We started doing the Elf on the Shelf when Andy was in Kindergarten. Back then there was no Pinterest for people to post their amazing and annoying elf antics, and parents weren't trying to one-up each other with naughty little elf pictures. No, the elf just came, watched the kids, moved around and then reported back to Santa. Charlie and I can barely remember to move the elf (except this year he finally wised up and put an alarm on his phone that has saved us so many times) so we certainly weren't going to join the ranks of crazy parents who have nothing better to do during the holiday season that let their elf mess up their kitchen or bathroom or whatever else and then actually have to clean it all up again the next day. So, we just tell the kids we don't have a naughty elf and that is the end of that.
Andy has always been skeptical of the elf. It's only in the last year or two that he hasn't announced that the elf freaks him out and hasn't been disconcerted by the elf's presence. I don't know if that's because he's just used to it coming or he's getting older or because Amanda feels the exact opposite. Amanda cannot wait to get up every morning to see if she can find the elf. As soon as her clock says 7:00 she comes into my room and asks me to help her get dressed. It took me a few days to figure it out, but it's because one of the few rules that the kids actually follow on weekdays is that they have to get dressed before they are allowed to go downstairs.
Amanda always wants to be the first person downstairs so she can be the first person to find the elf, so she wants to get dressed as soon as she is possibly allowed. She knows that she is not allowed to get up before 7:00 so I'm pretty sure every morning she just stares at the clock and waits. One morning she called out to me at 6:45 because she just couldn't wait any longer, and I had to take her downstairs in her pajamas and then bring her back up to get dressed. Another morning I couldn't function enough to get out of bed and help her get dressed so I told her she was allowed to go downstairs only to find the Elf and then she had to come back up to get dressed.
So pretty much every year there is something that makes us curse the day we ever started this "fun" tradition. But here's how one person can spoil the whole thing. Last week Andy told me that a girl in his class caught her mom moving their elf. Then he asked me if we move our elf. I should have come up with some great answer or one of those answers that are really a question, but all I could say was "Of course not!". Someday that kid is going to curse me for all the lying we have done to him in the spirit of the season. But I'm not mad at him, I'm mad at his classmates' mom. Doesn't she know the kids talk, and when she messed up in front of her daughter she really messed up in front of her whole class?
That is why you have to watch out what you tell your kids, especially your school-aged kids, because they're always hearing things from their classmates. Kind of makes you think homeschooling isn't so bad, until you remember that it's homeschooling.
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Some Things Never Change
When Andy was little, one of the ways I taught him his colors was to ask him what color his fruit snacks were. We'd be driving in the car and he would hold each one up and tell me what color it was before he shoved it in his mouth. Once he mastered his colors he continued to tell me what color or shape his fruit snacks were every time he ate a bag.
After awhile I didn't care anymore but he continued to tell me. When I say after awhile, I'm talking one to two years later. He would not stop. I even got to the point where I told him I didn't care and I didn't want him to tell me anymore. He ignored me and continued to tell me all about his fruit snacks every single time. I should have learned at that point just not to buy them and put myself out of my misery, but I'm not that smart. Eventually, as he got older and was in elementary school, he stopped.
Well, maybe it just went dormant. Fast forward to today's dinner. We're sitting at the table and I'm handing out gummy vitamins to the kids. Andy looks at his and says, "Daddy, guess what shape I got?"
Some things will never end.
After awhile I didn't care anymore but he continued to tell me. When I say after awhile, I'm talking one to two years later. He would not stop. I even got to the point where I told him I didn't care and I didn't want him to tell me anymore. He ignored me and continued to tell me all about his fruit snacks every single time. I should have learned at that point just not to buy them and put myself out of my misery, but I'm not that smart. Eventually, as he got older and was in elementary school, he stopped.
Well, maybe it just went dormant. Fast forward to today's dinner. We're sitting at the table and I'm handing out gummy vitamins to the kids. Andy looks at his and says, "Daddy, guess what shape I got?"
Some things will never end.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Craptastic Day
Today didn't start out too bad. I got way less sleep than I should have. It could be that my head is swirling with all the things that still need to be done before the 25th, it could have just been an off day. Honestly, I don't feel stressed out, but sometimes it's still there. I was sort of awake when Amanda called out to me at 6:45 because she wanted to be the first one downstairs to find the elf. You know, the Elf On The Shelf. Yes, we still do that, I have a different post for that though so I won't go into it now.
After Amanda found the elf I sent her up to Charlie and finished cleaning up all the cookies and chocolate dipped items I made last night (again, another post that I may or may not get to) and then got dressed, made lunches and did everything else we do in the mornings. So far everything okay. I dropped Amanda off at school, hit the gym, picked her back up and then headed north to visit a college roommate and do a meal class at her house.
I used to do meal class in Texas all the time. I loved it because at any point I would have at least five frozen meals in my fridge and if I had no idea what we were going to have for dinner I would pull one out. So when I got this invitation I jumped at the chance of having ready made meals in my freezer again. All went well on the drive up until about four miles from her house I got a nice indicator light that the tire pressure in my back right tire was low. It kept flashing and the tire pressure kept dropping. Not good. I was pretty sure it was a flat tire which was confirmed when I pulled up outside her house. No problem, I called our insurance company and they sent somebody to fix it while I was doing the meal class and my car was ready to go by the time I was done. I thought my troubles would end there.
I got home just in time to pick up the big kids from school and then took the girls with me to get the tire repaired. You are only supposed to drive on the spare for 40 miles and my friends lives just over 30 miles away so I didn't very many miles to play with. Except the piece of metal in my tire was so large that they couldn't repair it and I had to buy a new tire, ugh. We had to leave straight from there to take Amanda to speech therapy (which I had moved because of the meal class) but due to traffic and and not getting to leave as early as I wanted to because we were stuck at the tire place we were going to be late. So I tried to take some back roads to get us there quicker but they were slow too. I finally found one that was wide open and sped up to get there faster and got pulled over going 12 miles over the speed limit. All that made us even later for speech therapy so we only got to have a 10 minute session.
So to sum it up, so that I could have 10 wonderful meals waiting for me in my freezer at any given time I had to drive 40 minutes each way, buy a new tire, get a speeding ticket and pay full price for a 10 minute therapy session. Expensive, crappy day.
On the bright side, Charlie picked up dinner and I have a new tire and now my daughters know what happens when Mommy says she can't go any faster or she'll get pulled over and I can start over tomorrow. However, if the police call me and ask for a charitable donation, I've already given this year.
After Amanda found the elf I sent her up to Charlie and finished cleaning up all the cookies and chocolate dipped items I made last night (again, another post that I may or may not get to) and then got dressed, made lunches and did everything else we do in the mornings. So far everything okay. I dropped Amanda off at school, hit the gym, picked her back up and then headed north to visit a college roommate and do a meal class at her house.
I used to do meal class in Texas all the time. I loved it because at any point I would have at least five frozen meals in my fridge and if I had no idea what we were going to have for dinner I would pull one out. So when I got this invitation I jumped at the chance of having ready made meals in my freezer again. All went well on the drive up until about four miles from her house I got a nice indicator light that the tire pressure in my back right tire was low. It kept flashing and the tire pressure kept dropping. Not good. I was pretty sure it was a flat tire which was confirmed when I pulled up outside her house. No problem, I called our insurance company and they sent somebody to fix it while I was doing the meal class and my car was ready to go by the time I was done. I thought my troubles would end there.
I got home just in time to pick up the big kids from school and then took the girls with me to get the tire repaired. You are only supposed to drive on the spare for 40 miles and my friends lives just over 30 miles away so I didn't very many miles to play with. Except the piece of metal in my tire was so large that they couldn't repair it and I had to buy a new tire, ugh. We had to leave straight from there to take Amanda to speech therapy (which I had moved because of the meal class) but due to traffic and and not getting to leave as early as I wanted to because we were stuck at the tire place we were going to be late. So I tried to take some back roads to get us there quicker but they were slow too. I finally found one that was wide open and sped up to get there faster and got pulled over going 12 miles over the speed limit. All that made us even later for speech therapy so we only got to have a 10 minute session.
So to sum it up, so that I could have 10 wonderful meals waiting for me in my freezer at any given time I had to drive 40 minutes each way, buy a new tire, get a speeding ticket and pay full price for a 10 minute therapy session. Expensive, crappy day.
On the bright side, Charlie picked up dinner and I have a new tire and now my daughters know what happens when Mommy says she can't go any faster or she'll get pulled over and I can start over tomorrow. However, if the police call me and ask for a charitable donation, I've already given this year.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Kid Quote of the Day
Amanda: It smells in here.
Me: That's because we both pooped.
Amanda: My poop doesn't smell like anything, only yours smells.
And so it begins...
Me: That's because we both pooped.
Amanda: My poop doesn't smell like anything, only yours smells.
And so it begins...
Sunday, December 8, 2013
The Holiday Season, So Far So Good
I'm not sure why, but this crazy, jam-packed, super short holiday time is not stressing me out. I tried really hard not to go crazy buying things for the kids and even though I bought a little more than I planned and maybe they got two items wrapped as one for a couple nights of Hanukkah in general I have done pretty well. We'll see what I find when I actually start wrapping the Christmas presents and pulling them out of all their hiding places and then I'll let you know if I was good or not.
So far we've been spreading out everything pretty well. Last week we came home from Thanksgiving on Saturday instead of Sunday and that really helped because we were able to get the tree up on Sunday. I think we are going to forgo lights this year even though the kids keep asking and Charlie thinks he can get the nets on the bushes, because now there are really only two weekends left and who does something for just two weekends? Today we did Gingerbread houses and next weekend I think I will be in the kitchen most of the weekend making cookies and other chocolate dipped goodies for all the teachers and then most of the stress will be done. Oh yes, I still have to wrap all those gifts and get a few boxes shipped to my parent's house, but let's not think about that.
How about I just show you some lovely pictures of my kids and their Gingerbread houses? I would have to say this was by far the best year in all of our house making years. We decided to invest the extra $9 so each kid could have their own house and nobody would whine or cry that they had to share a house or that "she didn't make the roof the way I wanted to". Yes, they should learn to share, but not when it comes to these houses. We've had way too many bad experiences to mess with it. Everybody was so happy and creative and now they are old enough that all Charlie and I pretty much had to do was help them open the candy and squeeze out the pre-made frosting. Even Andy had a hard time with that. We've gone the super easy route at this point and buy the pre-made houses with the frosting already in a pouch with a nozzle and it even came with snowmen and gingerbread men and trees. Easy peasy lemon squeezy! For this first time it was actually an enjoyable experience.
Here's hoping the next few weeks go just as smoothly!
So far we've been spreading out everything pretty well. Last week we came home from Thanksgiving on Saturday instead of Sunday and that really helped because we were able to get the tree up on Sunday. I think we are going to forgo lights this year even though the kids keep asking and Charlie thinks he can get the nets on the bushes, because now there are really only two weekends left and who does something for just two weekends? Today we did Gingerbread houses and next weekend I think I will be in the kitchen most of the weekend making cookies and other chocolate dipped goodies for all the teachers and then most of the stress will be done. Oh yes, I still have to wrap all those gifts and get a few boxes shipped to my parent's house, but let's not think about that.
How about I just show you some lovely pictures of my kids and their Gingerbread houses? I would have to say this was by far the best year in all of our house making years. We decided to invest the extra $9 so each kid could have their own house and nobody would whine or cry that they had to share a house or that "she didn't make the roof the way I wanted to". Yes, they should learn to share, but not when it comes to these houses. We've had way too many bad experiences to mess with it. Everybody was so happy and creative and now they are old enough that all Charlie and I pretty much had to do was help them open the candy and squeeze out the pre-made frosting. Even Andy had a hard time with that. We've gone the super easy route at this point and buy the pre-made houses with the frosting already in a pouch with a nozzle and it even came with snowmen and gingerbread men and trees. Easy peasy lemon squeezy! For this first time it was actually an enjoyable experience.
Here's hoping the next few weeks go just as smoothly!
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Kid Quote of the Day
"Mommy, I'm not ticklish but when someone tickles me really hard it makes me laugh."
-Amanda
-Amanda
Vacuum Kiss
Yep, it's been over two weeks since I've written. I'd love to tell you it's because we've been doing all these glamorous things and I just haven't found the time, but that's not it. It's actually the opposite. The kids have gotten, how do I put it, boring. They aren't being as difficult as they should be, and therefore there aren't as many good stories to tell. I'm keep them busy after school so they can't interact and when they are home they have homework and practice and very little free time.
We just got back from five days in Miami which was also uneventful. In a very good way. I did a lot of online shopping and we saw friends and family and enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving feast put on by Charlie's mom and just hung out. The weather wasn't really nice enough to swim or go to the beach, but everybody was cool with that. Charlie and I even snuck in a run together which happens never.
This evening as we were finishing up dinner and thinking about getting the kids to bed Amanda crawled into my lap. Despite her sassy attitude she is quite the snuggler and the more tired she gets the more she likes to snuggle. Lately she also likes to kiss me on the nose. Or so she pretends. She acts like she is going to kiss me on the nose and instead sucks on it for just a second, but it's a second too long. I've showed her eskimo kisses and butterfly kisses and she knows how to do a regular kiss, but I can't get her away from this nose sucking kiss. She thinks it's hilarious. So today I told her that it was like she was trying to suck my boogers out, just like a vacuum cleaner and we dubbed it the vacuum kiss. Totally gross, but at least it has a name.
And this, my friends, is why you haven't heard much from me lately. Because really, did you want to know about this?
We just got back from five days in Miami which was also uneventful. In a very good way. I did a lot of online shopping and we saw friends and family and enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving feast put on by Charlie's mom and just hung out. The weather wasn't really nice enough to swim or go to the beach, but everybody was cool with that. Charlie and I even snuck in a run together which happens never.
This evening as we were finishing up dinner and thinking about getting the kids to bed Amanda crawled into my lap. Despite her sassy attitude she is quite the snuggler and the more tired she gets the more she likes to snuggle. Lately she also likes to kiss me on the nose. Or so she pretends. She acts like she is going to kiss me on the nose and instead sucks on it for just a second, but it's a second too long. I've showed her eskimo kisses and butterfly kisses and she knows how to do a regular kiss, but I can't get her away from this nose sucking kiss. She thinks it's hilarious. So today I told her that it was like she was trying to suck my boogers out, just like a vacuum cleaner and we dubbed it the vacuum kiss. Totally gross, but at least it has a name.
