Good mom day...

Today was one of those days when I pat myself on the back and say, "You did some good things. Good job." Nothing really specific, but enough of the little things that I consider it a successful day. And there were not realy major melt downs, etc.  We had busy work to do this morning, but the office we were at had toys, which always excites Moose. We were ultimately there way too long (an hour) but in the end we got some important paperwork taken care of. Then we hit up story time at the library. I forgot about an engagement with the father in law for Moose. Airplane show (not the flying kind, but the walk inside them kind) with WWII airplanes. So instead of a nap (which he desperately needed) he rested on my bed and maybe got a 45 min nap at most (which was still better than nothing.) and then headed out for special time with Grandpa. Me and the Monkey hung out for a short while before he came back (after her nap) and the rest of the evening proceeded mostly as usual. But with such a busy morning, I can't help but think, "Good job. You were really busy and did good things. The kids had a good time. You worked hard. Yay for you."

I think those moments of self-back-patting are so important as a parent. Your kids are way too young and their brains way under-developed to understand the effort and work that goes into their days. They don't fully appreciate the work you do. And that's ok. They're kids. I don't expect them to. But that means you are often left without anyone saying "Good job." "You worked hard." "Way to go." So I think it's entirely acceptable and honestly necessary for your own mental health to say these things to yourself every now and then. Goodness knows I do it all the time. I'm my biggest fan. :) (Okay, maybe after my hubs, mom and mom-in-law.) So give yourself a good pat on the back next time you know you deserve it. Or if that doesn't do it for ya, maybe an extra scoop of mint chocolate chip. :)

Summer days...

Today was the hub's day off and it really felt like a "summer day". We rushed off as early as we were able to the in-laws to do some gardening/yard work. After I thinned out the carrots (a new and exciting thing for me, all this gardening.) I helped out with the grass. They have one acre, which is more than I grew up on, so they have a riding lawn mower. I'll admit, the first few times it's pretty fun. So the hubs went around trimming the edges while I got started riding. All the while, Grandma played with the kiddos and kept them company. (Moose's idea of a good time.)

Then when the grass was taken care of and the kids had some lunch, we got to washing the car. My sweet hubs let Moose go to town with the spray hose while he handled the soap. Moose had a blast. Monkey thought she should be able to hold the hose too, but he wouldn't share, so she consented to just be lightly splashed by water and eating her sandwich with me.  After the car was washed, we even had a small water fights with some squirt guns, courtesy of Grandma. It was a great afternoon.

The rest of the day was spent indoors with the blinds down and AC occasionally on. The first day with the AC on. It was 73 by 10 o'clock and above 80 by 1. (This is quite hot by our standards.) We had some ice cream treats after lunch and enjoyed a nice nap. Well, the kids napped anyway.

It was the kind of morning that just felt summerish. It was nice, despite the heat. I definitely think the kids had a good time. (And with minimal whining. Victory for us!)

Manic Monday...

I couldn't think of anything spectacular or even singular to write about, which made me think about the Manic Monday song. Don't know why, really, but I did.  Today was Math Day, so Moose did another addition worksheet. We popped over to the in-laws and I weeded and planted a bit in the garden. I brought home some fresh spinach and asparagus. Ate it for lunch. Yum. The kiddos napped and I was unusually productive.

The amount of whining has gone down significantly. We make a lot of references to "big boy" versus "little boy". Big boys get to watch movies and play the computer. Little boys take multiple naps and don't get special things. I guess this has been somewhat effective. Yay for that.

Monkey has been getting heat rash on her shoulders lately. It's been pretty warm. She loves baths, so we end up giving her a cool one most nights now to help her stay cool. Her molars are still coming in, but her appetite is pretty much back, so they must not be bothering her much.

Another night of "What's for dinner Mama?" My response "Chili. (A delicious white chicken chili that was quite amazing.)" And "But I don't want chili." My response? "Too bad." Sometimes I sound so much like my mom I could practically dye my hair red. (She has red hair, for those not in the know.)

All in all a pretty non-eventful day, which in the life of a parent is most certainly not a bad thing. Tomorrow the hubs has the day off, so we'll be hanging out as a quad. A trip to the library, and grocery shopping on the list. Now, for parental relax time with a movie from netflix.

Something about Sundays...

I don't know what it is, but there's something about Sundays that makes Moose slightly less crazy. I'm sure it might have something to do with church at 9, an engaging and distracting 3 hours (I know, it's long.) of church, going home to lunch and a nap. But something about Sundays just makes him more agreeable. Slightly.

