Those of you who know me, know that I am not a crafty mama. Those of you who know me well though know that I do more crafts with my kids than I'll admit. I think it's kind of like cooking. I cook pretty much every night, and it's from scratch and healthy, but I don't consider myself a cook. Basically every month I get a new issue of Cooking Light, and try most of the recipes. The ones I like I save, and everything else gets tossed in the recycling bin. Next month I do the same and use some of the saved recipes from previous months as well. I think like with crafts, it's because it's alright to do, but not something that I would like to be defined by. Also much like cooking, with crafts it depends just exactly how complicated the project is.
Every year up until now I have bought Valentine's cards from the grocery store. You know the ones that cost a couple bucks particularly if you wait until the day before your child's preschool Valentine's Day party? That would be the ones. One year I even bought them on clearance after Valentine's Day and saved them. Time is money though and the amount of time I spent trying to find them the following Valentine's was not enough to justify the dollar or two difference!
This year my older son (OS) announced he wanted to make Valentines. What?! I smiled and said sure confident that in another day or so this crazy idea would pass particularly when he saw the boxes of cards at the store. Unfortunately for me it did not and instead it turned into him nagging me to take him to get supplies. Monkey see monkey do and my younger son (YS) was also clamoring to make his own.
Here's what I came up with also to be cross-posted at Crafts for the Clueless.
Set your own definition for homemade. Mine was that it's made in your home not that every single aspect has to be your child's own original work.
Buy a container of heart shaped foam stickers.
Buy a package of construction paper. Yes, you would assume that parents of small children would have this, but hey this blogger gives her kids computer paper for drawings. I personally recommend nipping the idea of only pink and red in the bud and focusing on how surely someone would love a valentine made from the black paper that always comes in packs of construction paper
Buy a pack of Valentine's stickers. I got a huge pack for $1.
Glitter pens add a nice touch. Do not however buy glitter unless you want to be finding traces of it for the next ten years. This is one aspect of crafting I have always remained firm about with my kids. I swear my parents are still finding glitter in the cracks of their kitchen table from my brother back in the 80's. Sure kids should use glitter...at preschool and at someone else's house
Try not to think about how much more money your "homemade" cards are costing than the cheap-o box of Valentine's at CVS even with a coupon.
Use the base of the foam container to trace Valentine's. Ours happened to be heart shaped which worked out great, but honestly the kids would have been happy with squares or circles
Cut out enough for each kid in the class. Place them on the table with crayons, markers and your new supplies and let them loose*. Tell them to make sure each paper is decorated.
Drink a cup of coffee and just relax. No really, don't try to tell them how to decorate their cards. It's their project after all. Just be glad you used construction paper instead of computer paper because it's sturdier for all the decorations aka glitter glue.
I really did let them do whatever they wanted and other than help them start a few new glitter pens and peel a couple more complicated foam stickers at the beginning, I was able to sit back and relax. There really wasn't much to clean up either. I have to say it occupied them for over hour and the results were pretty impressive. Now of course I just have to fight the urge to write a note on the back of each Valentine telling the recipient they better treasure the Valentine because it was handmade after all!
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: The term homemade is defined by the creator of the craft.
*Normally I would have used this as an opportunity for practicing cutting, but I was worried that it was just too much for them to do; in other words, they would cut out the shapes but I would end up decorating them! Seeing as OS does fine with scissors and YS is only 3 I decided to go ahead and cut out the shapes by cutting 4 pieces of paper at a time to speed up the process.
With all the bad things going on the world right now, it's hard to complain about a bad day. However, it is still possible, and there are some rough parenting days. Maybe the trick is to look at them with a sense of humor...or a really good glass of wine. Seeing as I don't have any of the latter on-hand right now, unless you count the cooking wine, I'll go with humor.
Today I needed to take the boys to Boston for their ENT appointments. I dread these appointments. They usually take a minimum of three hours. First we have to wait for the audiology test, then have the test, then wait to see the doctor, then see the doctor. This doesn't even take into account just trying to find the building in the first place and then driving my CRV through narrow alleys that were probably barely wide enough for one person on horseback in the 18th century.
