Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Deck the Halls

Oh dear me, it is December!

Our Elf the Shelf, Lightning McQueen, showed up and on the second night I almost forgot to move him. Might be a long month of this, especially now that the Lady and her girlfriends text each other photos of their elves.

Moms--you are killing me! I am doing the bare minimum of remembering to move this thing at night and now I have to scroll through the Lady's texts to make sure that Lightning is up to par with Chippy or Lulu or Buddy! I am literally putting this elf on a shelf. And really do they need clothes? What a freaking racket!

After the stress ball that was last December with packing and moving and trying to get it all together, I was thinking that come December 1, I would unpack my carefully organized Christmas decorations and deck the halls.

This is what my mantle/fireplace looks like right now.


A few things you may notice:

1. Lightning McQueen in a vase
2. A Halloween pumpkin painted like a black cat that hasn't started rotting yet so I haven't tossed it in the woods.
3. Two gingerbread Turkeys
4. Some fall artwork by the Little Lady
5. Two out of our 5 Advent calendars (I have a really cute wooden one in the attic)
6. QT and the Little Lady's school photos (yes, the Little Lady is wearing a leather jacket)
7. Some Uggliest Pet Shop dogs, which are disgusting but very important to QT
8. The shattered hopes and dreams of a mom with three kids who thought that she would be living with a garland draped mantle and cinnamon-scented air

Oh well, I guess I could get it all out tonight.

Have you started decorating for the Holidays?Fa la la la la. . .





Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Weekend Wrap Up

We had a busy weekend. We got together with our old neighbors. Luckily, we have both moved on to better living situations, however it is not on the cul de sac we planned and it is unfortunately in two different states. Still, so nice to see everyone and to catch up!

The old gang back together!
After the Little Lady had a meltdown about attending a Daisy meeting, I bribed her with some lipstick from CVS, forced her to come T-back bra shopping with me and finally got her to her first Girl Scouts meeting, an hour before my hubby and I had to go to a wedding.

Full disclosure, I got a little drunk. Perhaps too much wine was imbibed, but it was a beautiful day, a beautiful location, and I have the luxury of knowing that my hubs will drive me home safe.

Me and my hubby, probably only one glass of wine in, maybe two!

The 6:30 a.m. alarm that went off the next morning so he could fly out to Dallas came way too quick and my only saving grace was that my sister had the kids. We met up with her and my aunt at hotel the next town over where my aunt was staying after going to a different wedding.

What is it with my kids and hotel lobbies? It is like they have never seen furniture before. They jump from couch to couch, feel the need to touch everything and runaround like it is some sort of playscape. The Lady told me she wanted the lobby to be our house.

We took advantage of that space for a while and then moved on. It was mid-day, I needed coffee and couldn't quite fathom what I was going to do with the Beans for the rest of the afternoon. My ideal version of events for the rest of the day would be me sitting on the couch not getting anything for anyone and catching up on the DVR, while the kids prepped meals and put themselves to bed at 7:30.

But I know a body in motion tends to stay in motion and we needed to keep moving for at least a few more hours before I could sink into a DVR-induced coma on my couch.

It was a beautiful day so we headed to the pumpkin patch. The kids ran the maze, we took a hayride, I finally got some mums for our porch, which I will also admit I was entirely too excited about. Mums! Fall! Yay!

The Little Lady and QT


Mazing it

Is that Bieber's penis pic on the right? No, just pumpkins for our porch!
We loaded everything into the car and when we got home, my kids actually went outside and painted their pumpkins. The hour or so of quiet I had was glorious. Yes, I was left to clean the brushes and spot clean the couch after QT sat down with a still slightly wet mini-gourd covered in blue paint, but I also got to search out my go-to shows on weekends, which are anything about Alaska (seriously, there are at least 100 shows out there about Alaska) and anything related to Little People and their families. I am just waiting for TLC to come out with "Little People in the Last Frontier" it will be television gold.

Hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend!


Friday, October 2, 2015

Hot Cross Hell and Other Happenings



We are well into the swing of the school year here and to say that we have been busy would be an understatement.

Of course, these are The Three Beans we are talking about here so no new activity starts with smiles and skips, it is more like screams and storming off into other rooms.

We started Religion, which consisted of the Lady standing outside her classroom facing the wall telling the Director of Religion Ed “But I have been coming here for two years!” before she was bribed with some candy and the escorted into the classroom by the very sweet assistant from her Communion class last year. 

You would think the Little Lady might be more open to things, this being her first year of Religion and having nothing to compare it to, you could imagine that instead of standing at the bottom of the stairs with her arms crossed saying simply. “No. No.” and then after finally seeing her sister go into her classroom having to be carried in by me, placed next to the teacher on the floor where they were gathered before immediately popping up and running out of the classroom.

Pick up went much better, the Little Lady came out with a new friend and everyone got candy from the Director. The Lady now doesn’t give me a hard time about Religion at all, partially because of the candy and partially because she has moved all her angst onto going to dance class.

Seriously Lady, this was you just a few short months ago, full of confidence before your big recital and now you are giving me a hard time about dance?

The Little Lady loves dance, swim not so much, but we are adjusting.

Where is QT in all of this? Happily getting up and going to school, going to swim, you know going with the flow.

********
Hot Cross Hell

The Lady turned 8 this week. 8! I can’t believe it, not only have I now been blogging for 7 years, but the Lady is two years away from 10. Third grade is a big year and she has a good group of friends and another good class this year. Know what else she got this year? A recorder.

