On the road less taken

Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 06:59:00 +0000

What to Do with All That Left Over Candy!

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 20:53:00 +0000

I have seen no less than 10 posts on Facebook, Twitter and other blogs named something like, "What you should do with all of your left over Halloween Candy".

People are making crafts like Halloween wreaths & Christmas Gingerbread houses, mixing with healthier foods to make trail mix, using it with a mug for Christmas gifts, use it for ice cream toppings, people even seek out places to give it away.

There are even TONS of recipes for baking candy into cookies, brownies, cakes and more! (this seems a little bit counter productive because you are actually creating a greater volume of sweet and unhealthy goodness and it seems most people who are posting things like "10 things to do with all that Halloween Candy are opposed to the excess sweet and unhealthy food)

My question is SERIOUSLY? Does this happen to people? Do people really have this problem?
I mean I get it if your children have a real health issue or something. I understand perhaps if you have a 16 yr old who is a hardcore trick or treater and gets wagon fulls of candy. But the avg person with young children, do you have so much candy that you can't figure out what to do with it?

I will tell you what to do with it. You eat it! That is what candy is for. You trade for your favorites, you throw out the cruddy kinds... and all the rest you stuff in your face as fast as possible. Its that simple.

No it is not healthy. No it is not dentist friendly. But it IS a holiday and kids are only kids once. I mean really kids only have so many Halloweens to trick or treat.

I say "Let them eat Candy!" (And Me Too!)

Maybe that makes me a bad mom. But I bet I have more fun on Halloween than all the moms who are crafting with Twizzlers.

Photo thanks to Antonypranata via Flickr Creative Commons

Pumpkin project

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 23:52:00 +0000

I have seen this project on the internet a few different places (like all over pinterest.com) and decided to try it.

It was pretty fun and the kids were surprised by the idea. Abbie-do is very into vampires and zombies so we added lots of "blood" (melted red crayons). We used google eyes instead on pins or drawn on eyes that I've seen on some of the ones on the internet.

I liked this project a lot because it was a lot less pumpkin mess and fast to cut out just one small mouth area instead of carving the full pumpkins. For the littler kids they can design the pumpkin's face with less effort than full out carving!

Weekend Recap: I am T-I-R-E-D

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:31:00 +0000

This part weekend we took the little kids to the Mizzou homecoming house decorations. (It was Mizzou's 100th annual homecoming celebration this year!) The fraternities and sororities create skits and giant decorations as part of their homecoming competition and it is a great fun, free, family activity here in Columbia. This is Little T and Noah sitting and waiting for the House Decs to start! Love this picture.

Abbie Do also had her school dance and she sounded like she had a great time. I am always so glad to hear that she enjoys something at school since she was so upset to be going to a different school this year.

Our family was in the local paper, the Columbia Missourian about how we came to study at the University and decided to stay. I was really happy with the cute write up about our family so I thought I would share it!

The Funniest statement of the weekend goes to the 4-year-old though. He was very crabby on Sunday because he did not have a nap. He was started to act out and I turned to BD and said "He is T-I-R-E-D" I spelled it out because I knew better than to say it out loud. My son instantly jumped in "I am NOT! I am NOT LETTERS!"

Very funny. Of course we laughed. Then we got in trouble for "laughing at him". He didn't know exactly what T-I-R-E-D stood for but he was 100% sure he didn't want to be that!

Wordless Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:59:00 +0000

After church:

Noah went to the children's service at church and loved it!

Noah said that they talked about how God made all the animals. Noah said "this is good!"

Shakespeares is a local pizza place that throws pizza dough to the kids.

Noah got the biggest piece I have ever seen.

We could almost make a pizza with that dough!

Noah was very pleased.

Pictures of Mommy

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 20:23:00 +0000

Somehow I always wind up with at least one photo of me in every stinking roll where I wonder "Did I really look that awful" or "I look positively miserable" or, like this one, I wonder, "What am I doing?!"

I usually delete them. That is the nice thing about digital pictures. You don't ever have to print the "Eating a Toddler: photo. But still, I think it is funny how I have a real talent for some awful and awkward pictures. I should start a collection. Or a blog. Except that would probably go against my instinct to make sure these photos never see the light of day.

As a mom I am not in all that many photos anyway. I am often the one with the camera, taking snap shots of everyone else. So finding a good candid shot of myself is always challenging.

Do you have similar funny-accidentally-bad-awkward photos?

