I wanted to do something to surprise the kids this year. They had all day school and I had the day off. I had already worked three days in the week so I was pretty tired. However, I just really wanted to surprise them.
After T's kindergarten party (oh so much fun) I came home, decorated, wrapped, crafted, baked, cooked, and prepared. Hubby and Lil Sister love sushi so I picked up some take out sushi for their dinner but I made T a homemade pizza. I cut the strawberries in half to look like hearts.
I made the kids and Hubby little pom pom "love bugs" to go with their gifts. These were fast crafts which is what I mostly do these days.
When they arrived home the kids were overwhelmingly excited to see the house had suffered a heart attack - hearts everywhere. It was a great evening. Plus, the kids went to bed early, Baby took a long nap in her swing, and Hubby and I were able to watch the entire movie I purchased for him as his gift (Ender's Game) without a single interruption.
Such a great day. Oh, I forgot to mention, at the kindergarten party I got to ring the the bell. WOW! Such power! Mrs. T insisted on holding the baby and she did not want Baby to get frightened by the bell so it fell upon me to do the ringing. The photo in the photo of T, Baby, and myself, you can see he is wearing his heart necklace - I made heart necklaces for his teachers, staff, and the students - it was a month of riding the elliptical (I crochet while working out since it's the only time I have free hands) but it was worth it - everyone LOVED the necklaces.The hanging heart decorations you see in the photos are the same pattern. The necklaces were of different colors and yarns. T picked the designs for each person. He also hand wrote and decorated all his Valentines.
Included in the photos are the outsides (red) and insides (white/pink) of the Valentines the kids made for their dad. They drew themselves doing something they enjoyed with their dad. I thought T's pirate ship was great. He said his drawing was of he and his dad playing with Lego minifigures together in his room. He even drew his bed with a pillow on it and his activity table. Lil Sister's card was equally charming and I was SO proud of her name signing. She was the only one in her preschool class who hand signed all her Valentines. She is SO ready for kindergarten but still has 18 months until she goes.
It was such a happy day and one we as a family will always remember.
I am still getting used to being the mother of three children. As I often say these days, we are living the new world order of controlled chaos. Things are crazy busy keeping up with everyone's activities and school work. Plus, the baby is just entering her maximum cute phase of adorableness but she is also one high maintenance baby. Whew - I don't get much sleep. The only time sleep really matters is when I need to work.
This past week was a tough one because I worked three days when I normally work only two. It was tough on all of us. The good part of it was I was able to have a three day weekend and go to T's kindergarten Valentine's party which was one of the most positive, uplifting experiences I've had as a parent. (I'll try to post something about it on his blog soon.)
The transition from two to three has been much harder for me than from one to two. I'm not sure why. Individually, each of the kids is pretty darn easy but somehow when they are all together I get completely overwhelmed. I know partially because I am so tired most of the time but little things add up - cooking, cleaning up, laundry, playing, finding whatever is lost, driving to whatever appointment or activity, etc. It just goes on and one.
The other day while watching break dancing with another parent at the school, this mother asked how it was having three kids since she and her husband were considering making the jump from two to three. I responded that I was not a good person to ask since three has really put me over the edge and we're just trying to hold on right now. Often these days my inside voice speaks with my outside voice when I would normally keep quiet. I felt bad I said anything but at least I was honest. It has not been easy for me.
The other night I was so tired after a long day at home following two full back to back days at work. My in-laws were over wanting to spend time with the kids. They really wanted to snuggle the baby but she was just in one of her grumpy moods and did not want to be held by anyone but me. As I sat and listened to her cry while I tried to finish my dinner, I found myself rocking and saying, "Shh Shhh Shhh" to my food. I'm that tired. And no, I'm not trying to keep doing everything the same way as I did prior to three kids. It's just there is so much to do.
So what is it like working and having these kids? There is actually a lot that goes into my work days. The day before I am packing lunches for myself and the kids - the big kids prefer cold lunch at school so I do those. The baby's milk needs to be packed, bottles sterilized, breast pump supplies prepared for work, and the diapers and bag packed for the following day. Clothes need to be laid out for all of us - if this is not done, melt downs ensue in the morning. No one in the family likes waking up so early for school/work. In the morning, we get up early, eat, get kids ready, then Hubby takes big kids to school and I take baby to the sitter's. I estimate we're up about 2-3 hours before we actually start our work day. At work inbetween patients and at lunch I take time to pump - at least twice in the day. Then at the end of the day, I pick up Baby, Hubby picks up the big kids, and we all meet at home. Hubby and big kids get home first so they do baths. Then I get home around 6:45/7 we eat (I try to put something in crock pot the night before). Then bed time for everyone. Although, the baby generally is not totally ready so I nap while she settles down. It's quite an elaborate song and dance on those days I work.
