Archive for the ‘MOMS’ Category
Check out this neat snowman that Lucas created while I was in my moms’ group meeting yesterday! Really cute! And what a perfect photo for a day like today … the snow has been coming down ever since we woke up, and we’re supposed to have six to 10 inches by tonight. I sure hope that Jeff gets to and from work safely. Boy, it’s pretty coming down right now. I’m looking forward to staying inside all day and hanging out with the kids. Lucas said that tonight, he wants to build a fire in the backyard, lay down in the snow, and look at the stars! Wow, that sounds so awesome. It might be a little chilly, though! LOL! :) I’m thinking about taking the kids outside to play in the snow for a while today, but it’s only 16 degrees at the moment. That is just way too cold. I asked Luke last night before bed if he wanted me to make some hot cocoa today, and he shouted, “YES!” What can I say … our kids love chocolate! :) (They’re definitely mine …)
- Get the oil changed in my car (I keep putting this off, *sigh*)
- Take Meredith to the lab for lead testing (yes, this has been on my to-do list since October!)
- Drop off some files to a neighbor (today)
- Pick up our new bean bag chair today through Freecycle (yay!)
- Attend my moms’ group meeting on Tuesday
- Preschool
- PTA meeting Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m.
- Mail some birthday gifts
Oh yeah, and there’s cleaning the house, fitting in some knitting … whew, busy week (but Tuesday especially will be very crazy!). What do you have going on this week?
Our kids absolutely adore clementines. They’re kind of expensive (about $6.99 in most of our grocery stores), but they’re well worth it. I seriously think that Meredith would eat them all day long if we’d let her. And they’re great for kids because they’re so easy to peel and don’t have seeds (well, most of them, anyway). Clementine crates are also really pretty! A while back, Martha Stewart explained how to create a gift planter by using a leftover clementine box. I’ve been wanting to do that (just put it on my “someday when I have some free time” list!). (We are actually using a bunch of old clementine crates as storage bins in our master bathroom! I’d love to sew pretty liners for them ~ another item for the list!) Anyway, just a while ago I looked up some clementine recipes. This cake by Nigella Lawson looks super yummy! These Christmas clementine squares also look fantastic. Hmm, maybe I can find a good clementine recipe to make for my next moms’ group meeting ~ or maybe I’ll just sit out a plate of clementines with some yummy fruit dip! Here are some more uses for clementine crates, in case you’re interested:
Busy afternoon today. I’m dropping Lucas off at preschool at 12:30, and I have lots of stuff to bring with me. I’m taking four empty milk jugs to contribute to the construction of the school’s igloo, and I also washed some dress-up clothes as part of their winter cleaning. While Luke’s in school, I think that I’m going to take Meredith over to the local yarn store that a friend told me about yesterday. (Lord help my wallet, LOL!) Then, after preschool, Lucas has a quick checkup at the pediatrician’s office. Sometime today, I also have to make a grocery list and work on the finishing touches for this town calendar. And I’m doing laundry ~ and I’d also like to relax and do some knitting tonight, if possible. Such a busy time of year!
Yesterday afternoon, I took the kids over to our town’s train station to help decorate for Santa’s arrival this Saturday. Lucas was *so* excited about the model train that’s there. He also saw Santa’s chair sitting in the corner and asked me, “How tall is Santa?” It was super cute. The tree that they chose for the station is so beautiful and full and smells incredible. Lucas is contributing his glittery bell ornament that he made during moms’ group on Tuesday. :) I helped string lights on the outside of the depot, and while we were doing that, we saw an eagle flying overhead! Yesterday was a great day for decorating because it was actually pretty warm ~ in the 40s and low 50s! I can’t wait to take some pictures on Saturday. It’ll be interesting to see whether Meredith enjoys Santa or is afraid of him! Oh, and Santa will arrive on one of the town’s fire trucks!
Well, I’d better go ~ the laundry probably needs to be switched around. This week has gone by *so* fast ~ how did it get to be Thursday?
Kids really do say the darndest things. In the car today, as we were driving home from CVS, Meredith started headbanging (well, rocking backward and forward). It made Lucas laugh *so* hard, and after a while he said, “She’s nuts!” :) I know that he learned that word from the movie “Cars” (when Lightning McQueen sees Mater driving backward and says, “He’s nuts!”).
Also, a few days ago, Lucas was bothering Meredith in some way ~ and she ran into the kitchen, crying and clinging onto my legs. With tears in her eyes, she said, “I’m going crazy!” At least, that’s what it sounded like ~ and I couldn’t help but laugh! Sometimes she has a siren-like cry that seems to say, “My life is over!”
Finally ~ this one came totally out of the blue at the kids’ pediatrician’s office this morning. We were there for the second part of Meredith’s flu shot. As we put on our coats and started to leave, Lucas pointed up at the door and said, “Mommy! That sign says ‘Exit’!” I was just stunned. He *totally* read that word. We haven’t really taught him the word “exit,” I don’t think. And this afternoon, he came up to me with a piece of paper and said, “I wrote ‘Mack‘!” Sure enough, in red marker on the paper were the letters “M,” “A,” “C,” and “K.” He is getting *so* good with his letters, and now we need to start working more on math.
