It's so often the little things

Although I was surrounded by abundant blessings, my mind kept going to the most minute imperfection in my perfect life. My hair. (Yes, three posts about my hair. Completely ridiculous!) When hen I'd talk to people, I just knew they were thinking, "Yikes! Her hair." I felt like people would look and say, "That's Dr. Melbye's wife!?!"

A little thing was (unreasonably) keeping me from enjoying all the big ones...until a little thing let me push that aside... pun intended. You'll see.

Wendy commented on my post lamenting my hair suggesting I try a wide headband. I hauled the kids to Target today and spent $2.50 on a piece of plastic that will likely save my enjoyment of my brother's wedding this weekend, our family vacation, and maybe my summer. Instead of worrying about my 'do, I just push it back and I look... okay. ("Okay" is awesome! "Okay" is all I was asking for.)

Now I don't have to think about how I look, and isn't that really the best feeling? Looking good is nice, but there's still a self-consciousness involved. Not thinking about how you look, not caring... I think that's better.

So a little piece of plastic as a result of a little kind gesture from a friend, but a very big relief for me. Thanks, Wendy!

How do you...

go for a bike ride with a preschooler and two toddlers.

Like this!

And it was so much fun.  Before we left Anna said, "You know why I'm smiling like this?  Because I'm so excited."  I was the same way.  I rode around with a silly grin on my face the whole time.

I did a little Craigslist bargaining and got two of these Adams Trail-a-bikes for way less than half their retail value!  The second one will hook on the back of Dave's bike so Kate (and probably the trailer) can ride with him when the whole family goes for a ride.  When it's just me and the kids, I'll let Kate ride her own bike in front of me and I'll do my darndest to keep up.

Pictures

We planned to go to Noah's Ark today. I spent last night getting everything ready, swim suits layed out, clothes packed, towels packed, food organized, so that we could just feed the kids breakfast, slip them into their suits, and throw things together to head out by 8:30 at the latest.

This morning while I was throwing things in the cooler and making breakfast, Dave decided he had to spend roughly a half hour searching for and booking his flights for his trip to Vegas in September, which he planned over a month ago.

That made me grumpy enough that when I heard Dave in the bathroom clipping his nails before he took a shower (to be nice and clean before going to a WATERPARK) I muttered, "Dave, you're the picture of efficiency today!"

Anna jumped to what she thought was his defense and said, "You're not! You're not, Daddy!"

Dave hadn't heard me, so he asked, "I'm not what?"

Anna explained, "Mommy said you're a picture of fish, but you're not."

Okay

Deep breath. Although telling myself so didn't convince me of it, it IS only hair. It WILL grow back. I'm moving on. Pretending it's not a bad hair cut, just a funky hair cut, and "embracing the funk." That's not to say I won't be diligently tucking back the bangs that somehow got cut, but here it is, my new funky cut:

And, wowsers, it's showing up huge since I'm posting from my phone. Well, that's really embracing it!

35-year-olds don't

35-year-olds do not cry about a bad hair cut.  They may feel like crying.  They may eat a big brownie, have a glass of beer, and even dig into the olive jar in the fridge, but they don't really cry.  Do they?

I got my hair chopped for Locks of Love about two weeks ago.  I liked it from the front, but I was really self conscious about the back.  If seemed to stick out really high.  I thought maybe if I could get the back texturized a little more it would be better and I could actually like it and not worry that I looked like a sixth grader in 1987.  A sixth grader who's hair cut even looked odd in 1987.

I debated and debated and finally called.  They said come on in.  When I got there, before I had a chance to explain what was bothering me, my stylist said, "Oh, yeah, when I saw you on the schedule, I thought, 'We can put in more layers.'"  That wasn't what I'd had in mind, but I thought, she knows better than I do.

Now, I'm not so sure she does.  Because I look like I belong in tight frosted jeans in a bar, from the front and the from back.  I'd be so grateful to look like the sixth grader just from the back again.

I've had the brownie, the beer, and so many olives my lips are shriveling up.  35-year-olds don't cry about bad hair cuts, but I have to wonder if I'd feel better if I did.  I keep telling myself it'll grow, and it's just a hair cut.  But, I actually find little solace in that.  I keep thinking, People are going to think I wanted my hair to look this way. Then I talk myself into thinking it's not that bad, which works until I walk by a mirror.

I'd post a picture, but... I just can't.

That's a pinteresting idea!

I broke the Facebook habit, only to pick up another, equally time-consuming, habit: Pinterest.  I'm not sure if I love it or hate it.  The side of me that loves a good craft project or recipe can't resist it; the side of me that would like to rest some time hates it.

I found a pin about making your own sidewalk paint, and we had to put on our oldest clothes and give it a try.  It's just one part cornstarch to one part water and some food coloring.  It works great (but it stains everything, even skin)!