And this, my friends, is why you haven't heard much from me lately. Because really, did you want to know about this?
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Kid Quote of the Day
Andy: Mommy, can I read your blog?
Me: No.
Andy: Why not?
Sarah: It's inappropriate. It's probably about your butt and your smell.
Me: No.
Andy: Why not?
Sarah: It's inappropriate. It's probably about your butt and your smell.
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Kid Quote of the Day
"If I had a children I would only love her when she's nice to me."
-Sarah
I'm pretty sure she's serious about this, because this goes hand in hand with another Kid Quote of the Day from her that I forgot to post:
"When I'm a grownup I'm not going to share anything with my kids."
Do you realize how good I'm going to look in another 20 years?
-Sarah
I'm pretty sure she's serious about this, because this goes hand in hand with another Kid Quote of the Day from her that I forgot to post:
"When I'm a grownup I'm not going to share anything with my kids."
Do you realize how good I'm going to look in another 20 years?
No Matter What You Call It, Math Is Math
Every week Sarah gets homework. Her teacher sends it home on Monday and it's due on Friday. It's not very challenging, it only takes about 15 minutes and it's right where she needs to be. I'm perfectly fine with that, I do not think elementary school kids need tons of homework. They need to go to school, like it, and enjoy being a kid after school since they've already been sitting in a classroom for seven hours.
Last week Sarah's teacher sent home some math homework that she hadn't had a chance to go over in class yet so Sarah didn't know how to do it. The teacher sent an email explaining that it was hard and that she would cover it on Wednesday. Of course we were doing Sarah's homework on Tuesday.
The topic was Regrouping with Subtraction. Apparently regrouping is the new name for borrowing. I guess they don't like the word "borrowing" because you don't technically give anything back, and they didn't think "stealing" was an appropriate word for little kids so they went with regrouping. Whatever.
Sarah had already learned regrouping with addition, so it wasn't too much of a stretch to teach her subtraction. So when faced with the problem 356-138, she had a harder time trying to figure out what 16-8 was then the fact that you had to change the 5 into a 4 and make the 6 a 16. I guess her teachers have been right all along, she's smarter than we think she is.
The next night we were sitting down at dinner and Sarah was telling us about her day.
Sarah: Mommy, we learned Regrouping with Subtraction today.
Me: And?
Sarah: You did it right.
She said this with a big smile on her face as if she was so proud of me. My kids really do think that I don't know anything. I can't wait until they have kids of their own and realize I'm not so dumb after all. Too bad it's going to be a long wait.
Last week Sarah's teacher sent home some math homework that she hadn't had a chance to go over in class yet so Sarah didn't know how to do it. The teacher sent an email explaining that it was hard and that she would cover it on Wednesday. Of course we were doing Sarah's homework on Tuesday.
The topic was Regrouping with Subtraction. Apparently regrouping is the new name for borrowing. I guess they don't like the word "borrowing" because you don't technically give anything back, and they didn't think "stealing" was an appropriate word for little kids so they went with regrouping. Whatever.
Sarah had already learned regrouping with addition, so it wasn't too much of a stretch to teach her subtraction. So when faced with the problem 356-138, she had a harder time trying to figure out what 16-8 was then the fact that you had to change the 5 into a 4 and make the 6 a 16. I guess her teachers have been right all along, she's smarter than we think she is.
The next night we were sitting down at dinner and Sarah was telling us about her day.
Sarah: Mommy, we learned Regrouping with Subtraction today.
Me: And?
Sarah: You did it right.
She said this with a big smile on her face as if she was so proud of me. My kids really do think that I don't know anything. I can't wait until they have kids of their own and realize I'm not so dumb after all. Too bad it's going to be a long wait.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Perspective
Amanda is late for school everyday. It's not because I am a lazy slacker, okay it partially is, it's because of timing. Andy and Sarah start school at 8:40 a.m. Amanda starts at 8:45 a.m. If we sent the big kids off to school by themselves, or we left Sarah in line with her classmates and didn't wait for the first bell to ring, or didn't wait for the neighbors to walk back home with us or then chat for a few minutes (or maybe more some days) in front of the house with said neighbors, we might be able to get Amanda to school on time. But we wait for bells and wait for neighbors and chit chat and sometimes even get a snack for the road and go to the bathroom all before getting into the car to go to school.
Everyday I tell her that we need to hurry because we're already late and because school has started. Every. Single. Day. Sometimes I wonder what this is doing to her impression of time and if when she is older she won't care when she's late or who is waiting on her and won't have a sense of urgency or timeliness or respect of other people's time and if I am messing this quality in her up completely. Is it something you are born with, like in your DNA, or is it something you learn? I was always on time before I had children and I hate being late even though I am more than I would like to admit.
The schools she goes to are very accommodating and understand our timing issue and never say a thing to us about what time we arrive but still I feel a tiny bit guilty that we are interrupting the morning activity when we arrive and that they are waiting on us to really get started on their day. They know we are coming they just don't know when.
But today we dropped off Sarah and headed home with only one neighbor (the other had to take her kids to a doctor's appointment) and then said a quick goodbye because we were going on a walk in a couple hours and would see each other again. We didn't have to go to the bathroom or get a snack or change the laundry from the washer to the dryer or load or unload the dishwasher or do any of the other things that I usually try to get in before taking Amanda to school. When we walked in the door, still at least 10 minutes after class had officially started, the teacher said, "Amanda you're early today!". I kind of laughed to myself because we weren't early at all, but then realized that we were early for us and if it was good enough for the teacher it was good enough for me. I didn't feel so guilty and left feeling a little better about my day.
It's all the way you look at things.
Everyday I tell her that we need to hurry because we're already late and because school has started. Every. Single. Day. Sometimes I wonder what this is doing to her impression of time and if when she is older she won't care when she's late or who is waiting on her and won't have a sense of urgency or timeliness or respect of other people's time and if I am messing this quality in her up completely. Is it something you are born with, like in your DNA, or is it something you learn? I was always on time before I had children and I hate being late even though I am more than I would like to admit.
The schools she goes to are very accommodating and understand our timing issue and never say a thing to us about what time we arrive but still I feel a tiny bit guilty that we are interrupting the morning activity when we arrive and that they are waiting on us to really get started on their day. They know we are coming they just don't know when.
But today we dropped off Sarah and headed home with only one neighbor (the other had to take her kids to a doctor's appointment) and then said a quick goodbye because we were going on a walk in a couple hours and would see each other again. We didn't have to go to the bathroom or get a snack or change the laundry from the washer to the dryer or load or unload the dishwasher or do any of the other things that I usually try to get in before taking Amanda to school. When we walked in the door, still at least 10 minutes after class had officially started, the teacher said, "Amanda you're early today!". I kind of laughed to myself because we weren't early at all, but then realized that we were early for us and if it was good enough for the teacher it was good enough for me. I didn't feel so guilty and left feeling a little better about my day.
It's all the way you look at things.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
A Chip Off the Old Block?
My mom claims that when I was a kid I was always really good about giving her notes from the teacher or telling her when I needed something for class. If I was supposed to bring brownies to school I would tell her a week in advance, while my siblings would wait until 11 p.m. the night before to drop the bomb. Not me, I was always organized and prepared, or so say my mother.
I thought of this on Tuesday when Andy asked me if I could make him a pie for school. They are doing some sort of auction in class and the teacher listed a pie as one of the things they could bring in to auction.
Andy: Mom, can you make me a pie to take to school?
Me: What for?
Andy: We're doing an auction, you can bring in all sorts of things like McDonald's toys or a pie.
Me: When do you need it?
Andy: Thursday.
Me: No, haha, I cannot make you a pie by Thursday.
Andy: Can you make me cookies then?
Me: Yes, cookies I can do.
I started to think that the great gift I had bestowed upon my mother of always giving her ample notice was lost on my son, until I asked him when he found out about the auction. On Tuesday. So, turns out the kid did let me know as soon as he found out, it's the teacher that didn't give fair warning.
I guess I got lucky after all. On top of that I got to make cookies this afternoon which, for some unknown reason, I love to do and always puts me in a good mood even though I don't eat any myself. I think they put the rest of the family in a good mood as well, because when I got home from taking Andy to basketball practice I noticed that the container of leftovers (that didn't fit in the container I am sending to school with Andy tomorrow) looked like it was missing a few.
I thought of this on Tuesday when Andy asked me if I could make him a pie for school. They are doing some sort of auction in class and the teacher listed a pie as one of the things they could bring in to auction.
Andy: Mom, can you make me a pie to take to school?
Me: What for?
Andy: We're doing an auction, you can bring in all sorts of things like McDonald's toys or a pie.
Me: When do you need it?
Andy: Thursday.
Me: No, haha, I cannot make you a pie by Thursday.
Andy: Can you make me cookies then?
Me: Yes, cookies I can do.
I started to think that the great gift I had bestowed upon my mother of always giving her ample notice was lost on my son, until I asked him when he found out about the auction. On Tuesday. So, turns out the kid did let me know as soon as he found out, it's the teacher that didn't give fair warning.
I guess I got lucky after all. On top of that I got to make cookies this afternoon which, for some unknown reason, I love to do and always puts me in a good mood even though I don't eat any myself. I think they put the rest of the family in a good mood as well, because when I got home from taking Andy to basketball practice I noticed that the container of leftovers (that didn't fit in the container I am sending to school with Andy tomorrow) looked like it was missing a few.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Who Needs Sleep Anyway?
I am amazed by the fact that my youngest child is four years old and yet I do not get a solid night's sleep more that 3-4 times a week. That means that somebody is waking me up in the middle of the night at least 2-3 times a week, sometimes more. More specifically, it's Sarah or Amanda. Andy has always been an amazing sleeper and I can't even remember the last time he got up at night, but the girls are horrible.
I'm pretty sure I posted about the long stretch where Amanda would call us into her room because she needed her blanket adjusted. I thought that would never end. Now her thing is her music. We went for a bit without putting music on before they went to sleep, but we got back into the habit a few months ago. Now, if she wakes up in the middle of the night she wants her music on. She does not understand why she is in bed and the music is off and has no concept of the fact that the CD only plays 10 songs and then shuts off.
We've told her to just roll over and even given her permission to get out of bed and start the CD player again by herself, but she doesn't want to do that. She wants us to do it. Then there's other crazy things she wants to tell us or let us know while we are trying to sleep. I've gotten out of bed so that she could just hug me and then roll over and go back to sleep. The other day she called out around 5:30 a.m. and when Charlie went into her room she asked him if it was Thanksgiving yet. Um, no, we'll let you know that one, and since we'll be in Miami you'll probably have a good idea when it's coming.
We thought the time change was going to be difficult but the transition actually wasn't that bad. Charlie has trained the girls that they cannot get out of bed until 7:00 a.m. They know what it looks like on the clock. On Sunday morning Amanda asked Charlie why it took so long for the clock to get to 7:00, but she did not wake us up. Now if she could just keep from doing that in the middle of the night we'd be all set.
I'm pretty sure I posted about the long stretch where Amanda would call us into her room because she needed her blanket adjusted. I thought that would never end. Now her thing is her music. We went for a bit without putting music on before they went to sleep, but we got back into the habit a few months ago. Now, if she wakes up in the middle of the night she wants her music on. She does not understand why she is in bed and the music is off and has no concept of the fact that the CD only plays 10 songs and then shuts off.
We've told her to just roll over and even given her permission to get out of bed and start the CD player again by herself, but she doesn't want to do that. She wants us to do it. Then there's other crazy things she wants to tell us or let us know while we are trying to sleep. I've gotten out of bed so that she could just hug me and then roll over and go back to sleep. The other day she called out around 5:30 a.m. and when Charlie went into her room she asked him if it was Thanksgiving yet. Um, no, we'll let you know that one, and since we'll be in Miami you'll probably have a good idea when it's coming.
We thought the time change was going to be difficult but the transition actually wasn't that bad. Charlie has trained the girls that they cannot get out of bed until 7:00 a.m. They know what it looks like on the clock. On Sunday morning Amanda asked Charlie why it took so long for the clock to get to 7:00, but she did not wake us up. Now if she could just keep from doing that in the middle of the night we'd be all set.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Picture of the Day
My finished mummy cookies. I ran out of white frosting and had to use orange at the end.
The kids right before we went out trick-or-treating. Are you surprised that Amanda is a unicorn?
It's Not All It's Cracked Up To Be
I had a fabulous weekend away with my two BFFs from college, April and Renee. We went to Nashville, the city of music, but for all I cared we could have been in any town in any hotel in America and I would have still had a great time. I was with my two friends who know me better than just about anybody, barring my amazing hubby, who I can be silly and inappropriate and truthful and extremely direct with and they will love me all the same. We ate and drank and danced and shopped, the only thing we didn't do enough was sleep because those two are like robots, and I came home completely refreshed and ready to take on Halloween.
I kind of over committed myself this week in promising to make snacks for both Amanda and Sarah's Halloween parties at their respective schools. I wanted to try to make mummy cookies because a) I love to bake and b) they sounded really cool and I had never made them before. I spaced it out so I didn't do it all in one day, but it was still time consuming. I made the dough on Monday night so I could refrigerate it overnight. I always forget that you have to chill the dough and it always messes up my plans because I don't factor that in. This time I remembered. Tuesday I rolled out the dough, cut the cookies and baked them. Wednesday, and thankfully my sweet neighbor Brittan came over the help, I frosted the cookies. It was seriously a three day job! As if that wasn't enough, I also baked two batches of chocolate chip cookies for the teachers and neighbors on Tuesday and Charlie helped me make pumpkin rice krispie treats on Wednesday night.
Today I went to three school Halloween parties. Andy and Sarah's were at the same time so I jumped back and forth between those and Amanda's was later in the afternoon. I was exhausted before the trick-or-treating even began. Around 5:30 I started getting the kids ready in their costumes and over cooked our annual pumpkin shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's take and bake. It was still good, but man was I mad.
It was right about that time that I realized I don't really like Halloween. I like the idea of Halloween, and the days and anticipation leading up to it, but I don't like the actual day. It's too crazy and stressful and hurried and, this year, cold. I took the kids out last year so this year it was Charlie's turn and I was just going to stay home and hand out candy, but Andy's plans to go alone with a friend fell through and he wanted to go with me and not Charlie and the girls. So instead of sitting by the fire at home I was freezing my tushie off outside.
