Moms…Just Exercise At Home

Posted on September 8, 2015 by Jennifer

I was watching TV the other day when a segment came on about how moms could easily exercise at home. Now, before you get onto me about watching the segment, I was doing what most moms do, I was multi-tasking – watching the segment, folding laundry, and monitoring my youngest in the shower.

What the host said about exercising went something like this, “Moms, it’s so easy to exercise at home. You just have to make the time.”

Yep. I agree. You just have to make the time.

But the “it’s so easy part?” Nope.

Every single time I try and exercise at home while my kids are there something like this happens:

Now a few things are happening in this picture:

1. I am being real with you and showing you that when I attempt to exercise at home I do it in my pajamas. I feel no shame.

2. Our play room is a mess.

3. Little people always seem to gather around once that rocking jazzercise type music comes on. I feel like the Pied Piper.

In this case, I was attempting to exercise with a you tube video on the computer. Little person hears the drums and synthesizers and join me. The exercise I am supposed to be performing is to swing my leg back and forth then up and down. Therefore, my little partner is trying the same thing but she sticks to mainly just kicking forward and laughing hysterically as she rams her foot into my rear end.

Moving on from that exercise we attempt to strengthen our backs by rolling over and laying down on our tummies. This naturally leads to the “Mommy is a horsey” exercise. It is neither productive nor comfortable for Mommy horse.

Trying to do crunches?

That of course leads to little one leaning on your legs trying to start the well known parent exercise of “flying airplane kid.”

So it is usually at this point that I just give up. It’s just not worth it TV ladies.

For now I will just stick to biking with my kids to school and my swim workouts which are away from home. I’ll still watch the TV exercise segments of course but I will probably just work on building those folding t-shirt muscles.

Mom Fail…Number 8,745…the School Supplies Edition

Posted on September 3, 2015 by Jennifer

After returning from vacation in the middle of July my soon to be 4th grader asked, “Are we ever going to buy school supplies?”

“Well son, seeing as we still have five weeks before you start school I think we are okay.” My reply didn’t really satisfy him or his sister who also had a case of school supply mania.

Three weeks before school started I caved and took them shopping. We bought everything required except for the folders my son needed. Somehow I missed seeing those on the list.

My 4th grader needed blue, red, and yellow folders with brads for school.

First off, why in the world do they even sell folders without the brads in the middle?

No one buys them and they are quite useless.

Moving on.

Fast forward to two days before school starts.

While out shopping I found the blue folder that was needed and scooped that up but could not find a yellow or red folder.

All together, my husband and I went to about 6 different stores looking for these folders.

School started and by the 3rd day of school my son said that he really needed the folders.

I suddenly remembered that I had a stash of school supplies saved in case any of the kids that I teach need something. Old folders, binders, erasers when they go on sale. You name it, I probably have it in my box.

Searching through the box I found a yellow folder with brads but it had someone else’s name on it. I crossed that name out and handed the folder to my son. He was less than thrilled when I showed him the folder. I promised that this was just temporary and that I would still look for new folders.

Cut to the next day and another store folder failure.

So desperate times come for desperate measures.

I asked my husband where the electrical tape was. Somewhere in the back of my mind I seem to recall us having red electrical tape. He found the tape and we were in business “making a red folder.”

I proclaimed the folder perfect.

My husband said, “really?”

“When Andrew looks into his desk he will know which one his red folder is, it’s great.”

Great is probably not how my 10 year old saw it the next morning but he took the folder and put it into his backpack without a fuss.

A few days later I was cleaning out a drawer and happened to find an old plastic red folder with brads that was already labeled with Andrew’s name.

Thank you to hoarding school supplies from kindergarten!

Andrew was happy to take that red folder to school and bring back the green and red folder.

I thought all was good on the school supply front until yesterday when Andrew brought home a note saying he needed an extra blue folder with brads for a different class.

I shouted to be husband, “Honey, have you seen the blue electrical tape?”