So yay for today being Sunday.

And my back is peeling. (I only wish I had a sister close enough to peel it for me. :)

Had enough yet...

Today was the beginning of the battle of "having enough", mostly in reference to yesterday's post. The whining and whatnot was in full force this morning, so the Moose lost all privileges (computer, movies, outings) until the behavior improved.

What I've noticed from today is he has no real concept of long-term with his behavior. He'll stop whining and expect a full re-instatement of his fun stuff, not taking into consideration that he had been whining for an hour before that. So today began the long journey of "the behavior needs to be long-term, it needs to be consistent" and "you lost that privilege and you don't get it back". It was actually not a bad day entirely. I perservered with his nap, so he was able to attend a birthday gathering at a park. There was still a good amount of whining and whatnot, but all in all, not bad.

Me and the hubs are working together on this to battle the whines. Thank goodness for having a partner. I'm sure this won't be a quick or easy fix, but I'm in it for the long haul. I've learned with our other battles, that it's so much easier to deal with this when kids are younger versus waiting until they're older.

Let it begin. Let it begin!

Never enough...

So apparently Moose's new thing is that nothing is ever enough. One movie isn't enough, playing outside isn't enough, going to someone's house to play isn't enough, nothing is ever enough. It's so frustrating. The tantrums are continuing (as is my poor, sad sunburned back) and I'm getting a bit frazzled. I'm actually handling it okay, but it's so darn annoying. We don't know what makes him get this way. We have never, in any way reinforced this sort of behavior. All of his moaning and complaining makes me want to do less of the things he's asking for. If he wasn't so whiny and complaining all the time, I'd be far more likely to do all of the things he keeps asking me about.

Ugh.

My rant for the day. I'm exhausted. Going to bed. Perhaps tomorrow will be better.

Sunburns and tantrums...

So I'm still burnt. I was amazingly able to sleep quasi-comfortably, but it's been extremely warm today so I've been sweating and overall a bit overly warm. So that's no fun.

Moose has been throwing tantrums today. Ugh. I'm so sick of tantrums.

Me: Moose, go potty before naptime.
Moose: TANTRUM

Moose: Can I watch two movies?
Me: No, you just started that one. Enjoy it and stop asking for more.
Moose: TANTRUM

Me: Time to go home. We talked about this. (LIke a huge discussion before arriving.) It's late and we've been here a long time.
Moose: TANTRUM

Seriously. What is is? I've officially decided that this age is way worse than the two's. Those were a piece of cake. He was awesome. But this age? Bleh. Hate it.

And my back hurts.

*Sidenote: I love my kids insanely much. I was thinking as we were putting them to bed tonight how there are many people I know from high school who would probably cringe at what I do as a parent and think, "You want to do this?" But I do. Wouldn't change it for anything. I LOVE being a mother. That just doesn't make it easy, unfortunately. I know I am raising beautiful, intelligent and overall amazing kids. Today was just a blah kinda day.

Oh, and Monkey had a doctor's visit. 98% for height, 56% for weight. Atta girl! 22 pounds of awesomeness!

Good moms get sunburns...

This morning I decided to do a good mom thing and took the kiddos to a playgroup at the beach. (Not really a beach, but a lake, with a nice sandy section which they like to call a beach.) I was amazed that Moose did so well. Last time we went there was last year and he had his grandma to keep him happy and playing. There were tons of kids there to play with, but most were a little older. But he eventually got playing and completely left me alone. Yay! Although Monkey sat on my lap the entire time. 2 1/2 hours. On my lap.

So, the reason why good moms get sunburns is because I was able to successfully cover myself in sunblock except for my back. Instead of asking another mom to do it, which would've been most obviously the best choice, I decided to have Moose do it. It's a small section, it'll be like fingerpainting, right? Unfortunately, he mostly missed the middle and bottom. So, as the hubs puts it, I have a red anchor on my back.

At least I can go to bed tonight knowing I gave the kids one heck of a time at the "beach" today. Let's hope the sunburn doesn't last long. :)

Everyday stuff...

So lately I feel like I've been pretty optimistic and focusing on the sweet moments. So I thought I'd share some of the everyday stuff that tend to blend into the background for me.

