dreaming

I drive Little B to and from school each day.
There is a small, hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant that I pass on that drive.
Both directions.
That's twice a day. Actually, four times since I go back home the same direction after dropping him off or picking him up.

So, I inevitably crave cheese dip with jalapenos - twice a day. (I figure if I pass it again in only a few minutes, the initial craving has not ended yet...it just gets stronger.)
It's even better with a Dr. Pepper.
And good company.

Good thing I only have my kids in the car and don't ever stop!

something new

Sunday afternoon I asked Little B to tell me what time it was. He walked over to the kitchen door and paused. Then opened the baby gate and stepped into the kitchen.

He kept hesitating, so I came to the doorway and said, "Right there, on the stove or microwave."

"I know," he replied. "I can't see it."

I was surprised. I'm not sure why I was surprised since an eye doctor had thought he'd need glasses over a year ago, but I had him step closer until he could see it. He was roughly 6-8 feet from the little digital numbers when he could read it. I took him yesterday for his eye exam. Poor kid. He had to miss almost then entire day of school . . . haha!

After the exam confirmed he needed glasses, we headed to Lens Crafters. (I have used them several times, and I've always been happy. But let me tell you now just how great they are. I have a discount plan for eye care. But they have a Kid's Plan. It is better than my plan; they offer 50% off kid's frames and lenses until they are 13 years old.) And, of course, we came home with them on his face. He's so cute.

And I have to say, he is ecstatic. His two best buddies in class have glasses already. As he experimented with what he could and could not see yesterday, he decided he has "super human vision" now. If he could carry such an attitude through life, he'll do well.

The down side of this showed itself this morning, however. Upon coming into the living room, he look up and commented that the fan sure was dirty. And he could even see the dust particles. . . !

it's monday again

I think I'm starting to feel Monday in my bones...and it lasts most of the week with little reprieve. I've been in for a long haul recently. And I promise I'm not complaining. It is what it is. I'm just barely hanging on by a thread, though.

So, a funny story about this morning:
I was attempting to do dishes around the 13 month old walker who loves to pull out pots and pans all over the floor...as well as plastic cups and surplus non perishables from another allowable cupboard. I needed to take out the trash - still do, in fact. And when I turned around, there he was digging into the garbage with a handful of spaghetti that he was LOVING. After cleaning him up and moving him out, I discovered he also had found a Dr. Pepper can and was attempting to drink from it. Yeah, moved that away really fast.

Honestly, it was pretty hysterical. And he was so proud. . . .

the party

Nope. No pictures. Though I did finally download THREE MONTHS of pictures so that I could take a few of the party. Yeah, I'm grand that way.

So, I survived. It helps that only one couple with their three kids and another mom with two kids showed up. Plus my parents. Little B had two friends and Miss C had two friends. One of Miss C's friends was a boy who played with the big boys. Miss C therefore had one little girl to play with. But, that suited her just fine. We had a huge 4-layer cake of which I cut massive slices for those little bodies. Ha. Cake cutting has always been an issue for me. I don't like being responsible for it.

I was a madwoman cleaning and cake-decorating between Friday night and Saturday morning. Things were as good as they were going to get. My husband mopped, I vacuumed. My husband did dishes and folded clothes, I put away the enormous amount of toys littered across the floor.

And, I will NOT have my son's party at my house. While I am not the messiest person I've met, and while my house was in worse shape than usual before this party (meaning it shouldn't have been quite so traumatic to fix it up), I am just not up for that again. Nope. I will now proceed to wrack my brain for something 8 year old boys would love to do.

~Pay for a cool place that allows up to 15 kids (meaning everyone invited can bring siblings and still not meet the 15 people b/c I just won't have THAT many kids to deal with; I won't!) and offers a party room for 1.5 hours.

~Take Little B and 2 or 3 friends to miniature golf at a fun place, then have to figure out where is okay to feed them cake since such places do not offer party rooms that I'm aware of.

~(Chuck E. Cheese is out thanks to dairy issues, which I am JUST fine with!)

~Take our kids and 2 or 3 of his friends to an Aquarium for a few hours...still leaving us with a cake issue. How can you have a party and no cake???

~. . . . . . ?

Yup. I'm tapped out. And one of our guests is severely debilitated due to a brain tumor, so roller skating won't be an option (it would a great choice otherwise, since Little B loves to skate, they have less expensive party packages, and I can bring in my own cake! We'd just skip the pizza.)

All that said, I have 6 weeks and Little B is ALL ABOUT figuring it out. Me too. I want it done and out of the way. He's bummed his birthday falls on a Saturday, though, since he wanted to have his party "early" - ha! I can't justify it. I just can't. I don't think.

Got kids who need me, errands to run and naps I'd rather take. I'm not even spell checking so I can JUST GET THIS POSTED.

Ta ta!

procrastination

I am procrastinating badly at the moment.
See, life has been going on full speed ahead, pot holes included. Fun times for another post if I'm up to it. It has left me in denial, drained, blue as a midnight sky, and overindulgent in the chocolate of the house.

