Mommy of Many®

I just got word that Mommy of Many® is now officially a registered trademark!

Whoo Hoo!

Cheers~

My sister and I decided that for our Christmas presents to each other we would spend an afternoon at a local day spa. Yippee! So today’s the day. In a couple hours we’ll head over for a little time to be pampered and to chit chat. And I don’t even have to come home and cook! We have plenty of leftovers from the last 3 nights’ meals (normally my brother takes care of our leftovers, but he’s out of town-lucky for me!).

I’ll spend the next couple hours doing some housework and guiding Max through his zillion pages of make-up work (he’s been out of school 3 days this week with a sore throat and fever, but tested negative for strep).

Doing the Dance of the Children and Starting the Weekend off With Some Good Stuff~

I have finally started the process that I’ve been putting off for so, very long. I’m going through my posts and getting things organized and cleaned up so that MommyofMany.com can get a fresh, new, more user-friendly look. As part of my New Year’s Resolution, I’ve stopped procrastinating and stopped looking at this task as an unclimbable mountain and have begun the process. If you have been a long-time reader, you may see things that seem out of place and see posts that you’re SURE you’ve read before. This just might be so, but it’s all part of what I need to do to get things organized and ready to move. If you’re a new reader, I hope you enjoy!

This has been such a source of anxiety for me! For MONTHS I’ve been meaning to get these things done but the task before me seemed like too much to think about. So, in true, Jen Lang form, I put it off, did some laundry, ran some errands, wrote a list, talked about my strategy, had a glass of wine and decided it was best dealt with tomorrow. Ah, the elusive Tomorrow.

No more!

Patience and encouragement are appreciated as I organize all the thoughts I’ve had over the last 3 years and make them more easily accessible.

Doing the Dance of the Children AND Facing My Mountain~

As a parent, one of our biggest and often toughest jobs is teaching our kiddos the lessons they need to lead a successful, happy and productive life. It would all be so much “easier” and “peaceful” if we could just take the hands-off approach and give in to every whim, want and fit. But that wouldn’t be parenting. That would simply be existing. Sometimes I’m tempted to exist because I’ve taught the same lessons over and over with each child.

Lately I’ve had a morning issue with one of my younger kiddos who’s learning (or needing to learn) some time management skills. Every morning he drags behind in the routine and often forgets to put things into his backpack or to brush his teeth. This means I’m constantly reminding and rushing him. Often times all the other kids will be in the car and he’ll still have no shoes on, no backpack ready and his teeth are unbrushed. It makes me want to pull my hair! I’m trying different ideas to keep him on task, but so far none have worked. I’m getting ready to make him a check list that he can carry with him in the mornings.

This morning when everyone was in the car and I had to come back into the house to move him along, I handed him his backpack and he started complaining that he was cold and needed a sweatshirt and was thirsty and needed water. I decided to teach a lesson about being uncomfortable because of your own actions. I told him that he’d just have to get a drink at school and that he’d have to feel a little cold today because he didn’t get his uniform together in a timely manner and that every time he feels cold today that he will have a chance to remember that if he had gotten things together on time that he’d be warm.

Harsh? Maybe! But I’m betting he’ll think about it. And for all of you who are thinking what a mean M.O.M. I am……we live in San Diego for goodness sake! It’s not like he’s in Pittsburgh fighting snow in a tee shirt!

So, lesson #8 is that as a parent, we must remember that it’s our job to continually guide our kids through the tough lessons of life. Ultimately we will be building a stronger future for our little ones.

Have a great day~

Yesterday, my adorable 6 yr old needed to practice her spelling words for her test on Friday. Her assignment was to write each word 3x and then to bring the list to me so we could practice. After she finished writing the words and I started to quiz her, it became clear that she needed more practice. I told her to take the list, say each word, spell it and then say it again and when she was done to come back to me and I’d quiz her. After a few minutes she came back. I started at the bottom of the list and asked her to spell the word. She looked at me, said that I was going out of order, ducked into my bathroom for a second and then came out and spelled the word. When I asked the next word and she, again, ducked into my bathroom, I asked her what was behind her back. She showed me her hands and spun around in a circle. But you can’t fool a M.O.M. THAT easily! I told her to get in my bathroom and pick up whatever she’d dropped on the floor. She came out with a small piece of paper that had each of the spelling words written in tiny writing on it. A cheat sheet!!!!!

I was shocked!

At 6 years old, she’d figured out how to cheat on a spelling test?! I know that my younger kids pick up older kid habits from their siblings, but I’m quite sure this wasn’t something her sisters taught her!

