Isn't this sweet?

My parents are down south for a few months yet and my in-laws will also be leaving for the warm south soon. I think it is great that they have a chance to go away from the cold weather and spend time together. Both couples are very busy while they are up here with social agenda and both are active in the lives of their many grandchildren. It is good to have time to reconnect with just each other. I hope someday that Steve and I will have the opportunity to do the same. Actually, I pray for it with all of my heart.

My father has become quite the photographer since he retired a decade ago. He takes some amazing pictures. One if his favorite subjects is wildlife, especially birds. There are a few pictures he's taken through the years that are just so neat. Yesterday, he sent me a few pictures that he's taken down there. I loved the one of my step-mom by the crocodile (or was it an alligator) warning sign but I thought the one I'm showing was just precious. It really makes me think of so many wonderful couples who have been together for decades and still adore each other. I do believe that if we choose right, then this lasting affection is the reward God gives us for that choice. Thanks Dad for the picture.

Have a great Thursday everyone.

WW #4 Catching Snow

No Kissing in Kindergarten

When I picked up Noah yesterday, he had had a pretty good day. I had emailed the teacher warning her of his "antsiness" and she was kind enough to send a note home. He did pretty well but was a huge distraction in the office when he couldn't go out for recess. I will have to figure something out for tomorrow.

However, the Kylie-Noah saga continues. This is the way the conversation went.

"Mommy, Kylie really liked my cast"

"That's great, honey"

A few minutes later

"Mommy, Kylie kissed me on the cheek"

I couldn't help but laugh at the visual

"Mommy, I kissed Kylie on the cheek back...but she did it first."

"Noah, no kissing until you're 17"

"Or when you're a grown-up"

"That's right"

"But, Mommy, you can't kiss boys"

"That's right, you only kiss girls...but not until you're 17"

"But I can kiss you"

"Yes, you can kiss your family"

"But Daddy and Aaron are family, and they're boys"

"Noah...no kissing anyone who is not your family until you're 17"

"Okay, Mommy"

A few minutes later

"Mommy...it's okay if I kiss Kylie because I'm going to marry her someday"

Sigh

I think I need to email the teacher to let her know there is kissing going on. In Noah's kindergarten class of eight kids, there are 6 boys and 2 girls. You have to give him credit for swooping down and claiming one for his own. They are going to be together for the next 12 years.

No worries

It's official! My son really is cooler than me. I knew it was true. All the boys, girls AND teachers thought that a boy with a hot pink cast IS pretty cool. On top of that, as we were walking into school, I finally found out the real reason he wanted pink:

"Mommy, I think Kylie will REALLY LOVE this pink cast. I'm going to marry Kylie someday."

They just grow up too fast.