*Monkey is teething. Love those one year molars. So she gets fussy about bed pretty often now and we're never sure if it's teething or not. Her latest bedtime thing has been freaking out the minute I peel her from my body. She would then scream for minutes on end. It's since tamed a bit, but she's still fussing (which is a new thing for her at night) and we never know what to attribute it to.

*Moose throws fits (some pretty minor, but nonetheless,) 75% of the time when I ask him to go to the bathroom. It's really, really obnoxious.

*Monkey's falling. All the time. She insists on climbing on everything and just hasn't made the connections yet that doing it will lead to pain. At least her last scab (from her forehead) just came off today. Time for a new one...

*99% of the time, when we leave a location, pretty much any place except church, Moose throws a tantrum. Okay, maybe not 99%, but it seems like it sometimes. He's the ultimate anti-home kid. I don't know what it is. It drives me crazy! He did it tonight after we had been at the in-laws. You'd think he lived in a prison.

That's all that's popping into my head at the moment. I'm sure there's more, but like I said, after a while this stuff just blends into the background. So although it was a good day, it was still filled with pretty much all of the above. Just a regular day of parenting!

Math Day...

Moose and I do school almost every week day. Recently, I decided to kick things up a notch and change them up, to make them more interesting for both of us. So today was our first day of his new school. I deemed today Math day.  He knows his numbers super well, and I found out from a cute little game with Handy Manny that he can do simple addition. So I printed out this worksheet (such a cool site!) and we worked on his addition worksheet together. They have one for subtraction too. Maybe we'll do that in a few weeks. We did a worksheet together (well, he did most of it. I just helped him remember how to write the numbers.) Amazingly, the hardest part for him was writing the answer. He does so well with his addition. We only used numbers below 5. So no answer was above 8. It was really fun. I enjoyed the variation, and I think Moose did too.

Tomorrow is History Day. We're getting a book from the library about Buffalo Bill. (Whose name I know, but honestly don't think I know anything about either.) I read that in teaching young children about history, the easiest thing to do is to read them biographies until they get old enough to understand timelines, etc. So I requested a ton of biographies from the library, including George Washington, Pocahontas, Columbus, etc.  They are all written by a recommended author partnership Edgar and Ingri D'Aulaire. I'll let you know what I think of them. I've very excited about it. Actually, I just saw that they also have Columbus and Abraham Lincoln pulled aside for me. So maybe I'll let him choose which one we read first. I'm really excited about this. The other days of the week, we'll be doing reading/writing, and science/our world. We have a great book for that too. Anyhow, that's my exciting school bit for the day.

Today's been a good day. We had a family trip to the new Super Wal-Mart. It's like a theme park for Moose. As long as he's a good boy, we let him walk down an aisle of toys. Probably the highlight of his day. Sometimes, and I stress sometimes, kids can be so easily amused. Other times it takes a fully orchestrated fireworks show. But sometimes, it's an aisle of toys.

Monkey of a day...

So apparently today was Monkey's day. If she wasn't completely sweaty (guess she's like her brother) or really tired for no real reason, she was an entire goof ball! We had a big father's day dinner with the hub's family (our family, his brother's family and the in-laws) and she went through the sweaty and fussy stage. Then it turned into all Monkey laughing all the time. There was wrestling, there was peek-a-boo, there was hide and seek. The entire time she was laughing uncontrollably (and still sweating up a storm). Thankfully now, the kiddos are sound asleep after going to bed at like 9. Sure hope they sleep in!

Today, being father's day, I feel compelled to say something about Dads. I have an amazing Dad. He's a provider, he's loving, thoughtful, caring, gentle, firm, and a great example. I've learned tons from my Dad, and still do. He gave me a great start in life in terms of relationships with men, which leads me to the love of my life. My sweet hubs is the best thing I could've asked for. Aside from being an amazing husband and friend, he is an awesome Papa. He is firm, and willing to discipline, but when it's time for fun, he's all wrestling and giggling and running around. My children adore my husband and I love it. I know that I'm extremely fortunate to have a husband and active father in my home. I couldn't ask for more. Parenting is hard enough, I couldn't imagine doing it alone. For those of you who do, I admire your hard work and courage. It's a tough world out there, parenting aside. So teaching children how to navigate it is a really tough job. I'm grateful every day for my sweet husband who helps me, as an equal partner, in helping to raise our children and teach them about life.

Happy Father's Day to all you Fathers. The world needs you. I'm grateful for everything you do!

Moose Moments...

