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.

13.1 Chicago

 

Honestly, these pictures are nothing short of embarrassing.  The first, my backside.  Who really wants a picture taken from behind?  You can see here my totally (not) awesome running skills.  I was not born a runner.  In the second picture, I’m preparing to cut off that biker so that I can give my kids high 5’s.  He wasn’t particularly happy, and I hope my kids didn’t hear the choice words he had for me.   When I was talking to my Grandma about my race, she mentioned that I probably am good at running because of keeping up with my kids.  No, I reminded her, it’s running AWAY from my kids that keeps me going.  In all seriousness, I’m not a born runner.  I’d like to improve my form, but right now it’s mostly about maintaining my waistline and my sanity.  SO, I decided to do my first half-marathon at the beginning of June.

 

It was on the south-side of Chicago, along the lake.  The night before, we stayed in a hotel and (early, early) that morning I met up with a good friend to bus down to the race.  It was an incredibly hot day (at least for those of us that live in the upper-midwest and have been training 50-60 degree weather).  By the time I hit about mid-race, they announced that timing was turned off; the race was still on, but to take it S L O W.  It was in the upper 80’s and HUMID.    At about mile 12.5, the Chicago PD was cruising the streets and announcing that the race was cancelled, everyone should walk and cool down.  I was ALMOST THERE and my legs started to tighten up as I slowed to a walk.  So, I took it back up to a light jog and finished the race.  It didn’t “count” and I honestly don’t know what kind of time I made, but I FINISHED.  It was a really hard race, WAY harder than my triathlon that I did last year, I think mostly due to the heat.  Several racers were taken to the hospital; I read later that someone died.  I felt great finishing the race, but wasn’t so hot on the drive home.  Thinking it was just heat stroke, but it wasn’t fun.  I’d do it again in a heartbeat though, in fact, I’d like to do one in the early fall if anyone’s game.

 

One more funny memory from this race, no pictures other than these.  I’m too cheap to pay over $40 for one 5x7 taken by event photographers.  My family was only able to be at one part of the course, not at the finish line…and Jake accidentally only got a short video rather than a picture.  My friend finished WAY before me, and we didn’t think about pictures.  When we finished the race, we cooled off a bit and ate some pizza, then headed to a beach house to clean up a little and then meet up with our families.  The hotels near the race were either really scary (Chicago-SOUTH SIDE) or really expensive (downtown Chicago); so we were too far from our hotel to shower after the race. 

The Allure of Mud (and Dirt and Rocks and Sticks)

Why, when my kids have THIS….

Do they spend so much doing THIS?  Jackson, in particular loves the mud and dirt and sand.  I made an awful mistake early this summer.  We had a rainy day and the kids were outside stomping in puddles.  I looked outside and my first thought was to drag them in and avoid the mess.

 

Then, I thought, “no, that’s not what good, fun-loving, adventurous, encouraging moms do; let them PLAY”.

 

A few minutes later, when I was rinsing out clothes in the sink, bathing kids, mopping the floor, and cleaning mud out of the INSIDE of rain boots, I had other thoughts, which are maybe not so uplifting to share on my blog .

Grocery Shopping with Jack….

and Sadie

and Tyler

and Brooklyn

“Are ALL of those kids yours?”

Yeah lady, what do YOU think?  If they weren’t, why would I bring someone else’s kids to the grocery store?

(By the way, this trip, I was stocking up for an ice cream social at school.  We don’t normally live (completely) off of caramel syrup, chocolate syrup, gummy bears, and sprinkles).  Jack is Gumby.  Moreso than any of my other children, he maneuvers and stretches and reaches back into the cart from the seat in the cart.  Only about the front 6 inches of my cart are safe. 

Make and Take

On Good Friday, we went to an awesome store, Cake and Bake, where the kids frosted their own cakes for Easter.  It was very reasonably priced, and it was awesome to be able to be that kind of mom that I want to be (the kind that pulls out frosting, tips, sprinkles, jelly beans, etc. and goes wild with her kids).  Alas, I long to be that mom, but I hate the mess…the hours of prep, and time consuming clean up…all for a few minutes of “decorating”.  Anyways, here, they had premade little cakes with a simple white buttercream frosting.  The kids piped on frosting and added jimmies, sprinkles, and jelly beans.  A pipe cleaner completed the project, making the cake look like a little Easter basket.  This week, I’m going back for some mommy time at Cake and Bake.  As long as I’ve lived here, I’ve decorated cakes with basics found at Joann and Michaels.  The selection has been “very poor” at best.  Cake and Bake is AMAZING.  They have every kind/color of sprinkles, jimmies, and sugar you can desire.  They have tons of cookie cutters and frosting tips.  They have PREMADE frosting, fondant, and frozen cookie dough.  Be still my heart.  Sadie’s birthday is this weekend, I’m hoping to full off something fun.

Family Farm

I found a coupon to this fun family farm for a big Easter gig.  The drive was too long, and I don’t know if I’d do it again, but I guess I don’t regret doing it.  They had a large barn with haybales that could could climb, and then go down slides.  The kids loved it. 

You can come up with plenty of your own funny captions here.

Lots of good, old-fashioned fun.  Beautiful backdrop.

One small step for your average scrawny junior high schooler…one giant leap for a mother of four.

Eggs away!

Adorable animals abound.  Newborn baby goats, baby bunnies…I think there was everything except chicks. 

All tuckered out.  He was asleep almost as soon as we buckled him up.

Loot.  As usual, Sadie is all about the goodies.  We rode on a trailer behind a tractor to a muddy, messy, “egg” field/patch.  The kids went on an egg hunt and got lots of useless junk.  Good thing they have no idea how much I throw away.  Overall, great day before Easter.

Sadie’s Dance Recital

This, my friends, was a wild ride.  Jake happened to have something to do for school in Chicago, so I was alone with all the kids here.  It went better than expected.  Jack was good enough that I was able to see Sadie dance.  She was adorable.   I posted the last few pictures because she was most excited about getting a “goody bag”, and knew that it was coming because of Brooklyn’s experience in dance.  It wasn’t about dancing, it was about food.  (I can’t blame her, I only run so that I can eat more).  You wouldn’t know it by looking at her, but she’s a huge garbage gut.