AND

totally forgot to add to my pease top list:

6. I got stung by a wasp yesterday morning - ouch! At least I now know that I'm not allergic.

pease...top

That's Kira speak for "Please ...stop." And that's how I feel about our past week and half.

1. Kira cellulitis - Tuesday
2. Jackson woke up throwing up and with a fever - Friday.
3. Mom raging cold all week
4. Derek just went to the minor emergency center to get a stitch in the thumb he cut while prepping lunch. (note to self - don't give husband a goodbye kiss on the cheek while he's using a knife.)
5. It appears that Kira has hand, foot, and mouth disease - courtesy of the cousin she hung out with on Wednesday. I think Jackson might have it, too. So, back to the dr in the morning to make sure that it IS hand, foot, and mouth disease and not a reaction to the antibiotic she's taking for cellulitis (see #1).

peeeaaaasssseeeee....toooooopppppp!

Stuff -n- things

What a week! I've had a cold, Kira has cellulitis in her foot, and Jackson woke up this morning throwing up. Good times.

It's actually been a pretty good week. Barbeque with friends on Monday. Tuesday I was sick and we had our unexpected dr's office visit. Wednesday the kids hit the Arboretum with my in-laws. (I was sick, so it was so nice to just be sick and not have to be sick/make lunch/wipe hineys/etc.) Thursday we went to the gym for play time and hit the Library.

Today, well I think it's time for a No TV Summer update:


Monday - none

Tuesday - we started watching Cars as our Family Movie Night selection, but abandoned it after about 30 minutes. We just weren't feeling it.

Wednesday - the kids watched one episode of Blue's Clues online.

Thursday - Family Movie Night - we watched Brother Bear. We've never seen it. I enjoyed it and was really glad that I actually watched it with the kids. Lots of questions from Jackson during the movie.

Friday - It's been an all day movie fest. Jackson threw up three times this morning, so I decided a chill out day was in order. He said, "Thanks for letting me have the day, Mom." If nothing else, he realizes that TV is a treat and not a need or a right.

So, back on the bandwagon tomorrow. I'm pretty happy with this week, though.

One more random thing. Check out this cute craft. She used baking molds to make car crayons. I'm totally doing this for gifts and party favors. In August, when the back to school sales start, you can get crayons for .25 per box, sometimes less. I always stock up for gifts and always end up opening up way too many new boxes for the kids throughout the year. As a result, we have tons and tons of broken crayons. I can't wait to try this!

Wordless Wednesday

Totally stole this from my friend Kam's blog - how cute are Jackson and Vin?

an experiment

Y'all are going to think I've lost my mind. We've declared this NO TV SUMMER. Yep, really. The only time the TV will be on is for Family Movie Night - aka one or both parents actually have to sit with the kids while they watch. I'm also fine with them watching TV over at the grandparents.

Why am I doing this? It's actually all because of me. I have the hardest time limiting TV. I know that I can't just say "one show a day". Because it will turn into two shows, then three, then the TV will be on all day. I don't think TV is bad. I know for a fact that both kids have learned from the shows they watch. I just have to learn how to limit it. So, cold turkey for awhile, then we'll see.

We started on Monday and so far, so good.

This is actually kind of a test run to see if homeschooling might be an option for us. I have to know that I won't rely on the TV too much, before I feel confident that I can handle schooling these kiddos.

I don't think I could have attempted this experiment any time before now. The kids are just at good ages to try this.

I have a raging cold, so I almost caved on Day 2 (yesterday). We stuck it out though, lots of reading and an unexpected trip to the dr's office filled up our day. Kira stepped on something on Monday and ended up with cellulitis. She's on antibiotics and doing fine. I don't think her foot even hurt her, she has such a high tolerance for pain.

So, that's were we are. Y'all wish us luck!

perspective

Jackson: "What's in there?" (pointing at the little drawer in my bill organizer)

Me: "Just some paper clips, a couple of safety pins, and a little bit of change."

Jackson: "OH, so it's a TREASURE chest!!"

Duck!

Modern day Make Way for Ducklings.

So cute!

