Saturday night was party night and much partying ensued. HOWEVER, before the partying I almost had to beat up another mom.
The party was in Clarkston and my folks live in Grand Blanc, so the plan was to meet my parents at Halo Burger, one of my favorite restaurants, to hand over the children. We went to the one with the giant play structure, also known as the one that is NOT personality plus. It started out great. We ran into my cousin Mike and his family. They are a delight. I got a delicious cheesburger and Cherry Coke. I managed to nab a dinosaur shaped chicken nugget (they like to call them drummies) from one of the kids. The kids love to play in the giant play structure and that allowed me plenty of time to chat with my cousins and my parents.
After the kids were in the play structure for a while, I heard a nice pretty mom say that one of the kids in the play structure was sick and throwing up. An ugly big nosed blond mom started screaming at the top of her lungs, "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWW! WHERE IS HER MOM? WHO'S KID IS SHE? EEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWW! THAT IS SO GROSS!" Then she started gagging. After the first mom who was nice and pretty mentioned that someone was sick, I looked and found that it was my lovely, beautiful, sweet, smart, two year old daughter that was sick up at the top level of the play structure. She was puking right through the cargo net section that you are supposed to climb through. It was pretty gross, but there was no need to gag. Without notifying the loud, ugly, obnoxious, blond mom, I climbed up into the play structure. Finally my short stature was good for something besides being adorable. I was able to wiggle up to the top. I tried to call my sweet little darling towards me, but she was too scared. I had to climb through the tube to get her. As I crawled through the structure it started to move really weird. I was very sure that I was breaking it and that we would both fall through. Luckily, I was able to get my little sweetheart and bring her back down.
After we got out of the play structure, the terrible mom was making snide remarks and what not. I made sure not to look at her...not because I was embarrassed, but because I was afraid I would leap at her and punch her in the face. I was fuming all the way to the party. Luckily, getting back together with great friends that I hadn't seen in a while was wonderful, and my rage subsided. Unluckily for my mom, my sweet little darling puked the whole time we were gone.
The first time I wanted to beat up another mom was the day I had to take my sweet darling out of the movie Brave because she was crying and a mom yelled at us that she was going to get security to escort us out. It was dark that day, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same evil woman.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Monday, February 17, 2014
Happy Valentines Day
I took Friday February 14th as a vacation day from work.
I know what you are thinking. TMI Catherine, we don't want to know about how you had so many romantic plans for Valentines day that you couldn't fit them into one evening so you had to take the whole day.
No no no, it was not about being romantic, it was to help out with my son's kindergarten party at school.
Every weekday I get up around 6am and I drag myself into the shower. I am always incredibly jealouse of my sleeping husband who manages to take up the whole bed and all the blankets as soon as I get up. He gets to sleep in about an hour later than I do and it makes me almost hate him. Friday I got to sleep in and it was my dream come true...at first. Originally, I planned to spend the whole day at my son's school. The teacher had planned a day long party that included counting to 100, pancakes, and wearing pajamas to school. They were scheduled to do some valentine crafts and the teacher was looking for moms to help out. Being the daughter of the perfect home room mother, I volunteered to help out all day and I volunteered to bring a few valentine crafts because I didn't want to get stuck with some impossible craft like the glitter fiasco of the Christmas class party.
The day before, we were notified that the teacher had been put on administrative leave. That afternoon the school secretary called me to discuss the party. She had heard that I was in charge of it. She explained to me that the kids couldn't have a day long party with the sub because there was a lot of curriculum they had to cover. IT WASN'T MY IDEA TO HAVE A DAY LONG PARTY!! I was just trying to help. Anyway, I agreed that it would be fine if they just had a little party in the afternoon and I could come in then. Oh, also I accidentally hung up on the school secretary the first 3 times she called me because there is something wrong with my phone. EMBARRASSING!
Because I no longer had to go into school right when it started, it made sense that I would take the girls to daycare and let my husband go to work a little bit early after dropping our son off at the bus stop. This is what made me realize that my husband is a saint and I will no longer envy his extra hour of sleep. Normally the hubby has to have the 5 year old ready for school, the 2 year old and the baby ready for daycare, and everyone into the car so they can be to the bus stop by 8:20. It was hard enough for me to help get the 5 year old out the door in time, but the girls were impossible. After breakfast the 2 year old was covered in chocolate (don't judge me about her having chocolate for breakfast) and the baby was crying because she was hungry. Once I was done cleaning the chocolate face and feeding the baby a bottle, the 2 year old wanted to sit on the potty. I never want to discourage her from using the potty, but I know she just wants to sit there so she can play her video game. While she was on the potty (she didn't actually GO), I realized I had peanut butter all over my shirt. Anyway, We didn't get out the door until almost 10:00. I don't know how my husband does it. He is magic.
