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Mom, you always say that…

22 Jun

“Mom, you always say that…”  is a phrase I hear often from B. And he is only 3.

It goes something like this:

“B, your shoes are on the wrong feet.” ……”Mom, you always say that…”

“B what do you want for breakfast?” ……”Mom, you always say that…”

“It is time for bed now.”…..”Mom, you always say that…”

“It’s bath time!” ….”Mom, you always say that…”

“Please flush the toilet” …”Mom, you always say that…”

[Reciting meal or bedtime prayer] ….”Mom, you always say that…”

“Vegetables are good for you.” ….”Mom, you always say that…”

“You have to wash your hands before you eat” …”Mom, you always say that…”

I guess I am getting a little repetitive. Do I need to try to say the same thing in a different way to get the message across?  When I say, “I love you” (and I do always say that) I don’t get the same response.

Am I boring this guy already? I thought kids liked routine? He just really does not like rules. Can I blame it on him being a middle child? Or some wild extended family genes? Or maybe he is completely normal. I am not sure, I just know he is really making me work for my lofty title of Mom.

What does he really want? I don’t know and he doesn’t either, But, I always say that.

Summer at Last!

6 Jun

With a dreadfully long and rainy spring, we, like most everyone else, are happy that summer has arrived!  Tonite the kids did some “slip and sliding” and stayed cool with water balloons and garden hose sprayings.

Today was the first day of Summer Rec.  B went for the first time, since he is now 3.  Neil  brought the kids and it went suprisingly well! M has a very full schedule, with today including flag football and swimming lessons.  Although I could tell he was tired, he was so excited and talkative, and happy to have a new routine and meet new friends.  Tomorrow he is excited to be in a couple non-sport classes, like computer lab and kids in the kitchen.

We had so much fun at the lake this weekend. First of all, I am totally impressed by my boys fishing skills.  M got several bass off the dock, proudly stating that one was 8 inches and the other was 10 inches.  We cooked them up for breakfast the next morning.  B isn’t fishing for real yet, but he knows how to cast like a pro! And he is not one bit afraid of the bait.  He would carry it around all day if I let him. Check out the photo above of the homemade grill handle designed by Neil  and my cousin Mike. All you need is a small log and a couple bolts and the grill is back in action.  Speaking of cool engineering…

So, I never would have believed it if I did not see it with my own eyes, but Neil maneuvered to put a boat lift if with just him- one person.  He engineered these skids ( I call them skateboards) to go under each foot of the lift and wheeled it from the driveway to the rocks, then he lowered it down the steep rocks.  Finally, he bought 4 humongous beach balls, and strategically floated it over to where it needed to be parked.  I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical, but it worked! So the boys have gotten some time in “driving the boat” now that it has a parking spot on the lake.

The water was ICE COLD on Saturday.  I could feel my skin starting to freeze.  By Sunday it was noticeably warmer.  This makes me happy because I was beginning to feel like the long spring and high lake level was going to make it cold all summer.

I made this rhubarb slush recipe and am excited to have a new lake drink!

A popular place for relaxing is the hammock.  Although we made a rule after too many injuries last year of no wrestling on the hammock.  Yes, this is something we have to do in our house.  Here B gets snug as a bug in a rug.

We visited Gma and Gpa at Diamond this weekend.  Here we learned that Gpa is always right when it comes to where to park the boat and the sea legs (Sorry Gma) and  we saw a garter snake that was way to large to be a garter snake – like it ate 10 normal-sized snakes for breakfast.

I had the first breakdown of my Expedition, when my alternator went out and we had some extra time charging my battery before leaving the lake.  This was interesting and tested all of our patience a bit.  All better now.

Popsicles- lots of popsicles outside, dripping down faces and arms off elbows.  CJ was even two-fisting it at one point when B gave up an already opened orange popsicle for the highly popular root beer popsicle. My favorite use of the freez-e or popsicle is too lure tired dirty kids into the bath…  Kind of in a Hansel & Gretel kind of way, but not really.

So wow! Busy summer and it is not even summer yet! Can’t wait to see what the rest of this season bring us! I plan on going thru lots of sun block,  smores, and popsicles for the kids (probably lots of  fireworks viewing for the boys), a little rhubarb slush for mom.  How about you?

