One More Day Til I Turn 35...

So tomorrow is the big day...the big 35..halfway to 70....is 35 considered middle aged? I still have many things to cross off my "bucket list," so I better get cracking!
This past Monday we went to Dutch Wonderland amusement park. We weren't sure how W would react to all of the commotion with the people, and the rides....but we were pleasantly surprised. Initially we thought we would be there for 2 hours at most, but after 8 hours of riding all of the rides (some more than once) we knew we had a successful trip! At first, W was not too fond of waiting in the long lines, but he realized that he had to wait (with not many tantrums at all!) in order to get on the ride. What a great way to teach patience! That day turned out to be a blast for all of us, and a great way to start my pre-birthday celebration!

It Was a 5.8.....

So everyone is still buzzing about the 5.8 earthquake yesterday that hit the East Coast. I was feeding the baby and my husband was outside working on the patio when it struck. I have never lived on the West Coast, so I was a newbie to all of this earthquake stuff. My initial thought when I saw and heard all of my plates rattling was, WTF is Brandon doing to the house to make it shake that badly?! I also know we don't have a poltergeist, so that got ruled out as well. As the shaking continued, then I started to think we just had an earthquake. Winston looked at me and asked, "why is the house shaking, Mommy?" Sheldon kept eating of course. Now, I have always wanted to experience what a minor earthquake feels like. Call me bizarre--it won't be the first time, but I had always thought it would be an interesting sensation. Lo and behold, after almost 35 years of living, I can finally cross that one off my bucket list! (And it IS an interesting sensation!)

"Lord Of The Flies"

Hello. Thank God it is Friday. The weekend is almost here, and my husband will be home to share in the stress induced by multiple temper tantrums. Yesterday I took the kids to the Kids Museum. Sheldon was awarded a gold star for his behavior there. Winston, on the other hand, was awarded the "Most Dramatic-Best Temper Tantrum-Loudest Screaming-Most Misbehaved-All Eyes On You" Award. Things were going well, until Winston started playing at the communal building blocks table. Let's just say that, despite W's expansive vocabulary, the word "sharing" is not included. He threw a fit when other kids started playing with blocks. You would have thought he was auditioning for the starring role in the re-make of the Exorcist. We are talking all out screaming, stomping feet, almost hyperventilating, face all red kind of tantrum. The kind where every parent in the room stops and has a complete "WTF" moment. After about 15 minutes of his stellar display of acting out, I called my husband and asked if he could meet up with us there, because I was about ready to create bald patches on my head from pulling my hair out. Brandon works about 5 minutes from the museum, and he could hear W in the background, so he took an early lunch to come and meet us. Winston finally calmed down, but he was tired after expending so much energy tantruming (is that a word??). I just wonder how many calories you can burn with a tantrum?!
Today was not much better. Winston was up at 3:30 this morning, so he was still tired when he woke up later on. I packed all of the supplies needed to survive 2 hours at the park, and drove the kids to the playground. We were there for maybe 5 minutes before W transformed into a 50 year old grump. The list of complaints I heard, "no one is here...the slides are all wet...it's too hot...go home....put baby back in the stroller....the bench is all wet...my shorts are now all wet...etc. etc." I could tell it was time to go when a woman started talking about how she wished she watched Super Nanny when her kids were young, and how these young moms these days can learn a lot from watching it. Yeah, whatever...
When we got home, Winston decided to unravel the entire paper towel roll all over the floor while I was mopping the dining room floor. He had unraveled the toilet paper roll all over the floor this morning. He finds such amusement in doing this, since Sophia, on Teen Mom unraveled toilet paper on the floor. Just an FYI-we do not allow W to watch reality shows on MTV. He just happened to come into the room when my husband and I were watching it. Sheldon crawled over to the paper towel pile, and tried eating it while Winston was having a blast rolling around in all the paper. I really felt like I was living the toddler version of "Lord Of The Flies." All is well now, though, because both my little guys are asleep, looking like complete angels snuggled in their beds. This will be a nice 2 hour respite from the chaos!

Happy Wednesday All!