Once I had the house to myself, I could think about the craft I was bringing to school. My mom is a craft master, but it always bothered me that when she would do crafts for kids, she would practically do the whole thing for them ahead of time. This would make me so mad because I was the kind of kid who wanted to tweak the project a little to make it my own. Anyway, now that I am a mother, I understand a little bit more why she used to do that. I had 3 projects in mind because I wasn't sure how much time there would be. Most of them involved cutting things out and putting stickers on them. There was the heart paper airplane, the heart made out of hands, and the heart with a cut out heart in the middle. I was a little nervous that these might be too simple and boring. I was so naive.
When I got to the school, I quickly realized that there would only be time for one project. I decided to go with the hand heart because that was the cleverest one. That was a bad choice. I had samples and I thought I explained it well. I should have known I had made a mistake when the substitute teacher pointed out that they were not all good at cutting. In my defense, 3 or 4 kids did figure out what I was trying to tell them and managed to make a heart out of their hands and put stickers on it. As a giant point against me, my own son sat down on the floor crying because he didn't know what he was supposed to do. Most of the kids managed to cut out something and put stickers on it even if it didn't resemble their hands or a heart. Thank goodness I didn't decide to go with my original idea of a guitar made out of hearts or anything that requires glue.
Overall, I would say that this party experience was better than the Christmas party experience. When we got home my son successfully completed all three of the projects I had prepared. I think he was just a little overwhelmed. Now, the only mystery left is to figure out why the teacher is on "Administrative Leave". I really like the long term "guest teacher", but my curiosity about the original teacher is very strong. Does "Administrative leave" mean waiting to be fired? What are some reasons that teachers would be put on such a leave?
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Let the hockey begin
I have been to a lot of college hockey games. My inlaws have season tickets, and there are a lot of games that happen during the week that are hard for them to get to. I enjoy watching hockey live. Even if you are not paying attention to the game, there is a beauty to watching the players skate around. They are very fluid and look like dancers. I like all the crazy things that the crowd chants. I like that the crowd dances during zamboni time. I like that they always let my son ride the zamboni. I like that they used to feature my son on their website.
Through attending these games, I have noticed that the percentage of red heads in the crowd, is much greater than the percentage of red heads in the general population. My hypothesis is that red heads love hockey. So far this has been supported by the fact that my read headed son and daughter also love going to the games. This might be the reason that we do hockey now.
My son declared that he is going to be a Michigan hockey player for his job when he grows up. I am not going to burst his bubble and tell him that they don't get paid. He told me that since this is going to be his job, he needed to start hockey lessons. I signed him up.
I am dumb. I signed him up for hockey lessons, not learn to skate lessons. Learn to skate lessons are cheaper and require less equipment. They also help you to be successful in hockey lessons. My husband noticed this and intended to take the boy to as many open skates as possible to get him ready for hockey. We were a little thwarted in this attempt by a foot of snow, record low temperatures, a case of the pukes, and a broken zamboni. He managed to practice a little, but he has not conquered the skill.
Today was the first hockey lesson. I was really worried it would turn into 3 year old soccer. When we tried 3 year old soccer, the boy ran out onto the field once, saw that some of the other kids knew what they were doing, then cried for the remainder of the season.
Things started out great. He went with daddy to get all his gear on and went right onto the ice. They gathered all of the kids to the center of the ice. It was so cute. Then they told the kids to skate to the other side of the rink. This separated the skaters from the non skaters. But I will brag that my boy was the best non skater. He could stand like a champ and could even move really slowly. One of the other non skaters fell to his knees and couldn't get up, so he started shuffling on his knees to the other side of the ice. He was moving faster than my boy, so my boy dropped to his knees as well to keep up. Through all this he was not discouraged. Once they figured out who could skate and who couldn't, the coaches worked with the kids on their skills.
