Warm Days in February are confusing

A really nice day in February is VERY welcome, and also VERY confusing.  It was just over 50 degrees today, the sun was shining, and the mounds and mounds and mounds and mounds (you get the picture) of snow appeared to be ever so slowly lowering.  Due to all the snow and cold this past winter I still have candy cane decorations frozen in place in my window boxes, and red bows all over the dogwood tree in the front yard.  My poor kids didn't know what to do with themselves.  The snow was honestly too wet to play in, and it was just too difficult to get the bikes out of the shed.  So what did my children do?  They ran jacketless in circles around the minivan, surrounded by piles of snow and old Christmas decorations, and sang Jingle Bells. 

Facebook Posts - present - early January

After putting up my last status I decided to have a beer. I rarely drink. Then I decided to make dinner. Did you know that water will NOT boil when burner is off? Stay at home moms who don't drink should not attempt drinking and cooking (but taking care of their children is still okay).

 It has to get better. It just HAS to get better!

At the EXACT moment I looked to the left & noticed a woman backing out of her driveway directly in line with the front of my car, Kelly let out a scream that could not only wake the dead but then make them wish they were dead again! In that moment I lost my hearing, got a migraine, had a mild heart attack and/or stroke, went gray and developed an ulcer. (no, we didn't get hit)

Time to get on my green and yellow and be a Packer fan again (for the first time in (gulp) 14 years!!) So, Is Brett Favre still the quarterback?

Happy 4th Birthday my sweet sweet Kate. You've been making us laugh and smile since you were a little baby. Although it was cute at the time, we're glad your Monchichi looks have faded. You are a beautiful girl inside and out!

I keep asking God for patience, but I think he's making me wait for it.

I had a date with my beautiful Kate tonight. We went to the mall together and in Kate's words: "Mom, yet's go to the pet store and see the birds and then we can go catch hearts (at "Build-a-Bear") and I will make my very own bunny and I will yove him so much!" After Kate helped make her bunny we left the store and she said, "yet's run!", and so we held hands and ran through the mall. God I love her!

'm trying out a new chocolate cake recipe today. After I got all the ingredients in the bowl (and before I mixed) I realized it was 1 3/4 c. flour and 3/4 c. cocoa powder and NOT the other way around. OOPS! I tried to get out as much of the cocoa as I could and only used 1 1/2 c. flour to try and balance it. Any thoughts on what the heck it's going to be like??

Every morning I have to tell my son at least 3 times to go upstairs and get dressed. This morning my son says (all on his own), "I'm going to go get dressed." Today is pajama day at school.

"God does not command that we do great things, only little things with great love." -Mother Teresa

Why why why why why can't she be doing something safe and/or clean when playing alone? Why why why why why does it have to involve toilets, or outlets or sharp objects. This morning - quiet 2 year old was running around the kitchen in circles holding a meat thermometer. I'm just going to say "no thank you" to puncture wounds today! Good gravy!

My two year old is sitting alone at the kitchen table having a snack, and is repeatedly saying under her breath, "I not a wrecker baby, I a good girl." Break my heart!! For the record, *I* am the one who is always telling her she's a good girl, and her three year old sister called her the wrecker baby. That's right...I'm going to blame all her future "issues" on her sibling.

Life with a two year old: Me: "You want a hot chocolate?" Kelly: "No! A hot CHOCOLATE!" Life with a 5 year old: Me: "Do you want a hot chocolate?" Brian: "No, it's called hot cocoa". The three year old seems to be okay with any way I say it, whether I don't stress the second word enough or if I just get the name totally wrong. I'm such a moron! Thank goodness I have kids to let me know that.

I'm finding that I have to dig deep - real deep (no pun intended given all the snow outside) - to find funny things to write about. Between the lack of sunlight, time spent inside with young children, feelings of being trapped, & overall lack of sleep, I'm struggling. BUT in trying to be funny - I no longer have to dust under my bed, since two of my children decided to play under there wearing their feet pjs.

Old man winter?! Old?! No no no. An old man could not do this, BUT a younger man on steroids could!! I'm calling this winter "Roid Rage Roger". Don't get the hook folks - I'll be here all winter.

(This could be a 3+ post day). Anyhoo...My 2 year old was being EXTRA EXTRA challenging this morning and I finally just looked at her and said, "Man you're tough." Do you know what that peanut did? She looked at me, pointed her little finger at me, and with her angry mini voice said, "NO! YOU are tough!" Does she even know what the heck she's talking about??!