Moose had quite a few great moments today. He started out with some rough ones, violating parking lot protocol. But he miraculously made up for it with some really sweet moments.

During the naptime in which he wasn't sleeping, I was unloading the dishes. I was frazzled and slightly stressed about a soup I was making for a bridal shower (which happened to turn out great) and couldn't wait to relax. All I had left was the silverware, and Moose meandered in the kitchen, without a word, and started putting away the silverware. He did about 1/3 of it, then got distracted by some of the utensils he found in the drawer and decided he was going to set the table for dinner (at 3:00 in the afternoon). I said okay, but the table wasn't clear, so he cleared it off and proceeded to set the table. He gave himself a spoon, the hubs a fork and spoon, and Monkey a baby spork.

While I was at the bridal shower, the hubs had kiddo duty. Bless his heart, he fed them and walked them to a park. On the way there, they walked by some large and fragrant bushes. Moose stopped and said, "I smell something that big girls put on." The hubs was confused, then realized, "Perfume." Moose said, "Yeah." How cute. What a silly little guy.

Sweet and giggly day...

Today started out nice and rainy, so it was a bit of a bummer, but by the afternoon, the sun was out and things were drying up. It was an overall average day with a few sweet moments. A few times, Moose made (again) very sweet "I love you" comments. I am really enjoying this stage! Then Monkey was being a hoot during dinner and after. First, she kept asking me to pray. She'd sign "more" then fold her arms. So I'd fold my arms, close my eyes and say "amen". She'd immediately sign "more" and fold her arms again. It was so sweet. Then after dinner, she was running around in her diaper. I started saying "I'm gonna get you" and she'd immediately run away. Once she hit a wall or cupboard, she'd turn around, look at me and run straight for me. Once she got to me, I'd grab her and swing her around or toss her over my shoulder, the whole while she's giggling and drooling all over me. We did this for a while. If I stopped, she'd sign "more please". It was so precious. Then today I started reading a Boxcar Children Book to Moose for the summer reading program. I know he doesn't really grasp that much of it, but whenever we start or stop reading I reiterate the very major points. For his first book of this level, he sits very still and quietly, and I'm sure he's absorbing more than I realize. It just takes him being in the right mood for him to express it. I look forward to getting more of these books (which I just adored when I was young) and reading them to him. It's much more fun for me to read to him than some of the other books we get. We read 45 minutes total today. He'll definitely reach his goal of 5 hours by the end date. A very pleasing day. Here's to another one tomorrow!

Rainy Day Blues...

Sorry for the missed post last night. The hubs started turning off the computer and I didn't have the energy to get off the couch to do my post as I was already settled in to watch a movie for the night. The last 2 days have been rainy days. Today especially. Pouring rain. Almost all day. When it wasn't pouring, it's been moderately sprinkling. Not a single break all day. Ugh.

The kids haven't done any spectacular the last few days. Not that I can remember. Although, I've made a mental note of the multiple times Moose has done something really quite precious. He'll randomly get up from whatever he's doing, run over to me or the hubs, give us a hug and say something along the lines of "I love you." "You're the best Mama ever." etc. I think yesterday he said "You're the best wiper ever." After I wiped his bum. I've alsp heard recently "You can fix anything."

We were walking through the rain to a concert at the hubs' school (for Jon Schmidt. Check him out!) and there was a massive puddle. I had an umbrella in one hand, and reached to grab Moose with my other. (My left. Bad idea.) I had to rearrange myself and get him with my good arm, and I quickly struggled across the mini-lake. As I was forging, he was constantly planting huge kisses on my cheeks. I made a comment about making out under the umbrella and a man passing us by looked over and just laughed. After I put Moose down I told him what nice affection he was showing me. He asked me what affection was, and so I gave him a brief explanation. He then continued trying to hug my legs, which he had been doing since I put him down, and told me once again, "You're the best Mama ever."

I guess I'm glad I don't remember too much about the last two days, because I do remember all of these moments, and they're the stuff you want to remember anyway.

Day off...

So the hubs had the day off. The sun was shining and it felt like we really enjoyed it as best we could. We got out and went to the in-laws house. The hubs mowed the grass (they're out of town) while me and the kiddos hung out inside. He let Moose ride on the mower with him (it's a big riding mower type) and even let him try steering. (Until he started steering towards the house.) Then we had a family raking party as we raked up all the grass clippings.

