Happy St. Patty's!

Yesterday Ava had to wear green to preschool in celebration of St. Patrick's day. When we picked her up she came out wearing a construction paper crown...no wait, "it's a HEADBAND, Mom"...with a shamrock on it. In her back pack was a red-bearded leprechaun decoration.

Tomorrow's St. Patrick's Day! She shouted.

She seemed awfully excited. I chalked it up to pent up 4 year old energy. We do have a speck of Irish in us on my mom's side. My husband does have a red beard which hints to some unknown Irish roots and wouldn't be one to turn down a green beer either...but she seemed REALLY excited. It was cute!

Later that afternoon I took them in to JoAnn Fabrics so that I could blow my Verizon phone rebate on Scrap booking supplies (I blogged about it HERE and NO I haven't given up on the idea of scrap booking yet!) My mom is a manager at JoAnn, so the girls were excited to see her as always. Again Ava bobbed up and down shouting out for the store to hear: Tomorrow's St. Patrick's Day! St. Patrick is coming TONIGHT!

WHOA! Put on the brakes. What, Ava?

ST. PATRICK IS COMING TONIGHT!

My mouth dropped open. My mom giggled.

No, Ava, my mom said. We just wear green for St. Patrick's Day...that's about it!

No, Ava said (this girl is ALWAYS right.) ST. PATRICK is COMING to our HOUSE tonight!

Oh, Mom said. And what does St. Patrick bring?

Matter of factly, Ava replied: He brings a REAL pot o' gold!!!

Here's hoping kid...

May you find your POT O'GOLD today everyone! Happy St. Pat's!

I must have been glowing!

I had such a nice weekend. Two good hair days in a row and lots to do!

On Friday, Jim and I took the girls to see Disney's Finding Nemo on Ice. I should have taken a picture of how enthralled Olivia and Ava were because it was so darn cute. They were the perfect age for it. Jordan had fun too, but I don't think it would have mattered what costumed character was skating out there, she was just happy to wave at her friends and chit chat! What a social butterfly. We went with her Daisy troop, so there were plenty of friends to see. Of course we couldn't get out of there without dropping too much money on overpriced plush toys and snacks. Still a good time was had by all...and I was happy to be out of the house as a family.

Saturday, Jim worked during the day but then we got to out afterwards! My daughters' school had their big fund raiser that night. It was an excuse to dress up and spend more money. It was nice to get a chance to socialize with parents and teachers. They had tons of nice baskets and items for auction. Jim walked away the winner of an autographed Brooks Orpik picture...to add to our growing collection of Pens signed memorabilia.

The reason for my Blog title this week was that lots of people came up to me to say that I looked beautiful on Saturday night! Some people actually said nothing more to me than how wonderful I looked. These comments were completely unsolicited...but I'm telling you it is JUST what a 7 month pregnant woman needs to hear! I was so taken aback, it has me wondering if I'm really having a girl?? Have you heard that old wives tale about how girl babies suck the beauty from their moms? I can say that I NEVER got so many compliments during my first three pregnancies (all girls). Maybe the tech made a mistake during the ultrasound. Wouldn't that be something since for the past four months we've been calling this baby "Chloe" and gearing the girls up for a new baby sister.

Compliments continued during a Sunday afternoon birthday party. I don't know what was up this weekend. I must have looked pretty hot. I did wear a dress and heals for both occasions...and my legs look pretty damn good...not a varicose vein in sight (lucky me). Maybe that was it. And I was saying I had two good hair days in a row, so THAT could have been it...but maybe I'm having a boy! Or maybe not. I'm just not sure how else to explain it!

I couldn't be a single mom...

Nope. And I don't like weeks that test that theory either. I give props to anyone (man or woman) who can make it through a day at home with the kids, from morning until bedtime, without another adult in sight, and manages to keep sanity intact, patience from running dry, energy at a reasonable level, and household running like it's been sprayed with WD40.



