We live in Richmond Virginia when on average we receive one snow fall a year. Well for us it is a snowfall for others it is a sprinkling or dusting of snow. The schools close the kids are happy hoping to gather all the snow in the neighborhood into one measly snowball.
So you can imagine my excitement when a huge grandparents Christmas gift revealed a sleigh. Beautiful wooden sturdy sleigh I remember from my childhood.
Why? We don’t have enough storage in our house to keep that thing locked up for 364 days a year. What were they thinking? Am I being ungrateful I turned to my husband?
Yes you are – he answered eager to point out my faults. It is a beautiful sleigh.
I guess my mom wanted to chime in, or pulled some stings with someone out there because it began to snow.
Really snow. Enough to make snow angels
and go sledding.
So we packed up the kiddos and went outside enjoying a beautiful Virginia winter day.
Thank you mom and next time you are scheming could I please please get a beach umbrella too and maybe one of those tropical drinks.
It is winter break and our Mommy and Me group decided to do something extra fun, go bowling. Why not I thought? The kiddos are 3 years old they should be able to grasp the concept, especially after bumpers where in place. I mean how tough is it, they are really two rules:
1. Wait your turn
2. Throw, roll, kick or push the ball down the lane, twice…… Repeat
The process however may not be that easy for preschoolers. First of all our bowling alley did not supply shoes small enough for the kiddos, which should have been my first sign to wait. At least to wait until their foot grows a little bigger, which as we all know can be next week.
The caring process was a little tough too. When you deal with bowling balls as big as your head and as heavy as anything you have ever carried it gets tough. Thank goodness for rubber boots, next time I need to buy steel toes, but by then they will fit into the bowling shoes for sure. Do they make steel toe bowling shoes? They should really. Bowling is really the only sport I can think of that can really use some steel toe shoes.
Just to be safe I would run to each child and hand them the ball. This way they could look a little more graceful as a bowler.
Then there was an issue with actually rolling the ball. I have never ever seen a bowling ball take at least 2 minutes to get to pin part. There was one time in particular that it took too long between crossing the gate line and reaching the pins that the gate closed as the pins where being knocked down. I tried to help by giving them an extra push. I am not getting any younger here and I certainly do not have time to spend a week bowling one game with toddlers. Plus I am not sure if they are still toddlers, they certainly would not be once we got out of there.
They did get the concept though and on occasion even jumped, or maybe they just felt like jumping
The toughest part by far was taking turns and understanding the turn process. There were five kids playing our game and that was way too many for 3-5 year old attention span. Bowl twice and then go back to your seat and stare at the wall for the next 4 rounds. Especially since those rounds took forever knowing the speed of light of the bowling balls.
There were a lot of melt downs and after about 5 rounds all kids lost interest, which gave the parents a way in. Just to get few balls in, for practice sake. You know, just in case we ever do an adult bowling night.
So after sleeping on the machines, even though it was only 11 o’clock.
Giving them hugs, or sleeping, or “resting my arms”
Trying to adjust her score on the board, we called it quits.
I do not believe any of the moms in our group had officially succeeded to have their kids bowl an entire game. We did still have fun but bowling may not be something that I will try again until this summer, or at least until they can officially wear bowling shoes.
We finally got a Christmas Tree this past weekend and I thought it may be fun to involve the kids in decorating. What was I thinking? The moment they saw the tree they wanted to decorate it. Way before I got a chance to put any lights on. So we decorated.
I mean they decorated I sat there saying: yes you can touch this. No don’t touch that one. No not that one… That one is your grandma’s, it is old, I don’t want you to break it.
ups you broke one, step away. Don’t move mommy will clean it up. No stop don’t move don’t touch it.
be careful, don’t step on that. Don’t fall, don’t don’t don’t
After about 5 minutes I was tired, really tired of telling the kids the dos and don’ts of tree decorating.
When I finally got a chance to put them to bed, take down all the ornaments and place the lights on, I placed the lights the wrong way with the plug on top of the tree not on the bottom next to the outlet, uhh.
So I took them off again plugged them in to realize one of the strands on the tree burned out, so I took them off again and come to realization that I was out of clean lights.
Then I did something unprecedented in my house, you will never believe it. I put colored lights on my tree. The colored lights that my husband and tween daughter have been fighting each Christmas with me about. Me a purist at heart only allows clear lights on the tree, but they always wanted them colored. This year for kids sake the tree has colored lights and a huge gaudy colorful star on the top. My preschooler looked at it and smiled “oh mama, it is beautiful.”
100-150 cake pops for my other daughters Middle School family tradition fest. I guess cake pops are now officially out family tradition.
Of course this does not include the meat loaf that I made yesterday, twins that need constant attention, dentist visit, middle school pick up, posting things on this blog, preferably a shower before the party and the potato leek soup I was planning to make.
Which makes me wonder, How in the World did I get myself into this? Again.
Why can’t I go and buy snacks, prepackaged cheese dip for the adult party? Napkins or favors for the kids? That’s easy right? Only requires one stop.