The coach working with my boy was confused about what equipment was required and yelled to us that we needed to get him some knee pads immediately and brought the boy off the ice. We got the knee pads, but it was too late. The boy thought he was in trouble and the tears started. They lasted for 45 minutes as he refused to go back on the ice. We tried everything, and about 10 minutes before the class was over, we lifted him up, dumped him on the ice, and shut the door behind him. This resulted in him sitting and crying on the ice instead. The lady in charge of the program had been working with us the whole time, and with one minute left of class, she got him to stand up and start shooting at the goal. He loved it. Even after the class was over, she kept him out there for about 15 minutes and now we have a boy who can't wait to go back next week. His skating got amazingly better in just the short time he was out there.
I have taken the children to many events, and at each of the events there is a different level of parent interaction. Sometimes no one talks to you, sometimes you run into someone friendly. But let me tell you, hockey has the FRIENDLIEST people ever. Multiple people offered me knee pads when the boy was taken off the ice. One man rushed after my husband to stop him from buying any at the expensive store. All the coaches came by to try to talk the boy back onto the ice. The lady in charge spent over an hour coaxing the boy back onto the ice and eventually got him to enjoy it. The nice mom with the cool purple highlight, sat by me and we traded stories about how our boys couldn't skate. Hers was trying to escape, but mine was causing so much of a commotion by the door, that he was blocked. When I told her how stubborn mine was, she said hers was too, and then said that even though it was frustrating, she was glad because it would help him later in life. That is what I always try to tell myself as well. These people were so friendly and inclusive. I am very impressed. Maybe I understand a little bit how people become hockey moms.
Are you some sort of sport or activity mom? Does it take over your whole life? Is there anything I need to be on the look out for?
 |
| Click on the picture if you can't see the boy. |
Through attending these games, I have noticed that the percentage of red heads in the crowd, is much greater than the percentage of red heads in the general population. My hypothesis is that red heads love hockey. So far this has been supported by the fact that my read headed son and daughter also love going to the games. This might be the reason that we do hockey now.
My son declared that he is going to be a Michigan hockey player for his job when he grows up. I am not going to burst his bubble and tell him that they don't get paid. He told me that since this is going to be his job, he needed to start hockey lessons. I signed him up.
I am dumb. I signed him up for hockey lessons, not learn to skate lessons. Learn to skate lessons are cheaper and require less equipment. They also help you to be successful in hockey lessons. My husband noticed this and intended to take the boy to as many open skates as possible to get him ready for hockey. We were a little thwarted in this attempt by a foot of snow, record low temperatures, a case of the pukes, and a broken zamboni. He managed to practice a little, but he has not conquered the skill.
Today was the first hockey lesson. I was really worried it would turn into 3 year old soccer. When we tried 3 year old soccer, the boy ran out onto the field once, saw that some of the other kids knew what they were doing, then cried for the remainder of the season.
Things started out great. He went with daddy to get all his gear on and went right onto the ice. They gathered all of the kids to the center of the ice. It was so cute. Then they told the kids to skate to the other side of the rink. This separated the skaters from the non skaters. But I will brag that my boy was the best non skater. He could stand like a champ and could even move really slowly. One of the other non skaters fell to his knees and couldn't get up, so he started shuffling on his knees to the other side of the ice. He was moving faster than my boy, so my boy dropped to his knees as well to keep up. Through all this he was not discouraged. Once they figured out who could skate and who couldn't, the coaches worked with the kids on their skills.
The coach working with my boy was confused about what equipment was required and yelled to us that we needed to get him some knee pads immediately and brought the boy off the ice. We got the knee pads, but it was too late. The boy thought he was in trouble and the tears started. They lasted for 45 minutes as he refused to go back on the ice. We tried everything, and about 10 minutes before the class was over, we lifted him up, dumped him on the ice, and shut the door behind him. This resulted in him sitting and crying on the ice instead. The lady in charge of the program had been working with us the whole time, and with one minute left of class, she got him to stand up and start shooting at the goal. He loved it. Even after the class was over, she kept him out there for about 15 minutes and now we have a boy who can't wait to go back next week. His skating got amazingly better in just the short time he was out there.