I find it virtually impossible. This week has been busy so far and the weekend looks just as busy..but at least after tonight my hubby will be back with me! The reason for my unwanted foray into single parent mode is that we've just had one of those weeks. My husband plays Deck hockey (recreational) and Monday and Wednesday night were championship games...which his team won, by the way (Yay to 30 somethings recapturing the vigor of their youth!).



The girls and I had dance class to attend on Monday night (as we do every Monday night) and I got thrown for a loop this week when the recital schedule came out and I found that Jordan and Ava will be dancing on two separate days. My disappointment and disgust with dance class in general could be a blog topic of its own and I'm sure it will become one at some point. The girls do enjoy it, which is the only reason we are sticking it out. But it's been an eye opening experience for me. Let's just stop it there.



Tuesday and Thursday night and NEXT Tuesday and Thursday Jim will be finishing up an OSHA Safety training class for work. So it's a long day for him (and me) as he leaves for work before the sun comes up and doesn't arrive home until just before 9pm, well after the kiddies have been sent to bed.



Last night I also had a volunteer meeting to attend so it meant bugging my parents to watch the kids...which they never seem to mind thankkfully. But, we missed the usual bedtime routine and I've been promising to put overnight curlers in Jordan's hair and have had to renege two nights in a row. TONIGHT her hair will be curled. Poor thing has handled the disappointment fairly well, and it seems like such a small thing, but I feel really bad that I've been saying I would do it and before you know it time is up and it hasn't gotten done!



I complain (mainly in my own head) that my husband really doesn't do much when he's home. For the most part, I don't mind because he works so hard outside of the home and after a week like this one I don't mind even more. Just having him in the house in the afternoon is helpful to me. He brings me my sanity. He's pretty vigilant with the kids...is a better enforcer of "the rules" and is just the right person to hug me when I need it. I do get and give hugs and kisses all day from my little ones...but they usually involve a request attached. Love ya, mom, can you get me a drink? What's for dinner? Can I play on the computer? These hugs while sweet are also draining at the same time. Imagine: Leech. Well, that might be too strong a visual...BUT hugs from DH fill up the tank...they don't drain from it...so you can see how they are missed after a long day with the kids.



The day always starts out fine...but when the energy is waning I turn into a bug eyed lunatic. I don't care what we have for dinner (we did fast food once this week and one night I made spaghetti without the homemade meatballs(easy)). And I end up screaming my kids into bed, instead of tucking them. It's horrible. I can't seem to stop myself...it reminds me of the old nursery rhyme:



There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.

She had so many children she didn't know what to.

She gave them some broth, without any bread,

And whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed.



There's the truth. I love my kids, but I need the support of my husband to really be the shiny happy mommy I want to be. The minute my husband comes through the door I breath a sigh of relief...put down the chocolate that I've been secretly stress eating... and give him a great big hug!

Spring will bring...

The past few days (weather wise) have been blissful. I have the blinds open this morning to blue skies and, before the girls began blaring a Taylor Swift song on their CD player, I could hear what seemed like a thousand different birds chirping outside the window. If I strain, I can still hear a few tweets make their way through and if I close my eyes I can wish away those ugly brown speckled snow mounds....they are slowly disappearing and that makes me very happy!

It means that spring is on the way and we've got a lot planned for this spring. First things first, and that's getting our house ready for the market. I'm not a spring cleaner, I'm a company's coming cleaner...but I kind of want to spring clean. It could be the nesting instinct kicking in. We have some big projects to tackle before we are ready to go. We need to finish our hardwood project that we started before the holidays--we need a nice solid weekend of mild weather and nothing else to do, to get it done (I mean that's what my husband needs...I'll be packing up the kids and dog and heading somewhere else for a couple of days!)

We also need to fix our front steps...scratch that, tear OUT the front steps and replace them. We've been "fixing them" for the last 3 years and the fix never lasts through the winter. We also need to paint the girls' room and the playroom a pleasing, buyer friendly neutral. Clean up the basement a little. I also need to organize...get rid of junk drawers and go through closets etc.