I baked a *ton* of molasses crinkles today for my moms’ group cookie exchange tomorrow. (Our house smells *so* delicious ~ cloves, cinnamon, etc.)! And then December 13th is our town’s train station holiday party ~ where I’ll be contributing to the bake sale. Not sure which cookies I’ll make for that event. What’s your favorite cookie? Hmm, maybe I’ll try Carol’s anise cookies! I *love* the flavor of anise!
I’m so excited about making snowflake-shaped sugar cookies today. I have navy blue and royal blue coloring, and I’m going to tint the cookies a pale blue. I also have clear, sparkly, edible glitter and some crystal sugar. I’ll probably leave some of the frosting white, too. The dough is chilling in the refrigerator. There’s a cookie exchange on Tuesday during my moms’ group meeting (where everyone comes home with three dozen different kinds of cookies, depending on how many participate!), and I’ll probably freeze some for our train station’s holiday party on the 13th. Now I just have to discipline myself not to eat too many cookies and gain a zillion pounds! These cookies have two cups of sugar and one cup of shortening ~ talk about fat and calorie overload!
By the way, we received our very first Christmas card: from our friends Vicky and Natalie. They hand-delivered it to us when they came over for Thanksgiving. :) Our first Christmas card in the mail was from fellow blogger Connie. Thank you very much! I love picking up our mail this time of year! So where’s the farthest away that you’re sending a Christmas card? I guess that ours would be relatives in California.
The only thing I have going on today is a meeting about this calendar that I’m designing, and hopefully I’ll be finished with it very soon. I feel like I can’t start on Christmas projects until it’s done. We’re almost there, though. I did address some Christmas cards last night, though, and I also stayed up late knitting. :) I’m working on a new project … Grandmother’s Favorite Dishcloth. It’s really easy so far ~ I haven’t managed to screw it up yet, but there’s still time! :)
P.S. If you’re looking for a foot-related Christmas gift for someone special (yeah, I’m not kidding!), here’s a website that has pretty much everything you can possibly imagine that relates to the feet (including special splints to help with Plantar Fasciitis). Actually, they have some socks that look super comfy ~ and look at this gadget that lets you take a walk while you’re sitting down! I need one of those for when I’m tied to the computer doing freelance work!
Having a down kind of day today. The weather matches my mood … rainy, dreary, dark, and muddy. I’ve had virtually no patience and even yelled at Meredith once to “get out of the way.” I love our children more than anything, but I’m *desperately* trying to keep the house clean for Thanksgiving on Thursday ~ and they keep undoing all of my efforts within five minutes. Constantly walking around after them and picking up everything is *absolutely* driving me crazy. They both want to be with me 24/7, too. I can’t walk out of a room without them both yelling, “Mommy! Where did you go?” And *every* time I sit down at my computer, Meredith wants up in my lap and I have to type while managing a wiggly toddler. I know that when they go off to school, I’ll miss these days of snuggles and them wanting to be with me so much ~ but some days, it’s very hard. Motherhood is such a roller coaster ~ I’m looking forward to when they’re in school so that I have some time to myself during the day, but I also don’t want them to grow that fast. :(
Didn’t go to my moms’ group meeting this morning, either, and felt guilty about it. I just wasn’t in the mood to drive 29 miles to our church and be social ~ plus, the only way that I can get us lunch before having to take Lucas to preschool is to make sandwiches ahead of time the night before, and I didn’t do that. (No time to stop somewhere.) It’s so hard getting out of MOMS at 11:30 (but usually later, since I end up chatting and it takes a while to get the kids out of the nursery) and then having to make it to his school by 12:30. I also thought about how much I’d be able to get done this morning if I just stayed home. Jeff said on Sunday, though, that someone at church told him, “I haven’t seen Lisanne in quite a while. It would be nice to see her.” Am I strange for wanting to stay home so much? I just feel like hibernating during these chilly months.
OK ~ enough venting. The brightest spot of my day so far has been Lucas’s “Thankful Presentation” at preschool. He held up his “Thankful Poster” and said that he’s thankful for “food.” :) He was also the attendance taker for his class today. He made a Thanksgiving necklace for me, and we all held hands and sang a Thanksgiving song together. The students sang a song, too, and then we had yummy snacks: juice, apple cider, cider doughnuts, corn muffins, cranberry bread, etc. I took some pictures but have yet to upload them. Also got a *really* cute video!
