Insta-Artist

Another time waster/ entertainer.
Instant Artist
(click on the mouse to change colors)

Ahhh-Chooo

I'm afraid that we have found out that Spring time in Colorado is bringing out the allergies in all of us. Or we have a nasty cold that we keep sharing.

Jack reached his breaking point this morning and I kept him home from school. I'm sure that I could have slipped him some Tylenol and sent him on his merry way to school, but he needed a day off. When Emma found out Jack was staying home, she was upset that he got to stay home from school. She said; "That's not fair!" Jack responded; "Umm, I'm sick." I loved the sense of injustice that Emma felt and that Jack was so prosaic with his response. I think Emma was more upset that Jack was going to be able to have uninterrupted computer time while she was at school. The kids have been playing Zoo Tycoon and she didn't want Jack to mess up her zoo. Ahh, the inner workings of a six year old.
Lily is asleep on the couch right now. She has mostly given up naps, so the fact that she's asleep speaks volumes. After I dropped Emma off at school, I swung by the library to let Lily and Jack check out some movies while they lounged on the couch this afternoon. Luckily, Lily was tired enough to fall asleep next to Jack while watching SpyKids.

Hopefully, everyone will be feeling better tomorrow. Sick kids throw off my groove.

Again

I swear that it was not intentional! I've been listening to Jack ask where his Pokemon cards are for the last two days. Had I known that they were in his pants, I'd had told him. You'd think that he had learned his lesson the last time I washed them. Nope.

I've never had a big issue with the stuff in pockets for laundry until now. I swear that I need to place a sign on the laundry baskets "Empty your pockets!" Establishment is NOT responsible for lost or mangled objects once they go to the washing machine.

Bike Accessories

Emma is the proud new owner of a bicycle basket. I'm not sure what will end up in it, but she has been asking for a basket for months. Her bike got a flat tire @ Thanksgiving or the last time she rode her bike. We got to listen to her plead for a new tire all winter. I swear that we've had more flat tires since we moved here than the entire time the kids have had bikes. Oh, my bike has a flat at the moment. We'll see how long it takes to fix that.


Lily in all her safety gear. She loves to put on her helmet to ride her scooter.

Emma and the Opera

Michael had heard about a Cinderella play in Boulder for the kids. It sounded interesting, free, and like an activity that the girl's would enjoy.

Boulder has an auditorium in their library and Cinderella turned out to be an opera. I'm not a fan of opera, but I can enjoy an opera for kids. During the program, Emma would lean over and ask if I had a piece of paper. I think that she wanted to stay after and get autographs. They also had several actors playing multiple roles, she would lean over and say; "Who's he again?!"

Lily clung to my neck when the singing got too loud and clapped whenever the audience clapped. I think she liked it, but she was scared of one of the actors.

Hopefully we can remember to go to the Summer Series of concerts.

A Long Lunch at the DMV

It was long past due to get our cars registered. I was starting to get heckled on the streets about our "California" plates. Michael took a long lunch yesterday and met me at the DMV. After waiting two minutes, our number was called and we found our DMV lady. It was all going too perfectly. That's when our attempts to register our cars hit the brakes. We needed Michael's current registration or car title and current insurance info. Admittedly, I'm not as organized as you all might think. Paperwork gets sucked into a black hole as soon as it enters our house.

So, we left the DMV and came home to find papers. Michael got our insurance to fax us new cards, while I searched frantically for the car title. As I went through our files/boxes I discovered that I keep too many useless papers and I really need to toss about half of what we have. I didn't find the title, but Michael found a current bill for registration and we crossed our fingers that that was enough to get his car registered.

Back to the DMV, this time there was a line and had to wait. We didn't have to wait long before our number was called. The first time I went to the DMV (see previous post), they estimated that it would be @$310 to register the van. I thought that was kinda high and was not excited to find out how much it would cost for both cars. Luckily the estimate was a little off and we were able to register both cars for under $400.00. We had our cars registered and had plates by the time we walked out of the DMV. (Kinda cool, we have consecutive plates for the cars, Michael's plate is one number higher)

In the words of Helen Parr; "We've officially moved in!"

Tin Foil

I have moved into the realm of nutty. We have a cat as some of you know. I generally like Peanut, but she does drive me crazy some of the time.

Peanut likes to jump up on the furniture and tables. Somewhere I read that if you put foil on a surface, cats will avoid it. So I have foil on the backs of a couple of my couches. It's not as bad as wearing the foil on my head, but it does look a little crazy to have foil on your furniture.

The other day I had people come in the house. I planned ahead and hid the foil so they wouldn't look at me funny. As the people were leaving, I look over at the couch and Peanut is lounging like a lizard in the sun. I shake my head and Peanut lifts one sleepy eyelid as if to laugh at me.