It's going to be a lot of work but hopefully this time the timing is right and we can move on from this home that was supposed to be our starter. We had a five year plan when we moved in ...it's going on 7. I'm fine with that. I like my house, but there's a few things that I will look for in the next house that we don't have now.

The end of spring will also bring our new baby. I feel like she is already here...of course I'm still getting a full night's sleep so I know that isn't the truth. Her movements are so much stronger now. I'm beginning to actually distinguish hands and feet wiggling around in there. I'm better able to predict periods of restfulness and awake time. The girls are constantly feeling my belly, "giving the baby kisses" and we all refer to her by her name, pray for her before bed and at meal times and just talk about her an awful lot...I guess that's why it seems like she is here! I'm getting into my uncomfortable 3rd trimester, more doctor's appointments and more preparations for her arrival. It's exciting! We are all placing bets on what she will look like! My guess is she will look like my oldest daughter and husband. I'm hoping for it actually...

The younger two have more of my facial features and they are cute as buttons if I do say so...but they both were born with cleft palates (I had one too!) and it makes the new born stage very worrisome. Now it is no big deal, but at birth Ava had some troubles and had to be in the NICU for the first 2 1/2 months. She had a bunch of procedures and it was very tiresome and awful to be away from her as much as we were. Livi's cleft palate issues weren't as severe, we could bring her home right away, but with both girls I couldn't nurse (I pumped like crazy) and it took Olivia a long while to plump up the way a baby should. They both were on monitors at night--Ava had a feeding tube, and I remember at times feeling less like a mom and more like a doctor or nurse fiddling with gadgets. Plus there was the corrective surgery for both of them around 1-1 1/2 years that was not fun AT ALL! We made it through though.

Selfishly, I'm hoping that this baby won't have a cleft. The sonograms look promising (but they all did, so that doesn't mean anything). I just want to be able to nurse my baby and not worry if she is getting enough to eat, or going to choke, or wrap herself up in monitor wires at night. I don't want her to have to have surgery. It would be absolutely wonderful to just have a normal mommy/newborn experience this last time around.

I wouldn't change anything--I bet Ava wouldn't be the spitfire that she is if she didn't go through that, and Olivia's easy going take it as it comes attitude would be different too. That new born experience helped to shape them into the sweet little things they are now...but this time around...well there's no telling what spring will bring, but we can hope!

The Birthday Party

I am not Friday Following today because I definitely don't have the time, but I did want to post something today to let you all know I'm out here! I love hearing your feedback on my thoughts and stories so if something resonates with you...let me know!

I had Jordan's (My Oldest) 6th birthday party yesterday. We were torn about what to do about a birthday party this year. Maybe you can relate to the feeling that comes when birthday time rolls around. I love my kids. I think that celebrating their birthdays and making a special day for them is good for them. I always feel great when the party is over...but it's all the planning, and deciding, and shopping, and deciding, and the budget, and the deciding that I don't like.

This year we kept it simple. She got lots of calls from the family on her actual birthday (Monday) and she got to be "queen for the day": She didn't have to clean up and she got to pick her birthday dinner (She chose steak, baked potato, and tossed salad. A girl after daddy's heart!) and then yesterday I had a small party for her girl friends from school.

We had it at our house during lunch time, right after school. I had the girls make their own pizza's and we had those for lunch. The rest of the time the girls played like crazy up stairs while the mom's chatted in the living room. Cake, Present opening, and giving out the favors rounded out the afternoon. Everyone had left by 3pm. Very simple, very enjoyable, and very cost effective!

Jordan had a ton of fun!

So, what do you do for your children's birthdays?

The Magic of the Seashell: One Mom's Triumph.

Okay...a little background first: I don't like to cook anymore. I used to--before I had kids. I am NOT the mom who doubles as a short order cook, meaning I don't cook something for my husband and me and something else for the kids. The most I will do is change up what we are having in degrees if I know that one or another doesn't like it. For example, when I am making soft tacos I will take a few of the soft taco shells and whip up some quesadillas for the girls because they turn their nose up at tacos.

They turn their nose up to a lot of things. I hear a lot of Ew gross! or I don't like this or Do I HAVE to eat this? And nightly the dinner table becomes a boardroom bargaining table:

Just take three bites, Me or Jim.
How about two? The kids.

If I drink all of my milk do I have to finish dinner? The kids.
If you don't eat, there will be no snack tonight! Us.

Sometimes for some reason when suggesting bites, my middle daughter, Ava will come back with a higher number than we originally posed:
Two bites, Ave.
How about FIVE? She asks
OKAY!? At 4 years old the concept of numbers is just beginning to develop for her and we do take advantage of that.

Gone are the days when my husband would wolf down a meal and ask for seconds. Good dinner, Hon! He'd say between bites. Now, all I have to do is look around the table to see how successful my meal is. My husband, wonderful man that he is, will always finish his plate...even choke down a few veggies so that he can be a good example. But if I fish for a compliment, like say aloud Yum....I think that was a good dinner. He'll give me a look, and then I watch his eyes rest for a second on each of my girls half finished plates. It was good, Babe. He'll reassure me. Yeah, right! Sigh. This is why I hate to cook anymore.

The only thing that keeps me going is knowing that someday my kids will be like me: trying new things and actually liking to eat. But for now, their fairly new taste buds can't take much more flavor than the tang of ketchup, the creaminess of ranch dressing, the puckering of dill pickly-ness, and the smooth velvety-ness of cheese. Yes, it seems my kids will only eat condiments.

Until now....

I think we've found a little trick to getting them to eat:

Yesterday, while on the couch watching the news, the clock sped along coldly to the dinner hour. The daily dreaded question arrived. Ava perched herself at the top of the steps with her little head over the rail and asked. What's for dinner? I don't know why they ask this question every day, they are NEVER happy with the answer...and my misery begins before dinner even hits the table.

Tonight I had a feeling that my answer might be well received:

Well, We are having Seashells. Me
Seashells? Her
Yes, seashells. Me
Real seashells? Her
Yes, real seashells...stuffed with scallops and shrimp. Me

I mumbled the last part. It didn't matter. Ava raced upstairs.
JORDIE, She shouted, WE'RE HAVING SEASHELLS FOR DINNER!
Little running footsteps upstairs.
Jordan appears.
Are we having seashells for dinner? She asks
Yes. Me
Real seashells?
Yes.
Oh, I thought maybe the noodle kind?
Nope, real seashells. Come and look.

Wide eyed, my three little dolls stood with faces pressed to the oven door. I can't see them...
I opened the door and there they were! Immediately the girls jumped up and down and round and round.

We're having SEASHELLS for dinner! Real Seashells!!!!!

I have never seen my girls this excited to get to the table. All three of them. I looked at my husband. We'll see, I said. He peeked in the oven, We'll see, He said... He didn't seem convinced.

So earlier that day at the grocery store, I found a sale in the frozen food section in the fish department. As I pulled the BOGO stuffed scallops out of the market freezer, my hand felt a magical tingle. What IS this? I thought. It looked like a lump, much like a crab cake, sitting on top of a perfect half shell--A beautiful scallop shell to be exact. 9 shells in a package, and I could get two for a very cheap price. I'll take them! I thought. Pop'em in the oven for 30 minutes and voila! Dinner. Easy. Maybe not delicious--they looked OKAY...I knew I MIGHT get points for the shell and so I decided to use that to my advantage.

This product exceeded my expectations. As I brought the piping hot shells to the table, a girly chorus of OOOOH! AAAAAH! rose up. We barely got through the prayer without them picking from the shells like the little birds they are.

The talk of dinner that night was all about the seashells and each child picked their shell clean of the meat (or whatever it actually was) nestled inside the shell. To me, it tasted like a not so yummy version of a crab cake...but whatever! I noticed them also eating the side dishes. What is going on here??

I could not stop laughing. I could barely eat my own dinner because I was laughing and laughing and laughing. Now this is that silent, I don't want anyone to see me laughing kind of laugh that if you ever experienced it, you know is very difficult to stop. Tears began to well from my eyes. I covered my face in a dish towel, my body shaking. Every comment from my children raving about these "seashells" brought on a new wave of body wracking laughter. I could not believe it! The stuff did not taste great, but the magic of the seashells was working! I laughed straight through the dinner hour. I laughed in disbelief. I laughed in happiness. I laughed at the true absurdity of it all.

My husband looked at me knowingly. We need to serve ALL of our dinners on seashells! Can you imagine it?

What's for dinner?
Spaghetti, on a seashell.

What's for dinner?
Steak, on a seashell.

What's for dinner?
Chicken, on a seashell.

I think I could even serve tacos to them...if they were on a seashell.

Anyway, I wanted to share my first triumphant dinner experience in months with all of you!

My husband DID painstakingly hand wash the shells and give them to the girls for "a collection." They are now tucked safely into a decorative box that holds Jordan's treasures. I might sneak them out the next time I'm serving something that I know they hate.

Maybe there's some magic left in them!

Thank you's and other "to do's" from the weekend

First of all, I must say I'm quite impressed with the Friday blog hop. Not only did I get the chance to peruse some lovely blogs, I gained the readership of 33 (and counting) new bloggy friends! I think that is totally awesome and inspiring and overwhelming. I agree with a friend who said something to the effect of "now I feel pressure to be some awesome blogger." I feel it too. I know the pressure comes from within and I know there isn't anyone standing over my shoulder saying "c'mon you need to work on your layout today" or "don't you think you should add a few pictures here?"...but it does kind of feel that way. All in good time, my friends. Hopefully my musings, adventures, and mis-adventures will be enough to bring people back. And those of you who are reading now will (hopefully) get to see my blog blossom into something that I can really be proud of!

That being said...what a weekend we had! I wanted, since Friday night, to get back on and blog but never found the time. I will be devoting a second blog this morning to the Friday night topic I had on my brain.

Saturday was spend puttering around the house--laundry, straightening, making dinner (that everyone except DH complained about) and my house is in COMPLETE disarray today. That always happens on the weekend no matter what I try to do to stop it. There are a few less dirty laundry piles in the basement...but there is a strange smell in the kitchen. (Two steps forward, one step back). Please no one drop by unexpectedly today! :)

Sunday was tiring...Up early for church (we headed to 8:30 mass when we are usually regulars at 10:30). My husband Jim is in the process of becoming Catholic (joining me and the kids) and he had something special today at the 8:30 mass. Then it was off to the store to get a snack for Jordan (my oldest daughter) and her classmates for Monday (her BIRTHDAY!) and then headed away for a 45 minute drive to another church for a ceremony with the Bishop (another step in the process for my husband) then back home to the Olive Garden near my house to celebrate my Mom's birthday with the family. We didn't get back through the door until 9:45pm--GASP! on a school night!...Seriously, bed time's at 8pm for the kids and 10pm usually for the grown ups since Jim has to get up for work at 5am.

I was exhausted when we finally got home...probably because I look like this right now:

Ignore my unmade bed please and poor picture quality (it's a copy of a copy)...that's me a couple of weeks ago with baby bump approximately at the end of week 26...

I still managed to hand dip some strawberries in chocolate for Jordan's birthday snack at school. She is 6 today...which blows my mind...here she is, my pretty little girl:

It's going to be a busy week. She is having a little party with her school friends this week and as I mentioned before: My house is a MESS. The party is at the house. Wish me luck!