Category — children

Wow, I sure didn’t mean to let so many days go by without blogging. But it seems that I don’t mean all sorts of things in the last few days…

The other night we were having a family dinner with my dad, brother and my kiddos. There was much chit chat and sharing of school stories, etc. At one point Lex held up all his fingers, just like in the above picture, and he said, “Mom, when am I going to be this many?”.

Well, let’s see…Lex is 3, so with simple math…

I answered right away, “in 11 years”

And I wonder why some of my kids struggle with math.

Have a great day~

Yesterday I was the lucky recipient of some sweet and kind gestures. The point of this blog isn’t to write down the compliments I received but instead to share how I feel about people opening themselves up to giving and receiving compliments.

We all see and hear things that make us happy, put a smile on our faces or spark a comment or compliment in us. But I think that we rarely act on those things. Many times I’ll see a someone who’s dressed beautifully or carrying something that I find beautiful or who has said something intriguing and I’ll want to respond to it-to tell a woman or even a man that they look beautiful or that I love the bag they’ve picked to carry on that day or that their child has the sweetest look on their face. But I think many of us stop ourselves from saying those things because we are afraid of the response we might receive or that the person will think we’re “weird”.

But when we take a moment to say those things-to not be afraid of the response and simply let those things come out of our mouths, more often than not, a little joy is shared. And when we can learn to receive those compliments and let the person giving them know that they are appreciated, then a little more joy is shared.

I got to have a few joyful moments yesterday because people took the time to let me know that they thought that the way I do things for myself and my family was beautiful. I even got to bring home those daffodils pictured because a checker at my local Trader Joes thought I was a good M.O.M. and I’m so grateful for those things. They make me feel freer to share the compliments I feel for others.

Let’s try to take a minute to share a little joy today. When we give it, we will also, surely, receive it.

Have a great day~

“Mom, steak is my favorite chicken”

Two nights ago I made steaks. When I was getting Gabi ready for bed and brushing her teeth she let me know just  how she felt about  that.

Have a great day~

A couple of days ago I asked my boys what they were thinking about giving up or doing for Lent.

Tristan told me he was going to “try” to spend less time on the computer (I asked him what that meant, but his answer leads me to believe we have some talking to do).

Max, on the other hand, knew EXACTLY what he planned on doing…

Me-”Max, what are you giving up or doing for Lent?”
Max-”I’m going to practice almsgiving”
Me-*trying not to laugh too hard* “almsgiving? But you don’t make any money”.
Max-”I find a quarter…sometimes a dime…”

I had to walk away so that he didn’t see me laughing. This kid! Priceless!

Have a good night~

This evening I lined up the 4 youngest kiddos to check teeth, ears and nails…basic, regular grooming. While clipping nails I was the unfortunate recipient of a flying nail clipping to the eye. Not fun! Having an eyelash stuck in your eye is NOTHING compared to a nail clipping. My eye is ok and on the upside, the kids are cleaned and clipped.
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Pictured above are the items I found under my 7 yr old’s pillow when I was trying to tuck him into bed tonight.

*shaking my head*

I just don’t know how he thought he was going to be able to sleep like that

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But on a GOOD note-THIS is the pitcher that I was directed to go buy this morning, in Maddi’s note. It’s a terra cotta pitcher from my favorite, Spanish restaurant-Costa Brava. I love it but I must admit that having it here sans the sangria that I’m used to seeing in it when I’m at the restaurant makes me wish for a trip to the store. Anyone want to come over for some sangria?

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These days have been long, busy and full of adventure.

Everyday-Doing the Dance of the Children

Good night~

When I got up this morning, I found this note waiting for me on the kitchen counter.

But wait! There’s more!

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All the lunches are packed and waiting! THIS is going to be a good day! Maddi, the Lunch Fairy has visited and left behind some love.

It doesn’t get much better!

Have a great day~

It was a very, very busy day. I won’t bother with the details.

But, it’s ended with me cuddling on the couch with the 3 youngest and the books that they each picked out and THAT is some VERY…good…stuff!

