Always full of surprises!

Boys, well kids in general, are always full of surprises.  
Sometimes good, sometimes not.


This week has been a bit challenging for us - state testing at school meant no baseball.
No baseball means no after school activities. 
No after school activities means time for fighting.
And whining.
And talking back.
And grounding.
The surprising part - the next morning usually starts off fresh, with good attitudes!


My older boys both have substitutes for the rest of the year.
One teacher is having major medical problems, the other had a baby.
The Chief is adjusting just fine.
Con-Man was hating school and never wanted to go back.
Surprisingly, my advice to him worked. (Surprising to HIM, maybe but mama is always right!)
So now I've got two happy kiddos at school.


Monkey-Man has started taunting.  This only surprises me because he's so little! lol
He sings this to his big brother:
"Bubba and Bwooklin, sittin in a twee. K-M-P-L-M-N-O-P"
Love it!


My biggest surprises this week came from The Chief.
One morning I heard him in the laundry room & asked what he was doing.
"Just starting a load of laundry, mom!"  
WHAT?!?!  
And last night, he asked me if he could do the dishes for me.
Who is this kid?  
I think I'll keep him!

30!

Wow, no matter how I look at it, I can't deny I'm turning 30 today!

For the last few months, I've been trying to figure out how 30 would feel - 

I've even cried a few times.  Silly, right?

But it's hard admitting sometimes that I'm an adult.

I'd rather play and have fun all day like a kid.

So in honor of turning 30 years old today, here is a list of 30 fun things I plan to do to keep myself young!

30 run through the sprinklers with my boys

29 play hookie from household duties & go shopping

28 blow bubbles

27 swing with the kids

26 go feed the ducks

25 boogie board at the beach

24 go out for ice cream

23 have birthday cake for breakfast

22 play dress up

21 plan a fun game night

20 watch Disney classic movies with my kids

19 draw with chalk on the sidewalk

18 pack a sack lunch to eat at the park

17 color in a coloring book

16 dance

15 play hop scotch

14 visit with an old friend

13 wear ruffles

12 finger paint

11 stay up late

10 eat junk food

9 sleep in

8 go swimming without worrying how I look

7 do a cannon ball

6 eat pizza & brownies on the same night

5 play games at Chuck E Cheese

4 read my favorite childhood books

3 let me kids choose the menu one week

2 cook with my boys

1 PLAY

I'm posting this on both of my blogs today!  Let's celebrate!

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly {3 year old boys}

The Good:

He can dress himself

The Ugly:

It sometimes looks like this:

The Good:

He's figured out how to defend himself against big brothers

The Bad:

It usually involves biting, which this week turned into a doctor's visit and an ER trip

The Good:

He can tell me what hurts and how bad

The Bad:

I still can't always make it go away

The Good:

He's mama's shopping companion

The Ugly:

The receipt total - he helps me impulse buy

Picture from here

The Bad:

He still has occasional nighttime accidents

The Good:

After cleanup, he can climb in bed with me to cuddle

The Good:

This age doesn't last forever

The Bad:

This age doesn't last forever

Wordless Wednesday - Grandma

1946

1960

2007

Love you, Grandma.

Saying Goodbye

My close friends and family know that this week is going to be a hard one for me.  

I received a phone call at 3am Saturday morning from my dad.  Of course 3am phone calls are never good.  

My grandma had just passed away.  I'm heartbroken.  I know that I'm very lucky to have had so much time with her, and I'm thankful for that.  But it will never be enough time.

Reading her obituary, I think people can just get a glimpse into the kind of woman she was.

Born May 19, 1929 in Canton, OH.  Loving wife, mother, and grandmother who loved her dogs and was an avid nature lover, spending much time planning and growing beautiful flower gardens.  All who knew her will affectionately and lovingly remember her.  Married for 49 years.  Mother to three daughters and four sons, 18 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren.

What you can't see is how kind and loving she was.  That she could always make me feel better with just a positive word or a hug.  When I'd come to visit, she made sure that we were more than comfortable - that we felt special!  Those 7 children she raised are all kind, good people with big hearts.  I've honestly never seen such a close-knit family.  

I strive every day to be the kind of mother she was - to raise my kids with the kind of love she must have.  I would love nothing more than for people to someday say that I remind them of my grandma. 

Goodbye, Grandma.  I'll see you soon.

The Grass Ain't Greener

This morning was rough.  Very rough.  

I woke up WAY too early from tons of bad dreams.  My coffee tasted absolutely nasty.  Microwave died.  The Chief lost his baseball jersey that he needs for tonight - and was being a total turd about finding it.  

Con-Man tried to just wear the same clothes from yesterday and threw a tantrum most 2 year olds couldn't match.  

And two (I won't name names) of my boys peed the bed last night.  

NOT a good morning.  

I lectured them all - about disrespect, responsibility, cleaning their rooms, etc.  I hate lecturing.  What I hate the most is that it doesn't work and I sound like a broken record.

I see other kids behaving and taking care of their things - maybe the grass IS greener.  

I always wonder what it will take to get things through to my boys.  

Then I started thinking...

Lately we've been working hard around our yard.  Apparently, the lawn was pretty well neglected when we bought our house. We have de-thatched twice, applied fertilizer and weed treatments, water often, and have reseeded heavily.  All this work, and I still don't see a difference.  Except bare spots!  UGH

Ugly, right?  And that's right in our front yard!  But what can we do?  Keep tending it, keep nurturing it, and keep hoping it'll all come out right.

And it does - see what I found when I looked a little more closely this morning:

Sweet, new, green baby grass.  Doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing.  Growing in strong.

So what will I do with my babies today?  Keep tending, keep nurturing, and keep praying that it all turns out the way it's supposed to.

Love Our Children - Stop Bullying

I’m in a local playgroup.  It’s a great group where the women all know that they can come together for support, advice, to share in good news and bad - not to mention bring our kids together to play and interact.  Recently a friend came to the group with a heartbreaking problem.  Her daughter is being picked on - bullied - at school.  Other children are making fun of her because she is different than them.  This mom wanted advice - what can she do to help her daughter, what can she do to ensure that her daughter comes to HER for support?  While we all tried to help with what advice and support we could, it’s hard to know exactly how to handle bullies.  

One of my own children has been bullied at different times.  In kindergarten, while riding the bus, he was taunted, hit, kicked, even bitten by a 4th grader.  He didn’t even come to me and tell me until it got so bad that he was crying, bruised and had just had enough.  He’s made fun of quite often by peers because he stutters, even by “friends.”  He has an amazing personality and the biggest heart you could imagine.  He always fights for the underdog and he sticks up for other kids that are being bullied - but he doesn’t know how to stick up for himself when it happens to him.  

It was recently brought to my attention that April 2nd was National Love Our Children Day.  While that day has passed, I think every day is a good one to focus on our children!  Love Our Children USA is a national nonprofit group that focuses on the prevention of all forms of violence and neglect against children.  They teach effective parenting solutions and create programs that empower positive changes in parenting and family attitudes.  Love Our Children USA has an amazing website that gives information for parents as well as kids on how to deal with bullies and abuse.  

It is so important to educate our kids while they are young!  While it’s extremely heartbreaking to see our little ones be bullied, can you imagine how you’d feel if you found out YOUR child was the bully?!  We have GOT to put an end to this.  As parents, it is our job to foster a respect for others - no matter how different they may be.  As a country, the US especially is such a melting pot, yet we thrive on pointing out someone else’s “weaknesses,” usually in an attempt to make ourselves feel better.  How can we stop?

Here are a few sites that I think can help.  

Love Our Children USA

Stomp Out Bullying

Parenting Education to Stop Bullying