The Vegetable Chart

22 May

How do you get your kids to eat your vegetables?  Although the canned veggies seems to go over the best with our kids, since they are softer, we eat a mix of frozen and fresh too.  We make them mostly with melted cheese like parmesan, cheddar or mozzarella.  We have had our ups and downs with food here, but for the most part my kids eat like champs.  I think the hardest part is when they get around other kids, and hear how something is gross or icky, and they sometimes follow suit.

One thing that I have noticed lately with my boys, is that B tends to be the herbivore, and M tends to be the carnivore.  One will have all the meat left on their plate, and the other all their vegetables.  Although we always urge them to at least try everything, there has been times where one has asked for seconds and we have ultimately just had them switches plates… as long as everyone was healthy.

But one way we try to encourage the greens and veggies is with our  “vegetable charts”.  Now it is not a big deal for B, since he really loves the veggies, but he wanted to make a chart too, so  we went with it.  Basically we just drew some pics of vegetables (this was fun) and then boxes to put X’s or stickers for when the vegetables for an evening dinner were gone.  When a row of 4 was full, they get a treat, whether this is playing Wii, or picking out of the “treasure chest” which is my collection of things that kids think are cool.

It worked great tonite, as M said he doesn’t like brusel sprouts, then I talked him into trying one, then he surprised me by eating them all.

Cooking with the Kids

5 Apr

I have distinct memories of cooking as a kid. Most of them involve breakfast (lots of oatmeal with various additions and eggs every which way). Mom and Dad were sleeping in, and I would make a breakfast creation for myself, or for my brother, whom I always spoiled [wink, wink]. There was one morning in particular, where I was frying up eggs for my bro. I would bring him 2 at a time, he would eat them, and when I asked him if he wanted more, he would say yes, and I would make more. It wasn’t until Mom woke up, and I explained to her that I made my little brother 10 eggs sunny side up, that I realized that I went a bit too far.

I remember, Sundays were the day, where us kids would cook the family dinner. We had a cook book (that I still have now) that had recipes that kids could make. My favorite recipe out of that book was Porcupine Meatballs, which my kids like too. I would be so proud to bring a completed meal to my dad (mom helped cook), but I remember the look he gave me, when I brought him a glass of milk (or beer) with ice in it…. Oops another lesson learned.

And now, I get to experience cooking with my kids as the mom. My kids love to help cook and measure, and use utensils. In the summer time, they help dad grill outside with those great big thongs and cool grilling “tools”. One of our favorite things to make is banana bread. Of course, a big reason for this is the licking of the bowl, beaters, spatula, etc. But who can blame them?

M recently had a homework sheet about family with a question “what do you and your family do for fun?” and the first thing he said was cooking! I thought this was cool, and was expecting an answer like “play Mario Kart”. Does this mean I am a good cook? Probably not, but maybe a good teacher? Or maybe it goes back to licking the batter….or just overlooking the mess….

So here are my favorite cooking pictures of the last couple weeks:

B decided he wanted to cook something, and took out all my pans. CJ told B what to do. Then we sorted them by shape. And Mom put them away!

This is B's infamous leftover soup. While Mom was out and Dad was giving CJ a bath, he took all the leftovers out of the fridge and made soup. Ingredients included chicken breast, rice, meatballs, ice, water (measured with measuring cup) grapes, and pineapple. He was proud!

Making it thru the winter by staying busy…

12 Mar

Although this winter has been long and dreary, I cannot say I have been bored.  My kids give me plenty to do, clean up, and write about:

-CJ knows how to shake her head side-to-side (no) but she does this when she also means to say yes.  We can usually tell when it is a “yes” shake when she does it with a smile.  It started off as a bobblehead combination of the two.

-M has been on an early wake-up kick lately. His alarm goes off at 6:30 on weekdays, but he jokes that he wants to wake up earlier.

-The boys share a room now.  This adjustment has been going good lately, our biggest issues were getting B to take bedtime serious and the loss of M’s privacy in regard’s to his toys and his playtime, etc.  We get less one-on-one time with reading stories, which is probably what I miss the most.

