Oh, the not so pretty...

So it happened this past week...you know, the dreaded (and obviously for us a bit late) talk with your kids about "the big secret"...OK we didn't go so far as to talk about the actual "big secret" but we were required to have the introduction talk that takes place hopefully years before the actual "big secret" talk.

So this is how it started. Since I'm still acting as single mom during the weeks, my days can be frantic and with little league in full swing, our Tuesdays and Thursdays are even busier. My normal routine is to feed the kids after we get back at around 6:15 p.m. and then before I clean up the kitchen I toss all three of them in the shower to play around. I usually give them 10 minutes of play time in the shower before we do soapy time and then allow them another ten minutes or so to rinse the soap off. Sage absolutely loves the water and once she hears the shower running and the shower door shutting, she's pulling at her diaper and trying to get her shirt off as fast as she can to go join her brothers. So while they are playing and rinsing off I do a final clean up downstairs.

So I'm making my way up to get them out and as I walk into my steam filled bathroom I can see what appears to be Ty on all fours crouched over Sage who looked as if she had fallen down in the shower. Of course I start to panic but just then I hear giggles coming out of Sage. What exactly is going on? My heart starts racing. The steam in the shower makes it hard to make it out but I frantically open the door to find Sage lying down on her back on the shower floor with Ty over her (on all fours). When I screeched to ask Ty exactly what he is doing he quickly says "I'm just pointing out to Sage all her body parts, you know, her eyes, nose, ears, hands". Knowing I can always count on Connor to fess up exactly what is going on, he goes on to tell me "well, he was actually looking to see where Sage's penis is and where her pee comes out of." I will spare you the screams that came out of my mouth and the way I totally mishandled the situation but after calling Jack in a panic totally freaking out, it became clear I had learned a valuable lesson and that is be the first to teach your children...about everything. I should have known better than to think my curious Ty would resist the temptation to try to figure this all out on his own before asking me. Needless to say, this past weekend, Jack and I sat the boys down and had the BIG talk about the difference between boys' and girls' body parts. Time for me to brush up on exactly when I should be having all these talks with my children. It felt a little strange using the "V" word since it hadn't been part of the boys vocabulary the past 6 years but there you have it... It's done and so is Sage showering with the boys!!!

Thankfully the week ended better, most importantly because daddy comes home on Thursday evenings but also because the boys had their Little League Jamboree. This is a day where they get to march in a small parade with their teams, play in all the blow up bouncers, have team photos, and eat fun food. The weather was perfect and it marks the transition from practices to games.

the cast of characters

Sage (23 months), is a physical carbon copy of her dad and has the personality (and appetite) of Ty. She is the typical little sister who expects to always get her way and will battle to get what she wants. Everyone always comments on how happy and outgoing she is. She loves to copy EVERYTHING she sees us do, both the good and bad....eeeek!

Ty (6), is our crazy, happy, curious child. He is the protector and watch dog over the family. People are just drawn to his personality instantly. We can count on him for good laughs and good cries... Still can't go anywhere without someone commenting on his blonde afro. It seems to work wonders with the girls as he's got quite the following at school.

Connor (6) is as he likes to say "the first born" and therefore the oldest. He is the one in the family that tries so hard to always choose the right. He's such an example to the rest of us. He loves video games and pretty much dominates no matter what the game. He also loves reading books and "hanging out with his family." He is truly our gentle giant.

Spring Break- Utah

So this year we've taken the boys skiing quite a bit. We used both the weeks of Winter Break and Spring Break as a time to go to Utah and take advantage of great skiing and spending time with my family. They also spent some time on the slopes here at Snoqualmie Pass. Ski school has been successful as they have advanced to level 6 which is exciting for them. I have to say it is very exhausting at times just trying to keep up with them so they know they are just to meet us at the same lift they last went up if we end up losing them down the mountain.

Connor is the king of skiing right up alongside you at great speeds and being able to stop just as you are imagining in your mind the ugliest blowout. He is also the King of Speed. On a couple occassions as he reached the bottom of the lift parentless, the lift operator would comment to him after the long wait "perhaps your parents are the ones that need classes..." He is the one on the left practicing catching speed down the backside of the jump.

If you click on the other photo you can see Ty going off a jump. You may be able to make out his red ski boots. I believe his intention originally was to get a tiny bit of air and have a successful landing, something he had done in the past but in his desire for speed, he went up a bit more than planned.

urrrr, i don't know about this blogging stuff...

So here it goes...my first attempt at trying to put this blog together. Not too long ago I associated bloggers with strange computer people with too much time on their hands...then I found myself embarassed that I actually really didn't know what a blog was and why people had them. And here I am, trying to figure out how to do this while I have a quiet moment. My next step is to figure out how to adjust the page width and photo sizes and have music that plays normally (i had a couple songs that sounded almost like scarey Halloween music because they played in slow motion). In the meantime if I can find everyones emails from christmas cards, various email address books, and my computer databases and get them into one place so that I can alert you all that I have a place where you can catch up with the Roddy's without actually having to sit through a conversation :) , it may all be worth it but I'm guessing by the time I'm finished doing all this, I would have been better off just picking up the phone and catching up with you that way...I mean, Shutterfly seemed to work fine up until now. This will be a work in progress. Stay tuned for changes!