Vanilla & Onions: Toddler Talk

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:00:00 +0000

My favorite word that Noah says right now is Vanilla. He says "Ba-nella" and it makes me want to give him Vanilla ice cream every day just to hear him say it! Noah prefers vanilla icing, vanilla cake and vanilla ice cream. (Obviously him and I do not share all tastes)

My second favorite word that Noah says is Onions which he pronounces "Yun-yins". This made me literally giggle when I first caught him saying it. He does not say it that way all the time, when he thinks about it he pronounces it more carefully and will say Onions but it is so cute the way his mouth tries to stretch around the word Onion.

We do not correct him when he pronounces things incorrectly, unless it is hard to understand. We try to encourage him to use the correct pronunciation of words by generally not speaking in "baby-talk" to him. I have always tried to speak to him just like I would anyone else. I remember how BD commented that Noah knew the word "properly" when he was about 2 years old, for the way he should sit in his seat. He catches on quickly and most mispronunciations are when he is first learning or trying to use a word that he has learned. He picks up such big words these days that some of them are quite a struggle for a little mouth.

That being said: I can't help but say Banella or Yun-yins every once in a while... there are some words I am ok with keeping his pronunciations for a little bit longer.

Lost and Found: Cell Phone Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 22:03:00 +0000

Lover of technology

Abbie has a cell phone. She is 13 and stays home alone sometimes and we no longer have a home phone line. She is restricted on use at night and at certain events but it comes in handy both for her and for us when we want to get a hold of her. It has also been a good motivator for good behavior. Wait, let me correct that first statement...

Abbie had a cell phone.

She lost it today. We have insurance on the phone but in the last year she has lost a phone, broken another one, and lost it again today. It may get turned in, but as of right now we think it is probably lost.
We have insurance on her phone but it is another $50 deductible. This is also her second claim on the insurance (the first time she lost it her contract was luckily ready for an upgrade) and after the third claim the insurance is cancelled... so she is getting dangerously close to maxing out her insurance.

I know logically that cell phones are not necessary. I know this because I was 18 before I had my first cell phone and I called my parents all the time. However have you ever noticed how much more you FEEL like you need your cell phone once you have one? And it isn't just Abbie who feels like she needs it. We have gotten used to sending her text message reminders, asking her questions, checking in with her, the list continues.

Here is my warning to parents considering cell phones for their children: Once you get one, it is exponentially harder to go back to not having one. Also, children and teens are notorious for losing things. Think long and hard about that. Also I believe from my highly scientific experiment that the expense of the phone is highly correlated with the likelihood of losing or breaking the phone.

***note: I am very proud that Abbie immediately fessed up to her phone being missing. Previous times she lost it she tried to blow it off as misplaced or "at a friends" for several days. She immediately filed a report that her phone was missing and told me as soon as she got in the car. She probably knew we would be upset... but that is infinitely better than trying to hide it.

Baby Boy is 4 Years Old!

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 06:24:00 +0000

My baby is four.
I can hardly believe it. I know a lot of parents feel this way.
We can't wait til they can do this or that...we wish they would grow out of a phase and we rush them through their tantrums and timeouts... And then on days like today, when you stop and think about all the long days (boy-oh-boy sometimes they are long) you realize that time is going by at a breakneck pace.
How could potty training have felt like it took three years but it seems like three months ago you were rocking them to sleep?

About Noah right now:

He is finicky and moody and he needs his sleep.
He is also thoughtful and kind, expressive and creative.
Tonight he declared he wants quesadillas every night for dinner because they are his favorite food.
He still hates to be messy. He likes to wash his hands and he will not finger paint or touch mud (still) and believe me we have tried! He informed Brad that he "missed a spot" in washing the floor today.
He loves sports, tumbling, running & Superheros of all kind.
He loves his step sisters fiercely and thinks pretty much anything they do is cool.
He loves to dance and sing. His favorite song is "The Touch" or as he calls it "the transformers song".
He picks out his own clothes and gets dressed all by himself. He is very picky with what he wears too.
His chore is to feed and water the dog. He makes a big deal about bemoaning his chore but I think this is because his sisters bemoan their chores and he thinks that makes it cool. He really enjoys feeding the dog. Memphis is "his puppy dog" and he will tell you so. He will also point out every beagle picture and say "look that looks like Memphis!"
His favorite letter is N, "for Noah" but usually thinks this means anything with a N on it is his "because it says Noah!". We have explained that his name ALSO includes an O an A and a H.
He told me I am his "best buddy" tonight and that's the best thing I've heard all day.
Every time you ask him how old he is he will say four and show you his hands. He will then tell you that on his NEXT birthday he will be "this many" and will hold up all five fingers. For some reason he is VERY excited that he is almost "this many"(5). I think he just wants to be as old as his whole hand. I still think this is quite funny.

