Everyday Victories

Thank you to P&G and Kroger stores for celebrating “Team Mom’s Everyday Victories”! Please visit the P&G's event page to play games, win money off your next Kroger trip and more fun!

As you may have noticed, I tend to ramble on quite a bit about how much I love summertime, and how I can't wait until summer break, and that I live for warm weather. I do love Michigan, but sometimes I think it gets harder and harder every year to get through the cold months.

Today, I'm patting myself on the back for surviving another year of school, and for enduring another Michigan winter. Yes, I know it was a mild winter - but winter is not summer, any way you spin it! I made it to summer break, my favorite time of year, fully intact.

Lucy finished her first year of elementary school and thrived in all day kindergarten. Connor made it through third grade with flying colors. Bethany successfully completed elementary school. They all worked hard throughout the year and had great report cards. They've had great times with friends and participated in after-school activities as well. Together, we made it through early mornings, lots of homework, playground drama, shuffling extra-curricular activities, projects and reports, and so much more. We made it to school on time every single day, even when we had to bundle up in boots and hats and mittens, in large part because they did a great job staying on task every morning. I'm so proud of my kids, and need to spend more time focusing on how great they are and less time thinking about the multiple reminders I gave them to hang up their jackets and put their dishes in the sink.

Our reward, the way I see it, for getting through another hectic year of school, is summer break. I am so happy and relieved that our reward is finally here. At least for a few months, we get to pretend that the long cold days of winter are but a bad dream.We get freedom to spend our days as we see fit, to wear skirts with no tights and open toed shoes without freezing to death. About the only downside I can think of at the moment is the constant need to shave, but that is a very small price to pay - and I'm more than willing to pay it! Products like the Gillette Pro Series razors and Pro Glide shaving gel can help to make that chore a little more bearable. And then, of course, I also have to remember to moisturize daily now that my bare legs are on display for all the world to see. No one wants to see dragon scales, least of all me!

Even though small, everyday victories sometimes might seem unimportant, those little achievements are the building blocks for the big ones. Leave me a comment and share: What is a recent everyday victory that you are proud of?

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At Kroger and its banner stores, more than 30 of your favorite P&G brands are at HOT sale prices through June 23, including Tide, Charmin, Cascade, Pampers, Crest and Olay. Look for tags with special prices throughout the household needs and health and beauty aisles, and be on the lookout for even bigger offers – like getting serious dollars off when you buy a bundle of products.
Before hitting the store, visit P&G’s event page on Kroger.com: http://bit.ly/KG6dw5
You can play games like basketball, track and gymnastics to win money off your next Kroger trip, download digital coupons, print a shopping list, and learn more about P&G products!
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I was selected for participation in this campaign as a member of Clever Girls Collective.
 

February Is Fun

I am having a Fun February. And there are lots of great things to look forward to in the coming months. Happy, happy, joy, joy!

Friday afternoon Lucy, Mathilda, and I met Lucy's friend John from preschool at The Bounce House. Bethany was there a couple weeks ago for a birthday party, and Connor was going the day after us for a birthday party. So yay for Lucy & Mathilda, they got a turn too.

Mathilda refused to actually bounce on anything, but she had fun running around like a lunatic and "playing" video games.

Lucy says she and John are getting married someday. I don't think John has anything to say about it. He's a boy who likes princesses, why waste time looking any further?

Mathilda has been talking a lot. She started saying "I scared" last week when Connor was chasing her around the house with his snake Webkinz. Now she says it all the time, sometimes paired with "I cry" while adorably covering her eyes with her hands. Lucy has been teaching Mathilda how to play her Leapster.

Mathilda shares Bethany's love for snazzy accessories.

Lucy has also figured out how to get Mathilda to do her breathing treatments without fussing.

Mattie is sitting in a doll stroller, which Lucy has thoughtfully equipped with many comforts, such as a pillow, a blanket, a lovey (Zoe), a cup of water, snacks, and lots more.

