"What happened here today??"

My friend Paula posted this on facebook along with the following story: 

A man came home from work and found his 3 children outside, still in their pyjamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn around garden, The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and no sign of the dog, walking in the door, he found ...an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, the throw rug was against one wall, In the front room the TV was on loudly with the cartoon channel, the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door. He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened. He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls. As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pyjamas, reading a novel... She looked up at him, smiled and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, 'What happened here today?' She again smiled and answered, 'You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world do I do all day?...

''Yes," was his incredulous reply..

She answered, 'Well, today I didn't do it.'

I saw the photo and immediately looked around at my own house and thought - "Well that's just a normal day around here!"  I do wish I had better discipline in cleaning up after my kids...

Leo pulled every pillow from the bedrooms to complete his fort.

But they are having so much fun together I can't tear it down to clean up!!

Oh C'MON!!  How cute are they this morning????

And a big thank you to Aunt Jeanette and Uncle Jeremiah for his favorite raptor hoodie :)

Puttin' on my big girl pants

I spent 7 long years in corporate world America.  It was a good time to be at a good job.  I had nothing better to do with my time than sleep in, watch daytime TV and drink expensive coffee.  Having a job kept me out of trouble...kind of.

On the day I left my company, I was ecstatic that I could toss those button down oxfords and black pants.  I didn't need to do anything in the morning except nurse a baby and keep it alive.  Total score!!!  However, now we are 3 years down the road and I am a sloppy mess.  I haven't made many strides in trying to keep my house in order or clean.  When I invite people over, I have to spend days cleaning the house to just to clear the floor so I could mop if I felt like it.  And I am afraid I am embarrassing my husband.  His work ethic puts mine to shame.  He never stops working and I...well...I never start :)

All of this is a direct result of hanging up the big girl clothes.  Sweatpants make me lazy.  I fully recognize this and, even after reading about and seeing on various blogs and TV shows the importance of stay-at-home-moms getting dressed each and every morning, I failed to do so.  I like to keep my good clothes in good condition.  I'm frugal.  So wearing good clothes every day means wearing them out.  Also, I'm pregnant, and nothing is comfortable when you are pregnant.  Wearing 3 layers of shirts and panel pants means I can't scratch my belly when needed.

But after falling into the laziest slump EVER last week, I drafted a new law: I can't come downstairs unless I have my big girl pants on and I have brushed my teeth.  And miracles have been happening left and right!!!!  The kitchen stays marginally swampy but never disastrous.  Dinners are prepared.  Clean utensils are always in the dishwasher ready to be put away.  And the color of the floor is somewhat visible.  (Baby steps - alright?????)

I want to set a good example for my kids.  I want them to be able to walk out to the mailbox with me or answer the door without scanning for CPS first.  So I have been a presentable and good mom for a week.  I think I'll stick with this program as long as possible.

Seems my example is rubbing off on the children.  They immediately woke up this morning, scanned for appropriate clothing and got dressed for the day.  Proper clothing has quite an effect on them!!!

They built a city of blocks

Classy...

They got busy cleaning

 AND helped me prepare the chicken for Roast Sticky Chicken Rotisserie...

and all this before 9 am!

Leo was a little nervous that the chicken would bite Elena even though I assured him the head had been chopped off.

He also astutely pointed out that the chicken has wings...just like Oma...HAHAAAAA!!!!!  Hopefully, if wings were part of the glorified heavenly body, they would be a tad more attractive than these wings :)

Also, I realize that the picture of my yesterday was a bit unrealistic.  I don't look pregnant in that photo but I am just about 28 weeks along and measuring right on target.  Here is a more accurate (but equally unflattering) photo.  We're going to try a little harder to get a nice picture for the Christmas card...

Happy Belated Birthday Papa!!!! (and an explanation)

First and foremost: We would like to wish Papa a VERY Happy Birthday!!!!  

Papa lives much too far away in Texas!

We wish we lived closer so we could spoil you on your birthday but we hope it was fantastic!!

Now, Papa's actual birthday was yesterday.  There is a perfectly good reason why we are a day late.  

And it has everything to do with these two...

They may only be 3 and 1 & 1/2, but we don't shy away from hard work around here.  There is no magical age where you begin child labor.  I've even been known to task the newborn with watching the water boil.  What else do they have to do all day?!?!  

Everything was moving along smoothly in our home until I smelled a revolt.  When they started sleeping on the job, I just wasn't sure if they were faking it or really over-worked.

But when they armed themselves at every turn, I knew I should start sleeping with one eye open.

I knew the revolt was in full swing when they decided to really let me have it yesterday.  Jason emailed me from work with a good suggestion to make a happy birthday video for Papa! 

St. Mary's Church	Nov 13 (2 days ago)
make a video of them singing happy b-day to papa!

Lisa Gale	Nov 13 (2 days ago)
to Mary's

That means smiling at them.  And we're not able to do that while we get ready for church.  They are soooooo hard this morning!!!!