I Love you Noah "Joe" Thomas,
Have a very Happy Birthday today!

Love,

Mom

We Did Not Sign Up For Drama Club

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 02:23:00 +0000

13 year old step daughter is definitely in a rebellion stage. The whole "I can't have full control over my life so I am going to rebel in any way that I can".

First she had her friends over without asking. She was grounded... during the grounding she had friends over without permission. She told her mom that she had permission and told us that she received a "text message that she thought gave her permission". There was no sign of this text message from either of our phones. She tried to retell the story saying that she got a text message saying that she "couldn't have friends over" but she "must have misread this". Unfortunatly for her, neither me or her dad had sent her ANY text messages that day or several days prior. Soooo she was grounded again. She was in extra trouble for lying about the situation.
Guess what happened this friday, on her last day of grounding? She had friends over without permission. My reaction: SERIOUSLY? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

This girl is KILLING me. I don't know what to do. All we ask is that you ask us for permission first.

She gave us some story about thinking that her grounding was over on Thursday. In fact when her dad came home a full hour before she was expecting him she ran to the door and the first words out of her mouth were "I thought I was ungrounded". Sounds suspiciously like you thought you were grounded and knew you would be in trouble since you are already making excuses.
Forget that she knew that she was still grounded because we talked to her about it the night before. Forget that for the third day in a row she did not have ANY of the chores we told her to do before we got home even started.

THIS IS THE WHOLE REASON YOU WERE IN TROUBLE IN THE FIRST PLACE.

What are we supposed to do now? I don't think telling her she can't have friends over works, because obviously she keeps doing it anyway.
I don't want her to be in trouble. It is a lot of work to have her be in trouble besides the fact that it makes everyone else just as miserable. I want to just say "ok forget it" you are not in trouble, I don't care. I know that I can't do that though. I know that boundaries are supposed to be tested and as parents we have to establish and reestablish these boundaries. I know that while she hates us right now that it will not always be like this. But still. It SUCKS.

Throw us a bone here Abbie. Do something nice, behave, apologize, take responsibility... give us something so we can let you off the hook!

Wordless Wednesday: Angry Birds Birthday Party, the results

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 22:19:00 +0000

Angry Birds balloons

Piggie balloons

Pig Pinata

Welcome signs

cake courtesy of Baskin Robbins, ice cream cake!

hitting the pinata

Piggies

Angry Birds

Party Favors

On Faith

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 18:25:00 +0000

We went to church this Sunday, the first time in a long time. We have talked the talk for a long time, talking about it, waffling back and forth about it, but we finally decided that it was time to put our butts in the pews and go the church.

My 13 yr old step daughter had a teenage meltdown on Sunday afternoon about many issues that she let herself build up... but during this melt down she told us that she just wants us to "respect her beliefs" and she does not want to go to church. She doesn't appreciate how we don't care what she thinks or how she feels. She doesn't want us to try to change who she is, and we need to respect who she is.

We will still be going to church, in fact, we have taken a stand that this will be the new normal for all of the family, including her mom... we will all go to church together, to support each other, and to show that God is important to all of us.

My response to our 13 yr old? I told her, you do not have to believe, you do not have to listen, you do not have to pray, you do not have to sing, sit or stand. You just have to go and be respectful while the rest of our family attends...

Its hard to be 13, to find out who you are, to love yourself and find your way, I can't imagine how much harder it would be without having Faith.

Fourth of July Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 19:26:00 +0000

Spring finally may be here to stay, so we had a day at the Park!

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Thu, 05 May 2011 07:05:00 +0000

I guess this is a late wordless wednesday post but these pictures were just too fun to not share!

The best part? Little T was fantastic with Noah all day. She was patient and included him and played with him. I let her know several times that I appreciated it. She was so sweet. These are the times you need to lock in your memory so you can remember them on other days when things are slightly more rocky.

Too much to do and not enough time, overwhelm happens to kids also.

