My New Years quasi-resolution

My new year didn't exactly begin as I hoped. It started with a yelling match between Gabe and I. A power struggle over the Freetime setting on his Kindle.

Why couldn't I just let him play the apps for an unlimited amount of time?  Why did I make reading for 15 minutes mandatory before the apps were unlocked?  Why did I put limits on his electronics use?  It wasn't fair. It wasn't nice.

And then the age old statement said by every youngster - I wish I was big so I could do whatever I want. 

I hurt hearing all his frustration with me.  Knowing that I was causing all this heartache by standing in his way, in the way of his happiness, made me feel like the worst kind of monster.  But I stood my ground.  

I tried to explain to him that I am being the best parent I can by putting limits on his electronic use, by making him "unplug" and rejoin society. That as his parent, my job is to make him the best he can be and playing an unlimited amount of time on an electronic device is not helping him to learn in all aspects of life. 

It didn't matter what I said. Everything came back to, "I just want to be grown up already."  

And that hurt me the worst. 

I am probably the only person who on New Year's Eve was hoping for a miracle and it would just stay 2013. 

2014 is bringing a lot of change, and while 2013 also brought some adjustments, I am not quite ready for another emotional and physical shake up. 

This year I turn 30 years old. I have been dreading it since before I turned 29.  30 means you have your life figured out. 30 means you are getting old. I am not ready to be 30. I am not looking forward to this milestone. 

This year my first baby turns 8 years old. And while that is not a milestone in itself, the fact that there are only 10 years left until he graduates high school leaves me speechless. 10 years?  That's all I have left before he is officially an adult?  10 years is like a blink of an eye.

This year my second baby, my child that wakes up every morning, seeks me out and hugs me, turns 4 and will start preschool in the Fall. Preschool?  No more hugs after nap. No more bargaining for food at lunch?  No more stampeding around the house with his guns a blazing?  Wait, what?

I don't even want to talk about my baby baby turning 3 and how she already talks in full sentences.  How she is almost as tall as Zander and just as fiercely independent.  How she puts on her own boots and hat, grabs her purse and her Chapstick and tells me she's leaving and good bye while I am left standing there knowing that the real life leaving part is soon a reality.

Please Time, couldn't you just slow down?  For me?  Just a little?

Since I am, if nothing else, a realist and know in my head that all this growing is necessary (Boo!  Hiss!), my resolution to enjoy what time I do have with them. I realize how morbid this sounds, and I don't mean it to (honestly), but with each year passing faster and faster, I am fully understanding now how important it is to spend that quality time together.

So.  With that being said, you might not see me on here very often. The problem with this blog is the actual sitting down and typing out the posts. If I could just have a direct line from my brain to this, then it would be fine. 

But as for now, I will be building more puzzles, making volcanos with baking soda and vinegar, helping my helpers make muffins and granola, putting together a pinewood derby car, and mostly, I will be living with my soon-to-be-grown-up children. 

And enjoying every single second, including the fights.

Sidenote: We are discovering how many awesome classic movies Amazon Prime has and I am so excited that they are starting to enjoy musicals!  Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is our go-to family movie and it completely rocks their world.

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Shopping in Mom's pantry

   One of my kids favorite things to do at any children's museum is play in the house and grocery section.  There you have empty boxes and cans of "real food" and lots of things to play with.  I recently started letting the kids explore our pantry and dry goods shelf.  They call it "shopping" and enjoy being able to open the cupboards and look at all the items inside.  I like it because they are learning what all the foods are, where they come from and "pretend" to cook them on their kitchen table.  It is a great way for us to have conversations about different foods, what they look like, how we like to eat them all while they get to manipulate the cans and jars and produce.

This came about mostly because I was trying to think of something different to do during rainy days and it has become a fast favorite activity that keeps them entertained for about an hour.

   Last year they got this table as a Christmas present and I highly recommend it!  We got it when it was a Black Friday deal so it was a little cheaper than this listed price.  The kids LOVE it and what I love is that underneath the orange grill top is an empty table base for all the food and plates and silverware to go when they are done playing.

Fisher Price - Servin' Suprises Kitchen and Table

There is a really cool link on Pinterest of how to make a grocery storefront using PVC pipes.

So You Think You're Crafty - PVC Challenge

Isn't that awesome?  If the kids really decide this "shopping" thing will last, then I could look into doing this.  But right now our "pantry shopping" and pretend kitchen table seems to do the trick!

What real-life activities do you guys do?  Or what works for your kids on subsequent rainy days?  It really is amazing the stuff you can think of to do around the house to entertain little ones!

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Painting Trees

I have seen this tutorial numerous times on Pinterest but I never had the time to sit down with the kids and do it until today.  After my last post, about my giant realization (that I can't do it all), I decided to start taking more time enjoying what little time I have with my kids (while they are still small).  

I made time to make some memories this afternoon.  

The kids really enjoyed painting with the Q-tips.  I was really surprised how awesome they did at making dots and refrained from drawing with them.  They all got extremely creative and told stories about their trees as they painted.

Zander - "I only want to put the leaves on my branches.  Mom, I think I painted on all the top branches."

Calla - "Yellow.  No, no (when I tried to change colors).  That (pointing to yellow)."

Gabe - "Someone was really busy with raking the leaves into piles in my picture.  I am going to make it look 3D by painting different size piles of leaves."

Gabe's

I am really glad we took the time to enjoy today.  I love all my new art work on my clothespin wall and am excited to start decorating for Fall!