There was another pin that I'd seen a while back.  I remember thinking it was cute but not repinning it.  When I saw flip flops for around a buck at Michael's it popped into my head and I had to make it:

I also used this idea for an end of the year teachers' gift:

There was also an idea of having Kate's (and Anna, Luke, and Ally's) teachers write Oh, the Places You'll Go every year and giving it to them as a surprise graduation gift and about a dozen recipes.  When will I have time to sleep?

Prescription shakes

A few times in March, we went through the McDonald's drive thru to get Shamrock shakes.

Now every single time I pick up a prescription from the Walgreens drive thru, Anna will ask, "Did you get a shake for me?"

Too observant

Kate told a friend of mine how we're going on vacation after school is over.  The friend asked a couple questions about the vacation, and then Kate volunteered, "Dad thought he was going to go to the Brewers' game the day before we leave and the day we get back!"

My friend smiled knowingly at Kate's word choice and asked, "He thought that, huh?  Does he still think that?"

"No, Mommy told him he wasn't."

Big day for Luke

Luke had an embarrassing incident in the bathtub last week.  It really stressed him out.  He cried and cried, burying his face in my shoulder like it was the most humiliating thing that could have happened.

Today in the tub he looked a little nervous.  I asked him, "Do you have to go poopy?"  He nodded, and confirmed, "Poopies.  Poopies!"

I took him out and he patiently sat on the toilet waiting for the event to happen.  His sisters all serenaded him from the tub, singing Row Row and Twinkle Twinkle and the potty song I'd made up when we were potty training Anna, who, incidentally pooped nearly every single time she took a bath... to the point where we bathed her in swim diapers... and she never once seemed bothered by it.

But I digress, here's Luke right before the magic moment:

Watching his three sisters singing away, helping the waiting time pass.

Audubon attempt, Take 3

We went hiking at the Audubon again today, and the it was great.  There was one small problem.  The lake is quite a bit lower than the parking lot, so one way or another you have to go down a very big hill.  Last time, I got nervous taking them down the paved hill, so today I took them down the dirt path with steps.  

Here are a couple picture of Luke and Ally braving the steps.  Luke sat down on the first one, then got braver and stepped down the second one and fell, and then he refused to go down the third until I helped. Ally turned around and took the first one backward.  She saw what Luke had done on the first, so she sat down on the second, but then she scooted backwards on her tummy all the way to the third, getting her belly scraped up on sticks. 

So, we'd made it down three steps.  I looked down the hill.  There were so many steps ahead of us I couldn't see the end.  I put Ally in the Ergo I'd brought for any parking lot emergencies, picked up Luke, and walked down the remaining SIXTY FOUR steps.

Here are some cute cell phone pictures from our fun morning in nature:

 I was so relieved the morning wasn't as disastrous as the last two Audubon trips, that I even braved Noodles again.

For Ann and Wendy

Per Ann and Wendy's comments on last Wednesday's post, I skipped the frozen blueberries with our Wednesday waffles this week.  We'd once again taken baths first.  This time because our sidewalk paint became body paint... that's for another time.  

Anyway, Ally's proven herself smarter than either Ann or Wendy.  She managed to make a bigger mess with her syrup than she's ever done with blueberries. 

Hair syrup is the new hair gel

"This is amazing!"

That's what Anna exclaimed after she tried one of these Healthy Cookie Dough Bites for the first time.

They're basically the perfect snack, especially when paired with some fresh fruit.  They're super healthy, packed with protein and Omega 3 fatty acids, but sweet enough that even picky eaters will happily gobble them up.  Their only downfall, in my experience, is making enough to save any.  I ended up making two batches today, because most of the first was eaten before I could save any for snacks this week!  Good thing they're pretty quick and easy to make.

Heathy Cookie Dough Bites (adapted from this recipe)

• 2/3 cup almonds
• 2/3 cup walnuts
• 2/3 cup oat flakes (get the original kind, not the quick oats)
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 T honey
• 2 1/2 T maple syrup (REAL maple syrup, not  "flavored high fructose corn syrup")
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp chocolate chips (Dark chocolate ones are healthier, but we love to use the miniature ones.  If you want to go really healthy, see if your kids will eat them with raisins instead.)

1. In a food processor, process the almonds, walnuts, oats, cinnamon and salt to a fine meal.
2. Add the maple syrup, honey, and vanilla and process to combine.
3. Dump into a bowl and work in the chocolate chips.  
4. Roll the cookie dough into balls (about 2 tsp each) and place them in a storage container.  Store balls in a tightly covered container.

Two steps forward, twenty-one steps back.

Out.  Of.  Control.  This house.  This moment.  It's out of control.

I was trying to be efficient tonight.  Dave works late on Wednesdays so I started a tradition we call "Waffle Wednesday" where we have, obviously, waffles for dinner and then watch a short movie before bed.