After a good swim this morning, I came home and brought out the golden bribe. That's right the bribe of all bribes: the portable DVD player. Normally I'm not the type of parent who packs toys and snacks for a doctor's appointment. First of all, I have no interest in doing it. Second, my kids would much rather play with germy office toys than anything I bring, so rather than fight it, I just try to remember to have them use a wipe on their hands when we leave. Before you groan, let me just say that my older son has not been sick at all this year. My younger one hasn't had more than a mild cough. His "sick days" have been for the two times I kept him home from school to go to playdates. My approach to germ management apparently works. Knock on wood big time!
Seeing as ENT appointments are horrific at best, I not only packed the DVD player, I packed lunch as well. Just as I finished up, I heard squeals coming from the bathroom. Hmm..two boys+fighting+laughing+overflowing toilet= squeals. In their defense, the toilet had been acting funny since yesterday. Whether it was a Leggo or a number 2, I know that at least one of them had something to do with it. Unfotunately I didn't have time to do much more than turn off the water and throw down a bunch of towels. Yeah, gross I know. What are blogs though if not true confessions? I shut the door so that the cats wouldn't get in the bathroom.
Off we went to Boston. After a number of traffic jams, pokes, threats, and counts to 3, we made it to Storrow Drive. All of a sudden I saw someone looking right at me. Yes, there was a cyclist riding along side my car. I was so startled I dropped an F bomb derivative. Yes, the boys learned a new vocabulary word today. They seemed impressed. Let's hope that their teachers are as well if they use it. I'm kidding. Let's hope they don't use it.
After getting majorly lost...three times, we made it. The hearing tests went well. Their exams went well. However, when I asked the doctor about OS's "phlegmy noises" he had a blank look on his face. You know, the throat clearing, aheming, coughing, and snorting that I presumed were the result of a serious medical problem? The doctor laughed. He did know exactly what I was talking about and apparently has had more than one parent of a boy come convinced that there surely is something wrong with their son. It was what I had suspected: a bad habit. Apparently my use of the term "gross boy noises" is not medically accurate.
Fortunately that was the boys last visit!! Their ear tubes are gone, and their ears are free of unnatural holes. The doctor in fact commented on how healthy they both were. I beamed with pride. Then I followed his gaze and realized he was eyeing YS who was under the chair, quite possibly licking the floor. Rats! I had hoped he wouldn't notice that. He laughed.
We dropped OS off at school, and then YS and I headed home..where we found our neighbor's dogs chasing cars in the streets. I parked the car in her driveway, and we got the dogs to follow us to her house. Phew. Time to sit down for a minute or two of relaxation. Or so I thought. A different neighbor called asking if she could come over. I furtively looked around my house as if she could see me...um my house was not at it's best. Outside of the boarded up bathroom quite possibly reeking of pee, I hadn't had time to run the dishwasher, wipe the the table or really put anything away. Two minutes later she was in my kitchen. Thankfully she didn't need to use my bathroom.
I did have a nice conversation with her. She didn't seem to care about the state of my house. Then it was time to pick up OS up for school because part of my big time bribe included taking him to NEADS to pet puppies. I almost never pick OS up from school. Apparently it showed. There is a rumor that someone named Balex Melliot may have held up the pick up line because she was confused about where her son was waiting. A teacher may have commented that it was obvious that her son usually takes the bus. I have no idea who this person is!
Playing with the puppies was fantastic! The boys had a great time...alright I probably had the best time of everyone! We came home, I made dinner and then realized that I never delt with the bathroom. Towels were thrown in the wash, the mop came out as did the Clorox. I was convinced that I had gotten stabbed in the foot but realized I had actually stepped on a Leggo in the kitchen. I almost had a repeat of today's word of the day. Since the newly clean but still wet bathroom is the one with the bathtub, I took YS upstairs for his first shower. He actually did pretty well. OS enjoyed his shower as well. Now if only they will fall asleep.
Alex Elliot's Mother-in-Law's Lesson Learned (as shared on Facebook): Now you don't have to worry about what they'll pick up from other kids or on the street. There are times when those are the only appropriate words, as long as they don't just fling them about randomly.
My 6 yr old came home from Catholic school with the F word and the C word. Wanted to know what they meant. I explained what they meant & how to use them in a sentence. They I explained that if any adult heard him use them, he would be in big trouble.