But in the midst of that, I have a little girl who is having a party tomorrow for her 4th birthday. The first real party she's had of her own with full blown excitement and sparkle in her eyes. She has asked me for weeks when it would be.

My dirty little secret? I HATE KID'S PARTIES.
Nothing stresses me out quite like figuring out how to plan them, who to invite, and what to do at them.

I know, mom of the year. I loathe them deeply. They are the bane of my existence and I now have three kids with birthdays three months in a row. No reprieve whatsoever. Now, let me give you a word picture of my house:

I am sitting at the kitchen table with my wishy-washy laptop that's a cold weather friend - regularly freezes on me. A mere ten feet away, my sweet Baby J is gleefully basking in the pots and pans and lids strewn around the floor near him; there is also a container with large alphabet letters - perhaps he had soup in mind? My kitchen counters stay piled with the million and one things I need to finish sorting, tossing, filing, mailing, finding homes for.... (I will insert a kudos for me: the dish washer is running and four chocolate cakes from scratch are now cooled on the counter - made with the help of Miss C.)

Through the door straight ahead I see the living room where the DVD is still playing Rolie Polie Olie for the millionth time since it keeps starting itself over. And over. The floor in there was a light case of baby toys and once-folded-clean-laundry that Baby J pulled down, but now that the older kids are messing around, the mess is a bit muckier. (I have refolded clothes so many times I could cry...or maybe that's not really why, but you get the point. They are always on the floor before I can get the job finished.)

Next to that is the dining room turned playroom - the one we've never-no-not-even-once-eaten-in - and Baby J and Miss C have turned it upside down this week while I worried about clean bathrooms and birthday cakes and phone calls from the school and little things such as that. In there, the bins of toys are emptied, the easel has been tipped and therefore moved to an inconvenient nook of the room, the hamster is on the table in dire need of fresh bedding for his cage, and the things that had not yet been reorganized a couple of weeks ago still mightily adorn the top of the "shelves", aka baby changing table turned shelf.

My husband has just called to say he's still working. He was barely able to talk so intent on work was he. As it's been most of the week. I should be thankful for the work. I am. But it's really so much more than that.

My week is not over. I have a house to clean, three kids to feed and a weeping soul. I don't think I'll ask what that crash was in the other room. I really don't want to know. I swore after last year's joint party at Build-A-Bear for the two older ones that I'd never have a birthday party at home again. I am a moron. I cannot believe I planned this. I thought it would be simple enough...only 3 friends (plus at least one parent for each kid, my parents and my brother - not so simple).

I do not want to cook dinner.
I do not know what I am going to cook for dinner. Eggs again? Perhaps.
I do not want a party in my house tomorrow.
I do not want to deal with people, talk to people, be sociable, be nice, be polite.
I do not want to cope with any one's "issues", namely my children's, at the moment.

I want to go to bed.
I want my husband to come home and let me crawl under the covers while he fixes dinner and cleans the house and figures out where the yards and yards of paper chain will be hung.
I want him to remember that Little B especially wanted balloons for his sister as a surprise.
I want him to watch Little B's magic show rehearsal one more time before he performs it at her party - another special thing for his sister.
I want to escape.

And so I have face-booked, read blogs and posted this. And now it's 6pm.
Yeah, they are so having eggs and leftover pancakes.
Except Baby J can't have eggs. He'll have to have another pancake. They have chocolate chips in them.


Sigh.

miss c

Yesterday, my baby girl turned four.

As some of you may recall, she was not the smallest baby in the ward, and she certainly came with her share of complications that day. We have her arm evaluated each year, and this year's came back with a need to work on a few very minor things. They are things we should be able to accomplish at home, which I am so thankful for. Next year's evaluation will probably be the last unless further issues evolve, which is doubtful. I stand amazed still at how far she came in so short of a time. And her big baby status is gone with the wind - Miss C is a pixie-like little girl, full of tiny giggles and sweet softness. Even in the pictures from one year ago, I see that baby roundness has given way to a small-framed, petite young lady in the making. I cannot wait to see what special plans God has for my daughter.

Since she will have a small party this Saturday, yesterday was made special in several small ways:

Lunch at Arby's - plain popcorn chicken and curly fries are "safe" for her

Birthday Pictures at Target - Baby J got his 1 year pictures at the same time . . .

Dinner of her choice - scrambled eggs and bacon - since I can't have eggs there were also pancakes, but she wasn't having any part of that!

Chocolate Cake - made in the late afternoon since I had not had a chance prior to that; she'll get another one for her party

Surprise Guests - my parents joined us for dinner

Presents - the two biggest things she got were a Melissa & Doug Fold & Go Dollhouse (I had a gift card and a coupon toward that!) and a pair of "pink sparkly shoes" that she'd been talking about for a few weeks. She had a friend stop in briefly at the end of the Christmas Break and as girls do, they compared new shoes! =P Miss C had brown suede-like Mary Janes with flowers, "But Annie had pink sparkly shoes, Mommy!" Now Miss C does, too.

My prayer for my sweet girl this year is that her heart would become ever more open and she would begin to long for the Lord to fill her spirit - even to receive Him as her Savior in this coming year.