Something around here feels creepy...-We are still helping B learn his morning routine.  Now that he rooms with M, M’s alarm also usually wakes up B.  Overall, this is a good thing, as B will soon have to have the same routine and be ready early for preschool, etc. next year.  But B wakes up like a Bear. Usually stands at the top of the steps and cries “mama, I want you”.  Neil insists there is a 10-minute rule where you cannot talk to B unless he talks to you. Breakfast is a sensitive subject, because he usually does not want it right away.  He tells us he wants it, but then the choice of WHAT he wants is another story. Slow waker.

-For my birthday in January, we took a trip to the cities  (I love doing fun things with the kids for my birthday, makes me feel like a kid).  We stayed at the Venetian Water Park in Maple Grove, played tons of video games at Dave and Busters, and then went to Edinborough Park in Edina the next day to wear off that last bit of energy.  These were all firsts for all of us so it was a blast.

-CJ loves shoes.  It is so cute to see what shoes she picks out when you tell her to go get some, and then she sits down and tries to put them on.  After 2 boys, it is fun to see the little differences between little girls and boys.  She loves to play cars and dinosaurs like the boys, but babies, shoes, and pretties (clothes, hair things, jewelery) are her favorites.

Learning the ice..

-A couple weeks ago, we went to the Redwood Community Center with the boys and did some ice skating.   This is also the first time in maybe 15+ years that I have been ice skating. Funny part for me, is that my parents bought me ice skates when I was a kid, and I think they purposely bought them too big so I would “grow into them” (parent logic).  So as a kid I would wear extra big socks and stuff Kleenex’s in the toes.  Well I got the blade sharpened and now they fit me perfectly.

-Neil and the boys are working building a virtual pinball machine… which involves gutting an old pinball machine and placing 2 TV’s and a computer in it to emulate a real pinball. More on this later…

-We are taking the kids to  swimming lessons.  The 2 younger ones are in “mom/dad n me” and love it.  B was so timid in the water last year and always acted like he was so COLD.  This was CJ’s first year and she is also loving the water. Little water bugs.  This is M’s “Preschool Swim” so he are actually working on swimming stuff.  He is so tired afterwards and really just wants to jump in the water and just wants to have fun.  I remember not being too fond of swimming lessons either when I was a kid.

G'ma Judy with CJ at Vern's party

-Great Grandpa Vern turned 89 and we helped him celebrate with a birthday party! The kids enjoyed playing pool, running in the hallways, and using the exercise room, and g’pa’s new pad.

-One topic that has come up many times the past couple months is the missing Mario Kart Wii Game. The house has been searched from top to bottom.  At one time B had said he “thru it in the garbage” and then that a “bad man took it”.  He has since changed his story and said he just doesn’t know where it is.  So the mystery continues. But it could also be that brother B was jealous of brother A and decided to remove what he knew was near and dear to him.

-CJ loves to color and scribble on paper and in the bath with water crayons.  It is so cute when she gets marker on her hands because she will keep pointing it out and “talking” about it until someone washes it off.

Is it spring yet? Yearning for green grass and warm breezes…

Singing monkeys, Kung Fu Light Sabers and First Steps (Videos)

17 Jan

Here are some videos of my kids that I finally got uploaded.

The little girl- who showed her will to walk right around Christmas – 15 months

The middle child. who thinks he is a kung fu kid.

And my oldest, who is very enthusiastic about jumping monkeys and wearing a suit & tie.

Brodzilla Strikes Again

16 Aug

Brody has some very peculiar eating habits that we are trying to break. Overall, he is a great eater. But just as Mav did, he is getting a little pickier as he gets older. I have written about Brody and his pocket-gopher food storage methods. But he also likes to mix liquids or add things to his drinks (i.e. if 2 cups are available, he pours one into the other, and then pours them back and forth from cup to cup – and eventually drinks it – he did this with milk and water tonite). Sometimes this makes him look smart like a chemist, or maybe just a bartender? Over the summer months, we have found ourselves using the dining room less, and are trying to get back to the dinner table routine to hopefully get some dinner manners re-established.


So no, we usually don’t let Brody eat off the floor, but here you can see how he handles some of his hunger urges.

