Duck, Duck, Goose

-OR-

Things to Do When All Your Siblings Go Back to School

 

 

I have to admit, I was kind of impressed with the soon-to-be-preschooler's creativity this morning.  So much so, that I actually got out the camera.  Probably one of those moments that would only impress a totally biased mother (um, ME!), but I had to marvel at both his ability to set it all up... AND stay self-entertained!

 

Duck...

duck...

 

duck...

 

GOOSE!

 

Note how he holds the stuffed animal behind him so that it can actually "chase" him around the house.

 

 

P.S. I realize that your first thought may not be, "How cute and clever!", but rather, "Um... that is a grotesque amount of webkinz for one family."  Please know that I agree with both sentiments.





Back to School 2013

I cannot, CANNOT believe that it's time for the kiddos (well, three of the four, at least) to go back to school all ready! I mean... seriously?  Are these the same kiddos that when we moved here were going into preschool, 2nd grade, and 3rd grade?

                                             first day of school 2008                                                             first day of school 2013

 September 2008

 



 August 14, 2013

 

 

Why Big Sisters Are Awesome, Part II

(If you missed Part 1 in this series, it was back in June 2010.)

Halloween... Was It Only a Week Ago?

Why does it seem like Halloween was a month ago, when it was only last week?  Maybe because it was, technically, last month?  Maybe because we plowed through all of the candy so quickly?  (It seems like it should last longer...)  Regardless, I should certainly take down the Halloween decorations from our house.  Maybe tomorrow...

In the meantime, a few photos of kiddos and costumes:



• The Almost-Teenager as a devil (headed to a friend's party on October 20)
• The Eleven-Year-Old as a gypsy (prior to Trunk-or-Treat on October 26)
• The Eight-Year-Old Ninja (huge props to him for being willing to wear the same costume 2 years in a row--hooray!)
• The Just-Turned-Four-Year-Old as a skeleton.  (Muchas gracias, WalMart, for selling darling pajamas for only $6 this year!)

Clearly I'm biased, but aren't they adorable?!  There is only one thing that I think is cuter than our kids: our kids in COSTUME!!

Post Halloween Picnic

Because, sometimes if you have too much candy to eat all by yourself, it helps to share with "friends".  Or in this case, Webkinz stuffed animals.

Um, so yeah, that actually IS taking place in a child's bedroom.  The only thing that would make it better would be if each "friend" got his or her favorite type of candy from the pile.  Not to worry!  That situation was remedied about 1 minute after the original photo was taken:

(Note how in the first picture,  Monkey is kinda glaring at Pug.  But once Monkey has his licorice, he happily looks at his own bounty!)



I love the creativity of four-year-olds!

Unanticipated, Part II

Apparently, I was not specific enough yesterday after the, ahem, "incident".  I was very clear that toys are NOT to be flushed down any of the toilets in our house or any house.

It did not occur to me to mention that toys should not actually be put down ANYTHING in the house, including, but not limited to, air vents in the floor:

I know that doesn't look like many toys, but here's what actually came out once I finished the spontaneous scavenger hunt:

Unfortunately, it also did not occur to me to mention that the ONLY things that are acceptable to put in toilets are toilet paper and the category of things-that-come-out-of-your-body.

So the boys figured the bathroom hand towel was fair game.

In their defense (though why I'm defending the Almost Three Year Old and Cousin at this point, I'm unsure), I did, technically, ask the Cousin if it would be all right if the next time he used the bathroom the Almost Three Year Old could watch, to get an idea of how "big boys" use the toilet.  The Cousin sweetly obliged.  It just seemed odd that they were laughing so much after using the bathroom.  But I guess when you are 3 and 4 years old, it is hysterically funny to make multiple attempts to flush a towel down the toilet....

So we had to have a bath:

Luckily, they are all ridiculously cute.