They're trying to break me but what they don't know is that I'm in my invisible jet and I can't hear them! (refer to my last post if you are confused or if you think I'm just crazy...well, even if you check you might still think I'm crazy :-).

My goal for today on this Monday and the last day of January, is to not get angry and raise my voice and/or yell. I've been up for one hour and 5 minutes and in order to remain sweet and motherly, I've had to leave the kitchen twice and remind myself that breathing requires air to go in and then come out, repeatedly. Preschool is in two hours :-) God is good.

Last week my 2 yr old gave me a "talk to the hand" hand and said, "Don't talk to me." She's also been saying, "I can't" lately. And just a few days ago she was yelling/screeching at me from her car seat that SHE was going to drive the car, not me! No wonder why she's so angry and screaming all the time - I would be too if I had the mind of a 16 yr old trapped in a 2 yr old's body!

Making a Korean dish called "Bee Bim Bop", tonight. I learned about it on the PBS show "Between the Lions" a few years ago. I've made it before & it's awesome! Steak tips marinated and cooked in a mixture of garlic, green onion, sesame seed oil, sugar, pepper and soy sauce & then mixed with rice, eggs and stir fried veggies. YUM!

I'm looking for some inspiration. Tell me about a goal you've set for yourself, it can be big or small, that you've achieved (especially if you had to conquer a fear or obstacle to achieve it). I need to hear some positive things about people actually completing goals they set out to do (b/c I'm having some trouble doing just that).

I'm feeling a little bit like Rocky Balboa in Rocky IV, this winter. He has grueling training sessions in the snow with the hopes of beating Ivan Drago, just like I'm having grueling shoveling sessions, not to mention the leg workouts I'm getting pushing and pulling people in sleds! Wow, I wish I had someone to fight!

New additions to the list of "things I never thought I would say" are: "Stop throwing toys at your baby sister while she's trying to use the toilet!", "No, you CANNOT cut that cheese with your scissors", and "Oh! My! Gosh! You are NOT a dog! Stop licking your chocolate milk up off the floor!"

I was just sitting on the couch putting on Toy Story 3 for the kids. Brian to me: "Mom, can I sit on your lap?" Me, "No, I have to go make your lunch." Brian, "Well then can you move?" Apparently I was in his spot.

I don't think I ever really understood the expression "you fill my heart with joy" until I had children. I was just watching the three of them running around together and laughing and my heart was truly FILLED with joy. Moments like those make the times I'm wishing someone would just shoot me down with a tranquilizer gun all worth it (for the most part :-).

I'm curious about something. On Friday night 7 people had viewed my blog. On Saturday morning I posted on here that I had updated the blog, and by Sunday afternoon it had 80 hits :-) I'm just curious who viewed it. Would you mind letting me know if you did by clicking "like". You can comment too if you'd like (but please be nice :-).

You know, before I had children I wasn't the neatest or most organized person I knew, but at least there was some type of method to the madness and I knew where all my stuff was. But NOW I can't even find my stuff....I'm fairly certain that I didn't take one shoe off in the upstairs bathroom and the other one off in the kitchen!

Time to pretend I'm back in college out in Wisconsin-GO PACKERS! It's not going to be a hard thing to pretend given the temp outside right now! However, I didn't have kids back then..&I have no urge to walk around outside at night with negative windchills looking for after bars...& I actually don't know anyone on the team. Oh well, GO PACKERS!

My son just came in the house all upset because the sock inside his boot was falling down and he said, "My boot's gone wrong", and Jeff said, "Your boot's gone wrong? Is that like girls gone wild?" I laughed. My son stared blankly...which is good....since he's 5.

I just suggested to Kelly (just turned 2) that we play with blocks instead of a noisy game (since the rest of the east coast, including everyone else in my house, are still sleeping) & she said, "Oh, thank you so much. Great idea, Mama!" My questions are this: 1. Could she BE any cuter?, and 2. If she can talk so well, why does she still SCREAM so much?!

Pan seared scallops, sauteed green beans and orange bell pepper, cheese and broccoli rice pilaf, and fresh bread from the bakery. THAT was dinner tonight and it. was. GOOD!

 I bought low sodium chicken broth at the grocery store this week. Right. I just realized that I could have saved $2.50 and just used water instead. I tasted it after I poured it in the pot and thought, "Hmmm this needs something. Oh yes, salt." (I also realize this is my 3rd post today..it's been a 3 post kind of day).