I have wheezy kids. Well except Connor, I don't think he's ever wheezed. I myself was a wheezy kid, but I always blamed it on living with smokers and being constantly subjected to the toxic fumes of second hand smoke. (Have I mentioned how thrilled I am that Michigan is now Smoke Free? Love it! Sorry smokers. Well, not really.) My kids are never around smoke and yet they're still wheezy. But not as bad as I was. My poor mother spent many late nights in emergency rooms with me. That has only happened once with Bethany. Imagine how sickly my babies would be if I forced them to sit in a metal box and inhale poison on a daily basis (in other words, sit in the back seat of a car while the adults in the front seat are smoking and forcing me to suck in all of their nasty smoke)? Hurray for progress. And for the record, my mom didn't smoke, just pretty much every other adult in my life.



Here are a couple sneak peak promo shots of Bethany's new band. Unfortunately, only one other band member was here for the photo shoot.

Do me a favor and pretend you don't see the mess of my basement storage room. Thanks.

Fellow band-mate and non musician, Marissa.

Speaking of musicians, Chris's band The Smiths United played on Friday night at The Old Miami downtown Detroit. I went and some of my friends went and it was really fun. Except that the sound was taking forever and the opening band started way later than they were supposed to and played way longer than they were supposed to and I'm old so I get tired early. Our friend Jerry was there taking pictures with his new super-awesome-and-I'm-so-jealous camera and mentioned to me that I should start a blog about being married to a musician. Ha, yeah I should have done that like 12 years ago. How many nights of my life have I spent sitting in hole in the wall bars in Hamtramck? Wait, that's a trick question, don't strain your brain trying to answer. But for all those nights in dumpy Hamtramck pits, there have been some really awesome high points, like seeing Chris sing on the big stage at Pine Knob (DTE? what's that?), and shows so packed that getting to the ladies room required strategic maneuvering. I don't know about a blog, but good idea Jerry.

Neither Here Nor There

We've been having some truly frigid weather, and the temperatures the past couple days in the 30's and 40's are so refreshing. I swear there was a warm breeze. Although there is still snow on the ground, this kind of weather always reminds me of Easter for some reason. Early warm breezes take me back to Easter egg hunts at Salter Park that my Uncle Herb put together for my cousins and I every year. Some years we were shedding our sweaters as we searched for that last egg (with a $5 bill in it!) and other years we were freezing and racing back to the car as soon as we were finished. Back at Aunt Char and Uncle Herb's house, I looked forward to the predictable menu of ham, homemade potato salad and noodle salad, hard boiled eggs, and seven layer Jello. I hate mayonnaise and Miracle Whip (and I'm not sure which she uses), but love my Aunt Char's potato salad and noodle salad. I should really get those recipes from her, even though I have it in my mind that it won't taste the same if she doesn't make it. There were also the little glass dishes full of pastel M&M's, jelly beans, and all sorts of candy goodies for me to grab as I strategically walked by them over and over again because my mom never (ever) had candy in the house and I had to get my fill anytime I could. (Yes I did get candy in my Easter basket. But other than that - never, and especially no candy in accessible little dishes scattered throughout the house.) As much as I loved candy, I think my favorite Easter gift ever was the set of Anne of Green Gables books my mom got for me one year. I should get those out for Bethany. I hope she enjoys them as much as I did.


Two years ago my Uncle Herb died, too young and too painfully. Three of my kids knew him, but not nearly well enough. Maybe their lives are better in many ways than my own childhood, but it makes me sad that there are so many things they have missed out on that I had, like Uncle Herb's Easter egg hunts. Like spending day after day with cousins and aunts and my Grandma all summer while my mom worked. I have lots of wonderful memories of those days, even though I'm sure my mom would have rather been with me than at work, and I'm sure there were lots of days I wished I didn't have to wake up early and could have stayed home and played with my friends in the neighborhood. Instead my kids have a mom who is home with them everyday all summer, and I'm so happy for that, and I know they will have their own brand of special memories. 

