Just to make you smile

Stay at home mom time cards

Have you ever wished that you kept a time card like people that go to work do? After a day like today where I have had a child with me at all times since 7AM and it is now 9PM and I am finally off duty (unless someone wakes up). It makes me wish that I could tell people that I just worked 14 hours straight, no breaks, no lunch break, no bathroom breaks (if you don't count it a break when someone is there talking to you and asking questions the whole time).I want to have the sympathy that is given to someone who has worked that long day and is tired. I want to know that it has been acknowledged that I really put in some long hours, some hard work, above and beyond. But the truth is that I will go to bed, wake up in the morning and do it all over again. I love it, don't get me wrong. I would not want to be doing anything else. It is the most satisfying thing that I could spend my days doing. The thing that bugs me is that when I am at a work party with my husband and someone asks what I do. I kind of cringe. I never know how to answer that question. So I end up saying something like, " Oh, I stay home with the kids" and the other person always says something about how that is a very important job and then moves on. I wish that I had a better title for what I do, something like, child development coordinator, house manager, chef, nurse, teacher, child behavior trainer, and referee, then they might understand what it is that I really spend my days doing.

What we did over the weekend

We went to the lake with my family. There is this little lake called Lake Valley that we like to go to at least once a summer. It has a little island in the middle of it and my dad shuttles us out there with all our gear for the day. The water was great, there were a couple of kayaks and some good food. It was a very fun day. The girls with the glasses on is my sister, she is doing much better as you can see. The other girl is my cousin, and the one holding my sweet baby is my dad.

The Dentist

This seems to be a theme lately around here. I went to the dentist today for a cleaning. I used to really dread going for a cleaning. It would hurt, feel like it was taking forever, and the sounds are just awful. Not any more. We have the greatest dentist ever. I went in this morning. I was asked what movie I would like to watch while I was getting my teeth cleaned. I picked My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Then I was offered a hot wax hand treatment so I thought, why not, so I sat in the chair with headphones on, watching a movie, my hands in warm gloves, and almost forgot that I was getting my teeth cleaned. It felt like I was at spa that I had to keep my mouth open at. I have got to say that we have scored with the dentist. Why can't every doctor, dentist, type appointment be like that?

Where I share my favorite summer drink ever...

Take a large pitcher

Slice one orange into round slices and put in the pitcher

Take one vanilla bean (these are usually with the spices) and cut one in half. Then slice it open. Put that into the pitcher.

Fill with water.

Put in the fridge until cold

Then drink and enjoy.

Manners

My daughter said this to my husband last night, " I want to go to a class that teaches how to say please and thank you and not cry and be nice, Do they have classes like that?"

Maybe she is feeling bad for the way she has been acting lately. She says the funniest things these days.

Wisdom Teeth

My husband had his wisdom teeth pulled today. He is very entertaining because he is so out of it. My favorite quote so far said to the dentist, " What three wisdom teeth did you pull?

I just went up to check on him and he asked me if it was time to go.

I am telling you, my husband is very entertaining when he is on medications.

Good Blog Reading

I finally put up some links to the blogs that I read. There are some really good ones there and I encourage you to go check them out. Some are some old friends from forever ago, some are newer friends, some I only know through their blog, and one is my husband. So, go check them out and leave a comment because everyone loves a comment.

Happy Fourth of July

This has always been one of my favorite holidays. As a kid we did the same thing every year and I looked forward to it so much. We would go to this parade in a very small town where my parents had lived. The parade is so small that it goes around the loop, twice. It is one of those true small town experiences. Then we would go to my grandpa's house and have a BBQ with family and friends. In the evening we would make hot chocolate and bring snacks and drive up to Donner and watch the fireworks over the Donner Lake. It was a long, wonderful, fun day. For about three or four years in a row I would get sick on the Fourth of July. It was horrible. I wanted to do everything but I was sick and so sad. I even watched the fireworks laying down in the back of the car one year. I was not going to miss it even if I was sick. Thankfully that time has passed but I still love the Fourth.

Today we have plans to go to a little local parade near our new house, then home for naps (to get ready for the late night) and then watch the fireworks near the river with some friends. I am going to bring snacks and a blanket and enjoy the fireworks with my family.

Hope you all have a wonderful fourth of july and make many fond memories with your families.

Summer Vacation

We have had a weird summer so far. I started it with the thought that this is our last few months with all of us at home all together everyday since my oldest will be going to school in September. So, I had grand plans. We were going to make the most of each day. Swim, vacation, play in our back yard, and hang with friends.

