Our Sunday Chaos

Yesterday was an especially weird day. #1 and I began the day by cheering on my friend and mother of daughter's friends in a triathalon. I might have been inspired for a new sport, except I'm not such a strong swimmer.

The preschool where #2 & #3 attend is run by a church and yesterday was Preschool Sunday, and the 3 & 4 year olds have been practicing two songs. So we packed up for church early and were guests in the preschool's church, and what do you know, the boys wouldn't sing. We sat in a pew and watched their classmates sing. Okay, no big deal.

Then we proceeded to our church. #3 throws a major tantrum in the middle of Sacrament Meeting and puzzle pieces go flying. Nice. I ask #1 if she'll help pick up the puzzle pieces, to which she agrees because she's that kind of a kid (thank goodness). She's bending down on her heals leaning forward and bumps her elbow and is jolted upright by the pain and then her eyes roll back in her head and she goes over backwards. I look at her and see her eyes rolling around but she's not responding to me, and I freak out. Hubby and I jump up and try to get her out of the chapel, get her some water and he takes her to get some food. After further evaluation, her blood pressure was probably low from being almost horizontal, and then with lack of circulation because she was sitting on her heels, well you get the picture. She was/is fine.

Nothing like having your child pass out to get your heart pumping. Then when we realized she's okay, I was drained.

We enter Primary, and our behavior problems are in full force, and I was off to the adult's classes to retrieve the parents of said children.

Hubby and I came home and looked at each other and said, "What the heck just happened?"

"We give up."

To Play or Not to Play

One of our favorite things to do is go to the park to have a little family baseball game. Hubby or I will pitch, and the kids take turns fielding and hitting. It's usually a pretty enjoyable experience, a few negotiations about "one more pitch" or "one more hit," maybe some tears, but generally, it's fun.

BUT . . .

. . . as is the case with parks in general, there are other people there, which is usually a good thing, except when it comes to the family baseball game (or any ball game we've intended to play at the park). After we've been going for a little while, a kid who doesn't belong to us, will skirt around the fringes, start shagging some balls, and before you know it, they're struggling with #2 over whose turn it is to bat next.

Hubby's point is this, "I came to the park to pitch balls to my kids, not your's. I didn't come to the park to referee 6 kids fighting over the next swing (with the bat, we hope), it's tough enough with 3, so would you kindly butt out."

I get it. Sure I do. But where do you draw the line? Our kids will usually ask to play with other kids in their ball games at parks and other parents are gracious enough to consent. I don't mind so much except when one of our children isn't in the mood for sharing one of his parents. He does so well with one on one attention, especially when it involves Dad and a ball. Maybe it's different for me being with them the majority of every day, that I don't mind mixing it up a little and playing with other kids at the park because we do have a lot of one on one time, so the hour Hubby has to play with the kids at the park on a Sunday afternoon is precious to him. During the week it gives me a chance to speak to other adults at the park during the day, where he's not at the park to make friends, he's there to play with his kids.

Sometimes, we've taken balls and mitts and if other kids don't have a mitt, they usually don't ask to play, but any other sort of ball game seems to be free reign.

I clearly understand both sides of the issue (Economy? War in Iraq? Equality in marriage? BHAA, we're talking real issues here) I'm just not sure how what the protocol for diplomacy is in resolving this one. I'm up for any suggestions you have. Give it to me straight. I don't need it sugar coated, my skin is pretty thick.

I'm serious.

Recent Musings

I took my own advise and finally wrote blog ideas down in my little notebook I carry around in my purse.

~~Recently our sons' preschool had a family dinner with pizza and a puppet show. In principle it was a great activity (. . . here's the BUT), except for the Webkinz raffle. I'm sure the planners had nothing but good intentions when they decided to hold the raffle. The dinner and entertainment was all free, so it's not a big deal to hold a raffle for $1/ticket. No big deal, right?

WRONG!!!!!

My single-minded little 5 year old can't get his mind off the stuffed animals sitting on the table. My sweet husband took him outside for most of the evening to divert his attention. The poor kid was ready for nuclear meltdown well before the raffle was to occur. And then it happens, the raffle and two other kids win. No Kidding!?!? #2 can't even think straight he's so disappointed. After a long day and he's tired, this is not a pretty sight. I think he cried . . . LOUD, all the way home, and then when we got home, and finally just collapsed.

Perhaps I'll suggest further raffles be things for the adults, hopefully we can handle ourselves better when we don't win than #2.

But there's a silver lining to this black, black cloud.