Mission Accomplished…Saving Money with a Chart

Posted on September 1, 2015 by Jennifer

Look who accomplished her mission of saving for a stuffed animal!

Last time we left off my six year old was busy working odd jobs like folding towels around the house in order to save enough money to purchase a Build-a-Bear stuffed animal. She was keeping track of her savings using the chart I made for her.

Caroline had saved about $23.00 when I received an email from Build-a-Bear announcing a 40% off sale on the stuffed animals. This meant that the stuffed animal Caroline wanted that originally cost $28 would now be on sale for $16.80! This would be a big savings for her.

When we started this money saving process I told Caroline that if she bought the stuffed animal I would buy an outfit for the animal. Any other accessories she wanted to buy would be her responsibility. Once we knew about the sale I told Caroline to kick her saving into overdrive because we needed to get to the store in a few days in order to use the 40% coupon. The sale would give her an opportunity to buy the animal and an accessory.

The day of the big purchase came. Caroline laid out all of her money and counted it. We made piles 100 (when counting the coins we counted to 100 and she knew that meant she had one dollar).

Just a quick note about how I taught my daughter to count nickels and dimes. We worked on knowing that 2 nickels has the same value of 1 dime. So when we lined up the coins we lined them up into ten cent amounts. Looking at the coins in vertical groups you see 10 cents, 10 cents, 10 cents, and 5 cents. By having her line up the 2 nickels on top of each other she knew they were the same value as the dime. Putting her fingers on these coins she would count: 10, 20, 30, 35.

After all the money was counted, Caroline had saved $27.93. Not quite the $30 goal but I knew with only 1 day left in the 40% off sale we needed to go to the store now.

Caroline walked right to the stuffed animal she wanted – Risa the Rock Star Rabbit. With each rock girl you get to choose a star that goes inside of her. Caroline chose the word, “fearless.”

I turned down every opportunity the Build-a-Bear workers tried to ~~extort~~ get more money from Caroline. Don’t you want a talking heart inside for $5? Don’t you want a bubblegum smelly in your animal for $4? No we don’t. It’s not in the budget.

After getting her bear stuffed , choosing an outfit and pair of shoes for the newly named “Blueberry,” we made our way to the check out. Caroline gave the animal and pair of shoes to the clerk who totaled up everything. In what I can only call fate or a small miracle from the money gods the total came out to $27.93! The exact amount Caroline had.

I had Caroline count out her money and give it to the clerk. Yes, I am that mom who will make everyone else behind me wait. It was a big moment for her and I wanted her to be able to see it through to the end. After all, since we had exchanged all of the 100’s into dollar bills at home she only had to count out $27 in bills and the 93 cents in coins.

Here’s the end result!

Caroline really loves “Blueberry” and is proud of the fact that she worked hard to get her. I am sure she’s going to request another money saving chart at some point and that will be fine. What I am most excited about it when she gets to the money counting lesson at school and she kicks some serious coin counting butt.

Well, that and when she starts folding my towels again.

A Texas History Bow Hunt

Posted on August 26, 2015 by Jennifer

Now that school is in session around here let’s talk about ridiculous homework.

Last year my son studied Texas History in 7th grade. It’s not really a topic that thrills him which is surprising because he is such a history buff. Give him US History or World History and he is set. But Texas History for a whole year can be a bit much.

At some point when studying Texas History one must cover the Indians. When my son got to this part in the curriculum his teacher gave the class the assignment, “How to Make a Bow and Arrow.”

Sounds kind of cool.

But some of the specifics of this assignment are kind of crazy. Below it says, “Choose a piece of wood for the bow. Find a piece of dry, dead hardwood – oak, hickory, yew, black locust, or teak.”

Now teak wood is found in Indonesia and Myanmar while there are several types of yew wood some of which are found in Europe, Pacific, Canada, China, Japan, Florida, and the Himalayas.

What the assignment should have said was find a piece of wood at your neighborhood park.

We did just that.

The directions above say that the wood should be free of knots, twists, or limbs.