I'm feeling compelled to make Shepherd's pie for dinner tonight. I've never made it for my kids & I feel as though they need to have it, like it's some type of right of passage that they must go through as part of childhood. I have mixed feelings about the Shepherd's pie from my childhood & I don't want to deprive my children from any wishy washy food memories they might like to have. They can thank me later.

In trying to stay positive I'm going to say this: At least all this new snow has covered the old snow making it look fresh and white again. (However, I don't think we're going to see the grass for a long long time!)

Quote of the morning: Brian to me (in his old man/monotone voice) while passing a cemetery, "There's a lot of dead people in there. It's not a pretty picture when you're dead."

If "this too shall pass" was equated to an old car on a country road on a Sunday afternoon, then I could handle that quite easily & well. However, the saying for me is better equated to the fast lane on a highway. On any given day I have hundreds of "cars" coming at me & I can't say "this too shall pass" fast enough without being hit several times, BUT I've yet to be completely run over, & that's worth celebrating!

I decided to be daring and try a new food with my littlest. I bought a can of Annie's brand "spaghettios" at Whole foods, heated up a little bit, and presented them in a bowl to Miss. Kelly. She leaned over the bowl, let a ball of spit fall out of her mouth into the bowl, and then looked up at me and said, "there you go." Um, I guess "there you go" says it all.

My kids are currently watching Monsters Inc., while scarfing down homemade banana bread containing two containers of pureed baby food green beans. Bwah ha ha ha HA!!

2 out of my three children just hurled ON the dinner table. If the third one pukes do I get a prize??! Want to know what my reaction was when the 2nd one hurled? I burst out laughing. Hysterical laughter. Why? Because I have lost. my. mind! (Fyi, this most recent barfing didn't seem to have anything to do w/ a stomach bug...just my kids aversion to food in general :-)

The pedi wants me giving Kelly high calorie foods b/c she hasn't been gaining weight. Oookaay??!! A few things: I made her peanut butter playdough (b/c she's always putting the real stuff in her mouth)-she won't eat it, we went to Bertucci's & offered her a buttered roll-she ate ice cubes instead, I just went out and bought the kids cannolis, she wouldn't eat one, BUT she IS on her second bowl of SNOW!!

Signs you've been inside FAR too long and have cabin fever: a. you welcome the chance to stand in extra long lines at the grocery store &/or customer service (just so you can be away longer),b. you start asking yourself abnormal ?s such as "what would Curious George do in this situation?", c. you feel you can relate, on a very personal level, to Jack Nicholson in The Shining,....

Wow, 49 out of the 50 states have snow on the ground!! Florida is the ONLY state that is snow free. That's wild, and white, and quite wintry!!

So far so good today (fingers crossed). Nobody has puked or had "D"...these past 48 hours have been well, I'm sure you can guess seeing as I'm talking about stomach virus stuff. Just praying Jeff and I don't get it. I've washed my hands about 500 times over the past two days, that's GOT to count for something (I HOPE)!!

"Drop the 'shoulds' – the idea that you or someone else should be feeling different. The truth, is your feelings are what they are. If you’re feeling sad, overwhelmed, happy, excited, nervous, scared, or a mix of all of the above, honor that. It is. Allow your feelings to exist." - From "First Ourselves", Karly Randolph Pitman

Because I'm proud of my brother & because I don't expect him to brag about himself, I'm going to do it for him. Mike started running 8 weeks ago & is training for the LA marathon (prior to 8 wks ago he had never run more than 3 miles). Today he ran a 1/2 marathon & not only did he finish in under two hours, but he finished in the top 23rd percentile. I wanna be like Mike!

Well it's that time of year again (yes I know, the year just started) when I ground myself and take fb away from me. I know many are laughing because you've seen this before and know it will be a very "light" grounding. I just have to get a little bit more reality based and actually try to achieve some of the goals I've set for myself. FB is a goal crusher!

Conversation with 5 year old Brian: Brian "Mom, did you wish for kids just like us?" Me "Yes I did" Brian "And you wished for a Brian & Kate & Kelly & that's why you named us that?" Me "Yes" Brian "And do we fill your heart with sunshine?" Me (smiling) "yes you do". Man, I must be doing something right even though it sure doesn't feel that way most of the time.

I'm going to try & compare my body & all my holiday eating to a river & heavy rain (work with me folks). A river will continue to rise even after heavy rain fall has subsided, just like my body seems to be continuing to grow more plump, even though I stopped the real "heavy" eating on Sunday. Now I'm just waiting for the food "peak" & then for my body to start going back down again.