When we were finally all home the kids counted out the 30 pieces of candy that they get to keep and I gave them each a present in trade for the rest of their candy. We've been doing this every year since Andy was little and we've only had two instances where someone did not like or appreciate their gift. Tonight was one of those nights. Amanda and Sarah each got a stuffed dog and Amanda was not happy with hers. So, in amazing selfless fashion Sarah traded dogs with Amanda so she could have the one she wanted. But then she was still not happy because she wanted her and Sarah to have the same dog and for them to be twins. I tried to explain that they were twins, they were just fraternal twins instead of identical twins, but that didn't fly. Really she was just tired and overwhelmed from the day and will hopefully be over it tomorrow. She did go to bed with her dog and name it Reeces after the neighbors cute little dog.
So, we survived another Halloween, like it or not, and only have a few more weeks until Thanksgiving and then Christmas. I can do it, really I can.
I kind of over committed myself this week in promising to make snacks for both Amanda and Sarah's Halloween parties at their respective schools. I wanted to try to make mummy cookies because a) I love to bake and b) they sounded really cool and I had never made them before. I spaced it out so I didn't do it all in one day, but it was still time consuming. I made the dough on Monday night so I could refrigerate it overnight. I always forget that you have to chill the dough and it always messes up my plans because I don't factor that in. This time I remembered. Tuesday I rolled out the dough, cut the cookies and baked them. Wednesday, and thankfully my sweet neighbor Brittan came over the help, I frosted the cookies. It was seriously a three day job! As if that wasn't enough, I also baked two batches of chocolate chip cookies for the teachers and neighbors on Tuesday and Charlie helped me make pumpkin rice krispie treats on Wednesday night.
Today I went to three school Halloween parties. Andy and Sarah's were at the same time so I jumped back and forth between those and Amanda's was later in the afternoon. I was exhausted before the trick-or-treating even began. Around 5:30 I started getting the kids ready in their costumes and over cooked our annual pumpkin shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's take and bake. It was still good, but man was I mad.
It was right about that time that I realized I don't really like Halloween. I like the idea of Halloween, and the days and anticipation leading up to it, but I don't like the actual day. It's too crazy and stressful and hurried and, this year, cold. I took the kids out last year so this year it was Charlie's turn and I was just going to stay home and hand out candy, but Andy's plans to go alone with a friend fell through and he wanted to go with me and not Charlie and the girls. So instead of sitting by the fire at home I was freezing my tushie off outside.
When we were finally all home the kids counted out the 30 pieces of candy that they get to keep and I gave them each a present in trade for the rest of their candy. We've been doing this every year since Andy was little and we've only had two instances where someone did not like or appreciate their gift. Tonight was one of those nights. Amanda and Sarah each got a stuffed dog and Amanda was not happy with hers. So, in amazing selfless fashion Sarah traded dogs with Amanda so she could have the one she wanted. But then she was still not happy because she wanted her and Sarah to have the same dog and for them to be twins. I tried to explain that they were twins, they were just fraternal twins instead of identical twins, but that didn't fly. Really she was just tired and overwhelmed from the day and will hopefully be over it tomorrow. She did go to bed with her dog and name it Reeces after the neighbors cute little dog.
So, we survived another Halloween, like it or not, and only have a few more weeks until Thanksgiving and then Christmas. I can do it, really I can.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
The Things You Do For Love
I really need to get a portable microphone so I can dictate my posts while I'm alone in the car. When I'm driving and not really thinking about anything in particular I come up with the best stuff, but when I finally sit down to write it just comes out disjointed and crazy and full of run-on sentences. Ah, I guess that's what's fun about it.
Today I was lying in bed waiting for Sarah to go to the bathroom so I could read to her. All of a sudden she cried out my name in horror. Apparently she had a bracelet on and decided to take it off while she wiped because she didn't want it to get dirty but then she accidentally dropped it into the toilet. Right into a pile of poop. I calmly reached in and picked it up and then washed it and dried it off (and my hands) and attempted to give it back to her. She was not interested and I'm not sure she will wear it ever again. I don't blame her, but I'm sure some of her stuff has been through worse and she's continued to use it.
That's just the cherry on top of my crazy back to school week. However, in the wee hours of tomorrow morning I get to get on a plane to Nashville to have a lovely girls weekend with my two besties from college, April and Renee. It will be a nice long weekend with no children and lots of quality adult time, which means shopping and drinking and gossiping and all that good stuff.
I'm so glad that I have a wonderful husband that not only lets me go on these trips but encourages it. He knows that I need some time to regroup every once in a while and it makes everybody happier when Mommy gets a break. I may not miss the kids that much while I am gone, but I will be happy to see them when I get back and will be ready to take on the next pile of crappy problems.
Today I was lying in bed waiting for Sarah to go to the bathroom so I could read to her. All of a sudden she cried out my name in horror. Apparently she had a bracelet on and decided to take it off while she wiped because she didn't want it to get dirty but then she accidentally dropped it into the toilet. Right into a pile of poop. I calmly reached in and picked it up and then washed it and dried it off (and my hands) and attempted to give it back to her. She was not interested and I'm not sure she will wear it ever again. I don't blame her, but I'm sure some of her stuff has been through worse and she's continued to use it.
That's just the cherry on top of my crazy back to school week. However, in the wee hours of tomorrow morning I get to get on a plane to Nashville to have a lovely girls weekend with my two besties from college, April and Renee. It will be a nice long weekend with no children and lots of quality adult time, which means shopping and drinking and gossiping and all that good stuff.
I'm so glad that I have a wonderful husband that not only lets me go on these trips but encourages it. He knows that I need some time to regroup every once in a while and it makes everybody happier when Mommy gets a break. I may not miss the kids that much while I am gone, but I will be happy to see them when I get back and will be ready to take on the next pile of crappy problems.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
My Best Friend
I admit yesterday's post was pretty rough, but it can't be all sunshine and roses on here. Otherwise it wouldn't be real. I've had a couple people comment that I need to say no to my kids more. Believe me when I tell you I do say no, a lot. An incredible amount. However, it gets tiring saying no all the time and after awhile I get worn down. Charlie doesn't hear it as much as doesn't get asked as much and doesn't have to say no as much and that's why they like him better. But they are with me all day long. Well one of them is anyway.
Amanda is constantly asking for snacks, candy, anything that is not breakfast, lunch or dinner. The pediatrician loves to tell me how she weighs too much and how she's headed towards obesity but I cannot get this kid to stop snacking instead of eating meals. I have some control over it when she eats lunch at school, because she is trapped and it's the only food she has. On days when she doesn't eat at school she wants to eat something on the way home from school and then doesn't want lunch. When she finally is hungry she still doesn't want lunch. When she asks for a snack I'll suggest she have lunch instead and she'll respond that she doesn't want lunch she wants a snack. It's not just food, it's the type of food she wants. It's gotten a little better over time but it is a serious drain.
I'm not sure where she has picked it up, either from Andy or Sarah or just from being a smart little girl, but now she has a put a little twist on to her requests.
Amanda: Mommy, can I have a snack?
Me: No.
Amanda: Please, I'll be your best friend.
Me: No.
Amanda: I'll love you the best.
Me: No.
Amanda: I'll hug you and kiss you and love you.
Me: No.
Amanda: Please?!? I'll do whatever you ask.
And it goes on and on and on. Do you see why sometimes after awhile I just give in and tell her to get her snack just to shut her up? Not every time, but every now and then. I can say no five million times and she will not let up. I realize that if I give in even once that just perpetuates the problem, but it is exhausting.
On the plus side, at least I have one friend here. Too bad she's four years old.
Amanda is constantly asking for snacks, candy, anything that is not breakfast, lunch or dinner. The pediatrician loves to tell me how she weighs too much and how she's headed towards obesity but I cannot get this kid to stop snacking instead of eating meals. I have some control over it when she eats lunch at school, because she is trapped and it's the only food she has. On days when she doesn't eat at school she wants to eat something on the way home from school and then doesn't want lunch. When she finally is hungry she still doesn't want lunch. When she asks for a snack I'll suggest she have lunch instead and she'll respond that she doesn't want lunch she wants a snack. It's not just food, it's the type of food she wants. It's gotten a little better over time but it is a serious drain.
I'm not sure where she has picked it up, either from Andy or Sarah or just from being a smart little girl, but now she has a put a little twist on to her requests.
Amanda: Mommy, can I have a snack?
Me: No.
Amanda: Please, I'll be your best friend.
Me: No.
Amanda: I'll love you the best.
Me: No.
Amanda: I'll hug you and kiss you and love you.
Me: No.
Amanda: Please?!? I'll do whatever you ask.
And it goes on and on and on. Do you see why sometimes after awhile I just give in and tell her to get her snack just to shut her up? Not every time, but every now and then. I can say no five million times and she will not let up. I realize that if I give in even once that just perpetuates the problem, but it is exhausting.
On the plus side, at least I have one friend here. Too bad she's four years old.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
A Losing Battle
Fall break was kind of a bust. As I mentioned we didn't get to go to Mount Rushmore and then Sarah got sick. I took the girls in for their well visits on Wednesday and they didn't quite turn out like I expected. Both girls got into their gowns, which were really more like fabric sandwich boards, and got ready to see the doctor. Sarah went first and Amanda was all happy until Sarah's turn was over and she got dressed. Then Amanda had a huge fit because she wanted Sarah to stay in her gown. Since she didn't, Amanda refused to cooperate with the doctor at all and threw a huge tantrum. When the doctor asked me how we disciplined Amanda at home I almost told her we beat the shit out of her, but I knew that joke would only get me in trouble and instead mumbled something about sending her to the steps or to her room. We didn't even get to finish the exam because Amanda was so difficult, but it did get me out of the conversation about how I'm not feeding her right and she is too chunky for her age. Oh, and I sent her to her room for about two hours when we got home, so at least I wasn't lying to the doctor.
If I wasn't beat down from that little excursion, that night Sarah's temperature went up to 104.7 and then after giving her ibuprofen at 6:00p and acetaminophen at 9:00p when I checked her temperature at midnight it was 94.7. Let me just say that gave Charlie and me flashbacks to when she was an infant and had to be rushed to into emergency surgery, which all started with her temperature being too low. Charlie was more freaked out than I was and was reading all this stuff online about hypothermia, but his concern started making me a little uneasy. After a 1:00a conversation with an after hours nurse at the children's hospital we determined Sarah was probably okay and didn't need to go to the E.R., but I still didn't sleep well that night (she slept with me in our bed and Charlie slept in Amanda's room) and kept checking to see if she was still breathing. I swear that inner need to verify that they are breathing will never go away. Her fever finally broke that night and the next day she was tired but her fever was pretty much over. Oh yeah, you are probably wondering what it was. Just a bladder infection, but unfortunately whenever she gets them, which hasn't been in over a year, she gets ridiculously high fevers. Scary.
Friday she was finally able to go somewhere and then my friend, Larisa, and her son, Mark, came to visit for the weekend. Larisa came to do a 1/2 marathon with me and since it was Mark's birthday and he and Andy are (or at least used to be) best friends she brought him along. It was so nice to see my wonderful friend and catch up and hang out together. We even got to spend a good amount of time without the kids, just catching up without being interrupted - more than I can ever say we were able to do when we both lived in Dallas. The weekend went way to fast, though, and they are already back home. I can say she did awesome in her first 1/2 marathon and I am getting much better at doing them myself.
Since we had such a crappy fall break I was looking forward to getting back on schedule and getting everybody back to school yesterday. Except all I got was moaning and groaning and fighting. I used to tell everybody that Sarah and Amanda were best friends and they got along 95% of the time and fought about 5% of the time. That has shifted big time. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe because Sarah is in second grade and is getting an attitude, maybe because Amanda is no longer a baby and won't let Sarah boss her around anymore, maybe because they spend too much time together. I don't know but they fight all the time. They start first thing in the morning. Amanda wakes Sarah up to find out what time it is and then Sarah gets mad and starts calling her names and yelling at her. It goes down hill from there. Sarah stoops to Amanda's level and hits and pinches and name calls and they are constantly at it. Tonight I had to separate them and put them in different bedrooms because they fight right before they go to bed and first thing when they wake up.
My friend, April from New Jersey, writes a blog and just goes on about how much she loves her little boy and how sweet and wonderful he is and how she loves him more than anything in the whole world. She loves him so much it makes her heart ache. When I read this is makes me feel kind of bad. It's not that I don't love my kids, I do very much, I just don't get that feeling when I am around them. Maybe it's because she has just the one and he's only four and isn't influenced by all the crap that his older brother and sister do, but at the end of the day I have a hard time mustering that kind of feeling for my children. I feel tired and embarrassed and beat down and torn and pulled in so many directions. I feel like no matter what I do it's not good enough for them and they still blame me for everything that is going wrong in their perfect little lives. I feel like they are constantly making me look like such a shitty mom because they are entitled and bratty and whiny and have no manners and they can't sit quietly while I make a follow up dentist appointment or talk to a doctor or while one of their siblings is taking their turn with the piano teacher.
I always say that someday when they have kids of their own they will finally appreciate all the things I do for them, but I'm starting to wonder if it will also take that time for me to appreciate everything I have in them.
If I wasn't beat down from that little excursion, that night Sarah's temperature went up to 104.7 and then after giving her ibuprofen at 6:00p and acetaminophen at 9:00p when I checked her temperature at midnight it was 94.7. Let me just say that gave Charlie and me flashbacks to when she was an infant and had to be rushed to into emergency surgery, which all started with her temperature being too low. Charlie was more freaked out than I was and was reading all this stuff online about hypothermia, but his concern started making me a little uneasy. After a 1:00a conversation with an after hours nurse at the children's hospital we determined Sarah was probably okay and didn't need to go to the E.R., but I still didn't sleep well that night (she slept with me in our bed and Charlie slept in Amanda's room) and kept checking to see if she was still breathing. I swear that inner need to verify that they are breathing will never go away. Her fever finally broke that night and the next day she was tired but her fever was pretty much over. Oh yeah, you are probably wondering what it was. Just a bladder infection, but unfortunately whenever she gets them, which hasn't been in over a year, she gets ridiculously high fevers. Scary.
Friday she was finally able to go somewhere and then my friend, Larisa, and her son, Mark, came to visit for the weekend. Larisa came to do a 1/2 marathon with me and since it was Mark's birthday and he and Andy are (or at least used to be) best friends she brought him along. It was so nice to see my wonderful friend and catch up and hang out together. We even got to spend a good amount of time without the kids, just catching up without being interrupted - more than I can ever say we were able to do when we both lived in Dallas. The weekend went way to fast, though, and they are already back home. I can say she did awesome in her first 1/2 marathon and I am getting much better at doing them myself.
