Hey You! Outta My Mud!!!

The summer brought a lot of mud; as well as water, sand, and sun.  We spoiled ourselves and bought a little ski boat…payback for all the “family time” lost in the hustle and bustle of full-time work and part-time school.  More to come.

June 2011 -- Art

I have this thing, this passion.  I love to browse magazines and look for great arts/craft ideas to do with my kids.  At night, I stalk Pinterest and “pin” cute stuff that we’ll do “someday”.  In my little perfect world in my head, we’d do all of this amazing stuff.  In real life, I pull it off maybe once or twice a year.  One lazy Sunday in June, we did “blow art”.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy (as Sadie would say).  Dollop some paint on a paper, give the kids straws, and let them blow on the paint.  Now you’ve got it.  Proof.  Documented evidence.  One day, I was a good mom.

JUNE 2011–Chicago

I’m not into blogging this way.  I feel that in blogging by month, I miss the day-to-day funny things that happen.  I miss the goofy things that the kids say and do.  I don’t get to share as much of my random thoughts.  However, I’ve the memory of a goldfish, and I can barely remember last week, let alone June.  We’ll have to continue to let the pictures do the talking.
The day that I ran my half marathon (on the south side of Chicago), we went afterwards to the Museum of Science and Industry.  The dads took the kids to the museum while we finished our race; they we all met there at the end.  I think it was a really great museum, though I’m not totally clear on that.  I was dead tired and getting ready to puke all the way on the ride home.  I wanted to be all super-mom, like “yeah, I just ran a half marathon, and I haven’t even showered, but I’m totally up for a day at the museum”.  Maybe, had I not had heat exhaustion.

They had this really cool area for kids with balls.  Sadie is putting a ball into a tube that sucks it up through the pipes and drops it into the river (picture above).  It was really wet and messy, the kids loved it.

Same same.  Jack found a car.  Vroom.  Vroom.  Some kids wake up and say “momma”.  Jack wakes up (then and now) and says “ca, car, vroom, vroom”.  They say that kids say the words of the things that are most important to them.  Guess I’m second class.

I’m no engineer, but I do love to see how things work.  On one side of this exhibit, you can see into the side of a combine harvester and see how it works.  Climb the stairs and hop into the cab, where you can pretend to drive (there is fake corn in front of the combine harvester, and a huge big screen of driving through corn).  Kids loved the “tractor”.  I loved watching.

MAY–In a Nutshell

 

Thank goodness that pictures are worth a thousand words.

At the Memorial Day parade, we met one of the famous Klements racing sausages. 

Baby Jack and me at the parade

Root, root, root for the Brewers!

Poor, tired, sleep deprived baby.

I.  LOVE.  MUD.

 

We made a trip down to Chicago for Jake to do some final paperwork to FINISH SCHOOL.  While he was in meetings, we had fun on Northwesterns’ campus.  Ate some snacks, fed the fish, and found out that feeding the carp was more fun.  Afterwards, checked out the Field Musuem; where Sadie got brave enough to try a Chicago dog.

On the night of one of my long practice runs for my half-marathon, my kids met me at the end and ran home with me.

This baby melts my heart.

Hauling 6 kids, ages 6 and  under home from school.  Just thought I’d note that I did it, it won’t likely happen again.

My stylin’ peanut.  This girl wears it well.  All of it.  The way she dresses would look like a hobo on another kid.  She looks like Punky Brewster.

Walk/run at the zoo.  The kids were pretty excited.  Brooklyn ran the whole mile.  The others switched out between the stroller and riding on Jake.

Mothers’ Day tea at school.  Ty was adorable.  It is wonderful to spend individual time with my cute kids.  It was so sad to see the few kiddos who didn’t have any momma to sing to.  I wish I could do more to love those sweet kiddos who need love.

Sadie’s Birthday

I let myself get REALLY behind, again.  I was thinking about working backwards from now until I catch up, nada.  Can’t think like that.  Getting back to blogging in itself is overwhelming.  I do this for my family.  I do this for my kids.  Skipping 6 months isn’t an option.  However, it’s awful to pick up a project you are SO BEHIND on. 

Anyways, here we go.  Sadie’s birthday.  Four years old.  My baby girl.  She went to Build a Bear as a “party” with our family. 

 

We had a “friend” party with one of her best friends, Miss S.  We went to McDonalds’ and had lunch.  Then we headed to the Dollar Store to fill our own goodie bags.  Stopped for “cake” at Dunkin Donuts.  It was a slam dunk.  The girls were thrilled.  It was easy.  Win win.

Made cake.  Ate it too.

Coming Soon to a Blog Near You!!!

UPDATES! Coming soon to a blog near you. I'm back. In fact, I never was gone. We had a fabulous summer. Now, the kids are back in school and I'm back to doing something other than kids.

I love my kids. We had a wonderful, memorable summer together. I miss my kids when they go to school. However, this year, with THREE in school in the afternoon (and one at home that takes an afternoon nap) I have to say, I AM LOVING IT. I'm getting to cleaning that I haven't done in months, I'm feeling like I'm doing better at being a decent friend, I'm showering everyday (too much information!), I'm keeping up my with responsibilities at church (trying)....all and all, I'm a better mom. When my kids are home, I feel like I am more able to BE THERE, 100%. When they get home, for the most part, the laundry is done, the floor is swept, the dishes are done...I'm not trying to do all of these things while listening to them, resolving their arguments, cleaning up after them, answering their questions, laughing at their "jokes", fixing them snacks, etc. I feel like I'm doing better at all of the other things that come with being a mom, and also being a better mom.

This picture is of our latest urban outdoor adventure. I love (and miss) the mountains and hiking and escaping in the great outdoors. I love to watch my kids explore and learn. So, we went for a little "hike" on a VERY urban trail...looking for butterflies. We didn't find butterflies, but it was really fun to be somewhere where the kids could explore and walk a bit ahead of me or a bit behind without me being worried about losing track of them. That kind of independence can be hard to find in most of the places we go. It was wonderful.

The Toy Gobbler

Here's how house cleaning usually goes down at my house...the kids make messes, I ask them to clean them up (repeatedly), eventually, I get sick of the mess and I clean it up on my own (angrily). I get sick of hounding and arguing and fighting. It makes me bitter and resentful to just pick up after them, but it's EASIER.

However, this summer, I've had it. This weekend, after they'd make one huge mess and were on their way to another, I kindly warned them that I had seen the toy gobbler in the basement. I had chased him over to the other side of the basement, but that I didn't think it'd be long before he returned to the toy room to eat their toys. It worked. It's as old a trick as the book "Mrs. Piggle Wiggle", or maybe older, but it worked. They raced to the basement to clean up and actually enjoyed the work of outsmarting the gobbler.

Today, it was the same thing. My kids had moved from art, to puzzles, to toys; leaving a disaster in their wake. I had asked and asked for them to clean up the prior messes to no avail. This time, the toy gobbler came without warning. I just told them that I was sorry, but he came, I couldn't stop him, and he gobbled up the art supplies and the puzzles. Somehow, although my kids are smart enough to know that I am the gobbler, the anger and frustration towards the gobbler is directed at the gobbler, not me. It's working. They're cleaning the aforementioned toy mess now. They're plotting how to make me happy to get back the art supplies and the puzzles. All of the angst unites them together in a cause against the gobbler...and I get a cleaner house. Win win.