Monster Cookies

Names, Pencils and Sunshine - Random Tuesday Thoughts

Author: Amber

I really meant to get this up early this week, but here I am, late again. Ah well…on to the randomness!

How funny is it that the neighbour children have the same names as mine?

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You know you are a mother to boys when you are doing real, grown up, office type work and both of the pencils you are using to make notes have Spiderman on them.

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Lately I’ve had the desire to be frivolous, spontaneous, exciting! And then I want to do more of that, and keep doing it until it becomes the norm and I long for my static, mundane routine again.

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Wanna play Jeopardy?

Answer - “Be quiet, Daddy is working.”

Question - What is: Things Amber says over 100 times per day.

Question Bonus Question - What is: The reason Amber will be happy when school starts again.

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Quote of the day: “Goodnight children, I love you. Now go to sleep and dream of being good and then tomorrow show me.”

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I think I should get my own remote control for the TV and keep it in a secret place and then whenever I want to watch TV (not often - I am seriously not a TV watcher…my favourite channel is 309: Pop Adult and features a black screen with ballads from my youth playing in the background) I can get it out and use it instead of spending half an hour searching for the remote, getting more and more angry with each passing second.

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The past week has been pretty good - much pool-in-the-yard time, as well as a foot party, a birthday party, church, a trip to the spray park with some friends, and a trip to the new LEGO store, aka paradise for my children. The sun is finally hanging out in Calgary and I couldn’t be happier. Well, I would be happier if someone’s wallet hadn’t been stolen yesterday, but hey, the sun is shining!

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Happy Tuesday!

Find more randomness at The UnMom!

July 27th, 2010  |  Posted in News, Uncategorized  |  1 Comment »

Dinnertime Circus

Author: Amber

Does anyone else have kids who think that dinnertime is just a big joke?

If you peek in our windows at dinnertime, you will see two boys on a bench playing “volleyball” with a third, middle one, pushing him back forth between them. You will see them kicking each other, elbowing each other, or possibly, stabbing each other with a fork.

Occasionally, you will see them getting along, giggling uncontrollably at each other’s ability to turn any sentence into one that includes or sounds like bum, poop, pee or fart. They will lay down on the bench and roll around like they’ve never heard anything so funny in their lives.

Sometimes one will be helpful and pour a drink for each of his siblings. We watch as he decides who gets which cup and explains his reasoning to each of the other children awaiting their beverage, waiting to see who will start the fight.

We have tried to deal with this in about a million different ways. We want our children to be obedient and respectful at the table. We want them to have good manners and we want them to know what is appropriate and what isn’t. We’ve seen children who have mastered this…so why not ours? I know our values are sinking in because when they are at other people’s houses they have wonderful manners. I’d love for them to practice at home too!

Do you have a dinnertime circus going on at your house? What do you do when the silliness starts?

July 26th, 2010  |  Posted in Uncategorized  |  No Comments »

You can stay inside if you want to.

Author: Amber

I am not a lover of the outdoors. I don’t like to be out there in the winter, and I like it only marginally better in the summer.

Since I’ve had kids, I’ve had to suck it up a lot and be outdoors way more than I’d like to be, but the gain is worth it. My kids need to run around, get some fresh air, stock up on Vitamin D and tire themselves out.

But, if they don’t want to, I don’t force it.

As a child, my single mother worked full time, which meant my brother and I got to do outings, field trips and daycamps all summer. It definitely made the summer fun and busy for us, and I [now] know that it made the days way better for the adults to have all the kids out and about instead of cooped up inside.

I didn’t like being outside though, and I recall spending park days hiding under any shelter I could find - big tires dug into the ground sideways, slides, tubes, climbing structures with multiple levels, etc.

My brother and I also got to spend weeks with our extended family in the summer, sometimes with my aunt and uncle and sometimes with my grandparents*. It was a nice change of scenery for us, but I still have bad memories of being locked outside for entire days in hot desert heat at my aunt and uncle’s house. My 3 younger cousins, my brother and I would be outside for hours, in the yard with a pool and some toys. I don’t use the word hate often, but I hated that. My oldest cousin would sometimes try to break back into the house so we could all go in. It never worked.

Those are the memories that allow me to let Josh stay inside and draw instead of forcing him to play in the backyard with his siblings on a beautiful day such as today. I won’t force him out. I won’t lock the door. My kids can stay inside if they want to.

*Summertime at my grandma and grandpa’s house was heavenly. We could come and go as we pleased, play inside or outside, and my grandma would give us change to buy 5 cent candies and slushes from the store. We rode our bikes, went swimming at the town pool, rented movies, and sometimes even had sleepovers in a tent in the yard with our friends. On his payday, Grandpa would bring home KFC for dinner, and all the rest of the nights, Grandma would make a healthy dinner for us and whichever friends wanted to stay. Ah, I miss those days. Those simple, carefree, magical, wonderful days. <3 And I really miss my grandma.

