Summer!

Summer is beginning and I'm ecstatic.  I haven't been this excited about summer since I was in school.  For me it was just another day with the kids, except it was too hot to go to the park.

But this year - something about this year just has me excited.  Maybe it's because I no longer have to take my son to preschool and umpteen million appointments, maybe it's the exciting trip I have planned, or that my sister is moving-in with us, or that my SIL has agreed to hang-out with me so I can do trips to the pool with both kids and not worry about one of them drowning (I swear my kids have a suicide mission when we go to pools).

Or maybe it's because my kids are entering that fun stage of imagination and exploration and I think of all the exciting summers I had as a kid exploring the world around me and I just get excited for them. I have come up with a list of things to do with the kids, like parks, swim lessons, museums, eating watermelon, and watching movies.  But I was wondering... what fun things do you have planned for your kids this summer?  How do you keep them entertained when the excitement starts to wear off after the first few weeks (or days...)?  

HA!

I was listening to the John Tesh radio show the other night.

He was talking about how women are beginning to earn more than men in a lot of marriages/relationships and what kind of stress that puts on the husband and relationship.

One lady commented that she was the breadwinner in her house and it was so stressful being responsible for all the money and what she wouldn't give to be a housewife and not have to worry about money.

What the...?

If there is such a housewife, I would love to meet her and find out her secret. 

Trivial

I wanted to post an equally snide response to a snide comment a certain politician person made about Ann Romney.

But then this weekend happened.

I live in tornado alley. I woke up Sunday morning and anxiously turned on the news to see what the damage report was from the storms.
from kfor.com

I found instead a bunch of he-said, she-said over silly subjects. I suddenly became very tired and disgusted with the news, because when you run outside frantically telling your husband to get out of the car because a tornado has just touched down barely 2 miles from your home, some things just start to sound rather trivial.
from Huffingtonpost

Nothing like mother nature to help you put things into perspective.
from kfor.com

crappy pictures

Introducing...

my new favorite time-waster.

crappypictures.com

It's seriously friggin' hilarious.

You're welcome :)

would you like it cold...or cold?

Being the mom means always eating cold food

as, of coarse, there are always 50 million mealtime emergencies to deal with.

In case you were wondering, cold toast sucks.

the sound of silence

You know what I've discovered solves a lot of my chillun problems?

A ban on talking.

{smirk}

Simplifying

I read an article in this month's issue of Real Simple about how women don't spend enough time on themselves and "down-time." The whole issue is dedicated on ways to simplify your life, save money and time, organize, and find time for yourself.

Which made me think of ways I can simplify my life including the things I already do, like: pack lunches and backpacks the night before, make/prep dinner earlier in the day when I have the energy to clean-up after myself, and keep a pad of paper on my fridge so I can write down grocery items as we run out of them.

Speaking of simplifying, Whitney and I have been talking about this blog. We don't want to give it up, but as our lack of posting shows, we don't exactly have the time to put into it. That's when we realized we didn't have the time because we felt like we had to write big-long-soul-searching type posts every time. Hence, our new changes.

We are simplifying to shorter, more frequent posts. Maybe it will just be a thought of the day, something that inspired us and we want to share. It might be a funny antidote or some crazy thing our kids did and we want to know we aren't the only ones with those kind of kids. We will share tips that help us in our lives and maybe even a recipe or two.

We are excited about our new direction we are taking and hope you as our readers will join on us this new adventure and as always share with us your ideas and thoughts so that we may know we are not alone in this great wide world.

Just Wait...

A friend of mine posted THIS article on facebook today and my first thought was to share it with y'all.  I loved it so much that it gave me that kind of teary smile that goes all the way down deep.

Enjoy.

In other news, Aub and I are thinking about re-vamping our little hot chocolate talk, so stay tuned for changes :)

giggles and curls, sunshine and roses.

It seems like, these days, I'm often asked what it's like being a mom.  In response, I usually attempt to summarize this scene...

