Katie vs Joe... The exploded beer bottle stand-off

Katie R.

On March 16th my husband put a large beer bottle in our freezer.

On March 17th I found this:

On March 18, 19 & 20th I asked Joe to clean it and was told he would do it.

It's now March 25th and it's still there.

The truth is it's driving me absolutely crazy and every day I start to do it and then decide no I'm not going to do it.

So who will last longer?  Joe's "forgetting" to clean it or me just letting it in there.

Who Doesn't Want to be a Veterinarian at some point in their life?

I remember vividly going through the phase when I wanted to be a veterinarian when I grew up.  We always had cats growing up and loved all sorts of animals.  My parents often recall a story of when I was very young and visited the zoo. The monkey exhibit (if it was another animal my mother will correct me) was right in the entrance and I was enthralled and when they tried to get me to move on I cried and cried and cried because I thought the monkeys were the coolest things in the world.  I go down memory lane because my boys are currently enjoying acting like veterinarians! We build zoos with our miniature animal figurines and talk about the habitats they belong in and we also give all of our animals a thorough check-up.

As you can see the giraffe is getting an extensive work up done and the line on the railing of the bed shows how many animals they have left to check. You may wonder why we have entered this stage of their imagination. Well, Isis Kitty is the reason.  The old girl isn't the same anymore and her health is deteriorating.  We have become somewhat regulars at the vets office and have a good plan in place to keep her pain free and happy for as long as possible. Colby and Lincoln understand that animals need check-ups, tests and medicine too just like people.  They know to be gentle with her and that is why the direction of their medical skills have turned to other (stuffed) animals in the house.

*update
I wrote this blog about 2 1/2 weeks ago, I had it saved in my file and just hadn't gotten around to posting it.  Isis Kitty passed away 2 weeks ago.  She was about 11 years old and gave more love than any pet I've ever had.  She is dearly missed and the house is empty without her.  Here's to Isis Kitty, we learned so much for you, thank you!

March Madness.. a lot different with kids

Katie R.

March Madness.  One of the greatest weekends of the year: cheering for the underdog, hoping your alma mater will win and holding your breath while watching the buzzer beaters.   What can make watching the games even more fun?  Of course watching the games with friends, eating food and drinking some beers.

There is only one problem with that.  I think that I forgot that when I invite a big group of friends it comes with a big group of kids.  So needless to say prepping for this year's party I spent time prepping the playroom and buying juice boxes and no time running to pick up a keg.

So from 1pm to 10pm  we had approximately 15 kids, ages 6 and under, who were the party animals.  And like every good party there was take out pizza, dancing on the couch, a lot of yelling, a few fights, a little blood and most of the guests home and asleep by 10.



Here is the before (I moved all the furniture and put away every lego sized toy I could find):

Normally in this space there is a couch and love seat

The mudroom now becomes a playroom

During with only 1/3 of the guest remaining:

No party is complete without a change of clothes

And the after (which I am still getting put back together):

No cushion left on the couch and not toy left in a cubby.   

And although at the end of the night we had to turn of basketball for a little Paw Patrol and What Did a Fox Say was on the iPad, I'm pretty sure the parents had a good time.  So even though it may take me until next month to reorganize the room I am 100% sure we'll do it again next year, because each year the kids get a little older and able to be unsupervised for greater lengths of time.  Because let's be honest all parents really want to do is ignore their children at these kind of parties.  So the only thing we may do different is set a recording of the adults say "go downstairs" oh and maybe a keg...

Where In The World Is...

Books, you can never go wrong with books.  Colby and Lincoln love them and we can read for ever (or for what seems like forever).  Thursdays are long days, both boys have school and the list of things to get done before the weekend is never short.  When we get home from picking Colby up from school its really easy for me to go to the remote and put something on for the boys.  (Our new favorite is Paw Patrol thanks to Katie R.) But today, I had some NCAA basketball on and refused to change the channel (*no I don't follow basketball except for during March Madness) so I sent Colby to find some books to read. To my luck and amazement he hit the jackpot for us.  He pulled out some old gems that kept him busy and didn't require too much from me.