Wordless Wednesday - sort of

I think they're both about 9 months old in these pics. I totally forgot about Kira's chair insert. Kira's physical therapist built it for her so that she would be totally supported when she ate. The theory being that she could concentrate on eating and not have to worry about supporting herself. I think it really helped with her eating skills. We used it until she had perfected her trunk control. I wanted to go ahead and write about it for those who are working with eating right now.

The highchair is the one Derek and his brother used when they were babies. The kids used it at my in-laws when we visited.

Cutie-cutes.

this-n-that

Just a quick update of what's been going on lately.

Last weekend, we went to Sienna's Bday party at the Arboretum. It was a beautiful day and we had a lovely time!

Check out the Birthday Girl in her adorable tutu - her mom made it! Our friends Kam and Vin are sitting with us here. We went to Vin's Bday Party this past Saturday. Derek had to work, so I had to wrangle the kids solo. I didn't get any pics. I'll post a link to Kam's page when she gets her pics up.

Here's Vin practicing cake eating in preparation for his own Bday cake:

She's Crafty!

I wanted to make some new pillow covers for our sofa cushions. I made some in December, but I wanted something that looked more Springy-Summery.

Kira helped

and modeled

Derek gave Jackson his new summer do, yesterday. This is the first time I've let D cut J's hair.

During

And after! I think he did a great job! I love when Jackson's hair is short. He has the most expressive eyebrows.

I've done some other crafty stuff - more on that later. Hope y'all have a lovely day!

Summer Kids' Movies and blatant self promotion

Check out my list of theaters offering cheap or free Kids' Flicks this summer. LMK if you know of any others I need to add.

Dang y'all

This has been a tough week. I mentioned we're scrumbled. And thank you so much to everyone for the lovely, lovely comments.

That post was an attempt to give this week some perspective, but it's been really hard to step back and see things for what they are lately.

For example:
Yesterday, just before he went down for his nap, Jackson asked if we could "pretend Christmas" when he got up. Now, I know my son. He has a flair for the dramatic and I knew that he would not only throw some wild-ass request my way, but that there would be NO WAY that I would be able to successfully complete the task.

So, I said, "Well Jackson, I'm just not sure how elaborate you're going to want this to be." He said, "This elaborate" and held his sweet little hands up about 6 inches apart. "We'll see - now go to sleep."

Flash forward two hours. He heads down the hall, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and mumbles, "Now let's pretend Christmas."

here we go. "Alright son, what did you have in mind?"

"First - let's get out the tree and decorate it." (Hello - welcome to my minefield - please watch your step.)

"No, we're not going to get out the tree. I know!!! Let's make a big 'ol paper tree! We can hang it on the wall and make decorations and everything!!"

He then proceeded to LOSE HIS MIND. Snot was flowing, big blue eyes streaming with tears, pleading with me, hands clasped in desperation, "PLEASE MAMA....PLEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAASSSSSEEEEE!"

For twenty minutes straight. No exaggeration. And Kira followed right behind him, wringing her little hands, "peeeeeeeaaaasssse mama, pease."

For the first five minutes, I kept trying to come up with alternatives. Then I spent 5 minutes just holding him and saying "No, I'm sorry." Finally I just put him down and walked away, while he followed me pleading.

He finally calmed down and I thought we were done. Then Derek came home from work. "Daddy, are you ready to pretend Christmas?"

Now, Derek too, knows his son. He looked at me with fear in his eyes. ROCKderekHARDPLACE. "Well son, what did you have in mind?"

And there we went again for twenty more minutes. Good times.

I don't have any way to wrap this up prettily. I just hope next week is better. Has anyone seen my wine?

scrumbled

That's a Jacksonism. It means, well it means just like how it sounds. Kind of foggy-headed or a little jumbled, mixed-up, kind of messy. That's how we are lately, my son and I. Kind of scrumbled.

He's right in the middle of the next step toward independence. I know that. He either wants to argue with me over every little thing, or he wants to be held and loved on like a baby. Moving away, moving back.

Rationally, I know this. I know what's going on. But my heart is heavy and my brain is tired. Everything is a battle. Actually, battle is too harsh. Everything is a negotiation, with tensions rising between the participants.