I have taken the children to many events, and at each of the events there is a different level of parent interaction. Sometimes no one talks to you, sometimes you run into someone friendly. But let me tell you, hockey has the FRIENDLIEST people ever. Multiple people offered me knee pads when the boy was taken off the ice. One man rushed after my husband to stop him from buying any at the expensive store. All the coaches came by to try to talk the boy back onto the ice. The lady in charge spent over an hour coaxing the boy back onto the ice and eventually got him to enjoy it. The nice mom with the cool purple highlight, sat by me and we traded stories about how our boys couldn't skate. Hers was trying to escape, but mine was causing so much of a commotion by the door, that he was blocked. When I told her how stubborn mine was, she said hers was too, and then said that even though it was frustrating, she was glad because it would help him later in life. That is what I always try to tell myself as well. These people were so friendly and inclusive. I am very impressed. Maybe I understand a little bit how people become hockey moms.
Are you some sort of sport or activity mom? Does it take over your whole life? Is there anything I need to be on the look out for?
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Kindergarten Holiday party
When I grew up, many of my friends also were like this. There were battles about who got to take over each class party. About a week ago, I experienced my first class party.
The teacher asked if I could come help out. This should have been a warning. If any one like my "home room mother" friends was in charge of this party, I wouldn't have heard about it from the teacher. There would have been an official newsletter sent home with information about what was needed, how many volunteers could come, and every other detail of the party. But, I am a newbie. I assumed that these "home room mothers" would be there and I would be their assistant. I should have noticed the warning the night before when my son just happened to mention that we were supposed to bring in cookies to decorate. When I asked him what kind, he said he thought he probably needed chocolate chip. Even I knew that you don't send in chocolate chip cookies to be decorated.
I showed up the day of the party when school started. I had a box of sugar cookies with me. It is a good thing I was ready for action. I guess lots of moms were scheduled to help out, but they had to back out for various reasons. Two other moms were there for a few minutes or so, but they were less prepared than I was. Before I knew it, I was taking charge. The morning project included decorating sugar cookie men. (The teacher read 4 books about gingerbread people to the class, yet, they didn't decorate gingerbread men, they decorated sugar cookies. I didn't want to ruin the party, so I kept this observation to myself) I passed out candy and cookies and frosting. I told other moms what to do. I wrote names on plates. I gave helpful hints on how to make graham cracker houses. I was following in my mother's footsteps. It was exhausting AND messy.
When I was done in the morning, I had a new respect for all kindergarten teachers. My boy really wanted me to go to lunch with him, so I did. It was a mad house. When I was done with lunch, I had a new respect for lunch ladies. My boy wanted me to go out to recess with him, but mommy needed a break. I knew they had art class after lunch, so I went home and came back after a little rest. The silence sounded SO good when I got home.
The afternoon was supposed to be about a gingerbread man chase and crafts. The whole story of the gingerbread man is that he runs away and everyone has to chase him. While the kids were at art class, the gingerbread men "ran away". The kids went around the school asking each class if they had seen the gingerbread men and where they went. The kids loved it. I don't think the principal loved it. I thought it was a great idea until we found all the cookies and the kids had to take them back to the class. My kid got knocked by another kid and dropped his cookies. He cried. He was not the only one. The teacher was sweet and let him decorate some more cookies. I was the only mom who volunteered in the afternoon. After my success in the morning, I figured it was no problem. I was wrong. The teacher put my at the glitter table. My mom hates glitter. She does every craft you can think of, but she doesn't do glitter. There is a reason that glitter glue was invented. There were other tables with other projects, but the glitter table was the most popular. The craft was to cut a chain of Christmas trees and then decorate them with loose glitter and pom poms. REALLY?
My mom plans a lot of crafts for kids, and I often think that she underestimates the abilities of the children, but now I know why. If I had been sitting with one kid, I could have helped one kid do this project, but not with a mob of kids. First of all, little kid scissors can't cut through six layers of construction paper. I had to cut them all out with the teacher scissors. Secondly, I forgot that 5 and 6 year olds don't understand the concept of a little glue. All of their trees were drowning in glue. Thirdly, LOOSE GLITTER! Surprisingly the glitter got all over the floor and then the boys, including mine, decided it was fun to pick it up and throw it on people. That was cute for a second until it got out of control because the kids had been eating cookies and candy non stop. One little girl got too crowded at the carefully "glitter proofed" table and got in big trouble when she took a container of loose glitter to one of the other tables. I suppose I should have prevented that since I was at the glitter table. In the end, it didn't even matter because there wasn't enough time to let the project dry and so they all got wadded up into glue/paper/glitter balls.