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Mon, 02 May 2011 18:04:00 +0000

It has been a while since I have posted. So here are my life updates:

1. I have been finishing up my last two weeks at my job with the University of Missouri. For those who didn't know, I am moving on to a new job with Vamortgagecenter.com . I am very excited but giving two weeks notice at my job where I was already busy on a day to day basis only increased the workload! I will be starting on Wednesday with VA Mortgage Center as a Content Channel Manager. I will be managing some blogs relating to military spouses and military families and I will also be managing twitter for VA Mortgage Center.

2. Also I have been working on a joint blog with my fiancee, which is called Red Dad Blue Mom! (We have a facebook page and if you like our blog I would LOVE it if you could go like our facebook page!

3. We also got some engagement pictures and/or pictures for our Red Dad Blue Mom blog taken by Rhiannon Trask over at Lollipop photography. She is awesome. Relaxed atmosphere and great pictures, plus you get to keep the digital copies(which I was super excited about, seems like you always have to buy a $600 package to do that anywhere else!)

So, as you can see, we have become victim of too much to do and not enough time around here. That concludes my list of updates and brings me to my actual blog topic: It is not just us that get overwhelmed, kids get overwhelmed even easier than we do.

And this is not a post that is going to tell you to pare down your kids schedule either. It goes beyond that. Most parents I know try to keep their kids' scheduled activities minimal. We know the stress that 4 different activities in a week can put on the family (and us!).

Actually this is a post about a different type of overwhelm. You know that stress comes from both positive and negative things right? Negatives like homework or deadlines or being late (the list could go on and on and on) are all very stressful but positive things like getting a new job or a vacation, things that are considered good, actually cause stress as well.

Let me tell you the background story.

Lately 8 year old Little T has really been frustrated at our house. No matter what we do, even when we try to do something special or fun, she winds up unhappy. This has made us rather grumpy and frustrated, because we feel like she is not appreciating our efforts. We try to include fun activities but it seems there is always something that she wants to do that at the end of the day is left undone.

Our routine may be familiar to you: on school nights when there is no soccer practice and no errands to run or stops at the grocery store, we return home with all of the kids around 6:00 pm, we have to feed the kids dinner, make sure homework is done and backpacks are checked, sometimes the oldest will practice her saxophone, the girls need showers and depending on the night, Noah will need a bath. On top of that there are usually dishes to load/unload, laundry to wash, dry, fold and/or put away and general cleaning to do.

To squeeze in even one special or fun thing can be very difficult. There are certainly days when we don't do anything fun, but for the most part we get at least one fun thing in for every day.

So you must understand how this constant nagging that "but we didn't do this" or "but you said we would maybe do that" (FYI: 8 year olds do not understand words like: maybe, probably, possibly, or we will try) gets on my nerves right? Its not like we aren't trying to make things fun for the kids. Sometimes other stuff just has to get done, and its not possible to play a complicated and involved game or 1.5 hour movie watching on most school nights. And the nagging just makes us not want to do anything at all, since the things we do make effort to do are always usurped by things that didn't get done.

I was very frustrated about this. And then I tried something. I tried to change my perspective a little bit. Little T has a long list of want-to-dos and a lot of fun toys and games at our house. I think that Little T is way overwhelmed with all the things she wants to do. She is in constant conflict on what she wants to do, fun things are always tugging at her, even when she is trying to have fun doing something else. Partly she is afraid that she will not get to do this or that because of other things and she is afraid something will get forgotten or pushed aside. She feels this pressure to get them all done at once.

Some of my ideas to help improve the situation: Perhaps I will have her make a list of things she likes to do or wants to do and that way she can see that she is making progress and that we are not just forgetting to do something. We could make an effort to talk to her about choosing an activity and have her choose from a list. If we tell her that we cannot do an activity we can explain why (it is too long) and try to suggest a more appropriate time we can do it (when we pick for Saturday we can pick a longer activity). We have talked to her some about the fact that she should only expect to do one activity on most week nights (during the school year) and it may have to be one of the activities she can do by herself (if other people are busy) and/or a shorter activity.

Do you have any ideas for tips or tricks on handling this type of overwhelm?!

Coming up: we are going to start offering monetary allowance to the girls that will be offered for EXTRA chores after their regular-contributing-to-the-family chores are completed. (full blog post on this later in the week)

Visitation, Custody and Holiday Schedules

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 15:06:00 +0000

I find it quite exhausting to make schedules for the kids. There are so many logistics to work out and it is always frustrating, each penciled in adjustment comes with a tiny tug on the emotions.

