mommypalooza™ ~ a daily dose of mommy mayhem.

Autumn Splendor

This photo was entered into the I Heart Faces photo challenge – http://www.iheartfaces.com/

Appliances are toys, too!

Our 12+ year-old washer finally gave out last week.  I wasn't surprised.  We'd never done any maintenance on the thing and pretty much ran it ragged with loads upon loads of laundry.  Hubs and I had been talking about getting a new washer/dryer set soon anyway, so it was kind of a blessing in disguise.

So Friday afternoon we headed out to Best Buy to look at washer and dryer sets.  We were 99% sure of the one we wanted on Friday night but still I just wanted to think a bit longer.  I am not sure why I actually even needed to do that since I knew I would leave the decision up to the hubs who is better off at deciding things like this!

Friday evening we headed back out to Best Buy on our way back from dinner.  We made the purchase and setup our delivery.  I was SO excited!

Today was finally the day.  Can I just say this thing looks SO much more beautiful in my laundry room than it does on a showroom floor?!  I am LOVING it thus far.  And, as witnessed below, my kids are loving it, too.  I am just glad I ran to grab my camera in time to capture some of this fun they were having with our new Whirlpool Cabrio Platinum washer!  Who'd have thunk that an appliance could make children so giddy?  Not me!  I can't wait till we get our new dryer later this week!

Parenting sometimes hurts

This evening I made my 5 year-old cry.  This little guy:

And I am actually kind of glad I did.  Let me explain.   We were having dinner tonight when I asked him to do something he apparently didn't want to do.  Who knows what request I made but whatever the case, he didn't want to comply.  Whatever.  Normal kid/parent stuff right?  Well, not so much.

A few seconds after, he suddenly blurts out,

"And, I wish we didn't even HAVE parents!" 

So, I looked across the table at him and just very matter-of-factly said,

"Oh don't worry, one day you won't.  I won't always be here, William, so no worries, one day you WON'T have parents on this earth."

He just kinda looked at me strangely as if he were trying to process what the hell I'd just said, as it couldn't possibly be true!

Fast-forward to bedtime.  The kids had just had their showers and were all snuggled in our bed because yes, since they're on a long break from school, I am allowing them to sleep in my bed just this one night.  I'll enjoy their nice little bunk bed alone much more than they'll enjoy my king size, I can assure you of that!  So, they'd made themselves comfy cozy in bed and we started our usual bedtime chat about random things when all of a sudden William turns to me and says,

"Actually mom, I DO want parents."

And there it was.  The tearful expression on his face.  I looked at him and said,

"William, what I said was true.  You WON'T always have your parents around on this earth so it's important to obey and respect them while you DO have them around.  That's why this is one of God's greatest commandments."

Again, with the sobbing. 

We continued to talk and I reminded him that even I, too, would be without parents and that's why when {his} Grammy and Grandpa ask me to do something that I should respect them and make the best choices.  {Nevermind if I didn't always think this way when I was a teen!}

He assured me that he would try better to listen to us and make good choices and not talk back.  I assured him that of course I love him so much and that I know he didn't mean what he said.  We hugged and I smothered him with smooches and ended with my usual singing before leaving the room. 

At the end of all of this I was very glad that things turned out the way they did, even if it meant a few tears were shed because of it.  I think it's so important to show kids real life and introduce them to the sometimes not-so-nice things that are facts of life.

The really sad part about all of this is that it made me realize how sorry I truly am for all those times I told my mom I wish she would go away and when I said things that were hurtful to her during those teenage (and beyond) years!  My, how parenting certainly DOES come full circle!

 

 

Wordless Wednesday: Pals

My William with his classmate and gal-pal, Miss B, while they watch their older brothers play football.  Just before I took this I was busy taking pics of the kids on the football field.  Then I looked over and saw how intently these two were watching the game.  I am so happy I took this snapshot!  Oh, how I wish I could just stop time much like it seems stopped in this photo!  The only upside to them growing up is knowing that my kids will grow up with such great friends all around them!  I love that sense of community we have here.

And the fact that the "community" loves football just as much as I do!

 

 

My kids are becoming vloggers.

I recently shared with you a bit about my new Motorola Xoom tablet.  What I didn't share is how much my kids freakin' BEG me to use it every. SINGLE.  DAY.  Well, the other day I finally caved.  Hubby was running my oldest to football practice so I was home with a bit of downtime with my other two boys.  William, my 5 year-old, said he wanted to "make a video" on my tablet.  So, I set it down on the kitchen table, switched it from camera to camcorder mode (on the mirror mode setting, of course), and he went to town. 

He'd obviously not thought out what exactly his vlog was going to be about, but I love that turned out to be a mish-mosh of stuff.  Those are always the best videos, don't you think?  I love unscripted!

I absolutely adore the Xoom's camera and video quality.  It's leaps and bounds superior to the iPad 2.  Trust me, I have one.  One that sits behind a my cabinet doors and gets very little use.  I have been using my Xoom's camcorder feature to capture my kids playing football, singing, acting crazy, and well, doing just about anything. 

What do you use to capture your kids on video and stop time for just a moment?

{Disclosure: I am part of the Verizon Wireless #MidwestMoms program and am being compensated for this series of posts. But, the opinions expressed herein are those of my own. No one's the boss of me!}

Wordless Wednesday: First Day of School

Here's to new beginnings!

