My Gluttonous, Chocolatey Ways

I'm going to make this short, but sweet.  Very sweet, actually.

About 10 mins ago my son asked if he could have something out of his Easter basket.  Yes, believe if or not, there's still some candy in there.  The operative word being "some".

He asked, in particular, if he could have some of the 'lil malt-ball eggs that his Uncle G gave to him.

"Uh, yah, sure", I said, with what I'm sure was an audible "gulp".

Need I say more?

His first words when I gave him his basket?

"Heeeeey! Who ate all my eggs?"

(I didn't eat "all" of them)

I came clean.  Kind of.

I told him I had a "few" and he said it was okay.  What a sweetheart!  Such a sharing young lad and I told him so.

Little does he know that Mommy was downing fistfuls of those 'lil devils late one night.

Kind of like this, but with Easter eggs...

ate too+much+clipart pics on Sodahead

What my son doesn't know, doesn't hurt him.  

They're not good for his teeth anyways.

He might be happy to hear that I felt sick afterwards and the scale is reflecting my gluttonous ways.

I'm not telling him though.

Let 'Em Paint Rocks

Today was GORGEOUS!  The sun was shining, it was incredibly warm out, it was all that a spring day should be.  To top it off, it was a Pro D Day, which means no school!

For anyone who knows me or has read my blog for a while, I've written how I absolutely LOVE Pro D Days.  I know for working moms they are a bit of a nightmare, having to find childcare, etc, but for a SAHM like myself, who works 3 nights out of the week, NOT having to rush around making a lunch, getting 'lil dudes dressed, washed and out the door before 9...well, it's my dream come true.  (One of them anyways.)

So today was a day of not rushing...no urgent plans...a stay-in-our-jammies-'til-noon kind of day.  We'd go where the wind took us.

After lunch I thought it would be fun to head out into the garden.  Usually when we do this, Big T brings his cars and Little K and I do some diggin'.  We haven't planted anything yet; we're just pulling up weeds and making a 'lil bamboo fence.  Basically we just putter around.

Today I decided that we wouldn't dig.

We'd paint rocks!

Last year I brought home a lot of big rocks from the beach.   Forever looking for something to do with the boys that doesn't involve a Wii, an iPad or an iPhone, I thought painting rocks would be a lot of fun.

And it was.  (Ha!  You thought a disaster would ensue, I'm sure)

It's a great activity and you don't have to be an artist, as you will see when you look at the following:

Okay, so I did most of the painting.

As expected, Big T played with his cars and Little K painted maybe three rocks, then he wanted the iPad.  Oh, well, what's the saying?  "A" for effort?  No, that can't be it.  Well, you know what I mean.

So if it's not raining, you're gonna lose your mind if you watch one more Dora cartoon and your Play-doh's all dried up...

Let 'Em Paint Rocks!

Sliding Doors

I loved the movie "Sliding Doors".  If you haven't seen it, I'd recommend you go and rent it.  I'm not a huge Gweneth Paltrow fan, but this is one movie I thought was so good, I actually bought it.

Probably what I love most about it is the concept of the movie, how the decisions and choices we make alter the course of our future, our life...how the most insignificant choice can have such a profound impact on our life and the direction it goes in.  This of  course works with both the positive and negative choices that we make.

I can think of one such decision I made that changed my life...for the better.

I met Hubby online.  Yep, I did and I'm not embarrassed at all about it.  I think it's actually a great way for people to meet and the stigma that surrounded it years ago has long subsided (I think).  I know a few women who have met their husbands in this way.

I had been doing online dating for a while...long enough to meet some duds and some nice guys, but nothing ever lead anywhere...not where I wanted it to go anyways.

After meeting one nice guy and going on a couple of dates with him, only to find out he had just gotten out of a long-term relationship and really just wanted a playmate, I figured I had had enough of this online dating and I was going to give it a rest.

I had a roommate at the time and I recall mentioning, when I came home after learning this, that I was done...no more internet dating for me.

And then....(get ready for the sliding doors moment) ...

...I decided I'd check my messages ONE. MORE. TIME.

And there was Hubby.

And the rest is history.

It goes without saying (but I'll say it anyways) that had I not checked my messages and, in fact, deleted my account altogether,  I would've never met Hubby and gone on to have my crazy, wonderful boys!  All three of them.  I can't imagine it.  I don't want to imagine it.

That was one of the best decisions I've made in my life...(other than donning the above super-hero mask and putting it on the internet)

I went through that sliding door...

...and life is good.

Your turn:  Do you have a "sliding doors" moment that really changed your life?

Happy Birthday To Me!

Yay!  I love birthdays!

It's not really "my" birthday though.  Well, it is in a way, I guess.

Today is my blog's birthday.  One year ago today I did my very first Introduction post.

I've got to say, I've really had a lot of fun with this blogging thang.  I've learned a lot, but feel there is still so much more to learn.

I've also met some other great Moms and bloggers.

When I first learned of blogging about six years ago, I will admit I thought it seemed a bit self-centred for someone to blog about themselves.  Who cares, I thought?

Then I created blogs for both my boys as their "baby books", because I never did the typical books.  It was a great way for family and friends to see what they were up to and watch them grow.  And it's something that I did so that I could one day give it to them.  Again, their baby books.  It was all for them.  I did that for a good 5 years for Big T and a couple years for 'Lil K, and then I decided that I really needed to do something for me and no one but me!

