What is there to do on a Rainy Sunday?

Hunter, Mason, and I started our rainy Sunday on the couch- cuddling and watching something on the TV. I'm not sure what we were watching as I was not paying a bit of attention and neither were the boys. They were too busy jumping on me. We transitioned to the dining room table shortly thereafter and ate cheerios and I guzzled coffee and attempted to read the newspaper. I find that I know very little lately about the goings on in the world. When am I supposed to read, watch, or listen to the news? After breakfast, we raced ourselves to the basement. During that transition, I taught Mason how to scoot down the stairs. He learned amazingly fast. Downstairs, as the boys were dumping all the toys from their bins, I decided to finally get our toy situation under control. I helped them dump every single toy bin and proceeded to organize them into some sort of system that makes sense. This is what I came up with for categories: Super Hero stuff, infant toys, cars, puzzles and games, costume/dress up stuff, sport stuff, balls, farm, legos and blocks, choking hazard (stored in Hunter's room hopefully out of Mason's reach but he's also quite a climber), Mr. Potato Head stuff, etc. Seriously, we have too many toys and too many types of toys. I recall a time when my nieces were coming for a visit and I was in desperate need of some toys. Now, they fill rooms to the brim and start finding their way into "no-toy" zones like my bedroom and our fridge and the sink, etc. Anyway, I think I won the battle with the toys, even though Mason and Hunter continueed to take things out as I put things into bins. After the toy war, it was lunchtime. The boys ordered me around for a little bit. Sometimes, they might as well just yell, "more, woman." Mason went down for a nap and Hunter and I went back downstairs where I finally caved and let him play Wii. We have a new rules that he can only play Wii when it's raining or snowing. So, I guess today is the day. I played one game of bowling and then laid down. My allergies have really kicked in. I have terrible allergies--so bad that sometimes it feels more like the flu than anything else. I slept for about fifteen minutes and then decided it was time to battle the laundry situation. Mitch called in the midst of that--I yelled at him just because. Sorry Mitch. So, now here I type as Hunter sits behind me playing cars on my back. Mason is still sleeping and I wonder what else we are going to do today.

All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go

Getting ready for church presents some very interesting challenges to our family. Because Mitch and I both lack true motivation during the weekends, we both sit around and drink coffee until the last possible second. We sat on the floor this morning playing and cuddling with the boys and before we knew it, it was 9:10 a.m. and church begins at 10:00 a.m. Neither of us had showered or gathered together the boys' church clothes at that point but being the optimists we "sometimes" are, we thought we'd try to make it in time. What follows is snippets of our forty minute "Get Ready" session: [Screaming children, slamming refrigerator doors, frazzled adults, shower water everywhere, clothes everywhere, Bruiser hiding from Mason, Hunter jumping off the couch and hiding when he realizes where we are trying to make him go, "Where is so and so's _____________? "There are no clean clothes in this house!" "Sit still!" "Stop it!" "Hunter stop pushing your brother!" "Mason stop hitting Hunter!" "Are we really going to try to do this?" etc.]. We were loaded in the car at exactly 9:59 a.m. We decided to have an adventure instead of going to church. By the time we would have made it to Mount Olivet, it would have been 10:10. By the time we would have dropped off Hunter at Sunday School and Mason at the childcare, it would have been 10:20 (drop offs are harder than one might think- see brackets above but keep in mind you're also in public when you are doing a drop off). Church would have ended at 10:40 (they move it along at Mt. Olivet). We drove to Saint Paul for some sightseeing. We found ourselves on Summitt Avenue and enjoyed looking at the beautiful homes and buildings. We tried The Red Balloon bookstore but it was closed. We'll try some other time. When we arrived home, I cooked a big breakfast- omeletes, rolls, hash browns, etc. Then I got to clean up the kitchen. Mason wasn't too thrilled about naptime and now I hear him ready to get up for more playtime!

For fast-acting relief, try slowing down. ~Lily Tomlin

I decided this evening to take a moment to seek out some online wisdom. I stumbled across this gem from Lily Tomlin when I typed in "Quotes about Stress": "For fast-acting relief, try slowing down." Hysterical laughter ensued! My response/question: "What if no one lets you?"