Uno game card holder

During a recent game of Uno, the kids and I came up with an invention to make our game-playing much easier.  You see, in the game of Uno each player receives 7 cards each.  Well, as an adult even I sometimes have trouble fanning my cards out so that I can see them all the same time, so of course my 7 and 5 year-old struggle to hold all of their cards out, too.

It was decided we would come up with a remedy for this very serious problem!  Because what you need to know is that we are a family who LOVES to play board and card games together to pass some of our lazy summer afternoons. 

Hmm....perhaps we should add it to our summer to-do list.

At any rate, I'm sure Hasbro will be calling any minute because this cute little card holder makes playing Uno soooo much more fun (especially with little kids)!

First off, we cut 4 box flaps from a large cardboard box. 

Then took a sheet of brown construction paper and a ruler to mark off strips that were about a ruler's width. 

This allowed for about 4 strips to be made per piece of construction paper.

Then we taped two strips of the paper together so that it spanned the entire width of the cardboard piece we'd cut earlier.  This strip would be where the cards would be tucked into.  You'll see how this works later.

After measuring the width of the cardboard, the excess from the strip of paper is cut off.

Then, we side of the strip to the edges of the cardboard piece.  We used just regular Scotch tape on our first card holder, however, we found the clear packing tape worked best for subsequent holders.  Duct tape would probably work just as well!

Next, we took packing tape to seal off the bottom edge of the strip of paper to the bottom edge of the cardboard flap.

Finally, VOILA!  We've got a card holder!

. . . And, two very happy Uno players!

Don't you just love the ideas kids come up with these days?  We ended up making 4 of these card holdersand have used them a few times for playing Uno.  I imagine they will work for other games where cards are needed, too.  Sure beats me having to fan out the cards for my kids every  5 seconds during game play!

So not-a-boring Saturday.

It's back.  The busy season of baseball.  This morning was a chillax one with a bit of sleeping in for me.  That is, until I was woken up to wipe a butt and then woken up again later because my kids were hungry.

I figured that was a good reason to finally get out of bed.

So after a nice little breakfast and some rockin' out to tunes from some of the artists at our favorite festival happening next weekend, it was time to start thinking soccer.  William had his final soccer game of the season today.  It was finally a nice enough day to be outdoors, thank GOD!  We spent most of this soccer season out in the cold wind!

After soccer, we decided to grab a late lunch (with coupons in hand, of course!) at Chick-fil-a.  Yum!  My favorite fast food joint, fo' sheezy!  I enjoyed some nice convo with my hubby while the kids played in the play area and got even more of their energy out.  Which is always nice.

Then the kids and I headed out on our own to canvas our 'hood with signage for the festival next weekend.  It's our yearly tradition.  Fun, fun!  The kids came home even more worn out and decided to veg out and play Club Penguin online until their evening baseball games. 

And then it was time.  Baseball.  Ahhhhhh!  I was disappointed I couldn't see both games but Nathan's game was at 7 pm as was William's.  Darn you, schedule!

I did, however manage to get a photo of Nathan before he headed out for the fields.

  

At any rate, it was totally fun watching my lil' big guy play.  He and his teammates had a blast!

 
 William had a fantastic game!  He was super stoked about catching a ball that was thrown to him just right in his glove!  The crowd cheered!  I saw him out there sort of doing an instant replay with his glove while grinning from ear to ear. 

Recently a friend and I were talking and she mentioned how she thought t-ball was boring so she didn't sign her son up.  At the time she said it, I kind of only thought, "well, I'm certainly not signing my kid up so that I can be entertained, so it being boring to parents shouldn't really be an issue!"  I mean, if I only signed my kids up for stuff that piqued my interest, I think they'd spend a good amount of time in computer and web design classes!  But now, after this weekend, I can honestly say this t-ball thing is anything BUT boring! It's actually a little more exciting for us as parents because unlike coach pitch or machine pitch boys' baseball, these t-ballers hit the ball nearly every time!  SO UN-boring!  So excited William is getting a chance to make new friends that will soon be in Kindergarten with him --- the kids were SO cute to watch!

After the two 7 pm games, we headed over to DQ for a LATE dinner with kids and of course some ice cream!  It has been a loooong day, but so NOT boring!  Grateful that the warmer weather and summer sports are in full swing!

Too cute to not share.

Jacob is surely going to miss spending time with William once he is off at Kindergarten this Fall.  We are trying to relish every moment!

 

Moments

This evening after dinner I took all three boys up for bathtime while my wonderful husband mowed the lawn.  Usually I just end up giving Jacob a quick bath separately and the other two shower more often than bathe, especially on school nights.

But, I am so glad we opted for boy bathtime.   Originally I thought it would be a great opportunity to get some laundry sorted while they stayed occupied in the tub.  And then the laughter set in.

I could hear the splashing water and the high-pitched squeals.  And that's when I ran downstairs for my camera.

 

I occurred to me that moments like this will be just a distant memory in just a little while.  They were playing some game where Nathan was spraying the squirter trying to knock down the upside-down cups in the tub.  William was giggling so hard and Jacob was  just as happy as a clam to just be part of it all!

I wonder how many more times moments like this will fill our home?  Whatever the number, it's probably not enough.  I so love my boys!