This weekend our family visited one of my most favorite places in the whole wide world. It was opening weekend at our family trailer. We made the 2 1/2 hour drive north to help our extended family clean & repair our beloved vacation spot. This is a place where my grandparents stayed every summer, we would go and visit them at least one week every year, usually much more often than that. I can tell we're there even if I'm blindfolded-I never forget the welcoming smell of woods and river that greets us as soon as we turn off the highway and into the trailer park.
This year was interesting, as we shared the trailer with my sister and her family. We had 5 kids and 4 adults under one roof and it was raining most of the time while we were there. Even with those odds, we managed to have a great time. My father and step-mother got a room at the local hotel, so after the majority of our work was done yesterday we headed over the hotel pool. EVERYBODY swam and had a great time-even my grandmother had a part in the fun. After swimming (and putting kids directly in to jammies-we're no dummies), Dad bought pizza for the whole lot of us and we ate in the loft/balcony lounge that overlooks the pool area. After supper, it was time for bed for the kiddies (like you didn't see that one coming)-we took the kids back the trailer and they were out with minimal struggle (only my little guy was difficult).
The grown-ups had a couple of beers and watched bad TV as the trailer doesn't get a lot of stations in. Sis and I had a lot of fun making fun of the bad 80's martial arts movie that the big guys were watching. It was so much fun to just hang out and relax-I always feel relaxed when I'm there.
As I unpacked today, I realized that I didn't even have to get into the emergency cache of activities I packed for our rainy weekend. The kids knew that this place is home, and they took full advantage of that fact-no major meltdowns or blow-ups from any of them.
The only time there was any stress was probably when it was time to go. We were trying to clean the trailer, keep it clean and keep the kids from going into the cleaned areas while loading the cars and getting kids out the door-You parents out there know what that's like! So we said goodbye to the spruced up trailer. And we look to the next time when we can get back to our little mobile home.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
I Enjoy Being a Mom.. er... ah.. I mean a girl..
I mentioned something to my toddler the other day about Mommy being a girl. He looked me square in the eye and said plain as day "No! You're Mommy!" Well, he has that about right. As I have mentioned in a previous blog, now that I'm an at home mommy, I kind of stay in mommy mode at all times (IE: not much energy left for "extracurricular activities" with hubby at the end of the day). This point was reiterated today-I was folding laundry while the little guy was napping. I like listening to and "old" standards music station (Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, etc..)-while listening, on came the tune "I Enjoy Being a Girl". I listened to the lyrics and had to chuckle to myself-I like doing a lot of the things mentioned in the song (fixing my hair, wearing fancy dresses), they just are not a priority at the time.
No wonder I'm not feeling very romantic these days-boogers as an accessory are not that attractive. So, I had an epiphany... If I'm not feeling like a "dream girl" or pinup (like I was ever one of those to begin with-ha!), I'll "fake it until I make it". Now get your heads up out of the gutter and the jaws off the ground people. All I did was write a simple letter to my husband. See, I had the time (napping toddler) to sit and think of some passionate things to say-so I put them down on paper. I figured that if I can write a passionate love letter to hubby, and place it in a place that I know he won't come across until nearly bedtime (right in front of his toothpaste in the medicine cabinet)-he'll read it and perhaps know that I mean business.
The interesting factor to this is that my husband is basically a robot, so this almost feels like a science experiment (and I'm the mad scientist, right?). I have no idea how he will react to this. I mean this is the man that responded once to my (failed) attempt to be sexy like on TV by mentioning that I didn't have any "drawers" on (no I didn't call them that, but I'm trying to not creep you guys out too much!) by FREAKING out. "Great!" he said, "now I gotta worry about your dress flying up all night and people seeing." Bear in mind that we were on the way to his class reunion, so I can understand, but I was disappointed, to say the least. It wasn't the way I imagined the evening to begin.. By the way, the dress did NOT fly up-I knew it wouldn't.
So, how will the robot react to the bait? And how will the mad scientist react to the robots reaction? Will batman live to fight another day? Tune in same bat time, same bat channel.. Or should I say same GIRL channel??
No wonder I'm not feeling very romantic these days-boogers as an accessory are not that attractive. So, I had an epiphany... If I'm not feeling like a "dream girl" or pinup (like I was ever one of those to begin with-ha!), I'll "fake it until I make it". Now get your heads up out of the gutter and the jaws off the ground people. All I did was write a simple letter to my husband. See, I had the time (napping toddler) to sit and think of some passionate things to say-so I put them down on paper. I figured that if I can write a passionate love letter to hubby, and place it in a place that I know he won't come across until nearly bedtime (right in front of his toothpaste in the medicine cabinet)-he'll read it and perhaps know that I mean business.
