Secret Agent Jackson

This is what I laughed at today... Jackson was pretending to be a secret agent whith his cool glasses, high tech toilet paper roll guns (that he stuck in his shirt), and his super speedy scooter.

Wake up Call

Lucy woke up at 4:30 am. She usually sleeps through the night so I went to see what was wrong. As soon as I walked into her room she said, "doos!" (interpretation= shoes) The silly girl wanted her shoes on!
At 4:32 am when I crawled back into bed I couldn't help but laugh. What baby wakes in the middle of the night only to ask for shoes?

More TV?

Today was kind of stressfull. I had three doctors appointments and was gone ALL day. The first two appointments were really good and informational and the kids were with my mom. But the last one was for the boys because they have been sick and are not getting better. After about an hour and a half of being at the doctor with all three of my kiddos I spent another hour and a half driving around, dropping off and picking up prescriptions (all 5 of them), going to Target to let my kids spend their Christmas money while we wait for our prescriptions, going to pick up the medicine and finding out there was an issue with our insurance, and finally driving home. Once we got home my kids were done. Lucy was crying and the boys were lying on the couch almost lethargic. I had to spoon feed them because they need food with their medicine. Finally, the medicine, rest and food kicked in and they started acting normal again. So I asked "do you want more to eat?" Harrison promptly replied, "I want more TV!"

I said "who wants more to EAT?" not "who wants more TV?"

But I guess he's feeling better...

Found Horse

At the intersection by my house there is a sign on a pole that says "Found Horse" and then a phone number. Why this makes me laugh everytime I see it I'm not sure. Maybe it's because most residential areas don't have a lot of horses. Or maybe it's because I get a lot of animals in my back yard (I don't have a fence) and I picture waking up one morning, opening my blinds, and seeing a horse grazing on my grass.

Sometimes I just need to LAUGH!

I'm not the type of person who laughs a lot or who regularly laughs out loud. Lately I have been taking life too seriously. With life being as crazy as it is I almost deleted this blog, but then I realized I need an outlet and I need to laugh. So my goal for this year is to regularly post things that make me laugh. So here it goes...

Bees, Bee Pollen, and Being Sick...

I've heard a lot about the benefits of bee pollen, how it helps with allergies and boosts your immune system, etc. I decided to buy some and see if it will help my family. I was literally standing in the parking lot of Sprouts unloading Jackson and Lucy from the car so I could purchase my bee pollen to improve my families health when the school nurse called to tell me Harrison was sick and I needed to pick him up. Talk about irony. So I hurry into Sprouts, buy my bee pollen pill then rush to the school to pick up my sick child. While driving and thinking about the irony of my situation I got an image in my mind of my husband with a bee stuck to his lip. You may laugh now because I did to... So a few years ago Damon and I went to the lake with some of his brothers and sisters. We were having a good time water skiing and wake boarding when Damon takes a drink from his soda and proceeds to freak out. A bee had flown into his pop can and when he took a drink the bee did what bees do and stung him, right on the lip. Not only was he stung but the bee was stuck to his lip! We did get the bee off and the swelling wasn't too bad. But the image of Damon with a bee hanging from his lip was enough to make me laugh out loud, multiple times through out my day.

Sing a Song

I know I am the only person in the world who feels like screaming (and often time does) at my children to get them to listen. I have discovered something that helps, if I can keep my cool long enough to remember it... I sing.
When I just want to scream out "HARRISON!!!" I turn it into an opera song. It's amazing how they respond to my silly songs and it's a great release for me.
I discovered this while teaching preschool (no worries, I only scream at MY children during preschool. ha ha). I sing "Here We are Together" while transitioning from one activity to another. If they are having a hard time following directions I will add some directions into the song. For example, "Here we are together, together, together. Oh here we are together in our preschool class. Please sit down on your bottoms and keep your hands to yourselves. Oh here we are together in our preschool class."
Most of the time I will make up my own random tune and sometimes I will use songs they are familiar with like Dora or Backyardigans. I don't know why but these silly songs sometimes save me from a lot of anger and it makes my kids listen.

So next time you want to scream, just sing!

Harrison's "Orange Pie"

Harrison loves to cook. He created this recipe by himself and it was surprisingly really good. It's a fun easy recipe that kids can do by themselves.

ingredients:
1 cutie orange
fruit flavored yogurt (Harrison used blueberry)
cool whip
chocolate chips

directions:
Peel and seperate cutie orange and arrange in bottom of mini pie tin or small bowl. Cover with yogurt. Spread cool whip ontop of yogurt. Decorate with chocolate chips. Chill in fridge for about 5-10 minutes. Enjoy!

Parenting Boys and Girls

Here is an article about the difference between raising boys and girls. I thought it was interesting and wanted to pass it on. Just click on the Title to take you to the article
(thanks for sending it to me Leslie)

Me Time

I have been feeling guilty about wanting a break from my kids. I often want to tell them to just leave me alone! Then I realized that the only break I do get from my kids is when they are with a sitter or asleep. Harrison and Jackson don't go to school, don't take naps, and are often awake as early as 6 am. No wonder I want a break, and I found the perfect guilt free me time...
As soon as I put my kids to bed I get my pajamas on, wash my face, brush my teeth and take my time doing it. It's perfect, nobody interupts me because the kids are in bed and Damon is usually "vegging". So I take a minute to slow down and enjoy being alone. When I'm done I do the dishes, pick up the house, and fold a little bit of laundry without feeling angry!

Want cleaner floors?

I hate walking barefoot on dirty floors. So I came up with a great solution.... wear shoes!

I don't know if it's where I live or my house isn't sealed very well or maybe it's the 3 kids, 2 dogs and cat that roam my house but even after I mop my floors always feel gritty. So I wear shoes, problem almost solved.

dinner to the rescue

Evenings and dinner time have been so difficult lately. In the past couple weeks I have sent Jackson to bed early several times. I am so tired of the mid afternoon meltdowns. So I tried something new yesterday, and it worked! Around 3 pm I let my kids have a small snack then I started making dinner around 4:30 when they started asking for another snack. By the time Damon got home at 6 pm they had eaten dinner, desert, were in their jammies and had their teeth brushed. The result; less tantrums, more time for me to pick up the house, Damon and I got to eat together while the boys sat and did paint with water, and both the boys and I were happier when Daddy got home which made Daddy want to spend time with us!

Knights in Shining Armor

I love cardboard boxes. Their versatility astounds me...

I used a little cardboard, some aluminum foil, tape and hot glue and suddenly my boys are knights in shining armor!