The Mommy Rest Phenomenon....

There's this thing I call "the mommy rest phenomenon."   It's the radar that toddlers have.  They know.  Somehow, they just know.    Example...

Mom walks in, sees toddler crashed out on the floor.  She sneaks over and lays down quietly. Doesn't make a peep.  She gets quietly wiggles around.  She pulls the velvet blankets around her body.  She snuggles in.   She gets comfy.    She *almost* gets to sleep.    Suddenly, she hears a noise.  No, it can't be!     The sounds of a sleeping toddler waking up.  What?? NOOOOOOOOOOO.  She JUST got to sleep!   Sure enough, toddler walks up, sees her lying so nice and comfy and warm and says "Mama! Dit up!!! Dit up!!!!" and cries until she gets up.  Sighing, and inwardly fuming, she gets up.  What a waste of time that was, for  now she's even more tired than before.

I wish this was just during the day, but somehow, it occurs at night.. You would think the moon would block the radar, but no.  It does not.   If anything, it makes it worse.  

  Umm, is this just at my house????

Parenting is dangerous work

When I married my husband, my mom told him "I hope you always have good insurance. You're going to need it."  12.5 years later and I have proven her, right......   Good grief.  No, it isn't me constantly being sick. It's me being injured or something crazy like that.     Surgeries. Illnesses. Broken bones.  Childbirth.  Medications.   Chiropractor.  Yep, we've needed every bit of that wonderful insurance.   By the way, that's just for me.  That isn't including him or the kids.      And presently, we're using it once more.  Just for me.   Why?  I'll tell you....

  Parenting is dangerous work! Far more dangerous than anyone realizes.. 4 years ago I fractured my right elbow when I fell while skipping in a parking lot with my oldest.    This past Saturday night I managed to tear a muscle in my left calf while playing mini golf with my boys.   How's that for awesome?   Here's how it went..

We got our clubs. We got our balls.  The boys and I headed to the course, excited to do something fun.  The fun ended by the 2nd hole when Sammy decided to throw the balls into the water. Thankfully they float and there was a net to easily fetch them. Cias was put in charge of that.   We move on to the 3rd hole.  Sammy gets distracted by something and forgets about the water.  YAY! Maybe we can move on!
Oh, but it doesn't lost long.  That 2 year old curiosity caught up to him.  What's that?  A bush???  YES! A 2 year olds dream come true!  One by one he steals each ball and throws them in the bush.    A bush that mama can't get into.  Or see into.  The balls are gone.  Gone.   Totally gone.  We decide, sadly, to give up and go home.   But before we do, we have to endure something horrible.  Pain.  Horrid, terrible pain.    I started to stand up and it felt like some one pummeled me with a golf club.   The pain in my calf was so bad that I almost screamed out a very bad word, in front of a bunch of other kids(toddlers, who were playing nicely with their parents.  Obviously they didn't come from my womb).  I manage to stand, grab Samuel's hand and the three of us start walking back to the building.  I tell the boys we'll get ice cream instead.    I hobble inside, grab the nearest chair I can find and  collapse.    Cias orders ice cream and we all sit happily and eat it. Well, Sammy sat happily and ate it.  I tried not to cry from pain. Cias tried not to cry because his mommy was hurt.
   So anyway, we make it to the truck and I call Mike to inform him of what happened and tell him I need him to get Sammy out of the truck.   When we get home, Cias, being the sweet angel that he is, has cleared a way  for me through the house.   I get settled on the couch, we order a pizza and we chill the rest of the night..
Doctors appt. today confirmed that yes, it is a tear in the calf muscle, and yes it will heal soon.   Rest(HA! that's funny), anti-inflamatories and muscle relaxers were prescribed.   Ugh.    This has to heal soon.   My house can't handle mommy being out of commission....

It's gingerbread smashing time!!!

As we wrapped up Christmas and New Year's, we contemplated what to do with these wonderful gingerbread houses we had made.  Normally we just throw them in the trash.  Cias wanted to eat his this year.

Well, out of the blue, my husband pointed to the gingerbread houses and said to me "you should take those in the kitchen and let the boys smash them."   I paused.  I think my jaw may have dropped open.  Could it be?  My husband was suggesting we do something fun and MESSY?  I'm still in shock.  So is Cias.   Daddy doesn't like messes.   Daddy NEVER suggests doing anything messy, no matter how fun it may be.

Well, we loved his idea so much that we decided to take it outside instead.    That way we could be as messy as we wanted to be.   We waited for a day when we had free time after school.   Also happened to be a day when Cias had a friend over.  V is a very, very good friend of Cias'.   Has been since 2nd grade.   So, between the 3 boys, the following carnage ensued.....

This is what they look like when they start...

Hmm, a little bit destroyed. Not much. Why? Well, because when you add some meringue powder to the icing, it makes it stiff and holds shape much better.   

Tasty!

But it still wasn't breaking apart.  So, we got smart. Pulled out the big guns. Moms kitchen mallet. 

As you can see, it worked like a charm.

Yep.. Worked very well. So well, that Sammy didn't want to stop.  

  

Fun times.. Fun times.   And they would have ate more of it, but they were in a hurry to get to the park.. 

Merry Christmas!!

And a very Happy New Year!

So, I'm a little late.   The craziness of the holiday's took a toll and I've been too tired to stay up and attempt to blog.    So today I handed The Tornado my iphone, put him on my lap and started typing.  Ahh, the joys of technology.

Did everyone have a good Christmas? I hope so. I know we sure did.   On Christmas Eve we had our traditional Christmas Eve prime rib and the in-laws.  It was fun.  Delicious.    After that we came home, where Cias begged and begged and begged to open just.one.present! PLEASE!    Mima(my mom) found one that he could open.  It was a Pokemon ball that she had crocheted for him. He loved it.  As did Samuel, who was asleep by then and didn't get to open anything.

On Christmas morning, I woke up bright and early to get the turkey in the oven.   As I crawled back into my nice cozy bed, I heard Cias wake up.   Knowing he was anxious to open a present, or a stocking, I decided I was also too excited to sleep. So I channeled the little boy from the Disneyland commercial and got up and went into the living room.  By then Cias had already dumped out his stocking, went through the goodies and stuffed them back in again, to make it look like it hadn't been touched.  Yeah, nice try.. LOL.    As soon as Sammy got out of bed, he saw the presents, grabbed one and ripped it open. Thankfully it was his.. A blanket from Santa.  :)

Checking out the loot.  That's not even all of it.  More came when the rest of the relatives came.

Soon everyone came, breakfast was eaten and presents were opened.  I didn't get many pictures because I was trying to help Sammy open his presents.  The boys loved all of their presents.    Puzzles, piano, Pokemon cards, Legos, board games.. All the goodies. Plus new bikes!  

 Cias got a Tony Hawk bike. White with cool black markings on it.

Sammy got a cool black balance bike.  He really does like it, despite his face in the picture. LOL

After presents were opened, we ate a delicious lunch of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, veggies, rolls and more.  All cooked by me.  What a fun and wonderful undertaking that was.  

In all, I'd say it was a very good day.    

Ooh, but before I sign off, I have to tell you about the cake balls I made.    I took a baked chocolate cake, added in some of the most delicious frosting EVER(Thanks to the Pioneer Woman for posting it) and rolled it into balls. Chilled those for a day or two. Then melted some candy coating and crushed up some candy canes.  I then dipped each cake ball into the candy coating and then into the crushed candy canes. The result?  A little ball of heaven..

  

They may not look like much in the picture, but take my word for it, they are GOOOOOD.  :)

Happy New Year Everyone!!!!!!!!