July 25th, 2010  |  Posted in News, Uncategorized  |  No Comments »

The Perks of Summer Vacation

Author: Amber

One of the perks of summer vacation is that I get to learn about my children. The school year does not bring enough time for me to actually sit down and discuss with each of them what their hopes, dreams, fears, thoughts about the future are, in depth.

I’ve learned that Daniel really wants to be Indiana Jones. He wants to be a professor and also an adventurer. He reads his atlas to learn more. He wants to take archeology books out of the library to get a head start on his schooling. I’ve learned that some things are hard for him and that he doesn’t want to apply himself, but when he does, he catches on easily. This morning during our homework book time, he learned to borrow (subtraction). I only had to tell him once, but he sure put up a fight trying to convince me that he couldn’t do it. Once I got past that and showed him how it worked, he did the whole page without issue.

Joshua wants to be a father. He plans to get married and have many children. We were watching an episode of 19 Kids and Counting and Josh’s comment was, “19 kids!? WOW! I want to have that many kids when I’m a dad.” I told him he probably will have to marry one of the Duggar girls. LOL We also had a discussion about adoption today. I don’t think he could quite grasp that some parents give up their children. I have a feeling he’ll be thinking about that conversation for a while.

Andrew does not want to be a father, but he does want to be a grandpa. We’ll see how that goes. I’ve been trying to figure him out this summer. He spent one night with his grandparents and when I put him to bed the next evening, he asked me, “Did you miss me, Mommy?” I had to carefully craft my answer to involve that yes I did miss him, but I was really really happy that he could go and have a great time with his grandparents and cousin. I’m thinking that Andrew feels that when he is separated from me, it hurts me, and that, in turn hurts him. He is a mommy’s boy through and through and while I love that, I want him to grow into a confident young man who knows what he wants, and goes for it.

Claire wants what she wants and she wants it now. She will not give up on her stance, even at the age of two. She can be the sweetest little thing in the world and she can be a meanie. Right now her dislikes are the potty, eating dinner and drinking water. But she sure loves her family, and when she says, “I love you, Mommy,” I melt. Claire impresses me with her knowledge of the alphabet, her numbers and her grammar. Today I started teaching her what letters look like; she learned Gg but already knows O and seems to recognize P (thanks to her father and brothers who taught her that if she sticks her Tag pen on the letter P twice in quick succession, it will say PP…nice).

I love spending time with my kids. I love having time to diffuse most fights before they get out of hand. I love being able to take them places and teach them things. I love having patience to wait for them to do things in their own time instead of standing over them saying, “hurryhurryhurryhurry”. I only have 2.5 weeks left of this before the big boys start daycamps, then school; I hope that we have many more “getting to know you” moments.

July 22nd, 2010  |  Posted in News, Uncategorized  |  No Comments »

We Know Where You Live

Author: Amber

Our entire family was at the dentist in January and February (as you may remember).

Now, in the past month, I have received 12 emails, 2 phone calls and 3 post cards “reminding” me that we are due for our dental cleanings. Since the cards we got yesterday were for Daniel, Andrew and I, I suspect that Josh’s, Jon’s and Claire’s will be on their way shortly.

Maybe if they wouldn’t spend so much time/money harassing reminding people that they haven’t been to the dentist in 5 months, they wouldn’t have to put so much upsell pressure on their patients.

Good grief!

How often do YOU go to the dentist?

July 21st, 2010  |  Posted in Uncategorized  |  4 Comments »

Random Tuesday Thoughts…and Rants

Author: Amber

I am trying to pull a Spring Break for this Summer Break, aka booking something on every day to keep the kids busy.

We left on our Winnipeg vacation the day after school was out and stayed for a week and a half. We drove straight through to get home on Saturday the 10th so we could attend our church’s Stampede Breakfast on Sunday the 11th. All four kids had swimming lessons all last week and we did some family shopping on Saturday, then went to church and the beach with some friends on Sunday. Yesterday friends came over to play and today I took the kids to the zoo and let them play at the playground there until they wanted to leave - I never let them stay in there that long. For the rest of the week, I’m thinking we’ll do the splash pad one day, maybe the library one day, and perhaps the beach on Friday after an appointment. They are so much better behaved when we are busy! The weekend is already full, then there are only 2 weeks left until a week of daycamp, followed by the start of school!

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I think I want to grow my hair long again. I have ponytail envy and haircolour regret! I must get a trim before I start the growing out process though and I’m not sure I can be strong in the chair and have the stylist cut off only a small amount.

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I’m feeling a little gypped by the cold summer we are having. I’m trying to stay chipper and say, “at least it is sunny sometimes” but the effectiveness of that phrase is wearing off. Turn up the HEAT, Mother Nature!