Good night~

A day of working in the house became a day that neither my kids or I will ever forget.

It’s not often that there’s an entire day to work around this house, uninterrupted by kids’ sports or play dates, errands or unplanned outings. But the other day, that’s exactly what I had. I started doing laundry, load after load and bustling around, cleaning out cabinets and organizing shelves. After a couple of hours, I noticed that my kitchen window was fogging up. I immediately thought that the dryer hose must have come undone. I gave a quick peek over the back of the dryer and discovered that I was right. I turned the dryer off, unplugged it and grabbed the broom. Heck, if I was going behind the dryer, we were gonna get it clean! First I swept in front of and under the washer and dryer, got a good sized pile of lint, sand and socks, pulled the dryer out and hopped behind it. I picked up the dryer hose and noticed a collection of lint inside of it. I turned it over to shake it out and sure enough, plenty of lint and MOUSE DROPPINGS came tumbling out! I’m pretty sure I yelled and then just started babbling nonsense. But among the terror-filled nonsense were the words, “I don’t want to do this! I don’t want to do this! This is NOT good! THIS IS NOT GOOD!!!!!” Mariah came running into the laundry room, looked at my terror-stricken face and then peeked over to see what I was yelling…and crying about. She got a smug look on her face and just said, “ohhhhhh”.

Suddenly I realized that I was standing in a corner, with mouse droppings and the open hole to the back of the dryer that could be where a mouse or mice were lurking. Jumping! Quickly! to the top of the washer! I continued crying and trying to think. I yelled for Mariah to bring me the vacuum. I knew that I had to clean up the lint and droppings and reattach the hose. FREAKING OUT! Crying! Trying to be logical and knowing that I had NO CHOICE but to continue the job. I sat on top of the dryer until Mariah brought me the vacuum. I hopped in front of the washer and dryer and decided that I’d start by cleaning up the pile of lint, sand and socks I’d swept up. I’d get my head around the droppings and lint afterward. I turned on the vacuum and through wracking, freaked-out sobs, used the hose to begin the clean up. after a few seconds something blocked the end of the hose. SOMETHING BLOCKED THE END OF THE HOSE!!!!! It took a second for my brain to register what my eyes were seeing. Well, if I was sobbing and incoherent before, you can only imagine what was being shouted when I realized that a dead mouse was stuck to the end of the vacuum hose. Mariah says it was something like, “s#*t!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”, repeatedly. I knew that if I turned off the vacuum I’d have to sweep the mouse up, so I yelled (lots of yelling during this!) for her to bring the trash can from the kitchen. I then held the hose over the trash can and turned it off, letting the mouse fall into the can. Tristan was immediately summoned to remove the bag of trash.

I couldn’t go any further at this point. I was so upset and knew that I had no choice but to go back and finish the job. But I needed a minute of private freaking out before going back. I went to my room and became disgusted with the thought that my clothes had mouse dust on them. I quickly stripped out of the tainted clothing and put on another set of work clothes, made two frantic phone calls, pulled myself together as best I could and went back to the laundry room.

God bless Mariah!!!! She had vacuumed up all the lint and droppings from the back of the dryer. THANK YOU!!!!! That is, until I realized that we’d been using the BAG-LESS Vacuum. I swear I’ll deal with that soon. Swear! *Shaking and making a very unattractive face*.

Ok, so…the floor was clean and the mouse was gone. Now to reattach the hose. I, once again, became very upset at the thought of climbing back there and facing the hole to the dryer. I finally just went next door and asked our neighbor for assistance. Being a girl has it’s advantages! There is DEFINITELY a time and place to play dumb and I chose THAT moment. Good ol’ Mr. Mike came right over and took care of the dryer hose. The instant that his boots were inside the front door, the kiddos started telling him the tale of Mommy’s freak out and the mouse I had found. Luckily, it didn’t phase him one bit. He just laughed and said, “Yup, those critters like it in there”.

After 2 glasses of wine and cleaning the laundry room floor with Lysol wipes, I was able to breathe normally again.

And that, my friends, is my Mouse Tale.