After a yummy lunch and naps (Yay!) we relaxed a tiny bit and had an awesome hamburger dinner with some homemade guacamole. (Yummy!) Next, it was the park. We went to one of my favorites. It has a big park with tall slides and climbing apparatus that big kids can handle and next to it is a smaller park that's perfect for kids Monkey's size. She was able to maneuver the stairs and slides all by herself. (For the most part.) We even wandered down to the stream next to it and saw a family of baby ducks. On the way home, the hubs surprised us with a quick stop for ice cream (and lemonade!) and we just finished putting the kids to bed.

What an awesome day! The kids were great and I think they had a very full and fun day. We even put on the sun block. (Well, on the kids anyway.) So even though Monkey's currently screaming, it was a great day.

*Her latest thing is to cuddle you to pieces, but the minute you start removing her from your body she starts kicking and fussing and when you lay her down in her crib she loses it. It usually doesn't last too long, and she just conks out (I'm guessing.) She's fussing a little more than usual. Goodness knows she's still teething, and is probably a little overworked from a day of activity. But what a great day of activity it was!

Let's read...

Today Moose and I signed up at our wonderful local library for their children's summer reading program. I'm sure you're thinking, "Reading program? He's not even 4. He can't read books." And you are right. He can't. But it counts if he's listening. So we're doing that. For every 5 hours he reads, he will earn a prize. They have a board at the library showcasing some prizes, including a movie-sized box of starburst. That's the first thing he saw and I'm sure he'll want to have it. He can only get 2 prizes total. They're doing it in 2 sessions, each session 5 weeks long. So if he reads 1 hour a week (okay, listens) then he'll be able to earn a prize after the first session is done.

Can I say that I'm super excited about this? We got some new books at the library. I tried to find some that looked a bit longer, maybe more involved. I don't want this to be horribly boring for me. There's a set of books that involve Franklin the turtle. Each story takes us about 5 minutes, so it's a nice one to read and keep track of our time with.  We read a total of 20 minutes today. (He had me read 3 Franklin stories instead of the usual 1.) Any extra minutes we read will be counted towards some great program that will end up with books being donated to the library, or something like that. In my excitement, I even checked out a Boxcar Children book. Anyone remember those? I adored them when I was younger. I perused it to see how it will go over with him. The chapters are quite short. I'll have to try it out and see if he can follow the plot at all. Or if I can explain enough for him to follow. Time will tell. I hope so. That will keep our reading time way more interesting.

So here's to some serious reading over the next 5 weeks! (Not really. We're just going to do what we normally do. I'd say on average we read to him at least 15 minutes each day anyhow. Now he'll just earn candy for it!)

Bruiser...

So I am considering changing Monkey's nickname to Bruiser. Why, you ask? The girl can't stop from injuring herself. She hit her head yesterday somehow as she started walking up the stairs. Then turns out she has a pretty huge rug burn on her arm from Moose dragging her by her feet across the carpet. (A game they play. She loved it. I think he usually drags her by her arms, which explains why she's never had this happen before.)

However, today topped it off. We were at the in-laws house. Just to play in the lawn and have fun since it was a nice day and we needed to take some things over. They have stairs leading to their front door. She was on the very bottom step, crouched down and started leaning forward. She stayed in that stance, and fell forward, smacking her forehead on the pavement.

Of course, we didn't have a pacifier or her baby. But luckily she calmed down rather quickly and enjoyed playing with the cell phone on the short trip home. It's already a bit swollen and has a nice red scrape mark in the middle of it. Poor thing. I just finished explaining all of her bruises at church today. I wonder how many I'll get to explain next week?

I was ready to talk about my rough day of breaking my shoe strap and ripping the slit on my skirt a few inches while I was at church. Then attempting to play the piano for choir practice with the kids since the hubs was called in to work Sears today. But after all of her adventures, I decided she took the prize. Let's just hope she quits while she's ahead.

Good and bad...

Today was a combination of really great moments and some pretty bad. Here's the break down.

Good:
*Sunshine! Yay for that. It's been so long, that we just had to get out. We got some groceries, went to visit the hubs at work. (Where Moose enjoyed sitting on all of the riding lawn mowers. He's working the summer at Sears.)
*We enjoyed a picnic at a new (and pretty great) park, hubs and all.

