Category Archives: parenting

Top 5 Reasons I’m a Bad Mom

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Here are the top 5 reasons I’m a bad mom according to my 7 year old…

5. My Mom hasn’t run out and bought the part necessary to fix the XBOX machine.

4. My Mom won’t let me eat dessert everyday, several times a day.

3. My Mom makes me wear pants if we have to go to a nice function.

2. My Mom won’t let me watch a Harry Potter movie every weekend.

And the #1 reason according to my 7 year old as to why I am a bad mother…

1. My Mom won’t let me order chicken fingers & fries at a Mexican restaurant!

 

(when he noticed the girl behind us received chicken fingers to eat he was not impressed me – but let the record show he loved the flautas)

Gymnastics through the Years

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Caroline has just started a little 6 week community gymnastics class which she loves.

(Caroline at three and a half)

 Funny thing is, it’s not my first time in this room or this class.

Here’s Andrew in 2008 in the class at two and a half.

And here’s Alex in 2005 taking the exact same class when he was almost three.

Bela Karolyi better watch out…

I’m pretty sure I could teach this class now.

My New Favorite Baby Gift

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My new favorite baby gift to give is the One Line a Day Memory Book.

The concept is so simple and in the same lines with journaling & scrapbooking but IT’s DOABLE for everyone.

The idea behind the book is that you have 6 lines for each day of the year. The brillant part of the book is that it lists 5 years on one page. So you get to see what your little one or yourself was doing on January 1st for 5 years. Just think of all the changes you will see this way.

I bought each of my children their own book two months ago and both my husband and I have been faithful to make sure there is something written for each day.

Sometimes we write how their school day went, which friend they talked a lot about, games that they played at home, what they ate or refused for dinner, favorite books, funny stories they told us – really anything is open for an entry.

Here are a few of the examples I have for each of my kiddos:

Alex (10 yrs) – You played “French Resistance Army” with Andrew and Caroline. You each had on a toque and gloves. You all built a trench (made of toy boxes, chairs, and play kitchen furniture) coming out from the tent – loving the Tour de France right now.

Andrew (7 yrs) – Ran errands with Dad & Alex – went to Alex H’s for birthday party and sleepover- at lunch, you said, “Look at me, I can eat like a yak.” And you did.

Caroline (3 yrs) – We play Candy Land almost every day. No matter where you are on the board you always say, “I’m almost winning and you’re almost losing.”

I have enjoyed writing in this book so much that I bought one for my sister for a baby shower present.

To jazz up the gift a little, I decorated a little bag for the book to go in.

I used a blue bag that a pair of sheets had come in and some pink fabric.

I cut the side of the bag since I need to be able to put the bag on my sewing machine.

Cut out a letter “C” (initial of her last name) out of the pink fabric.

I sewed the “C” onto the bag and added a little decorative trim.

Hopefully my sister will enjoy this book as much as I have – Although I have a feeling she might be recording sleep durations and blow outs in the beginning 🙂

Lucky

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I’m not going to lie.

I’m feeling a little lazy right now and just want to go sit on the couch and watch trash tv.

So while I don’t have anything earth shattering here today – unlike every other day 🙂 I do want to express how lucky I am for the kiddos I have.

This is how I found them last Sunday morning.

And while the pictures are blurry, this much is clear.

My kids love each other and love hanging out with each other.

Yes, there are the usual arguments and squabbles but for the most part they hang with one another even in their free time.

I’m not quite sure how my husband and I got so lucky but every time I see this I am so so thankful for it.

Princess Potty & More Potty Training Books

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A few weeks ago I told you of Caroline’s completion of potty training (yeah!) so today I thought I’d share with you some of the books we read during this process.

Princess Potty by Samantha Berger (there’s a Pirate Potty too)

With the following lines from the book, how could you not like it?

Hear yea, hear yea,

Princess Potty has made the finest pee pee

The book comes with a crown and a set of jewels. For every success, the child puts a jewel on their crown.

Potty Animals: What to Know When You’ve Gotta Go! by Hope Vestegaard

This book is actually wonderful because it uses rhyme to talk about bathroom etiquette – washing your hands, closing the door, not waiting too long, etc.

 Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi

 I didn’t know about these books at the time but I bet she would have loved these as well.

Super Pooper! by Monika Sloan

The New Potty by Gina & Mercer Mayer

and how can you forget the old classic

Once Upon a Potty by Alona Frankel

I’m thinking of writing a potty training book titled…Your Poop in the Little Potty Makes Mommy Gag!

Any favorite potty training books I’m forgetting?

Preschool Pick Up

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So many people have asked how Caroline’s first day of fall preschool went and wonder how it compared to the Meet the Teacher day.

Let me say this…

She did not win the Miss Congeniality Award.

Drop off went smoothly with not even a backwards look at me.

I peeked into the room after putting her things in her cubby to find her sitting at the table working with one of the teachers.

Super.

I went on with my day, even managing to go to the noon swim practice.

At 1:55 I showed up at her classroom door to see her playing with some My Little Ponies.

The teacher said, “Caroline, your mom is here.”

Caroline glanced up and saw me.

She stood up, screwed up her face in a mean face, stiffened her arms by her side, and didn’t move.

I smiled at her and said, “Caroline, it’s time to go.”

Thankfully, she walked over to me, still  holding the pony in her hand.

“It’s time to go so we need to leave the pony at school. You can come back tomorrow and play with it.”

Here is when she started to cry mumbling something about taking the pony home.

I reiterated that the pony needed to stay at school but she would be able to play with it again tomorrow.

One of the teachers leaned her head out of the door and said, “She can take it home with her.”