The Ever-Changing Weekend

Last Thursday, we had a great plan for the weekend. Other than a few hours of work for Steve Saturday morning, we could have the entire weekend to play. Here WAS our fun plan.
Saturday AM- Peter and the Wolf Grand Rapids Symphony Lollipop Concert then Chuckee Cheese for lunch since Noah had three green days at school for two weeks in a row
Saturday PM- A Grand Opening for Gymnastiks Unlimited was holding a free Open Gym for 3 hours of active boy craziness to let out some pent up "boy juice" after a week of being couped up because of extreme cold temps.
Sunday AM-Church and lunch at the BOB (We got a gift certificate for Christmas from some friends at church)
Sunday PM Sledding at a local sledding hill
What stands out the most of this itinerary you may ask?
ACTIVITY
Pink Arm Boy has an activity restriction, but A LOT of energy. Let me just say, the kid is BOUNCING OFF THE WALL!!!!!!!!!
SO, what do we do with our weekend?
First off, Friday night we needed to do something about Noah's hair. He already needed a haircut...but now that he is not able to take a bath for three weeks, we really needed to do something. Luckily, he has the kind of hear that is PERFECT for shaving. For those of you with little boys; we used a one and a half size for his entire head. Very short! But now we can throw him into the shower and it won't take long to get him completely washed down.
Saturday
Steve didn't get home from work until after the Symphony would have started...cross that off the list.
Aaron has decided to avoid naps for three days...the kid NEEDS a nap...cross going anywhere for lunch off the list
Pink Arm Boy can't jump in a gymnasium for three hours...cross the gym off the list.
How about the play area at the mall?
Wow...about 12 dozen kids piled on top of each other...probably every other parents' idea to relieve excess energy from the cold weather...okay no play area. Since we're at the mall, Steve can look for new slippers because of the previous "flower" incident in the house. SO, Steve searches every possible store for slippers. Then, I get to hear quite an extensive soliloquy about why it isn't fair that women's slippers are all on clearance and there aren't any for men left anywhere in the mall. Tough luck Daddy...maybe next Christmas.
Next at the mall...Noah has no shirts that fit over a cast. You never really notice that every boy's shirt has a tight cuff until you try to fit a writs cast over it. Much to Daddy's chagrin, Mommy has much better luck in her shopping quest. OLD NAVY CLEARANCE! 4 shirts for $12. We should be able to rotate those with two others we found at home that would work. We only need to last three weeks. The cast comes off Valentine's Day. By this point, we're pretty hungry. Taco Bell at the Mall. What a healthy and hearty meal for a Saturday night. On our way out, we did briefly run into Deb and the girls are fascinated by the bright pink cast. I am PRAYING that the boys at school tomorrow are just as kind. By the time we get home, we are able to have a movie night with Underdog (this is such a cute movie) and the boys only talked for a few mintues before they gave up and went to sleep.
Sunday morning, thanks to a new rule in the church nursery(of which I strongly disapprove), we decided to leave Steve and the boys home since I needed to direct my youth chimes in the first service. The kids did great and after a few more explanations to people as to where the rest of the family was, I got home around 10:30. Picked up the family and headed downtown to the BOB. Lo and Behold...it is now closed on the weekends until 4:30. Cross that off the list. So we knew the g.c was also good at a little restaurant in East Grand Rapids so we headed there. It was the first time in a long time that we took the kids to a nice sit down restaurant and it's accompanying longer wait than your typical family place. The boys did pretty well and we had a nice, albeit WAY TOO MUCH FOOD, brunch. Because it took so long, not enough time for a nap. So I dropped Steve and Noah off at the library for the magic show and I drove Aaron around for about half hour to
get a little shut eye in before the show. We DID actually get to the magic show. Aaron got to participate by holding a small piece of rope before the magician tied it back together and Noah got to be a prop on stage, although he moved at the wrong time and the illusion didn't work. We didn't really tell him that he did it wrong and he laughed so hard at the show that it was worth it.
So now we are home and Noah STILL has way too much energy. I am very much worrying about him school tomorrow. No outside for recess or gym class to run around, I don't really know what to expect for behavior report tomorrow. I did pull down the mini-trampoline for a little while and let him jump on that and he still drives the SMARTCYCLE that the boys got for Christmas. I think it is going to be a long three weeks. I am also really hoping the boys in his class think that pink is cool abnd don't tease him. He was really excited about the color and I don't wnat his spirit crushed by some unfeeling boys.
So, not really an extraordinary weekend, but we were still all together as a family, which Noah is always very vocal about wanting

The Verdict is in!

Let me continue the saga...

I worried about Noah's arm all night last night. After I got home I couldn't find him anywhere and this is how I found him; wrapped himself up in a blanket in his room, looking at a book.