It Happened One Night

I have been super productive. There was not a moment wasted during my spring break. I began painting on Monday morning and we finished putting the house back together at about 8:30 p.m. last night. Now, I do also have stacks of papers to grade and lessons to plan. None of that got done over break but today, my first day back to work, was very productive and I made a slight dent in that stack. I picked up Hunter at 3:30 p.m. and we headed home for a snack and to prepare for karate. I felt so in control I should have known something would go awry.

After karate and after picking up Mason, we headed home to make dinner and to get ready for bedtime. That's when it began. As Mason screamed and banged his spoon on his highchair tray, Bruiser stole a chicken strip off of Hunter's plate and proceeded to swallow it whole, though I didn't know that last detail at the time. I learned that detail after Bruiser threw up the damn chicken strip followed by the remaining contents in his stomach (this is pretty gross and it gets worse). I cleaned up the ickies the best I could and then finished cooking for Hunter and Mason. Because I'm trying to eat healthier, I opted to cook myself a can of lentil soup instead of consuming the yummy mac and cheese I was preparing for the boys. Not until I filled my bowl did I realize the mistake I had made. Just think about the Bruiser catastrophe that happened minutes earlier and then match that up with what I was spooning into my bowl. I decided to work through the nausea and set my bowl on the table. Now, Hunter has become extremely observant and vocal about his observations. He asked me if I was eating Bruiser's "stuff." I told him no but thought he made an interesting, albeit gross, observation.

Mason screamed through all of this of course and then during his bathtime I could hear squeaking down in the entryway. As I wrapped Mason in his bath towel and headed into the living room, I was surprised to find Bruiser lying on the floor of our entryway having a seizure. I raced Mason into the bedroom and threw his jammies on him so I could tend to Bruiser. As I was taking care of Bruiser, Hunter was screaming about wanting to go outside to play baseball. I told him that was no longer a possibility in light of Bruiser's health issues. Bad mom alert- I told Hunter to just go watch a movie so I could take care of Bruiser. Somehow, Hunter broke the DVD player. It has completely "frozen" up. I cannot get it to do anything- not even shut off.

I'm getting ready for round 2- bath for Hunter, snack for Hunter, bedtime for Hunter, and then I'm off for triathlon training. To follow that I need to grade some papers and try not to eat anything comforting or drink anything that might make me feel a bit better.

Spring Break.... not what it used to be

I have spent the last four days of this spring break painting my house. Going into the project, I knew I was taking on quite a job... I just didn't know really how big it was going actually be. It took me over twelve hour total to paint the bathroom purple and seven hours today to trim out the kitchen (and it's still not finished). I cannot imagine what Friday, last official day of break, has in store for me. Mitch will be home tomorrow and only time will tell whether or not that's a good thing or a bad thing. Sometimes we work completely fine with one another. Other times, not so much (understatement of the year). I plan to post some pictures after I finish this darn project.

Cute news for the boys- (the rest of this is so grammatically incorrect)

Hunter reminded me the other morning to recycle the cereal boxes. He sang "You are my sunshine" with me tonight during bedtime (my heart was melting, melting, melting). Hunter asked his father a recent morning ago for ten more minutes of sleep. Hunter turns five on April 29th. We have finally reached his birthday month. He's looking forward to wearing the birthday belt at karate! We've been waiting for this for MONTHS (literally).

Mason loves his "blankie"- also a new word for him. He chews on it and desires to have it wrapped around his neck in the morning while he's eating breakfast. My grandmother made the blanket and I was hoping to keep it as a treasure. I still do intend to keep the blanket always but it probably won't look or smell as nice as it could. Oh well, I find it quite cute that he loves that particular blankie so much. Mason also likes to pretend to talk on the phone. He knows how to get a diaper for himself and bring it to me for changing time. Mason is also a mad pointer and uses his pointing skills to get us to do his bidding. He's a natural salesman!