?????

WTF? Are you kidding me lady? We do NOT need to start the precedent of taking home toys everyday from school and let me tell you, one time in Caroline’s mind would mean being able to bring them home everyday.Plus, I have a dog who would likely eat every toy thus making preschool cost $8,000 when factoring in toy replacement fees.

I looked up at her, smiled, and said, “No, we need to leave the toys at school.”

“Caroline, it’s time to go home, I want you to leave the pony.”

“Noooooo.”

“I’m taking the pony out of your hand now, you can play with it tomorrow at school.”

I took the pony.

“I WASN’T FINISHED WITH THAT!      I STILL WANT THAT!” she screamed and I mean SCREAMED.

And with that, I grabbed her stuff and walked out the door while she continued to scream, “I WANT TO STAY. I DON’T WANT TO GO HOME.”

If pick up goes the same today, I am fully expecting a surprise visit from Child Protective Services at my door.

Remember when last year’s teacher described her as, “a pistol? ”

I can only imagine the adjectives being thrown around the break room now.

Step

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We ventured out to a new pool in the area this week.

This pool had a wonderful kids area for Caroline so I was able to sit and relax in the water while watching her play on the water slide.

There were a few other moms watching their children go down the slide too.

We’d casually reply to one another, “great day,” “they’re certainly having fun,” and, “definitely ready for school to start.”

After Caroline had gone down the slide a few times she ran over to me and said, “You’re my stepmom.”

And with that she gave me a big hug and was off.

Now, I have an 8 inch c-section scar to dispute this statement but I think I was too stunned to argue at first.

Still processing what she told me, I glanced around at the other moms trying to determine if they had heard.

Caroline went down the slide and came running over to me again, “You’re my stepmom. I love you.”

What is this girl thinking?

When she came over a third time I said, “I am not your stepmom , I am your mommy.”

She ignored me and said, “You’re my stepmom.”

Desperately searching my brain for what she could be thinking I finally realized that it must be Disney’s fault. While reading Cinderella the other night with Caroline, I realized I was reading the word “stepmom” quite often.

Cinderella’s mean stepmom…Cinderella’s stepmom broke Cinderella’s dress..Cinderella’s stepmom locked her in her room.

What does it mean that Caroline is comparing me to the evil stepmom?

I’ll tell you what it means.

Caroline is going to be doing a lot more cooking and cleaning around here. The heck with all this playing and coloring.

She’s going to hope her fairy godmother visits her and helps her escape the evil clutches of this pool taking, ice cream giving, book reading, stepmom.

Finding the Funny

A Car Organizing Failure

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The problem with being crafty is that you think, “I can make that,” no matter what item you may be looking at.

A Halloween wreath? I can make that.

A wall clock? I can make that.

A rebuilt car engine? I can make that.

The problem is, at least with me, I cannot make half the things I think I can.

 Way back in February I had a goal of organizing my car.

The main issue seems to be toys, books, and snack containers everywhere.

(This is what was recently cleaned out of the car. It fills an entire IKEA bag and that’s huge)

Because my kids seem to be in intense training to be on the show “Hoarders,” our car is constantly a mess.

Apparently it is just not possible to get into the car without having 2 stuffed animals, 3 books, and 6 random objects.

And what goes in our car, never comes out.

 So I thought, I’ll make a car organizer with material I already have.

Here’s the sad and final product.

Don’t you just love how it sags, how the velcro won’t stay closed, and how it’s too flimsy to old anything over 8 ounces?

Yes, this was my car organizing failure.

But I have found another solution to help me with keeping my car clean…and no, it doesn’t involve threatening my kids with spankings…although let’s not rule out anything just yet.

Come back tomorrow so I can show you how I fixed this problem

Hint – It involves a giveaway for you!

Fruit as a Dessert?

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Fruit is not a dessert.

I repeat. Fruit is not a dessert.

I hate it when you are visiting someones house and they say, “For dessert, I got ice cream for the kids and some some water melon for the adults.”

First, the kids should get the fruit, they’re still growing. The only part of me growing is my rear and I’ll be the one to worry about that thank you.

Second, watermelon is NOT a dessert.

Chocolate. Toffee. Marshmellows. Cake. Frosting. Cookies.   Those are desserts!

But, in an effort to expand our horizons I decided to try a new dessert recipe which includes fruit.

Gasp! Horror!

I came across a recipe for a simple Blackberry Blueberry Pie and decided to give it a shot.

(unfortunately, I can’t find the original source so if you know it, tell me, and I’ll give proper credit)

Because of my hesitation for this kind of dessert, I decided to less the fruit in the recipe by one fourth.

After all, we don’t need to jump into crazy and implusive changes all at once!

The recipe is super simple and is mighty pretty when it’s all done.

The moment of truth came when it was time to taste this dessert.

I thought it was okay.

Fine. I’ll admit it was good.

Alright. Alright. It was GREAT! My husband and I loved it. I’ll have to admit that my vanilla ice cream ratio to blueberries was not equal BUT it was good and it is a fruit desert so that’s saying a lot from me.

The kids were less than thrilled with the dessert but considering two out of the three of them thought I was poisoning them and didn’t even try it, I’m still counting it as a win.

(and just for the record, those two pie haters love eating blueberries and blackberries right out of the container, but throw a little ice cream on there and it’s poison suddenly)

Since I have one more pie crust left I’m going to cut up some apples and follow the recipe using those while adding some cinnamon too.

While this dessert will never take the place of anything covered in chocolate in my mind, it was pretty tasty.

What about you? What’s your favorite dessert item to eat?