Hide and Seek

I never taught the boys how to play Hide 'n' Seek because I was always afraid they would hide and I'd never (I mean NEVER) find them...like seriously afraid they'd go hide in the woods and I'd have to call the police and get a search-and-rescue crew on the case...and it wouldn't help.

However,  the other day I actually WAS *trying* to teach Annabelle to play Hide 'n' Seek because she was being super clingy.  I read that this kind of game can help.  I had her stay in one room while I ran and hid in the closet and called her name.  When she found me, I told her to go hide while I counted from the other room.  When I went looking for her, this is what I found (in the same closet where I hid).

Love those little toes.

Words I never thought I'd say to my kid

"No more veggies until you eat some chicken."

Yup, Mom o' the Year here, actually said that.  But Kyle would never eat any protein if I wasn't insistent about it.  I've never seen a kid prefer salad over Mac 'n' Cheese, broccoli over steak, etc...I also have never seen a kid eat a cucumber like it was an apple (biting into it).  Now I have.

Is my singing that bad?

Oh man, I recorded the wrong direction. ugh. It's still pretty funny. Sorry to your ears...again!

Getting ready for Easter

Yesterday we went to Gigi's house for lunch (yummy Gumbo) and to dye Easter eggs.  It's always an adventure giving 3 young kids fragile eggs and dye.  (I had deja vu writing that...probably because I wrote the same thing last year.) I discovered a trick on Pinterest that really helped reduce the number of cracked shells this year--using a whisk to hold/dip the eggs.  Worked great for Annabelle's little hands!  She just isn't able to control that little wire egg holder-thing that comes with the dye sets.

 








Whisk trick in action






Gigi found these little Q-tip looking things that had concentrated dye in the tube.  Cody and Gigi were trying to figure out to open it to make the dye flow (took the 2 of them quite a while).  When they finally figured it out, they celebrated and looked up to see that Kyle had already figured out to open his and had been using it the whole time.  The kids (and Cody) love these Q-tip things and we need to remember them for next year.






Cody worked VERY hard on his egg creations.  Just look at that concentration!




Still working on that egg.


Masterpieces in dye on eggshell


You can tell whether these guys had fun by the degree of messiness on their hands.  Yup...I'd say they had fun.

Life lessons learned while potty training

That title may be a little misleading.  These are not potty training tips, nor is this a list of life lessons such as "accidents happen" and "don't give up" that a child might learn through the process of potty training.  No, these are more lessons learned by a mommy who has just potty trained her 3rd child.  Potty training is tough stuff.  Often tougher for the trainer than the trainee.  But as a mom and the one who is with the children during the day, the "duty" falls on me (pun intended).  Even though it is sometimes difficult, I’m sure that this too shall pass (I can't help myself) and I'll look back and cry...or maybe laugh.  

Lessons Learned by a mommy while potty training:

1. A bad day or grumpy mood can be lightened with a spontaneous 30 second dance party...Whether to a nice chant about "pee pee in the pot-tee," to celebrate a small victory, or a quick spin around the kitchen with your kid to distract them from the fact that you're not letting them have any more sugar today.

2. If you do the dance party method of reward, be prepared for when your little trainee comes out the the bathroom singing to a restaurant full of people, "Poo poo in the pot-tee! Poo poo in the pot-tee!"

3. If you potty train your child (who also happens to be a little mommy-in-training) by demonstrating a doll using the potty, be prepared for your child to then teach ALL her other dolls how to use the potty.  Additionally, be prepared to wash these dolls when they fall into the potty. See exhibit A below.


Exhibit A

4.  Scarves, while really cute and warm, should be removed when helping a child with their potty needs...unless you like wearing toilet water, ETC.

5.  Don't let your daughter see the spare pair of panties you keep in your purse for "just in case"...not because it will show your lack of confidence in her (although it might), but because you may be having a nice lunch at a restaurant and look over to see your daughter naked from the waist down so she can put on the purse panties instead.

6.  Purse panties DO come in handy for when your child has an accident...OR when she manages to completely miss the potty she is sitting on and somehow projects pee all over her panties instead...OR for when your water-loving child goes for a dip in the mall fountain...OR if you are at a social function and you play the purse game (a contest to see who has the most random thing in her purse.)

7. VERY IMPORTANT (and I learned and relearned this one with EACH child) When trainer is using the public restroom in the presence of a young trainee, be aware that certain locks on toddler-friendly lever handles will pop open when said trainee pulls (as she/he certainly will) on the lever...thus exposing you to the next person in line / entire restaurant / people resting their feet at the mall.