So far we have moved, ( which has been the hardest move so far and I think it might have something to do with having three kids) we have dealt with the many changing attitudes of a three year old on a daily bases, and I have spent a good amount of time at the hospital with my sister.

We are now on our first official family vacation with all three kids. We were supposed to go to Tahoe for a week of relaxation. Then there was the horrible fire and we decided to make other plans because we did not know how bad it would be up there. We decided to go to this theme park in Gilroy called the Gilroy Gardens and then head down to Monterey and do the beach and aquarium. The theme park was a blast. It was perfect for our kids ages and they just had a blast. They could go on almost every ride there and there were water parks through out the place and trees everywhere. It really was a great place, especially with kids. Today has been a challenge. Breakfast was a nightmare with the three year old, then the beach was a nightmare so we headed back to the hotel to give her a nap in hopes that would help things. She woke up from her nap screaming and now my husband just dragged her out the door to go swimming (he is so mean to MAKE her go swimming). I am hoping that the water will snap her out of this attitude so that the rest of our vacation can be enjoyable. Have you noticed that I have not said anything about our boy or the baby? That is because they have been great and a total dream.

I do this a lot where I get my hopes up about something and imagine it a certain way and then it just is not that way at all. That happens to me pretty much every time we go on vacation. Sometimes I think maybe we should just stay home but then I think of all the fun times we have and in the end they out weigh the bad.

I am always a little relieved when the age of three passes for us. It has been a challenge with the first two. It is also one of the funnest stages.

Just last night as my husband was putting my daughter and son to bed he told them that they could not be talking to each other and not going to sleep. My daughter in response said, " OOOOK but we really like to talk. You got to just kiss that kid.

This is why we do this...

My Top Ten Things About My Husband

1. He tells me I am pretty everyday

2. He plays pretend with the kids and they love it

3. He gives the best foot massages

4. He will watch "girl" movies and actually like them

5. He brings me coffee in bed almost every morning

6. He has a good sense of humor

7. He is not easily stressed

8. We share interest, swimming, reading, bike riding

9. He can be very entertaining when sleep walking

10. He loves his wife and kids so very much


Happy Birthday

Always good for a laugh

When we took the kids to see my sister in the hospital she was so happy to see them. They brought her cards that they had made and they even layed in the bed with her.

When we left and got into the car I said to them that it made her so happy to see them and that it was really nice of them to go and visit her.

My daughters response was, " why didn't she say yipee?

That girl makes us all laugh everyday.


As an update..

It was a car accident that my sister got in and she is doing better. They think she will go home soon but she has a long recovery ahead of her so any prayers for her would be very appreciated. She seems to be in pretty good spirits but she is still in a good amount of pain and it will be awhile before she can even walk. So, I will be taking the kids to see her as often as possible because how can you not smile with those two comedians around.

Monday morning

This has been a long week and it is only Wednesday.


Monday morning I woke up to my cell phone ringing. I answered it and then things felt like they were going in slow motion. It was my sister, she was very upset, not making a lot of sense, there had been a terrible accident, she was in the hospital, she was hurt, confused, and shaken up. I was shaking, called my parents and broke the news to them. They went to the hospital, I had to wait for the social worker to make her monthly visit. Finally she was done and I got in the car and went to the hospital.

ICU

My sister laying there. Looking so small, so hurt.

Fractured pelvic bone
Lacerated liver
Broken nose and forehead
Stitches above her eye
Puncture wound on her upper thigh

I almost lost my sister on Monday but she is going to be alright.

She has a very long recovery road ahead of her but they say she will heal

She is in a lot of pain, there is still a possibility of surgery but not very likely

They might move her out of the ICU today.

It has been a rough week. It is going to be long couple of weeks still.

God spared her life and we are all very thankful.

I have been Memed also...

My good friend Kristin passed along a meme.
It is eight things about me that you probably do not know...

1. I have lived in 10 places (houses, apartments) in the last 7 1/2 years

2. I have never broken a bone or needed stitches

3. I have one sister who is almost 6 years younger than me

4. I have friends that I have known since fourth grade

5. I cannot fall asleep at night without reading first

6. I like coffee and salads a lot more if someone else makes them

7. I want to take cooking lessons someday

8. I really, really love to swim

Boxes, Boxes, So Many Boxes....

We are officially moved. Things have been crazy for the last week but we are in our new house and that is good. We are all loving it so much. We have room to breath and a yard to run around in. The kids have been running through the sprinkler and going in the little pool. We have been using the BBQ and enjoying all the nice things about having a back yard.

