that sit on the office couch will be crammed into our tightly packed van.

Twenty-four hours from now, we will hopefully be on the road, listening intently to a Beverly Cleary book on tape (yes, we still listen to actual tapes in the van).

Twenty-four hours from now, I will start to hear Lillian ask "are we there yet?" To which Pierce will answer "We're almost there when we get to the roller coaster roads, Lillian, remember?" And I will remember. All of the vans, cars, and church vans in which I have traveled down the roller coaster roads. I will remember the time we came down a hill to find a cow standing in the middle of the road, or the one time we had to hit the brakes while a bonnet clad old lady crossed the street to get her mail.

Twenty-four hours from now, I settle into my seat in the van, satisfied and proud in my assurance that every swimsuit, towel, pillow, bottle of sunscreen and bugspray, and special blanket have been remembered.


Twenty-four hours from now I will be on the road to one of my favorite places on Earth. But right now....



Sigh..... I obviously have no right to be blogging!



I hope you all will enjoy your holiday weekend as much as we will!

I love living in Oklahoma, but I still am still having a hard time embracing the slang. I hardly ever say "ya'all", and it pains me to type it. I'm never "fixin' to" do anything, and (this one KILLS me), I never have "no ideal what chur talkin' 'bout". I don't shop at "The Wal-marts" either.

I'm not saying I look down on the people who use Okie slang. I usually don't even notice it. But for some reason I can't stand to hear such things come out of the mouths of my children. I think I have already mentioned that Jordan and Ashton both wrote stories in first grade about the three little pigs and the house they made out of "strawl". Pierce just brought home a story about his new kitten (yes, we still have it) and how it likes to "play with yur lag." It also like to "greek milk" (drink milk).

And although I love, love, love, his kindergarten teacher, and am totally impressed with the unprecedented progress her class has made this year, I winced the other day as she told me that "Supposibly the test Pierce had taken...." I don't remember the rest of what she said.

What slang Ya'all got round yur parts? Or ain't ya got none at all?

The oldest. Too old if you ask me. She sang her first real solo (she's had solos in songs before, but never a whole song by herself) for a fairly large audience, and she did great!


Ashton's the one in the red jersey. She seems to attract friends who are mistaken for her sisters a lot. Once a shy girl, she has definitely come out of her shell this year. Quite the soccer star, as well!






Look at my three strong girls! I wish for them life long friendship and love. Yeah for girls!

Raise your hand if you are getting a bit tired of the presidential candidate "debates" already. My hand is waving like Horshack's on Welcome Back Cotter.

My husband made me sit through part of the republican debate last night, but he was forced with threats of violence to change the channel when Mitt Romney stated that not only did he support No Child Left Behind, but that he believes standardized tests are an excellent way of judging how a school is performing and that they help inner city schools enormously. Hmmm, I can't tell you in a thousand words or less how absolutely and completely ludicrous that statement is. Standardized test have been denounced by educators as a way to adequately judge progress for two decades now. They judge how well kids can take test, and fill in circles. Period. And they rob students from time that could be spent learning. Let's see Bush and Romney's kids attend an inner city public school, and then I will consider listening to their views.

And the democrats? I fear that they have, as Jon Stewart has joked for over a year now, found a way to "screw up the 2008 election". I am not a huge Hilary fan, and while I am a fan of Obama, I don't believe that he is electable. Too many ignorant people (like those who work at FOX news), who "confuse" his name with "Osama", Too many ignorant people that believe he has a "muslim agenda"....

Here's my grand idea!

Let's put a stop to all the debates. Let's take the top twelve contenders from both sides, and sequester them in a house. Both political parties will be on teams, and each week, they will have to complete a challenge. The team who performs the worst on that challenge will go into the boardroom and face, you guessed it, The Donald who will fire one member of the losing team. And it will, of course, be televised. So we can see the candidates in action. Imagine the applause when he said "Mitt Romney, that is the stupidest idea I have ever heard. You're fired!" Priceless.

I really did try the potty training thing on Friday. All the way to nap time. But the fact that he sits on the potty pants up as much as he does pants down? And that he peed on the floor and clapped for himself and shouted "YEAH!"? He's just not ready. I am a firm believer in independent potty training. I think they should be able to make it through most of the steps (pulling pants and undies on and off, wiping, flushing, washing hands) before they are really potty trained. We will try again in August.

It all worked out really well, because our soccer games were cancelled this weekend due to flooded fields, and we were able to make an impromptu trip to visit the Grandparents (some of them).