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Claire has been working on her ABCs. She sings, “A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, N, O, P, Q, R, S, W, X, Y, Z(ed). Now I know my A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, N, O, P, Q, R, S, W, X, Y, Z(ed). Now I know my A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, N, O, P, Q, R, S, W, X, Y, Z(ed). Now I know my A…” Just a few more letters and the rest of that ending, and she should have it down! LOL

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Have I mentioned the dr. appointment I took Daniel and Claire to on Thursday? It was crazy and weird and a huge waste of time! My dr. moved his office to downtown Calgary, which is a nightmare to begin with, but it also means pay parking, and apparently self service. I arrived with the two children at 2:30 for our appointment, didn’t even make it up to the receptionist’s desk before she was sending me off somewhere else, sat in the waiting room with no sight of a nurse for at least 15 minutes, then in an exam room for about 30 minutes. The kids’ dr., who I KNOW I have bragged about his wonderfulness before just sat and let his intern do the checkups and Daniel didn’t even GET his checkup because the drs were focusing on his allergy symptoms instead, which I’d already been dealing with as they would recommend. Claire got a very quick once-over…apparently she is in the 10th percentile for height and between 10 and 25 for weight. Very different from my other kids.

Anyway, I got out of there just after 4:00 pm, paid EIGHT DOLLARS for parking, drove through downtown in rush hour, almost got into two car accidents and then hit construction on the main road by my house.

At my next dr. appointment I will be asking my dr. if she will take on my family. I mean I LOVE the kids’ dr…I’d love to have him and his wife over for dinner just to chat. BUT that whole downtown self serve nightmare…I’m not up for doing that again. Ever.

Thanks for tuning into Random Tuesday Rants with Amber! To join the list of randomees, head over to The UnMom and sign up!

July 20th, 2010  |  Posted in News, Uncategorized  |  No Comments »

Bedtime Books: The Big Tree Gang by Jo Ellen Bogart

Author: Amber

This is a cute little book with animals for characters. It follows them on their adventures and has nice short chapters for bedtime reading (if you don’t want to read a lot to your kids but need a natural break).

There is a ton of dialogue in the book so it was a little disjointed to read out loud - I think it would be a nice book for a new reader to read to themselves; maybe a child in grade one.

It only has 60 pages and many pictures so I read it to the kids in two evenings, which I like because then I’m not feeling like we’ll be stuck in one book forever.

My kids all seemed to enjoy it, but they also were each browsing through an alternate book at the same time. I think we’ll try another author tomorrow.

July 18th, 2010  |  Posted in Uncategorized  |  No Comments »

New Glasses!

Author: Amber

Daniel and Josh got new glasses!

They have each had glasses before, for the past few years or so, but glasses don’t last long here and Jon and I have been lazy about replacing them.

A few weeks ago, I found a buy one get one sale on frames at Superstore. I jumped at the chance to replace both pairs of glasses and made sure to get the Easytwist brand, which will hopefully last longer than the one week that Josh’s last pair lasted.

They are excited to have them and have been wearing them a lot since we picked them up.

Josh, new glasses on his face, said to me, “Mommy, I didn’t know you were so old.”

I climbed into the van and repeated this statement to Jon right away, asking if he had heard what Josh said. Josh piped up and corrected me, “I didn’t say that! I said I didn’t know you were so close. You look close with my glasses on.”

My poor boy, I’ve been depriving him of seeing for almost a year now.

And maybe I should get my hearing checked. I am getting old, after all.

July 17th, 2010  |  Posted in News, Uncategorized  |  No Comments »

Bedtime Books: Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary

Author: Amber

I’ve decided to share a little about the books that we read at bedtime as we complete them. It’s been an adventure for me to find books to read to my kids at bedtime - we’ve done the Bible stories and the board books and have let them read on their own, but I’ve really been wanting my kids to hear Jon’s and my voice reading to them in the evenings as they settle into their beds.

I’ve found that the kids settle down to sleep so much quicker when they have one of us in there, and I am hopeful that the drone of our voices reading will calm them further into a readiness to drift off when we close the book for the night. It seems to help us stay on schedule too; if the kids know that dawdling through bathtime and brushing their teeth cuts into the storytime, they work a lot harder to get those things done so they can get their full 15 minutes of being read to.

The first book I read to them was called Ramona Quimby, Age 8. It was an introduction to the writings of Beverly Cleary for all five of us; I didn’t read any of her books as a child, but heard much about them (then and now).

I LOVE the way that this book is written - it is easy to read, has minimal pictures that need to be shown to everyone, and the words paint the scene so well that it is easy to imagine how things are playing out.

Ramona’s attitude about stuff is so realistic of how I could see myself as a child acting, or how I imagine my own 8 year old thinking.

The words are a wonderful mixture of levels that make it easy for my 4 year old to understand the story but still make my 6 and 8 year olds think. That is exactly what I am hoping for in the bedtime story books, and it has proven to be a challenge to find other books that act in the same way.

I will continue to post on the things we read and what I think of them; perhaps it will be helpful to another parent out there trying to find something to read to the kids at bedtime (or other times), and struggling to find something that will suit a variety of ages who are all eager to have storytime at the same time.

July 16th, 2010  |  Posted in Uncategorized  |  3 Comments »