Archive | January, 2011

Sunday, I’m Glad You’re Here

30 Jan

Wow it’s been some week, but I am happy to report my husband had his surgery and he came home from the hospital today.  It was very frightening because the surgery happened in his neck, i.e. close to his spinal cord, i.e. freaking me out about things like paralysis.  But aside from being very banged up and all that, the surgery was a success.

After he came home, I thought it would be a good idea to clear the kids out of the house for a while so he could rest.  I had to entice them by offering McDonald’s.  I tell you I am no health food freak but McD’s really grosses me out these days.  But the kids were thrilled as they actually got some good toys in their happy meal.

So my town’s recreation department opens their gym on Sundays in the winter for a few hours for kids to come burn some energy.  Considering we still have like 20 feet of snow all around this is a seriously wonderful opportunity.  Most of the kids there were older than my guys, all zooming around playing bball and such, but it didn’t stop them for having fun.

We started out with the scooters.  They all grabbed onto a hula hoop as I dragged them around.

I was really impressed with their ingenuity when they gathered all the scooters and balls and made a “train”.  Thankfully, the recreation staff person was too!

Usually Sundays are a drag, but I am feeling especially thankful on this one.

And speaking of being thankful, I am so grateful to 2 very wonderful friends who took care of my 3 monkeys so I could spend time with my husband (who was having a tough recovery) in the hospital, in addition to keeping in regular communication with me about his status.  A positive facet of a crisis is the clarity that can be achieved regarding who the genuinely supportive and caring people are in your world…and you know who you are……….xoxoxo

Do you ever contemplate who is there for you in a crisis situation?  Have you ever been wrong?

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Worst Month of the Year

26 Jan

The other day I was reading about January 24th and how it’s supposed to be the most depressing day of the year.  I get it and feel like I want to take it all a little further.  I want to declare January the worst month of the year, well at least this year.

You can almost feel the misery about in these parts.  It’s freezing.  It’s snowing, heavily, right now, for like the tenth time this month.  Everyone is sick and coughing.  We’ve all had it!

And me, yes I’ve had it too.  We have not had a completely healthy household since last July…I kid you not!  But now we are completely maxed out in the sick and ailing department.

Remember I was complaining about my sick husband complaining last week?

Well, it turns out he is really messed up.  Specifically, he has a disc is his neck that is jutting out and pressing onto his spinal cord!  He will be having an anterior cervical discectomy on Friday.  This brief video illustrates the horrible looking procedure.  I really feel for him and I am especially sad that he won’t be able participate in ice hockey for a minimum of six months.  I had just written about how the hockey is a great release and source of happiness for him.

The kids have tons of ailments now too but it’s not worth boring you with those details.

Okay enough of my crying, who’s on board to declare this month sucks?

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Flowergirls and A Ring Bearer

23 Jan

I mentioned in a previous post that the kids are going to be in their cousin’s wedding.

We went dress and tuxedo shopping last weekend and the kids were out of control handled the crowded, frenzied shopping excursions beautifully.

Have you ever taken little kids to a store filled with gowns?  I lost them in like 2 seconds. As I scanned the place I would see some racks and dresses undulating.  And then as I would spot feet I would simultaneously hear the fighting.

But the moment the girls put on their dresses was a beautiful one.  Their excitement about being in the wedding multiplied!

But my little big guy was more eager than ever to get his tux on so we traveled to the tuxedo store to take a look.

Once again we hit a crowded store and consequently the kids got nuts immediately.

I finally begged the guy in charge to deal with us…and he did!

My little big man will be wearing a tuxedo with tails…I mean seriously it won’t get any cuter!

They didn’t have the one he’ll be wearing but he didn’t care and hammed it up!

So now we’ve got everything in order for the outfits, except for me of course.  I am going to have to look semi presentable as I may have to assist any unwilling members of the bridal party down the aisle.

I may get teary eyed at this wedding!

Oh and it’s on a Friday night.  I’m wondering what I can do to maximize their endurance for the evening.  Do I keep them out of school that day?  Any thoughts?

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If You Lie A Wolf Will Eat You

22 Jan

My 5 year olds have been telling a lot of little lies lately.

So, we told them the story of the Little Boy Who Cried Wolf.

My son had many questions….what the boy’s name was, how old he was, what country he was born in, how old his dad was when the boy was alive, etc.  After we answered a million questions, we thought he had it all under control and that he finally understood the importance of always telling the truth.

Then we heard him tell his baby sister,

You know you shouldn’t lie because if you lie a wolf will eat you.  There was a boy in another country and he was eaten!

Do you have little fibbers too? :)

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Do You Play?

20 Jan

I feel bad that I don’t play with my kids enough.  One of the benefits of having 3 and so close in age is that they really entertain one another.  Actually they do a good job playing individually also.

I’m the mom who gets hung up with the laundry, or the dishes or whatever and I don’t take that moment to leave it for later when my child asks to play.  I really hate that about myself and I plan to work on it.

In addition to delighting your children, turns out there are so many more benefits to playing…that it may be the key to happiness, as detailed in this article.

My getting hung up with the household tasks is apparently typical of most of us grownups.  We are all so caught up with being productive that we aren’t experiencing the joy of being spontaneous and just letting loose!  Most of us walk around with our noses in our smart phones unaware of what’s happening around us.

Actually I shouldn’t say we are all guilty.  I know my husband, for one, is pretty good at playing.  Whether it’s with the kids, or with his hockey teammates, he knows how to enjoy himself. I see him radiating with happiness when he comes home from playing hockey at night when it’s 10 degrees out (albeit he’s also got a few more aches and pains too:)).