We watched two movies this weekend: “Transsiberian” and “The Love Guru.” Yes, two dramatically different films! :) “Transsiberian” was recommended to us by a coworker’s girlfriend, and although it was kind of weird in some ways, it was just excellent! I *really* enjoyed it. Most of the story takes place on a train, and Woody Harrelson plays a funny part. The scenery was amazing. “The Love Guru” was silly and good for laughs. Cracked me up that Mariska Hargitay was actually in the movie! I tried to do some knitting during each of these movies, but it was too dark in our living room ~ and the movies *really* captured my attention! :)
Speaking of knitting … I’m knitting now! Yay! :) Carol was *so* sweet to show me the techniques. I even purled a few stitches last night! I can’t tell you how excited I am to learn something new. Right now, I’m using some sage green yarn that she gave me to knit a basic rectangle. I think that I’ll turn it into a coffee cup “cozy” if I manage to actually do it right! :) I’d love to get good enough to make pretty dishcloths, and even down the road maybe I can make some hats for the kids. Carol started me off with some neat knitting supplies and two books to borrow. I’ve been checking those out. I put my name on the list for Ravelry, too. And yes, Kae, I *definitely* need to knit a little pair of pants for my carrot! LOL! :)
Tomorrow is going to be a crazy-busy day. In the morning at 9, I have my moms’ group meeting at our church. Then, it’s lunch on the road as I drive Lucas to preschool at 12:30. I pick him up early because the kids are doing a “Thankful Presentation” (complete with a surprise for the moms ~ I can’t wait to see what Lucas made!). Then, there’s a preschool parent advisory board meeting tomorrow night. I’m absolutely going to crash after that, I think.
Off to finish up some graphic design work ~ have a wonderful Monday, guys!
I was just downstairs with Jeff, commenting on how nice it is that Lucas can now play by himself in our bonus room without getting into trouble. We thought that he was watching his “Jonah” DVD. Wrong! I came upstairs to get Meredith up from her nap, and Luke was completely naked in our guest bathroom. He was squirting hand soap into the sink, filling it with water, tearing off pieces of toilet paper, and throwing them into the “pool.” I *just* cleaned that bathroom yesterday. What’s that saying about kids suddenly getting quiet … that’s when you know that mischief is happening! :)
Jeff had the day off work today (thank you, veterans, for all that you do for our country … we honor you and remember you today), so we went shopping at K-mart because we heard that lots of toys were 50 percent off. I hadn’t been inside a K-mart in years, and honestly, I used to think that K-mart was kind of junky. But I was *so* surprised! Not so! (At least, our store wasn’t.) They had all kinds of great stuff. The kids had a blast looking at the toys. (Lucas wanted some Harley parts ~ just kidding!) We actually did *all* of our Christmas shopping for Lucas and Meredith today, and now my moms’ group is having a gift wrapping session on the 20th (the moms get together for some fun, fellowship, and wrapping presents together). It feels good to have a bit of a head start on Christmas! We also had lunch at Pizza Hut. I lost count of how many pieces of pepperoni pizza Lucas ate! They served this weird dessert pizza that tasted like chocolate pudding with some frosting on top. Blech.
Thanks to everyone who responded to my milk question. I can’t believe all of the different advice that doctors give. I think that we’re going to stick with whole milk for the kids for a while. I’m just happy to see that milk prices have come down recently. A gallon at our grocery store today was only $2 something.
Did anyone watch “The Big Bang Theory” last night? Did you catch Sheldon’s movie reference? Leonard said to Penny, “Congratulations … you are now one of us.” And then Sheldon said, “One of us … one of us …” I wracked my brain last night and this morning, trying to figure out what movie that line was from. We Googled it last night but didn’t have any luck. First thing when I woke up this morning, though, I suddenly remembered what movie I was thinking of. Do you know? (Answer in the comments section!) I was *so* freaking relieved to have figured it out! It was driving me nuts!
I’m unfortunately skipping my MOMS group meeting this morning because both kids have bad colds. :( Green stuff keeps coming out of Meredith’s nose, and they both have coughs. Right now, Lucas is relaxing on the living room couch underneath a blanket, which he hardly ever does. Meredith is also very snuggly (which I love, of course!). I have a *ton* of things to get done, and it’s a very rainy, dreary day ~ so it’s a good opportunity to be at home working on stuff and just hanging out. I have to call the printers today to touch base with them about this calendar that I’m designing, and I’m also interviewing a lady over the phone for a feature story that I’m writing ~ not to mention it’s preschool day!
Many thanks to Cheryl, who *so* generously sent a wonderful Tigger costume for Lucas in the mail! He looks *so* freaking adorable in it (and it’s warm, which is a requirement of Halloween costumes here in upstate New York!). I didn’t get to see the costume on him for long, though, because he refuses to put it on until Halloween gets here! :) I couldn’t find a Tigger costume except for on Amazon.com, and it was $50! Crazy. Thing is, I should have started looking for the kids’ costumes earlier. Note to self … start in September!
I’m in the process of making a grocery list for the items that we’ll need when our families are here. Thursday’s dinner will be roasted butternut squash soup, crusty bread, a mixed-greens salad with walnuts, pears, cranberries, and apple slices, and maybe some green beans; Friday’s dinner will be homemade pizza with salad and possibly breadsticks; and then Sunday through Tuesday will be meat and potatoes/slow cooker meals. It’ll be a huge grocery shopping trip, but I’m *so* looking forward to cooking! I just hope that the weather will be nice this weekend for her party. I heard a rumor about the “s” word ~ snow! Hope not!