Just for fun, I thought I'd share what he was looking at. This picture was accompanied by "EEWWWW...YUCKYYYY"

I knew he had gym this morning and was worried about if something was wrong, then something worse could happen if he fell. So, I decided to keep him home this morning. I called my sister in Fruitport (about 40 minutes North of here) to see if maybe she could take Aaron for a few hours. She has an in-home preschool and I hoped she would legally have a space for him. She said that would be fine. So I dropped off Aaron with Shannon and took Noah to an Urgent Care center nearby. When I called the pediatrician, she told me to take him to the ER in case it needed setting but I still didn't really think anything was wrong.
So we got to the Urgent Care center about 9:30 this morning. Noah still had not complained about pain even once. He was still nursing it a little but that's about it. We waited quite a long time (as you always do in medical facilities) so I was glad I brought along several of his chapter books to read to him and some markers, paper, and stickers.
Noah went to open up the markers and he couldn't tense his hand enough to pull the tops off but STILL insisted he was fine.
After four X-Rays the doctor came in and said that he was absolutely surprised but that there WAS a significant break in his ulna. I was expecting a hairline fracture at most. He said since it was Friday he would have to splint it and we could probably find an orthopedist on Monday to cast it. I was a little upset because I didn't want to wait.
Luckily, the woman who worked triage that day used to work with the orthopedist who works at the affiliated hospital. So she put in a call and found out that he happened to be IN THAT OFFICE today only and would be happy to check the films and cast his hand right then. I was so relieved.
Let me just say, Noah has not complained once about his hand hurting. He is such a trooper. I do however want to share his color choice...I think it's particularly funny in light of what he was commenting on in his book the night before.
Up until now, I have never been a fan of automatic doors on mini-vans. Now that we have had a mini-van incident, I will most likely insist on one in our next vehicle.
So we have our first broken bone of the year. Please let it be the last!

To X-Ray or Not to X-Ray

I don't really know how this is going to play out. Either Noah is milking something or he is truly injured and I am an unfeeling git (can you tell I read Harry Potter today?) Here's the story:

Today when I dropped the boys off at the babysitter around 3:00 I headed into the house with Aaron and all of a sudden Noah starts crying and screaming. Well, he can have his moments of drama so I didn't make a lot of it. He said he slammed his arm in the van door. I looked at it and it wasn't discolored or swollen so I kissed it and went on my way. Fast forward to 5:30. I am at the Music store teaching when I get a call from my husband. "Noah is still complaining that his arm hurts and he had Traci (the babysitter) call Steve to pick him up early because it hurt. Steve(my husband) says that it is not swollen or discolored still so I still don't know what to do. So I rescheduled my last two lessons to come home and check it out for myself. Noah has an EXTREME intolerance to Red Dye 40 so I told Steve to give him infant Tylenol until I got home. I think even that has some dye in it so I'll have to check that. I got home and Noah was nursing his arm A LITTLE but it is still not discolored or swollen. So I decided that I am going to wait and see how it is in the morning.

I am stressing a little over this approach. If I were to take him in tonight for an x-ray and it's fine then I will have wasted our money and his precious sleep over nothing. But I will have been able to take him in without Aaron tagging along. If I wait until the morning and it is swollen then I have to trek Noah and his brother into the med center. I don't know if it hurts less right now because of the tylenol and ice all night or if it's because there really is nothing wrong. I wish I would have seen it happen so I would know just how hard the door slammed.

This whole post is probably about nothing but we as parents are always the ones to worry the most. I guess I will continue this saga tomorrow morning when we see how he is.

WW#3 I don't think that's how it works

Not for the Squeamish!!!!

Okay, if you hate discussions of bodily functions, this is not the post for you. But once again, I have the need to vent. I will try not to be too graphic. For the point of discussion we will use the term "flower" for all references to repalce the bodily function term "poopy". So here it goes...

I am so sick of Flowers! (please remember the new meaning) I know Aaron will not be going off to college in pull-ups. I know this is a phase in his life. HOWEVER... the last two days have been very flowery.