If you are interested in seeing the Cleanest Bathroom Floor in America, please feel free to drop by our house.  After two days in a row of being scrubbed, it is spotless.  We may eat dinner off of it tonight...

Unanticipated

Child-proof knobs on most of the doors in the house? Check.

Stationary bike hidden in a locked room? Check.

All choking hazards picked up off the floor?  Check.

Baby gate reinstalled at top of stairs? Check.

Instructions about "rules in our house" (arguably, there aren't a lot) dispensed ? Check.

We're watching our nephews (aged 4 & 1) for two days to give some MUCH deserved R&R to our brother- & sister-in-law (he just returned home from a 6 month deployment in Africa).  Their baby is a dream--super easy, super good-natured, and more importantly, not a super-screamer. :-)  And our Former Baby, the Almost Three Year Old, adores playing with his "older" cousin.  They are thick as thieves.  And just as sneaky.

This morning, while I snuggled with Baby Nephew and gave him a pre-nap bottle, I listened to the boys play delightedly.  I realized, belatedly, they sounded a little "too" delighted.  Sure enough, they had found a new game to play that was WAY more fun then any of the others they'd all ready come up with, such as empty-out-the-linen-cupboard, empty-all-the-toys-onto-the-bedroom-floor, or see-who-can-gleefully-scream-the-loudest.

It's called: Flush-Toys-Down-the-Toilet-Until-You-Flood-the-Bathroom.

On the bright side... the bathroom floor is now cleaner than it's been all summer!

What Did You Get to Do On Friday Night?

The evening wasn't exactly a total wash--I mean, we did get to go on a brief date (dinner) SANS KIDDOS for a little over an hour.  But when I picked up the girlies from play rehearsal at 9:00 p.m. downtown, one of them notified me that her water bottle had spilled quite a few of it's contents inside her bag... on their (shared) script.  And if the script is not turned in @ the end of the play, or if it gets totally ruined, we have to pay $25.  I was more worried about them not having a script than the $25, though I'm loathe to shell out any more money than I have to, at this point.

So I thought, no problem--I'll just blow-dry the bottom of all the pages with my hair dryer.  (Luckily, it was only the bottom of the pages, not all the pages.) Because the entire bottom of the script was a soggy, stuck-together mess.  I figured it would take 20-30 minutes, tops.

After 30 minutes, I decided that unless I wanted to die of boredom, I should listen to my mp3 player.

The "not wet" top side of the script

After over THREE HUNDRED pages (really?  clearly, I had no idea what I was getting into...), and a mere HOUR AND FIFTEEN MINUTES after the first 30 minutes (yes... that IS 1 hour and 45 minutes, total), we had mostly-dried out pages, in this form:

The bottom of the script

I left a book and 20 lbs.-worth of hand weights on it overnight, and it actually doesn't look too horrible, now.

Regardless, NOT how I wanted to spend my Friday night!  (Or any amount of time, on any day, for that matter...)

Three words:

Livin'

The

Dream!

Oh, the Things You Can Do! (with blankets...)

Somebody is very attached to his blankets.  The nice thing, he's not necessarily attached to any one in particular.  The not-so-nice thing is that he is attached to all of them.  So wherever he is in the house, he prefers that all of his blankets be there, too.

Last week, he danced with his blankets...

Today, he pulled a laundry basket into the living room, filled it with his blankets, and hopped in.  He mentioned he was like Baby Jesus.  Deciding that it would be infinitely more comfortable with a pillow, he confiscated one from his brother's room, settled back in... and requested that I take a picture with the "cam-ra, cam-ra!".  Yes, this is how he "smiles" for pictures right now.  Lovely, isn't it?

An Elmo-rific Birthday

-or-

Where, oh where did my baby go?



Somebody really likes Elmo.  Someone formerly known as "The Baby".  (Okay, actually we still call him the baby, but since he is now TWO YEARS OLD, we should probably switch it up at some point...)

