Eat at your own risk

As I always do, I surveyed my family members before an impending trip to Wal-mart. Because it never fails that the moment I walk in the door after a grocery trip, someone will say, "Mom, I'm glad you are home - I've been looking everywhere for you to tell you I need _______ (fill in the blank) for school tomorrow morning!" I like to be able to respond with a mature, "Too bad, so sad, I ALREADY asked you!" Not really. I would probably just sigh and make plans to stop at a store in the morning. But you get the idea. I try to avoid the scenario.

Yesterday, my oldest whispered in my ear that she wanted Oreo cookies. I was a little suspicious that the one family member out of five that actually does not like Oreos was requesting them from the grocery. I also could not understand why she was whispering. Then she handed me a printed sheet from a website. The website name? aprilfoolzone.com Yep. She has already been planning and plotting her April Fool's jokes for this Friday. Her joke of choice? She wants to scrape the cream filling out of several Oreo cookies, replace it with toothpaste, and serve it to Avery and Marty, who are cuh-razy about Oreos. I'm slightly impressed with her ambition and ability to plan ahead. I also kinda want to warn the other two. Of course, she is assuming the Oreos will last until Friday. And that's an awfully big assumption around here.

Terrible Twos are here. Yea.

the short version... Spring break days 4 -5 were extremely boring, but ended with a quick trip up north to see my brother and sis-in-law and shopping for spring clothes that no one can wear because winter came back. Next year, we are going to Disney World for spring break. The End. Moving on.

Yesterday was one of my favorite days of the year. It's the day my windows get cleaned. Seriously. I don't have a house keeper (yet), but I allow myself to splurge and have some cleaning jobs serviced for me. Window cleaning is one, tile and grout cleaning is another. The entire house is cleaned the night before (we can't let the window guy see anything but a spotless interior, right?), and when the guys pull up in their truck, I get so excited. They get to work pulling off screens and moving furniture while I start cleaning my beloved plantation shutters. 3-4 hours later, my house is literally sparkling. Like, truly sparkling from the street. At night, my windows are so clean, they look like a room full of mirrors. It makes me so happy. Weird. And I'm probably getting old. Window cleaning day also means it is guaranteed to rain the next day. So yes, today is a cold, rainy day filled with scattered thunderstorms. Awesome.

When you think of terrible twos, do you think of snotty nosed kids who constantly throw irrational fits, are defiant, and have complete melt downs for no reason while their parents stand by with a bewildered expression saying,"I just don't know, he's not usually like this"? This is our newest parenting reality. Someone has replaced our sweet, easygoing boy with this little person who thinks rules don't apply and he is in charge. Some examples:

* We are out to eat at a restaurant. He is finished eating and wants his plate removed. After explaining his plate will be moved in a moment, he exclaims, "no, right NOW" while pushing said plate and food AND fruit punch to the floor. Insert mortified parental faces here.

* While playing, he hits his sister with a closed fist. "Nathan," I say, "do not hit your sister." Continues hitting. "I'm not hitting," he replies. "I'm PUNCHING." "Nathan," I say, "DO NOT punch or hit or touch your sister. Stop right now." Continues hitting/punching. He replies, "I'm NOT STOPPING." Lawdy, that one did not end pretty. I won't discuss my discipline techniques here, but he sure was snotty nosed afterward.

* Today, I am walking him into preschool. I take off his jacket to leave with his things. Halfway into his class, he decides he wants to put his jacket back on and go outside. I tried to simply put his jacket back on, but that was not good enough. He wanted to go back outside. I lost my nice mom demeanor, took the jacket back off, told him he was not going outside, he was not wearing his jacket, and he was going to class. Meltdown commenced. Crying the ugly cry, folded up in fetal position on the ground, screaming I want my jacket, I want my jacket. Now add to the scene lots of other mothers toting their adorable obedient toddlers to class having to step OVER and AROUND my screaming child. I did what any sensible mother would do. Scooped him up, wiped the snotty nose, passed him off to the teacher and got the heck out of there, praising the Lord I had the next 5 hours to myself. I truly think I may have skipped to the car.

These are just a few examples from the past few days. I won't even talk about what bedtimes have been like. I have enough experience to know it's all a phase, and one day I'll look back and miss this, and blah, blah, blah. It's exhausting. If you drive by my house today and peek into my sparkling windows, you're likely to find me curled up with an old Dobson standby, Bringing up Boys, Dare to Discipline, or Strong Willed something or other. Or maybe I should just go ahead and read all three.

Spring Break: Day 3

Today was a productive day for mom! Laundry done, floors mopped, bathrooms cleaned and 3 home cooked meals. We ran a few errands, one of which was getting my youngest girl's hair cut by about 3 inches. Although she is not thrilled with the shorter 'do, she is so beautiful and it instantly made her look so much older. (Sniff.) With summer and swimming around the corner, it was definitely the right call. Speaking of swimming, we are so blessed to have great neighbors with a sweet girl living across the street from us. They also have an indoor swimming pool. (I know, kinda strange, right?) They are gracious enough to invite our girls to swim all the time. Tonight was a pizza and pool night, so my girls spent the evening swimming, eating, and laughing.

In the meantime, little man and I spent some quality time in the dirt. We planted our first row of the garden: basil, cilantro, arugula, and strawberries. We are waiting a little longer to plant our tomato plants 1)to make sure our crazy weather has truly pushed us into spring, and 2) to make sure our crazy dog stays away from the garden. Nathan loves to help and talked my ear off the entire time. The phrases repeated at random:

Mommy, I'm a good helper.

Nathan is a big boy.

I can do this myself.

Nathan does a good job.

I sure am doing great.

