Last year we went to Vegas to celebrate Charlie's 40th birthday. We invited some friends and had a fabulous time. At the time Charlie and I were the only ones who had turned 40, so the rest of the people on the trip decided we all had to go on some amazing vacations for their 40th birthdays as well. Fast forward to this weekend where we are going to Jamaica to celebrate Joe's birthday. Works for me.
My parents arrived yesterday and I created a schedule of all the kids' activities and when and where they have to be and Charlie printed off maps to everywhere they need to go. I'm not sure they are ready, but I am. I am so ready to take a break from running this household and, for just a few days, not have anybody call me Mommy or ask me to do something for them besides bring them a fruity drink. I am especially excited to spend some time with my wonderful husband and some close friends who we don't get to see often enough.
The kids will be fine, I just hope my parents survive.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Friday, January 17, 2014
Favorite Things
When Andy was about Amanda's age, he was very curious and asked a lot of questions. He still asks a lot of questions, but they are much better now. He would ask how things worked or why things did this or that, or sometimes he would ask these incredibly hard questions that seemed to have no right answer. My favorite was when he asked me, "What if you pooped out your penis and peed out your butt?". Usually I would try to give some answer, but with that one I was speechless. His answer? "Then you would stand up to poop and sit down to pee." Yeah, that would be the least of your worries. He also asked open ended questions like "Tell me everything you know about firemen" that could take me forever to answer or I would just tell him a few things and then not know the rest. From a very young age my son came to believe that I was an idiot.
All my kids when through a "Why" stage, but I don't remember any of them being particularly long or excruciating, just something that I knew all kids do and they would get over and they did. I think Sarah asks the least questions, she just kind of observes things and makes a statement about them. Whether right or wrong, she says it with conviction.
Amanda's new thing is to ask what your favorite is. She asks me "What's your favorite color" about a hundred times a day. Then it's what's your favorite thing to do, what's your favorite kind of house, what's your favorite thing to eat, etc. The other day we had this exchange:
Amanda: Mommy, what's your favorite kind of road.
Me: I like roads that let me drive fast.
Amanda: No, that's not an appropriate answer. I mean do you like beautiful roads, pretty roads, cute roads or sparkly roads? You know, that kind of road.
Man, that kid cracks me up. And now I am back to the point in life where I can't answer my kids' questions, but at least I know she is thinking out of the box. It won't take her too long to form an opinion of those of us outside of her box. Dumb asses.
All my kids when through a "Why" stage, but I don't remember any of them being particularly long or excruciating, just something that I knew all kids do and they would get over and they did. I think Sarah asks the least questions, she just kind of observes things and makes a statement about them. Whether right or wrong, she says it with conviction.
Amanda's new thing is to ask what your favorite is. She asks me "What's your favorite color" about a hundred times a day. Then it's what's your favorite thing to do, what's your favorite kind of house, what's your favorite thing to eat, etc. The other day we had this exchange:
Amanda: Mommy, what's your favorite kind of road.
Me: I like roads that let me drive fast.
Amanda: No, that's not an appropriate answer. I mean do you like beautiful roads, pretty roads, cute roads or sparkly roads? You know, that kind of road.
Man, that kid cracks me up. And now I am back to the point in life where I can't answer my kids' questions, but at least I know she is thinking out of the box. It won't take her too long to form an opinion of those of us outside of her box. Dumb asses.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Where Did My Babies Go?
Around Thanksgiving, Andy started calling me "Mom". I know this doesn't sound strange, but for the last ten years he's been calling me "Mommy", so the first time he called me Mom it was a little weird. I'm not really surprised that me made the switch, he'll be 11 next month and it probably went longer than most kids, but it was just another little sign that he's growing up before my eyes.
On the opposite end we've got Amanda who truly is my baby. I've been hoping that she would take a few more steps closer to independence and she has. She now goes to the bathroom by herself (mostly, unless she's lonely and wants someone to sit with her) and I haven't wiped her in over a week except the day that she was wearing a fancy skirt and it was just too complicated (or she was just being uber lazy) for her and asked me if I would do it. That means I am very, very close to the end of wiping other people's butts until my parents get so old that I am forced to do it for them (and I really hope that never happens). On top of that, Amanda is starting to dress herself more and more. She doesn't always match, but I could care less if I don't have to sit there while she decides what dress she wants to wear while she's having a conversation with Sarah and dancing in circles and sticking her naked butt in my face. It sounds cute, but it gets old.
