Big News!

We have some big news here......J lost her first tooth!! This is very, very exciting. As she put it, "I've been waiting my whole life for this two happen! A whole six years to lose this tooth!" Now if I can only figure out the tooth fairy's going rate.

Goin' to the ATL

I'm about to embark on a much needed long weekend in Atlanta. I'm lucky enough to have a sister and brother-in-law who live there so I don't need much of excuse to fly down. Since I am going sans kids I told my sister I don't care what we do just as long as I can sleep in, no one tries to touch me, and no one whines mom at me. Hopefully it won't be hard for F and M to live with these rules!

One of the draw backs from being a stay-at-home parent is that when you do leave for a while your kids are slightly out of sorts. My kids are amazed at the fact that I'm going to leave them with their dad and that he will be actually cooking for them. For some reason they don't believe R knows how to make a meal. I find this hilarious because obviously R can cook and has cooked for them. They also are very confused on who will be getting them dressed and whether or not R can handle taking them to school. Again, obviously R can handle all of these things and has in the past, he's a very hands on dad, but the kids seem to have no concept of a day with out me. This is not the first time I've gone on a trip but apparently all those times before were so traumatizing they have blocked them out. I'm joking here.

J originally tried to convince me she should come with. Five seconds after I booked my ticket she looked at me with very forlorn, puppy dog eyes and said, "Mom, I just really wish I could see Fido and Rover again...sigh..." Fido and Rover are my sisters cats. Interesting that she thinks she is more likely to convince me to let her come with because she misses cats, not her aunt and uncle.

Yesterday A took a new tract in trying to deter me from my trip. Out of nowhere she looked at me and said, "Mom, I don't know why you are going to 'lanta. It's boring there." She has never even been to the city. J then informed her that M and F live there. A just blankly looked at her and said, "Oh, it's still boring." A the foremost authority on all things fun.

If I was a mom who was prone to guilt maybe these attempts would work on me. Lucky enough I'm not and they don't. Sure, I'm going to miss my kids, but I don't feel guilty about leaving them with their dad for a while. I'm sure when I get back I will be a better mom. It's kind of the all work and no play idea. Right now I'm a dull mom, but when I get back I'll be a fun mom again. I'm also sure that contrary to what they think, they will be fine. Things might not run quite like they do when I'm around but everyone will survive. Also, don't tell A this, but I'm positive my trip won't be boring!

Jimmy...

S has started to refer to himself in the third person. "Juice please" has become, "S 'uice pease!" Asking to get down is now "S 'own!", you can imagine the rest. While this is slightly cute now I have visions of raising the Jimmy guy from Seinfeld. S constantly referring to himself in the third person, creating confusion and annoying everyone. I can just see S in his twenties trying to ask a girl out, "S really likes you!" "S would love to have dinner with you." I don't think it will be quite so cute then. Cross your fingers this is just a stage!

Sorry About the Rant

If you read my last post, sorry about the rant. It is just people can make me pretty fired up! To lighten the mood here are some quotes from my kiddos:

A was cuddling on the couch with a rock from our garden. When R asked her what she was doing she said, "Laying with my rock." R then says, "No I meant what is the rock doing in the house." A looked at him like he was a giant idiot and said, "Daaaad! Rock wanted to watch TV." Of course, that explains everything.

J came home from school and was telling me about the question of the day, was her teacher going to have a baby. Apparently most of the kids said no, the teacher doesn't looked outwardly pregnant. J told me "I thought about it and Mrs. P doesn't look pregnant, but I said yes. Why would they ask the question if it wasn't true." Smart girl, she already know no woman wants the world to think she's pregnant when she isn't!

Finally last night during a bath with S, A asked me why S has a "peanut" and she doesn't. Maybe it's time for separate tubs!

I hope these brought a smile to your face!

What DO you do all day?

I was recently asked this question. This question makes me laugh for two reasons, first you would never think it appropriate to ask a doctor, lawyer, teacher, etc what they do all day so why is it appropriate to ask me, a stay-at-home parent. Secondly, if you are dumb enough to ask me this you have never spent any time with children. Now don't get me wrong, I love that I am lucky enough to be able to stay home with my kids, but this job is not all relaxing play dates and smiles.

So for those of you out there who are really confused as to the ways that stay-at-home parents fill what must be their ample free time here you go, a peek into a day in my life.

This morning I got up at 5:45 am to swim. This makes R slightly grumpy because I tend to wake him up too, being quiet has never been one of my strong suits, but the only guaranteed time alone to work out I have is when everyone else is sleeping.

After coming home from swimming I made breakfast. Now, normally I wouldn't do this but I was craving bacon and eggs and there is no way I could get around making it for everyone. The smell of bacon woke my entire family and we all tucked in to a big breakfast. After breakfast I filled the dishwasher, got the kids dressed, cleaned myself up, and sorted a pile of laundry so huge that R asked me if I was trying to build a ski jump with all of our dirty clothes. A dirty look was required for that comment.

