Motherhood

The thrill of Halloween

Thank you to Laurel for providing the Thriller photos.
Her daughter Sylvia threw an awesome
zombie party a while back.

We were the lucky neighbors

who opened our door to the zombie apocalypse.

Pretty dang freaky.

It’s no wonder somebody called the cops.

The other day, I was driving to the grocery store
with my 8 year old Bella.
Thriller came on the radio.
I turned it up and rocked out.

It was dark outside and we were waiting at the red light. Next to us was a big silver truck. In the passenger seat was a young man between 18 and 20. Driving looked to be his old man. They wore hunting garb. I wouldn’t have noticed them at all if it wasn’t for a silly exchange. They must have been listening to the same radio station because as I turned my monstrous arms towards my driver’s side window in a classic Thriller dance move, the boy stared straight at me and started cracking up. He turned to his old man and said something. The old man veered over and smiled as I sheepishly put my hands back on the wheel.

Bella was instantly mortified. “Man, mom, you even got his dad looking at you!” I laughed and kept enjoying the music, with just a little less subtle dance moves. It was two weeks from Halloween. It was dark outside. The moon was almost full. I had just one of my kids in the car, and Thriller was playing on the radio. What’s not to love? I just had to dance. And sing.

As my daughter’s face was bright red and I continually fought off her attempts at turning off the radio while simultaneously putting forth my subtle Thriller moves, I thought to myself, “These are the mothering moments that I love the most.” The ones that are so easily forgotten unless I write them down.

Yes, it’s moments like these that are the thrill of being a mother. The Thriller moments happen so few and far between. The moments when as a mother I know I am just one big grown-up kid and I am cool! All it took was a mortified 8 year old daughter and two grown hunters to seal the deal.

It’s just the Thriller…..(c’mon you know you want to sing along)

Happy Halloween y’all.
I hope yours is just as thrilling
as I am sure ours will be.
We started the day
with a before dawn wake up call
for costumes, make-up, hot cocoa, and orange eggs.

Don’t forget.

Today is your last day to leave a comment

for a chance to win my copy of the book

Lunch Wars.

Please eat all your Halloween candy in honor of Amy Kafala.

She will love it.

You are mean.

Our girls bicker from time to time.
Here is the evidence.

I hate it when they bicker

and call each other names.

Especially when they are right

in their accusations.

There are worse things in the world
than raising a kid who is bullied.
Like raising a bully.

Oh no, I have one of each.
Now what do I do?

Don’t Ruin It

the perfect shirt for
any two-year old.

Peace and Quiet

Yesterday I was reading a blog

where the mom was keepin it real.

I like those kinds of blogs.

The real ones.

As opposed to the fake ones.

The blog’s author (who I have no recollection – sorry)

shared her concerns

over not having adult conversations

and what it would be like to go back to the workforce

someday while her working-mom counterparts

build their careers as she changes diapers.

She talked about her fight with depression

over the years.

I personally think she needs to up her meds.

It’s amazing what you can tell about a person from their blog.

She was real and she was also somewhat depressing.

I’ve been there.

I have those days.

But thankfully, because of some psychiatric drugs that work,

they are few and far between.

Not a day goes by that I am not grateful that my anti-depressants work.

Overall, I am a pretty content person.

I am such a happy mom.

I love my job as a stay-home mom.

I don’t know if it will last forever,

but I love it for now.

And the longer I live,

the more I understand that

the now is all you should worry about.

I love my kids.

I love spending time with them.

I love teaching them.

I love nurturing them.

I love watching them grow.

I love building friendships with them.

I love discussing with them all kinds of things:

fashion, hygiene, religion, boys, music, cooking:

the list is endless.

I love it when they make me laugh.

I love it when I make them laugh.

I also love getting away from them.

And having adult time.

Free time.

Me time.

Peace and quiet.

Any mom who doesn’t admit this is a liar.

Or is generally psychotic and needs therapy.

I told this other blogging depressed mom that there

have been two practices that

have kept me sane

through the years.

#1.

I try to have a lunch-date with a girlfriend once a week.

It can be the same friend or different ones.

It can be with kids or without,

but for some reason that connection

really helps me to be happy.

#2.

I have to have my weekly date with my cute hubby.

It is a MUST.

I HAVE to have it.

Like the air that I breathe.

Even if it just means that hubby and I sneak away to the library for some peace and quiet.

Peace and quiet is sometimes better than you know what.
Especially the longer we’ve been married
and the more kids we accumulate.

Evolving Mom

I used to be a much more controlling mom. I’m not saying I’m cured or anything, but I have made some progress. Serious progress.

Progress not perfection.

