A Very Disgusting Spider Story

Yesterday while sweeping the back porch, Lily started yelling "Mom there's a big ugly spider on the back door." I looked over and saw this giant white thing that looked like some sort of rock and said "That's not a spider."

Lily: "Are you sure because it has big legs like a spider?"

I took a closer look and about died. It was a giant red spider with a huge white ball thing on it's back. I don't usually eliminate creatures that are outside my house but this one was a little too close for comfort. I had Lily go get Jacob and course he thought we were pathetic but agreed to help us anyway. It took about 10 minutes of brain-storming just to figure out how to get rid of it. I wouldn't let him step on it because then I would have to make him throw his shoes away. We finally decided a rock would do the trick. Lily: "I hope it's not POISONOUS!!!"( I wonder where she get's her dramatics from:) I won't go into details because it's too gross but lets just say it was a messy one. That thing on it's back was some sort of white fluid filled sack. I didn't want the remains left on the porch so I had Jacob get a stick and move it. Jacob had the genius idea of picking it up with a stick then dragging it across the kids bucket of toys and of course it fell off right in the bucket. I was mortified. There was now a huge mess inside their toy bucket so I had to wipe it out and bleach the bucket and all the toys. Even still I'm not satisfied. I had the hardest time eating dinner because I could not stop thinking about it. I finally gave up and threw it away. I was literally sick to my stomach. I was afraid I would have nightmares about it but luckily I didn't. In fact I hardly thought of it at all today until I was making lunch. I was stirring a pot of mac and cheese when Lily came in and said....

Lily: "Mom how come it's white and not yellow?"

Me:" because it's white cheese not cheddar."

Lily: "And how come the noodles look different?"

Me: " Because they are shell noodles instead of regular macaroni noodles."

Lily: " Hey kind of like that spider from yesterday."

Me: "Well so much for lunch."

Coming to you 11-11-11.

Some Day I'll Laugh, But Not Today

We have needed several items of furniture and in order to save money I've searched KSL for used furniture that I could just repaint or refinish. My mom and I have been working hard all week long to strip down a dresser to bare wood and refinish it. We also spent a lot of time painting a TV cabinet that I got for a steal of a deal. We were literally out working all day every day all week long. Saturday was our goal to be finished and we were so happy we made our goal. We put the last protector spray coat over the furniture then came inside to wait for it to dry. What a relief. It was all done and it looked great. After two minutes of being inside I looked out the window and saw Jake with some sort of cleaning product. I ran out to find him spraying all the furniture saying "Look mom I'm cleaning." With a big smile on his face he continued to spray the TV cabinet. I ran over and grabbed the bottle and as it turns out it was a professional level orange citrus cleaner with a very strong solvent. I ran inside to grab a wet rag to wipe it all off but it was too late. The solvent had eaten through the protector coat and the paint. Needless to say we now have to resand and repaint all the drawers to the dresser and the TV cabinet:(

Later that night when Jake was saying his prayers he said "Thank you for my mommy that makes me happy." Now how can you stay mad at a kid like that?

Hilarious video!

From last night's debate:

Look Who's Crawling

In his own special way.

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Making Progress

Jake has what's called a feeding disorder. It means he has extreme anxiety when it comes to eating food. He can't handle most textures and as a result he gags and throws up a lot when foods are placed in his mouth. When offered food he covers his mouth and almost has a panic attack of some sort. He is not a scrawny kid thanks to Pediasure but he is not a well nourished kid either. His diet consists of yogurt, pancakes, an occasional grilled cheese, crackers, pizza, frosted mini wheats and Pediasure. Over the past couple months my mom and I (most of the hard work credit goes to my mom) have been working with him. We pulled the old potty training trick and gave him a sticker chart. For every new thing he tried he got a sticker and after filling a chart with stickers he got a prize. We started slow and simple. VERY slow and simple. At first he got a sticker for licking the piece of food. It took a lot of bravery on his part to even do that. Then after a while we moved to putting the food all the way in his mouth and after a while of doing that we progressed to sinking the teeth in to the food. It didn't matter if he spit it out after each step as long as he completed the task. I am very proud to say that he now eats grapes, (loves them) apples with peanut butter, (even chuncky) meat balls, cheese, peanut butter and honey sandwitch, milk, (huge) smoothies, (including my moms green veggie smoothies) oatmeal, almonds, raisins, and most healthyish cold cereals. He now gets excited to eat and is happy rather than stressed out. I can't even begin to express my joy in this. It has been such a relief. He still has a long way to go but he has been more willing to try and is excited about his own progress.


Being silly while waiting for lunch.

I'd ask him how his yogurt tasted but I'm not sure he knows.

Eating meatballs and apples with peanut butter. I love to watch his eyes get big when he is putting something in his mouth. It shows his excitement about what he is doing.

WAY TO GO JAKE!!!! We love you and are so proud of you. (now if only we could have the same success with potty training. One thing at a time I guess.)

At the Park (and playing dress-up)

The first two are from a couple days ago:
Awesome stuff, huh?
Jake is pretty funny here with that amazing hat.
But he has a pretty good time just doing whatever.

Couldn't help taking a few of Lily. She's too photogenic.
Case in point.
I think they spend more time climbing slides then descending.

As you can see, Jake was tuckered out.

BOO!