I learned all THOSE words from my dad before kindergarten. I figured letting mine get to first grade with minimal exposure was a step in the right direction.
Hey, all in all, it could have been WAAAAY worse, you know? Just think of all the ways that the little situations could have gone horribly wrong and you'll end up feeling like you've had a really accomplished day!
This past Thursday my younger son (YS) had a pajama day at preschool, or as we call it in our house a no underwear or commando day. When our older son (OS) was YS's age, he wasn't night time potty trained. The morning of the preschool pj day, he took off the overnight pull-up, put on underwear and put his pajama bottoms back on. YS however, has been night time trained for a while. Thus no need to remove a pull-up and no forced opportunity to add underwear.
When I dropped YS off at preschool, I explained to the teacher that Pajama Day was synonymous with No Underwear Day and that there was a pair of underwear in his backpack in case it was a problem. It of course wasn't. A former kindergarten teacher friend of mine told me that on any given day there's at least one student not wearing underwear. She also said something about the teachers, but I'll leave that to you.
Without revealing anyone's secrets, I will say that I opened up about this story to a lot of people, and in return I learned a lot about whether various people wear underwear at night...or during the day for that matter. The stories just kept on coming free throughout this weekend. The phrase "let it all air out" came up a lot.
As for what I do, well I may be a blogger but I'm not going to spill that secret! However, I'll leave you with an additional lesson learned.
A. Elliot's Relevant Lesson Learned: If you need to get a conversation going, discussing whether or not one should wear underwear to bed at night will do the trick.
A. Elliot's Unrelated Lesson Learned: If you decide to wax part of your face because your 6 year old lists you as one of the people he knows who has a mustache, be aware that doing so will hurt a lot.
Our kids have never spent a night away from us. Let me re-phrase that. We've never spent a night away from our kids. Notice the emphasis is on the Big Giraffe and me!
When our older son (OS) was younger, he did spend a night here and there with a friend which was wonderful. My mom also came to stay with him a couple times so that we could get away for the weekend. However, once we had two, it just became a lot more complicated, particularly because our friends all had at least two kids.
About a year ago I was talking with a friend who also has two kids and an out-of-state family about what he does to get away with his wife. He said that whenever his family comes to visit, they stay for at least a week so that there's plenty of time to spend with him and his wife and also time so that they can get away and the family can spend time with the kids. When he first told me about it, I thought it was a little..well...rude. I mean his family is presumably coming to see him. He pointed out that his family doesn't see it like that since they enjoy spending time alone with his kids.
I discussed this with a couple of other people that I know with out-of-state families and they said that they do the same thing. Who knew! Apparently not me. They also often extend their trips to visit family by a night or two so that they can stay in a hotel over by their families while their families get stuck babysitting the kids spend quality time with their kids.
I ran this by some family members and they seemed to really like this idea. The Big Giraffe and I were excited. We would finally be able to get away even if it is only to some dinky hotel in Worcester or the Chicago suburbs. However, just like with the best of plans, it just hasn't worked out. I think the longest we've had family visit us has been a couple of nights, and our visits to them do not last any longer. When that visiting time is jam packed with activities, there is little extra time available. It also becomes an added expense when we're already paying to travel to the Midwest at the same time.
We've had a few friends volunteer to watch our kids for us recently. For my birthday I told the Big Giraffe that what I would really like is to be able to go away for a night even if we stay here. There's a lot to be said for getting to stay in your quiet house. There were many emails between the Big Giraffe and my friends, a rumor of a few fights between the Big Giraffe and me, and we now have an official get away weekend! Sally HP will be watching the boys one night and my triathlon training buddy will be taking the boys the next night. Some family friends have also volunteered to watch the boys for...gasp here...several nights in a row so we can go away for our ten year anniversary!
I entered the last year of my early thirties yesterday. Oh come on! 34 is still early thirties. At least that's what I've been telling myself! Some birthdays are obviously better than others. This one takes the cake, so to speak, for being one of the best ever. Yes, it was really that good!
It started on Thursday. Sally HP had previously IM'd me to tell me that she would be picking me up at 6:45. No questions allowed. I tried to inquire whether or not I should eat dinner and was accused of fishing for information. I ate a PB&J at 5 pm.