My kids don't have cousins, but they have each other. There are no bored and lonely days around here, like I had as an only child. They have two parents and a level of stability that I never knew until I was an adult. What they've never had is the adventure of leaving everything and everyone they know and getting on a train to Phoenix to start a new life, which my mom and I did when I was 6 years old; of needing to depend upon the kindness of strangers, and having playmates who don't speak the same language. They've also never known the tiresomeness of making new friends with the start of every new school year, which was hard but taught me a lot about relating to others.

I guess I'm kind of rambling, so what's my point? Maybe just that there's more than one way to have a happy family and a happy childhood. Endless ways, in fact. Maybe we worry so much about doing the whole parenting thing "right" when the truth is we make our own "right" that fits our personal lives and families. There's a give and take, and despite our best wishes and efforts we can't have everything and we can't give our children everything. 

My kids have to miss out on some things to get other things. They don't have the (relatively) adventurous, rambling life I had as a kid, but they have something different and maybe better. So they are missing some things I took for granted, like friends from different cultures, seeing first hand how people live in different areas, needing to have the skills necessary to meet new people and make new friends on a regular basis, the ability to improvise out of need, a sense of wanderlust. In exchange, they have friends they've known for years. They have their own beds (something I didn't experience until I was in 3rd grade...I shared with my mom, slept on couches, and even used an orange vinyl beanbag chair as a bed for a short time). When I was a kid, I always wanted to be like my friends who had known each other since kindergarten, with brothers and sisters, and two parents, and a regular home. And now my kids have that; they have what I wished I had. I'm grateful. But I also want for them some of what I had. 

*****

I have a lot to be grateful for lately. I've had people, some I don't even know, offer to help me get to the bottom of my health issues. People are generally nice and caring and want to help. The generosity I've been the recipient of has been truly humbling and so sweet and appreciated. 

My wonderful preschool co-board members took it upon themselves to decide we would meet at a coffee shop last week, even though the meeting was scheduled to be at my house. They knew I had been sick and maybe didn't need one more thing on my plate. 

Lucy went to a super fun birthday party over the weekend for a preschool classmate. Like I've said before, I love preschool. I love the other kids and their families. So Lucy got to ride a horse at the party, which she was very excited about. Which is funny because in the past she has been extremely reluctant to even ride the smallest pony. I guess she is growing up.

My friend Julie's little girl also had a birthday party over the weekend. She is turning 2 this week. All 6 of us went to her party, and since I love Julie and I love her family it was a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. And the kids loved it all the more because it was held at a restaurant where they were given the opportunity to repeatedly put tokens in a couple of machines in exchange for crappy candy and plastic junk. What could be better?

Today was my working day at preschool, and it was fun being there for the Valentine's Day party. Otherwise Valentine's Day is one of those days that doesn't really mean much to me. Maybe it should, since it's a day for celebrating love. But I think everyday is a day to celebrate love. And Chris and I don't really go for romantic mushy gushy stuff anyhow. But happy Valentine's Day nonetheless; go spread some love.

 

Welcoming 2011

Yesterday morning I woke up and it was spring! What a way to bring in the New Year! Fifty degrees and no trace of snow! Of course I do live in Michigan, so 24 hours later and it's back to the reality of winter. (boo)

Well we got through the holidays intact and I can't believe the kids are already going back to school tomorrow.  They may suffer a bit from screen withdrawal since we've been letting them turn their brains to mush at their own discretion for the past week. (Disclaimer: They've also spent tons of time with friends and family and playing with the millions of new toys in our house. So it hasn't all been a zombified wash.) But still, their heads might explode this week when they're forced to do things like reading, talking as opposed to screaming, and walking past the Wii and the PS3 without turning them on.

