Our sparkler

I have noticed a disturbing trend in Princess' behavior lately: namely, she picks on kids littler than she is. I have called her out on such behavior every time, and keep emphasizing that she cannot act the part of the bully.


Not long ago Princess went to a friend's house while I accompanied the Artist on a field trip and understandably I had been a little concerned as to how she would treat little E (barely 2) while I was gone. Though my friend took it all in stride, I understood that there had been a bit of pushing and taking of toys involved in the whole affair.

When we arrive home I confronted my little sparkler in a soft yet firm tone: "I understand that you pushed E while you were there and took some of his toys. Is this true?"

Putting her fingers to her lips she responded in barely a whisper: "Shhh, be quiet."

"Really, were you mean to E?"

"Shhh, be quiet."

So I proceeded to assume that her taking the 5th was in fact an admission of guilt and delivered the obligatory parent chat on not engaging in the list of forbidden toddler pleasure: hitting, pushing, grabbing, not sharing, etc.

And then I walked away and laughed out loud at her creative response.

Calling Dr. Dillard

In my previous post there was a comment that just made me grin.

And this is my response...

Dr. Dillard! I am so very honored that you would grace my blog with your presence! I hope you come back to read this as I have no way to contact you anymore.


Seriously...you are my favorite doctor EVER!!! I delivered five babies with four different doctors (as you had my third and fourth) and you are without a doubt the best of the best. Your mad OB skilz are incredible, and your friendship even more invaluable. If you ever need a patient reference...look me up.


And thank you.

Love,
Kristin

PS Feel free to email me at mindthemommy@gmail.com and I'll give you my private email address. I'd love to hear about your family and practice.

PPS We sadly forgot to snap a photo of you with our third child right after delivery, so the first photo is you with her at my six-week check-up. And the second photo I almost posted yesterday, but didn't because I thought I looked awful. But here it is anyway...you with our only son just minutes after you helped him into the world.

My boy is FOUR

Last week my boy turned FOUR.


I can't believe how fast he's grown!


The boy who changed the sibling dynamics in our family just by being of the opposing gender.


The boy who adores his Daddy.


And whose Daddy has always adored him.


And the Cubs.


(Just like his Daddy.)


The boy who was blessed with a gift of happiness and humor.


The boy who goes to preschool and makes friends of all of his classmates.


The boy who loves to learn and read. And rock out. Seriously, he may someday have an album, and I'd be the first to buy a copy.


The boy who loves to play outside, rain or shine or snow.


The boy who has spent months calling people "coconut."


The boy who took a rock to the side of my Suburban and made me think I'd been keyed, until I reached the end of the loooooooooong scratches and found decorative hash marks.


The boy who loves the color green.


The boy who tells me almost every day, "Mommy, I love you. You're the best mommy in the whole world."


The boy I adore.

Husky Heroes

Care of the Morton Arboretum.


The weekend BEFORE our ice sculpture excursion we trekked out in the winter chill yet again to visit the Husky Heroes.


In a ploy designed to pressure parents into adopting a husky, many good natured volunteers brought in these beautiful dogs to stand in the cold as a great temptation to child after child who would ooo and aah and plead, "Please Mommy can we take him home?!?"


I made it VERY clear that we were not a good match for a husky before we left. And although the Actress has been wanting a husky for a good while now, she sadly understands that huskies are working dogs who need lots of exercise, and that we are the wrong family to provide that. Although if we lived in Alaska on a large plot of land...


The children were able to pretend to drive a sleigh, learn about these gorgeous creatures, and even watch them in action. The younger ones were actually more interested in the snowy terrain than the dogs.

This may be due in large measure to the fact that contrary to the evidence of this post and the previous one, I am NOT a fun winter Mom, and Mr. Bloomers is often missing and therefore unable to provide our children with a proper winter experience. In the summer I schlep the kids off to one pool outing after another, interspersed with visits to parks, museums, and wildlife preserves. I am SuperMom of summer fun.


However, in the winter we hibernate. My response to requests to play in the snow is often, "Maybe Dad can take you this weekend. Now let's read a book, or go play with your toys, or play games, or draw, or take a nap, or bake, [etc] but let's not hang outside in the frigid air."


So here Princess was completely enamored with the opportunity to be one with the snow rather than to simply watch it from the window.


She rolled and rolled and rolled for like 20 minutes. The crowds were big enough that I had to continually redirect her, but everyone who saw her just laughed out loud. Ah the joy!


As fun as it may have been (especially the loooooong walk to the car when the kids were past their limit and so was I), I can hardly wait for spring.

While my children are NOT going to sleep

I am ignoring their chaos (as I have long since tucked them in), with full knowledge that tomorrow will be a real doozy. It is almost 10. And tomorrow is Monday.

Friday we left town for a little weekend getaway. It was loads of fun. We stopped at Baskin Robbins along the way for a buy one get one (or buy four get four) deal on the scoop of the month. Which. Was. Awesome.

