First weekday of Summer. I had a planned schedule nice and ready to go. Lots of outdoor play, lots of art projects, lots of fun.
Then my kids wake up sick. All three of them.
Nathaniel is the least sick, as he caught the bug on Friday, and like a good brother, shared his illness with the others. He's pretty much over it, but the problem is, because I have two children under three that ARE still very sick (and sick babies = grumpy, fussy babies who can't be consoled) so now I can't do all the cool things I planned for him to do, and now he's grumpy and fussy, and I hear "I am boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooored" about five time a minute. There's also lots of sibling bickering, snot, and lots and lots of tears.
Also it's raining, and it's supposed to rain all week, yet my younger kids are dying to go outside.
Thanks, Universe.
Hopefully the rest of the summer will be better than it is now.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Summer Adventures Pt. II
Summer is officially arrived! Tomorrow is Nathan's last day of school, and then it's two and a half months of sun, laziness, me trying to figure out how to keep the zoo animals at bay. But relief is on the way because the week after school ends, we are taking a family trip to San Antonio. I am very excited about this trip (and though I love to give the kids new experiences, and want them to be well traveled, I am never really genuinely excited about the actual act of traveling, it's always hard on everyone). But this trip will be different for a few reasons:
- My parents are traveling with us. For once, the adults will outnumber the children, which hasn't been the case for years.
- My family will be there. I have three cousins that are local, and my Aunt and her daughter who live in MD will be in town. And Nathan and Katie are pretty close, and I want the kids to be close to their cousins.
- Nolan's big birthday party! It should be a blast. Lots of family on both sides, lots of food, lots of cake. Perfect. Hopefully my mother-in-law won't bring bitterness with her (she's mad because we didn't change the time of the party).
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| Here's to a fun summer! |
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Summer Adventures
First on the agenda, I have some plugging to do. Go vote for Nolan in the cute baby contest at Parenting.com. The link is in a separate post. DO IT!
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In other news, Nolan's birthday is a mere 9 days away. Crazy. I've decided to make the piggy cupcakes.
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They're easy to make, and are super cute, plus I am not sure how many people there will be so I think it'll be safer if there's not a huge amount of baked goods lying around.
We've settled on a new babysitter for the little boys. She's actually someone we've used before, about three years ago. We came for a visit yesterday, and both boys were in hog heaven when they saw the amount of animals she has in the house. I think they'll have fun. I've also signed Nathaniel up for camp at the YMCA (it's really just childcare, but he LOVES going to the Y, I figure he'll have fun two days a week).
Speaking of Nathaniel, he gets out of school on Friday. We're taking him camping, and I am super excited about it. Poor kid has never been out with just the two of us. It's long overdue.
I've been scrambling my brain to try and come up with a daily schedule/routine for summer. The last two summers have been nightmares simply because I didn't have anything planned. The kids just got up, and by 11am they were bored. And bored kids=chaos. They're all going to daycare two days a week, but for those other three days, I am going to have to come up with something. I am definitely going to buy a bridging activity book for Nathaniel, and the water table will get lots of use. I am thinking about getting some outdoor toys, and maybe have a craft day.
I would love to hear from others about summer routines. Do you have a set schedule during summer, or does your family lay back and make a schedule as you go?
Now I must go clean stuff, and read
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In other news, Nolan's birthday is a mere 9 days away. Crazy. I've decided to make the piggy cupcakes.
We've settled on a new babysitter for the little boys. She's actually someone we've used before, about three years ago. We came for a visit yesterday, and both boys were in hog heaven when they saw the amount of animals she has in the house. I think they'll have fun. I've also signed Nathaniel up for camp at the YMCA (it's really just childcare, but he LOVES going to the Y, I figure he'll have fun two days a week).
Speaking of Nathaniel, he gets out of school on Friday. We're taking him camping, and I am super excited about it. Poor kid has never been out with just the two of us. It's long overdue.
I've been scrambling my brain to try and come up with a daily schedule/routine for summer. The last two summers have been nightmares simply because I didn't have anything planned. The kids just got up, and by 11am they were bored. And bored kids=chaos. They're all going to daycare two days a week, but for those other three days, I am going to have to come up with something. I am definitely going to buy a bridging activity book for Nathaniel, and the water table will get lots of use. I am thinking about getting some outdoor toys, and maybe have a craft day.