Not so good:
*I trimmed Moose's hair. A nice summer buzz. However, as I trimmed around his ears, I nipped one of his ears just a teeny bit. It hardly bled a drop. But he was frantic. (Although the mention of a cookie stopped the tears in about .2 seconds.)
*The kiddos were taking a bath. We were in the kitchen cleaning up the haircut and we heard a *splash* then *cry*. The hubs ran in and Miss Monkey was sitting up, but in tears.  Apparently she had a bath toy in her mouth and Moose thought she shouldn't have it in her mouth, so he tried to take it out. But she wouldn't let it go, and he ended up pulling her forward, so she fell face forward in the water. He helped her up and all was well, but it was quite traumatic at the time.
*Poor Moose was so emotional and tired from not having a nap that we started in on bedtime routines right after the bath. He was super emotional about it and didn't want to go to bed. Fortunately, I was able to talk him out of complete hysterics and he went to bed happy. (He went to bed shortly after 7, whereas lately they've been going to bed past 8. He was one tired boy!)

So, all in all a sorta crazy day. But the sunshine seems like it's here to stay for a while, so I hope we can have more fun days and just avoid the downers. I guess overall we broke even. And I'll take that any day!

Date Night Again...

So we had a date tonight and this time both kids got to go. I was a little nervous as Monkey hasn't done that with anyone other than her grandparents before. But she was perky and Moose was jazzed to be at his friend's house, so we snuck out before she'd notice.

When I went to get the kiddos 2 hours later, lo and behold Monkey was completely fine! Yay for that! She hadn't cried once, ate a great dinner and used her signs to communicate. I was so excited! Moose did fine, as expected. It was such a relief to know that we can do things like that and not have to worry. She was so finicky when she was younger that I didn't know how she would do. But lately she's been getting so independent, her personality is just bursting. It's so awesome. My friend says she's just a mini-person. All the personality and things packed into this tiny little body.

So happy we could have a carefree date night. Now I can't wait for the next one!

Happy 100...

As a pre-emptive celebration (not really) to my 100th post, we attended a block party near a friend's house. They had a bounce house, face painting, cotton candy, sno-cones and popcorn. It was tons of fun (minus the 5 minutes of rain where we huddled under their canopies) and the kids got to eat a little bit of everything. Before lunch! What a super mom am I?!

100 posts later, I am still insanely in love with my kids. Even on the worst days I can always find one wonderful thing, even if that's only how sweet they look when they're sleeping. (They do look so darn cute when they're sleeping!) Here's to another hundred days of sharing the pains and mostly joys of parenting. I wouldn't change it. Not for anything.

Doing something right...

This will be brief, as I'm headed off to bed. But I just had to share this sweet story. We had a super busy day, complete with a playgroup of 7 kids and 4 moms at our place. It went really well and I was very pleased. Anyhow, at dinner tonight, we were sitting together at the table and saying a prayer. Near the end of our prayer, I look up at Monkey and she was folding her arms! We've never made any attempt to teach her or try to get her to do it. I don't remember when Moose started doing that, but I'm sure it wasn't this young. It was so precious. I just couldn't stop smiling. It just made me think that we must be doing something right.

In other silly stories, later at dinner we were talking about pictures of Jesus. We have a few around the house and Moose was naming them. He mentioned one with "the credits" on it. We looked at what he was pointing to and it's a picture with Christ watermarked on the paper and writing over it in two columns. Moose called this "the credits". It was so cute. Kid's descriptions of things can be really interesting and observant.

Mama the Grouch...

I'm channeling Oscar here, thanks to Moose playing on Sesamestreet.org frequently. For whatever reason, I was such a grouch this morning. The last two nights I've gotten to bed pretty late and I'm guessing it caught up with me.  I was snappy at everything. In my defense, Moose fell asleep really late for the second night in a row and woke up at 6 am yet again. So he was being slightly obnoxious. On top of that, Monkey was up about an hour early, and she also fell asleep late for the second night in a row.

My saving grace was Monkey taking a morning nap (thanks to her early wake up) so I made a deal with Moose. He elft me alone for a while, and I put on a pick-me-up-I'm-a-Mom-song and did busy work in the kitchen. It was just what the doctor ordered. I was able to make it through the rest of the day. Now, for an earlier bedtime tonight. For me and the kids.

Potty Party...

So my fun parenting story for today is being borrowed, because it was not done by my kids. However, my kid was there. It's just too funny not to share.

Moose went to his cousin's birthday party this morning. She turned 5. (Happy Birthday Sweetheart!) After all the festivities were over, he was outside playing with her and 2 of her friends (both girls) on the trampoline. Apparently, one of the friends decided it would be too far to go up the hill to the house to go potty, so they should just go out in the grass.