I like to think there is a special place in Hell for the lowest of the low, criminals who are reprehensible, child abusers and molesters, rapists, murderers, you get the picture. And these awful people are subject to the constant loop of third graders blowing into their recorders the first day they get them.

The Lady took hers into the car (on the way to dance) and just blew into it along to the beat of the music playing on the radio. At least I think that is what she was doing, it could have just been mimicking the sound of a dying animal, can’t be 100% on that one.

Now I am a staunch supporter of music and art in schools. I think it is necessary and I think that kids should be exposed to more of it, but at this point I think I would rather the Lady have brought home a set of drums covered in glitter.

I remember getting my own recorder in elementary school. Our music teacher, Mr. Potter actually carved our names into the back of them and we wore it around our necks on a string. I remember learning Hot Cross Buns. I can still play Hot Cross Buns on the recorder. Know what the Lady came home playing on Monday? You guessed it. And my did she practice. I will say it got better. However, not only did I get a turn playing it, but so did QT and the Little Lady. And then there is that stick thing they clean it with. My gag reflex is going into overdrive just typing this. Ugh. Recorder spit.

*******
On Organization
 
I have been a bit more organized this year. I know it is a combination of being in a bigger space, having some flexibility to work from home some days and the fact that all three kids are in the same school. Part of me really wants this to be a lifestyle blog along the lines of Preserve or GOOP or Martha Stewart, where everything is pretty and organized. And some days I am a very, very cheap knockoff of that, I have bins that hold all their snacks for lunch! I created a homework station that keeps everything in one place! I have a giant expandable folder that has a few folders for each kid and all the good stuff goes in and all the rest gets shredded! But lets be honest here, some mornings are still pure chaos. And if you are looking for a lifestyle blog that revels in that type of chaos, doesn’t post anything for months, and sometimes uses swear words, I think you have found the right place.

Hope everyone’s having a good start to the school year!

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Back to School

It is September! That means back to school, pumpkin donuts at Dunkies, me trying to once again gain control of my life and get organized!

All three beans are in the same school on the same schedule. At least until dance and religion and possibly soccer and maybe swimming start.

But right now it is 97 degrees out and the kids are getting released early from school because of the heat.

Deep breaths!

Summer was crazy busy and a ton of fun.

The Lady is a fish in the water, she tackled the water slide at the pool, rode the waves at the beach house, the Jersey shore and OBX.

 The Little Lady got on roller coasters and rides that made my feet tingle by just looking at them, she turned 6 and went to camp with her cousins.

QT and I spent A LOT of time together this summer, but he got out and about. He turned 4, went to camp, spent time with his feet in actual sand and took a few bike rides in his Ninja Turtle helmet.


I got pretty tan, started training for my second 1/2 marathon this year and experienced all the highs and lows of working from home 4 days a week in the summer!

My husband tore his Achilles tendon the last week of school, got surgery, spent some time in a boot and is finally able to carry sleeping kids out of the car and drive a few balls off the range.

All things considered we had a pretty good summer.

Back to blogging!

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Snow Day

How is everyone holding up out there?

This is a picture of our mailbox from the other day. I know a lot of you have had it a lot worse, but I am just about done here.



Two hour delay on Monday, two hour delay on Wednesday, no school today.

I am still working. The only drawback of working from home is that it doesn't matter what the weather is.

What is going on here? Oh, I woke up to a freezing cold house, we are out of oil. Thankfully, my hubby started a fire and the oil guys are on their way.




The Lady is engrossed in the iPad, the Little Lady is perusing Pinterest for St. Patrick's Day craft ideas and QT is involved in a combination of somersaults and Angry Birds.



I will say it is pretty out there, but then again, I didn't have to shovel this morning!




Friday, February 27, 2015

Out of Hibernation

In October I took some time off.

I took some time off from work, from blogging, from social media (well, I silently stalked, but didn't do much posting!).

I tried to refocus on myself, my family and my friends. I tried to step back and be more present, rather than rush through each day high on anxiety.

And I think it worked.

Granted, we moved two weeks before Christmas while my husband was on the West Coast and I had to deal with crazies on our old Condo Board and the uncertainty of whether or not we could find a place to move into in the 30-day turnaround time we had.

But I did it. The kids did it. My husband came home to a new house and we segued pretty fluently.

We cut down a Christmas tree. I hosted Christmas. (We have so much more space, that for the first few weeks we were here, I flew into a panic more than once thinking that one of my kids were missing. Turns out they were just in another room.)

All these things that had been in motion for so long, gradually fell into place and I didn't for one minute take it for granted.

I am back at work now and working some days from home. Trying to find the balance in a new situation. Happy for the space outside, the space inside, an office with a closed door. Two extra hours a day with my kids, lots and lots of QT time. I am looking forward to getting back to blogging, back to chronicling my life, and my life with my family.

There were a few things you may have missed though:
  • QT is not allowed to use the child cart at Trader Joe's ever again.
  • I may have signed up to be class mom for the Little Lady.
  • The Lady is taking contemporary dance. The Little Lady? Hip-Hop. Can't wait for the recital.
  • I am now making crock pot yogurt and homemade granola.
  • I have turned into someone who wears "house shoes" because the floors are freezing here.
  • I am training for a half marathon.
  • I have a new niece. Pseudonym to come!
 Stay tuned for more of the Three Beans. . .