The Mommy Merit Badge

I used to think that there should be a Mommy Merit Badge for cleaning up vomit.    After yesterday, I believe that there should be a Mommy Merit Badge for catching puke in your hands.  Kevin and I both would get one.   Cleaning it up, that's Brownie stuff, we are definitely Scouts.

You do know that there is a Mommy Merit Badge system right?

Image from Mamameritbadge.com

I not sleepy

Once upon a time, there was a precious prince who loved to sleep.  He would sleep all night long.  No peeps, no squeaks, no protests... it was magical.  Then he didn't... it was not magical.  THE END.

Keith is not sleeping!  Last night he kept his brother up reading him books until 10:30!!!!  His brother can't turn away a "poor scared" boy.  So the party goes on.  Tonight I politely asked him to stay in his bed.  So far he's been in to see me three times. 

I miss the good old days when he would snuggle into his bed without protest and stay there until 8:00 in the morning. 

Kevin and I share memories of Patrick (age 2 through 4.75) tiptoeing into our room again and again, night after night.  His problem was nightmares.  I don't know what Keith's problem is but here we are.  Maybe I should cut back his coffee intake to two cups a day?  Limit him to only one spoonful of sugar at bedtime?

Of note, he spent the whole week prior to his first non-sleeping night sleeping on top of his comforter with his personalized KDI blanket on the wrong end of the bed.  He flat out refused to sleep any other way.  If this problem persists maybe I should make up the opposite end of the bed?

He has a dream

ME: Hey Patrick, we have a three-day weekend.  What are we going to do?

PATRICK: Celebrate Martin Luther's birthday.

ME: Who was Martin Luther King?

PATRICK: He was a really cool man.  He had a dream.

ME: What was his dream?

PATRICK: Well, see his mom went outside and everyone was mean.  He wanted all of the colorful people to be nice to each other.

ME: Hmmm.

PATRICK: We should all be nice. That would be so beautiful.

ME: Agreed.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  Today I celebrate Dr. King and the wonder of this country, the promise of our children, and the hope of our hearts.  Our future knows only the bounds of our imaginations and dreams.

From MLK:

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."

"Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend."

Our Everyday with Daddy

In Kevin's line of work you have to learn how to roll with the changes... or they will roll right over you.  It has been a super-exciting couple of weeks at work for Kevin.  So exciting, he needs to change his schedule to accommodate all of the excitement.  How exciting?  35 hours of OT on top of his regular schedule.  See, exciting.

The good news is that now we get weekends with him. Well, weekend evenings because the days are spent studying and writing and mastering his degree.  But we will happily take the weekend evenings... yummy dinners, Wii battles, wrestling, story-time.  We missed this, we really did.

As an added bonus, we "watched" (I was working on taxes and he was writing a paper) the Golden Globes together.  So much more fun than watching it alone.  I was on the E! page making the most of the East Coast spoilers.  I won every bet.

On being Keith's Mom

It is just like this.....

From the moment this boy comes into my room in the morning he is smiling and flirting.  "I get in bed with you."  He consumes a lumberjack breakfast (sometimes 3 man-sized bowls of cereal.  This morning three cherry chocolate cookies, a whole grapefruit and a bowl of cheerios).  He then barrels into the day attempting to put the previous days antics and adventures to shame.  He lives life like it is going out of style. 

But lately, lately he is my shadow, my appendage, as evidenced in the picture above (that blob he is holding onto is my man-sized shoulder) and the fact that as I type, he has once again crawled in my lap. 

As crazy as he makes me, I would forgive him of the worst offenses (answering the door and signing for a package while we are upstairs) because he is my best little buddy.  He loves to help (especially if it is a job I just gave his brother).  He loves to do things "by my ownself."  And everything old is new again.  A freshly laundered shirt, a "found" toy.... "Wook, my own new bug shirt!  I love you bug shirt!"

And he LOVES posing for random pictures.  In fact he demands it. 

And he purrs when you rub his head.

Lies....it's all lies!

The art of storytelling... that's what blogging is really all about.  Well, the art of storytelling meets a little whole lotta ego and a smidge of well-executed exaggeration.  That is blogging.  Did you know that some bloggers actually lie and steal content?  It's a thing. 

Sure, most bloggers edit their content to some extent.  Whether it is cropping the dirty dishes out of the "perfect house picture" or leaving out a part of the story.... we all edit, by virtue of not telling you about every little thing... we are editing.  And we only tell you about the shiny happy kid stories.  Since I just posted this post, I could make an argument that my kids may be happy but they are not shiny.  But sometimes, they may seem a little unbelievable....  Do you believe this picture?  ***Yes, I got a copy of Pioneer Woman Cooks. WOOHOO  A beautiful book, nothing like any other cookbook I own (and therefore fabulous)*** And yes, Patrick is studying the book.***

Do you believe that I had nothing to do with this picture except to pick up my Nikon and steal his moment?  Do you believe that he later commented that "She seems like a really nice lady and I was wrong to think she was Giada, she has red hair.  I think I am going to like her, let's make her food."