We found out about this as my niece came into the house wearing just her shirt, because she was a bit wet. Then we went outside and got more details. You just couldn't help but laugh!

As I walked the last 2 inside (mine, and a friend) I asked Moose if he went potty outside and he said no. Then he went on to say, "You shouldn't do that." and on and on about how that was not the right thing to do. Yay Moose! So glad he has such a good sense of right/wrong/modesty that he didn't try doing that. Well, that and we haven't taught him to pee standing up. Nonetheless, yay for him. And what a funny story! Sometimes kids do things we couldn't even think up if we tried.

My best part of all this was the instigator's mother. As her daughter cried very loudly and dramatically as she walked up the hill, her mother said to her, "We're not camping." So I suppose her idea came from somewhere, but was just not event-appropriate. Guess we'll have to be careful when we introduce those *exceptions* to our kids!

A new day...

It's mostly as though yesterday didn't happen. Moose slept a ton and was feeling very chipper this morning. (As I knew he would be.) He is a bit hoarse, which sounds so cute, but otherwise fine. Monkey has a perfect pinky once again and was such a ham today. She kept following me and the hubs around, laughing and giggling and making us smile. Such a doll!

It was so nice to have a relatively low-key day after so many things going sour yesterday. I was at church alone since Moose had a fever all day yesterday, and I can't handle Monkey alone with the responsibilities I have there. The kids had just gone down for naps right before I got home, so I felt like I hardly saw them at all the whole day. I just couldn't get enough of them.

Summer is around the corner (although it doesn't nearly feel like it since we've been raining for 2 straight weeks) and I can't hardly believe we're already well into June. I feel like the summer is just going to fly by. The hubs has 2 more days of school and then he's free! Yeehaw! Soo excited. He has a summer job (for which we are super grateful!) that will start later in the morning than school. Instead of 7-5,  he will be 9-6. And he's across the street, so he can come home for lunch! It will be so great to have him home in the mornings, and our evenings will only change a little.

It's been a long road to get here, but after all the hubs' spread sheets and planning, it feels like our family might finally be getting afloat. It's such a great feeling. Our kids are so oblivious to all this, being as young as they are, but knowing things are working out makes their antics all the more tolerable, and even endearing.

Here's to the summer! (And maybe even some summer weather!)

Campout...

So I didn't get lazy yesterday, the internet was on the blitz and wasn't working. Last night was a father/son campout. However, it was raining all day so they didn't go camping. The hubs (bless his heart) made a fort in the living room with sheets and blankets and he and Moose slept out there last night. That's what I was going to blog about last night.

Well, it's now tonight and boy has a lot happened!  We all slept kinda poorly. I had a major headache, Monkey went down late and got up slightly early, Moose fell off the couch cushion-bed a few times and was congested, and the hubs didn't sleep super well either. Moose and the hubs went out to the river this morning to hang out with the tough guys who did camp out. When they got back, Moose was exhausted, after staying up way late and still waking up at his normal 6:30. He woke up with a pretty good fever and was pretty cuddly and sad. Shortly after his waking up, little miss Monkey got her pinky finger smashed, and I mean smashed, in the bathroom door. If it wasn't one thing, it was another.

We had company over for dinner, and Moose sat on my lap with some applesauce and shortly after we started eating, went to lay on the couch and promptly conked out. He's still there, fan pointed straight on him to help him stay cool. (Even though he insists he's cold.) Hopefully we'll be able to transition him to his bed at some point.

I think most people may feel this way, that if it's not one thing, it's another. I'm glad that our "things" aren't really that bad. But still, it's a bit of a struggle moving your mind from one item of focus to another. I had barely started worrying about Moose and his fever and lethargy before Monkey had a blue pinky that was literally all smashed flat. Luckily, she's doing fine and we don't think anything's permanently damaged or broken. She was due for a nap at the time so we gave her some tylenol and I cuddled her on the rocking chair. She was asleep within 5 minutes. And her pinky looks just fine now, for those who are wondering.

A slightly rough day, filled with nice moments. Here are my favs.

*Monkey and I went to the library to kill time while we waited for the boys to come home. We got there 15 minutes before it opened so we sat outside with someone I knew who was also waiting. Monkey cuddled me all coy and shy the whole time. It was precious.