Over and over and over. It's nice to see the kid has inherited his dad's lack of self-doubt. Check out the too big "borrowed from the girls" gardening gloves and the swollen, red, allergy suffering eyes. This boy melts my heart. :)

Spring Break: Day 2

Well, get ready because this was one exciting day. *Insert sarcasm emoticon here* We do have a few outings planned later this week, so today was a "catch up around the house day". The kids were thrilled. Actually they played outside a lot. As in, all. day. long. This freed me to work on moving some pics to my external hard drive (hold back your jealousy of my exciting day), finish my book, and do a little laundry and tv watching. The girls got invited to go to McDonalds and our local bounce house, so Marty and I enjoyed take out and a little quiet time with Nathan.

I did try something new that I had been wanting to try out for some time. I made this:

a kale-apple smoothie. If you haven't tried kale, it's a dark green leafy lettuce, kind of like spinach. I tried making kale chips, where you bake them in the oven, but they didn't turn out too well. I found a recipe in a magazine for a kale smoothie and it was surprisingly yummy! It's so easy to make, because there is no slicing and dicing involved. I tore a few washed kale leaves, added 1/2 cup light apple juice, one banana, a splash of lime juice, and enough ice to make it slushy. I told the kids it was a late St. Patrick's day treat (we had green pancakes last Thursday, so they are used to color-altered food), and they even enjoyed it. I know it sounds kind of gross, but it was so good. I'm having another one tomorrow!

Spring Break: Day 1

Have you heard of project 365? You know, where you post a pic showcasing every day for one year? That's way too much commitment for me. However, I thought it might be fun to capture some pics of our spring break staycation this way. As much as I would love to be in Colorado, the beach, or even in good ol' STL visiting my parents, it was a good decision for us to stay home. I have been sick (thank you allergy season) and my kids are enjoying some downtime. Courtesy of my 5 year old digital point and shoot so please excuse the quality, this is what today has produced:

This girl loves her some Harry Potter. This winter, I let her buy a Harry t-shirt and judging by how often she wears it, I'm pretty sure it's her favorite article of clothing. Of course, she is watching a HP movie for the umpteenth time. I'm not sure who is more excited for July and the last HP movie- the kid or her mother. ;) Oh, and don't my wood floors look great? Love them!

Some days Play-doh is the worst $10 you can spend, and some days it's the best bang for your buck. On a beautiful, mild, sunny day like today, with the friendly neighbor available for play, it can easily occupy a few hours of time. Just what a mother girl needs!

This poor boy usually falls asleep every day in the girl's school pick up line. It seems his optimal nap time is usually between 2-4, and there is never a day that he gets a complete nap. Hopefully this week, he will get completely well rested. Would you be shocked if I said he was the sweetest, most obedient, angel when he gets his sleep?

With all of the kiddos occupied, I've even had a little time to indulge in this:

I'm halfway through this gem of a book and I already know it's one of my favorites. Such an inspiring story. I still have no idea how it ends, and I hope I'm not disappointed. Don't let the fact that it is non-fiction steer you away. It is an amazing story told in a compelling voice that makes you wish you had a free day or two to be immersed completely.

So, are you doing something really exciting for Spring Break? Or are you taking it slow and easy hanging out at home? Inquiring minds want to know!

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a bulleted list (aka lame blog title)

*Our hardwood floor installation is finally finished! It looks so beautiful and as an added bonus, I now get to live life with a broom attached to my hip. It completely changed the look of our house and I am thrilled to be rid of carpet!

*I have spent this week cleaning out closets and pricing clothes for our local HUGE kid's consignment sale. It's always such a pain, but I enjoy getting some money out of outgrown clothes and my closets and drawers get cleaned out in the process, so it's a can't lose situation. I always get a little teary to see my kid's clothes leave. It makes me sad to realize how much they have grown and to see the progression from baby clothes to toddler wear to big girl dresses. Before long it will be high heels and prom dresses. Sigh.

*We have an exciting adventure to Washington D.C. coming up very soon. We are leaving Avery and Nathan behind (cue guilt filled music here) and taking Mackenzie with us to Marty's business trip to D.C. She is extremely excited at the idea of such a big trip. I am excited to get away for a while and I am already anticipating the history lesson overload. Marty and Mackenzie both love history and politics. They can't wait to experience all of the monuments and museums, while I am looking forward to not cooking, finding some good sushi and maybe do a little shopping. What I am most excited about is getting to spend a lot of one on one time with Mackenzie. As a parent of 3, it's always difficult to give each child their own uninterrupted time. I am dreading the time when she thinks her parents know nothing and considers it an embarrassment to hang out with us. So I am planning to soak up every minute and make some great memories for us. After the most difficult past 6 months, that has been one of my greatest desires for this year: that we would create some meaningful family memories for our kids. We are well on
our way!

*I love my iPad more than a person should probably love an electronic device. Then, iPad 2 comes out. I am not one to chase after the latest and greatest, but I kinda want an iPad 2 just for the chance to buy this $39 cover.
Well played, Apple Marketing Team, well played.

*I didn't blog much in February. A disheveled house, sick kids, and snow days will do that to a person. However, we did have a lot of blog worthy moments. My favorite night was Valentine's Day. I had decided to stay home and cook a fancy dinner for the kids and actually use our formal dining room and china. The girls dressed up, Marty put on some dinner music, and a little impromptu pre-dinner dancing materialized. The food was good, the talk was better, the dirty dishes were horrendous, and the memories were priceless. (See bullet point #3.) I think this may become an annual event. I would love it if one day in the future the girls would invite their dates over for our Valentine dinner. Probably not going to happen though. (See bullet point #3 again.)

*Our 6 month old border collie is driving us insane and is the sweetest dog ever. The end.