I've been thinking a little about New Year's resolutions. I know nobody needs a date on the calendar to tell them it's okay or an appropriate time to make life changes. But the start of the new year is symbolic of a fresh start, and after the craziness of the holidays, I am ready to re-evaluate my life and think of things I'd like to accomplish this year. Here are a few things on my mind:

• Take better care of myself. The reality is I'm not getting any younger, and since I have no health insurance (and thus never go to the doctor unless I'm pregnant...which is SO not happening), I really need to be extra vigilant about my health. I need to eat better, take vitamins, drink more water, and get regular exercise.
• Pamper myself a little more. I've heard tales of women who get their hair cut more than once a year...that can't possibly be true?!
• Write more, and maybe even take a writing class or two.
• Spend more time with my friends.
• Send my kids outside to play until they love it and never want to come in. This is going to be a year of bike rides, pool time, picnics, digging in the dirt and maybe even playing in the snow. I'm contemplating something drastic, like no television all summer. I'm not sure any of us would make it out alive...but it might be a risk I'm willing to take.
• Take up jogging and run a 5K. That might not seem very ambitious to some, but to me it would be a huge deal. 
• Get caught up with Mt. Laundry and stay caught up. A daunting task with a family of 6, but I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...
• Create a work area for myself somewhere in my house where I can sew or whatever. One that doesn't involve the dining room table and everyone eating in the family room every time I'm in the middle of a project.
• Learn to crochet. I've been wanting to do this forever. 
• Take a family camping trip. It's been way too long since we've done this, and we had such a memorable experience last time. 

I am excited reading my list and thinking about what an awesome year this is going to be. I'd love to know what everyone else is planning for 2011.

Snow Days and Other Stuff

So far this week my kids have enjoyed two snow days, and it's only Tuesday! I have loved having them home, but they really do need to go back to school so I can finish my Christmas shopping. Well, the small portion of my Christmas shopping that is not done via amazon.com at least. I think I might be done with Amazon actually(maybe one more order...) since it's getting close to the Christmas delivery cut-off with the free shipping. I love Amazon. I tell everyone they should do their Christmas shopping on this glorious one stop shopping conglomerate website. They have, like, everything. Free shipping, no tax, heaven.

Today we spent hours working on making Christmas gifts for teachers and friends and building one of those Star Wars Lego things that have about seven thousand pages of instructions. I meant to get some baking done too, but that didn't happen. But I could get started on that now, since all the kids are up in bed. Yes, that's right, all the kids. Mathilda went to bed with the other kids and is at this moment sleeping in her crib! But by now I am smart and experienced enough to know that she will wake up pathetically wailing just as soon as I get involved with a project. In fact, she probably just received a subliminal message from the internet or something informing her that it's time to make a liar of her mom.

"I'm not sleeping! BAAAAA! How could you think that? I was just lying here waiting for you to get busy with something so I could start screaming and not let you accomplish anything! It's what I do!"

Yes, that is what she does. But that's not all! She also likes to take all the diapers out of the box several times a day, take as much food out of the pantry as she can reach, dump out my purse, draw in books (a fun new hobby!), pull ornaments off the Christmas tree, roll around on the floor in clean clothes before I vacuum (we have a black shedding dog people!), and so much more. Like refusing to nap. Then she ends up falling asleep in the high chair at dinner time, or today she fell asleep while standing up and looking at her current favorite book, Old McDonald. She also doesn't actually like me to read to her, but she loves, loves, loves books. She brings them to me all the time like she wants me to read to her, but then as soon as I take the book from her and start reading, she starts screaming, grabs the book and runs off with it. I can't wait until this child can talk so she can finally let me know what all the fuss was about.

Anyway, snow days are nice, but there is that knowledge in the back of my mind regarding what actually caused the snow days. As in snow. And in this case, also frigid cold temperatures and icy roads. Yuck. I am really not looking forward to leaving the house tomorrow morning. But at least I have a remote start for my van, so I can get it all toasty before we get in it. Of course, I probably forgot to leave the heat on last time I drove since I just cannot seem to remember to do that.

                                                  ***sigh***

I think I need to make one of those paper chain countdown things, counting down the days until Spring. I need a visual reminder that there will not be snow and slush and ice and freezing cold blechy weather forever and ever, because that is kind of what it feels like right now.

