"Mama, Tucker is in my class.
Tucker likes to hit.  He hits with sticks, he hits with toys.
But, I'm the lucky one, I told Tucker, girls are not abadeable!" (translation: debateable)

This summer I am taking the bull by the horns and being proactive with the "We have nothing to do" problem all mothers have while their children are home from school. We have 2 "guaranteed lock" fun days (which can be un-locked with bad behavior). For us it is one pool day at grandma's and one day at a park, zoo, museum, etc. My plan further extends to the days we don't have anything planned and they say there is nothing to do. I pull out large pieces of paper and tell them to make a map of where we have been or draw their favorite part of the last fun day.

I have found that a membership to our local museum is a great deal and there are lots of coupons out there too with everyone vying for business right now.

So far it's working! Ask me in August:)

July 1, 2009

How many You Knows can you come up with? I challenge you...

You Know….

1. You know you have been too sarcastic lately when you pay your husband a compliment and he asks “why are you talking to me that way?”

2. You know you have bad road rage when your kids see orange-striped cones up ahead and they say to each other from the back of the car, “Oh no, Mama’s going to get mad.” In my defense there has been a lot of construction lately and I have a knack for running into more construction when I make a turn to avoid it.

3. You know you better check who your 4 year old’s friends are when she says “that song has the S-word in it” - she may have meant “stupid” but how does she know there is such a thing as an “S-word”?

4. You know that unfortunately your children may grow up to be just like you when your 22 month old says “Scooch, child, scooch!” to his sister.

5. You know your children don’t yet understand that their little brother is not an animal that can be put up for adoption or put down if it doesn’t work out, when after marveling at his skills of remembering everyone’s name correctly, one of them says, “yeh, he’s tamed now.”

July 1, 2009

I have very low blood pressure, so low that at a doctor's apt. a couple of weeks ago the nurse could not find my pulse. But, nothing gets my blood pressure to the "in danger of having a heart attack" level than slow drivers! This week, three times as I passed the "eldural parrallel" (you know, every area has one, where young meets old, where rural meets ruraler) I got stuck behind some yahoo who apparently had nowhere to go and made me late!, to VBS. Now, I can't get too upset on the way to drop my kids off at VBS (at a church in the boondocks) because that would kind of ruin the whole reason for sending them, but when it happens again on the way back! Well, my kids can get saved again tomorrow. (I'm sorry I know that's not how it works, was highly inappropriate and very flippant) But, as I was explaining to my kids that Mama is not mad, she's just really frustrated and the person in front of her can't hear her - it struck me, it is the slow driver that is rude and inconsiderate. They may not have anywhere to go, but the people behind them do, and have planned their trip by how quickly they would get there by the speed limit, or some may count on 10, maybe 20 over the speed limit - I'm not naming names, I'm just throwing it out there. Maybe I feel this way because I'm one of those lead-footed-impatient-Berg people, but, come on there need to be far more tickets for driving slow!

June 24, 2009

1. Apparently I complain too much because when I said "I am going to throw up" she replied "No, Mama's don't throw up they just about to throw up."

2. You know you have too many children when your 4 year old says while leafing through a book about babies, "Mama, next time you have a baby in your tummy, I want it to look like this one."

May 6, 2009

After being told to calm down with her little brother and ignoring the warning, I pulled Paris' hands off of her brother. Forgetting herself she swatted me on the arm and then looked up at me in horror. I gasped and was about to start the lecture and hand out punishment, when Paris put her tiny hand over my mouth and said, "Don't say a word."

I've found it very interesting that Paris suddenly loves to go shopping with me. Today she asked if we could go look at all the things she might choose for her birthday, me being short on time and her birthday not being until January, I said "no, not today your birthday isn't for a long time anyway." Too which Paris said to herself under her breathe, "well, I guess I hate shopping now."

May 4, 2009

Since Spring is coming and there are sure to be many rainy days, I will be posting Rainy Day Ideas. My girls craft/project addicts, anything they can cut or glue makes them happy.