Birthday Baby Boy and Brother

The celebration was low-key... because while I love the idea of elaborate birthday parties, I'm more into attending them than planning and executing them.  So he received some fun presents (tent and Elmo backpack) from Grandma & Grandpa... and $4 worth of Elmo merchandise from mom & dad from Target's dollar spot.  (Yep, that's right--we spent a whopping $4 plus tax on our kid for his birthday.  Technically, $8 if you add in the cupcake liners and Elmo cupcake toppers.)

siblings trying not to open watching delightedly the opening of presents 

Aunt, Uncle, Cousin & Baby Cousin joined us for dinner and cupcakes that evening, which made the day more festive! 

Elmo-rific cupcake tower 

Birthday Boy on Dad's lap, singing "Happy Birthday" to himself

And to top off the evening, the little guy serenaded us with his favorite song.  "Elmo's World", of course.  We didn't capture it on video that night, but here he is tonight after his bath.  Clutching the new Elmo given to him by his Cousin.  (Please kindly ignore my own singing...)

"Being Quiet" vs. "Being Good"

I seem to have a difficult time deciding between if I want my kids to "be quiet" or to "be good" in the afternoons....  Is it too much to ask for both?  (rhetorical question)

I should've KNOWN there was a reason why I was having an uninterrupted phone conversation.  I thought that maybe all of my implorations to please-not-talk-to-me-on-the-phone-unless-there-is-an-emergency (the definition of emergency being blood or vomit) were finally paying off.  To the boys' credit, I did actually finish the conversation.  Also, miraculously, the scene of the crime was a tile floor, and not carpet.

Why, yes, that is a dis-assembled Hungry, Hungry Hippos game in his hand and in the background.  Apparently, the game was too large to fit in the makeshift "tub" in its entirety.

Why Big Sisters Are Awesome

Thank You, Idina Menzel!

Or maybe the thanks should go to Stephen Schwartz, the composer. Or maybe thanks are due to the original Broadway cast of Wicked, since if they hadn't recorded a CD, I wouldn't own the song that changed my morning to one of (insert descriptive perjorative noun of your own choosing here) to one of, well, something approaching normalcy.

The Baby (who is actually now a toddler, but is still my baby. why must he grow up? and if he must grow up, why can't he FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD stop screaming?!?) had spent the morning either (1) screaming for no apparent reason, (2) riding around on my hip and whining mixed with screaming until I would put him in his crib, or (3) screaming because I had put him in his crib. After round 5 (actual count--not an exaggeration!) of this super-fun game, I was in his room trying to sort laundry, when he burst into a grin, squealed with delight, and went running to the living room. Curious, I followed him, and found him sitting in a chair in front of the computer, bobbing his head, and HAPPY (read: not screaming), listening to "No Good Deed" from the Wicked soundtrack.

About 15 minutes earlier, I had started listening to one of the ten-year-old's playlists from the songs on our computer, in an effort to distract myself from the screaming. The baby had expressed zero interest so far in a variety of danceable pop songs, and even U2... but Idina Menzel? Sold! As the song was winding down, I had to wonder if he would respond that favorably to the whole soundtrack, and not just that song...? Jackpot! And while he seemed to like all the music, he really responded to the songs with Ms. Menzel. He even started dancing to "The Wizard and I".

Plus, he stayed not-screamy for an entire hour and a half afterward.

Idina, I am now your biggest fan.

It Was Only a Matter of Time

In good news, I haven't had a anyone spill the contents of a box of cereal in 8-1/2 years.

In even better news, unlike last time, the contents were NOT dumped out on a hide-a-bed couch where the cushions had all ready been removed (going into practically every crevice), just minutes after I got out of the shower in preparation to take a 3-month-old to the pediatrician, with the realization that if I didn't clean up the cereal immediately the 21-month-old grinning girl would dance in the kid-tested-mother-approved contents, smashing them into dust in the living room, and as I looked at my watch to see whether we would be on time to the doctor appointment, vacuuming in my, ahem, unmentionables, I thought, "I don't think this is what my high school classmates thought I would be doing when they voted me Most Likely to Succeed."

