Spring Cleaning

As I went about my day yesterday: doing laundry, cleaning the boys' room, feeding the cherubs (every 5 minutes) - I was looking forward to sitting down at the end of the day to write a post all about how much I love Spring. This is not a post about how much I love Spring.
Yesterday was a beautiful Spring day. I was working hard all day in my losing battle against dirt. I have to be vigilant, and never let down my guard. It is a challenge to keep anything clean for any length of time when I am outnumbered by small people whose purpose in life seems to be creating a mess. Yesterday though I was doing pretty good, helped by the fact that Curly Girl and Paddy Boy were both playing so nicely outside. I thought to myself, "Wow. Spring Rocks! I forgot about sending the kids outside to play - I can get so much done!" Perhaps I had discovered the basis of "spring cleaning"? So anyway there I was, scrubbing stairs, chasing dust bunnies, folding laundry and even making beds. Suddenly Curly Girl was standing in the doorway to her brothers' room, asking if she could take a shower. Huh? Then I remembered...Springtime = playing in the sandbox = sand in the hair! Ugh. Of course she was followed up the stairs by her little brother, Mr. Muddy Shoes. So much for my stair scrubbing. As for Curly and the sand - have I mentioned that she has curly hair? Not wavy, corkscrew curly. The perfect place for sand to hide and not come out. It took me a good half of an hour of hair washing, with the shower head turned to a strong steady stream and lots of conditioner and fine toothed combing before I felt confident that she was clean. Of course, just like my kitchen floors, kids don't stay clean very long either - two minutes after she was dressed and combed she was out the back door. Oh well, welcome Spring, welcome dirt. It seems like you never left at all.

Belated Blog-iversary

Holy Crap. You know things are busy when I miss an opportunity to celebrate myself!! Yesterday was my blog-iversary and I let it pass with nary a wink. Well - 2 years in cyber space. It's been a lovely ride, thank you my loyal readers for enjoying it with me! I hope this year is even better than the last two, full of juicy posts, cool pics and witty prose! Here's to trying!

My Curly Girl

I didn't think I would be this sad. To tell the truth, I had taken to joking that when the time came, I would send Curly out the door with a swift kick to her behind and a wave "bu-bye". Today is a big day. I am taking my Curly girl to "Kindergarten Orientation", and while I must say that I am much more well adjusted this time around than I was two years ago when it was First Son's turn and I practically needed to be hospitalized for emotional incompetence, I am still quite melancholy about the whole thing.

I sat on the edge of her bed last night watching her sleep and stroking her sweet little face (so familiar, it's like looking in a mirror), thinking about how quickly my little baby has become a little girl. She has always been fiercely independent, even as a baby she preferred to fall asleep in her crib rather than in your arms. She marches to the beat of her own drummer for sure. She is an amazing personality: so kind, and nurturing - she takes care of everyone; she is generous and easy going - often willing to give in to her big brother rather than fight, but by no means a push-over (she will kick your a-- and not look back if you wrong her); she is smart as a whip, but uninterested in being outwardly academic; Curly loves to play teacher but is wary of anyone who tries to teach her; she worries about who she will someday marry and whether she will be a good Mom - I tell her that she will be an amazing Mom. She crawls into bed with me in the mornings after her Dad has left for the day and she swings her little arm over my shoulders. We play "baby animals" - a game of our own creation where everybody, even the mammals, hatch from an egg made of blankets. She lets me brush her hair. She loves cooking shows, Rachael Ray is her favorite, but she'll watch the Barefoot Contessa too, because it's my favorite. She helps me in the kitchen - an expert at egg cracking and floor scrubbing. My Curly Girl loves intensely. She gives her whole self. She loves Jesus, and she loves Mary. She gives glory to God for all things. She falls asleep each and every night with a book in her arms, yet claims ignorance of the alphabet. She sings songs -her own compositions, loud and out of key. She is polite; and she loves to clean the bathroom sink. She has a smile that could melt an iceberg, and a deadly stare that will bore holes through a steel fortress. She is my scrumptious Curly Girl, my pride and joy.

Next year the big yellow taxi will come and take two of my loves away. When First Son was a baby and made the big move from bedside bassinet to bedroom baby crib Hubby lamented that he was "leaving for college", I thought it was silly at the time, but now I think I know what he meant. Our precious children are ours for such a short time.

I am happy for my Curly Girl. She is going to adore school. She will make tons of friends, and she will learn to read. She will continue blazing her own trail, and at the end of each day I will meet her at the corner and we will hold hands and talk about all of her adventures.

My little baby...such a big girl, I hope she always knows how much I adore her.