Lar' in Gytis

I've been trying to get over this "Spring Cold" that I keep trying to tell myself that I don't have. I couldn't raise my voice yesterday, much to Emma's advantage (refer to previous "Emma" posts). Today, I sound like a have been smoking a pack a day for the last forty years complete with a smoker's cough. I'd like to move past this stage to the preferred sexy Marlena Dietrich raspy voice. For now, I'll just tell people that I have "Lar in Gytis".

Lar' in Gytis was invented in the second or third grade. I woke up one morning and I had a frog in my throat. I felt fine, but I didn't want to go to school that day. One of my sister's (probably Debbie) was coming home to visit and I wanted to be home when they got there. Mom was not one to let us miss school for a phantom illness.

Mom must have been in a good mood when I told her that I had Lar' in Gytis and I couldn't go to school, because she actually let me stay home from school. I did have to write the excused absence note which is where the spelling of Lar in Gytis came from. I had no idea how to spell such a fantastic illness, but if I could wing it I could stay home. Any hopes for a medical career were dashed because I can't spell illnesses and I was writing too legible. I'm sure my teacher thought we were nuts, but that's ok, I know how to spell laryngitis now.

Stealthy 6 yr old Strikes Again

In Emma's defense, Lily started it. For Lily's defense, Emma finished the mural in a grand manner. (What was I thinking taking a shower?!)

I know that I told them that the sidewalk chalk is purposely named sidewalk for a reason. This weekend they decided to color the stones on the front of the house. I caught them after a few and CALMLY reminded them where to color. Today, I did not calmly tell them where to stand until I could talk to them.

We'll be having a cleaning party after school.

R.I.P.

Rest in Peace Pokemon.

I have committed the cardinal sin of not checking Jack's pockets before I washed his clothes.

Ironically I had checked Craigslist for cheap used cards just this week. I was on the fence whether I should buy them or not. After I retrieved the dead cards from the washing machine I went ahead and scheduled a time to go buy the used cards.

A Little Free Time?

I've gotten suckered in by yet another internet game. It's an educational one...that's what I keep telling myself.

*Cough*

I've got a tickle in my throat. I don't want it to go beyond that. To many things to do this week to get laid up by a "Spring cold". Jack had it last weekend, Michael's had it since Tuesday night, let's hope it just blows over the rest of us.

One can hope, right?!

Tax Day

Happy Tax Day! It's always a great day when you have already filed and received the refund. It's almost like free money, except that it's the extra taxes you've been paying all year. I know that fiscal advisers say that you should not pay more than you have to so that your money earns you money throughout the year. Let's face it, I'd rather have money come back to us than owe money.

Here's to fiscal responsibility and rejuvenating the economy!

Backyardigans

My kids love to play outside. They, mostly Emma, will plant gardens with apple seeds, paint rocks, build bird feeders, and climb Aspen trees. Many a mess has been made outside (and inside) the only difference is that I might not know what the kids are up to until days later.

I'll admit to having a laissez-faire attitude when it comes to the kids and playing outside, except when it comes to cleaning up the messes. I'm not sure who showed Emma how to turn on the hose, but that was never a good idea. Water and Emma have a mud hate relationship. She walks outside and *poof* she is covered in dirt/mud.

I can remember Mom yelling at us kids to "Go Outside and Play!" This is perhaps where my attitude for playing outside comes from. We would disappear outside and find endless ways to entertain ourselves. I made it through my childhood alive, maybe my children can too. I remember playing for hours in the empty field next to our house. We tried to dig a pit big enough to make a swimming hole. The pit was probably three feet deep before we got tired and distracted.

The Cherry tree by the house had the best climbing limbs and the best cherries. There was a branch near the top the was the shuttle command when the tree became a rocketship or the crow's nest if the tree was a pirate ship for the day. When the cherries were finally ripe, spitting cherries was a talent that had to be practiced. Those seeds can go pretty far.

It's almost summer, at least it felt like it today. I'm looking forward to the fruits of summer.

Saturday Morning Cartoons

Saturday mornings are the best. I feel like I've competed in a marathon all week and this morning is my reward for completing it. I even went and got donuts for breakfast. Don't tell me this isn't going to backfire on me the rest of the day.

For now, my kids are vegging out on cartoons. Most cartoons are acceptable for the entertainment factor. Luckily our tv stations are severely limited right now and the kids like the PBS cartoons. There are better cartoons than others. For example I don't like Barney, Boohbah, and Caillou. However, I can sit down and watch George Shrinks, Curious George, and Clifford the Bog Red Dog with almost no problems.

So, what are your favorite cartoons? New or old? Video or paper?

The Spring of My Discontent

It's snowing again. Enough said. I feel like it should be warm enough to rain, but it's not.

