Her Party

We had Merlova's 2nd b-day party this weekend. It was filled with: a very happy little girl in Spiderman attire, sounds of Spiderman themed music, Spidey posters up around the house, playing with the parachute/web, a throw the spider-game, stick the mask on Spiderman, spraying web on the Venom pinata and then the candy, a spider cake and ice cream and then unwrapping of presents. It was a nice time for the adults as well (I think we had more fun with the silly string then the kids), Glenn of course made the biggest mess! I truly enjoy making my children's b-day celebration special; it is nice to try and add in theme details from decorations, to music, and food (like spiderman macaroni) they all add to the full effect of the party atmosphere. I guess that's what happens when you have parents who come from both the arts and sciences. I hope that we are able to give to our children the joy of a special day in their lives where they feel so loved surrounded by the friends that have become part of their lives. I know that as they mature they may not want mom or dad as involved in the party but since they are little we will take full advantage of it. Thank you friends and family who love and care for our children, you really helped to make her party a good one.

Thinking of Having Kids?

This is not mine but I love it, so right where I am at with some of the household. I am glad to say that some of these lessons I have already passed. Enjoy!

Want Kids? Do this 11 step program first!
Lesson 1
1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the paper.
5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2
Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their...
1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.

Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3
A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...

1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)

Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4

Can you stand the mess children make? To find out...
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

Lesson 5
Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.

1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.

Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6
Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.
1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle chewed up grapes,cheerios and goldfish all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 7

Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat.Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out
of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys.

Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 8

1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.

You are now ready to feed a nine-month-old baby.

Lesson 9

Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street ,Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Dragon Tales. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.
Lesson 10

Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 11

Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

Look What I Found!

Look what I found growing in my muddy garden bed this weekend. Is it?
a) Rarely seen Texas mud-nyphs b)Future sister tag team mud wrestlers c) A cute mess that happens after a good local rain.

Now I do have to note that this picture was at the beginning of what became about a 45 minute play time in the mud. Rubbing it on the belly, seat, and back; dancing in it and then jumping into the small kiddie pool near by to wash off.
Zhivanna's comment: "Daddy it looks like we are swimming in hot chocolate" was a good description of the resulting water mud play.
Merlova: "I play in the mud; look mud mommy!" is of course an understatement of how much she did enjoy getting messy.

This whole event viewed through the eyes of Papa Herman was enough to give him a heart attack. "Oh boy you girls are such a mess, so messy and dirty." He does not remember the days when I as a young girl, would come home from Tom Sawyer Day Camp covered from head to foot in mud and had to be hosed off in the front yard by mom. Ah, yes the good old days of clean simple fun. Hope your weekend was filled with fun too.

A gardener?

Yes, I am sort of embarrassed to say it, I am into gardening now. I guess I am embarrassed about it because: 1. Being an Environmentally thoughtful gal, you'd have thought I was doing this already. (I mean we have composted for years) 2. It is sad that I had to let my backyard get to be such a mess before I decided to do something about it. 3. I did not realize how addicting it is to play in the dirt with my kids. (Why was I not doing this before?) With that said, I have now undertaken clearing out a bed of old roses (that were not as well loved as they should be) and then turning it into raised beds so the family can have a garden. The kids love to grow stuff especially Akorren, he wants to raise his own vegetables. I am excited about the potential. Right now I am in the midst of the hard work phase where I dig out the roses, remove the temporary brick edging, clear out the rocks, and weed the soil. The next phase will include tilling and treating the soil and building the bed frames. Yes putting it all down like this is a bit scary since it means I am now committing to getting it done. So I will keep some sort of journal of progress through this blog. The photo now shows where I am I can't believe that I am a gardener ! (?)

Her Cake

A sign of a busy family life is celebrating your daughters 2nd birthday the day after. So between daily things to do (exercise for mommy, pick up Zhivanna, do laundry, make dinner, help Akorren with homework, play with Merlova, etc.) and getting a late start on making her cake we took time out tonight to celebrate Merlova's b-day. Glenn just flew in to AL tonight and missed the singing part this time; we will be having a Spiderman party for her at the end of the month so watch for that blog. I love the look of concentration on her face as she blows out the candles on her cake. She is so cute, yes?
This photo makes me wonder if my mom and dad took time out on all my "real" b-days to celebrate. I mean were they as weird about it like I am...wanting to acknowledge the actual day I was born. I'll have to ask dad about that one since mom is not around to answer. Before I had children I would never really think about it (I mean having a celebration on the real day of your b-day/ big deal); Glenn's mom, Mary Ann is always good about calling him on his b-day to talk to him. I think wow that's sweet, she really loves her son...then I get it...part of that celebration is for her too. She wants to remember him. I can recall with intimate detail what it took and how I labored and birthed all three of my kids. Part of my excitement in wishing them a HAPPY BIRTHDAY is to give myself a big pat on the back for a mothering job well done. I brought some little wonderful human person into the world on this very day and I am damn proud of it, so let her have her cake. But don't forget to give mommy a piece too. We deserve it, (it is chocolate by the way and daddy did a great job of baking it).