Do you believe that he begrudgingly handed my book back to me when I demanded it asked for it.  Do you believe that I didn't eat anything all week (save a handful of mixed nuts, a doughie, and half a carrot) in preparation for a weekend of PW Cookin'?  Ok, that last one is an exaggeration.  I'll stop with this: Let's make some prune cake!!!

What is this all about?  The story tells itself.... sometimes too well and you just have to let it.... sometimes you want to save face....
Which is why I owe you (my dedicated reader) the truth.  Remember that oh-so-truthful "my kids aren't perfect" blog post (the poop one, remember, I was just bragging about it)?  Well I am dizzy with editorial guilt.  The poop catastrophe was my fault.  I feel bad about it.  My child hadn't been napping and I just wanted to take a shower without wondering whether he was destroying my belongings or flooding the bathroom or roaming the streets.  So I locked his door (from the outside remember).... which I never do anymore.  And I treated myself to a nice, long, hot shower ( do I get points if I cleaned the shower while enjoying my nice, long, hot shower?  okay, I was cleaning it) so lovely and so not worth it in the long run.
BM stands for Bad Mommy.




THE UNEDITED TRUTH THAT IS ME (blogging penance).....  Mid work-out, puffs around the edges, crazy brows and my eyes accented by dark circles.  The good news for me is that I have a fancy mirror that makes me think I am skinny with perfect skin.  Then I take a picture of myself and ruin it... oh well.

Patrick's Projects

 And so another weekend of fun with Mama and her boys ends.  Cowboy boots, pj tops all day, ninjas, flip flops, blankets, dogs at the park, bare feet, gloves, new to you shoes, popcorn, wrestling, Alvin, WHIPPED CREAM WITH CHERRIES!

Two projects this weekend! 

Project #1 ART STRIPS

aka a place where Patrick can hang his creations and notes from his "girl"friends.  He is happy to put some things on the official Art Wall but other things he insists on hanging in his room.  Which was why I created the Art Wall....This is kind of the way it goes; I have an idea, Patrick counters with a better idea.  So, I imagined a Map Themed art board for his room. 

It was a surprise project for Patrick.  He wanted to know what we were going to buy for his project so he could make a list.  Yes.  He is my son.

Cheap and Easy.  Kind of in the same lines as the Art Boards I made with Katie.  Just not as fancy.
What I really wanted to make him was cool push pins.  Everything else was secondary.  I bought scrapbook paper with highway signs, clear glass beads with flat backs, glass glue, and thumb tacks. 

Super easy.  Patrick helped.  We would have been happy with these little do-das. 

The Board....
At first I was considering a bulletin board.  But I didn't want a full bulletin board so I bought 4 corkboard strips.  $5.99 at Office Max
Next step was what to do with the cork strips... I decided to Mod Podge (shocking, I know) more scrapbook paper, map paper in this case.
Again this was easy and Patrick helped.

The hardest part is waiting for all of it to dry... Instead of hanging it that night, Patrick wanted to get his dad's help the next morning.  Sure enough he marched right over to his dad's side of the bed at 7:30 and started motivating his dad.  He didn't stop talking for 45 minutes.  Weekend mornings are tough since Kevin hasn't seen the boys for 24 hours and has to get ready to go back and do it again.  Anyway.... The end result. 

Project #2 CHORE CHART

A recent conversation with Kevin and Patrick had me thinking about a Chore Chart.  We started giving Patrick official chores and allowance this Fall.  He is responsible for feeding the dogs (sometimes with his brother's help), cleaning out his backpack, cleaning the car, and making his bed.  He has other chores that he does too (clearing the table, cleaning his room, etc.) these official chores are his responsibility to remember and execute.  The problem is that we never remember what he has done in the chaos of the week and we have only remembered to give him allowance once.  This new chore chart is meant to help all of us track his progress and remind us to give him his allowance (although I still think that if he wants it badly enough he will remind me...).

I spent more on a dry erase board because there is utility to it and what the heck, I haven't paid him his allowance in 3 months.  I could spend $20 on a board.

$20 (actually $17) board, scrap paper, punchers, magnets.  total cost= $17

I couldn't find all of my punchers but these are easy enough to make that we can switch them out as we need to (and I locate my punchers in the scrapbooking chaos).

See.  Easy.Cut Print Glue Done. What's that?  You want the Mod Podge.  ME TOO!

Much better.

the plan is to have a few chores on any given day.  Some days will have extra chores (today it was getting all of the trash from upstairs: YEAH THAT'S HOW WE DO THE HARD WORK (fist pump)!  He kind of takes the fun out of giving chores.  Too much fun for him.)  If he gets all of his chores completed then he gets a star or happy face or whatever on that day (that's where the dry erase comes in).  At the end of the week we know exactly how he did.

I know I can whip up additional chores really easily so this can grow and change as he does.  I also didn't want to lock him into 7 chores every day.  Some days it just isn't realistic given homework, after school activities and time to just be a kid.

I even made a little magnet to remind us about the allowance: