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Accoutrements

16 Jan

Our littlest is 3 years old and is constantly carrying around little toys. Her brother never did this, but from the time she could walk she’s been carrying toys with her everywhere she goes. Sometimes it’s little stuffed animals, sometimes Little People toys, sometimes action figures that actually belong to her big brother. Around here we call them her “accoutrements” and they shift and change every week so you never know which are her current favorites.

This habit could easily drive us crazy, but she’s pretty organized and responsible with her little habit…

  1. When we leave the house she always has to take something with her, but I can tell her how many she can take and she will immediately evaluate what she has and put toys away until she gets down to that exact number.
  2. When we’re going to someone’s house – especially Grandma and Grandpa – I let her take more than usual and she puts them in a bag or box to take with her.
  3. She’s really good at making sure she puts them in my purse rather than setting them down if we’re in a store or restaurant, so I don’t think we’ve ever lost one.
  4. She knows she can’t take any toys into school with her so she’ll take them with her in the car in the morning, but leave them behind in her car seat so they’re still there when I pick her up.

It’s gotten to the point where she wants to take them with her to bed every night and then back downstairs every morning, which might not be a problem if there weren’t SO many to carry up and down. So now we have a pink basket. Every night the basket goes up to bed with her and every morning they come down in the same pink basket.

Here’s the beauty of it… she leaves them in the basket sitting at the foot of her bed until morning. Then when she wakes up she has all of her favorite toys with her, so she sits up bed playing with her “accoutrements” until I come up and get her. It’s usually just long enough for me to take a shower in peace, which, as most moms know, is a pretty big deal.

Old School Lunchboxes

15 Jan

Our Emily is obsessed with little toys. It makes it tricky to store her toys since I’m a little particular and like to keep “like” toys together in small containers.

One of the toys she likes is Squinkies. If you’re not familiar with them, they are itty-bitty rubbery toys that come in all kinds of different characters. One of my favorite storage containers for these little guys is an old-school metal lunch box and they have tons of them at Party City. They’re with all of the party supplies and come with LOTS of different characters on them.

Now Emily knows where she can find her Squinkies each morning AND even better… she knows where to put them away each night. The one we use the most happens to be Dr. Pepper, because we’re slightly obsessed with it around here, but they have all kinds of cute kids characters for boys and girls.

Oh, and they’re portable!

Peanut Butter Honey Breakfast Bars

8 Dec

Nicholas recently started a new medication that requires us to make sure he eats a good breakfast before school each day. The most important part is that it be packed with protein to keep him going all day. We’ve always made sure the kids eat breakfast before school, but it’s often packed with carbs – bagels with cream cheese, cereal, waffles, etc. Nothing terribly unhealthy, but certainly not balanced.

I was really excited when I came across this super-easy, super-fast recipe for Peanut Butter Honey Breakfast Bars. AND… everyone loves them! Even Chris is easting them every morning and he rarely eats breakfast.

 

1 cup peanut butter (be sure to use natural peanut butter with only peanuts and salt in the ingredient list!)
1/2 cup honey
1 egg
1/4 t. vanilla
1/8 cup sesame seeds

Mix all ingredients well.  Spread mixture into a 8×8 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Allow bars to cool completely before cutting.

Big thank you to Heavenly Homemakers for the great recipe! Now I’m on the lookout for a banana breakfast bar recipe that is just as easy. No luck so far!

The “Magic” of Christmas! [Insert Sarcasm]

6 Dec

It’s wonderful and amazing that my 9 yo still believes in Santa. Honestly, I was beginning to wonder if he really believed or if he was just saying he did to ensure those presents still show up on Christmas morning. Well, my question was recently answered and I now know for sure that he not only believes in Santa, but also the tooth fairy. Oh, and the Elf on the Shelf (Mark)!

You’d think I’d be thrilled about this. You know, that whole magic of Christmas thing. The challenge is that the older they get, the harder it gets to keep up. For Christmas he asked for a $400 Lego Death Star. Seriously?! A $400 toy is a tough one for us even in a good year, but for various reasons this Christmas is going to be a little tight for us. There’s no way we could buy him an expensive toy like that unless it was the ONLY thing he was getting, which is obviously out of the question.

Then last week he tells me it’s ok because he figured out a solution. He’s going to ask SANTA for the Lego Death Star. Gee, thanks!

We think we dodged that bullet by getting another (less expensive) toy that he’s been asking about for years, so cross your fingers for us on Christmas morning.

Just as we thought we were in the clear with Santa, tonight he lost a tooth. One of his close friends gets Pokemon toys instead of money for his teeth, so Nicholas decided tonight that he wanted the same thing. Come on now! The Tooth Fairy brings money, not toys!

Luckily, I remember we had Pokemon toys stashed away for Christmas. Now I am writing this post as I wait for him to go to sleep so I can sneak into this room, grab the tooth and leave behind this….

Note to self… don’t forget to buy more Pokemon Plush. This kid still has a lot of baby teeth!

Another note to self… don’t forget to buy a replacement Christmas toy for that Pokemon Plush we had to rob from Santa to pay the Tooth Fairy.

We’ve Been Invaded!

25 Jul

Yes, we were invaded today. By those dirty, nasty little bugs called LICE!

Today began rather nicely. Both kids slept until 9:30, which means mommy got to sleep until 9:30. A very pleasant surprise since I haven’t been feeling 100% and am afraid I may be coming down with something.

I was craving Starbucks so I grabbed Emily, who loves to talk to all the people in coffee shop, and ran over to get us breakfast drinks. On the way home I stopped at the gas station to fill up really quickly and rolled the windows down so I could talk to Emily while we were waiting.

And that’s when I saw it.

Creepy, crawly, nasty thing right on her bangs. I drove home faster than I probably should have and we’ve been laundering, shampooing, combing, rinsing, and drying children (plus 1 parent), carpet, stuffed animals, bedding, and towels ever since. We’re almost done for today and can only hope that when we re-check in two days that we won’t have to start the process all over again.

Here’s a glimpse of that chaos of today…

Click to enlarge.

Everything Happens For a Reason – Part 2

1 Jul

There have been two events that have completely changed the course of my life. I believe, for the better. If you’d like to read about the first event than jump over to my last blog post – Everything Happens for a Reason.

The second event was when – suprise! – I got pregnant with my son. I was 24 and single so it wasn’t exactly in the plans.

For about the first 18 months I was with Ivie I flew back and forth between Dallas and Phoenix almost every week. Eventually the associate we had in Phoenix moved on to another company so I offered to move “permanently” to fill the hole that was left. I was there about 4 months when I found out about my little bundle of joy.

It’s hard to say anything negative about how or why it happened since it resulted in my sweet Nicholas. Let’s just say that Phoenix brought out a different side of me. I’d pretty much always been known as a “good” girl. I never experimented with drugs. I drank very little. I never snuck out of the house.  I did what I was supposed to do. What was expected.

Boy, were my family and friends in for the shock of their lives!

Apparently I thought I was entitled to a “wild” period in my life. For some people this wild time is during high school or college. For me, it was a brief 4 months that ended with a drug store pregnancy test and a sobbing phone call to my parents.

I was a mess.

I spent the first couple of weeks trying to determine exactly what I was going to do. The relationship with his biological father was never a serious one. As a matter of fact, by the time I found out I was pregnant with Nicholas, we’d already stopped seeing each other.

It didn’t take long to determine there was really only one option for me. I wasn’t a teenager. I was an adult woman with a good job, a strong career, and an incredibly supportive family, so I put in a request to transfer back to Dallas and started planning my second move in less than a year.

It was only a few weeks later when 9/11 took place. Wow! I was already emotional and overwhelmed by the direction my life had taken. The tragedy of 9/11 both put things into perspective and terrified me all at the same time. I just kept wondering what kind of world I would be bringing this baby into.

Eight years later our country is unfortunately still at war, but that sweet  baby boy has grown into an amazing little 3rd grader. He’s incredibly smart and polite, has the most amazing imagination and is THE best big brother to his sister Emily.

I can’t predict where life would have taken me had I not gotten pregnant with Nicholas. I may not have gotten that great promotion that provided my first management role. I wouldn’t have been here to welcome my niece into the world and be so involved in the first year of her life. I may not have met the man who would eventually become my husband.

Everything happens for a reason.

A Place in His Heart

10 Jun

Nicholas with his 2nd Grade Teacher Ms. McKinley

Do you remember that amazing feeling of the last day of school? I do. Very clearly.

I can’t necessarily remember specifics of where I went or what I did, but I clearly remember the feeling. The over-the-top excitement. That feeling of being so excited you wanted to scream at the top of your lungs. That feeling of being “free”. Knowing you could do (almost) anything you wanted for the next few months.

Today was Nicholas’ last day of 2nd grade, but instead of that feeling of euphoria, there’s mostly sadness around our house.

For me as his mom the reasons are fairly obvious and I’m sure shared by many moms at this time of year. My eyes welled up at his class awards when his teacher showed pictures from throughout the year. Part of it was just sadness and amazement at how quickly he’s growing up. Even now I get choked up thinking about it.

Part of it was also seeing the things he’s done in the last year that I wasn’t a part of. It felt strange. Like I missed out on really important moments by not being a bigger part of his classroom environment. I love my job and find fulfillment I can’t always get at home, but I do sometimes long to just be “mom”. To volunteer in Nicholas’ classroom and to take Emily to toddler classes and playdates. I can’t imagine giving up my work, but I do sometimes long for more time at home. Especially at times like this when something forces me to think about how quickly my kids are growing up.

As an 8 year old little boy with a summer full of camps and field trips, you’d think Nicholas would be ecstatic about summer. Not so, for my little guy. It was the same way at the end of 1st grade.

Why? Because he misses his teachers terribly. See, my Nicholas gets very attached to people. In particular, he gets very attached to the women in his life. Over 2 years ago he had to see a physical therapist for a little while – about 6 weeks if I remember correctly. Still to this day, when we drive near her office, he asks if we can go see her. He’s always been this way which is why the end of the school year is always difficult for him. When we begin to approach the last week of school he gets more and more quiet and sullen.

It hurts my heart to think about this time next year when we will once again go through this while he mourns yet another teacher that has come and gone. Technically, these teachers aren’t really going anywhere and they always say to come back and say hello, but ultimately they move on. There are 20 more kids for them to worry about so they really have no choice. But when Nicholas drops in to say hello and he’s so excited that he’s bouncing around like a Mexican jumping bean, it’s hard to not see his enthusiasm returned.

Each of these teachers hold a special place in his heart that they will never truly understand.

One of Those Days

24 May

Today was one of those days. Do you ever have those days? Those days that are just good?

It started out with an amazing visit to tour a local community service organization. I’m looking forward to spending some time volunteering there soon.

Then I got to have lunch with 2 co-workers – one who I’ve know for years but who I don’t often have lunch with, and the other is someone I’ve always liked but don’t spend much time with.

After lunch I accomplished 2 big items on my work to-do list. w00t!

This afternoon when I picked Nicholas up at school he was SO excited. He’d gotten 30 “McKinley dollars” because he earned 100% on 3 different class papers. They earn McKinley dollars when they do good things in class. AND one of his buddies gave him a baseball. Not just any baseball, but 1 of only 3 he had to give to his friends since his baseball team won a tournament.

When Chris got home Nicholas and I went out for a jog/bike ride together. It’s nice that he’s finally big enough to ride with me. Although next time we skip the bike path. It was a little too hilly for his little legs and I had to push him an awful lot. On the plus side, it made for an even better workout.

Then…I get home to find Emily in a GREAT mood having just eaten a dinner made up of ALL fruit – that’s what happens when daddy’s left to feed her. Fruit and cheese. I’m starting a 4-day cleanse tomorrow so I spent about a half hour getting everything ready for tomorrow and look over to see Emily, Nicholas and Chris all curled up together on the couch. We let the kids stay up a half hour later just because they were both so content.

So now I’m curled up on the couch writing this post and catching up on some TV with my husband, reflecting on such a great day.

One of those days.

Side note…I’m forewarning you now that there will be very little food over the next 4 days so the posts will be much less upbeat.

Sweet, Kind … and ANGRY!

3 Aug
Meeting his baby sister for the 1st time

Meeting his baby sister for the 1st time

My Monkey is about as Sweet and Kind as they come.

I know what you’re thinking … I’m biased. But really, I’m not. You can even ask his Grandma. ;)

His teachers call him “excitable”… and “Sweet.”

He is surprisingly polite for a boy his age, is patient and kind with his baby sister, and comes out with the funniest, smartest words and phrases.

But best of all, he has the most incredible imagination. He can take ANYTHING and make it into something completely different. Just this week two of his sister’s pacifiers magically turned into Star Wars characters battling with each other over who knows what.

He sounds pretty great doesn’t he? You’re thinking you wish you were so lucky to have such a Sweet and Kind boy.

All of these wonderful traits have unfortunately made him a target at school. And that’s where the Angry part comes in. I’m ANGRY.

Angry that other parents haven’t raised their boys to be sweet and kind.

Angry that they have raised them to think it’s ok to be mean, to tease, to bully.

Angry that these boys make my son the butt of their jokes because he’s too sweet to realize that’s what’s going on.

Angry that because of these unsweet, unkind boys I now have to teach my Monkey about the unsweet, unkind facts of life. And that makes this all just terribly SAD.

Lucky!

29 Jul
Beebop with Aesop

Narrator 4 in Beebop with Aesop

As a full time working mom of a 7 year old boy (Monkey) and 9 month old girl (Babycakes), I often find myself feeling overwhelmed by it all – school drama, friend drama, health drama, work drama. Some weeks are smooth sailing and I find myself being grateful for how blessed we are. Other weeks all hell breaks loose and I wonder what I am doing wrong. This week was one of the good weeks.

It’s been a much busier week than we are used to in our house. We aren’t one of those families running around all the time chasing kids from one activity to another. We are all just as pleased to spend time relaxing at home. This week was an exception. Monkey had theater camp for 4 hours each day this week. Seems like no big deal, right? I thought so too.

By the time I dropped Monkey off at camp, Babycakes off with Grandma, and got to work it was 9:10 am and I am 40 minutes late for work. Then I have to leave again at 12 pm to pick him up, get him (and myself) lunch, and drop HIM off at Grandma’s. Now it is 1:30. Ugh! Where has the day gone and how I am going to make up for the 1 hour and 10 minutes I have lost in the workday? Oh, right. At 11:00 at night, which just happens to be the time I am writing this post.

Add to that memorizing character lines, memorizing songs, and memorizing choreography. Oh, and we can’t forget the costume which luckily was very easy and consisted only of:
• 1 toga (i.e. twin size white sheet + safety pin)
• 1 laurel wreath headpiece (i.e. fake greenery + fishing line)
• 1 rope belt (i.e. gold curtain tie)

We’ve done this every day this week and today was no exception. But today was special. Today was the BIG day. Today he performed in his first play. He was the VERY important narrator #4. I beamed. His aunt and grandma cried. Yes, he only had 2 lines to read, but he handled it with such ease. Like it was something he did every day. He walked up to the microphone with complete confidence. Even adjusted it down just a tad each time he approached. He spoke up loud and clear and spoke every word without hesitation. Amazing! When I was his age I was not that brave.

My drive home after the play was quiet. It was just a very sleepy Babycakes and me since Monkey was driving with his Dad. I found myself feeling lucky and grateful.

Lucky to have such a great little boy.

Lucky to have Babycakes sit happily in my lap throughout the 45 minute play.

Lucky to have friends that came to support Nicholas.

Lucky to have family to celebrate Monkey’s accomplishment afterwards.

Lucky!

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