For some reason, potty learning has reached a strange turn at the moment. Aaron and Noah are fighting a bug and have had runny flowers for a couple of days. I am one of those mom who potty learns by the "Naked toddler" method. I have found this method quick and successful for both of the boys. However, Aaron has decided that every time a flower comes, it is necessary to either just let it happen whenever and wherever. In the last two days, Steve has slipped on flowers in the hallway that we didn't know were there, I have stepped flowers into the carpet upstairs in his room, flowers came in the middle of the play area at the mall, and now for the icing on the cake, apparently tonight Aaron decided that if you throw a pull-up into the air with flowers in it, they will STICK TO THE CEILING IN THE LIVING ROOM.

In all fairness to him, his little bottom is very raw and it probably feels better to let flowers happen but they have been SO prominent in the last two days. I finally got lazy this afternoon and kept him in a pull up.

The poor little boy does have a virus of some sort creating part of this mess, but having had to throw away two pairs of underpants, two pairs of socks (one being mine), my husband's slippers AND my bath mat because of flowers spread throughout the house, I AM GOING MAD.

My step mom called the other day from sunny Florida (I'm so jealous) and wanted to know how the day was going. She does not like the discussion of bodily functions so I spared her the details and just said "I'm so sick of potty training". However, within the conversation a few more details came out. Her response cracked me up; "Wow, you really are having a bad flower day"

The ironic thing...Aaron's favorite thing to call people when he's mad:

FLOWER-HEAD

Gee, I could write more, but it is now a half hour past when we put them to bed and low and behold, Aaron just announced more flowers...break out another pull-up.

I've given you a new meaning for "Wake up and smell the flowers"

In keeping with tonight's post, I will post a fun memory from Noah's potty learning days as my Wordless Wednesday.
Have a great night.

Weekend Happenings

I have a little business to attend to this morning. I received my first award from Deb.
I forgot to ask her how to transfer it so when I learn, you can see it.

So not a very eventful weekend. Probably because it was so cold that I couldn't stand to be outside. Friday night we stayed in and watched a movie. Saturday morning I took Noah out to Target for popcorn and Steve took Aaron to get his haircut. That was the extent of leaving the house all day.

I don't think wind chills got above 5 degrees all weekend.

So, the boys were bouncing off the walls today from lack of outside time (I hope). At church this morning, Noah was a hyper basket case...bouncing around and touching any child he could get near. Drove me nuts! Both boys recited their bible verses in front of the congregation this morning and did very well. Unfortunately, just as Aaron's class (3 and 4 year olds) stepped up in front to start their recitation, my video camera decided that it had too much dew from being outside and when I opened the tape holder, the film from the tape spread out everywhere. Needless to say, we didn't get either class' recitation on film. It was a disappointment since it was Aaron's first time. I will try to get a copy from someone else...there were about 15 cameras rolling at the time. I did include a picture of Noah's recitation last year. He was the one standing on the end with his hand in his mouth. This year, he stood right in front and belted out the first and second commandments. It's amazing the difference a year can make.

In the afternoon after fighting Aaron for a nap, he finally succumbed. Then we went to Deb's
for Becca's birthday party. Unfortunately, it was too cold for others to make it out so my boys were the only ones there. It was nice for the kids to get to play for a little while though.

All in all, maybe one of the most boring weekends in quite awhile but as I mentioned before, I spent the whole weekend shivering and trying tow warm my hands. I hope it gets warmer as the week goes on. I don't think my weight can handle much more hot chocolate.

Have a great day.

It may be working

My two little boys are 27 months apart. I believe it was the perfect span. They are getting close enough to play together.

But they are also close enough to argue...and fight...and tease...A LOT.

All I ever wanted was for my little boys to be kind and loving to each other. Recently, it has not worked out that way. Especially in the car. I don't believe it is bad enough for SuperNanny or anything but it was frustrating that every time one child said something, the other purposely said the opposite, just to be mean. I just couldn't understand.

