Category: cute

Fired Up and Ready To Go

You’ve probably seen the Fired Up, Ready To Go chant that was used in President Obama’s campaign last year.? But you may not have heard the story about how it started.? If not, watch this video first so the second video will make more sense.

Obama tells how he was tired, and struggling to get motivated for a tiny rally in a South Carolina small town, very early in the morning.? And how one woman got the crowd, and him, energized, focused, and ready to go.

This morning, I decided to see if I could use the same technique, albeit on a much smaller scale.? On Sunday mornings, Thing 1 and Thing 2 have swim class at the county rec center.? It’s early.? It’s cold.? We have a full day planned: swim class, pancake breakfast at the volunteer fire station, and it’s Super Bowl Sunday.? Nobody is very motivated.? It’s going to be a long day.? Time to get fired up and ready to go!

Spider-Bat Lives On With StickyFan

When I introduced the world to Spider-Bat, I thought he would be a short lived phenomenon, not lasting much past Halloween.? But, the legend of Spider-Bat lives on and keeps growing.

StickyFan is a cool website that creates giant life-size posters from your own digital photos.? It’s great for action photos of your kids doing sports, but really any photo can be used.? The poster sticks to any wall or surface and can be moved over and over.

When I showed Thing 2 the five foot tall image of Spider-Bat, he was in awe and wanted him on his bedroom wall to watch over him.? Maybe with Spider-Bat in the room, he won’t get scared in the middle of the night and wake me up.? Regardless, StickyFan is worth checking out.? Tell them Spider-Bat sent you.

Determined To Succeed

Single minded determination can be a good quality, and lead to some amazing accomplishments.? It took Albert Einstein eight years to develop his theory of relativity.? Michael Phelps trained for a decade on his way to winning 14 gold medals. These men had a single focus, suffering setbacks along the way, but persisting until they got to the finish line.

Thing 3 has the same determination qualities as these great achievers, albeit with a somewhat, how shall I say, less admirable end goal in mind.? He is determined, every waking moment and does everything within his power, to put his hands in the toilet.

Open the bathroom door the tiniest amount and Thing 3 tries to squirm his way through the crack like a mouse.? Like a dog, he can hear the bathroom door open from across the house and he’ll drop whatever he was doing and make a run for it.? All the while, with a mischievous grin that dares you to stop him.

Lately, Thing 3 absolutely loves bathtime, which was a welcome change from the screamfests of a few months ago.? Last night it finally occured to me why he loves taking a bath – because he is that much closer to achieving his ultimate goal.

I literally turned my head for one second, just to pour soap in the water as the tub was filling up.? In that time, Thing 3 managed to open the lid, put his arms in the toilet up to his elbows, and splash water all over the place.? It was one of those split second displays of pure athletism, much like Michael Phelps winning his 7th gold medal by 1/100 of a second.? Except I don’t recall Michael Phelps having that mischeivous laugh.

Introducing Spider-Bat

According to the National Retail Federation, the most popular kids costume is a Princess.? Other popular costumes include Star Wars, witches, and Spiderman.? See below for the full list of the top 20 most popular kids costumes from 2005.

This year, I feel very comfortable saying that Thing 2 will be wearing a truly unique costume, one that I don’t think we’ll see as we trick or treat, and probably not one we’re likely to see again.

His costume started as Spiderman.? But he didn’t like the mask part, so for the last few weeks he’s been the unmasked Spiderman.? Then, SuburbanMommy got a Batman costume for Thing3, and Thing 2? loves the Batman mask.? But he also loves his Spiderman costume, especially since it is the kind that has the built in muscles.

To Thing 2, he isn’t just wearing a costume.? He believes he actually is Spiderman.? For several weeks now, when someone says his name, he impatiently corrects them and says No, I AM SPIDERMAN! (Some days he says he is Yucky Man, a character from a Backyardigans TV Show, but that’s a whole different story).

So, we have Spider-Bat.? Part Spiderman, part Batman.? Oh yeah, there is one more twist to the costume.? This new superhero creation, Spider-Bat, also wears womens high heel shoes.? Nothing too high, mind you, because that would make catching the bad guys difficult.? But still high enough to get noticed by the other superheroes.

Spider-Bat In High Heels

2005 Top Kids’ Costumes

# of Children

1

 Princess

11.8%

3,778,217

2

 Witch

5.2%

1,664,215

3

 Spiderman

4.5%

1,439,321

4

 Monster

4.1%

1,304,385

5

 Darth Vader

3.9%

1,259,406

6

 Superhero

3.9%

1,259,406

7

 Star Wars Character

2.5%

809,618

8

 Batman

2.4%

764,639

9

 Ninja

2.3%

719,660

10

 Clown

2.3%

719,660

11

 Pirate

2.1%

674,682

12

 Angel

2.0%

629,703

13

 Pumpkin

2.0%

629,703

14

 Power Rangers

1.8%

584,724

15

 Cinderella

1.7%

539,745

16

 Vampire

1.5%

494,767

17

 Cheerleader

1.5%

494,767

18

 Cat

1.5%

494,767

19

 Ghost/Ghoul

1.4%

449,788

20

 Soldier/Sailor

1.4%

449,788