I downloaded my tree from this site:  Wedding Fingerprint Tree - styleunveiled.com  They use the tree to record fingerprints of wedding reception attendants.  I love the idea of using fingerprints to make the leaves too!  Feel free to print this off and use Q-tips or finger prints and create your own Fall masterpiece!

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Movies and Popcorn

With all the rain that has been going on, we have had a lot of movie days.  Our TV is downstairs and sometimes we are too lazy to walk all the way down the stairs.  

So we pull out the futon and watch movies on the computer screen.  

Charlotte has to join us.

Or make a fort and watch movies on the teeny-tiny portable DVD player.

Either way, we always have snacks.   Number one on the snack list is always popcorn.  I splurged a couple weeks ago and bought an air popper.  We really like this one.

"Can we have that popcorn machine kind of popcorn?  Not the one in the box."

Music to my ears.

The kids like watching the popcorn pop and spill over into the bowl and I like that it takes about the same amount of time to pop as a bag in the microwave but costs much less.  And tastes much better.  I microwave a tablespoon or two of butter and pour it over the already popped corn, sprinkle it with salt and the kids go to town.

If you don't have an air popper, you can use a brown paper lunch sack.  I did this for awhile and it makes the perfect individual sized portion of popcorn.  Take 1/4 cup of corn kernels and pour them into a brown paper lunch sack.  Roll the top of the bag over a couple times and use one piece of tape to secure the top.  Then microwave it for around 2 minutes.  Sometimes it takes 2:30, just listen for the popping to slow down and you should be good.  Then voila!  You have fresh air popped popcorn!

It really is a lot cheaper to buy the kernels than the pre-made popcorn bags.  After you taste the buttery salty goodness of fresh air popped popcorn, you won't want to eat that chemically manufactured butter flavored popcorn again!

Calla and her Daddy

Written around 3am last night -

I know you see Calla's pictures and think, "What an angel."  But let me tell you she can quickly turn into a screaming rage monster if she doesn't get her way.

She often wakes up in the middle of the night for a drink of milk, which is... fine.  I am not a fan but I would rather go back to sleep than fight her every night so I give in.  A little.  Tonight, I didn't give her how much she thought she needed.  

So she screamed.  And screamed.  "More drink.  More drink."  

And then a lot of ear piercing high pitched screaming that makes me wonder how I haven't gone deaf yet.

After about an hour of me telling her that I wasn't getting her more, to lay down and go back to sleep, I was about to cave when... My phone vibrated with a message from Matt.

taken in Michigan in September of last year

Calla is a Daddy's girl.  And as hard as Daddy fights, he just gets wrapped tighter around her little fingers.  So when Matt heard she had been screaming, he offered to get on Skype and soothe the savage beast.

The moment she saw his face - instant silence - and then "Dada!" 

Texas - May 2012

Then there was a lot of giggling as she pointed at the screen (I won't say who did the giggling), a lot of kisses blown to each other.  Calla "told" on me that I wouldn't get her more milk and she listened as Matt told her it was bedtime and to lay and snuggle Mommy.  Kisses were blown again and "Wuv you Dada.  Ni-ni."

And Calla went right to sleep after the call ended.

Michigan - March 2013

They have always been close.  And will always be close.  And I am thankful for that connection they have together.  Thankful that my baby girl has a Daddy she will always be able to count on, to rely on and to trust in.  Just like I have with my Dad.

taken in Michigan in September of last year

And God bless the inventor of Skype.

Father's Day gifts

This Father's Day will be one without my children's father, but will be with mine.  It will be exciting to spend it with my Dad for the first time in... a long time.  But I want my kids to remember that their Dad is missing them and that they can still appreciate him and all he does for them even without him here.  So I saw this idea in multiple places online:

And decided to replicate it:  

It was a good exercise for the kids to talk about their Dad, everything that they miss and everything they look forward to seeing in him again.  Even though, I didn't get this printed off in time to include in his package, I know it will make him smile to see it online.

We all love you

and can't wait 

for you to come home

I also saw this idea online-

Sharpie Mug

And decided I needed to try it out.  Since both my Dad and my Father in Law are big coffee drinkers, I decided this would make a fantastic Father's Day gift for them.  But first I wanted to test it out to make sure it really worked before I gave it as a present.  

So I bought three Dollar Tree white ceramic mugs, two packs of Sharpie markers (colored and black) and told Gabe to draw whatever he wanted.  He made a mug for his Dad.

"thanks for your courage"

This is after it baked for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  The mug was extremely hot, so take care not to touch it and make sure it sets completely still so the marker sets on the mug.  If you don't let it cool, the marker won't set on the ceramic.  Only the green marker changed color, the rest stayed perfectly vibrant.

The real test was when I tried to wash the mug.  I noticed that some of the pink and purple coloring wiped off, mostly where Gabe colored multiple layers of marker.  The black and green didn't fade or run at all.

I definitely will be making these for my Dad and my Father in Law, letting the kids decorate it and writing their names on the mug.  After reading another source, this blogger said to bake it at 425 degrees instead of 350 and that the mug can always go in for round 2 if the marker hasn't set completely.  

What do you plan on doing for Father's Day?  Any fun DIY projects?

 UPDATED!  I put the mug in for round two of baking (450 degrees for 20 minutes) and after it was cooled, I hand washed it with soap and water and all the marker stayed perfectly in place!!

Lesson learned - Bake at 425 degrees for at least 30 minutes and let it completely cool before handling it.

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