The next step in bow making comes in selecting a bow string.

Yep, you read that right. Just go back outside and grab some strands of silk from your caterpillars.

We used string. Good ol’2015 string on our bow and arrow.

Next you need to make your arrows. “You can straighten the arrow by gently heating the shaft over hot coals – be careful not to scorch or burn the wood.”

I feel like there’s a lawsuit just waiting to happen with this assignment.

We skipped the hot coals part.

The results…

The arrow ended up flying about 5 feet.

At school the teacher had set up a large paper buffalo on a string. The idea was that the buffalo was pulled back and forth so the kids could try and hit it.

My son did not hit the buffalo with his wooden bow and arrows.

Guess which kids hit the buffalo.

The ones who used PVC pipe for the bow and proper arrows.

Man oh man was my son angry when he found out they got the same 100 that he did for the assignment.

I did have to point out to him that he too kind of broke the rules when building his bow and arrows – no wood from the Himalayas, no hot coals were used, and certainly no caterpillar silk.

Can’t wait for homework in US History this year.

Maybe he’ll get to practice medicine on his brother using only tools that were available during the Civil War or perhaps he’ll get to brew his own beer while studying Prohibition.

The Night Before Kindergarten…

Posted on August 21, 2015 by Jennifer

My little one is going to kindergarten and I couldn’t be more excited for her. She’s grown so much and come such a long way it’s time for her to go. But I will admit I will miss spending Fridays with her. Whether we were sewing together, playing board games, reading books, or just hanging out at the mall she was always by my side.

I changed up “The Night Before Christmas” for all those mommas out there who are sending their little ones to kindergarten this year. Enjoy!

*And for the record, I don’t plan to get into golfing. It was late and that’s all that rhymed to me at the time 🙂

Twas the night before kindergarten when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The backpacks were hung by the front door with care.

In hopes that the morning rush would not cause momma to swear.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of crayons and markers danced in their heads.

And momma in her jammies and dad in his shorts,

Had just settled down to watch the TV report.

When all of a sudden Momma shouted out so,

“She’s so little I just don’t think I can let her go!”

Dad tried to reassure Momma that little one would be fine,

He consoled her and reminded her that it was time.

“She knows her letters, her sounds, her numbers, and more,

It’s time to let her move on and go through that school’s front door.

There will be PE, music, art, and recess too,

Think of the fun she’ll have with her playground crew.”

Momma said, “I know that she’ll love school and her friends too,

It’s just that I’ll miss her and everything that we do.”

“Don’t worry,” said Daddy, “Little one is now big and ready to go,”

“And now you will have time to become a serious golf pro.”

So with those words of encouragement in her heart,

Momma knew now she would not fall apart.

She gathered her covers, fluffed her pillow, and grabbed a good book,

Rolled over and read all about eagles, chip shots, and those awful duck hooks.*

The next morning the whole family got up and had breakfast together,

Brushed their teeth and hair and looked up the weather.

Shoes were put on and backpacks grabbed from their hooks,

And off they all went, little one without a second look.

She arrived at the school front door a little nervous and shy,

But daddy told momma, “Your eyes must stay dry.”

Down the hallway and into the classroom the family all went,

Dad taking photos to mark this momentous event.

So as the clock struck eight, it marked the time for parents to leave,

Momma kissed her little one good bye and just had to believe.

Little one gave a quick hug and right then Momma knew she’d be okay,

“I’ll see you at three big girl, I can’t wait to hear all about your wonderful first day.”

“Happy Kindergarten to all, and to all a good-year!”

Love you sweet girl! I know you will have a wonderful kindergarten year!

*Duck Hook: A shot that flies sharply from right to left for right-handed players. It is usually hit unintentionally, since it is difficult to control.

She Works Hard for Her Money…Chart for Saving Money for Kids

Posted on August 11, 2015 by Jennifer

I took my 6 year old to the mall the other day and she had a serious case of the “I wants.” After telling her for the millionth time, “Okay, let’s add that to your birthday list,” she said, “But I want it now.” Actually it was more like, “But I want it nooooooowwwwwwwwwww.”

