Simple play

I love to see my kids engaged in simple play.  Today they are looking through books and dancing to music on the toy CD player.  It makes me happy to see them using their imagination to tell stories even though they cannot read and use their bodies to dance even though they have no formal lessons.  Beautiful!

Cruising along

There is something to be said for boring.  Right now life can be considered pretty boring, no dramatic ups and no tramatic downs....just cruising along.  I kind of like boring.  To me boring means that I am finally getting the hang of being a working mom with 2 preschoolers and a husband that works a lot.  I've had to let go of a lot of things and I still freak out sometimes, but for the most part life is pretty boring....and I couldn't be happier!

Motivation...please come to me

Usually I am gung-ho about Christmas shopping.  I know what I want to buy for people, go online and buy it.  I am usually done with shopping by now.  The Fex Ex and UPS guys should be visiting my house repeatedly by now. 

This year I am at a loss.  I don't know what to get people.  I look forever to try to find something I think people will want and have no luck.  Really I just wish I could buy everyone an amazon gift certificate and call it done, but that doesn't work.  I don't know why I am feeling like this.  I need to get myself in the spirit so that I can enjoy the Christmas season when it comes.

Bah!

Halloween

Halloween is coming!  We have Rosetta and Super Why! at our house.  As a librarian I am thrilled my kid wanted to be the leader of the Super Readers and wear a giant book on his chest.  I am such a nerd!

What's in your cabinet

If your cabinets and freezer look like mine, they are full of a bunch of stuff you have bought and never eaten.  Eventually it will all get so old you will have to throw it out.  Sad, but true. 

At school we are preparing for the annual canned food drive.  As I am becoming more introspective about wastefulness and need in our community(and my need to defrost the upright freezer is becoming quite urgent...if you know what I mean) I have decided that my family is going to eat what we have before we buy again. I have been putting the strangest meals together as I try to make what is left in the pantry into a meal.  I take pleasure in being able to remove one more thing from the freezer or from the pantry.  My husband currently finds it amusing.  His patience with my quirks is endless.

This act has almost been like a personal test for me.  Growing up as I did with erratic food supply issues, I have now become almost a food hoarder.  When the pantry gets sort of low--we only have one can of green beans left (but lots of other stuff) I feel the need to go to the store and stock up on everything.  Now I am challenging myself to see how low I can let the pantry get before I shop again.  Hopefully this exercise will help me break out of the cycle of waste that I was in....and maybe my freezer will be defrosted in the process.

Swish, swish

I just washed my husband's new smart phone in the washing machine and then dried it.  It was in his jeans pocket and I never knew until I started folding the clothes and felt the weight of the phone in the jeans.  It wasn't my fault, the jeans were in the dirty clothes hamper and it is not a big deal because we have insurance on it.   So why do I feel like a complete loser for having done this?

Christmas in October???

Well, I did it. I took the kids Christmas 'looking' trying to get an idea of what the kids want for Christmas.  I wouldn't have done this yet, but I am already getting questions and it looks like my weekends between now and Thanksgiving are booked.

My conclusion?--my kids already have too much junk that they never play with.  I pretty much know what will happen with every toy on the Christmas list.  Curious??

• Robot hand--Gabriel will pinch Miranda, Mom, or Dad with this and will lose it to the garage.
• Handy Manny Talkin' Toolbox--Mom will discreetly take out the batteries one night and tell Gabriel they ran down because it was driving her crazy. (sure, it's a lie.  but it is cheaper than Prozac)
• Marble Race--lots of small parts to spread around the house until Mom organizes them.  Then they are never played with again.
• My Little Pony--traded with the neighbor girl for other assorted junk
• Dress up dresses--Gabriel will continue to freak out grandparents with his love of wearing pink dresses.  He's excited at the prospect of a new wardrobe.
• Roller skates--ER visit--need I say more

And the list goes on....

New favorite things

I have learned a few things over the past 2 weeks...

• when I am feeling frumpy fabulous shoes and fancy earrings can solve the problem
• fabulous shoes too many days in a row can lead to painful feet
• fancy earrings and 3 year olds do not mix well
• life is much easier if you handle most things with a smile and a laugh

Oh yeah, the thing that has been the best for me--mini-muffins rock my world!  Because of these little things I have gotten the family out of the house EARLY all week AND the kids had breakfast.  Yee-haw!