Hilarious, I know!  Hence my attempt to roughly summarize for the benefit of the questioner.  But, see, I worry that it actually ends up scaring the poor non-parent more then it helps, 'cause when it comes to parenting, you just don't get it until you really GET it.  So I end up worrying I'm dissuading them way more then necessary.  Let me explain...

One of my eternal quests is to expose the myth of motherhood...this idea that it's all giggles and curls, sunshine and roses.  That, as the article in our last post so aptly described, it's impossible to carpe diem when you're a mom because the majority of diems are not anything any sane person would want to carpe anyway.  Being a mom is harder work than any toned-tummy, myriad-of-alone-time, non-diaper-bag-toting, baby-free young co-ed can possibly imagine.

But here's the thing...sometimes it actually IS giggles and curls.  Sometimes things come together in a picture-perfect, crystal-clear moment.  What I worry about is that I, in the words of my movie clip, emphasize the awful, awful, awful without fully explaining the times that something incredible and magical happens.  It really IS magical and amazing and incredible.  Not only that, but those perfect moments really DO make it all worth it.  It is so absolutely, indescribably amazing to feel that downy newborn hair, get those gummy infant kisses, hold that little toddler hand, see that crooked pre-schooler signature, smell that little boy sweaty smell, and see that little baby all grown up that words can't even begin to describe it.  To say that it makes it all worth it is the understatement of the century.  It makes everything all worth it...pregnancy, parenthood, even slogging through this thing called mortality.  In those moments, you realize that those little people are the whole reason you are here on this earth.   When we are told, "...men are, that they might have joy." (2 Nephi, 2:25) as a mother I know that I am so that those little people can be my joy. They are the point.

When I have those moments, it makes the awful, awful, awful seem not all that...well...awful.  In fact, it makes the awful moments feel a lot more like sunshine and roses.

Domestic Goddess

A salesperson came by my house the other day.

She asked what I did for a living.

"I'm a stay-home mom." I told her.

"Domestic Goddess! Alright!" She gave me a high-five.

It almost made me want to buy the magazines she was selling.

Domestic Goddess... I kind of like the sound of that...

Sucks

My SIL sent me this article and reading it helped me realize something about myself.

Is it sad that I had to read an article to have a self-revelation? I hope not.

Anyway, read the article if you can, but the summary is that she realized she was carrying around this guilt because she wasn't living in bliss every single moment of the day and she felt like she wasn't appreciating her children. She talks about having people come up to her in the store saying to "enjoy every moment because it goes by so fast."

Haven't we all heard that one before? I realized, just like her, hearing this made me feel guilty. So, I've been carrying around this guilt because most of the time I'm frustrated, near tears, and NOT enjoying every moment with my children.

To add to it, I decided my problem was that I wasn't being positive enough, so I made a goal to be more positive, enjoy the small moments, and try to relax. But this didn't really help because in the end I just felt more guilty.

I've decided instead I need to be more honest with myself. Here's my confession. This week has sucked. The kids have pushed me to my limits physically, mentally, and emotionally. Each day has ended with me close to tears and exhausted.

Do I hate being a mother? No, not at all. I look forward to every day and all the happy moments that make-up for the not-so-happy moments and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

However, after this week and reading the above mentioned article, I can unashamedly conclude that this week was hard. Just like everything else in life, being a Mother is hard and difficult, and just like with everything else in life it's okay to admit that every now and then.

Lazy Mom

I just shoved some nick-knacks (random pieces of toys, a couple of papers, leftover Christmas stuff) under the TV stand.

Why?

I could come up with a million reasons, some of them quite good.

But really, I'm just lazy and a little tired of picking up stuff.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who does things like this!

After denial comes acceptance.

As I was trying on cardigans at NY & Co yesterday morning, I came to the conclusion that I look like a mom.

I'm nearly 27.

I drive a mini-van.

I have 4 kids.

It was bound to happen eventually.

If any of y'all ever catch me sporting mom jeans, please just kill me.