At 6:45 she and my triathlon training buddy picked me up. Solely because they needed directions, they told me where we were going: The Citizen in Worcester. It's a restaurant that specializes in cheese, chocolate and wine. It's like going to a Chinese restaurant in that the more people you go with, the more different types of dishes (in this case cheese and chocolate) you can order to share. Three friends met us there. I had a fabulous time! Chocolate, cheese, wine and friends. It doesn't get much better than that! Yeah, I know I'm supposed to say some sort of motherly line about how if only my family could have been there, blah blah. Not happening! Needless to say, I didn't work out on Friday!
Once a year my moms group has a spa day. Usually that's my birthday present although it isn't necessarily on my birthday. This year it happened to fall on Saturday. After I worked out and the Big Giraffe and I took the boys to swim lessons, I headed over and spent a few hours totally relaxing. I had a facial* followed by hanging out with friends and having fruit, more cheese and of course wine. Hmm...that's a lot of cheese (not wine though)!
Sunday was my actual birthday. I got to sleep in and than after a lunch where no cheese was involved, we had birthday cake and I was able to run some errands sans kiddos. CVS was irritatingly slow, but again since I was without children, it wasn't such a big deal. Later on in the evening, I discovered that a pricey restaurant that I had always wanted to try had a Sunday priced fixed dinner. The Big Giraffe had already arranged a babysitter and was able to make reservations at the new restaurant. We had a fantastic time. Later on that night I put on my new anti-aging night cream. No, I'm not kidding about that. My skin has been unbelievably dry lately. The Big Giraffe was disturbed when I first told him about it because he was envisioning cold cream. Lotion, as in it dissolves into your skin! Of course there were phone calls and emails from family and friends, not to mention Facebook.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: 34 is a great age, even if it does require night time lotion!
*Since I am now the mature age of 34, I decided not to go with a boob massage again at least for this year!
Glad that you had a happy birthday, and I'm sorry that I missed you. By the way, I totally want to go to that cheese and chocolate place next time I come up to see. And you'll have to let me know how that chocolate sea salt caramel bar is.
Not surprisingly there's not exactly a lot of downhill skiing in Chicago or its suburbs. I didn't learn to ski until I was 14. After that, I went skiing with my youth group in Michigan once a year. Also not surprisingly there's not a lot of skiing in NYC. The Big Giraffe didn't learn how to ski until he was 27. The state of New York was offering a wonderful program called 1,2,3 Learn to Ski and we went skiing several times using it.
Also not suprisingly since New England offers many many places to ski, kids seem to learn to ski much younger here than where either one of us grew up. Because we are raising two little New Englanders, we thought that this might be a good time for our older son (OS) to learn to ski. In all honesty even at 14, I was aware of the very good possibility that I could break my arm. When you're little, you're much closer to ground when you fall and you're not as concerned about it. You also recover quicker. My younger son (YS) fell on the driveway this morning and bounced right back up to continue chasing his brother. If I fell on the driveway I would be writing this blog post from an ambulance.
We live right by a ski place that is offering relatively inexpensive ski lesson (relative being the key word since skiing itself is expensive) for kids ages 4-7. Here I thought I was starting 6 year old OS off early! We signed up OS and had him fitted for rental skis.
Yesterday was the first lesson. As soon as OS got off the bus, we headed over so we would have plenty of time. I was glad we did because the place was in a state of mass chaos. There was one person working to check people in and the line was pretty long.
All the rental equipment was well labeled with the kids' names. It was just a matter of finding where the said rental equipment was. However, there were employees standing around although oddly not at the check in, and we were able to find all of OS's items. In fact, we even had a little bit of extra time. No complaints from me on that!
When it was time for the lesson we wandered out to the ski school spot. OS was the only one who had never been skiing. He's only 6!!! I made a mental note to start YS next year since he'll be 4.5. They were broken up into groups based on ability. It was no big shocker that OS was in the group that started out by practing walking up and down a small slope in just their ski boots. Sacrasm aside, it was actually exactly what he needed and he was pleased with it. Then they had the kids put on just one ski and walk around like that.
