Mommin' It Up!

August 19, 2011August 18, 2011

(Un)Grateful Dead

That title will apply to Kate if she doesn’t get it together!

I’m not really going to off her, but my goodness there are times I’d like to wring her neck.

Like yesterday, for example.

We were visiting Sleeping Bear Dunes, which just this week was named “Most Beautiful Place in America” on GMA. It is stunning.

We visited last year and had a wonderful time and had been anxious to go again this year. However, as soon as we got there, it was clear that Kate was in one of her “I’m going to be a pain in the ass and there’s nothing you can do about it” moods. Yay!

Unfortunately those moods have been becoming more and more frequent. No matter what we do or where we go, it’s not good enough or we don’t stay long enough or SOMETHING makes her miserable. Which, in turn, makes us all miserable.

Jenny and I have actually both been struggling with this ungratefulness in our oldest children, and we’ve talked about it a lot.

However, we have no solutions.

So, readers, we turn to you. Have you dealt with this kind of thing? Did your kids grow out of it or did you beat it out of them? Or is there a more effective method to change their behavior?

Because seriously, if you can look at this view and STILL be in a terrible mood, I don’t know what to tell you.

August 15, 2011August 14, 2011

Costume Drama

Last week, just in time for back-to-school, the first flippin’ Halloween costume catalog of the year arrived in the mail. And like a FOOL (FOOL! FOOL! FOOOOOOOLLLL!) I left it on the dining room table instead of immediately burying it in the trash where the kids couldn’t find it.

So they found it. And since then I have been tortured by the endless, “Mom, look at this one. Here’s Tinkerbell, mom. Here’s Princess Peach. Here’s MarioLuigiSonicBelleArielThomasthetankEngineSpidermanSuperWhyPokemon.” And the underlying message, “I must have the very one I want or else I will die even if it costs $40 please mom please please please mom mom mom mom mom mom!”

Last year I made mistake of getting the kids what they wanted, even though I had a coupon, it was still about $20 each which kills me! Because {insert Grumpy Old Man voice here} in MY day, your mom put some lipstick on your cheeks, a scarf on your head, giant hoop earrings in your ears, and a long skirt on your butt, called you a Gypsy, sent you out the door with a trashbag, and you liked it!

I am not crafty. I can’t make the perfect Princess Peach or Pokemon Trainer costume out of yarn and $5. Sooooo tell me, where can I get the children what they want for the price of whatevertheheckisonsale?? It’s one night! And although Sophie can theoretically wear a princess dress for dress-up again, Joshua’s NOT going to be wearing his costume over and over again. I don’t want to break the bank, but I don’t want to be completely lame, either. (Because, you know, we always go trick-or-treating with Emily, and she’s FUN and all.)

What do you do for your kids’ costumes? Apparently NOW is the time I need to decide!

August 12, 2011

What I learned on my summer vacation

Just in time for back-to-school, here’s a “What I learned on my summer vacation” essay. Ha! Whatever. You guys know summer isn’t a vacation when you’re used to having your kids at school and then all of a sudden they are home and IN YOUR FACE all day (11 more days, 11 more days, 11 more days)…nevertheless I DID make a goal for myself to learn something this summer.

I wanted to learn how to French braid Sophie’s hair. My mother passed down to me a tradition of not being able to fix hair, and I’ve never been able to do it, never thought I could, and never really tried. PLUS, before this summer, Sophie never would have sat still for me to do it. But this year she is a little less like a wild animal and a little more like a human child, so, now she’ll sit for me to braid. And God Bless her, she has been patient this summer.

It literally has taken me just about all summer to learn this. I’ve wanted to give up several times, and honestly the process didn’t do much for my self-esteem. I am NOT a natural, and it was hard for me! But finally, I think I’ve about got it. Wednesday at Sophie’s gymnastics class her braids were just about perfect and they stayed in wonderfully even after 45 minutes of bouncing around the gym and tumbling. I was super-proud (of you know, myself.)

Of course I forgot to take a picture.

I’ll take one next time I achieve French Braid perfection.

But anyways, I am excited to send Sophie back to school with a hair-do that is adorable and keeps her hair out of her face (and her glue and paint for that matter!)

What did YOU learn this summer?