I will try to post pictures sometime but right now I am just trying to keep my head above water. I am swimming in boxes, trying to keep kids busy, and doing all the little things that have to be done when you move (change address, get garbage cans, get the Internet hooked up) all of that fun stuff.

A week or so more and we should be back to normal, I hope.

Enchantment

Last night at an outdoor theater we watched A Mid summers Night Dream while sitting on a blanket and eating a picnic with my mom and sister.

At the end of the play my daughter looks at me and says, " I have never hugged a fairy in my whole life"

I almost died from the cuteness.

We then went and found a fairy for her to hug which the fairy was very sweet and accommodating. Then she said, " can I hug a princess too?" She thought the girls in the play were princesses and so we found a princess. My daughter was beaming from ear to ear.

In the car we were talking about it and I said, "you are so lucky that you got to hug a fairy and a princess.

My daughter responded by saying," yeah, and I got to hug Donia (my sister) and Nana (my mom).

It was just so sweet.

Book List

I have been so behind but I posted a couple more books over at my book list blog. The summer is a great time to read lots and lots of books.

Summer is here

Here I was getting excited that we were going to have a summer break. No need to do anything in particular and free to do whatever we wanted.

What I found was that little kids do not do so well without some structure. They need to know what they are doing and what to expect. So we have a new schedual. It is different from the school year but still we have a schedual.

I am wondering what other moms do during the summer break? Anybody have any great ideas that have worked for you or web sites that have great ideas?

Today's challenges and one blessing

Today started out with me not having enough sleep from the baby waking up last night. Then my husband left for work and life got really fun.

I went upstairs to see what my daughter was doing in her room and found that she had peed all over her floor, some toys, and her shelf. It looks like she was climbing her shelf like she always does to get her clothes and then peed while she was standing on the shelf. When asked what happened she told me that she did not know that she needed to go to the bathroom. That was fun to clean up.

Our house is packed up for the move to the point that it is annoying to live here. All the things you need are packed and the house is a mess. There is not a lot of motivation to clean but then I cannot stand it so dirty and it is driving me crazy. We found out that we have no idea now when we will be moving. The owner is not answering any of his real estate agents calls and there has been a little hold up in the paperwork and basically we need his signature to go ahead and move in but we cannot get that if nobody can get ahold of him. Not the highlight of my day.

I am pmsing so everything just seems that much harder and I am on the brink of losing my mind. I do not like this part of moving. I do not mind the packing and un-packing so much, it is the waiting that is hard for me. And the kids are kind of going crazy with the unknowns and excitement all at the same time.

I let the kids watch two movies today which I am not proud of but it was all I could stand to do right now. Leaving the house sounded like a lot of work, but so much of our stuff is packed that it is hard to be home and do anything else.

I discovered that a jelly jar was sitting on its side in the back of the fridge and had leaked onto a couple of shelves. Now I need to take everything out and clean it really good because every time I pull something out it is all sticky and I can't leave it like that. I feel like my whole house is covered in pee and sticky stuff right now. I bet that makes you want to come over to my house.

The blessing though on this frustrating day. My baby took a four hour nap. In her crib. This has never happened before and I do not expect it to happen again anytime soon but it was a nice little surprise on a very hard day.

Food Adventures

I try to teach my kids to have an open mind about eating. Tonight I told them that we should try a new restaurant that we had not been to before. It is a Greek restaurant so I was not really sure what to expect. I told them to keep their minds open and just give it a try. They might discover that they like it.

So, we go in and I order for the family. We sit down to hummus with pita bread, grilled vegis, and two gyros. My husband and I take a bite. And then a couple more. I start to wonder about the meat but do not want to say anything in front to the kids. Then I am starting to get really grossed out as I discover that it is LAMB! I do not like lamb, I do not eat lamb. How did I miss the fact that it was going to be lamb in my food.

I descretly slide my food away, my husband doing the same thing. Then we leave. I talk to the kids about how it is good to try new foods because how else will you know that you like it or not. We all decide that we are not to fond of this restaurant and will not be going back there.

I went into the whole adventure thinking that it would be good for the kids but it was me who was really in for an adventure.

Then we headed straight to Big Spoon ( our local frozen yogurt shop) so that I could get that horrible taste and thought out of my mind.

Peanut butter frozen yogurt with granola on top did the trick.

Lesson learned.. I might think my kids are picky but I have my things that I do not like to eat also.