What a gorgeous Wednesday morning it has been! Plus, I haven't had to pick up vomit or any other bodily fluids off my carpets today, so that makes it even better! I took the kids to the park. Winston is a total "Don Juan" at the park. He has several girl friends there who come running up to him like he is Justin Bieber. He certainly does have a harem there to climb up and down the slides with. We were there for a good 2 hours, when W ran up to me and said "pee by the tree?" I thought he said, "play by the tree," so of course I said, "sure! you can go by the tree!" Well, before I know it he was flashing all the toddlers on the swings relieving himself. A few minutes later he came running up and said, "poop" while frantically holding on to his shorts. Well, that was my stat message to leave asap and head home to the potty!
Tonight W has swim class. He just turned 3 in July, and was supposed to have moved up to the next level class where parents do not have to go in the pool. Yeah, I think it would be easier for me to climb Mt. Everest than it would be to get him to listen and participate in the class. The first night was as abysmal as it gets. He sat on the edge of the pool screaming and crying. My husband ended up jumping in the pool with him and swimming around, kind of doing their own thing. The teachers know how stubborn and resistant to change W is, so they let him do his own thing for the most part. We were pretty much discouraged after that lesson, and thought the entire class would be a wash(literally). But we decided to keep the faith, and use bribes to entice Winston into the water sans Daddy. I told him that if he got in the pool that night by himself, Mommy would make him an ice cream sundae. Well 6pm approached, and Daddy and W were standing by the edge of the pool. There must have been a divine intervention (or at least a craving for hot fudge), because Winston gently pushed Daddy to the side, and got in the pool by himself wearing his little "Buzz Lightyear" vest. The teacher let him swim around and do his own thing for a little while to keep him from erupting into a human crying volcano. Sure enough, Winston actually started to enjoy his independence in the pool. He was having a blast playing with the toys and a little beach ball in the water. After about 15 minutes, he decided to give everyone a heart attack by climbing out of the pool, and doing a running jump into 4ft of water by himself. Those 2 seconds he was completely submerged must have been the longest 2 seconds of my life. Thankfully the swim vest brought him up in no time, and he had this "WTF just happened?!" look on his face. I was sure he was going to start crying at this point, turning lesson #2 into another disaster, but he did not. He turned to my husband smiling and said, "I jumped in the water and went under!" The lesson was a hit, although I don't need Winston turning into Michael Phelps just yet! He definitely enjoyed his ice cream sundae that night!

Melissa and Doug

Dear Melissa and Doug:

I do not know you...but I have given you lots of money for your stellar toys that my kids are absolutely obsessed with....I wish I had taken shop in high school to learn how to make wooden toys, but I opted for Glee Club instead. Sadly, I can't even put a nail straight into the wall. Nonetheless, my boys have enjoyed many hours playing with your toys. My son, W, Loves the United States Of America puzzle. He can name all the states, as well as most capitals thanks to you. Now, if only I could teach him how to share with his baby brother without a dramatic temper tantrum.

Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk

Today is one of those days where your feet ache, brain is jumbled, and you are craving a nice big glass of red wine (which I am sipping on now!)..No one napped, Winston fell twice and scraped his knees, and the cats puked several times all over the house--making sure to only hit the carpets. I of course added to the mess by spilling the kids milk all over the floors which the cats subsequently thought was their afternoon dessert. I swear I should by stock in Swiffer, since my floors probably harvest all sorts of microbes. I was counting down the seconds until 6pm when my husband usually gets home, so that I could have a moment to relax and stretch out my plantar fascia (it aches terribly!!!!). Right now, all is quiet. Winston is watching his two tvs, and Sheldon is crawling around the floors which presently have no emesis on it! Hope everyone has a good night. I'm going to settle into bed after the kids' baths and enjoy the dysfunction of Teen Mom.

Kids And Creativity

Is it really true that kids these days are less creative?? I firmly believe that being creative and exercising your right brain powers can help you go far in life. Kids: get out those crayolas and thinking caps and go to town!! (Just don't scribble all over the walls in your house!)

The Health Bar: Latest Health News!!!

http://thehealthbar.us/

My Newest Venture: "The Health Bar"

I haven't been on here in awhile...non-cyber life took precedence, and the kids have been keeping us very busy (which is a good thing!) We recently decided to get a new roof, since we were missing several shingles, and since the overzealous home inspector sitting on the roof of the house across the street shouted to us that our roof was pretty much in imminent danger. Well, a new roof turned into new siding (we had vomit yellow colored buckling siding on the house), and then a new roof and siding turned into demolishing our back deck because of wood rot, and building a new stone patio. But along with all of the home improvements and construction, I managed to find time to create a new website (with great help and insight from my techy husband!)that provides the latest health news out there from across the world. It is named "The Health Bar" (just like at a bar, you can indulge in plenty of drinks, at this website, you can indulge in plenty of health news) Please check it out--hope you like it! I do try to post the most interesting and easy to understand articles I find.

Website link is: http://thehealthbar.us/

And I will leave you with a recent pic from the summer!