It was like walking the mall with Veruca Salt.

Just the other day she was disheartened to learn that she is not technically six and a half yet. She was absolutely convinced that she was 6.5 and the fact that she is almost there did nothing to relieve her stress. She understands that her birthday is still far off so she wasn’t buying the whole, “put it on your birthday list,” routine I gave her.

When we walked into Build-A-Bear it’s as if the heavens opened up for her. She looked around and promptly decided that she just had to have Risa.

And then she was going to buy Viv and Teegan, the other rocker girls. And then something from the LEGO store. And then…it went on and on.

I told her that she was welcome to save her money and spend it however she liked.

She went home and promptly counted out (with help) the $3.23 she had in her piggy bank.

Risa costs $30 so I told her she had to keep saving.

“So what can I do for money?”

I offered up unloading the dishwasher and folding the towels (bath towels, kitchen towels, washcloths). She quickly accepted and earned $1.00. I pay 50 cents a job.

She’s been working on this dream of hers for close to two weeks and she’s saved $14.73 – we run the dishwasher here a lot as well as go through tons of towels.

After 3 days of her asking me if she had saved enough yet I knew we needed a chart to help her track her savings.

This is what I came up with.

And here is her chart which is posted on the side of our refrigerator:

“I am working hard and saving my money for a bunny stuffed animal. It costs 30 dollars.”

Caroline keeps her money in a coin purse with a ziploc. Any change that doesn’t equal up to a 100 (a dollar) is kept in the ziploc until she can make a full dollar. Every time she counts up to 100 she gets to transfer that money to the change purse and mark off a dollar bill on her chart.

This has provided for lots of practice with coin names, counting by 10’s and 5’s, how many more until & how many already questions, and understanding equalities (2 nickels = 1 dime).

I’d say she is a good two weeks away from reaching her goal of $30. There are some days she is more motivated than others and that’s just fine with me…although I am enjoying not unloading the dishwasher quite a bit.

What Happened to Your…?

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Jennifer

You know the rule about never asking a woman if she’s pregnant?

Even if she’s so round in the belly she looks as if she’s having triplets?

You. Just. Don’t. Say. Anything.

Well, I was asked something along those lines today.

After I swam for an hour with my team, I was drying off with a towel and just throwing a dress on over my suit to go home in. I put my shoes on and turned around to grab my bag all the while talking to another swimmer who was also drying off.

When I turned to grab my bag he yelled out, “Oh my God! What happened to your calf?”

I looked up to see him looking at my calf wide eyed and with his mouth gaping open.

I glanced down and saw all of my varicose and spider veins swirling around my right calf. Looking back at him I said, “Having kids, that’s what happened to my calf.”

Well, he was pretty mortified.

As he should be.

“I’m so sorry, I just didn’t know. It looks like you had a big accident.”

“It’s fine.”

I walked away. I got my kids from the waiting area where they had patiently eaten lunch and read books for the hour that I swam and we drove home.

Only to tell you the truth, before I got home I did shed some tears. Not big sloppy boohoo tears but those silent behind the sunglasses kind.

Yes, I look at my calf and think what a nightmare but there’s always that little part of you that thinks maybe people will not really notice as much as you think they do.

And then they notice and it just feels bad.

I sulked a little but I’ve figured out what I’m going to say the next time this happens.

“Oh my God! What happened to your calf?”

“Oh this, yeah it’s bad. But what happened to your head? It’s so shiny! Although on the positive side I guess you save a lot of time in the morning getting ready.”

Mom Rant

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Jennifer

I’m going to rant for a moment.

It won’t be becoming of me or show the nice side of myself but it will be truthful.

Parents can sometimes suck.

I’m not excluding myself from this group, sometimes I suck.

But not in this area.

Party attendance.

My mom raised us with the idea that when you are invited to a party you attend.