Anyway, comparatively, having Lucky Charms spilled on a TILE FLOOR is practically heavenly! (Just ask the happy baby!)

Plus, I have to give the baby props for not only managing to get it off the table, where we all thought it was out of reach, but for knowing that it was in his best interest to do so while everyone else was out of the room. Smart baby.

Also, notice in the video how carefully he grabs a marshmallow amidst the cereal mess. Good thing he's our 4th... because 8-1/2 years ago, I promise that taking a picture of our toddler girl dancing in cereal never even crossed my mind....

Unrelated: All four of our babies have worn those pajamas! (sniff, sniff)

Please, Please Stop Growing Up!

*or*
My Baby Turns Six Years Old!

Right, I know that since I technically still have an actual baby, our third child probably no longer counts as my "baby"... but would he please stop getting older, all ready? Aah! The other day when I asked him if he could please just stay six and my little boy forever, he looked at me with a look that suggested I was differently-abled and said, "Mom, that's not even possible!"

We were all VERY lucky to have Grandma & Grandpa in town for the birthday event, and so we pulled the girls out of school early and ate lunch with the fam, grandparents, Aunt & Uncle & Nephew at everyone's dream birthday place: Chuck E. Cheese! I was a little hesitant, but it was actually awesome--who knew that Mondays-mid-day are DEAD at Chuck E. Cheese?!? Seriously, there was only one other family, and a few moms w/pre-schoolers... and by the time we left, we were literally the only ones there besides the employees. Very, very fun! And (surprise!), we actually remembered not only the camera, but to TAKE pictures!

Happy Birthday, Baby!

(Careful, buddy, that's HOT!)

The baby turned ONE YEAR OLD on Friday, October 23rd.... where in the world did that year go?!? (No, seriously!)

Things That Have Not Changed In A Year:

• still is completely and spellbinding-ly adorable (love those dimples!)
• still has no teeth
• still is a sometimes snuggler (even in the hospital, he liked some snuggles, but not all the time... and he's that way to this day)
• still screams like a banshee

We didn't celebrate his b-day on the actual day (Dad was out of town); we waited until Monday night when we could have Uncle & Aunt & Cousin over for pancake dinner & cupcakes. The baby was a little mystified by all the attention, but it didn't seem to phase him. And once he realized that the concoction on his tray was edible... well he just dug right in!

Bath Time Buddies

Ever since he has graduated to the "big boy bath", the baby loves to take baths.

Well, mostly. If the bath water starts, he gets really excited, and thinks the bath is for him. Even when his brother is all ready in the tub.

And if we try to let the five year old bathe alone, the baby just shrieks until we give in. Which means I probably shouldn't attempt bath time at the end of a day, since by that time I will do just about anything if it ensures I don't have to listen to whining in any form. So again, tonight, I let the baby invade his brother's bath.

I used to think that nothing would ever be as cute as my "bathing beauties" from when the girlies were little... but it turns out, "bath time buddies" are just as, if not more, cute than the girls were! (Shhh--don't tell them!) Or maybe it's not that they're "cuter", but simply that the 5-year-old has the best giggle in the family. *sigh* LOVE that giggle, and love those boys!

Not s'bright*

*Me, not the baby.

So there were a couple of missteps leading up to this picture, where he is guzzling water laced with a little apple juice.

Do you notice the mushy crumb in the corner? That is leftover from a donut--I was feeding him pieces of it. (Probably not sheer genius to give donut pieces to a baby... Misstep #1. Or maybe that should be Misstep 1B, and 1A should be purchasing the donuts.)

Misstep #2: Walking away from the baby in order to get cups of milk and water for the kids, while he was still demanding more food. Yes, I realize that counting donuts as "food" is a stretch. No, my own kids were not drinking the milk (I wish!); that was the neighbor kids.