Then there is bedtime. Ever since he has learned how to crawl out of his crib, we have been struggling with bedtime. We go thru the same routine of bath, brush teeth, go potty, read books, bed. But then it is repeated by something like (tonite’s example):
1) get out of bed, dad puts him back
2) get out of bed, dad puts him back
3) get out of bed, dad puts him back (says he has to go potty but pull-up already wet) mom and dad tag team and Neil reads to Mav
4) gets out of bed, asks me to read to him – nope, mom puts him back to bed
5) gets out of bed, mom puts him back
6) gets out of bed, heard train and said he is scared, mom puts him back
7) get out of bed, says he has to go poop, not falling for that, mom puts him back
8 ) gets out of bed, meet half way down the stairs, I pick him up and realize he no longer has pull-up on, find pull-up (with stash of other odd things) and put back to bed
9) gets out of bed and all the way downstairs, he is looking for dad, mom puts him back to bed
10) gets out of bed, light on in bathroom, he is going potty again? Find pull-up, put on and back to bed
11) gets out of bed, mom puts him back
12) finally asleep

So I have been trying to super nanny back to sleep method…. and although Sunday’s and Monday’s are the hardest since we are usually coming off a weekend where our typical bedtime routine is tainted by laketime fun, I still think we should have more progress then this? It is usually at least a 1 hour process of putting him to bed again, again, again. And then he is a bear in the morning….when the sun goes down earlier, it will be easier too. It seems like 9:30 is when his internal clock starts to wind down (when it gets dark).

So after a conversation about how mav could not say “breakfast” (sounds something like bress-fiss) we were talking to B about saying “maverick” instead of what he has been calling him, which is “Mick”. So then all of a sudden, B is saying things like, “Maverick, come here, I have to show you something.” And it sounds so grown up.

It must be the Power Oatmeal.

4 May

It seems to me that my kids have all grown up immensely over the past couple weeks. Maybe it is the Power Oatmeal they have been eating for breakfast every morning.

CJ is into her hands and feet, staring them down, analyzing them, grabbing those toes in the “happy baby” yoga pose. Yeah my baby invented that pose…. She loves her veggies. Spoonful, thumb, spoonful, thumb, spoonful, thumb. She likes to get that thumb action between each bite. She is now jumping in her bouncer like a crazy girl. Rocking that thing. And getting places in the walker, slow but sure (which BTW, Brody still likes to hop in the bouncer, walker, and other baby things just for shits and giggles). This little Lottie has discovered she can really talk! And scream! And use it to her advantage! She has a voice and it is great to see so much personality coming out of this bald little babe.

Brody, oh Brody. So cute, so devilish. Just learn to love sleep. Please. And listen a little better. That would make things so much easier. He is doing good on the potty- just on his terms though. “Brody have to go potty?” – “no” But when it is bedtime, and he is suppose to be sleeping, he suddenly knows he has to go, and yells for us…. and success, potty. Yeah he is in charge of the potty routine, what he says goes, because we will take whatever Poo in the Potty we can get. It is so fun to hear him form little sentences and say big words. He is talking up a storm, he know what he wants, and wants to be heard! And the dancing… ever since we got the Go Fish CD’s, these kids go nuts jamming out and dancing (my personal fave- is the 5 little monkeys, and of course the mom song).

Mav – the questions and comments he says lately are so entertaining. He is intrigued with the hair (and lack of hair) that his grandpas’ have (or don’t have). “Dad why is Grandpas mustache white? It looks silly, it should be brown!” And the fact that grandpa H does not have hair on the top of the head, well that is a regular discussion. “Mom, grandpa does have SOME hair, just not on the TOP of his head!” Tonite was a gma/gpa night and Mav actually fell asleep at their house at 7 from all the basketball he was playing all night. Wore himself out with all that shooting. A little power oatmeal will start him off right again in the morning… and I am sure he will request it.

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Sleep Issues. And Stuff.

24 Apr

I have not gotten the amount of sleep I would like, because CJ has also been waking up more. Now that she is rolling over, we made the switch from her bassinet into her big girl crib. I thought this would help he sleep better, because she can move around more freely. In the mean time, she also got a cold, so she is a sloppy snotty mess and has a hard time breathing, especially at night. Then it got even worse. The past 2 nights, she would wake up 3 or more times a night, I would feed her, lay her back down in the crib, and she would instantly cry again… ohhh I so remember those days with the boys and I don’t want to repeat it. The thought occurred to me that her cold could have also given her an ear infection, and sure enough we went to the doc and she did have it in one ear. So today she got prescribed her first antibiotic… and will hopefully get better sleep soon.