Anyway, I don't mean to say that the teacher is bad at coming up with crafts, for pete's sake, she came up with all the other great parts of the day, and had no one to help her with the planning or preparation. I did learn that a person can't get too cocky when dealing with kindergarteners, they are amazing balls of energy. I also learned that if I want to be a hot shot home room mother, I need to get involved before the night before the party. I need to be involved in the party planning. I think that soon I might be taking charge. This could mean trouble. I can't help it, it is in my blood.
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Look in front of your nose.
When I was a kid, my mom would always tell us to go find something. These things were not hidden, but somehow we could never find them. She would come over to where she told us to look, find it right away, then she would be mad that we couldn't "look in front of our noses." As I slowly turn into my mother, I have discovered that this might be one of the mom powers that a woman gains once she has children.
I used to think this was a made up thing, until I started getting super powers myself. It started with super hearing. I swear there was a physical change in my hearing when I had kids. A cough or sneeze from a baby will wake me right up. This becomes a curse when the baby cries during the day. The crying gets inside my head and I can't function until the crying stops.
Now I have the finding power as well. My own mother would have never expected this. Today was the perfect example. My husband needed his belt, I told him exactly where it was. The big thing was my son. He had lost three lunch boxes, a pair of shoes, and a pair of snowpants in the last few weeks. I have often found his lunch box in the lost and found. The lost and found is right outside the lunch room and his lunch box was sitting right out on top of everything, but he never looked in front of his nose to find it. He told me yesterday that he would go to the lost and found and bring home all his lost stuff, but when he got home, he told me that they weren't there. This morning I went to school with him to find them myself. When I got to the lost and found, I was a little worried because it must have just been cleared out. There were no lunch boxes or snowpants hanging around. I had to concede that the boy was correct. I decided to walk him to his class just to make sure his teacher got her present and that it didn't get lost along the way. As we were waiting for the bell to ring, a little girl came running towards us with shoes in her hand. She told us that Charles left his shoes in the class. This was an amazing girl. I asked her if she knew where his lunch box was. She ran off again and met us at the classroom door with two of his missing lunchboxes. They were in his classroom, in the lunch box basket. The last thing to find was his snowpants. I went into the room and they were hanging up right where they should be. Is this a thing for all kids? They were right in front of his face!!! I left the shoes and snowpants there for him to use today. On the way out the teacher asked me to help with their party tomorrow and I said I would help.
SO, is it more likely that a five year old boy can't find his snowpants that are right in front of his face, or that his teacher hid them so that she could catch me to get me to come for the party. I would like to believe that the teacher was being manipulative, but deep in my heart I know that it is the boy who can't look in front of his nose. I think he got that from me.
Does anyone have a technique for keeping lunch boxes and snow pants and winter stuff all together?
I used to think this was a made up thing, until I started getting super powers myself. It started with super hearing. I swear there was a physical change in my hearing when I had kids. A cough or sneeze from a baby will wake me right up. This becomes a curse when the baby cries during the day. The crying gets inside my head and I can't function until the crying stops.
Now I have the finding power as well. My own mother would have never expected this. Today was the perfect example. My husband needed his belt, I told him exactly where it was. The big thing was my son. He had lost three lunch boxes, a pair of shoes, and a pair of snowpants in the last few weeks. I have often found his lunch box in the lost and found. The lost and found is right outside the lunch room and his lunch box was sitting right out on top of everything, but he never looked in front of his nose to find it. He told me yesterday that he would go to the lost and found and bring home all his lost stuff, but when he got home, he told me that they weren't there. This morning I went to school with him to find them myself. When I got to the lost and found, I was a little worried because it must have just been cleared out. There were no lunch boxes or snowpants hanging around. I had to concede that the boy was correct. I decided to walk him to his class just to make sure his teacher got her present and that it didn't get lost along the way. As we were waiting for the bell to ring, a little girl came running towards us with shoes in her hand. She told us that Charles left his shoes in the class. This was an amazing girl. I asked her if she knew where his lunch box was. She ran off again and met us at the classroom door with two of his missing lunchboxes. They were in his classroom, in the lunch box basket. The last thing to find was his snowpants. I went into the room and they were hanging up right where they should be. Is this a thing for all kids? They were right in front of his face!!! I left the shoes and snowpants there for him to use today. On the way out the teacher asked me to help with their party tomorrow and I said I would help.