It's working

I don't know what it is, but it is working. My children love each other. Sure they squabble, as all siblings do, but when it comes down to it, they love each other. It is my greatest pride.

Yesterday we took a trip to the evil baby mega-store to purchase a new car seat for Paddy-boy, who will soon be gifting his current seat to his lil' bro. On the way out of the store they have some of those coin operated ride on toys. We always stop on the way out to drive Kermit's convertible, or give Mickey a lift to the Fire Dept. Of course, we power the toys with "imagination", rather than coins, but more on my frugal parenting in another post. Anyway, after a few minutes it was time to go, only Paddy boy doesn't roll with any one's rules but his own, and so refused to leave. After several minutes of pleading, I decided to act as though I were just leaving, and walked out of the double doors waving "bye" - figuring that Paddy would realize quickly that he didn't want to be left alone and follow us out. (note to CPS - I had my eye on him through the glass the whole time) Curly girl was a little reluctant to follow, which I read as her being upset with the idea that her little brother was still playing while she had to follow Mommy. After a few times of me telling her to "let's go!" - and leave her baby brother in the store, I was starting to get a little annoyed. The longer she lingered in the doorway, the less effective my abandonment parenting tactic. I took a few more steps with my shopping cart and told her to "come on" - at which point she turned on her true "Curly self", hands on hips, scrunched up nose and declared "NO! I am not leaving my brudder!"
Suddenly my annoyance melted away and was replaced with pride, with love and with peace. No matter what, my kids have each other, love each other and always will. I truly believe that the greatest gift that I can give to my children is the gift of each other. I know that my four siblings are all a gift to me, each in their own way, and to God and my parents I am grateful for them. I praise God that I am able to give my children a similar legacy, and I consider it one of my great responsibilities to teach my children always to love and respect one another. So far, it's working.

More than your Mom and Dad...combined

Does your family have their own vocabulary? One of First Son's spelling words last week was "cuddle". As part of his homework he needs to write sentences using the words. He was having a little trouble with cuddle and asked me what it means. Doesn't know what "cuddle" means? What kind of child grows up not knowing what it means to cuddle?? Well, I assure you, my sweet First Son knows all about warm delicious hugs; sweet strokes of the hair; and cozy Eskimo kisses. In our tribe we call it "shnuggling". I simply told First Son that "cuddle" means the same thing as "shnuggle", and he quickly had his sentence written. "My Mom cuddles me". And I do.
First Son and I are madly in love with each other. Each morning since he was a baby he has come into bed with me and we have shnuggled. Now, with school and other early morning obligations it has become more difficult to find the time to shnuggle, so when we can fit it in we savor it.
The other night we were lying together in my bed enjoying a hard-earned shnuggle after a long weekend that was preceded by an even longer week. Soon we began our usual "I love you " contest, which usually takes us on a trip to Pluto and back as we exclaim just how to measure the love we have for each other. I started with " I love you more than ice cream". Well, First Son must have been really tired, because he cut right to the chase and shot back with "I love you more than...your Mom & your Dad love you...combined". I am not sure who won the "love contest" that night, but there were no losers.

On the Wagon

I drank too much. I did. I have no one but me to blame for my shaky nerves, blurry vision, nausea and general malaise. I should have known better than to keep going for one more, but then, I have been under a lot of stress lately. I needed something to help get me through it, and I thought this was the answer. I am Irish, so I guess I am predisposed to this kind of thing. I had one when I woke up, then two more at breakfast with friends. In the afternoon I hit a low, so I tried something a little stronger, and had two. Now, I don't feel so good, and it's my own fault. I wish I knew the antidote, because I still have so much to get done.
Tomorrow is another day, and I will definitely lay off the....... TEA.

What did you think I was talking about???

I heart Snowdays

I don't love snow. Sure it makes everything look pretty, all fresh and new and white, that is, until the plow comes along and sloshes up all the dirty black sludge all over the place. Then there's the sloppy wet boots leaving trails of mess all over my floors. And don't forget driving and wondering "will my brakes actually work?" - but I digress...

I LOVE Snow days! Snow days are unexpected, totally unplanned for days off! A day to spend in our jammies, a fire in the fireplace, shnuggling on the couch flipping back and forth between Food Network and the Travel Channel, baking cookies and reading e-mails. No matter what my to-do list had on it, it all gets pushed aside - it's a snow day! 700 errands to run? Can't do it - it's a snow day. First Son home from school, Hubby home from work, hot chocolate, cold noses, lots of hugs.

Even though tomorrow will be a super-crazy day now, I am enjoying the nothingness that has been imposed on us today. A day like today is the reason that you will always find plenty of brown sugar, vanilla & chocolate chips in my pantry.