Dear Flu, You Win.

What's a girl gotta do to get her family well again? That's what I've been trying to figure out over the last two weeks. First, Eli got sick with the normal runny nose/cough.  Then the unexpected happened.  I got sick!!  I NEVER get sick.  I CAN'T get sick...I'm the MOM!!  Who's going to take care of the sick kid if I'm sick? Who's going to make dinner?  Who's going to do the laundry? Yes, I know, there are 2 grown ups in this house but let's face it, the hubs just isn't going to do it all.  And when you're a child and you're sick you want your mom to hold you and make it all better.  So for an entire week Eli and I lounged on the couch together, sniffling, sneezing and aching.  The housework and everyday stuff was put on  hold for a whopping 7 days.  Boy oh boy was this house a disaster.  But I just didn't care.  I couldn't.  I was miserable.



Finally my little guy started feeling better and I managed to pull it together and drag myself off the couch.  Then what?  You guessed it.  Joe got sick.  At this point I felt as though I was living in a giant petry dish full of bacteria and yuckiness.  He was home from work for 3 days.  Today, I woke up and finally felt almost normal.  Eli woke up a happy camper and I can tell he's back to his bubbly self.  Joe was off to work.  Just when I thought we were out of the woods, Ethan woke up with a stuffy nose and a terrible sore throat.  UGH!!  Really?! So, he's home from school today playing video games resting and being medicated.  I'm hoping he doesn't get any worse.  So that was my defeated rant about how the flu won.  So, come on Spring!!  I know you're out there!!  Help a sister out and come to town soon.  We need you!!

Mom Dancing -Happy Monday!

Jimmy Fallon and Michelle Obama on The Evolution of Mom Dancing from Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Happy Monday!!

 

 



Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!!  Valentine's Day isn't a holiday we normally go all out for but this year I decided to make it a big deal for everyone in the house.  It all started with Ethan's Valentine's party at school.  This is the only party the students get all year long so the teachers and parents work hard to make it a special day.  Ethan chose Despicable Me cards for his classmates which then led to us making a minion Valentine's box.  Thankfully Pinterest had lots of pictures and inspiration for this project.  We were both really happy with how it turned out!

Next I had to focus on the activities I planned for Ethan's class party.  I decided to make a treat that I saw on Pinterest.  They're fortune cookies made out of fruit roll-ups.  Such a cute idea and really easy to make.  It was, however pretty time consuming.  I had to write "fortunes" to put inside each one and of course I wanted them all to be different.  Even with using Google, finding 21 kid-friendly Valentine slogans wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.  Writing each one out also took extra time.  I had to use parchment paper (because regular paper would stick to the fruit roll-up) which just soaked up the ink from my Sharpie so I had to go over each word 2-3 times for it show up brightly.  I bagged them separately and tied them with red ribbon.  The picture below is from the SheKnows.

I also came up with a worksheet for the kids to do while they were at the estimation station.  It's funny Valentine's Day riddles with answers that need to be decoded.  Basically just a fun time-filler before the kids move to the next station.  

What did the stamp say to the envelope?

I'm stuck on you!!!!!  

 

Finally, I had to come up with an activity.  I swear, as the kids get older finding activities for them to do seems to get more difficult.  I knew I wanted something that could be messy but not too messy.  I got the idea of searching "Minute to Win It" type games.  I knew I'd find some fun ideas but I also needed the game to be quick as the students only get about 10 minutes at each station.  I came up with the toilet paper game ( I have yet to give this activity a clever, Valentines-y name so just go with it or.....roll with it?!).  I put two rolls of toilet paper on a pole (in this case I'm using an old broom stick) and I had heart cut outs with an action written on them.  Two kids would choose a heart out of a bag, do what it said (crab walk, disco dance, etc.) across the room, race back and compete to see who can unravel all the toilet paper first.  Simple, fun, messy and thanks to The Dollar Tree, inexpensive.  I got 24 rolls of tp for just six bucks!!  Yessssss!!  Along with all the other activities and treats from the other room parents the party was a great success!

 Luckily the school party was on the 13th this year which allowed me to spend all Valentine's Day with my boys. I decided to give Joe and the kids a goody bag with a new movie. Joe had to work of course so I got up extra early (4:30 in the A.M.!!) to make him a special breakfast and give him his gift.  A gazillion years ago when we had our first date we went to the movies to see The Big Hit.  With all the movies in his vast collection that's one movie he didn't own so I thought it would be a cute gift to give him.  It's not the greatest movie of all time (or 1998) but it's sentimental to us and gives us something to chuckle about!!



 

Ethan got The Croods (which is a pretty funny movie) and Eli got a Mighty Machines DVD.  Add that to a breakfast of homemade Belgian waffles and I had some happy kids on Valentine's Day!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!

 

Now this mama can sit back and enjoy some of those delish chocolate covered cherries the hubs so thoughtfully surprised her with. 

 

 







I hope your Valentine's Day was as sweet as mine!!

Happy Birthday Eli!!

Happy 2nd birthday to my baby boy.  I waited for God to bless me with you for 4 years and you've been worth every second of that.  Your smile, your laugh, your silliness and even your stubborn little attitude has completed me. I can't even begin to describe my love for you.  Thank you for choosing me to me your mama.  I love you my little monkey!!!

Pinewood Derby 2014

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Pinewood Derby race for Ethan's cub scout troop.  If you're not familiar with the Pinewood Derby it's an annual racing event for The Boy Scouts in which each scout is given a kit that includes a block of wood, four tires and four nails.  A car is built from that kit usually with the help of a parent and then it's put to the test at the Pinewood Derby.  This is what the kit looks like.

A few weeks before, Joe and Ethan did some research online to  find a design that Ethan wanted for his car.  This is what they decided to go with.

 

 Joe added some weights in the back to make the car heavier so it would go down the track faster.  Then we sanded it down.  Once that was done, Ethan and I started talking about colors and decals and what he wanted his car to look like.  We went with blue (since that's his favorite color right now) and he liked the idea of flames down the sides so that's what we did.  Joe put on the wheels and we were ready to go.





  

When you get to the derby the first thing you do is have your weighed.  Derby cars cannot weigh more than 5 ounces. Then your car is put with the other cars while you wait to race.

 





This is video of Ethan's first race of the day against his friend "K".  They were both so excited!

 

Ethan didn't win this year but was excited to get his derby patch and he's already looking forward to next year!

 

 



 

 











Travel -Happy Monday!

One thing that ALWAYS makes me happy is traveling!  Whether it's far away or close to home, one night away or two weeks...it makes me happy. I love seeing new places, trying new things and creating new memories with my family.  I feel getting away from your normal routine and re-connecting with your family rejuvenates the soul and makes you appreciate your normal day to day life because let's face it, no matter where you go or how much fun you have it's such a good feeling to come home. Usually I'm exhausted the day we get home from a trip but I'm also really happy to get back to "normal" and I feel that, especially for us moms, we need that.  You need a little time away to help you remember how important those daily tasks of helping your child with homework, making dinner for your family or fighting your toddler to take a bath (then fighting with him to get out of the tub) actually are.  I love that tingly excited feeling I get in my stomach when we're planning to get away and I'm starting to get that feeling again because in a few short weeks we'll be hitting the road for a little family getaway and I CANNOT wait!  I'll be posting more on this later but in the meantime, can you guess where we're going???  Here's a clue:

Happy Monday!!