Since we had such a crappy fall break I was looking forward to getting back on schedule and getting everybody back to school yesterday. Except all I got was moaning and groaning and fighting. I used to tell everybody that Sarah and Amanda were best friends and they got along 95% of the time and fought about 5% of the time. That has shifted big time. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe because Sarah is in second grade and is getting an attitude, maybe because Amanda is no longer a baby and won't let Sarah boss her around anymore, maybe because they spend too much time together. I don't know but they fight all the time. They start first thing in the morning. Amanda wakes Sarah up to find out what time it is and then Sarah gets mad and starts calling her names and yelling at her. It goes down hill from there. Sarah stoops to Amanda's level and hits and pinches and name calls and they are constantly at it. Tonight I had to separate them and put them in different bedrooms because they fight right before they go to bed and first thing when they wake up.
My friend, April from New Jersey, writes a blog and just goes on about how much she loves her little boy and how sweet and wonderful he is and how she loves him more than anything in the whole world. She loves him so much it makes her heart ache. When I read this is makes me feel kind of bad. It's not that I don't love my kids, I do very much, I just don't get that feeling when I am around them. Maybe it's because she has just the one and he's only four and isn't influenced by all the crap that his older brother and sister do, but at the end of the day I have a hard time mustering that kind of feeling for my children. I feel tired and embarrassed and beat down and torn and pulled in so many directions. I feel like no matter what I do it's not good enough for them and they still blame me for everything that is going wrong in their perfect little lives. I feel like they are constantly making me look like such a shitty mom because they are entitled and bratty and whiny and have no manners and they can't sit quietly while I make a follow up dentist appointment or talk to a doctor or while one of their siblings is taking their turn with the piano teacher.
I always say that someday when they have kids of their own they will finally appreciate all the things I do for them, but I'm starting to wonder if it will also take that time for me to appreciate everything I have in them.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
They Prove Me Wrong Yet Again
So yesterday I said that we were all healthy. We were. Yesterday. This morning I slept in because the kids are on break and we didn't have to be anywhere until 10a. Around 9a I heard Sarah coming up the stairs and greeted her to find out she was tired and not feeling well. She felt a little warm so I took her temperature. 103. Not just a little warm. So I gave her some ibuprofen and changed all our plans for the day. Instead of taking Sarah to therapy, trying out a new hot yoga class and then taking Sarah to get her hair cut as we had planned, I scheduled a doctor appointment and we spent most of the day doing nothing.
Normally a day with nothing to do sounds great, except when you have three little people in the house. Luckily they were pretty low key and at one point both girls took a nap. At the same time. I was actually able to get a little bit organized. Don't worry, I didn't go too crazy, but I did get storage totes out of the dining room and butler's pantry for the first time in months and put away clothes that I had saved for Amanda from Sarah that had been sitting out for several weeks. Baby steps. Now I just need to throw everything else away in the house and maybe I'll be happy. Except then I will think we don't have enough and need to go buy more. It's a vicious cycle.
I took Sarah to the pediatrician and left Andy at home to babysit Amanda. He did a great job and I only had to pay him in promises that I would not bug him about his computer time tomorrow. I still will. They made us wait 30 minutes before I got a little feisty with the front desk staff. There were a million people in there getting flu vaccines and they were cycling in and out super fast while we just sat there. Plus I was still mad at them because last week I took the kids in for their flu vaccines and they made Sarah get a shot instead of the Flu Mist for "cardiac" reasons which were total bull because I called her cardiologist today and he said there was no reason she couldn't get the Flu Mist. Of course I should have called before we went but never thought it would be an issue since this same office gave Sarah the Flu Mist last year and she had it for a couple years in Texas as well. Needless to say she now thinks I'm a liar because I told her she would not have to get a shot, and she did, and she had a huge traumatic meltdown before they gave her the shot and I'm pretty sure every kid in the office could hear her screaming and crying which probably put the fear of Jesus in them. I digress.
So it turns out that she just had a bladder infection, well we are pretty sure but it will take a few days to culture to be totally positive, and they gave her an antibiotic to take care of it. Twice a day for ten days of something that tastes like crap. I am so looking forward to that battle each morning and evening. Because vitamins and Miralax aren't enough. However, she was feeling much better this evening before bed and will probably be back to her normal crazy-when-with-Amanda self tomorrow. Both girls have well-visits tomorrow also so it should be an interesting day. Yes I know Sarah should have had hers months ago but with the way insurance companies work and the move and finding a new doctor she is way off schedule. I was hoping Charlie's company would switch insurance companies this year so I could get back on schedule but no dice. There's always next year.
On top of everything else, it snowed today. It wasn't really much of anything, just tiny little flurries that didn't accumulate, but it's not really the fact that it snowed but that it is getting cold enough that snow is a possibility. For the next several months. I think I can handle it, I think I'm ready, but we just won't know until we're in the thick of it. Hopefully we can just survive the rest of fall break and see how it goes from there.
Normally a day with nothing to do sounds great, except when you have three little people in the house. Luckily they were pretty low key and at one point both girls took a nap. At the same time. I was actually able to get a little bit organized. Don't worry, I didn't go too crazy, but I did get storage totes out of the dining room and butler's pantry for the first time in months and put away clothes that I had saved for Amanda from Sarah that had been sitting out for several weeks. Baby steps. Now I just need to throw everything else away in the house and maybe I'll be happy. Except then I will think we don't have enough and need to go buy more. It's a vicious cycle.
I took Sarah to the pediatrician and left Andy at home to babysit Amanda. He did a great job and I only had to pay him in promises that I would not bug him about his computer time tomorrow. I still will. They made us wait 30 minutes before I got a little feisty with the front desk staff. There were a million people in there getting flu vaccines and they were cycling in and out super fast while we just sat there. Plus I was still mad at them because last week I took the kids in for their flu vaccines and they made Sarah get a shot instead of the Flu Mist for "cardiac" reasons which were total bull because I called her cardiologist today and he said there was no reason she couldn't get the Flu Mist. Of course I should have called before we went but never thought it would be an issue since this same office gave Sarah the Flu Mist last year and she had it for a couple years in Texas as well. Needless to say she now thinks I'm a liar because I told her she would not have to get a shot, and she did, and she had a huge traumatic meltdown before they gave her the shot and I'm pretty sure every kid in the office could hear her screaming and crying which probably put the fear of Jesus in them. I digress.
So it turns out that she just had a bladder infection, well we are pretty sure but it will take a few days to culture to be totally positive, and they gave her an antibiotic to take care of it. Twice a day for ten days of something that tastes like crap. I am so looking forward to that battle each morning and evening. Because vitamins and Miralax aren't enough. However, she was feeling much better this evening before bed and will probably be back to her normal crazy-when-with-Amanda self tomorrow. Both girls have well-visits tomorrow also so it should be an interesting day. Yes I know Sarah should have had hers months ago but with the way insurance companies work and the move and finding a new doctor she is way off schedule. I was hoping Charlie's company would switch insurance companies this year so I could get back on schedule but no dice. There's always next year.
On top of everything else, it snowed today. It wasn't really much of anything, just tiny little flurries that didn't accumulate, but it's not really the fact that it snowed but that it is getting cold enough that snow is a possibility. For the next several months. I think I can handle it, I think I'm ready, but we just won't know until we're in the thick of it. Hopefully we can just survive the rest of fall break and see how it goes from there.
Monday, October 14, 2013
Plugging Along
Yes, it's been awhile. Yes, we're fine. I'm just lazy and busy and a whole bunch of other stuff that doesn't really make sense together, but lazy is a big part of it. Okay, lazy isn't totally fair. I've been the reverse of lazy because I've been going to the gym about six days a week and busting my behind and then when I get home I'm frantically trying to get everything done around the house. But that's not a good excuse for not writing, because it doesn't take me that long to sit down and do this in the evenings. That's when the lazy comes into play.
Anyway, we're doing fine. The kids are off for fall break, which is weird because it feels like they just started school. Oh yeah, they did. My neighbor and I figured out that they don't go to school for a month straight without at least one day off until the last month of school. They have some kind of break every month. Rough life. So Charlie had today off since it's one of those weird banking holidays and we were going to take a long weekend and make the seven hour drive to Mount Rushmore and check it out except that it's closed because of our stupid government. I'm not going to get into the politics of it all because I refuse to discuss politics with my dad, who reads this, and I don't like to talk about politics anyway. Yes, the federal government did finally say that the states could open the national parks and pay for them if they wanted to, but South Dakota decided they weren't going to open Mount Rushmore until today and we needed to be there yesterday. Of course. So instead we went to Colorado Springs for the millionth time (okay, like fifth, but it's the only place we ever seem to go) and went to the Cave of the Winds. It was a perfect day trip and a lot of fun and I'm not complaining but it still would have been cool to see four dead presidents carved into a mountain. You don't see that everyday, and certainly not as many times as I've seen Colorado Springs.
Today the kids and I made caramel apples. I'm not sure why I wanted to do that with them but I thought it would be fun. It wasn't. They fought over who would stir the caramels and who would dip their apples first and which apple belonged to whom. I hate it when they fight, because it usually ends with Sarah crying and whining about how nobody loves her and then I have to deal with that. When we finally tried to eat them they stuck to the wax paper even though I followed the directions. The kids didn't care but it was pretty messy. I couldn't remember ever making them as a kid (smart one, Mom) and then remembered that when I was a kid we just took those caramel circles and wrapped them around the apples. I'm not even sure how they ever stuck to the apples or melted or anything. Maybe they didn't. In the back of my head we didn't even wrap the caramel around the apples we just ate the caramel. My memory stinks so who knows. With all that Charlie and the kids started discussing how we would do it better next time so I guess I haven't found my way out of this one yet. Even thought they were droopy and filled with wax paper we did roll them in sprinkles and they were pretty good. Amanda really liked them but I'm not sure she even ate any of the apple, just scraped the caramel and sprinkles off with her teeth. Good thing the kids are going to the dentist next week (no, I couldn't get them an appointment this week, that would have been too easy with fall break and all).
So yeah, we're fine, all is good. We're healthy, the kids are doing great in school and, believe it or not, we have no complaints.
Anyway, we're doing fine. The kids are off for fall break, which is weird because it feels like they just started school. Oh yeah, they did. My neighbor and I figured out that they don't go to school for a month straight without at least one day off until the last month of school. They have some kind of break every month. Rough life. So Charlie had today off since it's one of those weird banking holidays and we were going to take a long weekend and make the seven hour drive to Mount Rushmore and check it out except that it's closed because of our stupid government. I'm not going to get into the politics of it all because I refuse to discuss politics with my dad, who reads this, and I don't like to talk about politics anyway. Yes, the federal government did finally say that the states could open the national parks and pay for them if they wanted to, but South Dakota decided they weren't going to open Mount Rushmore until today and we needed to be there yesterday. Of course. So instead we went to Colorado Springs for the millionth time (okay, like fifth, but it's the only place we ever seem to go) and went to the Cave of the Winds. It was a perfect day trip and a lot of fun and I'm not complaining but it still would have been cool to see four dead presidents carved into a mountain. You don't see that everyday, and certainly not as many times as I've seen Colorado Springs.
Today the kids and I made caramel apples. I'm not sure why I wanted to do that with them but I thought it would be fun. It wasn't. They fought over who would stir the caramels and who would dip their apples first and which apple belonged to whom. I hate it when they fight, because it usually ends with Sarah crying and whining about how nobody loves her and then I have to deal with that. When we finally tried to eat them they stuck to the wax paper even though I followed the directions. The kids didn't care but it was pretty messy. I couldn't remember ever making them as a kid (smart one, Mom) and then remembered that when I was a kid we just took those caramel circles and wrapped them around the apples. I'm not even sure how they ever stuck to the apples or melted or anything. Maybe they didn't. In the back of my head we didn't even wrap the caramel around the apples we just ate the caramel. My memory stinks so who knows. With all that Charlie and the kids started discussing how we would do it better next time so I guess I haven't found my way out of this one yet. Even thought they were droopy and filled with wax paper we did roll them in sprinkles and they were pretty good. Amanda really liked them but I'm not sure she even ate any of the apple, just scraped the caramel and sprinkles off with her teeth. Good thing the kids are going to the dentist next week (no, I couldn't get them an appointment this week, that would have been too easy with fall break and all).
So yeah, we're fine, all is good. We're healthy, the kids are doing great in school and, believe it or not, we have no complaints.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Soccer
I think I mentioned in passing that Amanda is in soccer and hates it. Let me back up a little. So, over the summer we were on the way to the airport so so so early in the morning and I remembered that signups for flag football were that day and started at 6 a.m. Because there are so few flag football teams, all these crazy people let their 10 year olds and younger play tackle, you pretty much have to sign up right when registration opens if you want to get a good coach. Andy's football season last year was so miserable that I was not going to let that happen again. so as we were driving to the airport I was getting him registered on the iPad (I so love modern technology). Charlie told me without much prior discussion that he thought we needed to sign Amanda up for soccer, so I did. We didn't even ask her if she wanted to play. The third kid gets screwed all the time.
Anyway, a week or two before it started we told her she was playing soccer. She was not happy. She did not want to play soccer, she wanted to do ballet or gymnastics or anything other than soccer. Charlie decided that he would be the assistant coach since he also was the assistant when Sarah played, and came home from the coaches meeting to inform me that Amanda was the only girl on an otherwise all boy team. Great, that would make her love soccer so much more.
The first day she actually did great. I bought her a couple cute little soccer outfits from target with running shorts and quick dry shirts and she totally looked the part. Andy, Sarah and I were there to watch and cheer her on and Charlie was on the field with her coaching the kids. She did great until the scrimmage when all the 3-5 year old boys started chasing each other around the field. Then she lost her confidence and decided that she sucks. Of course she sucks, they all suck. But I couldn't tell her that. There must be something in my kids' DNA that prevents them from doing anything that they aren't good at because I was amazed that even at four years old she didn't want to do something because she didn't think she was good at it. We tried to explain that nobody is good when they first do something and you have to try and practice and get better, but she wasn't buying it.
The soccer here is a little different because you play games but they are with your own team. It's almost like a soccer class instead of a soccer team. They have practice and then they scrimmage each other, and although there are other teams playing on other fields they are doing the same thing - only playing against themselves. At first I thought it was weird, but then I sort of liked it because it really is no pressure and no score and they have time to get comfortable with the kids they are with and they are all so little.