My baby is 2!

I know that when I was expecting my 1st child many of my already with-kid-friends would say to me..."enjoy them when the are little because they grow up so fast." Looking at my baby and the fact that she is "2" today makes me a little sad. Where did the time go? Wasn't I just nursing her? Didn't I just have her? (Don't get me wrong I do not want to be pregnant and have another baby, I am so done with that.) But I just know that the years are going to fly by now that we no longer have a "BABY" in the house. I really like the ages and places where all my children are at with their growth and development. I know it gets better too as they get older but parts of it also get harder, I see that through the lives of my parent friends. It was nice to celebrate life, the life of a little surprise person with whom I could not imagine being with out. I love you Merlova; Happy 2nd Birthday! Mommy loves you so much.

This weekend

The two older kids and daddy went camping on Sat. morning and I ended up staying at home with Ms.Merlova. She seemed fine on Sat. afternoon and I took her with me when I went to play my soccer game at noon. She took a nap and then I wanted to let her do something special with me, since she was the only kid that did not get to go camping. We did the ChuckECheese thing. It is not a place that we frequent so this was a treat for her. It is nice how easy it is to please her; a mini pizza, kiddie rides, a simple game or two and with 40 tickets earned made her happy with a small piece of candy and a plastic hair barrette. I don't think this will work when she is 13/14 so I might as well enjoy it. On the downside, after all the fun in the middle of the night she came down with a fever.I don't feel so bad now about her not going on the church camp out. We spent the night cooling down her fever and then we girls ending up missing church all together, which is not normal for us. Merlova turns two years old tomorrow and seems to be coughing worse then on Friday. I hope she feels better for her actual birthday. It is hard to believe my baby is "2"!
The other half of the family had a great camping trip with all the other church members who made it for the weekend. They now have two very nice walking sticks which will be taken everywhere they can for the next few days. Hope you had a good weekend, it was truly a beautiful weekend in Texas, I think we are only allowed like 5 a year so we have a few left.

Critter Lovers

Had to share this one. We went to a crawfish feed at NASA for Glenn's work last Thurs. and had a great time. Crawfish, shinner beer and hot dogs/hamburgers for the kids. A good afternoon outside. The kids met up with another little girl who's daddy let her play with a live crawfish (he did pull out the tops of it's pincers I don't see why he had to do that, anyway). The kids had fun watching it crawl around the table and move. They decided we should to take it home and keep it. I told them it probably would not survive with out all of its' claws intact, but since it was the only survivor from the feast we had no choice. Glenn got water for it and two cups and Akorren carefully held all the way home. We put it in an a spare plastic tank and fed it leftover burgers from the feed. Well needless to say it has been 1 week since we saved it and he/she seems to be doing fine. We can't tell if it is trying to grow it's claws back (read somewhere that some can do that). I don't recall if the kids named it but my critter lovers are sure enjoying it.

The little turkey is sick...

Well just came back from the doctors now and it looks like our little one, Ms.Merlova is sick with her asthma again so it is back to antibotics for another week. Yay, us! Playing nurse with nebulizer treatments every 3 to 4 hours is not my ideal mommy fun. The other bummer is that since the little turkey is sick...I will not be able to go on our church camp out this weekend. The plan was Glenn leaves with Merlova on Friday night, then I drive up with the other two after soccer games on Saturday. Well we will see what the weekend turns out to be. I'll keep you posted.

Welcome...to the start.

I guess it must be a sign of the times for me now that I am making the step into the world of the blogs. I thought I would not ever do one, but with many other friends doing it I guess I felt the peer pressure. I don't know if I can give as much time it as I theoreticallly would like to but we will see.
My life right now is mainly focused on my children as I am doing the "stay-at-home-mom-thing" and so they make up most of daily life. Akorren is 6 and in school most of the day, Zhivanna is 4 and has preschool 3 days a week, and Merlova turning 2 on the 14th is with me 24/7. Beisdes them I do have a main focus to my life this year and that is the pursuit of health and fitness. I am still in love my soccer both indoor and out as well as coaching the children's teams,and I have found a new love with Tae-Bo a cardio kick boxing exercise that is so much fun. So I guess that is what you will be reading about is my life as a mother working an getting my health back. I am more than just that so we will have to see where this blog takes us.

jademissy