I can't tell you how long they did that or what else they did for that matter because YS who had been pitching a fit the whole time about being there had now escalated to full fledged howls. We went into the ski lodge where I gave him the goldfish crackers and apple juice that I had brought with me. That quieted him for about a grand total of two minutes until he started up again that he wanted more goldfish crackers. My triathlon training buddy's kids had lessons in the slot before ours and was on her way out the door. She offered YS a cheese stick which he vehemently refused. I took it anyway and wouldn't you know 30 seconds later he wanted it.
A minute later he was in rare form again. I moved tables to talk with another mom I knew. OS flung himself on the floor in the path of people exiting the small snack bar line. I had to practically pry him off the floor. The tears and scowling continued for what seemed like forever. Finally he wedged himself under a table and was quiet. The other mom had left to go home at this point since her husband was out there with their son so I did want any good mommy blogger does and got on my Blackberry was giving silent thanks for the fact that YS was quiet. But why was he so quiet? Because he was eating popcorn that someone had dropped on the floor!!! I reminded myself that my kids are always doing stuff like that and neither one has missed any school this year! They appear to have immune systems of steel. Did I just jinx myself? Is there a huge case of diarrhea in the imminent future?
I dragged YS out for the end of his brother's ski lesson. Unfortunately you can't see the ski school from the lodge. We watched him ski about five feet down an incline. He was really enjoying it. YS then piped up that he had to go to the bathroom. One of the instructors said that she would take OS back to the lodge after the class. Unfortunately though she didn't and I found a teary eyed OS back outside holding a different teacher's hand who had no idea that I had taken YS to the bathroom. That was the only downer in the lesson but it was unfortunate that it happened at the end.
That was pretty much it. There was a slight incident involving a hot dog from the snack bar and some more tears and I definitely left the ski lodge feeling like I had spent an hour rolling down the hill but the important thing is that OS can't wait to go back. That and I promised myself two things 1) Bring snowpants for YS next time so that he won't be so cold outside 2) Bribe YS with popcorn! 3) Have a bottle of wine waiting for me at home.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Kids ski lessons can be more exhausting for the parents than the kids.
Thanks, Heather! Tyler and Kendall's Mom, I'm also going to pick up underwear for the boys. They didn't have any and OS was cold. Kim said her kids always wear it when skiing.
I keep saying I need to take the girls to learn to ski (they're ancient by those standards - 5,6 and 8). But the closest place - and probably the same one you are using is about 45 minutes away. By the time school and homework is done, it's just too late. Maybe some weekend when we find some free time.
Back in November my aunt had offered to let us use her time share in New York City for the New Year. Not the whole year, silly, from December 30th - January 2 at the Manhattan Club which is located just north of Times Square! This was right around when Merlin got sick though and so while we really appreciated the offer, we couldn't accept it. A little while after he passed away though I called her to see if it was still available. Those of you who know me in real life, particularly those of you who actually saw me this week, will not be surprised to learn that it was.
We got there on Wednesday, and the boys were beyond excited. After we checked into the hotel, we met Suzanne, her husband and another friend for dinner. After rejecting the opportunity to wait an hour for two disparate tables at a pricey but excellent diner called the Brooklyn Diner, we went to a different diner. I took great delight in eating gyros since I enjoy them so much and they're hard to find around here. Afterward we went back to the hotel where I fell asleep; the boys did continue to stay up incredibly late. I think I had a slight fever that night, as I was coming down with a cold and sore throat.
The next day we made it to the Brooklyn Diner for breakfast. As expected, the food was great, but it ended up being $100 for the four of us! I do have to say that we had been warned that the portions were huge and that we should have the boys share. The upside is that we got three meals worth of food and didn't have to buy breakfast the next day! The Big Giraffe and I traded off working out at the otherwise empty gym and then took the boys to FAO Schwartz. Being New Year's Eve and being FAO Schwartz made it super crowded. The boys were overwhelmed. We had told them they could each get a small souvenir. It was all just too much for YS and he couldn't make a selection. We told him he could get something at the M&M store.
After getting a snack, we took the boys to Rockerfeller Center to see the Christmas Tree. The Big Giraffe and I were quite taken with it. The boys were quite taken with the pigeons eating soft pretzels and couldn't have cared less about the tree. In fact when the Big Giraffe was trying to take their picture in front of the tree OS wanted to know if he could get his picture taken with the pigeons instead! Sadly though I said no and am now regretting it.