But it is constant and never ending... and what else can we do? So we try to manage and coordinate and shuffle our schedules as best as we can.

In our house we do not just have soccer, sleep-overs, play dates, birthday parties, family plans, work events and when-are-we-going-to-fit-in-time-for-dinner to jam into those tiny time slots. We have two other households to coordinate with. We have more commitments, more dates to remember, more travel arrangements and who-is-going-to-take-her-to-soccer moments than most families. Noah has weekends with his dad and the girls split their time between our house and their mom's house. On holidays we have 4 sets of extended families and friends all demanding parts and pieces of our family.

I think that in general it works out well. But it seems every time we discuss and rearrange the schedule someone is at least a little bit frustrated or disappointed. I guess that is what compromise is about though, we hardly ever get exactly what we want, it is not like any of us wanted to have to negotiate which hours we would get for Christmas... But we try to prioritize the things that our most important for us, and give in on the smaller issues and in the end it seems to work out.

On another note, I was featured in Columbia Home magazine this month in their "Ode to the Mom Blog" along with a twitter/blog friend of mine Rhiannon Trask over at Multitrasking!

Open publication - Free publishing - More columbia

Growing Up So Fast - Learning to Ride His Big Boy Bike!

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Wordless Wednesday: My son loves the Army hair cut

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 06:39:00 +0000

BD had just gotten his hair cut for his National Guard Annual Training and was sitting at the table when Noah decided to pat his head. Lol. He then figured out what a neat texture a fresh buzz cut has. It was so funny he was running his hands back and forth and eventually even rubbing his cheek in BD's hair. BD mostly just gave that...um what is going on look. Oh and when I took a picture Noah thought it'd be funny to cover one of BD's eyes. I don't really know why.

Us parents don't get much personal space do we? BD was a good sport like always! Gotta love the Army Haircut I guess!

Origami Paper Cranes for Japan : Girl Scout Project

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 20:41:00 +0000

Tonight, I get to help teach 8 year old girl scouts how to make origami peace cranes. I was very flattered that Tai asked me to help (she thinks I am crafty) and once again very thankful that all of us parents get along.

The girl scout troop is making Paper Cranes to send to the Japanese girl scouts. The Japanese girl scouts sent them after 9/11 to the Girl Scouts in the United States so it is a neat project. The paper peace cranes have become a symbol of peace and healing after the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. The book tells a true story of a girl who dies of cancer at the age of 12 after surviving the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, and her quest to fold 1000 paper cranes in order to cure her disease.

I have not actually attempted origami in a while, so I was very nervous about if I would remember how. I cut up a few pieces of office paper to make squares and decided I better try it out before I go in to this blindly.

I think I did ok

I am not quite sure yet how I am going to teach this to 8 yr olds... but I am sure frustration and exasperation may ensue. I am armed with patience and I am hoping we have plenty of extra paper!

EDIT: Everyone made 2-3 paper cranes and it was a good thing that we had plenty of adults around to help. The girls seemed to enjoy it and more than one girl took home origami paper to try to do more at home. If you are interested the instructions that I used are here, I warn you though, it does take some practice.

I did not take pictures, mostly cause I was too busy walking around and helping girls fix their cranes mid-fold. It was a great project though and we talked about the 1000 paper cranes that Sadako made and that these cranes symbolize healing and luck.

Weekend With His Dad

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 20:11:00 +0000

Last night I drove two hours to meet Noah's dad half way, so that Noah could have his weekend with his dad. I miss him. Noah always has a fit about going but he always has a great time while he is there. Parents who are divorced or, like in our case, were never married are hard on everyone. Jobs, school and life takes us in different directions...and we just have to make do and make it work. Noah's dad moved to Iowa because that is where he needed to go in order to advance at his career with his company.

This summer Noah is going to spend a few weeks with his dad. It will be the first time for all of us. I am sure Noah won't miss me nearly as much as I will miss him either.

It's hard to share your children, it's hard to miss them, it's hard to be missed...it's hard to hash out what to do about school or daycare, discipline and after school activities or birthdays and holidays with someone who you no longer share your life with.

In the end though, it is our job, as parents, to make this work as best we can...and I hope that all the single, divorced, separated parents out there realize that their efforts will not go unnoticed.

Twestival

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 11:00:00 +0000

I am going to be at the Twestival tonight benefiting Boone Family Resources. I hope to see and meet lots of the columbia tweeters at the event!