I would love to hear from others about summer routines. Do you have a set schedule during summer, or does your family lay back and make a schedule as you go?
Now I must go clean stuff, and read
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Adventures with birthday cakes, bossy mother-in-laws, and babysitters.
As you may know, my baby is turning 1 in a couple of weeks. For the last few years, I've become a little obsessed with throwing awesome birthday parties for the kids; so far we've had trips to the movies, petting zoos, and the children's museum. And when it comes to birthday cakes I always went to the store for that. But for the last birthday we had (Orion's 3rd) I tried my hand at making a homemade birthday cake. I found a Mickey Mouse head shaped cake pan at Michael's, and thought 'Why not?" Well, my cake didn't turn out perfect, but it looked enough like Mickey Mouse that people knew what I was going for. And it was edible, which was a plus.
This year for Nolan's first birthday, he's having not one, but two parties, one here at home, one during our vacation to San Antonio. For his out of state party, we're going store bought, but for the party at home, I am totally going homemade. I've found some cute designs, but I am having trouble deciding between a few.
I know, they look a little ambitious, but they are actually really easy to make.
Speaking of birthday parties, my mother-in-law is giving me and hubs the silent treatment because we wouldn't change the time of LO's party from 12 to 4, so that the whole family could make it (which she didn't ask for until after the invitations had already been sent). I guess in her world people who don't cater to her inconvenient requests are hateful people. Oh well. That's one less drunken in-law I have to deal with.
Interviewing babysitters for this summer.I've seen three so far, but none that I really had any strong feelings about one way or the other. We'll see. I wish daycare wasn't more than our mortgage.
Now I should probably get my butt off the computer and do something productive like homework, or dishes.
This year for Nolan's first birthday, he's having not one, but two parties, one here at home, one during our vacation to San Antonio. For his out of state party, we're going store bought, but for the party at home, I am totally going homemade. I've found some cute designs, but I am having trouble deciding between a few.
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| Dino Cake |
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| Blocks |
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| Or Piggy Cupcakes |
Speaking of birthday parties, my mother-in-law is giving me and hubs the silent treatment because we wouldn't change the time of LO's party from 12 to 4, so that the whole family could make it (which she didn't ask for until after the invitations had already been sent). I guess in her world people who don't cater to her inconvenient requests are hateful people. Oh well. That's one less drunken in-law I have to deal with.
Interviewing babysitters for this summer.I've seen three so far, but none that I really had any strong feelings about one way or the other. We'll see. I wish daycare wasn't more than our mortgage.
Now I should probably get my butt off the computer and do something productive like homework, or dishes.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Adventures with Random Updates
Well, Steven's finally back from the field. Thank god. Funny thing is, now I am having trouble adjusting to having another adult in the house. Like when the kids go to bed, I would usually zone out to whatever trashy T.V. I could find. But now that husband's back, I can't do that without making him cringe. Oh well. If I have to trade trashy reality T.V. for a little sanity, well I think that's a small price to pay.
Orion found a little friend next door. They are almost the exact same age. It's kind of funny watching 3 year olds trying to be diplomatic. It's also cute how after one play date, they are BFF's. Sometimes I wish adult relationships were like that. I think we as adults make things way too complicated sometimes.
Another 5 page paper due Sunday. Joy. This marketing class is kicking my ass. I thought it was because I didn't have the textbook to give me the answers, but once I got it (for $220 no less. Kids, never wait till you need the book to be shipped overnight), and read the thing, it became clear that I have no idea what the hell it says. Like a different language.
I am going to hunch down tomorrow and get it written, because Sunday we have to go visit my Texas transplant parents in Seattle, go to a friend's wedding, and another friend's going-away BBQ. Busy, busy, busy.
Anyone with kids 3 and older experience a phase where the kid only wants to eat one food everyday, wear one outfit everyday, watch the exact same thing every day? We're in that phase, and it makes replacing old clothes, or making sure nutritional needs are taken care of very difficult. Toddlers. Gotta love them.
Nolan's birthday party is fast approaching. We ordered the invites, booked the zoo, and told everyone the date. Only then does my mother-in-law ask me to change the time of the party to four hours later than we had originally planned. Thanks, MIL. Now she's pissed at me because I told her no. What else is new?