It’s amazing how my outlook on life has changed as I’ve incorporated this truth into my mentality.

Letting go of control is liberating. Extremely liberating. So liberating that liberating isn’t even a good enough word to describe the freedom one feels.

This morning I caught Caroline with a box of Smurf cereal. She had gotten three measuring cups from the kitchen drawer and was pouring cereal into the cups. Or should I say she was attempting to pour cereal into the measuring cups? More was landing on the kitchen table’s bench and floor than the measuring cups. As I went up to the cupboard to fetch a large measuring pitcher I reflected on the progress I have made as a mother with control issues. I poured little blue and white Smurf flakes into the plastix pyrex and handed it off to Caroline so she could go to town with her measuring cups. This way I contained the amount of cereal that would be wasted, but I didn’t impede on my toddler’s creativity or ingenuity.

It was a win/win. She was happy and I was happy. She was making a mess, but it was on the kitchen tile and could easily be cleaned whenever she decided she was done. Who knows when that will actually be? She is still content with her measuring cups as I type this post.

I may have just shot myself in the foot because this could become her favorite past-time. Smurf cereal measuring is all the rage nowadays. None of her friends get to do it, so it makes it all the more desirable.
It may turn into the new finger painting. Heaven knows we’ve been doing that five times a day for the past 2 months.

You won’t believe this. Caroline just moved the trashcan (you can see it in the photo above) and grabbed the broom (also always readily available as shown in the photo above). She says, “I clean up the cereal.” I am afraid to look, as I am sure her clean up will require even more clean up, but inside I secretly cheer myself for being less controlling.

Everyone is happier and I may even be allowing the girl to learn something on her own. Yeah for me.

I’m free. Free at last.

He he. I just read this article titled 25 Things to Do with a Wiggly Toddler.

#2 Put rice in a cake pan and let him pour from cup to cup.

Yeah, I am pretty amazing.

First Broken Bone

Sophia is our clumsy kid.

Would it be nicer to call her accident prone?

She was the first one to need surgery
to remove an inanimate object from her finger.
aka known as a steel seat belt
(it was removed with a diamond saw)

She is also our first kid to break a bone.
Poor thing.
She did it at gymnastics.
If you saw her at gymnastics,
you would know, like us,
that it was bound to happen
eventually.

I’m just glad she didn’t break her neck.
I can’t imagine what it would have been like to shower with a casted neck for the past 6 weeks.

Well, the day has finally come
even though Sophia would have told you it was never gonna happen.
Yes, she’s getting her cast off today.
Yippee.

She WILL get the cast off today
even if I have to arm wrestle her doctor.
I don’t think I can handle her crying out of disappointment again.
Her last appointment was really rough
when the doctor insisted she keep the cast on.
We sure do love you Phia.

Notice dad’s autograph there.
Mine is on the other side.
It can read
MOM
or
WOW
depending on how you look at it.

Guest Post – Jenny – School Lunches

Hi everyone, I am Jenny Lynn from simply family and designing for home. Alice and I go way back to a time when we were goofy teens. In fact I spent many summer nights trying to Tee Pee her house, only to have her mom catch me in the act. Which meant I had to clean it up. Of course I was not alone in this act, it usually involved a Young Woman’s leader driving and a sleep over. We grew up in the same ward. It has been so fun to be in touch with her again.

The last four years I have been working in an elementary school. Part of my job besides being an aide includes working in the lunchroom as a guard. Really I spend my time doing mommy type things, like cleaning up spills, giving reminders about table manners, cleaning up their own mess when done and so much more. After spending so much time in the lunchroom I started to notice a few things, that maybe other moms would love to know. This year on my family blog I have started sharing my Lunchroom tips once a week. Alice has given me a chance to share with you a few of those tips.

1. Please put both the child’s name and the teacher’s name somewhere on the lunch box. When a lunch box is found, if it has the teachers name on it, it makes it easier to either place it in the right lunch bucket or get it to the right classroom.

2. Fruit, what to do to make them eat their fruit. Well, a little container of fruit dip goes a long way. Also make sure those apples are cut up. Little ones, first graders especially still have a hard time eating the skins of apples due to loose teeth. Recently I have seen some children with cut up peaches, which in turn other children are begging for just a small piece of. Bananas don’t get eaten as well as you would think. They seem to be the perfect fruit for a home lunch. Well, they don’t always look that appealing after sitting in a lunch box all morning. kind of warm, and bruised from being bonked around as the child swings that lunch box around. I think you get the picture. Bananas and apples are the most thrown out fruit I see each day.