The next morning, I was recounting the events to my dear friend. She suggested her children hadn't discovered the evils of Webkinz yet, (but she has a few on hand for when they do) and she volunteered to make a special delivery from the Webkinz Elf to #2 on Monday afternoon. And "Oh the joy. The joy, joy, joy!" (I think that was supposed to be "noise," but I'll take a little poetic licence with that one.) Thus Alvin joined our family, a quiet beagle, who has brought a smile to one little 5 year old's face that continues to this day.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Webkinz Elf!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


~~We live in a city where Tuesdays are free days at some of the museums. The first Tuesday of the month happens to be the favorite of my children . . . Dinosaur Museum (aka Natural History Museum), Science Museum, and the Model Railroad Museum. It's a great way to spend a Tuesday with thousands of your closest friends who also love free things. I love that we live so close to these great museums and we can go once a month, and I can let the kids wander to whatever interests them that day. It happened to be the contraption that shot small balls out of the mouth of a frog, simulating the way a Darwin's Frog belches its babies from its mouth. I'm sorry I didn't take a picture because they loved it! Something else they loved was pushing each other through a conveyor belt intended for produce at the mock grocery store, or shapes in the building department. I love the way they explore things and figure out what works in their brains. I usually sit back and watch, and wait for them to come get me and show me what they did or discovered or built. We spent three and a half hours at the one museum, so we didn't even get to see the dinosaurs. We'll hit that one first next month.

~~Wednesday morning was the preschool trip to the Pumpkin Patch. Heaps of fun!! But we're going through a bit of a heat wave and on the way home we discussed what to do for the rest of the day, and we decided to go swimming. Yep, it's October and we're going to the pool because it's just too hot to sit indoors in our 100 year old house with no air conditioning, and the sun is just too hot if I'm not in the water, but you won't hear me complaining. It was a glorious day! So glorious, in fact, we went back the next day.

I LOVE this town!

That'll teach me

Yesterday morning I came home from my spin class to a silent house. I made lunches, breakfasts and was well on my way to a productive first day of preschool for my boys, class for myself and I even had a lovely blog post parading through my mind. I knew hubby was on the computer upstairs, so I opted to continue my productivity downstairs, passing up the possibility of blogging on my iPhone because the screen is a little too tedious for long posts. Little did I know that if I waited longer the thoughts would drift away and my lovely images would scatter with the calls for weather reports, lost shoes, pencils, butt wiping and the likes of my day.

Now I know why people keep notebooks on their nightstands and write things down in the middle of the night or whenever things come to them.

Your-in trouble!!!!

Last Friday, I noticed our downstairs bathroom was starting to smell. . . like an out-house. So I scoured the toilet. Hubby washed the shower curtain, bath mat, mopped the floor and scoured the rest of the surfaces. Smelled like a dream. Until yesterday when the smell resurfaced. What the heck!?!?!?

Daughter and I were in the car alone today and I asked her about this. Not accusing, just to see if she had any pertinent information. Yep! "#2 pees in the plant."

"HE DOES WHAT?????"

Apparently, he's doing us a favor by watering the large potted plant we have in the bathroom.

I'm a nerd

Yesterday I started a new class. It's Nutrition 150, a prerequisite for a BSN degree, and one of two classes I haven't taken yet. I walked onto campus, with my new notebook in hand, complete with a map of the campus and a copy of my schedule. I went to the bookstore and bought my $121 book to go along with my $60 class. (Urrrrgggghhhh) I bought my parking pass and went to sit on a bench and wait for my class to start.

As I sat in class and listened to the first day speal, I got excited. I love learning new things, and taking tests and doing assignments. Since my undergrad days, I now love multiple choice tests and assignments where there are right and wrong answers, without the essays I used to write for english and political science classes. I'm turning into a science nerd. I think I like the order and structure of the hard sciences that I don't have everyday in my life.

I really like school, having a schedule for myself and deadlines and objectives. The deadlines and objectives and schedules I make in my planner don't really seem the same. I think I like the control I have over myself when I'm in class. Or maybe I like the fact that I can sit there for 90 minutes and no one is going to pull on me or sit on me or throw pillows at me. Maybe it's the fact that I'm not in charge of anyone else but me when I'm sitting in a class. It seems so much easier to accomplish things in school than it does in non-school-life. I don't remember feeling like this when I was in school full time.

The grass is always greener somewhere else.

Update to the Porcelan gods

I think we've got it!!! Or he's got it, rather. He'll take himself, anytime and I couldn't be happier for him (and me).