SO, is it more likely that a five year old boy can't find his snowpants that are right in front of his face, or that his teacher hid them so that she could catch me to get me to come for the party. I would like to believe that the teacher was being manipulative, but deep in my heart I know that it is the boy who can't look in front of his nose. I think he got that from me.
Does anyone have a technique for keeping lunch boxes and snow pants and winter stuff all together?
Killing my can-do attitude?
Generally I have a can-do attitude. Part of this is believing that the weather is not the boss of me. If someone says, "hey don't do this, the roads will be too slippery," I scoff at them. I proclaim that the the weather is not the boss of me. Well, lately, this belief is really butting heads with reality.
It started Saturday. Saturday had a pretty packed schedule regardless of the weather. We live on the west side of the greater Detroit area. We were invited to a baby shower and a Christmas Party on the east side of the greater Detroit area. Obviously, only the girls were invited to the baby shower, but the whole family was to go to the Christmas party. This meant that the plan was to go to the shower, drive home, pick up the fellas, and head back east.
In the morning, my can do attitude was still alive and kicking. I was supposed to to go the shower with my Mother in law and my Sister in law. They live about an hour south of our house and the snow was crazy there, so they decided not to risk it. In my usual fashion, I proclaimed that the weather was not the boss of me. I packed up my two year old daughter and my three month old daughter and headed east in the snow.
The roads were bad, but not terrible. We were only a half hour late to the shower. My can do attitude was really tested when we tried to get from the car into the shower. I was lugging the baby, diaper bag, purse, and gift as I tried to keep the two year old from getting hit by a car. We were victorious. We were tested again when the two year old's diaper started leaking. I took both of the girls into the bathroom and miraculously they had a fancy sitting room or bride changing room where I could put the baby down while I changed the other one. I also arose to the challenge when the two year old wanted to sit on the potty. She didn't actually "go" on the potty, but I managed to get her in there, pull her pants down, get her on the potty, and balance holding her while holding the baby. My can-do confidence had never been higher. Sure, we had our struggles, but we had overcome amazing difficulties.
In the end, the weather won. We got back into the car and the roads were worse when we drove home. It took two hours to drive home. This meant that an equally long trip back would mean missing the party. I had to suck it up and tell people that we couldn't make it to the party. This sounds like it is not a big deal, but it is huge for me. I can't decide if it is freeing or not. Part of it was that we would miss the party anyway because it would take so much time to get there, but part of it was also seeing the cars that had been in accidents. I was confident in my driving in the snow, but I kept seeing people drive like maniacs and I was was worried that they might hit the back of my car and smoosh the kids. That morbid thought was part of the decision to let the weather win. I might become a worry wart.
What is your policy about when to let the weather be the boss of you?
It started Saturday. Saturday had a pretty packed schedule regardless of the weather. We live on the west side of the greater Detroit area. We were invited to a baby shower and a Christmas Party on the east side of the greater Detroit area. Obviously, only the girls were invited to the baby shower, but the whole family was to go to the Christmas party. This meant that the plan was to go to the shower, drive home, pick up the fellas, and head back east.
In the morning, my can do attitude was still alive and kicking. I was supposed to to go the shower with my Mother in law and my Sister in law. They live about an hour south of our house and the snow was crazy there, so they decided not to risk it. In my usual fashion, I proclaimed that the weather was not the boss of me. I packed up my two year old daughter and my three month old daughter and headed east in the snow.
The roads were bad, but not terrible. We were only a half hour late to the shower. My can do attitude was really tested when we tried to get from the car into the shower. I was lugging the baby, diaper bag, purse, and gift as I tried to keep the two year old from getting hit by a car. We were victorious. We were tested again when the two year old's diaper started leaking. I took both of the girls into the bathroom and miraculously they had a fancy sitting room or bride changing room where I could put the baby down while I changed the other one. I also arose to the challenge when the two year old wanted to sit on the potty. She didn't actually "go" on the potty, but I managed to get her in there, pull her pants down, get her on the potty, and balance holding her while holding the baby. My can-do confidence had never been higher. Sure, we had our struggles, but we had overcome amazing difficulties.
In the end, the weather won. We got back into the car and the roads were worse when we drove home. It took two hours to drive home. This meant that an equally long trip back would mean missing the party. I had to suck it up and tell people that we couldn't make it to the party. This sounds like it is not a big deal, but it is huge for me. I can't decide if it is freeing or not. Part of it was that we would miss the party anyway because it would take so much time to get there, but part of it was also seeing the cars that had been in accidents. I was confident in my driving in the snow, but I kept seeing people drive like maniacs and I was was worried that they might hit the back of my car and smoosh the kids. That morbid thought was part of the decision to let the weather win. I might become a worry wart.