The kids all needed a bath because they're filthy and because we have a play date tomorrow.  Because they like to play in the bath, I planned to give them one before dinner so I could use the time to tidy up, then give them dinner so we could move right on to watching the movie (without messing anything up in between) and then to bedtime.

After the bath, I got the babies into their pajamas and was combing through Kate and Anna's hair when I noticed the babies tromping through the bathroom floor they'd flooded with water during their bath and splashing in the water left at the edge of the tub.  The feet and sleeves of their pajamas were soaked.    They needed new pajamas.

During dinner, Ally plopped her bowl of thawed frozen blueberries (possibly the most messiest food on earth) on her head like a hat.  Luke did the same.  So much for the bath.  Not only are their fingernail blueberry stained, but so are their heads.

So, I washed their hair in the sink.  This ended up soaking their pajamas.

I can't find any more clean pajamas, so I'll have to sift through the clean clean clothes baskets in the basement.  If I run downstairs, Luke or Ally will inevitably get into something else.

The floor is covered in peas and mushy blueberries.  I tried to clean that up so I could get the babies out of their chairs without having them walk in them.  As I did, more food plopped down on my head

After I got the twins out of the chairs to clear the table, they started to empty the kitchen drawers.

I decided I'd just quickly load the dishwasher, but it's full of clean dishes.  It's one of Kate's chores to empty it, but you know that never goes quickly.  Preschooler chores are more work than just doing it yourself.

And Luke just pooped.

"Like this, Ally?  You're genius!"

No matter what I get done, there's even more to do.  So I decided to stop doing anything and write this.  Maybe the opposite will work.  If I do nothing, maybe things will start cleaning themselves.

Breaking promises

Anna told me she was going to do something tomorrow.

"And," she added, "I never let my promises go broke."

We finally got a babysitter!

It took us six years and four kids to get around to it, but we did it!  And she's perfect!

Everything went so well.  Dave and I went out to dinner, and came home at 8:00 to find everyone in bed and the house cleaned up.

When I asked Anna, "Did you like Bridget."  She immediately replied, "I love Bridget."  All the kids loved her.  In fact, even the dog loved her!

You know what this means...

 No, I didn't go to the hairdresser for their special Laura Ingalls inspired up-do.

She was getting my hair ready to chop off the minimal 10 inches required for making a donation to Locks of Love.

When I came home, Kate was excited.  She actually took this picture of me.  But Anna just offered to help me.  She said, "Don't worry, Mom.  I'll make your hair look beautiful again."  She returned with my brush, but determined she couldn't do much to help! 

One of today's tantrums

After even more fish trouble, which I won't go into, the kids and I headed to the pet store this morning.

We weren't yet in the door when Ally began to tantrum.  I tried to nip it in the bud, asking her to show me what she wanted, trying to get her interested in looking at the fish, showing her some frogs, all to no avail.

She tantrumed the whole time I explained our predicament to the employee in the fish department, the whole time she tested our water, the whole time Anna picked out new fish, the whole time we looked for a new filter cartridge.

I was exhausted.  Ally threw her self on the ground and wriggled across the floor on her back.  She found herself next to a rack of dog food and shoved her head into the hole.

I got out my phone and took pictures.

I thought she looked hilarious, and I didn't really think about what a bad mom I looked like standing there taking a picture of my crying toddler with her head shoved inside a rack of dog food... until I caught a glimpse of the horrified expressions on the cashiers.

Well, they're just too young to have kids, I decided, so they can't possibly understand...  Then I shot a quick video.

I was just wrapping it up when a woman about my age walked by and started laughing so hard she had to stop walking.  "Yes!" she said with approval, "That is exactly what I would do.  Then I'd post it on Facebook!"

A happy Mother's Day

What a lovely day my family gave me yesterday.

It began with breakfast in bed, one of my favorite traditions, then continued with some time for me at yoga, some one on one with my sweet Kate while Daddy took Anna to a Brewer's game, after which we had a family walk around the neighborhood, yummy nachos for dinner, and ended the day with a family movie night watching an episode of Frozen Planet.

What do you do?

What do you do when it's the twenty five degrees warmer than it's been in weeks but it's wet and rainy?

You slip on the kids' rain boots.

And so that's what we did a couple days last week.  I'm so glad we did!

They must be growing up

The twins painted on Friday, and (sniff, sniff) they only painted the paper.  Yes, it was much easier to clean up, but... does this mean they're growing up?

Life is a musical

I don't know exactly why, but several times a day, Anna will burst into song about what we're doing.


We're painting pictures, beautiful pictures.  We love to paint.  We love to paint pictures...


It's time to go to the zoo.  Let's go to the zoo!  We'll see giraffes and elephants... maybe some fish.