3. Do they eat everything you pack? No! Even if they tell you that they do most likely they empty what they could not finish right into the trash. They are not always eating everything that gets packed. Decided with your child a head of time what they should do with the food they don’t feel like eating at lunch time. Most children don’t want to upset their mothers because of the expectation of having to eat everything. There are days when a snack is brought into the classroom and eaten before lunch time. Leaving them too full to eat everything you have lovingly packed. Keep this in mind on party days, those thanksgiving meals, or other special days, etc.

4. Look at the lunch menu to see what is being served ahead of time. Then plan what days your child will be eating at school or bringing a lunch. We do this at our house. My 6th grader has loved packing her own home lunch this year.

5. Which brings me to this, please involve your child in planning their home lunches. There are so many wonderful ideas out there on how to pack the perfect home lunch. This is a perfect time to build up those communication skills with your children. Although it seems like a small thing, talking about what they like is important. I have even been doing this more with my children, of whom I have 5

6. Trading does take place at lunch,. Hot trade items include Capri suns, goodies (of course), Gogurts and chips. There are times that my children have planned a day a head of time what they are going to be trading. I have let them do it.

7. Cutest thing I see is the love notes that are written in a merriment of different ways. Many times I will have a child show me his/hers mothers love. There are times I read it to them. It really does mean something to your child. It doesn’t need to be everyday. But once in a while it is a nice surprise for them.

I do have many other things I plan on sharing in the weeks to come on my own blog about the lunchroom. I am so grateful to Alice for giving me the chance to post here.

Thank you Johnson and Johnson

The baby and I have some sort of nasty headcold.
We were both up all night.

This morning my family was so sweet.
LG came in Caroline’s room and fetched me up.
He told me to go back to our bed and he would
take care of Caroline and get Abigail out to school.

When Sophia and Bella woke up,
they came in to check on me.
They told me to stay in bed
and they would get themselves ready
and keep Caroline entertained.

Before I knew it all my helpers
left me stranded with the toddling tornado.

My head was pounding.
My nasal cavities are rebelling.

I just wanted some more Dayquil,
but I was too much of a mess to get out of bed.

Caroline was quiet.
I knew I should go check on her.
Her antics are enough to sterilize the
manliest of men.

I couldn’t do it.
I fell back to sleep.
I got the best 10-20 minutes
of sleep I’ve ever experienced.

Caroline brought it to a screeching hault.
“Lotion, mommy. Lotion”

She was covered from head to toe.
Running into my room proved
difficult for her when she was slathered
in pink.
Even her diaper is covered.
It’s all under her pajama top.

I rolled over for the wipes I keep close to the bed.
And went to work.

Silly girl, what does she think could possibly
be a better outcome of messing with the lotion?

I dragged myself up,
and went and checked out the rest of the damage.
Amazingly enough,
there were only three drops of lotion on her comforter.

That’s when I thanked Johnson and Johnson
for that extra 20 minutes of sleep.

That bottle of lotion was worth
every cent spent.
It was so valuable
that I almost think
I shouldn’t have used that coupon
to save a $1 when I bought it.

She’s quiet again.
I must go back to bed.

I plan to round her up
and make her nap with me.
I hope it works.
You would think she would be tired
after keeping me up all night.

The bright side is
I cancelled scouts today.
That felt good.
It will feel really good
if I can actually get some more sleep.

The bad side is
I had plans with a girlfriend for lunch.
I guess now I have plans next week.

All will be well
if I can just get some sleep.

Gyro Bowl

Look what we got in the mail.

No, not Piper.

Not the packing poppy paper.

It’s a gyrobowl.

And Caroline put it to the test.

Piper helped a bit.

A while back I got an e-mail

asking for a product review.

I happily obliged.

knowing that

Caroline would love a chance to try and destroy it.

If you haven’t seen the GyroBowl at Target yet

when you were out by yourself

on your latest Wednesday night survival trip,

let me explain.

It’s a revolutionary no spill bowl that promises to bring an end to messy child eating habits.

Gyro Bowl uses 360-degree technology to keep items inside the plastic sphere. It stays open-side up, no matter which way a child decides to twirl it, throw it or dump it; virtually indestructible and works just like a globe!

Parents can rejoice at the thought of never having to clean snacks off the carpet or out of the deep crevasses of a car seat (we’ve all been there) again. Children will love taking this super snack contraption with them everywhere they go.

Go to Amazon and buy one for your baby or toddler.

It will give them hours of fun as they try their darndest to spill all over your kitchen or your living room, or your car, or if you are really brave in their bedroom behind a closed door.

You are going to have to buy your own though because I am not giving mine away. My mini-van has been begging me to buy one of these suckers. Its carpets have been screaming for equal rights for vans with or without children.