Lisa Gale	Nov 13 (2 days ago)
I am this close to skipping church...

Lisa Gale	Nov 13 (2 days ago)
to Mary's

Okay - pray for us that they make it through mass...

I turned my frown upside down, thinking the worst was over, and reviewed the Church Etiquette with them one more time on our way.  My optimism didn't have the desired effect.

By the time we finally left our pew to stand in the lobby of the church, Elena had already thrown a shoe (which I can't bend over and reach!!), colored on her tights with a blue pen, screamed "I DO IT!!" at the top of her lungs repeatedly and thrown a wild woman temper tantrum when Leo tried to draw a smiley face on her paper.  Leo?  He wasn't terrible.  Until the same moment she threw her tantrum - he joined in.  I started to leave out of the pew and thought Leo was following me.  He lost me and went running up to the altar yelling out "MOM???"  When we finally returned to our pew after the recessional hymn, I found Elena's shoe and the coloring tools of torture neatly placed on the bench.  I guess I was visibly rattled by the time we made our grand exit.

Jason surprised me by coming home during his lunch break to lift my spirits, bring me apple pie, and start on the dishes that were now spilling out onto the counter-top.

Jason bravely left me alone with the kids to return to work.  I did my best with them.  I was actually pretty nice considering their general mood left a lot to be desired.  Although their punishment for the day from hell was some processed box of powdered cheese and enriched macaroni product.  I felt even worse since it was a generic brand I kept in the basement In Case of Emergency.

But remember - these two are out to get me.  The ultimate retaliation for processed powdercheese "meal":

Fire hot cheeks and a warm forehead

So we parents waved our white flag of surrender and spent the day snuggling and kissing our babies.

And making lots of bone broth and other "real" foods.  

Sorry about the powder cheese kids.  As usual, You Win.

Moral of the story: Bad things happen when children are overworked and skip naps.

Adjusting to big changes

As I write this post, I am conflicted.  I waited to write it because I like to conduct an appropriate amount of research before I declare a victory.

How 'bout if I run upstairs real quick, snap a few photos, and that way, I can just show you why I am conflicted at the end of this post.

Let's back up, shall we?

We have a 3-bedroom house.  And while we love our house and think it is the perfect size, we need to make some adjustments as our family grows.  Up until this point, each of the kids had their own room.

But now that we are pregnant, we started to keep our eyes open for a bunk bed set on Craigslist.  With ample time to research, we knew we could get a good deal.  Turns out, a young guy was selling his and I talked him down quite a bit.  But, I forgot to ask one key question: Smoking or Non??

YUCK!!  His father walked in while we were there and he was carrying 4 packs of Marlboro's.  I won't make that mistake again...  So, we let the wood sit out on the deck in the sun and rain for about a month and after scrubbing it down many times, the wood is fresh and clean now.

Baby #3 is still many months away and will spend the first few months in our room, but we still needed to get the bunk bed stored in the house somewhere.  So, we decided to just set it up now in Elena's room and thought we would just let the kids use it as a fort until they are forced to share a room next summer.  No biggie, right?

HA!!!  YOU try telling a three-year-old he has to wait a year to sleep inside the most amazing bunk-bed fort that ever existed!!!  (Complete with a storage-unit on top??)

So, instead of fighting with him, we decided to let him sleep in it one night.  A trial run.  For the next *ahem* week, all he heard was "If you wake up your sister, you have to go back to your old room!"  Turns out, that was all the threat he needed.  All of a sudden, the kid, notorious for sword-fighting in his room with the lights on until 10 pm, was quiet as a mouse!!

At first, the excitement took a little while to wear off.

But when Leo hides behind the "wall" - She eventually forgets he is there and falls asleep.

For a couple days, our favorite activity was to put the kids to bed and then sit downstairs in front of the baby monitor to listen to the two of them talk and giggle before bed.  It was super cute.  It still is kinda cute. These two LOVE sharing a room!!

We were riding the high of success for over a week so we decided to fix the problem of the living room.  I am not the best housekeeper.  The kids are going to pull the toys out anyway, so I just leave it.  Our house is a perpetual disaster.

This mess is from November...I still haven't cleaned it up ;)

So we transformed Leo's old room into a temporary toy room and cleared the living area of any toys!!

Which brings me to naptime today...Leo's old bed is gone.  The threat that had been so effective all week of "You will have to go back to your old room if you wake up Elena" is gone.  I got nothin!!

Allow me to introduce you to naptime in the kids room today:

I waited until this morning to publish this post because I wanted to see if the nighttime routine would be any better.  It was.  I was a little worried we were going to have to break it all down and start over!

So, while I wouldn't declare this a victory, one snaffu is okay.  If naptime doesn't go well today though...well...we just might have to throw a pillow and blanket in this box and toss it in the toy room for Leo...

Don't test me boy...