It's absolutely adorable, and it almost seems normal... like we actually are living in a musical and most of us don't know it.  And somewhere along the way, the rest of us have started to do it a little, too... except Kate, of course.  As she told Dave last week, she's not a little girl anymore.

One of the reoccurring songs that's come up the last few weeks has been,

Anna and Daddy... together they're Anndaddy.

Just like vacation

We walked into the aviary at the zoo today, and it smelled horrible.  I scrunched up my nose a little, but said nothing.  Anna said, "Oh, it smells like a hotel room in here!"

Yeah, we vacation in style.

More from Anna...

Anna never ceases to amuse me.  Here are a couple of her latest comments.

We were driving to church yesterday, and I changed the radio station.  Anna said she liked the music; Kate said she didn't.  I said, "That's okay.  We all like different things."

Anna confirmed that by explaining, "Right.  Like I don't like tortoises."

Later on the car ride, Kate said, "I have to go potty!"

Anna said, "That's okay.  I never sit in that car seat."

Kate and I were both quiet for a second.  But, yeah, I think Anna meant it was fine with her if Kate peed in the carseat, because it would never adversely affect her.

Kudos, Love & Logic

Once again, my favorite parenting experts had a brilliant idea, even if it took me six years to like it myself.

The entire time I've been parenting, I've based my discipline on the Love & Logic program. I love it so much that I've even recently become an independent facilitator of the Becoming a Love & Logic Parent curriculum. Yet, all this time, there's been one thing they suggest that I didn't think I believed in.

It's called "Energy Drain," and the idea is, when your kids are just driving you crazy with arguing or with some other inappropriate behavior, you tell them that they've drained your energy. You explain you no longer have the energy to do what you'd normally do for them, and you asked them how they'll put the energy back. If they don't know, you can help them by telling them some things that might have worked for other kids in their position. Maybe they'll dust the living room for you or maybe they'll rake some leaves.

Looking back, I'm not exactly sure why I wasn't a fan of the energy concept. I guess it sounded selfish, or maybe a little too dramatic? It's hard for me to explain it now, because I have completely changed my view. I'm now right on board the "Energy Drain" bandwagon.

Earlier today I was pushing all four kids home in the stroller after picking up Kate from school when Kate and Anna started their now all too common bickering. Anna was purposely annoying Kate by making noises. Kate was completely overreacting and yelling at Anna. I started to tell them that they weren't being nice sisters, and then I stopped.

It was useless.  This bickering is one thing for which we've not found a solution. We've had the same discussion I was about to start too many times to count. We've tried giving them times away from each other, times forced together, forced apologies, etc. I didn't know what to do, but I did know I was done!

I didn't even plan it, but suddenly I was using the line I'd read in books and heard from speakers for the last six years... the line I didn't like, "Oh, girls... ohhhh... wow....you've really drained my energy."

"What?" asked Kate, in her grumpy, just-finished-a-long-day-in-kindergarten way, "I DON'T even know what that means."

"It just means that all this arguing has really drained my energy."

"What does it means 'it drained your enegy'?"

"Well," I explained,  "I have a certain amount of energy every day to do all the things you guys need me to do, but listening to you argue drained my energy," I paused, looking so sad about the news I was going to have to break, "so now I just don't have enough energy to paint pots with you or make the pizza dough for the pizza you wanted tonight."

Now, Kate's no dummy, and she's also been raised with the Love & Logic philosophy that has taught her to find solutions to her own problems, so before I even got to the part where I ask her how she'll replace the energy, she was asking, "Well, is there something I can do to put the energy back?"

I suppressed a smile and pretended to contemplate her idea. "Well, I suppose you could," I told her.

"What can I do?"

I told her I've heard of other kids helping their moms with their little brothers and sisters when their moms were out of energy. Kate and Anna took off Luke and Ally's coats and shoes. The dog barked. I added that some other kids have let the dog out for their mom. When I walked in the house I saw a mess the twins had made. So, I continued by saying some other kids put away their little brother and sister's toys, and still others give their mom a shoulder rub.

Yeah, seriously, I did. I got a shoulder rub from my kids!

But they jumped at the chance to "replace my energy" so we could do all the fun stuff we'd planned to do this evening.

And, even better... They worked together while doing it.

And, you know what else? It really did seem to "replace my energy."

Next time I complain

Next time I complain about never having any time for myself, roll your eyes, and remind me that I do stuff like this:

I did originally make Luke and Ally their summer sleepsacks out of necessity.  Evidently you can only buy fleecy ones in their size, not light ones.  So, I spent yesterday sewing nice light cotton ones for each of them.  (I now firmly hate sewing zippers.)  But then today, I got inspired to use the extra fabric to make a matching one for Luke's lovey, probably a very unnecessary waste of time.  But, isn't it so cute?!