Speaking of sleep. B doesn’t care for it. I cannot get him to take naps for me anymore. Thank God he is cooperative in daycare and gets a nap there so he is not totally sleep deprived. We are starting to discover that B has his very own “get ready for bed” routine that we just have to “go” with (Neil’s got it figured out). Basically, take the bedtime routine that we started “bath, play, brush teeth, go potty, read books, pray, bed”. Then add on B’s stuff after that: “get drink, “fill the cup” and drink from special spot at edge of bed, lays down in bed, “dada two minutes” (lay by him for 2 minutes, really 10), talk, say goodnight. kiss on the back of the head (repeat until right spot), spread blanket on him “1-2-3″, “mama goodnight” (meaning tell mom to come up here) mom repeat.
B looks like this after a long day of playing and no nap.
I have started giving M and $1 a week allowance for helping me around the house. Singing “come on everybody, let’s clean up the house” usually helps, or making a race or game out of it. Tonite he was very helpful picking up the living room and porch, because he knew it was Friday and on Friday he can play Wii if he is good. He looks forward to playing the Wii all week-long. I have to remind him that Wii is more for winter when we can’t go outside ( and you have a new swing set!) He is really into ages and numbers lately. Today I got the question “mom are you older than grandma?” Ha! Yeah that was a good one. He knows his birthday is coming up, but he wants his birthday to come first before gpa Mark’s and Joes. I think he was also very intrigued by the idea that grandpas age is his age +50. “When you turned 1, gpa was 51. When you turn 5, gpa will be 55.” Last year we had a Monster Jam party for M, this year, probably basketball?! Or a Wii party! That what he would probably choose if we let him: Actually a Basketballl Wii Party!

Zilla Doesn’t Want to Sleep

24 Mar

Brodzilla has returned in a big way. Not in a “make a mess” destructive way…. just a “there is no way in hell you are going to get me to go to bed” way. And in a “I am going to scream hysterically to see how nuts I can make you” type of manner. But he is really sweet in between all that.

For instance, tonight, it went like this:

B has his jammies on. I am giving CJ a bath. He yells that he wants a drink of water, and I told him if he wants one, he has to come upstairs. He comes upstairs and gets the stiff face “I’m pooping” look. I asked him if he has to poop on the potty and when the diaper comes off, I discover he already did it. I dumped the doody in the toilet, and he got pissed at me because I did not put it in his little toilet. I understand his reasoning to a point, but he was already done, and I really did not want to clean his little toilet just because. Plus, CJ was waiting patiently for me in the bath. He freaked out and ran away with his jammies around his ankles and doody on his butt. I had the baby still in the bath, so I had to take her out, wrap her in a towel, and run after the toddler (wipes in hand) with the danger doody. He got even MORE pissed and I could barely get a diaper back on him. By this point, CJ had kicked her towel off, and was getting cold on the bathroom floor. I picked her up, and inadvertently flushed the toilet. This set him over the edge into a 15 minute hysteria. “Mama, MY poop!” was repeated over and over. I tried to apologize, but he could not even hear me.

At this point, there was no calming him down, because every question I ask him got answered with a NO! I went to get the baby dressed. He screamed/cried upstairs and finally made it downstairs. When the baby started to cry (from hearing his screeches) he screamed louder. It is at points like this that I realize that the thought of having a fourth child is crazy head talk.

Finally, he chilled out a bit, and by this time, we were ready to read books. He acts like he will goto bed ok, but then when the lights are out and it is time to lay down, he will just sit up in bed. “mama nigh, nigh” with a tap on his pillow, means come lay by me, but I don’t plan on sleeping, I just want to play. When the door is shut, he will go lay by it and yell for us until we come upstairs, or he decides to play/read books, or he falls asleep by the door. Once in a while, he will crawl back into bed and goto sleep.

It has been this way for the past 2-3 weeks and it is getting old fast. A few nights ago, he woke up in the middle of the night, with the “I don’t want to sleep” hysteria mode. It is hard enough in the waking hours, but in the middle of the night?

He is just a really awnry bucky kid lately- not always. But enough to make me want the Old B back. The one that doesn’t mind sleeping once in a while, and doesn’t turn into Mr. Hyde.

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