8. A little potty humor goes a long way towards keeping you cheerful when things really stink (sorry, I couldn't resist one more!)

Actually, Annabelle has been so easy to potty train.  She has been excited about this new independence and getting to wear Minnie Mouse underwear.  She still has occasional accidents but I am so proud of her for picking this up so quickly.  Today, she couldn't decide which pair of Minnie Mouse panties she wanted to wear so she wore them both.

Helping Mommy work

Playing with Light

Hanging out with a friend

pics of all 3 kids...together...looking at the camera!

On my birthday, I guilted convinced my kids to let me get a few pics of all three of them together.

The Soda Fountain

The day we ran around town doing acts of kindness, we made a fun stop (because the kids were running out of steam).  We were driving around (trying to find a homeless person to give toiletries and a blanket to), Annabelle had fallen asleep and the boys were tired of being in the car.  I quietly mentioned to Cody that I knew of an old fashioned soda fountain shop and maybe we could get the kids some ice cream.  I am not exaggerating, Annabelle popped up from her nap and immediately started shouting, "Ice Cream! Ice Cream!"  The girl loves her some ice cream.


Annabelle ate her ice cream and then helped out Barrett with his Strawberry milkshake.

(Barrett took this picture...he did pretty good!)

35 acts of kindness for my 35th birthday

In celebration of my 35th birthday, I decided to do 35 Acts of Kindness.  (Click HERE for more about that).
Last Saturday, we woke up bright and early, and (some of us) rar-ar-ar-ing to go.  We loaded up the car with lots of items we would be donating to various places and began our day-long adventure of doing acts of kindness for others.  Here's what we did:

1) Left Lemon loaf in our mailbox for the mailman
2) Wrote "Have a great day!" on the street.  Later, a friend told me she jogged by it and it made her smile.
3) Deliver lemon loaves to neighbors on our street.  We left them without knocking because it was pretty early, but our next door neighbors came by later to thank us and we had a good chat.


4) Took bags filled with 35 Hershey's Kisses to my favorite Sonic carhops.


5) Went through the Starbucks drive thru and bought coffee for the car behind us. (I wonder if they knew they were going to be lucky sitting behind a car with this written on the back window)


6) At Target, we bought some gift cards to give out later, but we gave one to the cashier right after we paid.

7) Also at Target I put a bag of diapers and wipes in the family restroom.


8) Next we went to the Dollar Store and attached a bunch of dollar bills to items around the store.  (The boys loved this!)


9) Mailed Nena (my grandmother) a homemade gift from the kids


10) Took flowers to someone we knew who could use some cheering up


11)  Broke into my mom's house while she was out of town and cleaned as much as we could.  Her house was pretty darn clean, but we found a few things to do.

12) Let someone go in front of us in line at the grocery store

13) Helped people unload groceries into their trunks, and returned carts to the store

14) Delivered Girl Scout and Homemade cookies to the fire station - Kyle was very happy he got to see the inside of an ambulance and talk to the firemen.


15) Donated toys and coloring books to Children's Hospital


16) Donated Pajamas for the Mamas at Children's Hospital (If you have ever taken a child to the ER and ended up getting admitted while wearing throw-up stained jeans and clothes, you would be very appreciative for these jammies...I know.)


17) Donated food to Food Pantry


18) Donated coats and clothes to Joseph's Coat

19) Taped dollar bills to vending machines
20) Donated a big box of Goldfish to the church nursery


21) Gave bottled water to a crew of construction workers

22) Left a big tip at lunch

23) Gave a blanket and baggie of toiletries to a homeless man.  I watched the man afterward and he just kept smiling at that bag of hotel soaps for the longest time.

24-28) Tucked $5 Target gift cards under wipers of cars parked at The Salvation Army
29) Donated about 10 books to the local library

30) Left a bottle of Laundry detergent at the Laundromat

31) Gave $50 Target gift card to someone doing laundry at the laundromat

32) Donated peanut butter and Dog Treats to Operation Kindness Animal Shelter


33) Donated a printer/scanner/fax machine and ink cartridges to Operation Kindness (Their website indicated they were in need of one)

34) Went to the nursing home and handed out cheerful flower pens


35) picked up trash around the neighborhood.

It took all day and we were completely exhausted and yet fulfilled at the same time.  We came home and watched a movie together as a family.  It was a great birthday!