He has always been a reasonable child. From very early on, I have been able to reason with him, explain to him why something has to be the way it is. Well, now the tables are turning. He's realizing that "the way it is" isn't necessarily so. There is room for negotiation, even if I don't agree.

So, for now, we argue, we hug, we cry, we laugh, we look at each other with identical expressions of steely determination, blue eyes vs. brown. We move away from each other. We move back.

We're just a little scrumbled right now. My son and I.

You rock!

Here's to the Mamas!!

I'm so thankful to mother these children of mine. And I'm so thankful they have given me the chance to be a part of something larger.

Happy Mother's Day, y'all!!

Kaia's doing great!

Kaia was diagnosed with appendicitis (an appendicitis?). She's recovering well from her emergency surgery and is heading home tonight. Update here. Thanks to everyone who prayed and sent good thoughts her way!

Please send prayers Kaia's way

Kaia is in surgery right now. They think it may be her appendix, but they're not sure. She's been having severe stomach pains and her hands and feet keep turning blue. Please say a prayer for Kaia and her family. You can let them know you're praying at their blog.

15 minutes

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about taking 15 minutes here or there for crafting - giving myself permission to take some time for myself. Since then, I've been trying to apply the 15 minute rule throughout my day.

15 minutes lets me:

- play 3 games of Candyland with Jackson
- help Kira into and out of a box until she gets tired of it
- read 2 or 3 books to the kids
- reward myself with a cup of coffee and some blog reading
- unload the dishwasher AND wipe down the counters
- fold and put away a load of laundry
- do a quick pick up in 1 and sometimes even 2 rooms
- change the sheets on all three beds
- and tons of things don't take even close to 15 minutes - who knew?

You see, I'm a Virgo. That means that I always have tons of ideas for organizing and cleaning. It also means that if I can't do it "right" - I often won't do it. So, I end up with a messy house that I don't even want to look at. Making myself set the timer for 15 minutes and just start doing something is really helping.

It's also helping me on days when I feel like I have a million things to accomplish. Those are the days when I tend to put the kids off until I get this-that-and-the-other done. Now, I know that I can just Stop, Drop, and Play for 15 minutes. They're happy and I'm usually a little more relaxed.

It's definitely a work in progress. But hey, it's working for now!

Read this

I really loved this - maybe you will, too.

Wordless Wednesday

Kira's beautiful brown eye by Jackson

30 hours

That was my beautiful early Mother's Day gift from my husband. He took the kids to his parents' house for the weekend and left me home alone. It was wonderful.

I spent the time cleaning and organizing the kids' room and getting to work on our junk room - all in preparation for the upcoming garage sale. It was so nice to have such a huge chunk of time to focus on a project. I had the hardest time falling asleep on Sat night, though. I really missed my family!

Kira Tales

Yesterday was just a great day. First, we opened our restaurant. Then, the kids finally got to play in the backyard after a few days of rain.

Kira was petting our cat, Ted, and they were having a lovely conversation. I'm not sure what Ted did, but apparently Kira thought he tried to bite her. I know this, because this was her half of their convo for like, 5 minutes:

"NO NO" (Shaking her finger at him)
"BOT!" (Stop - complete with hand out in a "stop" sign)
"pease. peeeeeeease."
"urt....urt" (hurt)

She'd start to walk away and then obviously feel that he didn't get the message - back she'd go for another round of chastising him. It was so freakin' cute. (Jackson declared his dinner "freakin' delicious" last night. I have no idea where he heard that.)

Then, she was trying to feed Ted a piece of cheese. She held it in front of his mouth, saying "Bite? Bite. BITE!". He wasn't interested at all. So she marched into the kitchen and threw it in his food bowl, and said, "Bite." Which really meant, "Oh yes you WILL eat this, Mr. Man!"

She was also getting really tired of all of the wet grass on her bare feet. I was cleaning the kitchen, when she marched purposefully through it, heading for her room. A couple of minutes later she came shuffling back through wearing Jackson's Crocs!

See:

Why, yes. Yes, she is rockin' the t-shirt/diaper/Crocs combo.

Finally, I leave you with this. If you don't have any plans this weekend, we highly recommend washing dirty flip-flops in the birdbath.