What is your policy about when to let the weather be the boss of you?
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Five Guys Below and Beyond!
I have a can-do attitude. I like to believe I can do anything that I put my mind to. On occasion, it turns out I am wrong...dead wrong.
This morning when I woke up I had a plan. The hubby would take our 5 year old son to see Thor 2 and while they were gone I would take our daughters, 2 years old and 3months old, Christmas shopping. This seemed like a very good idea for the following reasons:
First we went to Bed Bath and Beyond. It started out lovely. However, my children are loving inquisitive creatures. This meant that they had to hug me whenever I was trying to squeeze through somewhere and that they had to pick up everything they saw. I had coupons and we found everything we needed, so I consider that one a win.
Then we went to Five Below, which I like to call Five Under. I got a lot of goodies, but the place was a mad house and the children wanted everything. I had some piece of paper that meant they would donate money to the kid's school, but with all the commotion, I forgot to give it to them, I call that a tie.
The loss was Five Guys. I don't know why we go to Five Guys. I think it is the fancy pop machine and the all you can eat peanuts. This must be a huge draw, because when we got there ALL the tables were taken. My favorite was an 8 seater with one girl sitting at it. She was working on some sort of mobile tablet device, drinking pop, and eating peanuts. I am pretty sure her plan was to stay there all day until the pop machine and the peanut boxes were empty. She had already emptied half the pop fountain as many of the flavors were no longer available. I was trying to give her the stink eye as my family of 5, with many small children, tried to eventually sit at a 4 seater high top. After a minute, I gave up on my stink eye. I was torn about whether I felt sad for her because she was living at Five Guys, or if I was impressed that this person had managed to fend off starvation with the simple cost of a soda pop. By the time our food was done, we managed to find a regular 4 seater. The only downside was that I had to put the baby's seat on the floor and she was forced to have another customer's thong showing butt in her face. A small price to pay for fancy pop and all you can eat peanuts. The baby was asleep most of the time anyway.
What are your secrets for cheap/free nutrition? Dumpster diving at high end grocery stores? Sitting all day at OCB? Chugging salsa? Please share.
This morning when I woke up I had a plan. The hubby would take our 5 year old son to see Thor 2 and while they were gone I would take our daughters, 2 years old and 3months old, Christmas shopping. This seemed like a very good idea for the following reasons:
- It would allow for father son bonding.
- It would allow for mother daughter bonding.
- I would not have to sit through Thor 2.
- The kids are better behaved at the store when there are less of them.
First we went to Bed Bath and Beyond. It started out lovely. However, my children are loving inquisitive creatures. This meant that they had to hug me whenever I was trying to squeeze through somewhere and that they had to pick up everything they saw. I had coupons and we found everything we needed, so I consider that one a win.
Then we went to Five Below, which I like to call Five Under. I got a lot of goodies, but the place was a mad house and the children wanted everything. I had some piece of paper that meant they would donate money to the kid's school, but with all the commotion, I forgot to give it to them, I call that a tie.
The loss was Five Guys. I don't know why we go to Five Guys. I think it is the fancy pop machine and the all you can eat peanuts. This must be a huge draw, because when we got there ALL the tables were taken. My favorite was an 8 seater with one girl sitting at it. She was working on some sort of mobile tablet device, drinking pop, and eating peanuts. I am pretty sure her plan was to stay there all day until the pop machine and the peanut boxes were empty. She had already emptied half the pop fountain as many of the flavors were no longer available. I was trying to give her the stink eye as my family of 5, with many small children, tried to eventually sit at a 4 seater high top. After a minute, I gave up on my stink eye. I was torn about whether I felt sad for her because she was living at Five Guys, or if I was impressed that this person had managed to fend off starvation with the simple cost of a soda pop. By the time our food was done, we managed to find a regular 4 seater. The only downside was that I had to put the baby's seat on the floor and she was forced to have another customer's thong showing butt in her face. A small price to pay for fancy pop and all you can eat peanuts. The baby was asleep most of the time anyway.
What are your secrets for cheap/free nutrition? Dumpster diving at high end grocery stores? Sitting all day at OCB? Chugging salsa? Please share.
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