Hope everyone had a fabulous Mother's Day!
Oh! And By the way? Max does not like to go fast on the boat. He likes to go really slow. Just ask him. He's been saying it ever since "No fast boat. Slow boat. Really slow boat."

Yesterday was Pierce and Lillian's end of the year music performance. They were really cute. I am hoping to post a video clip, with the help of my beloved husband (meaning he does it for me) but that is not what this post is about.

I decided to take Max with me, partially because he knows all of the songs and I thought he would enjoy it, and partially because that would give the subs for my room one less child to watch (in case you don't know, I work in the preschool in Max's room.)

So I let Max eat a preemptive cookie while we are waiting for the concert to start, and after he finishes it, he starts saying "Mommy. I have to go potty. I have to go potty mommy! PLEASE!" while holding himself.

People, he just turned two in March. I thought I would try potty training in August, while I have the month off of work to work on it. This is the kid who, last month, watched his older brother pee-pee in the potty, and when he was done shouted. "YEAH! AGAIN! AGAIN!" As if Pierce had just performed a grand magic trick. About the same time, he was squatting and playing in the bathtub, and when he stood up, he peed a little. He gasped, and then began squatting and standing up over and over again, trying to make it happen again.

Yes, this past month he has made remarkable strides in his vocabulary, as well as boundaries. I can say "Max, come here, please." And he does it! But potty training?

So, I answer Max's begging to go potty (which is, of course, happening right as the kids are loading on to the bleachers) with "we can try to go potty when Pierce and Lillian are done singing." and I catch out of the corner of my eye the appalled look of the woman sitting next to me. Max is a big boy, and is often mistaken for a three year old, and I am sure she thought I was horrible for making my potty training child wait thirty minutes to go potty.

So fast forward to that afternoon. My kids go to the "late room" while I clean up my room. And Max? Goes potty for the late room teacher!

So, I made a trip to Target last night, bought the Thomas underwear, the Dora potty seat, and a new pack of diapers. I am beyond skeptical, I am downright doubtful. I have never ever heard a story of a boy that was easily potty trained around his second birthday. But I will give it try. He is in undies right now, and has been for an hour. He has sat on the potty and flushed it about a hundred times, but no success.


Dear Max,
I am willing to spend Mother's day weekend at home with you, most of it in the bathroom, using words like "poopy" and "tinkle", because I am your mother and I love you. However, if you are not really interested in being potty trained, and you ask me when you are in third grade "Mommy! Can't I use the potty like the other boys? It's embarrassing that I wear diapers! The other kids make fun of me!" I will remind you that we already tried to get you to use the potty, and how embarrassing it was for mommy when you made her look bad in front of the other mommies for not taking you to the potty, and we will try again when you are in fifth grade.

Love, Mommy Dearest

Yes, yet another living thing has found it's way into the Keith household. It is, however, not a permanent one. Ashton, who loves the kitty so very much, is also so very allergic. And we have no place to put a litter box. And ,.... because I said so! (I get to say that, cause I'm the momma). We have promised the kids we will keep it until we find it a good home, which is proving to be a little harder than anticipated. The good news is that I am pretty sure this was the addition to the family that was foreseen by Lizzie.

The kitty next to our gianourmous guinea pig (in the guinea pig's defense, it is a small kitty.)


Other "why I haven't blogged" excuses :

Soccer. 4 kids playing on 3 teams= 3 to 4 games every Saturday (not to mention Monday night practices on 2 different fields and Sunday afternoon makeup games). I am not complaining, though. It's a lot of fun, the kids love it, and Max plays his own soccer game during his siblings games. He can toss the ball in the air and kick it. It's crazy! He can also dribble a basketball, and hit a ball with a bat. (photo by Ashton)

Of course, I could blame my lack of blogging on all of the end of the year festivities; concerts, parties, field trips, or all of the spring birthday parties (we actually have one on Mother's day) but I know that is all pretty universal. Chances are, if you are reading this, you have kids, and therefore absolutely no sympathy.

I am very excited about this summer! Family camp is coming up in just a few short weeks, and although there is rumor of a bad weather jinx coming this year (just kidding, Elena, I am so excited you are coming), there are a record number of families coming from our church, and quite a few "old school" campers. It's totally worth the fourteen towels, six sets of bedding, sixteen or so pairs of shoes and such that I will be packing. Ashton will be going to week long camp for the first time, and Chad is taking the older girls to New York to see his mom. On a train! I am so excited for them! The younger kids and I will spend the week in Kansas City. That should be fun, too.


Hope you all are enjoying Spring! I leave you with an Easter pic of the kids.