For now I will make an effort to focus on things I'm looking forward to. Like meeting a friend for hot chocolate on Thursday morning, and seeing Lucy's preschool Christmas program on Friday morning. And snuggling on the couch with my new, super soft and awesomely cozy blanket I recently received as a gift from a relative I've never met via a family Christmas gift exchange (yep, definitely ridiculously blessed). Which is what I think I'm going to go do right now, while I'm waiting for Mathilda to wake up and remind me that, duh, she doesn't sleep in her crib.

Why I'm Thankful for Winter

This is totally counter-intuitive, and I'm really stretching my gratitude muscles here, because what I really feel like doing is creating a list of a million and one reasons whey I absolutely loathe winter. But here goes.

• The groceries stay cold in the car. It sounds like a little thing, but how nice to be able to run an errand or two or pick the kids up from school after grocery shopping without worrying about the milk spoiling.
• Hot chocolate, which is maybe my favorite drink ever. It warms you up inside and it's chocolate, therefore it is perfect. 
• Christmas. There are so many reasons to love Christmas. I love shopping, spending lots of time with my family, homemade gifts from my kids, baking, getting Christmas cards in the mail (bonus if they contain pictures and/or annual letters!), and the music. It is the most wonderful time of the year, after summer of course.
• The preschool holiday program. And I am completely confident that Lucy will happily participate this year, and that she won't stand with her peers scowling and crossing her arms, whispering (loudly) that she is not going to sing this one either at the start of each new song, and that maybe she will even smile and not insist on clinging to me throughout the entire performance.But even if it doesn't go quite as I imagine, I will nonetheless love every second of it.
• Bethany is in her school choir this year, and will be doing a holiday performance as well. 
• Snow days, because if it must snow, it's very kind of Mother Nature to snow enough so at least I don't have to drive my kids to school in it.
• Playing with my kids in the snow, which truthfully I only like to do once or twice each winter. I'm going to try to enjoy it a little more often this winter.
• Sweaters, tights, and boots, and otherwise feeling like I have a whole new wardrobe when I pack up my summer stuff and take out my winter clothes.
• Celebrating birthdays; first my mom, then Chris, me, and Connor.
• Theater season. I love the theater, and if I'm lucky I might get to see a show or two each season.
• Going somewhere warm while everyone is freezing their booties off at home. Yes, I realize my admitting this will probably result in Florida experiencing an unprecedented cold spell on our next visit. 
• When it first snows, and everything is blanketed in a clean, white, sparkly beauty. The world seems so quiet and peaceful.
• Having nowhere to go, just sitting in my nice cozy house and watching the snow fall. Preferably with a good book, or a cuddly kid on my lap, or with something baking and making the whole house smell delicious.  

Well that was less painless than I thought. Maybe winter isn't so bad after all.

Preparing for Hibernation

I'm pretty sure the little old lady who lives in a gingerbread cottage in the woods is sending me subliminal messages. I don't see any other possible explanation for my recent need to eat, like, e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. She wants to fatten me up and EAT ME!

That's my suspicion at least.

The other possibility is that I'm really a bear living under the delusion that I'm human, and I'm getting ready to hibernate for the winter. Which wouldn't be so bad since I really hate winter.

But I digress.

The Halloween candy really really really does not help. And I seem to be operating under some kind of weird reasoning that it is better to consume all the Halloween candy in about three days time, and then there will be no more Halloween candy to tempt me. Cause that makes a whole lot of sense.

I am just plain famished all the time. And what bad timing, because simultaneously I have temporarily lost my verve for working out. In fact, I've been slacking horribly. One would think an upcoming trip to Florida would be enough to keep me on track, but what the heck, we're just going to Orlando. There will be no lounging on beaches in bikinis. Just hanging out at commercialized theme parks, which means I will be getting plenty of exercise. Which means I'm good.

I feel so much better now.