Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Graduation Time

So it's graduation time. This past Memorial Weekend, my kids and I attended our cousin Lindsay's high school graduation ceremony. We went with my sister and her kids so between my sister and I-we had five kids from age 2 to 7.
We arrived early at the convention center where the graduation would take place to let our kids run around on a near-by play ground to expend some energy. We packed snacks and a few quiet activities to keep the kids occupied during the ceremony in case the speeches dragged on and on...

My sister's 3-year-old son was an angel...he slept through the ceremony (even when we screamed for our cousin Lindsay as she walked the aisle way to the stage)















My son thought he was still at the playground. He wouldn't sit still in my lap, but played pretty good on the floor in front of my seat.



Then he figured out how fun it was to throw his animal crackers instead of eating them...




I tried to pick up the mess as best I could, but apparently I'd missed some crackers a few rows up. While I'm busy yapping with my family and ignoring the Principal's speech and my son-he managed to crawl under the chairs three rows up from me to fetch one of his animal crackers. He then proceed to eat the cracker and then spit it out. A woman sitting in front of my son had turned around and made a face of pure disgust and then searched the rows behind her for the mother who was responsible for this child's behavior. The woman might have discovered me in that moment had I not been doubled-over laughing with my sister! I couldn't help it! It was one of those situations-where you feel completely helpless. The chairs were much to close together and I was literally in the middle of the aisle. There was no going around to grab my son. And I wasn't about to crawl under the chairs to retrieve my son-what with all that animal cracker mess! All I could do was laugh and once I saw my sister laughing-we just laughed harder. Some where in the midst of our laughing our cousin's grandfather handed me my son. Luckily, he was laughing too.

HAPPY GRADUATION, EVERY ONE!!

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Bending the Rules

(my friend sent me this info-great ideas)

Written By Lisa Olstein from Wondertime

Sure, routines are the stuff of life, necessary for maintaining structure and sanity with children, but bending the rules can be wonderfully liberating.


1. Instead of a wake-up call dictated by schedule, let dawn's first rays draw everyone out for a misty backyard safari.


2. Let go of the notion that picnics are for lunchtime: Take breakfast or dinner into the great wide open.


3. Skip the raincoats: The next time it rains, pull out the bathing suits and let the kids get as wet as they want.


4. Bring the outdoors in: Adorn walls, dressers, and bookcases with flowering tree branches (apple and cherry blossoms smell great).


5. Read a bedtime story under the starry night sky, flashlight in hand. Simply being outside in pj's is a thrill for kids, more so if you're in pj's too.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

CHAPPED

(funny tale sent via email from my Uncle Bob)

"So, we had this great 10 year old cat named Jack who just recently died. Jack was a great cat and the kids would carry him around and sit on him and nothing ever bothered him. He used to hang out and nap all day long on this mat in our bathroom .
Well, we have 3 kids and at the time of this story they were 4 years old, 3 years old and 1 year old. The middle one is Eli. Eli really loves chapstick. LOVES it. He kept asking to use my chapstick and then losing it. So finally one day I showed him where in the bathroom I keep my chapstick and how he could use it whenever he wanted to but he needed to put it right back in the drawer when he was done.
Last year on Mother's Day, we were having the typical rush around and try to get ready for Church with everyone crying and carrying on. My two boys are fighting over the toy in the cereal box . I am trying to nurse my little one at the same time I am putting on my make-up. Everything is a mess and everyone has long forgotten that this is a wonderful day to honor me and the amazing job that is motherhood.
We finally have the older one and the baby loaded in the car and I am looking for Eli. I have searched everywhere and I finally round the corner to go into the bathroom. And there sits Eli. Applying my chapstick very carefully to Jack's...rear end. Eli looks right into my eyes and says "chapped."
Now if you have a cat, you know that he is right--their little butts do look pretty chapped. And, frankly, Jack didn't seem to mind. And the only question to really ask at that point was whether it was the FIRST time Eli had done that to the cat's behind or the hundredth.
And THAT is my favorite Mother's Day moment ever because it reminds us that no matter how hard we try to civilize these glorious little creatures, there will always be that day when you realize they've been using your chapstick on the cat's butt!"

Monday, May 14, 2007

Great Ball of Wasabi

My neighbor and his buddy invited the kids and me to join them for sushi the other night. I hesitated because I didn't want my kids to "ruin" their dinner. My daughter is usually well-behaved at restaurants, but my son requires more attention and distraction to keep still and quiet.


I decided to go and grabbed a bag of goodies to occupy my son during the meal. My son was doing pretty good, but wanted to sit in my lap for most of the dinner. I obliged so I wouldn't have to fight him to sit in his own chair and listen to him cry.

My kids love the sushi rolls I order them but they particularly like eating the rice bed my sushi rests on!

As I was enjoying the adult conversation, the delectable sushi and too much Saki-my son would feed me some of the rice he didn't eat. I am so used to multi-tasking at restaurants in order to keep the kids behaved and keep my sanity that having rice shoved in my mouth by my son every so often during conversation, ordering more sushi and refilling sippy cups with lemonade is second-nature. I should have been paying more attention. As I was yapping away about whatever, my son fed me what I thought was more sticky rice skewered on a lone chop stick.