So the second week she cried the whole time and then we missed the next week. The week after that Charlie was gone and so I promised I would take her to soccer and stay on the field with her at all times. Luckily the coach had actually asked the parents in an email to do that if their kid wasn't able to stay on the field themselves, so it wasn't a big deal that I was out there with her. That was the week I realized that her soccer team was starting to resemble a football team. There were a couple little boys on the team that not only tried to steal the ball from their own teammates, which is pretty normal at that age, but they were actually tacking anybody who got in their way, whether that person was on their team or not. There was also one little boy who kept picking up the ball and running to the goal, putting the ball in front of the goal and kicking it in. No matter how many times you told them no hands and no tackling, they kept doing it anyway. They are only 3-5 year olds, but things like that remind you of what a blank slate you kid is and just how much you need to teach them. Like not to tackle people.
Last week I had to take Andy to football so Charlie took Amanda to soccer and he said she did much better and participated and even got in the mix and stole the ball from some of the boys. I don't know if she is going to be a soccer star or if this will be her only season, but I'm excited to get her out there and doing something on her own that is just for her. It may not be her things, but I really hope she enjoys it no matter how long she plays. Plus, she is going to love the trophy at the end of the season.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Running For Office
A few weeks ago they sent home a student council form. Fifth and sixth graders were allowed to run for the four main positions (president-sixth grade only, vice-president, secretary and treasurer). The whole process was really fast and kind of crazy. On Friday they sent home the form. Kids who wanted to run had to fill it out and answer a bunch of questions about themselves and why they wanted to run and then turn it in first thing Tuesday morning (there wasn't any school on Monday). The forms went to a teacher committee that picked four kids to run for each position.
Andy wanted to run for vice-president so he typed up all his answers and turned them in. Forms were due on Tuesday and they told the kids who would move on that Friday. We were so proud that he made it to the next round. Except that meant he had to make up to five posters that could go up as early as Monday (yes, the next school day after he found out), had to come down on Thursday (three days later) and voting was on Friday. Holy whirlwind Batman!
I took him shopping for poster supplies and was trying to help him come up with all these great ideas for posters but then I remembered that it was elementary school and I should try to let him do the majority of it himself. So I took a step back, which is very hard for my type-A self, and let him plan out how he wanted his posters. In the end it took us a long time to make them and vice-president is a really long word and doesn't fit on anything so not only did I only make one poster but even Sarah got to make one. I didn't think he would even use hers but again, it's elementary school so they didn't have to be anything fancy.
He wrote a speech with a tiny bit of help from Charlie and me (but really more organization help and maybe you should talk about this help instead of us writing it for him) and decided he would also play his saxophone during his speech time. I didn't really understand his desire to play the saxophone, but he thought he needed something to stand out and it was way better than his first idea to sing a song. Apparently some kid did that last year and won and another kid did it this year and won so it works.
Unfortunately he didn't win and the kid he lost to was the only person he did not want to lose to. He lost to the same kid for class rep last year and he still has a sour taste in his mouth from it. This is one part of the move that's been tough. The kid who won has lots of friends and has been going to school here since kindergarten and knows a lot of people. Andy does not. He's working on it and getting better, but not a lot of people know him. Plus he's not always the most patient or calm person (yes he takes after me) so I'm not sure how the people that do know him feel about him. He is always talking about how he needs to make more friends. But he did get some really nice notes from kids in his class telling him he did a great job with his speech which was nice to see, and two different parents also told Charlie and me how wonderful he was.
Unfortunately he couldn't even run for class rep because the class rep forms were due the morning of the election, and to fill that out and turn it in would have been admitting defeat before the vice-president election was even over. I'm not sure why they rushed through everything, you would think if someone didn't get an elected position they might still want to run for class rep, but I don't understand a lot of things they do at the schools, I just try to go along with it. Sometimes that's how life is and I'd like to teach my kid to roll with the punches instead of complaining about how unfair or unjust everything is.
Though I was sad for him that he didn't win, and we both came to the conclusion separately that going out for frozen yogurt would help that sting a little bit, I was so proud of him for trying and putting himself out there in front of the whole school. He is really coming into his own and figuring out what he wants to do with band, student council, scouts and even his hair. Charlie and I are trying to guide him and help him along the way, but I am amazed at how confident he is in himself and how he does what he wants to do regardless of what his classmates think. I really hope he stays this way and continues to create his own path and not just follow along with everybody else. My little man is growing up way too fast.
Andy wanted to run for vice-president so he typed up all his answers and turned them in. Forms were due on Tuesday and they told the kids who would move on that Friday. We were so proud that he made it to the next round. Except that meant he had to make up to five posters that could go up as early as Monday (yes, the next school day after he found out), had to come down on Thursday (three days later) and voting was on Friday. Holy whirlwind Batman!
I took him shopping for poster supplies and was trying to help him come up with all these great ideas for posters but then I remembered that it was elementary school and I should try to let him do the majority of it himself. So I took a step back, which is very hard for my type-A self, and let him plan out how he wanted his posters. In the end it took us a long time to make them and vice-president is a really long word and doesn't fit on anything so not only did I only make one poster but even Sarah got to make one. I didn't think he would even use hers but again, it's elementary school so they didn't have to be anything fancy.
He wrote a speech with a tiny bit of help from Charlie and me (but really more organization help and maybe you should talk about this help instead of us writing it for him) and decided he would also play his saxophone during his speech time. I didn't really understand his desire to play the saxophone, but he thought he needed something to stand out and it was way better than his first idea to sing a song. Apparently some kid did that last year and won and another kid did it this year and won so it works.
Unfortunately he didn't win and the kid he lost to was the only person he did not want to lose to. He lost to the same kid for class rep last year and he still has a sour taste in his mouth from it. This is one part of the move that's been tough. The kid who won has lots of friends and has been going to school here since kindergarten and knows a lot of people. Andy does not. He's working on it and getting better, but not a lot of people know him. Plus he's not always the most patient or calm person (yes he takes after me) so I'm not sure how the people that do know him feel about him. He is always talking about how he needs to make more friends. But he did get some really nice notes from kids in his class telling him he did a great job with his speech which was nice to see, and two different parents also told Charlie and me how wonderful he was.
Unfortunately he couldn't even run for class rep because the class rep forms were due the morning of the election, and to fill that out and turn it in would have been admitting defeat before the vice-president election was even over. I'm not sure why they rushed through everything, you would think if someone didn't get an elected position they might still want to run for class rep, but I don't understand a lot of things they do at the schools, I just try to go along with it. Sometimes that's how life is and I'd like to teach my kid to roll with the punches instead of complaining about how unfair or unjust everything is.
Though I was sad for him that he didn't win, and we both came to the conclusion separately that going out for frozen yogurt would help that sting a little bit, I was so proud of him for trying and putting himself out there in front of the whole school. He is really coming into his own and figuring out what he wants to do with band, student council, scouts and even his hair. Charlie and I are trying to guide him and help him along the way, but I am amazed at how confident he is in himself and how he does what he wants to do regardless of what his classmates think. I really hope he stays this way and continues to create his own path and not just follow along with everybody else. My little man is growing up way too fast.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
I Don't Even Get To Go To The Ball
Sometimes I feel like Cinderella. I'm not talking about the part where she gets whisked off to the castle to marry the prince after she fits in the glass slipper, although Charlie is amazing and often makes me feel like a princess (no complaints there), or the part about having to do all the deep cleaning (I do pick up around the house but luckily the cleaning lady does the deep stuff), or having mice for companions (although Sarah and Amanda are quite whiny and squeak a lot). No, I'm referring to the part in the movie where the step-mother and two step-sisters are all calling for Cinderella at the same time to do the most mundane things that all three of them could do themselves if they would just get off their lazy asses.
I'm not sure how you raise independent kids or if eventually they have to be independent because they live by themselves and they finally don't have anyone else to do things for them, but I cannot begin to tell you how much and how often the kids ask me to do things for them. I'll be in the middle of making dinner and Andy will walk up and ask me if I can get him a glass of milk. Not because he can't do it, but because he wants me to do it for him. At least once a day I am asked to wipe someone's butt (hopefully this is coming to an end but I see at least another six months in it's future), get someone a glass of ice water (not just water, ICE water - God forbid the water is just slightly cool), pick up three pairs of sock, put on somebody's shoes, get me a snack, turn on the light, blah blah blah blah blah. Most of those things they can do themselves, they just don't.
Plus, they all ask at the same time for three different things and get mad when they don't get theirs first. My neighbor laughs when we walk home from school because all three kids are talking to me at the same time and I can actually have a conversation with each of them at the same time. A gift I would prefer not to have.
I have tried to empower the kids by putting the things they need where they can reach them. They have plates, cups, bowls and silverware within their reach. They have access to their snacks, can get the cereal and know how to use the toaster (except Amanda). Andy can reach everything in the fridge and Sarah comes pretty close. But they still keep asking me to do everything. And the socks? They all take their shoes and socks off as soon as they get home from anywhere and leave them wherever they feel like taking them off. Charlie and I are convinced that if we just picked up all the socks and stuck them in a bag each time after two weeks they would have no socks in their drawers whatsoever because they NEVER put them in the hamper. I swear one of those days I'm going to do that and it's going to be soon.
If I was gorgeous, blond and could sing like Cinderella it might all be worth it, but I am not. So here I sit, trying to figure out how to make my kids grow up without them actually growing up and just take a little responsibility for themselves. I'm pretty sure this one is going to be a marathon.
I'm not sure how you raise independent kids or if eventually they have to be independent because they live by themselves and they finally don't have anyone else to do things for them, but I cannot begin to tell you how much and how often the kids ask me to do things for them. I'll be in the middle of making dinner and Andy will walk up and ask me if I can get him a glass of milk. Not because he can't do it, but because he wants me to do it for him. At least once a day I am asked to wipe someone's butt (hopefully this is coming to an end but I see at least another six months in it's future), get someone a glass of ice water (not just water, ICE water - God forbid the water is just slightly cool), pick up three pairs of sock, put on somebody's shoes, get me a snack, turn on the light, blah blah blah blah blah. Most of those things they can do themselves, they just don't.
Plus, they all ask at the same time for three different things and get mad when they don't get theirs first. My neighbor laughs when we walk home from school because all three kids are talking to me at the same time and I can actually have a conversation with each of them at the same time. A gift I would prefer not to have.
I have tried to empower the kids by putting the things they need where they can reach them. They have plates, cups, bowls and silverware within their reach. They have access to their snacks, can get the cereal and know how to use the toaster (except Amanda). Andy can reach everything in the fridge and Sarah comes pretty close. But they still keep asking me to do everything. And the socks? They all take their shoes and socks off as soon as they get home from anywhere and leave them wherever they feel like taking them off. Charlie and I are convinced that if we just picked up all the socks and stuck them in a bag each time after two weeks they would have no socks in their drawers whatsoever because they NEVER put them in the hamper. I swear one of those days I'm going to do that and it's going to be soon.
If I was gorgeous, blond and could sing like Cinderella it might all be worth it, but I am not. So here I sit, trying to figure out how to make my kids grow up without them actually growing up and just take a little responsibility for themselves. I'm pretty sure this one is going to be a marathon.
Friday, September 13, 2013
Rain, Rain Go Away
My neighbor, Kaley, lied to me. In a huge way. She didn't do it on purpose, but still, she lied. Last year around the time school started I asked her if we needed to get rain boots. We walk to school and I knew that rainy days would be tough if we walked and the kids' feet got wet and then they had to wear those wet shoes all day. She told me that we did not need to get rain boots because it never rains here. Really? Never? Well, occasionally, but not much. She said we sort of live in the desert, which I don't know if I agree with or not, but she's a smart lady and has lived here her whole life so I felt the need to believe her.
Anyway, everything that Kaley has told me about the weather over the last year has been wrong. Even she admits it. I don't know if it is as much Kaley being wrong or the weather just taking a really weird turn since we've moved here. The last two summers have been atypical for Colorado, this one being that there has been a crazy amount of rain.
In some ways, the weather here is like Miami. Yes, Florida. In Miami there are certain times of the year where it rains everyday. Only for about 30 minutes, but everyday it rains so that the clouds can release some of the humidity in the air. Denver is kind of like that, but it's not due to humidity. Every afternoon the winds blow down from the mountains and it starts to get cloudy and looks like it's going to rain. Apparently it used to rain everyday, but last summer it just looked like it was going to rain everyday but never did. This year that rain is back.
In the spring at the end of the school year, especially during the last two weeks of school, it rained a lot, and several times there was lightening. The school didn't have a inclement weather plan in place because it rarely happened, but for some reason there was lightening during pick-up like four times in a two week period. The school was in mass chaos, at least as far as their walkers were considered, which we are. My neighbor, Brittan, told me that a couple of the teachers let the kids out when the bell rang and then yelled to them, "run home as fast as you can so you don't get hit by lightening and die." I'm not sure that's exactly what was said, but the liability of it all is probably why they implemented and inclement weather plan for this school year.
We had to give permission for up to three other people to pick up our kids, because if they can't find you they don't want your kids there forever after school. We also have to pick the kids up in the gym and sign them out from their teacher. Once they are signed out and in our possession the school could care less if we get home okay, they just don't want it to be their fault. They even have a red flag they raise with a big white lightening strike on it to let you know when it is an inclement weather day and you have to sign your kid out. It's kind of hilarious.
On a not so funny note that goes along with three days of rain in a city where it doesn't rain is that one of the windows in the front of our house is leaking. It's not leaking because there is something wrong with the window but more because there is something wrong with the roof over the porch and water is leaking down the walls and ceiling and then down the window. We saw this problem once about a month after we moved in but we couldn't pinpoint it and had no idea where the water was coming from. Now we do. I took pictures, Charlie took video and we have an insurance appraiser coming on Monday. Yuck. However, it could be tons worse as some of the people in our neighborhood had flooding in their basement and have to deal with that.
All this being said, the sun came out for a little bit today and boy when it does this place is gorgeous. You kind of forget how annoyed you are with the rain because the sky is so blue and the sun feels so good. I just hope it stays that way.
Anyway, everything that Kaley has told me about the weather over the last year has been wrong. Even she admits it. I don't know if it is as much Kaley being wrong or the weather just taking a really weird turn since we've moved here. The last two summers have been atypical for Colorado, this one being that there has been a crazy amount of rain.
In some ways, the weather here is like Miami. Yes, Florida. In Miami there are certain times of the year where it rains everyday. Only for about 30 minutes, but everyday it rains so that the clouds can release some of the humidity in the air. Denver is kind of like that, but it's not due to humidity. Every afternoon the winds blow down from the mountains and it starts to get cloudy and looks like it's going to rain. Apparently it used to rain everyday, but last summer it just looked like it was going to rain everyday but never did. This year that rain is back.