Oh yeah, Where's Waldo baby!!!! At the ripe old age of 5 Colby is a great age to get wrapped up in these books and devour the pages in search of the man with the stripped red shirt! He would call out to me if he got stuck and I would narrow down the search for him but he did amazing!

I was amazed at his intensity and he could find Waldo before I could on some of the pages.  I was able to get dinner started, made some dips for tomorrow and watch lots of college basketball (I'm currently tied for the lead in my pool and yes I know it's early and I will lose in the end).

So here's my unsolicited advice-if you have kids around the age of 5 go get yourself a few of these books.  They are not just about finding Waldo, the pages are vivid stories that tell of adventures and discovers. I'm thinking they will be perfect for car rides too! 

The Life of A Mom

You know you're a mom when....

Lincoln calls to me from the back seat to hold "this" for me.  I, without hesitation, put my hand back to take whatever he has to give me (thinking the whole time it's a toy) and he slaps down a huge bugger in my hand. Sweet.

You are so used to using the bathroom with the door open you do it with company over and don't realize it until your mid-stream.  Luckily the company made no attempts to come in that general direction while I finished up.

When you go to the store to buy size 6 slims...no not for me (I wish) but for my every growing son, Colby that has a bottomless pit of a stomach and remains the skinniest kid around.

Time Vortex

After a long and stressful weekend we needed to get out of the house and relax.  We have a family membership at an amazing local children's science museum.  Its a delightful place with lots of hands on activities, bees, ants, turtles, a children under 5 area and room to run. It's a place that Colby and I went to when he was learning to walk to help him gain confidence. In the summer we take advantage of the walking trails along the river. It seems at a glance a place where you think you could spend all day except for one thing....this is the place where time stands still.

We set up this activity over and over again
but we only spent minutes at it

No joke, you feel like you have been looking at one exhibit for a half an hour and it turns out you have been there for only 3 minutes.  The boys move to exhibit to activity and you think that the day must be flying by but nope, you have been there only 25 minutes so far and you are antsy to leave.

the boys learning
something here...

I rarely, if ever, go alone with the boys.  I could handle it by myself, the boys enjoy it here and listen and stay close. I just need some company to help make the time vortex go by a little faster.  Today was a family day so Tom and I enjoyed each others company but during the week my friends and I try to coordinate ourselves.

The boys loved that they got
to take their straw rockets home!
(me too)

At the 2 hour mark in our visit today, Tom and I thought we had done well and started the boys for the coat room.  But then, an announcement that an activity to make straw rockets was about to start upstairs. Colby and Lincoln insisted that they needed to participate so off we went back upstairs.  It was worth it, the boys asked questions, used scissors and tape and enjoyed every second of it.  We finally finished up and headed home. 

It really is a wonderful place. I lament about it being a time suck but these are the pills you swallow as a parent because to Colby and Lincoln it is a wonderful, magical, science filled world. Don't get me wrong, I'll take some time before I go back!

The Bouncy House

Today we had a birthday party to attend.  The boys and I always love a good party and a reason to celebrate.  Unfortunately I had one minor detail I had to get over.  The party was hosted at a local community center that has a bouncy house set up in it with foam pads and blocks to play with.  It's a lovely facility that many friends visit during the week to let their children run some energy off and visit with other moms.  I always find an excuse not to go.  I'm not really a germaphob but I always get weirded out when I go and think my kids will get sick.  It's wintertime and everyone and their brother has been sick so my mind goes into overdrive thinking my kids will get some superbug (we have all gotten our flu shot so I know it won't be that). Colby and Lincoln were very excited to go so I held back my fear and off we went.  It was wonderful celebration for two amazing kids!  Both boys, who in the past had been very hesitant to go in the bouncy house, hopped right in and jumped the day away. We sang happy birthday, enjoyed cupcakes and caught up with old friends.  Colby even told me that he wanted his next birthday party at this location (not going to happen).  It really is a nice facility to host an event in and I'm glad we went but only time will tell if my worst fears come true.  In the meantime we will enjoy the goodie bags that came home with us!

stamps on our noses and Lincoln is rocking
cupcake on his face still

play-doh rocks too!

And at the end of the day, the boys played and bounced so hard that it didn't matter that we turned the clocks ahead! They went to bed like champs at 7 like they always do!