Still, these happy smiling faces are worth all our efforts. Worth every bit. Still, though, best not to ask me what my thoughts on having three kids is (at least not for a while).
I have lots of short posts planned. It's been a busy month and a half with me being back at work. Everything is good. We're just really busy juggling three young kids. There are lots of challenges but there are also some amazing moments.
Here is one such moment - the big kids were putting on a short puppet show for the baby while I finished getting ready for the day. So proud of these kiddos and love them so much.
Enjoy...
In a previous posting of the December Activities series, I mentioned the gifts Hubby gave me for Christmas. I had two things on my wish list - fly my childhood friend up for a visit and to go see The Hobbit. (Baby was my everything gift for 2013 but he insisted on getting me something despite my protests.)
It has been nearly 10 years since my friend, Miss M (I've always addressed her with a Miss before her name), has been up to visit me here. Once we met up in Delaware when I was traveling on business but that was 8 years ago and 5 children ago. At that time she had two little boys aged 2 and 3 and I was without children. Now she has 4 children and I have 3. We met in junior high, attended high school and even a bit of college together. We have much in common both having a background in piano, although, she is a full blow music teacher now. I went a different direction into health care. Still, we both have a love of piano music. She was also a string bass player in high school and college.
Actually for Christmas I gave her two matching necklaces - one with a treble clef and one with a bass clef. She was to choose which one she wanted and return the other to me. In the end she chose the bass clef but I know it was a tough decision for her. I wanted some special friend jewelry for her gift but could not decide which to choose. I will proudly wear the treble clef necklace and always think of her while I do so.
We have had lots of adventures through the years - too many to document here. We both used to be world class cookie bakers. I actually cannot believe I did not take a photo of our 12 dozen cookie baking extravaganza during her visit. We did not intend to bake so many. Let's just say we're out of practice and had to make that many if we did not want to start over.
It was such a great gift to have her fly in Christmas day. We started her her visit with a big feast of turkey, roast beef, and tamales. (She loves Mexican food.) That night we stayed up until 2 am talking into the wee hours of the morning.
The following day while I took the kids to the library I dropped her off at the salon - she has never had her hair done at a salon. She was very excited to have the experience.
The next day she hung out with the kids (they LOVED her - I never had a doubt) and they played a lot including some of the games they received for Christmas as well as making sushi out of clay. I took her by my office so she could see where I work and we did some regular things like shop for groceries. I must say it was nice having the extra help - like having a second me around. She's used to a house full of kids so she was very helpful and understanding of the chaos. In fact, she offered to watch the kids while Skip and I went to see The Hobbit! It was wonderful knowing our kids were in such great hands. She brought an air popper for popcorn and they had a good time popping corn and watching Despicable Me 2. Later that night the kids fell asleep and we stayed up watching Mickey Blue Eyes - she had never seen it and it's one of my personal favorite comedies - just appeals to my sense of humor. The Hobbit was fun but I enjoyed the home movie better.
The Saturday she was here we had a girls' day out including pedicures, lunch at Cheese Cake Factory, and shopping. We left the boys behind and my sister and mom joined us. Great fun. We found some nice clothes both casual and work
Sunday was a quiet day with plenty more chatter before she took off the next day. We also baked cookies that day and strung beads with the kids.
Having lots of experience with her own babies, she was our baby whisperer while visiting. She often took the evening fussy time so I could get chores done or just have a break. It was great. Baby loved her and I know Miss M enjoyed the baby snuggles.
Such a great trip - it took no time at all (literally) to reconnect. We've stayed in touch all these years and still exchange birthday and Christmas packages every year. I am grateful for her friendship and that we have stayed in touch despite distance, life changes, and lots of kids. Thanks to my Hubby for setting it all up and thank you Miss M for making the trip and sharing the holidays with us. It was truly the best Christmas ever with the kids being such a great age and having my dear friend for a visit.
This concludes the December Activities Series. Thanks for another year of sharing our adventures with us. We wish you all the best in the new year with much happiness and success to come this 2014.
It was simply the perfect night to visit the Winter Garden-a-Glow.