Lord help me in the future with this kiddo!

Doing the Dance of the Children with a Stunned Look and a Missed Step~

Since late November I’ve been seeing crunchy peppermint sprinkles in different stores. I was tempted to pick them up for sprinkling on top of all sorts of baked goodies and desserts. But at $5-$7 for a bottle the size of regular colored, sugar sprinkles, I kept passing them by.

Today when I was in Target, I saw that there were boxes of candy canes for 90% off. I decided to make my own Peppermint Crunch Sprinkles. I bought 2 boxes of candy canes for a total of (are you ready?!)…16¢! Then I brought them home and…

unwrapped each candy cane and broke it into a bowl. Then I dumped the contents of the bowl into a large Ziploc bag.

Then for the fun part-

crushing them!

And the finished product, ready for sprinkling on all sorts of goodies!

There you have it-About $15 worth of Peppermint Crunch Sprinkles for 16¢!

Now, that’s what I call Good Stuff~

Lex and Max are on day 2 of being home from school with sore throats and fevers. Yesterday they went to the Dr and I’m still waiting on the results of their throat cultures. Today I’m home with them while they take it easy and I clean this messy house.

Just look at those smiles! I love it! They’re lying in my bed, watching Bugs Bunny cartoons. If this is sick, it’s a good place to be.

I’m hoping for the phone call from the Dr. to find out if they need meds and have everyone back in school tomorrow. After-all, this M.O.M. needs to get back to work and the “regular” routine.

But for today, this is Good Stuff!

Doing the Dance of the Children and Thinking it’s Pretty Good~

My oldest son, Clayton, came home from traveling at the end of October. He wasn’t planning on staying, but we were lucky enough to have him around until today. It’s been so nice to have him here! But his Gypsy Wind spirit has him moving on. He’ll be taking a road trip with Clay and my brother, to get Clay out to Mississippi and then Clayton will be heading to Oklahoma to live and work with a friend of his from school. This is his plan until the Fall, when he’ll go to school.

A good plan.

But I’m going to miss him! I love what he brings to the house and how he likes to keep the little kiddos busy. As my kids are growing up and out, I’m really enjoying seeing the young adults they are becoming and treasure the time we get to spend together. At Christmas I couldn’t help but wonder how many more Christmases we will all have together. I hope the answer is many, but I know that as they grow and begin their own lives, that there will be times that we celebrate without everyone.

So today I’m scooping up the chance to take him to lunch before he hits the road. Prayers for a safe trip.

Doing the Dance of the Children~

I tried putting up the kiddos video from yesterday, but my site isn’t letting me. However, I was able to easily post it on my facebook page. If you’re interested, go here for 4 1/2 minutes of kiddos using their imagination and putting on a little play for the family.

Doing the Dance of the Children~

This morning Gabi and Max decided they’d put together a play for us. They practiced, set up the playroom, put on costumes and kept trying to recruit Lex as a traveling partner for Max. I overheard them trying to coax him into playing the part-

“If you are part of the play, Mom’s probably going to video tape it and that increases your chances of being on the blog and being seen WORLD WIDE!”

He declined the part of the traveler, but agreed to join in shaking some bells during the singing of “Jingle Bells”.

Gotta love their enthusiasm!

Doing the Dance of the Children WORLD WIDE~

People often ask me why I get up at 4am. There are many answers-I like to get a jump on the day, while everything is still quiet. I like to be ready to go before I wake the kids, so I can do a better job of focusing on what they need in the morning. It’s uninterrupted time to get on the computer and answer emails or write a blog. But this morning illustrates 1 of my favorite reasons to get up so early.

Gabi and Luke-Xavier squeeze themselves into my bed almost every night. We’ve all learned how to sleep squished together and ignoring each other’s movements and my alarm doesn’t wake them. But every once in awhile, one of the kiddos will get up a little bit after me and we’ll have a some quiet Mommy and Me time while the rest of the house is sleeping. Today, it was Luke-Xavier (Lex), who came knocking at the bathroom door. We went into the kitchen together and made him a sandwich. Then he sat on my lap while I navigated the internet, trying to catch up on some things. Every once in awhile, he’d lean back and give me a little kiss on the cheek and whisper an “I love you”. When he needed a drink of water, I scooped him up and carried him into the kitchen while he clung to me and gave me sweet, morning hugs. I know that in the near future he’ll be too big for me to carry and too full of all the life around him to be awake at 5am. So for now, I’m happy to get up early and steal these few and fleeting Sweet Morning Moments!

Doing the Dance of the Children and Cherishing the Rhythm of the Morning~