For my Father-In-Law

This Thanksgiving my father-in-law discovered this in his garden....
Snowflakes on his roses blooming in late November. 
Crazy and beautiful!! 

Bring on the SNOW!

I LOVE it when it snows combined with a not too chilly temperature.   Then the fun begins.

I have very fond memories of sledding when we were kids.  Although, sledding on the hills of Pennsylvania where Black Angus cattle roam can have some hard hitting results.  There is nothing comfortable about hitting a frozen cow manure pile while zooming downhill on a sled.

During recess in elementary school we put on snow clothes and went sledding down the incredibly steep hill beyond the school playground.  The school provided tire inner tubes.  Can you imagine the lawyers response to that now?  I remember jamming my arm one day, thinking I broke it and telling my teacher.  I didn't break it, but it sure did hurt.  (I'm also sure my mom's reply to a phone call from the school was, "Tell her not to move it that way if it hurts.")

Friday the kids had a two hour early dismissal because of a snowstorm.  We took advantage of this opportunity and went sledding with friends and neighbors.  Nothing better.  Unless it is the steaming mug of hot chocolate and marshmallows that is sure to follow.

Bring it on!  More snow!

Cafeteria Musings

I saw a teacher in the hallway on my way out of Ethan's lunch yesterday and she said, "I never understood why parents voluntarily come into the lunchroom." 

Well, it is called "I am a sucker." 

Yes the cafeteria is incredibly loud and chaotic.  Yes my sons, typically, barely acknowledge my presence.  But it is a nice thing to do and a good way to get to see who they are interacting with, so Will and I put on our earplugs and surprised them.

These are the conversations I was a part of...

                 First Grade boy, "I am going to get my lip pierced when I am ten years old." 

                 Me, "Really?  Don't you think that will hurt?"

                First Grade boy, "No.  I am going to get snake fangs."

                Me, "Well, why don't you wait until you are a little older,
                like say, 100 or so before you do it."


                Third Grade boy, "Do you know this song?  
                dum dum dum dum dum Just a small town boy, living with a lonely toy

                 Me, "Yeah I do.  Journey 'Don't stop believin"

Then he went on to sing two or three more I have never heard of.  One was about playing basketball, basketball, basketball.

                Third Grade boy spreading three packets of mayo on his pizza slice,
                           "My mom told me to try this one day and now I can't get enough of it."
                Me  speechless

My glimpse into their daily lives was very eye opening.  A timely reminder for me that I do have good kids even if they can't dress themselves or seem to be able to pick up anything around the house. 

Despite the noise, the disgusting eating habits and hearing of future piercings Will and I let his big brothers know that we were thinking about them and wanted to see how they were doing.  

Enough said.

And Will gets to be a celebrity for the day.  Those grade schoolers just eat him up.

White Flag

I throw in the parental white flag of surrender.  I am unable to maintain any positive attitude with regard to rearing my own children.  It is 9:18 am and I have already argued a lifetime with the three to get them dressed and out the door to Sunday School. 

I have taken away ALL legos from my oldest child until he can speak to me without rolling his eyes and while simultaneously using a kind tone.  Heck, it doesn't even have to be kind at this point, I will settle for a monotone.  He will earn them back by 1.  Using kind and appropriate words 2. Maintaining a positive attitude.  Otherwise I am already thinking of how much money I will make by selling the legos on e-bay. 

I know they are not perfect.  I don't expect them to be perfect.  I just want them to, every once in awhile, be appreciative and kind, especially to their family. 

I had little disciplining when I was a kid.  (Hence my wild nature.  Ar ar)  My mom was very "hands off".  If I was upset about something  I would slink away to my room and then, afterwhile I would return and nothing would be said about it....good or bad.  Maybe that is why I try "too hard" to mold my own sons.  I just want them to understand feelings and how to deal with them and the fact that they aren't crazy for feeling them. 

I just can't stand it when they yell at me and say mean things to each other.

E said the infamous "I hate you" yesterday for the first time.  I sent him to his room and in a few minutes went to talk to him about how it made me feel and the fact that he can never take it back.  Then I had to offer him a flow chart for what to do.....1.   If you hurt someone's feelings what should you say?  2.  Maybe you can offer a gentle touch to make the person who is sad feel better.  3.  It is always nice for a mother to hear "I love you" from their son.

These are things that I thought would be instinctive.  Apparently not.  As I explained to him, I am doing my best as a mom.  I am not intentionally making your life miserable. 

Calgon take me away.

Nuttin' much

Latley I have been pondering why I feel I have nothing much to blog about.  Am I on cruise control through life?  Do I not take time to really notice things and interact with the world around me?  Am I just that boring? 

I, therefore, made a concerted effort to pay attention to the daily details. 

Today, these were my thoughts:

• It's hard to justify driving two blocks to exercise at the gym. 
• Why do they call it a Lazy Susan?  Maybe she doesn't appreciate the label.
• I spied a concrete Teddy bear decorating a snow garden today.  It had wings.  What is that all about?
• Why do I worry about every spot I get on my skin being skin cancer?  Worrying sucks.
• I should have been in research.  I love searching for ideas about pretty much anything. 
• One can never drink too much tea in a day.
• I wonder if my husband gets sick of seeing me in my blue, stained bathrobe sporting glasses and hair pulled out of my face with a pink hairband. 
• I wonder when I will develop a love of cooking.
• Why do squirrels think they are entitled to eat the birdseed?  They put on quite a gymnastics show trying to sneak it out of our bird feeder.  Sometimes I score their stunts.  Of course, the Russian judge always lowballs their performance.
• I miss friends who moved away.
• Why can't I just love my children at all moments of the day for who they are and what they aren't and all their annoying, whining, argumentative ways?  Of course I love them, sometimes they just drive me a little crazy.
• Kiwi fruit is so pretty.  But it is disgusting.   Oxymoron?  Me thinks.
• What's invisible and smells like carrots?  Rabbit stinkers.  My boys belly laughed at that one.
• Growing up my older brother tortured me and my baby dolls.  The other day we were at my mom's house and after we left she discovered that my sons had pulled the pants down on one of her babydolls and put the baby's bottom in the air.  I guess it is just intuitive for boys.
• There is nothing better than a good song blaring in your earbuds.  It lifts the soul. 

Happy Happy

Christmas and New Year.  The festivities have come and gone and we are back to the normal routines.

I have decided that I should have been in research.  It seems that is my favorite part of many activities...brainstorming, researching...sometimes the implementation needs improvement.

Lately I have been scouring the web for preschool ideas.  There are some many fun things to try.  Yesterday we had a gift wrapped box that was empty that the children could hide inside and then the remainder had to guess who was missing.  Those little buggers had so much fun.  I really enjoyed seeing their excited faces and was so tickled that such a simple activity brought such pleasure.

It is FREEZING here, and we still have a fair amount of snow which is fun.  The boys and I built a snowman a week ago and he is still standing straight and tall on the front lawn.  He is a funny sort though, because the Pin Oak leaves in the front yard were clinging to our creation, and we just left them there to decorate him.  We did, however, remove the frozen dog poop that we rolled up.  Come on people!!  We don't even have a dog and YET there was unbagged poop in our yard.  Tsk tsk.  (Not to mention disgusting.)