Orion found a little friend next door. They are almost the exact same age. It's kind of funny watching 3 year olds trying to be diplomatic. It's also cute how after one play date, they are BFF's. Sometimes I wish adult relationships were like that. I think we as adults make things way too complicated sometimes.
Another 5 page paper due Sunday. Joy. This marketing class is kicking my ass. I thought it was because I didn't have the textbook to give me the answers, but once I got it (for $220 no less. Kids, never wait till you need the book to be shipped overnight), and read the thing, it became clear that I have no idea what the hell it says. Like a different language.
I am going to hunch down tomorrow and get it written, because Sunday we have to go visit my Texas transplant parents in Seattle, go to a friend's wedding, and another friend's going-away BBQ. Busy, busy, busy.
Anyone with kids 3 and older experience a phase where the kid only wants to eat one food everyday, wear one outfit everyday, watch the exact same thing every day? We're in that phase, and it makes replacing old clothes, or making sure nutritional needs are taken care of very difficult. Toddlers. Gotta love them.
Nolan's birthday party is fast approaching. We ordered the invites, booked the zoo, and told everyone the date. Only then does my mother-in-law ask me to change the time of the party to four hours later than we had originally planned. Thanks, MIL. Now she's pissed at me because I told her no. What else is new?
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Adventures wondering where the time went
I remember being a kid, and thinking that time could not move fast enough. Everything seemed to go so slowly. Now that I am an adult, it feels like I wake up, and years have gone by in a matter of days. Sometimes this can be a good thing, for example, my nightmarish stint alone with three boys is coming to a close tomorrow (yay!), or the sleep deprived, shocking decent into mothering a newborn, which only lasted a few weeks, until I was confident I wouldn't break the baby the first time, or go into a nut house the second time.
But for the most part, I feel like time is literally slipping through my fingers, like sand. Nolan is going to be 1 in a few short weeks, and I am planning a birthday party for him. It feels like it was yesterday that I was in the hospital with him, looking down at his perfect face, wondering how I was going to juggle all these children without loosing my mind. Now, a year later, I can't imagine not waking up in the morning to my pudgy, perfect baby, and my amazing little boy. I've had my moments (most of them these last two weeks), but I just am so in love with these little boys, I can't imagine life without them.
Orion's starting pre-school in September, and is in the final stages of potty training. He's also given up his pacifier. I know most people would say he should have given up his diaper and Binky a year or two ago, but he didn't. Now that he is, I find myself oddly emotional about it. Don't get me wrong, I am glad my days of changing poop and searching for his pop at 3am are done (at least with him), but it's just more reminders of how fast he's growing up.
Steven and I celebrated our fourth anniversary on Friday (well I celebrated here by watching Tru Blood, and he celebrated in Yakima by eating an Almond Joy). We've been through a lot in the last four years; two kids, three court appearances, acquiring custody of Nathan, seven moves in three different states, and one very long deployment. Blink of an eye.
All this time passed makes me feel a little helpless, and very accomplished at the same time. It's a weird paradox.
But for the most part, I feel like time is literally slipping through my fingers, like sand. Nolan is going to be 1 in a few short weeks, and I am planning a birthday party for him. It feels like it was yesterday that I was in the hospital with him, looking down at his perfect face, wondering how I was going to juggle all these children without loosing my mind. Now, a year later, I can't imagine not waking up in the morning to my pudgy, perfect baby, and my amazing little boy. I've had my moments (most of them these last two weeks), but I just am so in love with these little boys, I can't imagine life without them.
Orion's starting pre-school in September, and is in the final stages of potty training. He's also given up his pacifier. I know most people would say he should have given up his diaper and Binky a year or two ago, but he didn't. Now that he is, I find myself oddly emotional about it. Don't get me wrong, I am glad my days of changing poop and searching for his pop at 3am are done (at least with him), but it's just more reminders of how fast he's growing up.
Steven and I celebrated our fourth anniversary on Friday (well I celebrated here by watching Tru Blood, and he celebrated in Yakima by eating an Almond Joy). We've been through a lot in the last four years; two kids, three court appearances, acquiring custody of Nathan, seven moves in three different states, and one very long deployment. Blink of an eye.
All this time passed makes me feel a little helpless, and very accomplished at the same time. It's a weird paradox.
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| My little boys (now big boys) X-mas 2009 |
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