The interesting factor to this is that my husband is basically a robot, so this almost feels like a science experiment (and I'm the mad scientist, right?). I have no idea how he will react to this. I mean this is the man that responded once to my (failed) attempt to be sexy like on TV by mentioning that I didn't have any "drawers" on (no I didn't call them that, but I'm trying to not creep you guys out too much!) by FREAKING out. "Great!" he said, "now I gotta worry about your dress flying up all night and people seeing." Bear in mind that we were on the way to his class reunion, so I can understand, but I was disappointed, to say the least. It wasn't the way I imagined the evening to begin.. By the way, the dress did NOT fly up-I knew it wouldn't.
So, how will the robot react to the bait? And how will the mad scientist react to the robots reaction? Will batman live to fight another day? Tune in same bat time, same bat channel.. Or should I say same GIRL channel??
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
A couple of surprising things I would never have known.
If I hadn't recently become a SAHM (this stands for Stay At Home Mom-the first thing I didn't know until after my change in career), there are a few things I think I never would have realized. I've listed some below:
1. A Mom's gotta do what a Mom's gotta do. Whether it be dealing with mud, spaghetti, poo or peeps, we sometimes have to get a little (or a lot) dirty and just get the job done.
2. Easter grass does NOT vacuum up well. In fact-it doesn't vacuum at all-it just wraps around the vacuum "wheel" enough times to stop the vacuum and nearly start a fire. Not only does it do that, but when you attempt to clean it out of the vacuum cleaner, you end up with a lot of dusty grass falling out that your 2 year old proceeds to pick up and put BACK into the Easter basket because "Isn't that where it goes??" Now, I'm talking about the non-environmentally healthy plastic grass that they had when I was a kid and (unfortunately) still sell today as opposed to the much nicer recycled paper grass that is becoming more and more popular-that stuff seems to vacuum up fine. Not that I'm going to throw a bunch around to test the theory! I would like to propose that we just do without Easter grass at all-life could be so much easier, No Easter grass, no glitter, No Christmas tree pine needles, okay I'm going a little overboard here, so I'll move on.
3. Fingernails are an effective tool for removing dog poo from the bottom of a toddler's tennie shoe. Umm... Not much to say here other than Eww.. I know you're cringing at me right now, but please refer to number one and maybe you'll understand?
4. And on that note-one unfortunate side effect to being a stay home mommy is that sometimes after dealing with a toddler scrabbling over me all day, and things such as dog poo (as mentioned above)... Well, let's just say that most nights when I go to bed anymore, I want to sleep. I'm very fortunate that I have a kind and patient husband that loves me just as I am. However, I'm sometimes unhappy with myself or my ahem.. "drive"-as it's a pretty big change from how I used to be in that department a year or so ago. Okay, now that I've grossed everyone out way too much, I'll move on... "Next?"
5. There are often surprising opportunities that occur for us SAHMs. Such as my neighbor called me up and let me know that a zoo that is only an hour away is having free admission this week, perhaps we could ride together with our boys and take a picnic lunch tomorrow? Of course, these are exactly the things that my hubby and I were talking about when we decided we're going to try to "ride out" the mommy bus as long as possible.
One of my favorite words is "Serendipity" it is defined as "good luck in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries." That is what a lot of my days are like-serendipitous. I just never know what new discovery that my little guy (or my big girl, too) are going to help me uncover. Yes, it's NOT perfect, I get dirty (eat your heart out Mike Rowe), I get treated like a jungle gym, I sometimes get hit, or kicked, or sometimes yelled at. You know what they say, "It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it." Well, for the time being, that "somebody" is me. I've GOT to do this job-I need to soak it in and revel in it for as long as I can, for even if I find I don't financially need to go back to work, the kids will grow up eventually. I feel it like the humidity of a distant thunderstorm-they'll leave me someday. So, for today, and tomorrow and (hopefully) the days after, I'm going to be here, waiting to see how they'll surprise me next.
1. A Mom's gotta do what a Mom's gotta do. Whether it be dealing with mud, spaghetti, poo or peeps, we sometimes have to get a little (or a lot) dirty and just get the job done.