It doesn’t matter if they are not your best friend or your parents really don’t want to sit at Chuck E Cheese for 2 hours. If you can attend the party, you do.

Someone took the time to invite you. You never really know how many other kids have been invited or who else will show up. But you know that you will go if you can.

Several times my kids have been the only “school” friend to show up to someones party. That’s terrible when you know the entire class has been given an invitation.

I understand people have soccer games, parents work, family is in town, or any other reason that has ever been given for not attending a party.

I’m sure the thought process is…well we don’t really know this kid so we’re not going to go but I’m sure other kids will go…I’m here to tell you that a lot of time, no, the other kids are not going to the party. Therefore, no one from school is at the party.

We just had our annual Halloween party this weekend and to be honest, I was disappointed. My daughter said, “Mom, why didn’t my friends from school come?”

Out of the 13 classmates my daughter has in her class, only one child came to the party. ONE. And that was the only person who RSVP’d. That’s wrong people. At least respond that you aren’t coming.

Thankfully, we have really wonderful family friends who brought their children to the party so my daughter had friends there. But she still wondered aloud several times after the party on where her school friends were and honestly, it broke my heart for her.

She was so excited to bring the invitations to school and was eagerly anticipating sharing the pinata we made, the marshmallow toss game, and sweet treats with her friends.

I don’t know preschool parents.

I’m disappointed in you.

You could have done better.

But I will continue to teach my kids what I think is right.

So the next time my daughter receives a party invitation from school, we are going.

Because it’s the right thing to do.

At least in our house.

Super Mom?

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Jennifer

The other day my 5 year old and I were lying on the bed reading our own books after shower time.

I was reading a wonderful book and Caroline was looking at a Wonder Woman book she had chosen from the library.

I was enjoying our calm moment together when suddenly Caroline said with a sigh, “I guess I’ll never know who my real parents are.”

And then she continued reading as if she had just stated she wanted a glass of water.

I paused for a moment debating my options. After all, I do have a 6 inch scar proving that this kid came from my body. I decided to run with it.

“Who are your real parents?”

“They’re super heroes.”

“What super power do they have?”

“They can fly.”

“I wish Daddy and I had super powers like that.”

“Me too.”

“I love you Caroline.”

“I love you too Mommy.”

Move Over Mia Hamm

Posted on September 16, 2014 by Jennifer

So this happened last weekend…

Caroline played in her first soccer game.

After watching her brothers play in roughly 692,000 games over the last five years, she is so excited to be on a team and play in her own games.

To mark the occasion, Caroline and I went to buy a new pink mesh bag which holds her new pink soccer ball. We also dusted off her brother’s old cleats and shin guards which she couldn’t be more happy to get to wear – except for the fact that she hates the feeling of the shin guards so she puts her socks on first and then puts the shin guards on top of the socks.

Now with Caroline, who we like to call “spirited,” there was no telling what the first game would bring – happiness? tears? refusal to play?

Well, I’m happy to report she was so happy (anyone else feel like this post should be sponsored by Pharrell Williams?)! She ran and ran around the field. At times, she was no where near the ball, just playing her own imaginary game, serpentining all around the field.

While the rest of us were sweating in the 101 degree heat, she was running around with such joy.

Apparently she runs better when sticking out her tongue because she did that the entire game – from here on out I’m calling her the Michael Jordan of soccer.

Of course when she wasn’t sticking her tongue out while running she was squeezing her lips while she watched everyone else go for the ball. Everyone else is cheering ,”Run,” while my husband and I are cheering, “Get your hands out of your mouth.”

And then the ball came her way!

And she ran with it!

Kicking it down the field!

And she scored!

The smile that came from her was amazing.

(I would have loved to show you that smile but my 9 year old had the camera at the time and stopped taking pictures right before she scored. I think he was as excited as the rest of us for Caroline and was cheering).

Goal or no goal, game 692,001 was a success!

Move over Mia, here comes Caroline!

Big D & Me

Life with a Canook, a Belle, and a Pile of Kids

Category Archives: parenting