There was freshly fallen snow which makes the evening a bit brighter and the lights more spectacular. It was cold but we dressed for it.
The designs are always a bit different so every year there is something new to see. There are still our traditional favorites to visit - model trains, reindeer, bell, and snacks (sugar cookies and hot cider).
It was a busy night and we had quite the hike from our van but we survived and actually had a pretty great time. When we arrived home the kids saw their snowman surprise ending a great evening.
We had a lot to accomplish on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Eve was filled with visiting family - first my family in the morning (remember the gingerbread house decorating?) followed by Hubby's family. Now, Hubby just started a new job in October so he has no vacation time yet so he took a long lunch to stop by his parents and celebrate with the rest of us. The visits were nice.
We made it home in time to eat dinner and make gingerbread cookies. I tried to take a short cut and use candy molds instead of cutting out the people. It did not go so good - I made them too thick. The ones I shaped and dropped onto the sheet worked out. The kids insisted on making "Captain Cookie" and the other gingerbread pirates. It's from a book we have - in case you are wondering about the reference. Of course, we watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas" while the cookies cooled and before we decorated them. Alas, Hubby was on call and ended up having to go into work for an hour. He did manage to make it home in time to tuck in the kids. They went right to sleep and were very excited for Santa's visit. Hubby and I were pretty exhausted from all the preparation not just for gifts but also for my friend's visit - she was arriving on Christmas day.
Christmas morning the stockings were full and the tree was surrounded. (Oh we did all sleep in until 8:30 - what a treat!) T received some great things from Santa including the Ninja Turtle set and turtles he asked Santa for, plus a special surprise of some minions in a game. He also received the "non-Lego" action figures he requested to go with his awesome castle. He has been having quite a lot of battles of recent, as you can imagine. A non-Santa gift and a most favorite toy was the Yoda pillow. He has not been able to sleep without it.
Sister was excited by all the Barbies - lots and lots of Barbie clothes and Barbies - as well as a Ken doll. Santa did good but not as good as Aunt Shelley and Uncle Rich with the Barbie RV - let's just say that thing has seen a lot of action of late, too. It's such a cool gift I keep playing with it! Some amazing clothes that Santa's elves must have worked hard on, too. My mom made an amazing cradle set for Sister - you can see from the photo she loved it.
Even Baby Sister had a visit from Santa.
I insisted to my sister that she not get the kids toys as they already had way too much (she was a bit disappointed by this). Instead I mentioned the clothes they needed, but instead of buying one thing off the list, they bought everything on the list so the kids are well stocked in clothes - especially the baby. She has so many amazing outfits. It's been like playing dress up with her. Even T has some rockin' clothes. Sister received some charming silver sparkly boots. So cute I had to get a pair for me, too! (in black - with the gift card Hubby gave me).
Hubby gave me some amazing gifts - more on one of those in the next posting. But my favorite is my "everything gift" from 2013 - our baby daughter. I've told him when I have a baby, that year no gifts are needed. Well, he never listens so I still had some packages wrapped under the tree (including a yellow umbrella - if you watch "How I Met Your Mother" you'll understand as he calls me his yellow umbrella girl) and another that arrived on Christmas but the baby is still my favorite. She contently slept in her cradle while we unwrapped packages. Even my staff at work spoiled me with lovely things. Mostly, though, the cards and kind words they wrote were warming to my heart. It makes me excited to be back to work next week.
No photos of Hubby's stuff - lots of eclectic aviation books and a few movie items. I did get him a gift card to a local running store for new running shoes. Sister thought we were getting him a mug and pen as that's what I wrapped the card in. Funny girl. She has not figured out gift cards yet.
T has been working on his gift at school for many months. The teacher and her staff have done a great job hiding their work and we were blown away when we opened it. The photo is of the outside packaging. We cried as we opened his gift - a calendar with each month being an art project utilizing his hands. It was quite amazing and something we will cherish forever. Plus, the look of pride on his face as he gifted it to us was also amazing.
As I said, we are overwhelmed by the generosity of our friends and family members. Our dear son reminded us that the wise men brought gifts to Jesus because they loved him and wanted to honor him and that's why we give gifts on Christmas. We are touched that so many would bestow on us their gifts as a token of love and honor. Thank you all.
T's stuff...
Sister's stuff...
Baby Sister's stuff...(love that stocking Nan gave her - only year we can use it as it says "Baby's First Christmas")
My stuff...
T's special gift wrapped up in his own packaging...