We're so busy living the day to day and just trying to get everything done that we don't have time to think about how quickly time flies by. You work and struggle and muddle and wade through all of the years when they are so small and you can barely function, and then when you are finally getting some sleep and feel like you might just have the hang of it they are half-way out the door.
I don't dwell on it very much, but every once in awhile I'll stop and think about how big Andy is and how he's not a baby anymore and about the things that he did at Amanda's age and how far we've come. I'm happy about all of it, but it's hard not to be a tiny bit sad as well. My babies are growing up.
And then I'm in the car with Amanda on the way home from school and she says to me, "Mommy, can we just go home and watch t.v. and cuddle?" or Andy asks me to lie with him until he falls asleep or Sarah asks me if she can sit on my lap and I smile knowing that I still have a little time. I know I've posted hundreds of times about the things I won't miss, but these are the things that I will.
On the opposite end we've got Amanda who truly is my baby. I've been hoping that she would take a few more steps closer to independence and she has. She now goes to the bathroom by herself (mostly, unless she's lonely and wants someone to sit with her) and I haven't wiped her in over a week except the day that she was wearing a fancy skirt and it was just too complicated (or she was just being uber lazy) for her and asked me if I would do it. That means I am very, very close to the end of wiping other people's butts until my parents get so old that I am forced to do it for them (and I really hope that never happens). On top of that, Amanda is starting to dress herself more and more. She doesn't always match, but I could care less if I don't have to sit there while she decides what dress she wants to wear while she's having a conversation with Sarah and dancing in circles and sticking her naked butt in my face. It sounds cute, but it gets old.
We're so busy living the day to day and just trying to get everything done that we don't have time to think about how quickly time flies by. You work and struggle and muddle and wade through all of the years when they are so small and you can barely function, and then when you are finally getting some sleep and feel like you might just have the hang of it they are half-way out the door.
I don't dwell on it very much, but every once in awhile I'll stop and think about how big Andy is and how he's not a baby anymore and about the things that he did at Amanda's age and how far we've come. I'm happy about all of it, but it's hard not to be a tiny bit sad as well. My babies are growing up.
And then I'm in the car with Amanda on the way home from school and she says to me, "Mommy, can we just go home and watch t.v. and cuddle?" or Andy asks me to lie with him until he falls asleep or Sarah asks me if she can sit on my lap and I smile knowing that I still have a little time. I know I've posted hundreds of times about the things I won't miss, but these are the things that I will.
Friday, January 10, 2014
Spelling Bee
Andy's school had a spelling bee today for fourth through sixth graders. They were given a spelling test and the top two people in each class automatically got into the bee and the next highest two were picked as alternates. Andy got in. Come to find out he was actually one of the alternates but one of the kids who got in declined to participate which bumped Andy into the bee, but we'll take it.
He's always been a really smart kid, so it doesn't surprise me that he did well on the entrance test. But he's also a lazy kid. In most respects that would mean he takes after me, but when it comes to school it actually means he takes after his father. He didn't care to study for the spelling bee, and wasn't concerned about it at all. He is never worried about tests, no matter how important they are perceived to be. I would have studied for it not because I cared, but because I was supposed to care and I always (many times grudgingly) did what I was supposed to in regards to schoolwork. Charlie claims that he never really knew how to study until he got to college, so I'm assuming he would have prepared for the bee the same way Andy did, by doing next to nothing. It was Charlie, however, that tested him and made him study the small amount that he did.
The problem with Andy is that he reads a lot and has a fantastic vocabulary. I think he's at a college reading level by now, if not then second semester twelfth grade. But since his vocabulary is so good and he understands what most of the words mean, he also thinks that means he knows how to spell them. He doesn't.
He did very well and made it to the seventh or eighth round, but came in 5th place. Not too bad out of 30 kids. But there was a huge difference between him and the kids that beat him. They had to do a spell off between 3 and 4 to determine who got third place and even I didn't know how to spell half the words those kids got right. Andy never would have made it. Those kids were prepared and you knew that they studied, a lot.
Regardless of how he did, I'm proud of him for getting up in front of half of the school, as well as several teachers and parents, and making it as far as he did. I'm hoping it gave him some incentive for next year to try a little harder and study more.
If not, I guess he'll eventually learn how to study in college, just like his dad.
He's always been a really smart kid, so it doesn't surprise me that he did well on the entrance test. But he's also a lazy kid. In most respects that would mean he takes after me, but when it comes to school it actually means he takes after his father. He didn't care to study for the spelling bee, and wasn't concerned about it at all. He is never worried about tests, no matter how important they are perceived to be. I would have studied for it not because I cared, but because I was supposed to care and I always (many times grudgingly) did what I was supposed to in regards to schoolwork. Charlie claims that he never really knew how to study until he got to college, so I'm assuming he would have prepared for the bee the same way Andy did, by doing next to nothing. It was Charlie, however, that tested him and made him study the small amount that he did.
The problem with Andy is that he reads a lot and has a fantastic vocabulary. I think he's at a college reading level by now, if not then second semester twelfth grade. But since his vocabulary is so good and he understands what most of the words mean, he also thinks that means he knows how to spell them. He doesn't.
He did very well and made it to the seventh or eighth round, but came in 5th place. Not too bad out of 30 kids. But there was a huge difference between him and the kids that beat him. They had to do a spell off between 3 and 4 to determine who got third place and even I didn't know how to spell half the words those kids got right. Andy never would have made it. Those kids were prepared and you knew that they studied, a lot.
Regardless of how he did, I'm proud of him for getting up in front of half of the school, as well as several teachers and parents, and making it as far as he did. I'm hoping it gave him some incentive for next year to try a little harder and study more.
If not, I guess he'll eventually learn how to study in college, just like his dad.
Monday, January 6, 2014
The Promise of a New Year
If I got paid for blogging I would be poor. So, so poor. If I got paid for submitting my ideas for blogging I would be rich. Things are constantly running through my head that I want to tell you about, post about, laugh about, cry about. But my execution is horrible. The longer I'm away, the more I worry that I'm going to have to start my post out like this and the less I want to come back. But I really do want to come back because I love doing this.
I've spent the last couple of weeks trying to enjoy some time with my kids and my extended family. I tried to put my phone down a bit more (I need a lot of practice at that but am getting a tiny bit better) and just be in the moment. We had a lovely break, with Christmas Day here and then a trip to my parent's house to celebrate Christmas with the rest of my family. The kids loved seeing and playing with their cousins, old and young, and I enjoyed catching up with my sister and sister-in-laws and my parents. We narrowly escaped getting stuck at two different airports on the way home but made it in time to sleepily celebrate New Year's Eve and then we only had a few more days before the kids went back to school.
Something weird and different happened this break. For the first time ever the kids got sick of each other and being at home before I got sick of them. I probably could have hunkered down and hung out with them for a few more days, but they could not get along at all and even Andy said he was bored and ready to go back to school. Hmm, maybe they are starting to get a little more tolerable. Or maybe I'm just becoming more zen, but I seriously doubt that.
I definitely am ready to be back on a schedule. It's hard to have everybody at home with nothing to do and nowhere that we have to be. Breakfast rolls into lunch which rolls into dinner and before you know it nobody has eaten anything all day. Plus the kids get surprisingly mad when you skip lunch and feed them dinner at 5:00. Not because they are starving but because they think it's just wrong to not have lunch at some point during the day.
So I'm glad that they are back at school and I can go back to the gym and start ignoring the housework and everything else and wonder why I can't get everything done. As I've said before I don't like to make New Year's Resolutions but one thing I am going to try to do this year is to get 1-2 loads of laundry done each day so I don't have those days when I'm doing 10 loads of laundry in a row. Where nobody has any clean clothes all at the same time and they have to pick straws to see who gets clean clothes first. This plan is fine as far as the washing goes it's the folding and putting away that's going to be the real challenge. If I can just do it everyday for a couple weeks I think I can make it a habit.
I also think I am going to stop whining about how my friends never call me and pick up the phone and call them myself. Or text, that's easier and so much more personal. I talked to a friend of mine a few weeks ago that I haven't seen in a few years and it was so nice to catch up and made me so happy. Why should I wait for that to happen when I can make it happen all on my own? The time change always messes me up and makes it hard to call people (I know, I'm mentally challenged when it comes to time zones, don't even ask me when prime time t.v. starts here because I honestly don't know) but I just need to suck it up.
Now maybe I need to find something new to complain about? No, I need to stop complaining as well. I have a pretty good life and a wonderful husband and great kids, what more could I ask for?
This. This is what more I could ask for. Today Sarah came downstairs to tell me that Amanda had peed on the floor and somebody had to go help her clean it up. I sat there and didn't move because I really did not want to do it. So Sarah offered to do it, just like that. And she did, without complaining or asking me for something in return. I was happy, she was happy, it was a win/win. Later I asked Amanda why she peed on the floor. She said it wasn't her fault, it was her pee's fault. Her pee was just crazy. I thought she had peed on the floor, but she was sitting on the toilet and her pee got on the floor.
So, what I could use is more crazy stories from my crazy kids that I can laugh about later and that just make my day. Things that make you come back here to check up on me and find out what is going on in my bizarre life. Because these stories are going to happen less and less and they aren't going to be cute they are going to be serious growing up stuff and not anything I want to deal with now. So now I'm just going to be happy right where I am.
I've spent the last couple of weeks trying to enjoy some time with my kids and my extended family. I tried to put my phone down a bit more (I need a lot of practice at that but am getting a tiny bit better) and just be in the moment. We had a lovely break, with Christmas Day here and then a trip to my parent's house to celebrate Christmas with the rest of my family. The kids loved seeing and playing with their cousins, old and young, and I enjoyed catching up with my sister and sister-in-laws and my parents. We narrowly escaped getting stuck at two different airports on the way home but made it in time to sleepily celebrate New Year's Eve and then we only had a few more days before the kids went back to school.
Something weird and different happened this break. For the first time ever the kids got sick of each other and being at home before I got sick of them. I probably could have hunkered down and hung out with them for a few more days, but they could not get along at all and even Andy said he was bored and ready to go back to school. Hmm, maybe they are starting to get a little more tolerable. Or maybe I'm just becoming more zen, but I seriously doubt that.
I definitely am ready to be back on a schedule. It's hard to have everybody at home with nothing to do and nowhere that we have to be. Breakfast rolls into lunch which rolls into dinner and before you know it nobody has eaten anything all day. Plus the kids get surprisingly mad when you skip lunch and feed them dinner at 5:00. Not because they are starving but because they think it's just wrong to not have lunch at some point during the day.
So I'm glad that they are back at school and I can go back to the gym and start ignoring the housework and everything else and wonder why I can't get everything done. As I've said before I don't like to make New Year's Resolutions but one thing I am going to try to do this year is to get 1-2 loads of laundry done each day so I don't have those days when I'm doing 10 loads of laundry in a row. Where nobody has any clean clothes all at the same time and they have to pick straws to see who gets clean clothes first. This plan is fine as far as the washing goes it's the folding and putting away that's going to be the real challenge. If I can just do it everyday for a couple weeks I think I can make it a habit.
I also think I am going to stop whining about how my friends never call me and pick up the phone and call them myself. Or text, that's easier and so much more personal. I talked to a friend of mine a few weeks ago that I haven't seen in a few years and it was so nice to catch up and made me so happy. Why should I wait for that to happen when I can make it happen all on my own? The time change always messes me up and makes it hard to call people (I know, I'm mentally challenged when it comes to time zones, don't even ask me when prime time t.v. starts here because I honestly don't know) but I just need to suck it up.
Now maybe I need to find something new to complain about? No, I need to stop complaining as well. I have a pretty good life and a wonderful husband and great kids, what more could I ask for?
This. This is what more I could ask for. Today Sarah came downstairs to tell me that Amanda had peed on the floor and somebody had to go help her clean it up. I sat there and didn't move because I really did not want to do it. So Sarah offered to do it, just like that. And she did, without complaining or asking me for something in return. I was happy, she was happy, it was a win/win. Later I asked Amanda why she peed on the floor. She said it wasn't her fault, it was her pee's fault. Her pee was just crazy. I thought she had peed on the floor, but she was sitting on the toilet and her pee got on the floor.
So, what I could use is more crazy stories from my crazy kids that I can laugh about later and that just make my day. Things that make you come back here to check up on me and find out what is going on in my bizarre life. Because these stories are going to happen less and less and they aren't going to be cute they are going to be serious growing up stuff and not anything I want to deal with now. So now I'm just going to be happy right where I am.
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