A little while ago, I was speaking about the problem to Beth, a friend of mine who has the exact same age boys as mine. Here is a picture of my boys with hers on a recent trip to their house in Wisconsin. We don't see each other often but when we do get the rare chance to talk, we can pick up right from where we left off. They had the same problem with Alex and Dylan. Around the same time, Beth was frustrated that they didn't have a guest room in their house. So she moved her two boys into the same bedroom, for the space. She said it was the best thing they ever did for the boys' relationship.

Well, we have a very small three bedroom house. But the bedroom upstairs is a long room, the length of the house. I recently found out that the former family raised four kids in this house, three in the upstairs bedroom. So over Christmas break we decided to try it. The room is big enough so they each have their own space, yet they are together.

It has been rough going. Aaron is an early riser....always has been. Noah, until the big switch, has always been a very good sleeper. Right to sleep...sleep in until morning. Aaron has been talking a lot at bedtime and waking Noah up in the morning. These are issues we are working on.

Because of these issues, we decided to put them asleep in separate rooms (Aaron in our bedroom) until they fall asleep. So Tuesday night we had a babysitter while I was still at work and Steve went to Barbershop rehearsal. She put them to bed in separate like she was told. When I walked in the door, Noah came down the stairs. "Mommy, I can't sleep up there all alone...I need Aaron" My heart just melted. I noticed Aaron peeking out my bedroom door during this entire interchange. So I asked them,, "Will you be quiet?" and they both said yes so I moved him upstairs and they both went right to bed. I was so happy that they finally seemed to be liking each other. The next few nights we have started hanging out on the bottom of the stairs just shushing them (Actually, shushing Aaron, Noah wants to go to sleep) and I think it's getting better every night.

But here's the thing. I DO actually think they are getting along better. Aaron has a few speech issues and in the last week ahas started saying the "S" sound really well. Noah more often than not has been saying "Good S Aaron" and other nice things to Aaron without prompting. No, they're not totally BFFs but there has been a lot less shouting and a lot more friendly behavior in the house. Is it really possible that sharing a room really does help their bonding?

Plus, I love having all the toys in the house in one room. As messy as the house gets with toys, it only takes the boys and me about 15 minutes to get the toys all picked up.

Wow, this post is a bit of a ramble. Probably because I am writing it while nagging Noah to get dressed for school (for about the 10th time) and Aaron is a one man band with a drum, maracas, and whistle he found in the playroom (as Aaron's old room is now called). It is very hard to concentrate with all the activity but it ensures that I will get some snuggle time before we have to leave to take Noah to school. The roads are slippery this morning and the wind chill is not supposed to get above zero for the next three days.

Have a great Friday.

WW #2 Looking in the mirror

Noah's best friend

I never had pets when I was growing up. My mom always said it was because we were all "allergic" A few years ago I finally got her to admit that she said it because she didn't want pets in the house. I always felt that my kids should be allowed to have pets.

My husband and I bought our first pet a year after we got married. It was a rabbit named Thumper. (Original, don't you think?) This rabbit was our "baby" We managed to litter train her and she had the run of the house. She thought she was a dog...followed us everywhere. She really was very spoiled.

4 years later along came Baby Noah. Shortly after, Thumper was given to a loving home.

We always said we would get a pet when our children were older. In October of 2006, My youngest turned 2. I went through a period of being sad that "my baby was growing up" At about the same time, Noah was starting to be somewhat aggressive to his little brother and other people's pets. So I asked my husband, "Should we get Noah a kitten for Christmas?" Steve was pretty adamant. "No, not yet." I thought the kitten would help with learning to be more gentle, but I figured Steve was probably right and we should wait until the boys were a little older.

A week or so later, I was hanging out waiting for Noah to finish preschool when a mom came in with a box full of kittens. I, who had always wanted a kitten to snuggle, picked up one and Noah's teacher came out and said, "Why don't you bring it in to show the class?" Noah, who has never really been big into animals, saw Mommy walk in the class with the kitten and said in a matter of half a second, "Oh, Mommy, can we call her Minnie?" How do I say no? A kid who had never shown any interest in anything living had not only fallen in love with it at first sight, but had also already named it.