Then End~

Oh this kid! He is such a sweet lil charmer! We all adore him and his magnetic smile. But as the end of the line in a large family, this lil kiddo can surely pack a punch.

Tonight, he got angry at his 7 yr old brother and took the opportunity to kick him while he was on the floor. When I stood him in time out he started crying and said, “Don’t you know I’m allergic to time-outs?”

I have my work cut out for me!

Have a good night~

After everyone had dinner, I decided to try to grab 5 minutes to myself and retreated to my room. I should’ve known better!

“I didn’t do it!”

Lex’s cinnamon-covered clothing

Bath time !

There are several topics I want to write on but I will be sitting with my first grader, overseeing the many, many, many pages of work that were hidden from not only me (under the bed), but from the teacher (crumpled in the desk) over the last few weeks. So…off to the dining table I go with an arm load of paper work for me and several sharpened pencils for him.

Doing the Dance…

We were fortunate enough to have a clear schedule, again this evening. So, a “spread-out” dinner was in order. We set the table, laid the food out and all sat down. We passed the food around and helped make plates for the younger kids.

When Lex got his plate, he looked at his food with a sad face and said, “I really wish we had squash because every night that we don’t have squash, I’m really sad”.

I guess squash will be on the shopping list for the next “big” shopping trip.

Have a good night~

The kids had a 1/2 day of school today and I had planned to run a couple of errands and then spend some Mommy and Me time with Max. But my plans were foiled. The office I needed to do business at was closed for a training seminar and the weather is too dreary to want to venture out with Max.

I took Max aside and explained that we would have to postpone our plans and that I have lots of work waiting for me at home, so I would be spending the afternoon trying to tackle some of it. He took it in stride and said, “That’s ok. I know why you have so much work to do. It’s because you’re Mommy of Many.”

Love that kid!

Have a great day~

I know that dinnertime is important and in this house we don’t always get to have a sit-down dinner. Many nights, I call the kids into the kitchen, make their plates, hand them to them and then they take them to the table to eat and are excused when they’re done. But last night, there was time in our schedule to have, what Gabi calls,”a spread-out dinner”. This means that everything is put into bowls or on plates and the table is set and waiting and we all sit together. I’m so glad we had that time! It meant listening to the kids chatter at me and at each other about their day and to be able to hear some of their ideas. Had we not been sitting down last night, I may never have known what Tristan wanted to be when he grows up…”rich!”. Or that my 3 youngest boys all think it would be a great idea when they grow up, to have homes for the elderly. Tristan’s thought was that there should be a nice place for older people to spend their golden years. Max felt that he should start a town and give all the housing away, for free, to it’s elderly residents. Luke-Xavier felt that he should have a “food house” where all the people come and he goes up on his roof (he made sure to specify that the roof would be flat) in his elevator and gets the food for the people who need it. Gabi chimed in that she would be a model. She says she’ll be a model most of the days, but on some days she’ll build houses-houses where everything is heart-shaped and they’ll be “love houses”. Tristan asked her, “so, they’re for people who are in love?”. She put him in his place by explaining that “love houses” are full of love and are for the old people so that they know we love them…Sweet girl!

We ended dinner with the question, from Gabi, of how the chicken that was being eaten was killed. I had to admit that I really don’t know how chickens are killed and sent to market. I was scolded and told that they are shot…shot, the bullet is then taken out of the them and the hole from the bullet is superglued together so that no one has to see it. Chicken…yum!

I hope we can find time for more “spread-out” dinners soon!

Have a great day~

I don’t often blog about work, but this week we came up with a craft that was fun, educational and can easily be done at home.

We have been talking about farms and ranches, the different animals on each and the duties of the people who live and work there. We came up with the idea to have the kids learn about sheep and wool. So we made each child their own wooly sheep to shear.

Then we explained about the process and that they would be shearing their sheep with their hands.

Then we had them collect their “wool” and explained that it gets sent to factories and is made into different things that we use at home. We gave them the choice of making a sweater or a blanket.

It was a fun and easy project that taught them about sheep, wool and some of our household items.

Have a great day~