(By the way, this week I pretended I was no longer following Weight Watchers, which I will likely regret when I weigh in tomorrow after a difficult morning with the children, see first sentence.)


By the time we arrived it was close to 8 o'clock, but we had to take advantage of the hotel pool. This was a way better than average set-up, sporting a small and shallow baby pool complete with sprinkling water, a regular pool equipped with two hoops and two balls to shoot into said hoops, and a heavenly hot tub.


Mr. Bloomers contined working as he had throughout the drive in, but finally reached a point where he could swim with us.


The evening went sour as the children argued about who would head up to the room when, but ended happily with chips and chocolate covered pretzel treats compliments of the arm and leg I sacrificed to the hotel pantry.

The next morning Mr. Bloomers again put in some billable hours and we again argued about who would leave at what time to head to breakfast, but eventually, everyone managed to eat, get dressed and pack up in non-record time.

Then it was off to the ice sculpture competition a half mile away. By the time we parked and bundled all of the children in the ridiculous kinds of layers required for living in this area of the country, we only managed to catch the last five minutes of sculpting work before the judges called time.

The snow creations were truly astounding. The detail, the form, and the physics involved are beyond my capacity to understand. Here I would insert the wonderful photos we took to capture such beauty had I realized that when Mr. Bloomers put up blizzard pictures earlier in the week on facebook that he didn't actually empty the memory card to the computer. Limited space meant I took pictures of the children, and not the sculptures.


Google "Lake Geneva Winterfest" and I'm sure you'll get a taste of the beauty through someone else's lens. (PS I am not pregnant, however, I am no longer a size 4 and my extra-small coat is looking, well, extra small these days. After viewing this picture I might have to invest in the next bigger size lest I spread false rumors!)

Anyhow, the festival included helicopter rides which we thought would be SO COOL! Until I discovered that it would require both of my legs and arms in payment, and as I had already given up two limbs in the hotel pantry, we were fresh out of luck. (Seriously, $40 per body for 6 minutes in the helicopter...yes, $280 bucks for our little family for SIX MINUTES!)


However, I was able to salvage the joy of our children by hiring OshKosh and his carriage driver to take us on a half-hour ride through historic Lake Geneva.


Despite the pain of frostbite in my toes, and Princess' several attempts at leaning off my lap and out of the carriage to the street below, it was a fantastic ride.


And very reasonably priced at $55 including a $10 tip.


By then the children were famished (as it is so hard to sit and ride in a carriage) and Max was coming unglued as he realized that a helicopter ride was truly not in his immediate future, so we headed across the street to Popeye's where the good karma I've been sending out for years finally came back at me in the form of a small miracle.

There was a terrifying long queue to even put in one's name (terrifying if your many children are unraveling after a late night swim). We had scarcely been in said queue for but a few minutes when an employee asked if anyone had a larger party, larger than four. I shot my remaining hand up lightning quick and blurted, "Seven! We have seven."

"Right this way."

The magic words sent our family past many tired and hungry people straight to a table. The hostess explained that they had an abundance of smaller parties today.

I have NEVER gotten priority seating for being a large party, but boy was I grateful. It was like winning the lottery.


Our meal was scruptious, though it ended with children prostrate on the floor refusing to move forward even one more step. We had planned to head by the sculptures to cast our vote for the People's Choice award, but the large crowds and expired children prevented such a mission.

Regrouping, we headed to the car, ducking into a delectable chocolate shop on the way. The fragrance of homemade fudge given life before our very eyes was entrancing. I gave up my other arm and leg for a little bag of divine sweets and after stripping the crew of their outer layers, we headed home.

These are the people I love...

(And yes. I finally downloaded the last several weeks of pictures to the computer.)

And back to writing

Some of you who've been with me for a while will remember my big announcement a couple of years ago about being a writer when I grew up.

And then I became a runner.

And now I'm a jogger, at best, and I'm going back to writing.

I enrolled in my first online writing course and fulfilled my first assignment tonight: to post an introduction to the online discussion group, including my goals for the class.

Subject: Mom of 5

Seeking guidance from an appreciated writing instructor and support from capable and creative fellow students as she plunges into the world of magazine writing and makes it a part-time career.

I have always loved words: reading, and writing, and editing, and even speaking them. I have experience as an in-house writer/editor for an internet company, as well as experience as a freelance college textbook editor. I am an elementary school teacher by education, and a full time plus overtime mother of five children by profession. My husband works long hours as an attorney so I can stay home with our crew of four girls and one boy, ages 2-10. Plus our dog.

Though my work as a mother is very fulfilling, I need to keep a piece of life held sacred for personal goals and accomplishments. I am a better wife and mother for remembering to do this and making it a priority. Last year I ran a marathon and have found great joy in running (surprising for one who always dreaded running the mile).

Now I'm ready to focus on writing with an ultimate goal of a book series for the upper elementary school age group. I figure magazine writing is a great place to get my feet wet.

Though I fear the challenge of keeping my words concise...


(Mine was the longest introduction.)