2. Easter grass does NOT vacuum up well. In fact-it doesn't vacuum at all-it just wraps around the vacuum "wheel" enough times to stop the vacuum and nearly start a fire. Not only does it do that, but when you attempt to clean it out of the vacuum cleaner, you end up with a lot of dusty grass falling out that your 2 year old proceeds to pick up and put BACK into the Easter basket because "Isn't that where it goes??" Now, I'm talking about the non-environmentally healthy plastic grass that they had when I was a kid and (unfortunately) still sell today as opposed to the much nicer recycled paper grass that is becoming more and more popular-that stuff seems to vacuum up fine. Not that I'm going to throw a bunch around to test the theory! I would like to propose that we just do without Easter grass at all-life could be so much easier, No Easter grass, no glitter, No Christmas tree pine needles, okay I'm going a little overboard here, so I'll move on.
3. Fingernails are an effective tool for removing dog poo from the bottom of a toddler's tennie shoe. Umm... Not much to say here other than Eww.. I know you're cringing at me right now, but please refer to number one and maybe you'll understand?
4. And on that note-one unfortunate side effect to being a stay home mommy is that sometimes after dealing with a toddler scrabbling over me all day, and things such as dog poo (as mentioned above)... Well, let's just say that most nights when I go to bed anymore, I want to sleep. I'm very fortunate that I have a kind and patient husband that loves me just as I am. However, I'm sometimes unhappy with myself or my ahem.. "drive"-as it's a pretty big change from how I used to be in that department a year or so ago. Okay, now that I've grossed everyone out way too much, I'll move on... "Next?"
5. There are often surprising opportunities that occur for us SAHMs. Such as my neighbor called me up and let me know that a zoo that is only an hour away is having free admission this week, perhaps we could ride together with our boys and take a picnic lunch tomorrow? Of course, these are exactly the things that my hubby and I were talking about when we decided we're going to try to "ride out" the mommy bus as long as possible.
One of my favorite words is "Serendipity" it is defined as "good luck in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries." That is what a lot of my days are like-serendipitous. I just never know what new discovery that my little guy (or my big girl, too) are going to help me uncover. Yes, it's NOT perfect, I get dirty (eat your heart out Mike Rowe), I get treated like a jungle gym, I sometimes get hit, or kicked, or sometimes yelled at. You know what they say, "It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it." Well, for the time being, that "somebody" is me. I've GOT to do this job-I need to soak it in and revel in it for as long as I can, for even if I find I don't financially need to go back to work, the kids will grow up eventually. I feel it like the humidity of a distant thunderstorm-they'll leave me someday. So, for today, and tomorrow and (hopefully) the days after, I'm going to be here, waiting to see how they'll surprise me next.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Give me a Vegemite sandwhich or make that 4!
I'm not even completely sure what all is in Vegemite, but it sounds like it would have lots of vitamins in it. I'm willing to try anything right now to keep my family healthy. My kids still have their perpetual sniffles and occasional cough. Then my hubby and I had to "kick it up a notch" yesterday by coming down with food poisoning!
I've about had it with all this illness in my household. It has become a point of contention between hubby and I as we disagree how to handle the kids getting sick all of the time. I think that it's been enough to merit a call to the Dr. for at least a blood test to check blood cell/platelet counts and/or allergy tests. I think the least we can do is to explain to the doc how often the kids are getting sick and see if HE thinks it's something to worry about testing for right now. Hubby just thinks that the kids have bad luck with getting sick. And especially since money is tight-he doesn't want to spend way too much money on unnecessary tests. We actually got in a nice argument about this a couple of weeks ago, and I think we have agreed to disagree.
I was willing to let the topic lie low for a little bit, until my sister and mother both brought up the subject of my little sickos, and asked if I was going to talk to a doctor about it. Well, that about pushed me over the edge. I spent an hour and a half the next morning (that I could have been sleeping since hubby wasn't working) surfing Mayo clinic to look up symptoms. It doesn't look likely that they would have radon poisoning, or Carbon dioxide since those are definitely more severe symptoms-so I relaxed a little. It IS possible that they have an allergy to dust mites, or some form of anemia, or hay fever.
So, for the next month I am doing one of the things hubby suggested-keeping a daily log of my children's health (guess what-for the past week they have had runny noses and coughs). When my big girl has her "well child" checkup next month I will have at least a months worth of symptoms to show the doctor and he can help us decide if we need further testing or not. The good news is that my kids don't let their colds stop them-they just keep going as if nothing's wrong. They're probably so used to snotty noses that it doesn't bother them anymore. Don't be surprised in a month when I have more info to post about sick kids and their road to recovery.