*Moose and I watched the best parts of Horton Hears A Who while he sat on my lap. Really an enjoyable movie. He still got up to dance for the end, where there is a lot of music. Not nearly as much dancing as he usually does, but he still wanted to dance just a little.

Why oh why...

So overall it was a fine day. Went to a local ranch (free!) and saw animals, the kids rode on horses (well, Monkey sat on one for like 3 seconds.) and had a good time. However, my mind is currently on the now.

Monkey is crying. Still. The hubs put her down like an hour ago. She's been fussing on and off. I thought at first it was because Moose wasn't in bed yet. So I snuggled her and sang her songs until he came in. Then they were happy for a short while. Then the crying started again. Fuss, quiet for a minute, fuss, quiet, fuss, quiet. You get the idea. No idea why she's randomly doing this. Yes, she's getting teeth, but hasn't had any other symptoms at all today. It seems so random. The hubs just came back from their room. Maybe she finally got what she needed. I'm sure I'll find out in 2 minutes if she's satisfied or not.

Here's to hoping it's dreamland for Monkey.

(No, she's not done yet. Oh well.)

Cheese...

Nothing spectacular happened today, so I thought I'd share a fun little habit/quirky thing Monkey has been picking up lately. She started doing it maybe a week or so ago. She would do it at dinner, when I sit across the table from her. She'd smile really big, tilt her head up, eyes all squiched up and just smile at me. I'd do it back and laugh, and she'd start laughing and doing it more. It's so hilarious. It's like her sense of humor is budding and she realizes she can be funny. For a few days she'd do this every day at dinner time. Now she's starting to do it other times of the day as well. When we went out to eat with the fam last week she did it at the restaurant and everyone was just eating it up. She's so hilarious. I love seeing more of her personality pop out as she's getting older. She insists now on walking down the stairs, holding a hand. She's not that bad at it. She's consistently asking for "help" using her signs and I'm thinking about adding more words to her vocab. She picks them up so well, and isn't really using real words yet. I'm sure when she does choose to start talking though, it'll come in spades.

When the hubs left tonight for something, Monkey got really sad. So I picked her up and cuddled her on the rocking chair. She was all jammied up, holding her teddy bear (or more like, holding the rabbit ears on her teddy bear.) while I was sweating mildly (having just gotten home from a 2 1/2 mile run) in my bath robe. But I didn't mind sitting there, because she cuddled me for a good five minutes without moving. It was really sweet. After a while, Moose asked what I was doing, and declared he wanted cuddles too. Seeing as there was no room on my lap, he came to the side of the rocking chair and stroked Monkey's face, saying sweet things very softly, and calling her "sweety pie". (His new name for her 99% of the time.) It was really precious.

Today was an average day. There were frustrating moments, and the ordinary struggles (like the 45 minutes after I put the kids down potty trip, then subsequent hiding under the table because someone happened to call and I was on the phone and then getting snippy about going back to bed - that just happened), but it's these sort of things that I remember most, and make an effort to remember.

Piano lessons and giggling siblings...

We had the pleasure to attend my mother-in-law's piano recital tonight. She did wonderful! (Yes, you did!) What was so interesting for me was Moose's response to it all. For the first few performers, he kept asking me when he could play and when it was his turn. I kept telling him how they've been taking lessons for a long time and practicing lots and lots. So he asked me quite a few times when he could have piano lessons. So I'm thinking of trying my hand out at teaching Moose piano. I've considered teaching other children (but haven't had the opportunity yet), so I thought this might be a good test run into how I handle teaching children. (Although 4 is a bit younger than I was planning on teaching. Still, a teaching opportunity nonetheless.) So we'll see about that. I'll have to stew on it. (And check out the piano books available for young children.)

Onto the giggling siblings. On the way home from the recital, Moose and Monkey were playing in the backseat. Monkey was just giggling away, having a grand old time playing tug of war with some strap attached to Moose's car seat. After they got home and ready for bed, the hubs was reading Moose's bedtime story and Monkey climbed on his bed, grabbed his pillow and began attacking them. It was so cute and silly. After the story was over, the two of them just wrestled on the bed for a few minutes giggling away. It was such a sweet moment.

Just the other day I was pondering the difference between what makes a brother adore his little sister and want to protect her versus a brother who thinks his sister is a pain and annoying tag along. I'm sure most siblings have a bit of both, but I want these two to be mostly the adoring/loving type. So I sighed as they wrestled and giggled and hoped this would be the beginning of a great friendship between them.