There must be something in the air for the general melee. I'd like to say that Spring is in the air, but apparently that's not it.

As a side note. Sherri, when you move here, it'll never snow in April. The streets will be paved with cheese and ice cream only has half the calories over an elevation of 5,000.

Good Times

We have a fast food place that has really bad burgers and excellent "frozen custard" called Good Times. They switch the flavors of the day and since today is Tuesday it's Oregonian Blackberry.

Michael, it's Tuesday.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

That sound you hear? That sound is the mothers in this school district shouting for joy. I have survived Spring Break and perhaps more importantly, so have my children. I am down to one child at home right now and she's asleep. I am overjoyed with the possibilities in front of me.

What am I going to do? I think I'll read a book.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Michael surprised me by doling out the kids to very generous friends so that we could have a night all to ourselves in Boulder. I was VERY surprised that he pulled it off. I was only going to kill him a little when he "said" he was going to the store to buy a birthday card and dropped Lily off at a friend's house. When he came home, I asked if Lily was asleep in the car. He said, "not quite." Then he asked if she could get out of her carseat by herself. I said no and assumed that she'd fallen asleep in the car.

Well, I went out to check on her and she wasn't in her carseat. Then I went and checked if Michael had put Lily in bed..then our bed..on the couch...then I freaked out. I asked Michael, "Where's Lily?!"
"At a sleepover," he replied.
"This isn't funny, where's Lily?!"
"She's at her friend's house", said Michael.

I didn't connect any dots that Jack and Emma's friends were "conveniently" having sleepovers on the same night. I figured that we'd have a nice quiet evening with just Lily. After all, you can do almost anything with just one child.

So, we did have a quiet evening last night..with no kids. Thanks Michael. Thank you Melissa, Marnie/Carl, and Heather for taking the kids.

Saturday is a Special Day

I've been meaning to make a "Family Home Evening" plaque for..let's just say a while. Tia has one that I love and originally thought that I'd try and make.

<- This is what I came up with.

Now that I've made it I should be more motivated to actually have Family Night, right?

Day 5-Spring Break

I have used up all of the resources that I have. I must admit defeat. It's now Friday and I have no plans for today.

In these situations I swear that I hear Meg Ryan in my head saying "Fight, Fight, FIGHT!" I thought is was from You've Got Mail or French Kiss, but I can't remember which movies it is. Now I want to have a Meg Ryan marathon. I mustn't get sidetracked.

A plan? I will have a plan by midmorning at the latest. For now, it's cartoons and pjs then then we're going to clean rooms and organize toys.

Day 4-Spring Break

We braved the fourth day of Spring Break and went swimming this morning. I've been promising swimming to the kids most the week and I needed to wear them out today. Problem solved.

It's been a better day than yesterday..I've just had to keep moving. If I stop, the kids will smell the calm in the air and feel the need to create chaos. I also took the kids to the library and let them check out movies and books. That's always a good activity to keep the kids entertained.

My day just got even better, Lily fell asleep on the couch.

Day 3-Breaking Point

It took until day three for me to break. We'd had a fabulous day at the park. The girls were relatively good, didn't throw too much sand and apologized when they needed to. It was time to leave and head home when I lost it.

Emma is riding her scooter toward the van and in my head I think, "she needs to put it down before she scratches the car." I CALMLY ask her to put her scooter behind the car so that I can put it in the trunk. She doesn't listen. I repeat; "Please put your scooter on the ground." Nope. She props it against the tailgate with the handle bar that scratches the car.

It's not about the scratch. I have scratches on the van. I've made some of the scratches.

When I asked Emma why she didn't listen (why do I ask?!) She replied,"I didn't want my scooter to get run over by a car."

I know that she looks like me for a reason. When I drop her off at the orphanage they will be able to tell that she's mine and won't let me leave without her.

Day 2-Spring Break

It's another bright, sunny, and cold day in Colorado. I'm thinking that today would be a good day to go swimming and wear the kids out. We'll see.

On the top of the "to-do" list for the day is to go to the DMV. Scary, I know. I've put off getting CO plates as long as I could, not that I don't want them, I just hate going to the DMV. I suppose that I will be able to say "we're officially moved" after I get the plates on the car. Baby steps, first I need to get to the DMV.

I'll update later.

** It was all going so well. I found the right building even with very vague directions. Walked in, took a number, and didn't sit down because they called my number. I took my paperwork to the counter and that's about as far as I got with the registration process.

When we bought the van, or should I say, when Michael purchased the van, he went solo. The thought of car shopping is dreadful, let alone doing it with two kids and pregnant at the time. So, he's the only one on the title for the car. I guess I could look at it as a benefit to me..I don't have to go to the DMV again.