Pics-Finally

As usual-I'm behind on pics.  Here they are:

May 12

Mia and Grandma playing around.

Mother's Day with my kiddos.

 May 13

Mia's "Princess Hair Do"

Sam's New Haircut-couldn't get this one to rotate.

 May 14th

Daddy's little helper

 May 18th

The kids with their garage sale finds.

 May 19th

Bump Day out at the track.

 May 22nd

Sam with his new hockey goal and stick. Now our "hockey room" is complete.

 May 23rd

Mia with her frame that she purchased from the garage sale, and painted. Love her expression.

ToT:Daily Rituals-that keep you sane

This week on ToT we are talking about our little daily rituals that help us keep our sanity. An example would be having a morning cup of coffee.  Also-I'm about two weeks behind on ToT entries, but I'm going to catch up...one of these days. Anyways, here it goes.

Okay, here is where I make a small confession that some people may think is a terrible thing for a mother to do-but it helps keep me sane, and it helps to maintain a peaceful morning atmosphere in my house each day (for the most part). I do not get up when my kids get up. I let them roam the house downstairs doing a quiet activity (my son's quiet activity is playing hockey on the wii and my daughter's quiet activity is watching him play the wii while playing with her toys.)  While they are doing this, I lay in bed willing myself to go back to sleep-which I do not. I do not go back to sleep...usually. I just need about 15 minutes of mommy time in the morning to wake up and get my brain to tell my body that it is indeed time for the day to start, and I have to get out of the bed.  It just helps. I've never been a morning person, and I probably never will be a morning person.

The second thing that I do every morning is have a routine. I learned early on in life that if I know what to expect in the morning, and have a structured routine in place, then I tend to do better, and so does everyone else that I live with. Otherwise, you might get your head bitten off. Just saying. If things are out of whack with the routine, then the stress level rises, and it gets ugly people. That being said, I come downstairs, and I make the kids breakfast.  Then, I pack Sam's lunch and snack. Finally, I make my morning coffee and eat my breakfast.  I learned the hard way that if I try to make the coffee first, and then get everything done while it's brewing that I have two kids that are attached at my hip with questions and requests to help, and more questions, and whining that they are hungry, and me telling them very sternly, "that they will wait their freaking turn because I'm just trying to make a pot of coffee gosh darn it." Geesh. BUT if I get them fed and sitting at the table, then I have exactly 3 minutes to start the coffee and possibly even get a sip or two of it while they inhale their food. It may seem a little crazy, but it's our routine, and it works. 

I don't really have anything throughout the day that I would describe as a ritual that keeps me sane.  Mia and I always have a little snack around 10:30am and 3pm so that we do not become grouchy girls and have meltdowns.  Also, since Mia has stopped taking naps for a while now, I'm finally starting to realize that I can avoid an afternoon meltdown if we are at home, relaxing while watching one of her favorite TV shows.  I don't let her watch a lot of TV during the day, but this is where I make an exception.  She needs to just veg out for a bit, and lets face it-by this point in the day, a little "mom time" for me doesn't hurt either.  I can check my email, I can get a quick chore done, I can crochet a little bit, or I can just relax on the couch with her, and read a book.  It is a win-win situation.

When my husband is out of town, one of my "rituals" is to make sure I get the dishes done before I put the kids to bed.  It doesn't have to be right after dinner, but it does have to be before bedtime.  I just like having a clean kitchen in the morning. It feels like a fresh start each day when there is not a pile of dishes to be done in the sink.  Also-the time after the kids are in bed is my "me" time. I do not want to be washing dishes during my "me" time.  That is it-end of story.

I guess I would consider my nightly "me" time a ritual. When the kids go to bed, and are sleeping, I usually do one of the following: I read, crochet, watch my favorite TV shows (let's face it-this is what I do the majority of the time), catch up on emails/facebook/blogging, or work on some other crafty project. Also, I always have some sort of sweet at this time.  It's normally not anything huge, but just a little something to satisfy my sweet tooth. I like to wait until the kids are in bed so I can actually enjoy my sweet treat without someone trying to eat it, or having to wolf it down in two bites because I need to get something else done.

I bet some of you are thinking that I may have left out getting in a daily run, but I do not run every day, so I don't know if it could be classified as a ritual.  I run when Jake is home, or when I can muster up enough motivation to step on the treadmill.  I find it especially hard to work up the motivation for this when it's warm outside, and I'm not training for anything in particular.  I do have to say though that running does help me to keep my sanity. If I had the option, I would say that running or some sort of work out would be a daily ritual.

So there you have it. Daily sanity rituals-do any of these sound familiar to you? If not, what do you do to maintain the "zen" in your life? Need some inspiration? Check out the other ToT ladies blogs in the links to the right.

May!

Yay for May! Let the May Pics Begin...

 

May 1st



First Day of May-First Dinner outside. Yummy!

 May 2nd

Mia and Grandma Enjoying a Baseball Game.

Sammy running to third base.

 May 4th

May the 4th be with you. Fishers Library Star Wars event.  The kids were so excited.

May 7th



Mia made me this cute little flower pot with candy hugs and kisses in it.  Then she wanted to eat all of my chocolate. lol.

 May 8th

Dance class-round 2. Let the dancing begin.

 

May 9th



The kids are making flower pots for grandmas and great-grandmas for Mother's Day. We always make Sam paint with out his shirt on. lol.

May 10th

Mother's Day Flowers-made from recycled magazine pages! I got this idea on Parents.com.  They turned out really well. I especially love that there is no glue involved.

April 28th Banana Splits and Hockey

I really wanted to post a video of what you would see on any given day at our house-a rousing game of living room hockey.  Unfortunately the video uploader on blogspot didn't want to cooperate with that plan.  Mia has even found a way she can participate in the hockey games-she's the Zamboni driver! Too cute.  First, we had banana splits (first time for the kids and Mommy), and then we had some hockey and dancing. Can't beat that on a Sunday night.

Banana Splits!

Living room hockey.

Mia on her Zamboni

Score!

April 27th Baseball!

Little league is a whole new ballgame for us this year. Sam is old enough now that they actually play with a loose 3 outs rule.  I don't think that will happen often because these little guys are still working on their coordination in the fielding department.  That being said, Sam was one of the only ones to get tagged out of the game on Saturday.  I was so proud of him for not letting it get him down during the game.  He kept his focus in the outfield.  He always kept his eyes on the ball, and stayed in position.  The ball even hit him in the leg when he was in the pitching position, but he shook it off.  I was one proud mama. 

Sam playing 1st base.

Sam in the pitching position.

Sam at bat.

Pics April 12-20

New Shoes, Girls Day Out, New Bike, New Shirt, Mommy's Half Marathon...

April 12

New Shoes

 April 14th

Girls Day Out - Mia and Grandma

 April 15th

We bought this shirt two summers ago. It finally fits. He wore it twice that week.

 April 17

New Bike!!! She is a pro already. Princess bike-Chuggington Helmet.

April 20 

The kids made signs to use to cheer me on at my race. It was a big secret. They each have 2 sides. This side says, "Go Mommy! Run Fast! (Don't Poop Yourself) We Love you!" and "Go Mommy! Keep it Up! We love you!!"



These are the other sides of the signs. "Worst Parade Ever!!" and "Toe Nails are for 5 Kers!"

 

Here is Sam holding up his sign.  They were at the 7 mile marker.

 

 

Here I am in all of my running glory. lol.

Opening Day of Little League was also the same day as my race. Sam is on the Blue Jays. The one without his shirt tucked in.