In the spring at the end of the school year, especially during the last two weeks of school, it rained a lot, and several times there was lightening. The school didn't have a inclement weather plan in place because it rarely happened, but for some reason there was lightening during pick-up like four times in a two week period. The school was in mass chaos, at least as far as their walkers were considered, which we are. My neighbor, Brittan, told me that a couple of the teachers let the kids out when the bell rang and then yelled to them, "run home as fast as you can so you don't get hit by lightening and die." I'm not sure that's exactly what was said, but the liability of it all is probably why they implemented and inclement weather plan for this school year.
We had to give permission for up to three other people to pick up our kids, because if they can't find you they don't want your kids there forever after school. We also have to pick the kids up in the gym and sign them out from their teacher. Once they are signed out and in our possession the school could care less if we get home okay, they just don't want it to be their fault. They even have a red flag they raise with a big white lightening strike on it to let you know when it is an inclement weather day and you have to sign your kid out. It's kind of hilarious.
On a not so funny note that goes along with three days of rain in a city where it doesn't rain is that one of the windows in the front of our house is leaking. It's not leaking because there is something wrong with the window but more because there is something wrong with the roof over the porch and water is leaking down the walls and ceiling and then down the window. We saw this problem once about a month after we moved in but we couldn't pinpoint it and had no idea where the water was coming from. Now we do. I took pictures, Charlie took video and we have an insurance appraiser coming on Monday. Yuck. However, it could be tons worse as some of the people in our neighborhood had flooding in their basement and have to deal with that.
All this being said, the sun came out for a little bit today and boy when it does this place is gorgeous. You kind of forget how annoyed you are with the rain because the sky is so blue and the sun feels so good. I just hope it stays that way.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Picture of the Day
Amanda's Unicorn, Wishes. She grabbed the camera off the desk today and refused to give it back until she took a picture of Wishes. Not to bad considering I just told her to look through the view finder and push the button.
Kid Quote of the Day
Me: Wow, there is a big package on the front porch.
Amanda: Yes, I tried to tell you but you wouldn't come to the door.
Me: I was on the phone.
Amanda: The GPS man brought it.
Amanda: Yes, I tried to tell you but you wouldn't come to the door.
Me: I was on the phone.
Amanda: The GPS man brought it.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Crazy Saturday
Yesterday was a crazy busy day. Amanda had soccer, which she of course hates but I'll have to get into that later, Andy had football pictures, Amanda had soccer pictures and then Andy had two flag football games. When we were finally done with sports for the day we headed to the cabin of one of Andy's fellow cub scouts for the evening. His parents have a cabin that belonged to his great-great-great-grandfather and has been in their family since the 1920s.
There were 5-6 scouts from Andy's den at the cabin, which was almost in it's original state from the 1920s, and their families. The boys shot bb guns, played in the creek across the road and went canoeing on the lake. Plus they lit a fire and had s'mores and did a few skits for the adults. Some of the people decided to stay for the night but the girls had swimming today and there were too many logistics to spend the night so we stayed until the kids couldn't take it anymore, put them in their pajamas and then drove home.
It was a really quaint place and a beautiful area and as we were walking back to the cabin from dinner at the lodge Charlie and I looked around and realized this was exactly the kind of things we should be doing now that we live in Colorado. We don't know how long we'll be here so we might as well take advantage of the mountains and the wilderness and any chance we have to do the "outdoor thing". This doesn't mean that we're going to start camping every weekend, especially after our last wet camping weekend, but we will try to see more of the state and experience Colorado.
There were 5-6 scouts from Andy's den at the cabin, which was almost in it's original state from the 1920s, and their families. The boys shot bb guns, played in the creek across the road and went canoeing on the lake. Plus they lit a fire and had s'mores and did a few skits for the adults. Some of the people decided to stay for the night but the girls had swimming today and there were too many logistics to spend the night so we stayed until the kids couldn't take it anymore, put them in their pajamas and then drove home.
It was a really quaint place and a beautiful area and as we were walking back to the cabin from dinner at the lodge Charlie and I looked around and realized this was exactly the kind of things we should be doing now that we live in Colorado. We don't know how long we'll be here so we might as well take advantage of the mountains and the wilderness and any chance we have to do the "outdoor thing". This doesn't mean that we're going to start camping every weekend, especially after our last wet camping weekend, but we will try to see more of the state and experience Colorado.
Kid Quote of the Day
Amanda: Want to hear a story?
Andy: No more stories that have anything to do with unicorns.
Amanda: I have a story that doesn't have a unicorn in it.
Andy: Okay, great.
Amanda: Once upon a time there was a unicorn...
Andy: No more stories that have anything to do with unicorns.
Amanda: I have a story that doesn't have a unicorn in it.
Andy: Okay, great.
Amanda: Once upon a time there was a unicorn...
Unicorns Part II
More interesting unicorn fact per Sarah. Unicorns:
-Eat rainbows
-Burp butterflies
-Fart ladybugs
-Poop Skittles
-Pee pink lemonade
All stuff I'm sure you were dying to know.
-Eat rainbows
-Burp butterflies
-Fart ladybugs
-Poop Skittles
-Pee pink lemonade
All stuff I'm sure you were dying to know.
Friday, August 30, 2013
Unicorns
Amanda's latest obsession is unicorns. She doesn't just likes them a little, she LOVES them. She talks about them all the time. About how they can magically fly and they poop Skittles and how they love rainbows. Every morning she asks Charlie if she can be his baby unicorn and tells him her name is Rainbow Sparkles Cupcake Baby Glitter, or something similarly ridiculous that you can never remember. She has three different unicorn dresses that she wants to wear everyday with her rainbow light up Sketchers (unicorn shoes) and she has four stuffed unicorns and says she won't stop buying them until she has ALL of them.
In the mornings after we drop the big kids off at school there is a small hill from the school down to the bus circle. She stands at the top and runs down to the sidewalk yelling "UNICORN" at the top of her lungs. The last couple of days she has been insistent that I run down the hill with her and race, and I am also required to throw my hands up in the air as if we were going down a giant roller coaster and yell unicorn as we race down. It's a great conversation starter with the other parents dropping off their kids.
She also keeps asking us how unicorns talk and just neighs and makes horse noises, which is the closest we can agree upon. Yesterday I asked her if she wanted me to tie her shoes and she responded, "unicorn", which I took for yes because unicorn would only be used as a positive word. At dinner last night I told her that unicorns eat baby rabbits which caused her to recoil in horror and it was pretty funny until Charlie made me take it back and tell her I was kidding.
It never gets dull with this kid.
In the mornings after we drop the big kids off at school there is a small hill from the school down to the bus circle. She stands at the top and runs down to the sidewalk yelling "UNICORN" at the top of her lungs. The last couple of days she has been insistent that I run down the hill with her and race, and I am also required to throw my hands up in the air as if we were going down a giant roller coaster and yell unicorn as we race down. It's a great conversation starter with the other parents dropping off their kids.
She also keeps asking us how unicorns talk and just neighs and makes horse noises, which is the closest we can agree upon. Yesterday I asked her if she wanted me to tie her shoes and she responded, "unicorn", which I took for yes because unicorn would only be used as a positive word. At dinner last night I told her that unicorns eat baby rabbits which caused her to recoil in horror and it was pretty funny until Charlie made me take it back and tell her I was kidding.
It never gets dull with this kid.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Kid Quote of the Day
Me: Amanda, show Andy your new soccer ball!
Amanda (not showing, just telling): It's pink and sparkly and shaped like a unicorn!
Umm, not quite. She got the pink part right.
Amanda (not showing, just telling): It's pink and sparkly and shaped like a unicorn!
Umm, not quite. She got the pink part right.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Rain, Rain, Go Away A.K.A. Cub Scout Family Camp Out
Over the weekend the whole family went on a Cub Scout family camp out. In the past when the Scouts had camp outs, I let Charlie (or twice my dad when Charlie and I were out of town) take Andy, using the excuse that the girls were too small or would be bored or it would be too difficult. Well, that worked fine in the past, but this Pack is very family oriented and emphasized that this was a FAMILY camp out and since everybody is potty trained and sleeps through the night and I had no other excuses to get out of it we all went.
The girls love to be outside, so they were really excited about the trip. Andy was relatively excited because he was going to hang out with his scouting friends. It was just Charlie and me that weren't very excited. Okay, maybe just me. I will admit that I was not very helpful in getting all the gear together and getting the car packed, although once we got there I wished that I had been more involved because I didn't know where anything was packed in the car.
The original plan was for us to pick Charlie up and work and leave his car in the parking garage for the weekend and drive from there to the mountains. Unbelievably for the first time since he started working there they sent out a note Friday morning telling everyone they could not park in the garage that particular weekend because they were repainting the stripes. Seriously? THIS weekend? So he came home and we packed a few more things into the car and headed out. Fortunately and unfortunately we ended up getting to the campground a few hours after we had planned. It was fortunate because you could see the rain and lightning right where we were supposed to be as we drove up, unfortunately because although the rain had stopped by the time we got there the sun had already gone down and we had to pitch the tent in the dark. Well, except for the headlights on the van and my built-in flashlight on my phone (which I was using illegally because they had banned all electronic devices for the weekend). Since Charlie hadn't set up the tent since the last Scout camp out and I never had, it took us way too long to get it up and get the car unpacked.
Once we finally got everything into the tent we took the kids to the bathroom two campsites over and brushed their teeth. It was starting to thunder and lightening and within five minutes of getting back to the tent it started to rain. Hard. So hard that Andy came to sleep between Charlie and me on the air mattress because the thunder and lightening was making him nervous. So incredibly hard that Sarah woke up in the middle of the night and had to change her clothes because they, and her sleeping bag and her pillow, were all wet and then had to climb in bed with me to keep warm. It was nice to have a hot little body next to me, but a little cramped (luckily by this time Andy had gone back to his spot on the floor). By the time we woke up the next morning everything in the tent was wet. Since we were up in the mountains and there was lots of cloud cover on Saturday nothing really got that dry either. Pair that with the fact that it rained on and off all day and we did not have the best night's sleep as well as the fact that the high was only 70 and the low was in the 40s and it make for a pretty lousy camp out.
The one highlight was that there were wild raspberries growing on the side of the mountain so Charlie and the girls and I picked raspberries on Saturday afternoon and ate them as we were picking. But that does not make up for the fact that about an hour later as we were standing in line for dinner it started pouring rain and the chairs that we had just set up were full of puddles by the time we got our food. Sigh.
When we first arrived, even though we were putting the tent up in the dark, I had hopes that we would have a really good weekend and would want to do this again. Now I'm not so sure. When I was a kid we used to camp every year and I'm not sure how my parents did it. In fact I didn't even really think about how everything magically worked out until I was doing it myself this weekend. I know that my mom hated preparing for those camping trips and I never understood why. I do now. You have to bring everything under the sun just in case you need it, but you probably don't. The things you really needed to bring you forget or they stop working or you know you brought but you can't find. There are things you should have brought but never anticipated that you would need - like a second pair of shoes or in Charlie's case a ground cloth for inside the tent (I know if I had just asked you Mom you would have told me to bring that one).
Once you get home, there is more work to do than before you left. You have to wash all the clothes and the dishes and everything else you used. On weekends like ours you have to wash everything - sleeping bags, pillows, blankets - because it all got wet. Then you have to air everything out and brush everything off and put the tent up again in the front yard to air out and brush off. Ugh. Again, some of this we would not have had to do if it hadn't rained. Luckily it is so hot and dry here that everything dried out rather quickly when we got home and we had everything put away within two hours. Except all the laundry, I'm still doing that, but at least I'm down to just needing to wash the clothes. Everything else is clean.
To sum it up we had a very memorable weekend. Whether we want to try to that again is another question, but I think the girls are game. They had a blast, even when we were playing in the tent in the middle of the day because it was raining yet again. Maybe next time we'll rent a camper with a toilet and a little stove and live the life of luxury.
The girls love to be outside, so they were really excited about the trip. Andy was relatively excited because he was going to hang out with his scouting friends. It was just Charlie and me that weren't very excited. Okay, maybe just me. I will admit that I was not very helpful in getting all the gear together and getting the car packed, although once we got there I wished that I had been more involved because I didn't know where anything was packed in the car.
The original plan was for us to pick Charlie up and work and leave his car in the parking garage for the weekend and drive from there to the mountains. Unbelievably for the first time since he started working there they sent out a note Friday morning telling everyone they could not park in the garage that particular weekend because they were repainting the stripes. Seriously? THIS weekend? So he came home and we packed a few more things into the car and headed out. Fortunately and unfortunately we ended up getting to the campground a few hours after we had planned. It was fortunate because you could see the rain and lightning right where we were supposed to be as we drove up, unfortunately because although the rain had stopped by the time we got there the sun had already gone down and we had to pitch the tent in the dark. Well, except for the headlights on the van and my built-in flashlight on my phone (which I was using illegally because they had banned all electronic devices for the weekend). Since Charlie hadn't set up the tent since the last Scout camp out and I never had, it took us way too long to get it up and get the car unpacked.
Once we finally got everything into the tent we took the kids to the bathroom two campsites over and brushed their teeth. It was starting to thunder and lightening and within five minutes of getting back to the tent it started to rain. Hard. So hard that Andy came to sleep between Charlie and me on the air mattress because the thunder and lightening was making him nervous. So incredibly hard that Sarah woke up in the middle of the night and had to change her clothes because they, and her sleeping bag and her pillow, were all wet and then had to climb in bed with me to keep warm. It was nice to have a hot little body next to me, but a little cramped (luckily by this time Andy had gone back to his spot on the floor). By the time we woke up the next morning everything in the tent was wet. Since we were up in the mountains and there was lots of cloud cover on Saturday nothing really got that dry either. Pair that with the fact that it rained on and off all day and we did not have the best night's sleep as well as the fact that the high was only 70 and the low was in the 40s and it make for a pretty lousy camp out.
The one highlight was that there were wild raspberries growing on the side of the mountain so Charlie and the girls and I picked raspberries on Saturday afternoon and ate them as we were picking. But that does not make up for the fact that about an hour later as we were standing in line for dinner it started pouring rain and the chairs that we had just set up were full of puddles by the time we got our food. Sigh.
