Typical Sunday evening

This is a typical Sunday evening.  Let's see, do the laundry, pack the snacks for snacktime, load naptime blankets and sheets into the car and bathe the children.  Then I need to wash and comb everyone's hair (except my husband's--he doesn't have any). I'm going to have to remember everything that can't be taken out of the refrigerator until morning. The way I do that is to hang an empty bag on the front door so that when I go to leave I wonder why it is there and go back for the stuff I need to take.  I will need to decide what I'm wearing tomorrow and put a week's worth of clothes in the organizer for the children. My hubby and I will talk about the dinner plan for Monday and he will "take something out of the freezer."

I do all of this and what is my loving spouse doing...sleeping. 

Word from the Wise:  A man works from sun to sun but a woman's work is never done.  Accept it and move on.  I'm still trying and will probably nag my husband for help.

Road Trip For a High School Graduation

We've just returned from a good trip to Pittsburgh. The drive both ways was great. Weather and traffic were great and the kids were fine with their dvds. The drive to Pittsburgh is about 3 1/2 hours from our home so 2 dvds used up the entire drive time.  Once we were in Pittsburgh we rushed into the home of a relative and changed into clean clothes to attend my niece's graduation.  We attended the graduation and later went to dinner with the graduate and our extended family. At the dinner there was talk of college and money and all things after high school. My niece had done well in high school and dreamed of a film career after college.  My husband and I encouraged her at every opportunity and hoped she would apply and attend college.  We hosted a BBQ for her the next day and welcomed her into her independence.

Word from the Wise:  Say what you want, our children will learn from what we do. My husband and I believe in education so we made the 3 1/2 hour drive with our little ones to reinforce the importance of education for our niece. I plan to "show up" for her at every graduation she has in my lifetime.  Education is important.            

A Memorable Memorial Day continued

Word from the wise:  It is always a good idea to give your toddlers warnings about when the fun will be ending.  Transitions can be hard for little children.  I choose to use warnings that include time but one could easily substitute activities for smaller children.  Say something like "we are going to go after your next slide" or "It is time to go, one more slide before we go.  That way children have time to process the transition or negotiate a little more time. If you know you have a negotiator, build that into your transition time. It also helps them to transition when you give them something to transition to that is positive for them.  Once in the car, I told my girls that we would go home, take a bath, eat dinner and have a Fruit by the Foot. Only then did my 3 year old begin to recover from leaving the playground.

A Memorable Memorial Day

We've moved back home and are settling into our old routines.  This week will serve as the mold for the next few months. With the school year winding down, the discussions about homework and grades will end for a while. The discussions will turn from homework and grades to summer activities and reading. We tried and successfully had a low keyed memorial day with lots of free play for the girls and quiet time for me and my husband.  Our house, we once thought too small, seems like a mansion since we've spent the last six weeks in one room.  At around 5 p.m., I decided to take the girls to the playground to burn some energy. They were thrilled. So we loaded into our minivan, made a quick stop at KFC to pick up some grilled chicken and sides and headed to one of our favorite playgrounds.  Once my girls saw the playground, eating was out of the question.  They raced toward the swings and insisted on being pushed. After the swings the children raced from one thing to the next on the playground finally settling on the sand play area.  In short order, my 3 year old had sand in her hair and eyes. She ran to me crying that she had bumped her head on the equipment and demanded that I kiss her boo boo. After giving her one of mommy's magic kisses, I proceeded to help her get the sand out of her eyes. As soon as her full vision was restored she ran back to the sand area. I quietly ate my grilled chicken and slaw while watching my girls play. After about 2 hours, I decided it was time to go home. It was getting dark and late. I gave my girls the usual 10 minute warning and began to watch the time closely.  I yelled out a five minute warning to my girls and opened the automatic door on our Toyota Sienna to cool the interior of the vehicle. I gathered the uneaten food and put it in the van. Since I had parked parallel to the playground and not in a parking space, I remained only steps away from the bench I sat in to watch my girls. Since I'm a paranoid mom who wants only to watch my girls grow up healthy, secure, happy and yes successful (meaning they don't live in my basement when they are 40), I never took my eyes off of them.  I called to them hoping the warnings would stave off the tantrums that usually followed a good time. My 4 year old came quickly although unhappy about leaving her beloved playground.  My 3 year old was another story. She responded as if she had been shot. She threw herself on the ground and began to wail. I quietly picked her up and moved toward our minivan.  Once we were all loaded and buckled in, I took us home. A warm bath and the bedtime routine.

Going home

Today we left the last hotel and came home. My 3 and 4 year olds were so excited to sleep in their own beds away from mom and dad. I thought going home would be easy but soon realized the work we had ahead of us.  Lets see, we needed new blinds, an area rug for the little girls' room and lots of cleaning products. Then we had to put down the rug (lifting the furniture) install the blinds and clean everything. We had to pull everything out of the closets or where ever we'd stashed them so that they would be out of the way during construction. And then there's food. Well we didn't have any food in the house (that wasn't 6 weeks old). 

My children are excited about returning to their old familiar routines. School---dinner---homework----bath---1 hour of television---30 minutes of books---bed. I'm excited about the possibility of rested children who don't hit their friends at school. I'll blog about my parent conference with my 3 year old's teacher about the hitting and tantrums she has been doing since we began our "Ho and Tell" experience. I'll also share the plan we devised to get rid of her inappropriate behaviors.

I've never been so happy to do so much work. I am happy because I am home. I believe the 6 weeks we spent in tiny hotel rooms (smaller than our master bedroom) served to help us appreciate the home we have.  My husband and I had been praying for a way to buy a bigger home our answer came in a lesson that helped us appreciate the home we have.

Today was busy and exhausting...but it was a GOOD day.

Word from the wise:  Even when you think things are bad or uncomfortable they could always be worse. Appreciate the little things and look for the silver lining in all things. 

At the Ho and Tell

My family and I have had to leave our home while repairs are being made. We had black mold.  We are a family of six but had our older children stay with their mother while my husband and I lived in hotels with our 3 year old and 4 year old. We stayed at a hotel in Silver Spring, Maryland in April and May.  On May 7, 2011, we found two “Hide a Key” holders full of crack cocaine in our room. I do not have the background experience necessary to know what I’d found but got nervous when I saw the world’s smallest Ziploc bag with small white rocks and powder in them.  In a panic, my husband began flushing the drugs down the toilet in fear that our youngest, who still eats off the floor despite our best efforts, would get into the drugs.  Then as my husband was flushing, I realized that guests who have this amount of drugs probably wouldn’t leave them behind when they couldn’t be sure they could get the same room again.  We began to worry that the drugs were stashed by a Hotel staff member. So we took them to the manager and talked with him confidentially.  He gave us two free nights and upon my husband’s insistence, changed our room.  I couldn’t sleep at for the remainder of our stay.  I worried that the owner of the drugs would return and hurt my family. My fear was fueled by the fact that the manager sent a hotel staff member to check our new room “for drugs”.   The confidentiality was lost at that point.

 We spent the remainder of our time at the hotel in fear that someone would come back and hurt us for the drugs.  My three year old stood up from her chair and screamed "I don't like this Ho and Tell, I want to go home".  My husband and I agreed and moved to a different hotel.

A word from the wise:  Check the bedframes of the hotels you stay in if you have young children.  Had our 3 or 4 year old children found the drugs first they might not be here today. If you find something call the police not hotel staff.  This lesson we learned the hard way. Keeping your children safe should not be this hard.