My neighbor's eyes widened and he hollered at me not to swallow. Why?

I still hadn't realized...

My son had fed me the entire ball of wasabi from my sushi plate.

I sat there at the table, my son in my lap, a mouthful of Japanese horseradish and couldn't believe I didn't even notice it. And now what do I do? My neighbor insisted I spit it out-that I'd pay dearly the next day. Oh, there was no way in hell I was swallowing that ball of wasabi. As it started to dissolve on my tongue, I could finally taste it. I pulled my napkin from between my lap and my son and spit the green goop out. Whoa-I could really taste it and my eyes watered up. Next time, I'll be sure to look at what my son is feeding me before I open my mouth...

Saturday, May 12, 2007

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

IS THERE A BETTER SOUND THAN LAUGHTER?(click link for video)



THESE ARE MY FAVORITE MOTHER'S DAY GIFTS-homemade with lots of love!



Thursday, May 03, 2007

Being a mom...

My uncle sent this email to me-I'm not sure that the story is true-but the message is:

This is well worth reading.
Subject: Being a Mom

After 21 years of marriage, my wife wanted me to take another woman out to dinner and a movie. She said, "I love you, but I know this other woman loves you and would love to spend some time with you." The other woman that my wife wanted me to visit was my MOTHER, who has been a widow for 19 years, but the demands of my work and my three children had made it possible to visit her only occasionally.
That night I called to invite her to go out for dinner and a movie. "What's wrong, are you well," she asked? My mother is the type of woman who suspects that a late night call or a surprise invitation is a sign of bad news. "I thought that it would be pleasant to spend some time with you," I responded. "Just the two of us." She thought about it for a moment, and then said, "I would like that very much."
That Friday after work, as I drove over to pick her up I was a bit nervous. When I arrived at her house, I noticed that she, too, seemed to be nervous about our date. She waited in the door with her coat on. She had curled her hair and was wearing the dress that she had worn to celebrate her last wedding anniversary. She smiled from a face that was as radiant as an angel's. "I told my friends that I was going to go out with my son, and they were impressed," she said, as she got into the car. "They can't wait to hear about our meeting."
We went to a restaurant that, although not elegant, was very nice and cozy. My mother took my arm as if she were the First Lady. After we sat down, I had to read the menu. Her eyes could only real large print. Half way through the entries, I lifted my eyes and saw Mom sitting there staring at me. A nostalgic smile was on her lips. "It was I who used to have to read the menu when you were small," she said. "Then it's time that you relax and let me return the favor," I responded. During the dinner, we had an agreeable conversation- -nothing extraordinary but catching up on recent events of each other's life. We talked so much that we missed the movie. As we arrived at her house later, she said, "I'll go out with you again, but only if you let me invite you." I agreed.
"How was your dinner date?" asked my wife when I got home. "Very nice. Much more so than I could have imagined," I answered.
A few days later, my mother died of a massive heart attack. It happened so suddenly that I didn't have a chance to do anything for her. Some time later, I received an envelope with a copy of a restaurant receipt from the same place mother and I had dined. An attached note said: "I paid this bill in advance. I wasn't sure that I could be there; but nevertheless, I paid for two plates - one for you and the other for your wife. You will never know what that night meant for me. I love you, son."
At that moment, I understood the importance of saying in time: "I LOVE YOU" and to give our loved ones the time that they deserve. Nothing in life is more important than your family. Give them the time they deserve, because these things cannot be put off till "some other time."

Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you've had a baby.... somebody doesn't know that once you're a mother, "normal" is history.

Somebody said you learn how to be a mother by instinct .... somebody never took a three-year-old shopping.

Somebody said being a mother is boring .... somebody never rode in a car driven by a teenager with a driver's permit.

Somebody said if you're a "good" mother, your child will "turn out good"....somebody thinks a child comes with directions and a guarantee.

Somebody said "good" mothers never raise their voices ... somebody never came out the back door just in time to see her child hit a golf ball through the neighbor's kitchen window.

Somebody said you don't need an education to be a mother.... somebody never helped a fourth grader with his math.

Somebody said you can't love the second child as much as you love the first.... somebody doesn't have two children.

Somebody said a mother can find all the answers to her child-rearing questions in the books.... somebody never had a child stuff beans up his nose or in his ears.

Somebody said the hardest part of being a mother is labor and delivery....somebody never watched her "baby" get on the bus for the first day of kindergarten ... or on a plane headed for military "boot camp."

Somebody said a mother can do her job with her eyes closed and one hand tied behind her back ...Somebody never organized seven giggling Brownies to sell cookies.

Somebody said a mother can stop worrying after her child gets married....somebody doesn't know that marriage adds a new son or daughter-in-law to a mother's heartstrings.

Somebody said a mother's job is done when her last child leaves home....somebody never had grandchildren.

Somebody said your mother knows you love her, so you don't need to tell her.... somebody isn't a mother.