Me! Me! Me!  Talk about being self-centred.

But seriously, I spend my days caring for the wants and needs of other people and had been for the last five years.  Whereas I wouldn't change my life with my boys for anything, I still needed something that was mine, all mine!

After coming across some Mommy blogs, I thought that blogging just might be that something.

It took me a while to start because I had a difficult time coming up with a name.  Once I came up with the name, then it was the design.  That really slowed me down because I wanted to come up with the "perfect" design, etc, etc, but then one day I realized that I just needed to start.  So I picked a template and just started blogging.  I figured the design would evolve.  I'm still using that template, but I'm thinking on ways to change it up.  There's no rush though.

So thanks to all the Mommy bloggers out there who inspired me to start this blog and share mine & my family's stories.  And thanks for sharing yours with me.  What a great community I've found out there...

...and Happy Birthday to me...er, my blog.

A New 'Do

I'm feeling like maybe it's time for a change.

Maybe it's the sunshine that we've been soaking up this past weekend, which has been so incredibly amazing and mood altering.

Aaah, Spring.  I always do a 'lil Spring Cleaning at this time of year.

I've been letting myself my hair go a bit lately, not taking the time in the morning to fix it but instead have just been quickly putting it into a pony-tail.  That's fine if you're going for some exercise, but let's get real:

I've not been exercising.

And it's getting waaaaay too easy to just NOT do my hair.

Ugh.

I don't know what you do when you're feeling like you need a 'lil boost of some sort, but I usually like to do something with my hair.  Usually colour, but this time I'm going to cut it...maybe.

I say "maybe" because I've been through this before.  Many times.  And I know myself.  When it comes to my hair, I've made rash decisions in the past.  I get this feeling, go get my hair CUT and then as soon as I get home I say things like, "I'm growing my hair", and "Don't let me do that again."

But I'm getting sick of my pony-tail.  (Yet I know I'll miss it.)

And I'm going to be 45 this May.  45!!!

I don't feel old, I don't think I look old, and I don't think all of a sudden I need "45-year-old's haircut", if you know what I mean, but can I really pull off this constant pony-tail of mine?  I don't know...it lacks sophistication.  (Oh, and I'm all about that - lol)

Ugh.

But what to do, what to do?

How short do I go?

Here's some possibilities...

Maybe I best sleep on it some more.

Teaching Moments

So we all know this parenting gig has some tough moments.

As my kids get older, have your typical childhood angsts and go through certain circumstances like peer pressure, broken hearts, hurt feelings, am "I" equipped to help?  Will I know the right way to advise them, the right things to say?  Will I even be able to help them with their homework?  Thank god for the internet, I guess.

Hopefully they will come to me for help.  I'm trying to instill in them now that they can tell me anything. I'm noticing though that my 5-year-old doesn't tell me everything right now.  For example, when Hubby & I ask him what he did in school on any given day, his response is usually "I don't know" or "Can we not talk about it?"  He's not a fan of school already...and he's only 5!  I take some of the blame for this as I was never, and am still not, an overly-scheduled mom.  I also sent him to a preschool that was not overly scheduled but a very go-with-the-flow kind of preschool.  I mean, there was a basic schedule but in no means were we bound by it.  I wasn't the type of mom who had to be home at 12:15 exactly so I could feed my kids and put them down for a nap.  My guys slept where they were.  Nothing wrong with moms like that; it's just not me.  I'm a big fan of spontaneity.  I think it's important to be able to roll with the punches, go where the wind takes you and not be overly rigid in your views or ways.

Unfortunately kindergarten is not like that.  And that's why perhaps my "spontaneity" didn't do him justice because he absolutely hates the routine of it.  Every morning they do "calendars" and his exact words about this was:  "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday...blah blah blah...it's so boring!"  I can't say I blame him.  The same routine day in and day out drives me bonkers.

So that's one thing we need to work on.

The other is bringing things home with him...or to NOT bring things home with him.

This morning, as we were heading out the door to school, and as I put his lunch in his Lightening McQueen backpack that has seen better days, I noticed at the bottom a bunch of Lego pieces and one Lego guy that were not his.  When I asked about them, he instantly looked guilty and started to profusely apologize.  Yep, he had taken them from the classroom.  Not a major crime, but one nonetheless.  A little more than getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

So there it was...a "teaching moment".  And I had to take it.

I put his ill-gotten bootie in a zip-lock baggie and told him that he would have to confess tell his teacher what he'd done and say sorry.

He started to cry and kept saying he was sorry.  My bleeding heart would have liked to leave it at that, but I
I had to follow through.  Couldn't be "inconsistent" with this one.

Awww, but I felt for him.

Once we were in the classroom, I mentioned to the teacher that Big T had something to tell her and when she came over, he whispered in my ear, tears welling up in his eyes, "I'm scared."  I just told him he could do it.  He had to do it.

The teacher was very sweet with him and sat him on her knee.  At that point I stepped away so they could have their little talk.

Afterwards he seemed relieved that it was over and he put the Lego back where it belonged.  The teacher thanked me and called it a "teaching moment".  I said, "Yah, that's what I was going for."

(sigh) I know there will be many more teaching moments.  Hopefully not this one though.  And of course I wish I could take care of everything for him, but I know he'll need to make his own mistakes and hopefully learn from them.