A half hour later, Minnie was in our van, crying, on the way to the store to buy all the things a kitten needs. The call to my husband (who was home stranded on the couch with a shattered ankle at the time) was pretty interesting. "We're coming home and we've got a cat"

So, Minnie became part of our life. (I have never once sneezed by the way) Actually, I should say, Minnie became part of Noah's and Daddy's life. They became her people of choice, choosing to attack pretty much anyone else. It's almost as if she knew that Noah was the reason she came to our home.

The babysitters and grandmas are her favorite prey.


Minnie follows Noah and Daddy everywhere and needs to always be around them, or ON them, as in the case of Daddy.












I do believe that Noah has become MUCH more kind toward other creatures as the result of Minnie joining our life.











As you can tell, Daddy really didn't want a cat LOL














I think Aaron may be a dog person, so we'll see what happens as the boys grow older. However for now, even Aaron is a fun buddy for Minnie to visit at night.











Noah is not limited to just Minnie anymore. At a fall trip to the apple orchard, one of the attractions was a "kitten house" I think I saw Noah's head spinning he was so exited. He couldn't get enough, including holding as many as he could at a time and trying to take them with us in the wagon to go get pumpkins.




















I am glad my boys are learning how to treat all of God's creatures with respect. My brother and sister have also had pets in our adult lives. I believe they add another dimension of unconditional love to our lives.

Have a great week.

Why Blogging Can Be Bad For Your Home

Aaron watches a certain purple dinosaur before nap time every day. I know...I detest it as much as everyone else but it is a routine for him to help him get ready for nap so why fight it?

Anyway, I put it on today and let him have his popcorn from our Target visit this morning. I thought I would quick jump on the computer to see if there was any news on the sites I've discovered. Not a minute later, Aaron comes into the room saying "Popcorn spilled" and I figured, okay, not too big of a deal. A few minutes later, he comes into the kitchen again, this time heading for a cup. This is a usual occurrence for him because he likes to get water to drink from the bathroom. Again, no big deal. (Do you see where I;m going with this? ) A few minutes later he comes in again and grabs the broom and dustpan and heads back to the living room.

Now my curiosity is peaked. This is what I find. (Notice the filled cup on the table which was his first attempt at cleaning)






















So then I decide to go ahead and let him try to sweep it up. Maybe it will be a good learning experience. And like a trooper, he tried.

















Apparently, a broom is not going to work. His next option you ask?

















What have we learned?

A. Stop giving the kid popcorn in the living room
B. If you're going to let the kid watch the purple dinosaur, at least watch it with him

The good news was that the living room really did need vacuuming anyway.

Help!

So here's a way to feel self-conscious.

1. Step on the scale and pick your mouth off the floor at the number.

2. Decide you need to exercise

3. Buy a mini trampoline and bounce while watching TV in your basement

4. Have children commandeer trampoline so they can jump from said trampoline to the large inflatable bounce thing ...including frontward flips that will most certainly break a bone someday

5. Buy a dance mat "for the kids" for Christmas and discover that the only person who really gets it is yourself and start dancing everyday. While mat provides a somewhat non-strenuous workout and actually kind of fun, it doesn't seem to be enough that would actually make a difference.

6. While kids are playing on a cold Thursday morning (yesterday) decide that you could just get an exercise movie for free off of Comcast On Demand and try that.

7. However, the minute you start trying to tae-bo with Billy Blanks, the kids come running from two different rooms of the house to watch mommy lurch around pretending to box.

8. Said children are so fascinated watching mommy try to do this that they are glued to their seats, not even to move with the offer of kids shows in mommy's room on mommy's bed.

What did I learn from this humiliation?