When we first arrived, even though we were putting the tent up in the dark, I had hopes that we would have a really good weekend and would want to do this again. Now I'm not so sure. When I was a kid we used to camp every year and I'm not sure how my parents did it. In fact I didn't even really think about how everything magically worked out until I was doing it myself this weekend. I know that my mom hated preparing for those camping trips and I never understood why. I do now. You have to bring everything under the sun just in case you need it, but you probably don't. The things you really needed to bring you forget or they stop working or you know you brought but you can't find. There are things you should have brought but never anticipated that you would need - like a second pair of shoes or in Charlie's case a ground cloth for inside the tent (I know if I had just asked you Mom you would have told me to bring that one).
Once you get home, there is more work to do than before you left. You have to wash all the clothes and the dishes and everything else you used. On weekends like ours you have to wash everything - sleeping bags, pillows, blankets - because it all got wet. Then you have to air everything out and brush everything off and put the tent up again in the front yard to air out and brush off. Ugh. Again, some of this we would not have had to do if it hadn't rained. Luckily it is so hot and dry here that everything dried out rather quickly when we got home and we had everything put away within two hours. Except all the laundry, I'm still doing that, but at least I'm down to just needing to wash the clothes. Everything else is clean.
To sum it up we had a very memorable weekend. Whether we want to try to that again is another question, but I think the girls are game. They had a blast, even when we were playing in the tent in the middle of the day because it was raining yet again. Maybe next time we'll rent a camper with a toilet and a little stove and live the life of luxury.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Kid Quote of the Day
Amanda: I love Daddy so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, much!
Me: Do you love me?
Amanda: Just a little bit.
Me: Do you love me?
Amanda: Just a little bit.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
The First Week of School
Today marked one week that the kids have been in school. So far everything has been great. Amanda no longer cries when I drop her off at school, she just clings to my leg and makes a very sad face. That is way better than Sarah did at this age. She did, however, refuse to come home with me when school was over yesterday, so I think she secretly likes it but doesn't want to admit it to me. She doesn't start her Spanish school until after Labor Day, so we still have a couple weeks of her home with me most of the time. It's going well, but I think we both look forward to her going back.
Andy's teacher is really young, he's 24, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. He's not jaded, worn down, or regurgitating the same lesson plan he created 20 years ago. He's fun and energetic and Andy loves him. Really, the first day of school he ran out and told me he loved him. I have no idea what kind of teacher he is or if he knows anything about anything, but if Andy is excited to go to school I'm good with it. He's starting to get to that point where he doesn't like school very much, so anything that keeps him happy and engaged is great. Today he had a sub and was given an assignment where he had to color a monster. He was highly offended that he was asked to color in fifth grade, and pretty much refused to do it. After the sub asked him to color it twice he complied by coloring the tuft of hair at the top of the monster, but that was it. Unfortunately my passive aggressive son takes after his father and needs a little reminder to respect adults and people of authority. Otherwise, he's great.
Sarah also loves her teacher and is really excited about second grade. She was a little unsure before school started because she hadn't heard much about her teacher, but now that we've had a chance to see some old friends we have realized that she has a fantastic teacher that many people hoped to get. Hopefully her exuberance will continue and we will have another smooth year.
I'm still trying to get used to our new schedule and get everything done around the house. You would think that having the kids at school most of the day I would have plenty of time, but it never works that way. I've been trying to go to the gym and exercise and run errands and everything else and so far I'm still a little discombobulated. On top of that Amanda is getting tired of me dragging her around town, so I'm trying to maybe think about doing some fun stuff for/with her. In three years when she is in first grade I am going to rock this mom stuff, but right now I'm still a work in progress.
And so another school year begins.
Andy's teacher is really young, he's 24, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. He's not jaded, worn down, or regurgitating the same lesson plan he created 20 years ago. He's fun and energetic and Andy loves him. Really, the first day of school he ran out and told me he loved him. I have no idea what kind of teacher he is or if he knows anything about anything, but if Andy is excited to go to school I'm good with it. He's starting to get to that point where he doesn't like school very much, so anything that keeps him happy and engaged is great. Today he had a sub and was given an assignment where he had to color a monster. He was highly offended that he was asked to color in fifth grade, and pretty much refused to do it. After the sub asked him to color it twice he complied by coloring the tuft of hair at the top of the monster, but that was it. Unfortunately my passive aggressive son takes after his father and needs a little reminder to respect adults and people of authority. Otherwise, he's great.
Sarah also loves her teacher and is really excited about second grade. She was a little unsure before school started because she hadn't heard much about her teacher, but now that we've had a chance to see some old friends we have realized that she has a fantastic teacher that many people hoped to get. Hopefully her exuberance will continue and we will have another smooth year.
I'm still trying to get used to our new schedule and get everything done around the house. You would think that having the kids at school most of the day I would have plenty of time, but it never works that way. I've been trying to go to the gym and exercise and run errands and everything else and so far I'm still a little discombobulated. On top of that Amanda is getting tired of me dragging her around town, so I'm trying to maybe think about doing some fun stuff for/with her. In three years when she is in first grade I am going to rock this mom stuff, but right now I'm still a work in progress.
And so another school year begins.
Kid Quote of the Day
"Are you going to make champagne out of those champagne grapes during lunch? Because you're sneaky that way."
-Sarah to Andy
-Sarah to Andy
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Amanda FINALLY Turns 4
Last Friday was Amanda's birthday. Yes, I'm a little late with the post. Won't be the last time. We got home from Destin super late on Saturday and were total wastes on Sunday. On Monday, Charlie headed back to work and the first thing Amanda asked was, "Is today my birthday?". She knew it was coming, she just didn't know when. When you tell a 4 yr old it's on Friday, that could be six months from now for all she knows. So, every day until Friday she asked me if it was her birthday. She also talked incessantly about her birthday party, for which we had extremely low rsvps for but she didn't care. When I was telling her that there wouldn't be many people there because they were out of town or whatnot she just looked at Sarah and said, "that's okay, that's more candy (from the pinata) for us", and smiled. Nothing was going to ruin her day.
On Friday morning she called me into her room just before 7a. I was half asleep but was able to ask her what she needed and all she said was, "I'm so excited!". I wanted to be excited too but was too exhausted. So I went to lie down for a little bit longer. About 15-20 minutes later she came into the room and asked me for a birthday hug. I love that kid. Once we got up we went to the grocery store and I let her pick out a birthday cake for dinner. We had cupcakes ordered for the party, which was on Saturday, but wanted to do some celebrating on Friday since it was her actually birthday. Plus our friends, the Povedas, were in town from Dallas so it was going to be an extra special dinner.
As I said, we had a pretty low turnout to the party, but she didn't care. Because she wanted to have her friends from school as well as the bigger kids from the cul-de-sac come, we decided to have two parties. I didn't want the big kids to take over the bounce house and any of the little kids to be scared or get hurt. So, the little kids were invited to come at 11a and the bigger kids at 4p. Two of the four kids we invited came to the morning party, as well as our three kids and the three Poveda kids, so it actually was just fine. She's only 4, she didn't need a ton of guests. They played in the bounce house (can I tell you how happy we were to find out that it did in fact fit comfortably in our backyard), which now the girls want to buy one, had pizza and cupcakes and hit the pinata. What more could you ask for?
Unfortunately we only got one rsvp for the afternoon party from our next door neighbors and they showed up about 20 minutes before the bounce house got picked up because they were a little late, but again Amanda didn't care. It was actually nice just to hang out with their family for a few hours and Charlie made his awesome burgers and the kids (and the Dads) played some Wii Rock band. All in all a good, manageable day.
She's already started to talk about the bounce house she's getting next year, so who knows how soon full fledged birthday talk will begin again. Hopefully she will wait until after Christmas. I do know that next year I will wait about a month to have her party, after school has started, nobody is on vacation and she can invite a few more people. She probably won't care either way, as long as it's here birthday.
On Friday morning she called me into her room just before 7a. I was half asleep but was able to ask her what she needed and all she said was, "I'm so excited!". I wanted to be excited too but was too exhausted. So I went to lie down for a little bit longer. About 15-20 minutes later she came into the room and asked me for a birthday hug. I love that kid. Once we got up we went to the grocery store and I let her pick out a birthday cake for dinner. We had cupcakes ordered for the party, which was on Saturday, but wanted to do some celebrating on Friday since it was her actually birthday. Plus our friends, the Povedas, were in town from Dallas so it was going to be an extra special dinner.
As I said, we had a pretty low turnout to the party, but she didn't care. Because she wanted to have her friends from school as well as the bigger kids from the cul-de-sac come, we decided to have two parties. I didn't want the big kids to take over the bounce house and any of the little kids to be scared or get hurt. So, the little kids were invited to come at 11a and the bigger kids at 4p. Two of the four kids we invited came to the morning party, as well as our three kids and the three Poveda kids, so it actually was just fine. She's only 4, she didn't need a ton of guests. They played in the bounce house (can I tell you how happy we were to find out that it did in fact fit comfortably in our backyard), which now the girls want to buy one, had pizza and cupcakes and hit the pinata. What more could you ask for?
Unfortunately we only got one rsvp for the afternoon party from our next door neighbors and they showed up about 20 minutes before the bounce house got picked up because they were a little late, but again Amanda didn't care. It was actually nice just to hang out with their family for a few hours and Charlie made his awesome burgers and the kids (and the Dads) played some Wii Rock band. All in all a good, manageable day.
She's already started to talk about the bounce house she's getting next year, so who knows how soon full fledged birthday talk will begin again. Hopefully she will wait until after Christmas. I do know that next year I will wait about a month to have her party, after school has started, nobody is on vacation and she can invite a few more people. She probably won't care either way, as long as it's here birthday.
Kid Quote of the Day
Sarah: Daddy will love anything you draw.
Amanda: Why?!?
Sarah: Because YOU made it.
Amanda: Why?!?
Sarah: Because YOU made it.
Monday, August 12, 2013
Going, Going, Gone
Today was our official "Last Day of Summer". Tomorrow isn't a real day of school (except for Amanda who starts pre-school tomorrow) because the kids are only doing assessments and school pictures (pictures, yeah I don't know why they are doing them this early either), but they have to be in the school for a few hours so I don't really consider that part of summer anymore. Their first full day starts on Wednesday.
We've had an amazing summer. In some ways I think that the kids had no summer at all because we were barely home and when we were here I was recovering from where we had just been and running errands and trying to go to the gym and not doing much with them. I didn't take them to the pool once. I suck that way. If Charlie was home with them all day they would go everywhere. Me? I have intentions of going fun places but then we eat a late breakfast and never get out of our pajamas and before you know it it's too late to go anywhere. In other ways we had the best summer ever. The kids are so much easier to travel with now that everybody is potty trained and I don't have to bring a diaper bag and they can somewhat entertain themselves (thanks to too many electrical devices in their possession). Plus, they had the best time ever on every trip we went on this summer and truly enjoyed spending time with their friends and family that the off days at home were probably just what they needed to regroup.
Our last trip of the summer was to Destin with the group that we've been vacationing with since 2001. I think that make this our 13th year together. It was by far the best trip we've ever had, but I think we say that every year (except the year that the house tried to kill us and everybody got sick). The kids were so independent that I was able to sleep in a few mornings and Andy and the older girls helped the younger kids get breakfast. I wouldn't say the kids were exactly quiet in the mornings, but they weren't that loud. The guys got to golf, the girls got to spend an entire day at the spa and shopping and everybody was happy. The older the kids get the more fun we can have and the less we have to worry about naps and all that stuff that made it hard when they were babies. Every year we figure out one more secret to making the trip better.
We got home really late that Saturday night and then were blobs the next day and I carried it into the beginning of the next week before our friends from Dallas popped in on the way to Estes Park and stopped again on their way home. Our best friends, it was so wonderful to see them. They left on Saturday and I miss them already.
So, back to school. I would be lying if I said that I was sad. The only thing I'm sad about is that I have to wake up earlier so I can get the kids to school on time. I am ready for them to go and for everybody to be back on a schedule. Back to the gym, back to losing weight, back to less fighting (hopefully) and more after school activities. This year I have resolved that I am going to stop being a hermit and become more active in finding friends and getting the kids involved in sports and other activities. I might go crazy, but at least I'm going to meet people doing it.
Another summer in the books.
We've had an amazing summer. In some ways I think that the kids had no summer at all because we were barely home and when we were here I was recovering from where we had just been and running errands and trying to go to the gym and not doing much with them. I didn't take them to the pool once. I suck that way. If Charlie was home with them all day they would go everywhere. Me? I have intentions of going fun places but then we eat a late breakfast and never get out of our pajamas and before you know it it's too late to go anywhere. In other ways we had the best summer ever. The kids are so much easier to travel with now that everybody is potty trained and I don't have to bring a diaper bag and they can somewhat entertain themselves (thanks to too many electrical devices in their possession). Plus, they had the best time ever on every trip we went on this summer and truly enjoyed spending time with their friends and family that the off days at home were probably just what they needed to regroup.
Our last trip of the summer was to Destin with the group that we've been vacationing with since 2001. I think that make this our 13th year together. It was by far the best trip we've ever had, but I think we say that every year (except the year that the house tried to kill us and everybody got sick). The kids were so independent that I was able to sleep in a few mornings and Andy and the older girls helped the younger kids get breakfast. I wouldn't say the kids were exactly quiet in the mornings, but they weren't that loud. The guys got to golf, the girls got to spend an entire day at the spa and shopping and everybody was happy. The older the kids get the more fun we can have and the less we have to worry about naps and all that stuff that made it hard when they were babies. Every year we figure out one more secret to making the trip better.
We got home really late that Saturday night and then were blobs the next day and I carried it into the beginning of the next week before our friends from Dallas popped in on the way to Estes Park and stopped again on their way home. Our best friends, it was so wonderful to see them. They left on Saturday and I miss them already.
So, back to school. I would be lying if I said that I was sad. The only thing I'm sad about is that I have to wake up earlier so I can get the kids to school on time. I am ready for them to go and for everybody to be back on a schedule. Back to the gym, back to losing weight, back to less fighting (hopefully) and more after school activities. This year I have resolved that I am going to stop being a hermit and become more active in finding friends and getting the kids involved in sports and other activities. I might go crazy, but at least I'm going to meet people doing it.
Another summer in the books.
Friday, August 9, 2013
Kid Quote of the Day
Me: I love you more than ice cream!
Amanda: I love ice cream more than you!
Not a surprise, but now I have it in writing.
Amanda: I love ice cream more than you!
Not a surprise, but now I have it in writing.
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Kid Quote of the Day
"Mommy, I think I brought some of the beach home in my butt."
- Amanda, finding sand in places nobody wants to know about.
- Amanda, finding sand in places nobody wants to know about.
7 A.M.
We got home last night after a whirlwind of a day. We left the Jersey Shore just after 8:45 a.m. to get to the airport for our 11:15 flight. Once there and checking in, the machine notified me that our flight was in an "oversale situation" and if we were willing to volunteer to give up our seats they would give us $200 in vouchers per seat. That's $200 less per person we would have to spend on Thanksgiving or Christmas tickets. Sign me up. Long story short they did end up needing our seats and gave us $500 vouchers. That's $2000 worth of plane tickets. Yipee!
The only problem was we traded in our non-stop flight for a connection through Houston, which meant we had to wait about 2.5 hours for our journey to begin, take a 4 hour flight to Houston, have a 2.5 hour layover and then another 2.5 hour flight to Denver. The kids did it, because they had no choice, but they were not happy about it. All three of them fell asleep in the car on the way home from the airport.
As tired as they were, they were all up by 7:00 a.m. this morning. I don't know what it is, but with all the trips we've been on this summer and all the switching time zones, they still wake up by 7:00 a.m. almost everyday. It doesn't matter if we've jumped two hours or gone back an hour, 7:00 a.m. I, on the other hand, am exhausted and just wish they would sleep a few hours more. I don't think that's going to happy for quite a few years.
How was Jersey? Wonderful, fantastic, amazing. I got to hang out with my two best friends from college, need I say more? The kids had a great time at the beach and are totally geared up for Destin next week, they got ice cream everyday, we got to go to a pinball museum and play old video games and my two friends and I were even able to sneak out one night sans kids for a beautiful evening thanks to Renee's husband, Mark. All seeing them does is make me want to see them more.
Saturday we leave for Destin and that is our final trip of the summer. I can't believe this time period that we have been looking forward to for so long is almost over, but it has been a fantastic summer, one to remember.
The only problem was we traded in our non-stop flight for a connection through Houston, which meant we had to wait about 2.5 hours for our journey to begin, take a 4 hour flight to Houston, have a 2.5 hour layover and then another 2.5 hour flight to Denver. The kids did it, because they had no choice, but they were not happy about it. All three of them fell asleep in the car on the way home from the airport.
As tired as they were, they were all up by 7:00 a.m. this morning. I don't know what it is, but with all the trips we've been on this summer and all the switching time zones, they still wake up by 7:00 a.m. almost everyday. It doesn't matter if we've jumped two hours or gone back an hour, 7:00 a.m. I, on the other hand, am exhausted and just wish they would sleep a few hours more. I don't think that's going to happy for quite a few years.
How was Jersey? Wonderful, fantastic, amazing. I got to hang out with my two best friends from college, need I say more? The kids had a great time at the beach and are totally geared up for Destin next week, they got ice cream everyday, we got to go to a pinball museum and play old video games and my two friends and I were even able to sneak out one night sans kids for a beautiful evening thanks to Renee's husband, Mark. All seeing them does is make me want to see them more.
Saturday we leave for Destin and that is our final trip of the summer. I can't believe this time period that we have been looking forward to for so long is almost over, but it has been a fantastic summer, one to remember.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Kid Quote of the Day
As I'm setting Amanda onto the toilet knowing full well I will have to wipe her when she's done (not because she can't do it but because she doesn't like to get her hands wet [although it's fine for me to get my hands wet])...
Me: I love you so much!
Amanda: I don't love you so much, I only love you a little bit.
Me: I love you so much!
Amanda: I don't love you so much, I only love you a little bit.
A Vacation From Our Vacations
We're back in town briefly from two very long trips. First we went to Texas for 10 days. We got to see most of our friends (a few inconveniently were on vacation while we were there) and the kids had a blast at camp. I had a great time while they were at camp too, because the camp was from 9a-4p M-F so I got to go to the gym, hang out with friends and do a little shopping. Amanda was with me everyday much to her chagrin, but we made the best of it. Charlie flew in both weekends, the first one he was on the way home from a business trip and arranged a stop over in Dallas. The second one he came in for a three day weekend. Although we probably could have stayed longer, I went home very happy that I got to spend time with my friends. It was a great week.
We were home for about 36 hours. I did a little laundry (the rest I was able to do at my friends house for which I am eternally grateful), repacked our bags and off we went again for two weeks. This time we flew into Chicago, drove four hours to my parent's house, stayed a few days with them (I made a side trip to Indiana by myself to meet Renee and do some shopping which was lovely), stayed one night with my sister-in-law and her kids and then drove back to Chicago to hang out with my brother and sister's families.
My sister-in-law lives on a lake, well really on the canal of a lake, so we watched early (weekend before) Fourth of July fireworks, had a fun s'mores filled bonfire and then went tubing the next day. Even Amanda went. The kids had a blast.
When we got to Chicago we hung out for a few days and then the entire family came for the July 4th festivities. We watched a little home town parade where the kids had candy throw at them and then went to my brother's country club for swimming, dinner and fireworks. It was so wonderful to see everyone but I think by the end of three days we were kind of sick of each other. My family is pretty outspoken and kind of hard to take sometimes. We love each other dearly, but don't always express it in the right ways. I'm not sure how my brother-in-law, Charlie and my two sister-in-laws put up with us sometimes, but I hope they all know how much we love them and are so glad they are part of our family.
After everybody left we still had a couple of days at my brother's house so we took the kids to the Science Museum which I absolutely loved as a kid. We saw a crazy show called "Poop Happens" that was kind of embarrassing for the older kids but funny for the rest of us. The best line in the whole show was when they said, "Where else can you yell the word 'rectum' at the top of your lungs in a room full of strangers?" The kids also got to make their own toys (little spinning tops) which was pretty cool and learned about vortexes. There was so much we didn't get to see, I wish we had gotten there earlier. Next year for sure.
The last two days we pretty much did nothing. Luckily everyone was pretty happy doing that. The day we left one of my good friends from Dallas who now lives a few towns over from my brother came over to visit with her four kids. It was so nice to see her and catch up. Just like old times. I really miss her.
Overall, a great summer so far. We've been home two days now and I'm remembering why I scheduled all these trips. The kids love to travel. They love to visit people. It's hard to be away from home, but we get to do lots of fun stuff and see people we love. At home they fight and get bored and pick on each other for entertainment and spend way too much time playing video games and watching tv. When we are gone they stay up way too late and get cranky but they have a blast. Plus, I know they will look back on these trips fondly and remember all the great things they did with their cousins and friends. That's what is most important, we are building memories.
Although I am enjoying a few days at home and getting back to the gym a little bit, I can't wait for our next two trips. Next Thursday we go to New Jersey to see April and Renee, and then a few days after we get back it's our annual trip to Destin. Even better, when we get home from there our good friend from Texas are coming to visit.
Still so much fun left to be had.
We were home for about 36 hours. I did a little laundry (the rest I was able to do at my friends house for which I am eternally grateful), repacked our bags and off we went again for two weeks. This time we flew into Chicago, drove four hours to my parent's house, stayed a few days with them (I made a side trip to Indiana by myself to meet Renee and do some shopping which was lovely), stayed one night with my sister-in-law and her kids and then drove back to Chicago to hang out with my brother and sister's families.
My sister-in-law lives on a lake, well really on the canal of a lake, so we watched early (weekend before) Fourth of July fireworks, had a fun s'mores filled bonfire and then went tubing the next day. Even Amanda went. The kids had a blast.
When we got to Chicago we hung out for a few days and then the entire family came for the July 4th festivities. We watched a little home town parade where the kids had candy throw at them and then went to my brother's country club for swimming, dinner and fireworks. It was so wonderful to see everyone but I think by the end of three days we were kind of sick of each other. My family is pretty outspoken and kind of hard to take sometimes. We love each other dearly, but don't always express it in the right ways. I'm not sure how my brother-in-law, Charlie and my two sister-in-laws put up with us sometimes, but I hope they all know how much we love them and are so glad they are part of our family.
After everybody left we still had a couple of days at my brother's house so we took the kids to the Science Museum which I absolutely loved as a kid. We saw a crazy show called "Poop Happens" that was kind of embarrassing for the older kids but funny for the rest of us. The best line in the whole show was when they said, "Where else can you yell the word 'rectum' at the top of your lungs in a room full of strangers?" The kids also got to make their own toys (little spinning tops) which was pretty cool and learned about vortexes. There was so much we didn't get to see, I wish we had gotten there earlier. Next year for sure.
The last two days we pretty much did nothing. Luckily everyone was pretty happy doing that. The day we left one of my good friends from Dallas who now lives a few towns over from my brother came over to visit with her four kids. It was so nice to see her and catch up. Just like old times. I really miss her.
Overall, a great summer so far. We've been home two days now and I'm remembering why I scheduled all these trips. The kids love to travel. They love to visit people. It's hard to be away from home, but we get to do lots of fun stuff and see people we love. At home they fight and get bored and pick on each other for entertainment and spend way too much time playing video games and watching tv. When we are gone they stay up way too late and get cranky but they have a blast. Plus, I know they will look back on these trips fondly and remember all the great things they did with their cousins and friends. That's what is most important, we are building memories.
Although I am enjoying a few days at home and getting back to the gym a little bit, I can't wait for our next two trips. Next Thursday we go to New Jersey to see April and Renee, and then a few days after we get back it's our annual trip to Destin. Even better, when we get home from there our good friend from Texas are coming to visit.
Still so much fun left to be had.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
In Case You Were Wondering
Tomorrow marks one week of the kids being out of school. How are we doing you ask? Well, last Friday, their first official day of summer, I grounded Sarah and Amanda for four hours. Yep. I probably should have started smaller, like ten minutes at a time, but started with one hour, which in turn got them two hours and then three and, well, you get it. They only served an hour and a half, but it was not a good start to the summer.
The next day they continued with their antics and I got really upset with them at a restaurant and threw another hour at them. Obviously my tactics were not working. Thankfully Charlie did not say a thing even though I'm sure he wasn't happy with the whole thing. Sunday Andy had two baseball games and then we had people over so they didn't have time to drive me nuts.
On Monday I took the girls with me to get a recall fixed on the car. They actually were pretty well-behaved and it wasn't until Monday night that I found out that Andy and Sarah had missed the first day of a three day art camp because it started on Monday when I thought it started on Tuesday. Mommy fail once again.
Tuesday they went to camp in the morning and I took them to the zoo in the afternoon to meet some friends who were in town for the week. Andy complained about how hot it was (nothing compared to how hot Texas is going to be next week) and the girls were all crazy as usual. When those two get together they just get silly and crazy and purposely ignore me because they know it pisses me off. And it does.
Yesterday was Wednesday and I can't even remember what we did so it must not have been too bad. At this point in the week I needed to go grocery shopping and do a few other errands but I refuse to do them with both girls and Charlie is on a business trip. Only 10 or so more weeks to go.
Today we went to take pictures for Father's Day (it's supposed to be a surprise but we do it every year so Charlie guessed and both the girls told him on the phone tonight anyway) and then came home to get ready for our first trip of the summer. We cleaned up a little, we got packed and yet the girls still found themselves in their rooms for not listening and being disrespectful. Ugh.
On the drive home from Sarah's therapy today Amanda was singing a song in the sweetest little voice. It went something like this:
"I hate Mommy, but I love Sarah and Daddy and ladybugs and butterflies and rainbows."
I said, "Amanda, did you just say you hate me but you love Sarah and Daddy and ladybugs and butterflies and rainbows?"
Her answer? "Yes, it's my new song." As if she were singing about something beautiful. Well, except for that first part all of it was beautiful.
Now I'm not going to take too much stock in this song because she said she loves rainbows and just a couple weeks ago she hated rainbows because they have yellow in them and for some reason she had a huge yellow aversion. I guess yellow is okay now, but she wouldn't eat off yellow plates or drink out of yellow cups and holy cow she was not going to wear anything that had yellow in it, even rainbow things.
Hopefully all these trips are going to mix things up give them something to do other than be mean and disrespectful to me and keep all of us sane. That is my hope. We leave for Dallas tomorrow. Please keep me in your thoughts!
The next day they continued with their antics and I got really upset with them at a restaurant and threw another hour at them. Obviously my tactics were not working. Thankfully Charlie did not say a thing even though I'm sure he wasn't happy with the whole thing. Sunday Andy had two baseball games and then we had people over so they didn't have time to drive me nuts.
On Monday I took the girls with me to get a recall fixed on the car. They actually were pretty well-behaved and it wasn't until Monday night that I found out that Andy and Sarah had missed the first day of a three day art camp because it started on Monday when I thought it started on Tuesday. Mommy fail once again.
Tuesday they went to camp in the morning and I took them to the zoo in the afternoon to meet some friends who were in town for the week. Andy complained about how hot it was (nothing compared to how hot Texas is going to be next week) and the girls were all crazy as usual. When those two get together they just get silly and crazy and purposely ignore me because they know it pisses me off. And it does.
Yesterday was Wednesday and I can't even remember what we did so it must not have been too bad. At this point in the week I needed to go grocery shopping and do a few other errands but I refuse to do them with both girls and Charlie is on a business trip. Only 10 or so more weeks to go.
Today we went to take pictures for Father's Day (it's supposed to be a surprise but we do it every year so Charlie guessed and both the girls told him on the phone tonight anyway) and then came home to get ready for our first trip of the summer. We cleaned up a little, we got packed and yet the girls still found themselves in their rooms for not listening and being disrespectful. Ugh.
On the drive home from Sarah's therapy today Amanda was singing a song in the sweetest little voice. It went something like this:
"I hate Mommy, but I love Sarah and Daddy and ladybugs and butterflies and rainbows."
I said, "Amanda, did you just say you hate me but you love Sarah and Daddy and ladybugs and butterflies and rainbows?"
Her answer? "Yes, it's my new song." As if she were singing about something beautiful. Well, except for that first part all of it was beautiful.
Now I'm not going to take too much stock in this song because she said she loves rainbows and just a couple weeks ago she hated rainbows because they have yellow in them and for some reason she had a huge yellow aversion. I guess yellow is okay now, but she wouldn't eat off yellow plates or drink out of yellow cups and holy cow she was not going to wear anything that had yellow in it, even rainbow things.
Hopefully all these trips are going to mix things up give them something to do other than be mean and disrespectful to me and keep all of us sane. That is my hope. We leave for Dallas tomorrow. Please keep me in your thoughts!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)