I've about had it with all this illness in my household. It has become a point of contention between hubby and I as we disagree how to handle the kids getting sick all of the time. I think that it's been enough to merit a call to the Dr. for at least a blood test to check blood cell/platelet counts and/or allergy tests. I think the least we can do is to explain to the doc how often the kids are getting sick and see if HE thinks it's something to worry about testing for right now. Hubby just thinks that the kids have bad luck with getting sick. And especially since money is tight-he doesn't want to spend way too much money on unnecessary tests. We actually got in a nice argument about this a couple of weeks ago, and I think we have agreed to disagree.
I was willing to let the topic lie low for a little bit, until my sister and mother both brought up the subject of my little sickos, and asked if I was going to talk to a doctor about it. Well, that about pushed me over the edge. I spent an hour and a half the next morning (that I could have been sleeping since hubby wasn't working) surfing Mayo clinic to look up symptoms. It doesn't look likely that they would have radon poisoning, or Carbon dioxide since those are definitely more severe symptoms-so I relaxed a little. It IS possible that they have an allergy to dust mites, or some form of anemia, or hay fever.
So, for the next month I am doing one of the things hubby suggested-keeping a daily log of my children's health (guess what-for the past week they have had runny noses and coughs). When my big girl has her "well child" checkup next month I will have at least a months worth of symptoms to show the doctor and he can help us decide if we need further testing or not. The good news is that my kids don't let their colds stop them-they just keep going as if nothing's wrong. They're probably so used to snotty noses that it doesn't bother them anymore. Don't be surprised in a month when I have more info to post about sick kids and their road to recovery.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
What's it all about?
Our church had a Maundy Thursday service in preparation of Easter this week. My husband then asked me-now what happened on Maundy Thursday? My seven year old and I proceeded to take turns reading out loud a great book we found at the library. It's called "The Very First Easter" by Paul L. Maier. It is such a good book at breaking down the Easter story in easier to understand terms for little ones. I was so impressed with it that I may use it for my Jr./Sr. High Sunday school class tomorrow. I've attached a copy here, the front cover gives you an example of the awesome illustrations that are within (sorry about the camera glare. With that said, I wish everyone Happy Easter! Oh, and by the way-my dear hubby now knows that Maundy Thursday is the celebration/remembrance of the Last Supper. Even old men (teehee) can learn something new.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Boys will be...
I reached a low note yesterday in my mothering "gig". My big girl is off school this week for Easter break-so I've been trying to make it as fun as possible for the three of us. In other words, I'm trying to keep us all from driving ourselves bonkers. While I was making the kids' favorite lunch, Mac N Cheese, they played in our family room. I called them to lunch and we all dug in we all enjoyed our lunch and each others company.
After I was finished eating I traipsed into the family room to see what the kids had been up to before lunch... Uh oh-there was Easter grass ALL over my family room (something I can actually understand-it IS fun to play with). I calmly let the kiddos know that they needed to clean it up while I was cleaning up from lunch. A few minutes later I ducked in to check-my little guy was throwing the grass around still (or again however you look at it)! I reminded the kids of what they needed to be doing-and they started collecting grass.
I bent down to pick up some books that were also on the ground when I realized-they were library books that my little guy had somehow found a marker and marked all over the cover of. I told him how that is NOT okay, we don't color on books, and I took the books to the kitchen to attempt to clean (luckily they cleaned easy). I then took the books back into the family room to discover my toddler once again throwing grass around like a flower girl. That's when I discovered the REST of the library books. They had been colored on also (all the while little man is singing and playing with the grass)! That is when I lost my temper-I yelled and dropped the books loudly on the ground so they would draw attention to MOM. I know it was ridiculous to get so worked up over books-but I love reading so much that I want my kids to feel attached to books also. It was almost like I saw my kid hurting some old friends. Silly, I know, but that's how it felt. I told my little guy to go to his room. I cleaned the book covers (once again they easily cleaned-thank goodness it must have been a washable marker.)
I then decided to go talk rationally to my little guy. That's when I realized that the poor little fellow was so startled by my sudden outburst that he was hiding under his bed. Guess who felt like the worst momma in the world? Well, I apologized of course. I then explained again about how we don't color on books and how if he did it again we would have to stop going to the library until he was old enough to understand this. He's only 2 1/2 so I don't know how much he understood, but I can only hope.
I guess I just had to let everyone know that I am not a perfect mom, but I'm trying to be the best mommy I can for my kids. On a lighter note-we had one of our nephews sleepover last night. It was pretty fun watching how he and our little guy interact. Of course our toddler wants to be just like his big cousin, and followed him around all day and night. I just had to share how the (almost) five year old woke us up this morning-it was about 20 minutes before our alarm was supposed to ring. "Bumpy" (that's what he calls my husband) he said loudly as he shook my husbands head, "Bumpy, it's time to wake up." "Good news Bumpy, Nate was sleeping, but I just woke him up!" Good news indeed. Gotta love them boys!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Goin' to the chapel
What and exciting weekend our family had. We were invited to a wedding on Saturday, all four of us. After thinking about the invitation for a moment or two we decided that we would take our daughter with us since she is older, but the little guy needed to stay with family (not that he was complaining-he got to sleepover with three older cousins-one of which he pretty much idolizes right now).
To make things interesting, my hubby was asked to be photographer for the wedding/reception. He is an awesome (in my opinion which IS biased) amateur photographer and since the bride and groom were aware of this, they decided to save themselves some stress and money by having a friend do the job. Of course hubby was VERY nervous about the task-these were peoples WEDDING pictures, mind you! In fact, as soon as we got home last night, he had to look at all 667 (give or take) pictures to make sure he didn't mess up, and guess what?? He didn't! I think he did a fantastic job (once again, biased) that the bride and groom will be very happy with.
I knew my hubby was going to be busy all day/night at the wedding, I was really looking forward to spending some quality time with my big girl. Well, nature just doesn't work that way, and wouldn't you know it, she started to feel VERY tired during the ceremony. I tried to revive her in between the wedding and reception by taking her for some pie (and coffee for me of course!), but nothin' doin'. All she wanted to do was sleep-so for the hour it took for the wedding party to get to the reception-she slept in the backseat of our car in the parking lot of the hotel/reception hall. Once the wedding party arrived, I was lucky enough to get permission from my brother-in-law for sweetpea to use their hotel bed to take a nap. That's pretty much where she was for the rest of the night.
Since my brother-in-law and his wife were part of the wedding party, they had my sister-in-law's sister come along so that she could stay in the hotel room with their two young children. Thank goodness she was nice enough to watch my sleeping beauty also, so that I could go out and enjoy some of the celebration. Knowing she was asleep I was able to relax and have a fun time, but I was missing her every second. My girl has a lot of pizzazz so it was hard not to see her out on the dance floor. Several people mentioned how they missed her. I remember being her age and going to weddings and feeling like they were something magical, so it's also a bummer she missed that. In fact, I'm ALMOST thirty-five and this wedding still seemed magical to me-you can just tell when it's the right fit and this couple is DEFINITELY the right fit. I just hope that sleeping beauty can find her prince someday (a long time from now) and experience the magic for herself (did I mention a long time from now??)
To make things interesting, my hubby was asked to be photographer for the wedding/reception. He is an awesome (in my opinion which IS biased) amateur photographer and since the bride and groom were aware of this, they decided to save themselves some stress and money by having a friend do the job. Of course hubby was VERY nervous about the task-these were peoples WEDDING pictures, mind you! In fact, as soon as we got home last night, he had to look at all 667 (give or take) pictures to make sure he didn't mess up, and guess what?? He didn't! I think he did a fantastic job (once again, biased) that the bride and groom will be very happy with.
I knew my hubby was going to be busy all day/night at the wedding, I was really looking forward to spending some quality time with my big girl. Well, nature just doesn't work that way, and wouldn't you know it, she started to feel VERY tired during the ceremony. I tried to revive her in between the wedding and reception by taking her for some pie (and coffee for me of course!), but nothin' doin'. All she wanted to do was sleep-so for the hour it took for the wedding party to get to the reception-she slept in the backseat of our car in the parking lot of the hotel/reception hall. Once the wedding party arrived, I was lucky enough to get permission from my brother-in-law for sweetpea to use their hotel bed to take a nap. That's pretty much where she was for the rest of the night.
Since my brother-in-law and his wife were part of the wedding party, they had my sister-in-law's sister come along so that she could stay in the hotel room with their two young children. Thank goodness she was nice enough to watch my sleeping beauty also, so that I could go out and enjoy some of the celebration. Knowing she was asleep I was able to relax and have a fun time, but I was missing her every second. My girl has a lot of pizzazz so it was hard not to see her out on the dance floor. Several people mentioned how they missed her. I remember being her age and going to weddings and feeling like they were something magical, so it's also a bummer she missed that. In fact, I'm ALMOST thirty-five and this wedding still seemed magical to me-you can just tell when it's the right fit and this couple is DEFINITELY the right fit. I just hope that sleeping beauty can find her prince someday (a long time from now) and experience the magic for herself (did I mention a long time from now??)
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