Misstep #3: Ignoring the baby for two minutes while chatting with the kids about skim milk versus "regular" milk. (Even though skim IS regular at our house. Go figure. "Skim" milk... but donuts?!? Really? Really.)

Misstep #4: Thinking, "Oh, he's in his high chair. I only fed him little crumbs. He's fine."

Suddenly, the unmistakable sound of a baby choking. I rush over, remembering that I'd been in process of feeding him small (really small!) pieces of donut. There seem to be a lot more crumbs on the high chair than I remember. His eyes are watering, and I'm trying to pry open his jaws (mental flashback to last Thursday and the playdough scraping incident) to get out the donut, while wondering how he could choke on such a small piece. I'm also looking at the table, to see where the other half of the donut is. (We're not talking mini-donut, either.) Not on the table. Glance at counter. Not there. Finally get his jaws pried open, and pull out a soggy 1/2 donut.

Yeah, I had left it on his high chair tray! An entire half of a donut! What the...?! Quickly give sippy cup to baby, and he gulps it like it's Happy Hour.

Anyway, it's like I said: not s'bright.

Who Knew?

Who knew that:

• Having NINE kinds of cold cereal and THREE kinds of oatmeal constitutes "nothing to eat" to kids ages 9, 8 & 5?
• Having no less than a dozen clean shirts folded in a drawer means "there are no shirts to wear" (followed by a bit o' whining) to an eight year old?
• It can be more important to a nine-year-old girl to have buns put in her hair before school than to have her lunch made?
• It could take a kindergartner FIVE (agonizing?) minutes to choose which shorts to wear? (Clearly, I need to implement something like THIS for all the kiddos... well, maybe minus the baby. He still wears whatever.)
• A 5-year-old will yell for help with toothpaste right in the middle of doing the 9-year-old's hair buns? And (the kicker), not do it himself even though he CAN?!?
• A mere 45 minutes into the day, a mom will "lose it" over such trivial things?

And then...

• A 5-year-old boy will want to fix mom's mood, and stare earnestly up her face and solemnly say, "Mom... I love you"

*sigh* That really did fix just about everything. Except that I still don't know what we're going to eat for breakfast tomorrow morning....

Trying to Be a "Half-Full" Kind of Gal

So I like to think of myself as a fairly positive person. Not ALL the time (just ask my husband or my sisters!), but in my mind I am someone who views the glass as half-full, and not half-empty. Or at least, someone who's satisfied to just have the glass. Whatever.

Anyway, this past Sunday afternoon, a headache started, and intensified until I went to bed (at an unreasonable hour). I didn't bother to "take" anything for it, since (1), medicine usually doesn't even dull the edge, let alone actually help, and (2) I figured sleep would help.

Sleep did not help. At all. By the time I woke up around 7:00 a.m. to feed the baby, I felt like the side of my head had been bashed in. The entire right side of my face hurt; the right side of my head throbbed.

As I was trying to fall back asleep (yes--my husband took the baby, and I ultimately stayed in bed until after 9:00... Thanks, Babe!), I was feeling sorry for myself and agonizing over the side of my head.... And suddenly I started smiling, because I had an entire side of my face and head that DIDN'T hurt, and I wasn't even focusing on that! The whole glass half-empty/full thought came to me, and I was bummed to realize that here I was, literally with a "good" half and a "bad" half... and I had spent the past 20 minutes only thinking about the latter. So as I tried to go back to sleep, I concentrated on how GOOD the left side of my head/face felt, and while it was no panacea, it was nice to re-focus on something that was working.

The headache, by the way, didn't subside until much later in the day... But the whole experience DID make me wonder how many blessings I miss out on noticing (i.e. the health on ONE side of my face!:-)) because I'm too busy worrying about what isn't my ideal. Rats. I'm not as positive as I thought.

Or maybe I should just be grateful that sometimes I'm positive, at all!