Noah's Trip to the Grocery Store

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 03:50:00 +0000

Look Mom, there are things in this fish tank! He was so excited! (Notice also the mini kid sized shopping cart that became a projectile later in the shopping trip, I no longer like the idea of having kid sized carts) Then a lobster moved, legs wiggling in all directions. This made Noah a little bit nervous. BD and I tried to explain that the lobsters were behind glass, that he could come up to the tank and they couldn't get out. Noah just backed up further until he hit the wall and eventually he turned away completely. My son is a little bit of a scardy cat when it comes to bugs or other creatures of the creepy crawly nature. Is it wrong to have thought his reaction is hysterical?

Adjusting and Readjusting the Joys of Co-Parenting

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 15:32:00 +0000

I think that Abbie-do really has a hard time adjusting when moving from one house to the other. She gets very cranky and put-out when she first comes over.

I understand that moving from one house with one set of rules to a different house with a different set of rules takes adjustment. She just does not adjust well. Usually she is in better behavior the 2nd day, but it seems she is sulky and pouty about chores, restrictions and rules more the first day she is at our house than anything else.

I have come to realize though that the 1st night the girls are at our house may be hardest on me. I am overly sensitive and it seems to have gotten worse now that I expect little comments and upsets from the girls.

Yesterday Little T made a comment indicating she was annoyed when Noah was around, when BD called her out on it she insisted that "it was a joke" and it was certainly harmless enough. (There are lots of times that I think a 3 yr old is a lot of work...) but I still let these little things hurt my feelings, even knowing that I shouldn't take them personally.

The first night I have a hard time keeping myself in the mix. My instinct is to retreat to the bedroom and hide. I want to avoid the problem. I know this isn't the answer.

Yesterday I did go hide in the bedroom for a little bit, but it helped me compose myself and at least I rejoined everyone shortly afterwards.

I need to not get so uptight about them acting out. I especially need to keep reminding myself that this is normal behavior and that it is not my fault.

Weekend To Do List

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 05:45:00 +0000

I always make this list of things that I am going to get done on the weekend. It is always significantly longer than the list of things I actually get done on the weekend. I guess I just have unrealistic expectations. It seems like Saturday and Sunday fly by at warp speed while most days just crawl along at a leisurely pace.

I think I need to start structuring my weekends. As un-fun as that sounds. Their are things that I want to get done. It would make me very happy if they were done. I allow myself to not do them by letting my weekends be more relaxed (or lazy) and if I was more structured I could get more done. I could still have set aside time to relax, and other set aside time to do fun stuff with the kids. When I fail to structure my time I wind up less happy in the end because I still have a heaping to do list on Monday.

I also need to be more realistic about my to do list, and more productive in the evenings during the work week, at least with chores around the house. I can't let a weeks worth of daily chores build up for the weekend. A weeks worth of laundry will really hamper any other plans I have for the weekend. (Isn't it amazing how much laundry kids produce)

I really loved this post by the Time Management Ninja (you should follow them on twitter, they tweet some awesome stuff) about being bad at time management. I think this weekend definitely qualified under "badly managed time"

So glad that today was nice though, yesterday the rain kind of dampered the mood mid-day, but it is a beautiful start to spring today!

Embarrassing your kids

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 04:44:00 +0000

I woke up this morning, and let me just preface this story with, I did not get the minimum amount of sleep required, and I thought to myself... self, today is the 17th.

I turned to BD and said, did you remind the girls that today is St. Patrick's Day?
He said No.
I said, it is very important, especially because they are girls and are self-conscious about what they wear, that they wear green. They will be very upset at us if we do not tell them.

BD said NOTHING to me at this point.

So I go tell the girls, make sure you wear green, cause it is St. Patricks Day. We get all dressed and ready to go. I put on green earrings. Day goes on.

3pm today. I look at my calendar at work. March 16th.

Seriously? I double check. Yep. Not St. Patrick's Day.

I guess its better to be safe than sorry. BD then claims he "thought so" but he "wasn't going to say anything" he figured that I am so into holidays that I would know when St. Patrick's Day is. I said, I know its the 17th of March I just didn't know that today was the 16th!!!

Well, at least I didn't tie Little T's hair in St. Patricks Day ribbon and paint a shamrock on her face like I was going to.

She was already embarrassed enough when she announced to her friend that it was St. Patrick's Day and they told her no, its not til tomorrow. She even took her green shirt off and put on her sweat shirt (with no shirt under it) all day...