Free Paper Dolls

Take an American Girls Doll catalog - or any catalog for that matter, but the AG one will be easier - have your child pick the doll she likes best. Cut out the doll and glue it really well on some thin cardboard. (I save the cardboard that comes in tights or underwear packages) While the glue is drying, find outfits in the catalog that will fit the doll you chose, cut them out remembering to also cut tabs to fold over the shoulders and around the arms/legs of your paper doll. You can find outfits off of similar sized pictures of dolls and just cut the head off:) When I did this our paper dolls were taking a while to dry on the cardboard, so I used a hairdryer and it worked great. Once the paper doll is dry and glued on the cardboard, cut the paper doll out and let the fun begin!
 
March 9, 2009

This morning I had a wake up call of sorts, a wake-up call with no sound. My 3 year old, Paris had a hard time waking up due to the time change and losing an hour. I had been up in the middle of the night with Jack and tired myself. Jack was crying so I got him up and peeked my head in Paris' room to ask her to come downstairs. "Oh can you carry me?" she crustily cried. "No, I'm already carrying Jack, come on you can do it." "Oh will you hold my hand down the stairs?", she requested. "Sure, I can do that." We got downstairs and I asked her to get dressed while I got Jack changed and fed. Paris continued to whine and cry, not budging from where she had plopped herself on the couch. After a little coaxing and a few threats she finally got dressed while very noisily protesting. Then it was time to eat and she didn't like the way it was prepared, how you go wrong with Fruit Loops (again I was tired and not worried about nutrition) I'll never know. At this point she had been fortold her future of going back upstairs to bed and maybe her bum smarting a little on the way if she didn't eat. And again I was distracted by making lunches. Then I noticed the noise had stopped. I looked over in Paris' direction and I see her face - happiness, tears gone, a smile travelling from ear to ear. Her sister Elise was giving her a big bear hug, arms wrapped all the way around her, holding her tight - not saying a word. As the day has progressed, I reflect on this more and my failure to see what Paris needed the moment she awoke so tired. I have had to ask how did Ellse know what she needed? The answer to that disturbs me more. Elise is our 6 year old who is a year behind her twin in school due to health and developmental challenges, she is a bright little girl but has trouble expressing her emotions properly sometimes if at all. Aaron and I often realize she may be left out or left behind at times. She is the most generous soul who won't demand what she needs. She once (at 4) gave a whole pack of Smarties, with tears in her eyes not saying a word, to her her little sister who dropped hers - because that is what she thought I meant by "can you share some". And now today I find myself remembering all the times she has come into the kitchen to watch me cook and I tell her to back up from the heat - cause the girl just doesn't have spacial understanding - but I don't hug her or ask her to keep talking to me from a distance. Or the times she comes and just stands next to me and stares at me with those big brown eyes with nothing really that makes sense to say and I really don't know what she wants but I'm a little uncomfortable with how close she's standing to me. I think she showed me today by her own empathy what she so badly needs. I can tell you there is one little Kindergartener who is going to get a huge bear hug herself today round about 12:05 PM when school gets out and hopefully everytime she needs to be near me.

March 9, 2009

1. If it looks like poop on the floor it probobly is

2. If you can't see it or hear it but you know it is there, you should find out about it
(this is how #1 happens)

3. All animal analogies can be turned on you, such as...Monkey see, monkey do, When pigs fly (have you ever seen an 18 month old throw chunks of ham?)

4. All baby analogies are not to be believed - have you ever tried taking candy away from a baby?

5. In addition to what goes up must come down, what goes in must come out

6. Sticks and stones may break your bones and so will I if your words hurt my kid

7. Dirt do hurt if it gets in your eye or you track it in on your mother's clean floor

8. Close only counts in horse shoes - this one is true, much to my children's dismay and mine, it does not count in potty training and I have yet to find anything else in their world that it does

9. If you don't want something repeated and traced back to you as the source - don't say it - like s@#% when you're driving and someone pulls out in front of you

10. Don't ask a question that you may not want the answer to (most kids think being fat is a good thing)
 
March 9, 2009