Do you play?

 

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Creamy Cooker Chicken

17 Jan

The other day I made reference to the dinner I was cooking in the crock pot.  Okay, I questioned whether or not to even post a pic because it looks gross, so I am going to show you the better one, on the kid’s plates.

Though it doesn’t look great, it tastes really good and it’s so easy.

Creamy Cooker Chicken

1 envelope dry onion soup mix

2 cups sour cream (16 oz)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken-breast halves

1. Combine soup mix, sour cream and cream of mushroom soup in slow cooker. Add chicken, pushing it down so it is submerged in the sauce.

2. Cover. Cook on low 8 hrs. (might not take that long)

3. Serve over rice or noodles.

Try it out and let me know what you think!

What are you cooking in the crock pot?

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Cooking With Kids

16 Jan

It was one of those nights and tempers were short.  The kids were playing in the basement with their dad and I had had it with all the fighting.

I announced I was going upstairs to make dinner.  My son, the source of most of the disputes, asked if he could help me.  I know you know I didn’t want to deal with him at all in that moment, especially in his harried state, but I told him I sure could use a helper.

We were going to be making tacos, an always hit in this house, but first he wanted to know why I had

a box of worms

He was completely fascinated by the meat as it cooked.

It was sweet to see how empowered he was when I announced at dinner that he was the one who made it!

I guess it was a good lesson to me about how much, at this age, kids still love to help and how it can instantly improve moods.

How often do you cook with your kids…if at all?

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Taking Care of Me & Snow Day

12 Jan

I’m a new woman today!  I wrote about how tired and stressed I was feeling yesterday.  So last night I put the kids to bed and did a couple of things that really helped:

1–I took a bath.  I’ve always love baths but you know how it is when you have kids…there’s never time for it.  But baths are so nice as a way to unwind and relax and soak a tired body.

2–I took a drug.  Years ago my friend, a shrink, gave me a prescription before a long flight out of the country.  I filled it, but never took it, and it has been sitting in my cabinet for years.  Last night I pulled out the bottle from the year 2000 (and please know I am not necessarily advocating taking drugs and/or expired prescriptions…this is just what I did) and popped one and a blanket of relaxation overcame me.

3–I got a 8 uninterrupted hours of delicious sleep.  Some of you might achieve that every night, and if so, I congratulate you and feel sure you are a much healthier person than me.  It makes such a difference to start the day rested.

Things that I did not do but that happened and were immensely helpful:  My husband slept on the couch and my kids slept through the night!

School was canceled today due to the snow so we all had more of a ‘relaxing’ morning until the children could no longer wait to go outside and play on our snow mountain which doubled in size since yesterday.  Their new thing is sliding down it face first.

But snow angel making is still always a hit too!

Thank goodness we aren’t the only family with little ones on our little cul-de-sac.  While the kids are entertained with the snow, I’m grateful to be able to spend a few minutes with my neighbor in what we call our shared misery!

I’m so lame that I spent a good chunk of our time excitedly describing what’s cooking in the crock pot for tonight…geez how did I get here?!

How’s your snow day going?

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Being Tired, Being Sick

11 Jan

Tickle my butt…inside!

That request just came from my son.

But really what’s on my mind is that I’m starting to get depressed from lack of sleep!  Every night for the past several I’ve been up with someone.  The kids have been coughing for weeks and weeks and nothing from antibiotics to over the counter meds seems to be working.

And then there’s the fact that my husband is sick too and you know that’s always worse than all the kids combined.  But of course, he’s sick like no one else.

And isn’t it great for dads when they’re sick? They get a day off from work and stay in bed, moaning, all day.  Let’s see what do I do when I’m sick….hmm…oh right, the same thing I do everyday.  Like a couple of weeks ago when  I had food poisoning and I took the kids to the bus, got them from the bus, took the little one to story time (and kept praying that I wouldn’t barf on the rug among all the other kids and babies).  But hey my husband did do me the favor of coming home from work early so I did get 3 hours by myself to lay in my bed and pray for death rest.

This winter has been rough illness wise.  It kind of seems like it gets worse each year.  I read an interesting article about fevers, how they are a symptom of our bodies working correctly yet they incite so much worry in parents.  I’m actually one of those parents as I am still traumatized from witnessing my daughter have a febrile seizure.  Anyone with fever over here gets medicated immediately.

Okay I’ve rambled myself  to more sleepiness so I gotta get back to getting ready for a foot of snow tonight…can’t wait :)

Bride Shower

9 Jan

Oh my girls were so excited today.  It was just us girls going  to their cousin’s

bride shower!

As soon as we arrived they searched around for the shower until I caught them and tried, ineffectively, to explain this confusing word issue.  But it wasn’t a big deal because they saw some lingering Christmas decorations and started their 99th conversation about Santa.

I overheard my little one assert,

Santa doesn’t fly on the ground.  He flies on the sky.  It’s magic.

That tree kept them entertained for several minutes which was nice because I have been feeling like crap for weeks now…just really burnt out, tired and unwell. It’s why I haven’t been writing as much.  I think I just need a vacation or something, but well, that’s not gonna happen.

My big girl got really moody when she saw the many many presents and I gave her the sad news that not even one was for her.

But she recovered quickly when she learned that, although the presents were not for her, she would get to open them all assist the bride-to-be in the unwrapping.

But the real highlight of the day was when her gracious cousin bestowed her with her corsage.

The greatest moment is yet to come though, when, at the end of April, the girls and their brother will, for the first time, be in a wedding!

Anyone have any tips for how we will get them all to walk down the aisle successfully? :)

 

 

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