It is now 8:30, time to go to Target. Both A and J have parties this weekend that require presents. April must be birthday party season because I feel as if we are going to have to take out a second mortgage on the house to pay for all of the presents! The highlights of Target were J having a fit because she couldn't ride in a cart, S pulling a Houdini act and getting out of his seat belt and the cart, A going a number 2 in the Target bathroom, me attempting to buy a treat only to have J complaining that she didn't like what I was buying (I knew she did, but had to convince her. She was in quite the mood this morning.) and finally picking out two perfectly wonderful presents. The "scary mom/you better behave" voice was only pulled out a few times.

On to the grocery store. Wednesday is double coupon day, so I have to go today. Yep, I'm cheap like that. I'm such a dork, I almost get a high off of saving a ton of money with coupons.

I had to resort to the scary mom voice right away to keep A and S from killing each other in the car cart, luckily it seemed to work. As we were turning into the frozen foods, J knocked over an entire spice display her cart. (she likes to use the little carts at the store, it makes her feel big.) God bless the girl, she and I cleaned everything up with out any complaints. I'm hoping the embarrassment will remind her to pay attention next time. We escaped the store with only a few minor set backs, saved around fifty dollars and only forgot the eggs, whoohoo! Unfortunately the lack of eggs puts a cramp in my cookie making plans for this afternoon but oh well.

The time is 10:45 and our next stop is the library. Going to the library is partly my fault, I desperately needed to return some overdue books. We were in and out of there fairly quickly. We all picked out books and the only issue we had was S throwing a fit because he didn't want to leave. I had to play the "we are leaving without you" game to get him to stop crying and come. A didn't seem to realize that I wasn't actually going to leave with out S and proceeded to get very upset. With two crying kids I'm sure I looked like the mother of the year. The librarians must have been happy to see our backs.

Three some what calm kids later, it is amazing what a little Hannah Montana music can do, and we are back home for lunch. I've fed the kids and attempting to fold my laundry ski jump. Unfortunately blogging/procrastinating seemed much more interesting.

So there you have it, all you curious people, that is what I do all day. Next time you think to ask a parent what exactly they do all day, don't. The question is rude and demeaning, besides that was just my morning you don't want to hear about my afternoon!

Baseball Games and Easter Eggs

Our family has been very busy lately. For some reason it seems as if spring hits and everyone comes out of hibernation and plans different play dates and birthday parties, add on top of that Easter and spring break and you've got yourself a full schedule.

To celebrate spring we decided to go to opening day for the local minor league team, the Timber Rattlers. (Their nickname is the T-rats, but I have an aversion to calling them that. I don't know why, some things are better left unexplained.)Another big draw to this game was the bobble head giveaway. For some reason my husband and children couldn't resist a bobble head of Fang, the Timber Rattler's mascot, and Bernie Brewer together. Again, this is something I can't explain. We had a great time except for the cold. It was about thirty degrees out, people here are so crazy for spring to come that they take their little kids to ball games in freezing weather!







Here is J trying to use her dad to stay warm and Fang stretching before the game. I know you all are jealous that your minor league team doesn't have a giant rattle snake as their mascot.

After baseball we went straight into Easter. This year I made two very smart decisions when it came to egg dying. First I did it with the girls while S was napping. Brilliant! No dye was spilled, no eggs were broken, it was a very peaceful and enjoyable egg dying afternoon. Now I realize that later he might feel slighted because he missed out, but I will gladly pay for that five minutes in therapy!

My second smart decision was that I didn't buy a egg dying kit. I completely stumbled into this one folks, I was just being cheap and didn't want to spend the two dollars. Instead of the traditional Paas the girls and I used food coloring. The girls thought this was great. They chose their own colors and counted out the drops of coloring needed for each recipe, as a side note there is not a lot of distinction between watermelon and fuchsia. J and A declared this the best egg dying time ever. High praise from a six and three year old.

A and J working on their masterpieces.

The finished product. Who knew the being cheap could end up so cute?

My Son is Now a Man

Well if not a man then definitely a big boy. The other day I was getting him ready for a bath, I stripped him down and turned to undress his sister. In retrospect this is where I went wrong. I finished undressing A just in time to see S lean over, brace himself on the wall, let go a giant stream of urine and laugh hysterically. Only a boy would think peeing all over the bathroom scale was hilarious. Do you think it's time for potty training?

What the Kids and I Did Today...

In an effort to bring spring into our house and attempt to be a creative "project mom" the kids and I made these....


Spring chick cake balls! Aren't they adorable! I can't take credit for the idea, I found it on a blog called Bakerella. Bakerella is fabulous and even more OCD then me when it comes to baking.



Here is my favorite chick from the flock I made.
Doesn't it just say "come eat my delicious round body!"



Here is S's chick.
Never one to turn down an offer, he took my chick seriously.


Here is A's chick.
Notice the red eyelashes, they are a point of pride for A.


Finally J, she took this project very seriously.
Diligently working after everyone has finished. Can you tell she's a first born?



The finished product.
Personally I think the glasses are a nice touch.




Enough fun for now, time to get the yellow candy melt off of my floor, table and ceiling.

Happy Spring!