The rains from Hurricane Ida started last night and have pretty much been pouring down ever since. Tomorrow it should stop, but today I have been thinking about how bummed I was we didn’t make it to the park yesterday. (Confused?)

We have had a very wet Fall and it has been very depressing, with plenty of cabin fever from both Fuller and myself. So, we have been utilizing the Wii more, trying to get the energy out in a controlled manner. At least it keeps Fuller from jumping on the couch (something he attempted this morning, which did not go over well with me).

Tomorrow we have Moms Group, so we will get out of the house for a little while, but my indoor activity reserves are getting low. So, I hope once Ida moves along, we get the sunshine back and can head outside again.

What do you do with your kids when stuck inside?

I’ve been making a lot of pancakes lately, since Tebow can eat them. He only really eats one or less. The rest go to Fuller and myself.

The other morning I attempted to use a cookie cutter to make a pancake in the shape of a house. I put the cutter in the pan, poured in the batter, and let it cook. However, when I picked up the cutter to hopefully let the half-cooked pancake slide out so I could flip it, it didn’t slide. I had to push it out with a knife and it stuck to the side and it wasn’t pretty.

So, my question is this. How do you make pancakes in the shapes of other things?

Fuller has a bad habit of arguing with us when we ask/ tell him to do something. When we ask/ tell him to do something, he immediately launches into “But…” This past weekend Damon and I both realized (almost at the same time) we were tired of it, and have started combating the behavior.

He isn’t really getting the idea of “argue” and I was wondering how you combat this kind of behavior with your kid(s)?

I don’t have lofty goals today. The only thing I have to do is take Lively to the groomer. I’m still behind on the house chores that piled up while I was in Vegas and while I had a great start, I kind of flatlined on my energy quotient on Thursday. So we have half done chores to finish.

There is a project I need to take care of that I think a lot of parents I know do around this time of year- the thinning of the toys. I piled all of Fuller’s toys into his room earlier this week and I have yet to sit down and actually do anything about it.

I’m in a quandry about the toys because there are toys he no longer plays with because they are too “baby.” And I wonder if we really need to keep those toys or if we should donate them somewhere. The idea used to be we should keep toys for any future brothers or sisters. Now that it is obvious that there will be so much space between Fuller and siblings (never our intention), is it really worth the attic space to keep these things? By the time another addition to the family is ready to play with toys, there will probably be better, less likely to cause lead poisoning toys on the market. At least I hope that is the trend.

I don’t have sentimental attachment to anything Fuller played with as a baby and am actually considering chucking the whole lot that is in the attic. So I ask… what do you think I should do? Free up attic space? Or start hording for the unconceived one?

You know how the Oscars and Emmys and whatever else are certified by some accountability firm so that the votes are real and not faked?

Well, I don’t have one of those, but I do have Google Video!

The video of who won the giveaway is currently being uploaded. While we wait, lets open the floor for some discussion:

What potty training chair did you use for your kid(s)?

Has anyone ever used chalkboard paint? I am wondering if it would still work if you painted over an existing chalkboard. We have a green chalkboard that Fuller is currently using. However it doesn’t take the chalk very well and there are some stains on it (we got it at a thrift store). I was thinking about painting over it in chalkboard paint but wonder if that would help or hurt.

Thoughts? Stories?