A. My kids are so shocked at the idea of mommy exercising that they are rendered immobile
B. I really wish I could join a gym

I don't know quite how this situation is going to play itself out...but I need to do something...it's only 5 months until shorts weather.

Wordless Wednesday #1 Dressed for Christmas

Aaron's macaroni

So Aaron has been saying for the last couple of days that he wants to do "macaroni" Then he starts flailing his arms around. I finally remembered that he saw them doing the macarena at the New Year's Party at the Children's museum. It's not very clear but he tried...and then got a little embarrassed. He has improved much since this video. Sorry it's so dark.

Enjoy!

Skeletons in January?!?

My Noah is five years old. He is in Kindergarten and learning to read and write and is doing some math problems on his own. As a matter of fact, when I was contemplating homeschooling I did not think he would learn to read and choose to do math independently within the first three months of school.
However,
My Noah also has some issues. Discipline issues. He has very good days and some less than perfect days. If he has a bad day at school, I usually email the teacher the next day to find out what the offenses were so we can discuss. This is of course after Noah has told me what they were. It is sometimes interesting to hear the difference between what he tells me and what the teacher says.

Yesterday Noah got in trouble for shouting at his teacher. A five year old SHOULD NOT shout at a teacher. When he gets in trouble, he usually, in his mind, has a reason. So I asked him, "Why did you shout at your teacher?" His response was completely reasonable in his 5 year old mind. "Mom, she was making us learn skeletons. Skeletons are for Halloween!"

He has been punished for yelling at the teacher, but knowing Noah as I do, he really does believe that his teacher is out of her mind. Personally, I love hearing the way he thinks through things. He is a thinker that will do amazing things some day when his maturity level matches that of his thoughts.

Have a great Tuesday all.

Back to school...again

I think sending my eldest back to Kindergarten this morning after two weeks of fun may have been harder than it was at the beginning of the school year. I'm not sure why other than we made the most of it and did something fun everyday. It was so much fun to just hang out with the boys, and Steve (my husband) when he could. Noah (he's my 5 year old) makes comments all the time like "now we can do this as a family" His favorite times are when the four of us are together. I know it will not always be this way and I want to remember how much he loves just being with us now. For my own benefit, I want to remember:
4 Christmas celebrations with family in as many days
New Years Eve at the Children's museum
Noah singing his first solo (Away in a Manger) in church
Going to the lights at the zoo with cousins
I am feeling very nostalgic this morning. Maybe it's the dreary rain that melted away the snow. As Aaron (my three year old) keeps reminding me this morning "mommy, it's still night" because it is so dark. It's the kind of day that you want to curl up under a blanket and read a book. It looks like today, however, will be filled with Hi-Ho-Cherry-O and Candy Land Bingo. These are memories in the making too.

Have a wonderful Monday!

My first post

So I finally have a blog. I didn't know I needed a blog. I still don't know if I need a blog. My friend, Deb, has assured me that I have enough silly events to fill a land mine and it would be worth it to share them with others.
Now, I'm not sure that sharing events like going out shopping last Friday in my slippers because I forgot to put on shoes is the most important topic in the world, but I guess it's good for a laugh.
I think of blogging as a way to remember events for myself. What do I hope to achieve from blogging? Ummm...

1. I would like to find reassurance that the rambunctious and sometimes frustrating activities of two young boys are not only normal, but also endearing
2. I'd like to hear about other moms' (and dads') ideas of how to handle certain...challenges that show their face during child rearing
3. I'd like to chronical the special moments that make us who we were, who we are, and who we hope to become.
4. Most of all, I'd love to connect with family and friends and meet many wonderful new people out there waiting to be discovered.

A quick note: I am a terrible typer and I do not always check all of my spelling. Please be kind, oh blog-mates, and know that if I would slow down, I can actually spell.

So here's to wonderful future of blogging. May we all become better people for having shared a piece of ourselves with others.