We watched the ice skaters at Rockerfeller Center and even saw a marriage proposal there (or two brazen people willing to lie to get the ice to themselves)! Then we headed off to the M&M store. Given that it was just past 4pm on New Year's Eve in an area filled with a captive audience of cold pedestrians who had almost eight hours to wait for the ball to drop, we were surprised to find the store closed. YS was pretty upset, until we stopped in a dinky souvenir shop where he fell in love with a stuffed animal frog. It was actually nicer than a collection of stuffed animals, including a frog, sewed to a toy boat that we had passed at FAO Schwartz, and cost a lot less so everyone was happy.
Later on that evening we got together with Suzanne and hubby and 3 other friends for a New Year's Eve dinner at a Turkish restaurant. Those of you who know me will not be surprised that I ordered gyros again! The food was great, and the conversation was even better. The boys both enjoyed the food and drawing pictures on multi-colored post-it notes. They became ecstatic on our way out when a couple gave OS a really nice velvet hat with streamers that lit up and YS a light up necklace/noise maker. We then headed back to the hotel. Three of us fell asleep just before midnight. The Big Giraffe made a literal eleventh hour (and forty-five minute) attempt to walk outside of the hotel in sight of the ball, but could not get an elevator. He watched the ball drop on TV in the room, same as he used to when he lived in New York City.
After breakfast the next morning, we headed to the Museum of Natural History, which also happens to be the Big Giraffe's favorite museum in the world. All I can say is that it is one large museum! We were there for several hours and probably only saw about a third of it. The boys had a great time, particularly with the taxidermy, ocean section, and dinosaurs. I do wish I had listened to myself and left earlier instead of trying to milk their attention span for all that it was worth. Our departure included temper tantrums.
Suzanne's hubby and YS made deep dish pizzas for everyone while Suzanne and I went to an Israeli cafe to get real hot chocolates with actual melted pieces of chocolate added to steamed milk The boys watched Disney's cartoon Robin Hood...three times over the evening. During the third showing after dinner, a few of us went to Magnolia Bakery to pickup cupcakes. It shouldn't come as any surprise that I was up for a large part of the night with horrible stomach pains.
After a final breakfast with friends, we took the boys to see a gingerbread house exhibit made up of creations from several famous bakeries. I am sure they were beautiful when first crafted, but they did not stand up well to a couple of weeks in a hot and dry hotel lobby. I would even go so far as to say that the one the boys made last week with a gingerbread house kit from last year looked better. Then we hit the road.
OS is named after a friend of ours who passed away at 30 from colon cancer. We had originally planned on driving to northwest New Jersey on our way home to visit his parents. After hearing about an alleged blizzard hitting New England, the Big Giraffe conducted an extensive analysis of weather.com's hourly predictions throughout our route. He concluded that the trip to New Jersey should be fine and that the trip home was predicted to be equally bad no matter when and from where we attempted it. If weather.com was right, we could stop at a hotel on the route for one more night. I had planned ahead and brought an extra change of clothing for both boys and me.
We not only had a great time in New Jersey (hey, stop snickering, I lived in the Garden State for two years and I like it) but we found a gap between internet and reality. Yes, there was a lot of wind, but there was no traffic and no snow in New Jersey, New York, or Connecticut. Wind blew a light dusting of already fallen snow into the windshield a few times in the last half hour as we approached home, and there was slush coating the road in the two minutes from leaving the highway through pulling into our snowy but passable driveway. Maybe it was part of their New Year's resolution, but the cats didn't even pee on our beds when we were gone!
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Bringing extra clothes is a great way to ensure an easy road trip, and choosing New York City and seeing friends is a great way to ensure fun at the destination.
Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
For those of us who didn't get an instruction manual with our babies and for whom parenting hasn't always gone as planned. On a more serious note this blog is about supporting a woman's ability to make her own choices about parenting including the choice, for whatever reason, to bottle feed her babies formula.
you are amazing if the boys have not heard the F bomb until now? I'm sure it'll be part of my children's early vocabulary.