The Christmas Spirit

I have my radio station tuned to Christmas only music.

I have my cinnamon candles burning.

I've had my fair share of Christmas cookies and hot chocolate.

My lights are up on the house, my Christmas tree is set with ornaments on the top half of the tree only (the plastic, non-breakable ones on the bottom of the tree keep mysteriously disappearing...), and my decorations are up.

We've been teaching the kids about the Nativity story.

Heck - I've even wrapped some Christmas presents. But it wasn't until today, when I left Wal-Mart feeling like I had spent half of our paycheck on gimmicky stuff such as a Lightning McQueen Bubble Bath, Tinker Bell coloring kit, candy canes, and Pez dispensers that I really felt in the Christmas Spirit.

happy fluff

In the words of my friend, Kyra, who shared this with me...

the best bit of happy fluff you'll see all day :)

enjoy.

me and my margarine

I'm completely off dairy while nursing since The Baby has a suspected cow's milk allergy.  Luckily we've done this all before with The Kindergartener when he was an extremely fussy baby...and toddler...and preschooler (not much has changed these days except for his dairy intake :P), so I have my old milk and butter substitution stand-bys.  It's always a cooking comfort to know that there's 100% dairy-free margarine out there.

It's also very disturbing to know there's 100% dairy-free margarine out there.

Kinda makes you think, doesn't it? ;)

ps-in case you were wondering, Blue Bonnet Light is my go-to dairy-free margarine

Weather

My Mom says she can tell a cold front is moving in because it gives her a headache.

I, too, have a sign the weather is about to change. Crazy children.

This week alone we've had nudity, screaming, jumping off couches, mud tracked through the house, cereal everywhere from the living room to the kids bedrooms, and an endless amount of dirty underwear.

This is actually a typical day in our household, but it has been magnified by 10, at least.

You know what I mean? Where your kids aren't doing anything our of the ordinary, they are just doing it bigger, louder, and crazier?

Yup, definitely blaming it on the weather.

@#$#0%! butterfingers.

I've gained four pounds in well under a week.

The Halloween candy and I are not on speaking terms.

@#$#0%! butterfingers.

Since I'm guessin' I'm not the only one with this issue, I'm sharing a fabulous little tip sent to me by my cousin-in-law, Jamie.  She did this with her kids and their candy and I'm planning on doing it too.

Introducing the Halloween Candy Christmas Countdown...

Have your kids pick out 25 favorite pieces of their Halloween candy and make Christmas countdown chains with it.  Lay a long piece of saran wrap on the floor, place the candy in the middle, fold over each side and tie in between each piece with ribbon.  It's helpful to use a different color of ribbon for each kid so that they will know which ones is theirs.  Store the loot safely on a shelf until December 1st and then reveal!

Awkward

Is it just me, or does it seem like because you are a mom it entitles complete strangers to ask you personal questions?

Usually I don't mind answering questions, I'm sort of an open book in that way. But there is one question that I seem to get asked a lot, especially lately, that just makes me feel a bit awkward.

"So, now that you have a boy and a girl, are you done?"

Why does it make me feel awkward?

It comes from complete strangers - like the sales rep at the car dealership, or the cashier at WalMart, or the waiter at a restaurant, or the annoyed patron at a store - and leaves me wondering how they expect me to respond. Sometimes they are truly curious and sometimes they are a bit demeaning in a she-can-barely-control-the-two-she-has-oh-please-don't-let-her-have-another sort of way.

I usually answer with "Oh depends on the day... we'll see." But I'm half tempted to answer with "Actually, my husband and I have a goal to have more kids than the Duggar family, so watch out!"

i·ro·ny

noun \ˈī-rə-nē also ˈī(-ə)r-nē\
plural -nies. 

: incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result

Example:

Mothers everywhere embrace the bulge-hiding magic of the color black and it's ability to make the wearer look effortlessly chic instead of frumpy.

Black is the color that a baby's spit-up shows most prominently, instantaneously making one look like a frump.