Dreamed I was at my 20th hs reunion last night. It involved everyone taking a series of final exams (chem & physics being the last two), hiking up & down several massive hills in order to make it to a stage that was 1/2 U2 and 1/2 a talent show put on by some guys from my class. Oh yes, & there was the wax your own bikini area tent, that many of the ladies were taking part in.

While typing my last post I just happened to look over my shoulder to see my two daughters licking shredded cheese off of the kitchen floor. I think they like me insane......

I don't even think I can put into words how much better I feel now that the TWO week Christmas/New Years vacation is OVER!!!!!!!!! I do not do well with huge amounts of open time/no schedule, in the winter, with three small children. Don't worry kids, Mommy went away mentally for a few days, but I'm back now.

The Big Bald headed man sitting Behind us at Bertucci's Barely missed Being Beaned off the Back of the head from Brian's Blob of Bread dough that he was swinging around.

In this the year of 2011 I haven't gained any weight, gotten a headache, spent any money, yelled at my kids, or felt any regret. Granted it's only 7:55 in the morning, but I'm thinking 2011 is going to be a GREAT year!

So Beautiful (and quiet) When Asleep

Kelly has been alternating between this dress and a burgundy one every. single. day. since. Christmas.  What can I say, she's a strong willed "girlie girl" and she loves the dresses she chooses to love.  This Valentine's Day a heart met up with the gingerbread man at his gingerbread house.  Maybe we'll call this past Valentine's Day, "Valentistmas"..or something like that.

My Handsome Handsome Boy

He's on a roll!

(Brian was being a robot named XX 17)

Brian has been cracking me up lately.  I  took the kids to McDonald's yesterday, so they could play in the play land area and then have a snack. (This was the same McDonald's that I almost fought another mother - refer back to "I've Got My Eye On You" - a post from last September - truly a classic!).  Anyway, while at McDonald's Brian says: "Can we get ice cream?" I say: "no", Brian says: "Awwww come on, give it up grumpy Momma." He made me laugh and then I HAD to say YES! On the way home I called Jeff to tell him the story. Brian yelled from the way back of the van: "Don't I just take your breath away?!"

 Brian kept his comic streak going this morning.  He came up to me and said (in his deep monotone oldish man voice), "There's a dead skunk on the deck."  A little shocked and freaked I said, "There is?"  He replied, "No.  It's just Kelly's diaper,"  

He's a smart and funny guy, that Brian Ladino!

Angry Bird Art by, Brian (age 5)

Mall Mom or Mall Rat Mom

I have a new hangout,  the South Shore Plaza.  You can find me there on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.  I like to go there and hang out with other SAHMs (Stay At Home Moms) and the elderly.  It's actually a lot of fun.  I go with Kelly two days and then Kate joins us on Friday mornings.  I park in the garage on the second floor, head to the food court to Dunkin Donuts (or "Dunkin Don" if you refer to the background in one of the pictures) to buy Kelly a doughnut and chocolate milk, and then we either roam the mall or Kelly partakes in the little kid play area.  It's a win win for all!  It gives me a reason to put on makeup and get out of the outfit I've slept in, and Kelly gets to do what she loves best - move!

                                                It's as if this spot were made for her.

                                                 "Dunkin Don" in the background. :-)

                                                     It's blurry but I LOVE this picture of her!

                                                Checking out a kiosk.

                                  Kissing a bull!  See!  Look at all the fun you can have!

                                  AND it's educational!  She was naming her shapes!

Happy Birthday Beautiful Kate!

Kate turned 4 on Sunday.  I am happy to say that many years from now I WILL remember her when she was three, because I frequently made a point of saying to myself, "Kate is 3 right now.  Remember how she looks, and what she sounds like, and what she says."  I would say this to myself while I watched her play or while I was having a conversation with her.  Looking at pictures or watching videos are great, but being able to say "I REMEMBER YOU WHEN", and actually having that memory imprinted in your brain, is something much different.  It's much more special.  Kate is special.
I think anytime you have a child who has a medical condition, it makes that child special, and it makes the relationship you have with that child a different one than you might have with your other children.  Just over a year ago Kate couldn't talk, she couldn't react to pain, she couldn't control her body.  For three hours I didn't know what was going on with her, and I didn't know if the little girl I had come to know was coming back.  Glory be to God, Kate came out of the seizures exactly the same and has been the same ever since.
Kate is beautiful, and bright, and funny, and cute, and totally amazing!  I love you!  YOU are a gift!