Dad's Away the Kids will Play...Maybe

This is the first day of what starts the kids Spring Break.  Some people may groan when they think of a week where their children are home all day, every day 24/7.  I love it!  I love lazy mornings and an agenda that is all our own.

Tonight we started it with me saying, "yes".  Monkey asked if he could play his DS. I said, "yes".  Peanut asked if she could have a piece of her candy, I said, "yes."  Sweet T asked for milk, I said, "yes". When he came down asking if they could play the Wii, I said, "yes."  See the pattern?  I was being the cool mom that wasn't in a hurry to get dinner on the table.  No game or dance to hurry to.  Bedtime was a way off so it just didn't matter.  Cool right?  I thought that this evening would be so great!

The Wii may have been a bad choice on my part.  The next sounds I heard were not happy ones.  Bummer.
What do you do when you have a meltdown and two of three kids wanting to lay into the other one?  Well there are actually a few options here.  Laughing isn't really very effective when dealing with them in this stage.  Sometimes a glass of wine and letting them figure it out on their own, but not tonight.  I also realized that they were starting to get hungry so, I grabbed the kids and got things out for them.  They were so intrigued by this change of events that the fighting and tears stopped.  I gave them each two eggs and bowls.  I told them to crack their own eggs.  Who knew that the smiles I would get from these two would come from cracking their own eggs and making their own dinner?? I let them make it and cook it.  Sweet T wanted in on the action and so she was in there making her dinner too!  No complaints at dinner.  None!

Wahoo!  Mom-1 Kids-0  Love my kids!  Love how I can redirect them and have a good evening. They were so proud of their dinners and were actually kind to one another at the table.  They deserved a movie night with popcorn and lots of butter.  Yep that's how we roll when dad is out of town!

See how cute they are?  All 3 of them in on the dinner action!  Love these kids!

Live. Laugh. Play

Somedays I have to laugh at the absurdity of life.  I think all moms can relate to this.  You go around and pick up the house and fold laundry, do dishes and you feel really good about your clean house (ok, semi clean) .  Then you realize some little person, in this case my soon-to-be 2 year old, has gone behind you and undone everything.  Ok.  She didn't undo the dishes but she does pull out all of her clean sippy cups and fill them with dog water from time to time.  Her favorite thing to do with the laundry pile is to jump in it.  Let me also say that this doesn't matter if it's waiting to be folded or just been folded.  She also sneaks up to her brothers bedroom and finds his stash of markers and draws purple all over her lips and cheeks. (It's blush and chapstick don'tcha know).  Talk about defeated.  You just want to throw in the towel and start drawing on the walls too!

Days like this, I grab my roll of butcher paper and let her think she is drawing on the floor.  I let her play in goop.  Cornstarch and water.  If you haven't let your kids play in this, it's totally worth it!  But I definitely have to hide the lotion and chapstick.  This little girl is addicted to the stuff.  She loves to put it on but eats the chapstick and paints the carpet and the cat with the lotion.

This little girl is the biggest little joy for both of my older kids.  I am so thankful that we decided to have one more child, if for no other reason than to see the relationships develop between the siblings and her.  Her older brother makes my heart melt when I listen to him make her laugh.  When her older sister plays house with her it's just sweet. 

The other night when tucking T in to bed she was not wanting to go.  I told her that she needed to get to sleep so we could play after she woke up.  That worked and she went to sleep.  That little munchkin woke up the next morning at 5:30 and the first words out of her mouth were, "Pay, Pay." "Out, Pay."

Guess what.  She woke up wanting to play outside.  Seriously?  Ugh!  I was able to hold her off for a while but soon bundled her up and went outside.  The kids have all played on the bouncy horse that was all of my siblings and probably doesn't meet any safety guidelines.  It's still fun and it's now an outside toy.

My kids motto seems to be, "Live, Laugh and Play!"  Not a bad one to follow, on most days.

Maybe I need to try it more!

Thought the bathtub would be a good place to play.

The Spring time

This week we have had some incredible Spring like weather.  It's hard not to scowl when I see snow in the forecast.  I mean, it's Spring, right?  Oh, right, a couple more weeks and THEN it will be Spring.  Well for today I am looking at it as Spring.

It was 55 degrees and sunny today.  My yard had robins and magpies in it.  The crocuses were popping up and just this past weekend and we planted primroses in my flower boxes.  It felt like Spring!  What does Spring feel like to you?
I
 was in deep thought and contemplation as I drove to pick up my older two from school.  Sunny days can make me do that.  Or maybe it's just that it's a change and change can make people retrospective.

A forsythia tree!

 Back home we would see calves and foals in the spring.  I love seeing the forsythia trees in bloom because it means that Spring is here.  Spring is a time for regeneration, new beginnings and life.  In winter the world seems darker and a little browner.  Ok, let's just say it, dead.  Spring feels like a breath of fresh air.  Maybe it's because I am actually allowing fresh air to blow through my windows instead of having the heated air being pumped through my house.  Or maybe it's because scientifically you can breathe easier due to more green and all of that.  (Nope, not a scientist so don't challenge me on that theory. Please?)  Whatever the reason, Spring makes me happy.  If you were to ask me what my favorite season is, I would tell you Autumn then Summer THEN Spring and finally Winter.  So Spring comes with rain (not my favorite) and let's just face it, Spring is often like a hormonal teenager.  It can't make up it's mind and tries to throw every kind of weather at you.

But back to my retrospection.  I was thinking today that I feel like we have been in a Winter season in our lives for a very long time.  Reminds me of a Laura Ingalls Wilder book The Long Winter.  Ok, not at all how my life is really.  But the long part is that we have been looking for over a year and a half for a job for my sweet hubs.  He was still in school up until Dec. but knowing that it would take a while to find one,we started looking early.  I say "we"  because it really has been a team effort.  I do the internet perusing and send him the jobs, he looks at them to see if he is qualified and then spends the 6 hours it takes to fill out one application.  YES!  Can you believe it!  6 hours to fill out an application!  He has his PhD and is applying for positions that take a PhD which require essay questions as well as the regular stuff.   I have NEVER had to go through this before in my life!  I have gotten every job I have wanted except maybe one and then there was another one waiting for me so really, not a problem.  I may have been a bit naive about the job process in this job market when starting out, but now, with my eyes WIDE open still nothing to see.  I could go on about the various reasons the jobs are scarce and so on but really who wants to hear ALL of that?
Anyway, our long winter has got to be coming to an end.  I am confident that our Spring is coming.  We need that breath of fresh air.  The excitement of the unknown is there.  God has big plans for us.  HUGE, I'm sure of it.
I guess what I am saying is that I am ready for SPRING!  In every way possible!  Looking outside at the reminders that Spring is coming tells me our Spring is coming.  For now, I will enjoy our winter.  Our lives are snug and we know how to do winter.  If you see me around town and I look like I am suffering from cabin fever, please forgive me!  I know Spring is coming and I can not wait!

For now, I try to rest in His promise.  I try to recite it daily.
Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Amen to that.  That verse is my forsythia tree.  It is my sign of Spring.