I do love to cook and highly enjoy it but I have found myself too many times making 2 am cupcakes or cookies for something I signed up for.
I do thrive in busy days and like them, having the feeling of achieving a lot at the end of the day but today is quite frankly a little ridiculous.
Now if I could just find an underachiever pill so I can get rid of this show off thing I have going with my food. The worst I start looking the better my food does. Tomorrow I will show up disheveled on the way to preschool. Who knows if I will even have time for make up today.
I would just take a half I swear, enough to take me to a store (even gourmet) and buy ready stuff. That would be great. I can then pretend that I made it, yes even lie and not feel bad about it. Yes I made it stayed up all night and got a massage, facial and a manicure.
Do you know of a pill like that? Are you a show off overachiever, what do you take?
I woke up to winter wonderland outside my front door, which is really a rare case in Richmond. Even though I was suppose to continue with decking the halls the day just got the best of me. The kiddos were too overtired and cranky to pack up and play in this sprinkling of snow.
Maybe it is the ex Chicagoan talking but what can you really do with less then a foot of snow? Maybe make a few snowballs and throw those around. Plus the snow started to turn into slush throughout the day. Which really means that it will turn to ice tonight and the kids that were so disappointed for going to school today may in fact get the day off tomorrow.
In Richmond the sight of snow means that there will be no school or at least a delay since the city is not equipped to remove it fast enough. But not today, everyone went to school on time disappointed and angry.
As for me the garlands that I spend hours wiring together last night and left outside in a colder weather are now covered in snow. So I have a perfect excuse to call it off and have a snow day. Just sit inside and enjoy preferably with a cup of hot cocoa. Maybe imagine what would it be like to finally have a White Christmas.
I am sure that I am not the only mother to admit that she would rather sort socks for 3 hours then to go buy new ones.
No I don’t enjoy sorting socks, well maybe I do a little, it is almost like playing solitaire especially since most of ours are white and come in various shapes and sizes.
No I am not that penny pinching, my husband may disagree, and in most circumstances I would just forget the whole thing and buy everyone new ones, until next week, when you have to do laundry again.
The problem in reality involves my entourage, who are following me (thank goodness) because they don’t know any better. In about 10 years they will run the opposite direction pretending they don’t know me.
The thought of getting out of a house with 3 year olds in a 30 degrees may even force me to start knitting our socks.
I don’t think I am not the only one there. There is a reason for creation of food delivery service, grocery delivery service and even laundry delivery service, and that is lazy moms like me.
Even though lazy is the far thing from it. Imagine dressing two kids in layers of clothes. Kids that complain about that sock not being comfy, that shoe no longer fitting, not that jacket, no I don’t want to wear that.
When you get through with one of them and start the other, the first one usually starts taking something off, or all of a sudden decides that they are hungry, thirsty or really need to go to the bathroom. When you are done with that one the other one starts.
Hopefully after about 45 minutes you are ready to strap them into the car seat. In between you run back and forth for more milk, snack, diapers and whatever else you think you may use and off you go.
Then you decide on the store that actually offers double carts, or those fun cart mobiles (which usually have buckles broken) and enter the store surrounded by kids.
The only way you can get through the grocery store shopping with the kiddos is to allow them to get what they want and eat it in the cart. So you usually come home with things you would never buy just so your kids act properly and do not throw fits in the middle of the isle.
Oh so deceiving I know meanwhile they are stuffing their faces with sugary cereal thinking “this is great we never eat stuff like that.”
But even though you get home safe and sound, and slightly on sugar high it doesn’t stop there.
Your hubby gets home from work finding sugary cereal on the counter says:
What is that? How did it get here? You bought it? Are you kidding me? You the mother that made her own baby food because Gerber was not good enough? You let them eat that?
Then for weeks after he brings home a new box. If it was good enough for you to buy then we will eat it.
So as you crunch on some Trix you will keep folding socks till you really really need to buy more.
Happy Saint Nicolas Day !!! As I try to figure out how to present Santa Claus into my kids lives while taking into consideration two cultures and some calendar miss haps. You see in most of the European Countries Santa Claus traditionally comes baring gifts on Dec.6. Yes Today not on Christmas Eve. In Poland he sneaks in at night leaving “gifts” (usually small candy and gifts) under pillows, in shoes or socks.
He also looks a bit different with a pointy Bishops hat, round tip cane and robes since he is meant to ressemble Saint Nicholas the Bishop of Myrna, known for his gift giving.
So today we have celebrated a Polish feast which included Swiety Mikolaj, who did not speak Polish, to make it funnier
The kids told them their wants
which were suprisingly the same.
Then we sang some Polish Christmas Carols
and received small gifts.
I was lucky they did not ask any questions. Maybe they are two young to see the differences, not remembering the Santa Claus from last year. We didn’t even watch any Christmas movies yet to make their memory easier. Maybe they will never put two and two together and I can just worry for nothing? Which is a parent trait anyways. Or maybe I can just tell them that there will be no gifts if they don’t believe. In other words I better have my story straight by next year.
If you culture celebrates St. Nick and you live in the US what story do you tell?