General Ramblings....

Jason and I went to dinner with some friends last night.  They are the kind of friends that you don't spend enough time with and you're not sure why.  We always have such a good time when we are out with them.  I am sure that proximity and family/work obligations has a lot to do with it.  They live a considerable distance from us.  Their work life and ours can get a bit crazy at times and, like us, they have 2 small children.

It was the conversation revolving around children that got me thinking.  Their kids are about 2 years apart like our children are, but their kids are several years younger.  They are 'in the trenches'.  It made me realize how far we have come with our own children.  I remember the 'in the trenches' feeling.  Sure, my kids are a pain in the neck frequently, they are kids...it's their job, but I am not dealing with the potty training trauma, the what spit-up am I wearing today game, the lack of sleep daze that comes with young children. 

What impressed me most was the relief that both she and I felt from our conversation.  We both have had such similar parenting experiences even though she stays at home with the kids while I worked and used daycare.  It feels wonderful to realize that you are not the only person to have feelings of stress & depression over children, strain on relationships because of the stress and depression, and general frustration.  I would love to start a movement called "Truth in Parenting".  Let's be honest about our feelings toward our children and the parenting side of things.  I love my kids more than life itself and would do ANYTHING for them, but sometime they grate my nerves and get on my bad side.  It's OK.  It doesn't make me a bad parent to say that.

What do you mean I can't do it all?!?

I have lived the past few years under the assumption that I could do it all--work, be a mom, be a wife, cook meals every night, mow the yard, keep a clean house, stay totally caught up on laundry, remember all the details of life for 4 people AND keep my sanity.  I have just now realized this is not possible.  I have passed on one of my responsibilities...mowing the yard.  For the first time in my life I am paying someone to mow my yard for me and I am thinking about making it a regular occurrence.  The relief I felt last night when I did not have to make the choice--sit the kids in front of the TV while I mow the yard or spend time with the kids--was incredible.  I helped the kids ride bikes up and down the street (one of these days they will figure it out) and we played soccer in the front yard until it was time to get ready for bed.  Beautiful!

Fall in love

I love Fall. Just as you are getting sick of oppressive heat that seems to go on and on...Fall sneaks up on you.  Cooler nights, gentle (and not so gentle) rains, breezes with just a bit of chill.  Love Fall clothes, warmer but not the heavy necessity of winter.  Love Fall foods, chili, beans, baking...yum!  The great thing is that Fall is still warm enough to grill and play outside until bedtime.  I love Fall.

And they call Chicago "The Windy City"

I've never understood that.  Being from Oklahoma, wind is just a fact of life.  It blows...a lot.  In fact when I was living in another town for a while I could not figure out why driving seemed so different, until a windy day.  Then I realized that I had spent my entire adult life compensating for the wind while driving.  Funny.

I have wind on my mind today because we went to the zoo on a very windy Labor Day.  It was one of our best zoo trips yet...cool, breezy, lots of active animals to see, no tantrums.  Thankfully we left just as the rest of OKC decided to hit the zoo and my kids decided to have meltdowns.  Timing.  That's what parenting is all about.  When is the optimal time to do something and how long can we do it?  Great that I figured this out now that the kids are almost 4 and 5.  I could have saved myself a lot of pain over the years.

In the mind of a 5 year old....

We have the best conversations in the car.  Miranda asks a question and off we go.  Sunday we discussed the heart and its function in the body, the difference between a microscope and a telescope, all the planets in the Solar System (which we had to practice naming in order, of course), and the miracle of how God could create all this.  Miranda's final assessment as she was walking into church was that God could probably even create a pink car if he wanted to.  She's such a girl.

Of course the only thing she remembers from any of these conversations is the one with Dad about how many people currently live on the Space Station.  Lesson learned--if it is something she really needs to know, have Dad tell her. 

First week of school

We finished the first week of school!  Miranda has already reconnected with old friend and made new friends.  Gabriel is a bit more slow to make friends but my fears of major meltdowns on the first day of school were unfounded.

I am thrilled to say that all my classes have been fabulous.  I am so blessed to work at a school with such wonderful students.

New Beginnings

I am excited to begin blogging about my family and life.  What a great way to share happings in this crazy, too busy world.