I Remembered the Cotton Balls and Zip-Lock Baggies

When it comes to vacations, no one is more meticulous about details than Brad and me.

We spend weeks, if not months, researching destinations, hotels, car rentals, and things to do. I even have our shopping mapped out and categorized by where we will purchase the article, how much we will spend, and where the location is in the mall we plan to go to.

In general, Brad takes care of all the paper work (reservations, coupons for travel, tickets), passports/identification, and the electronics. I always make fun of him with his little green file folder and “man purse” filled with mini DVD player that he carts everywhere with himself.

I am usually heading up the packing, for everyone, and the lists of things we need to get on our trip. I research the activities we plan to do and make up a highly detailed itinerary for us to follow.

This trip appeared to be no different.

I had the kids packed a month ago. Every outfit was slated for a particular day or event, they were all packed in order of sequence, and a detailed list of missing items to be purchased on-route was written up.

Last Sunday, Brad spent the day gathering all of our needed electronics, paperwork, reservation confirmations, directions, coupons for Disney World (that were neatly put in the passports by me months before). Visions of Brad with his green folder and “man purse” flashed in my head and I smiled, glad that he was taking care of all of that stuff for me.

It left me with time to wash our bedding (twice), do 7 loads of laundry, pack Brad and myself, Guillermo. And I still had time to carefully plan and pack for unexpected needs. Lots of travel and dinner time toys/activities, bandaids, a mini first aid kit with medications, cotton balls and Q-tips. I even packed large and small zip-lock baggies. You know, just in case.

With all of these lists, and meticulous planning, you would think that there wasn’t a detail we could have forgotten.

You would think.

The day finally came and we were on our way. We had ordered some stuff from the cruise to our US mail box that had to be picked up by 5 pm and we didn’t have a lot of time once Brad came home. We hopped in the car, thinking everything was great.

We got out a little ways and realized that Brad had forgotten his watch and wedding band. He joked that he would just buy a new one in the Caribbean . . . to which I was wishing that maybe I had forgotten mine instead. (An upgrade ring would always be a pleasant surprise.)

It wasn’t until we were about 20 minutes away from the border that we realized that neither one of us remembered to pack our passports.

ALL of our passports.

Or even birth certificates so we could at least get across the border to claim our packages before the post office closed.

But we had cotton balls and zip-lock baggies.

Not a very fun start to our big vacation.

Female Drivers

After receiving an email showcasing the silly things female drivers do, I tried to drive our van up my in-law's driveway.



Tried is the key word. There was a lot of snow (this is Canada), and it was pretty icy. I tried to get just enough speed to coast up (you don't want too much, but then you also don't want to have to press the gas down because you will spin). When there was only two feet of the steep hill left to climb, my car just stopped. And I quickly realized that I failed.



And then the car went backwards.



I thought it was in reverse and tried to steer my way down, but with the blizzard (and darkness of the night) I couldn't see behind me.



Finally, we hit the snow bank.



There I sat, at 8:00 pm with all the kids in their car seats. My foot on the brake. Waiting . . . for someone to rescue me.



It took both Brad and my brother in law to pull us out of the bank. Justin was jumping on the ATV pulling the van in the front with a chain, while Brad was in behind pushing the rear of the van out of the bank.



I was trying to drive the van up the hill . . . hoping I wouldn't run Justin over, or roll over Brad.



Everything worked out in the end, but I couldn't help wondering if the email I received earlier had jinxed me . . . .

"So Close You Can FEEL the Sweat"

One of the many great quotes from one of my favourite movies, "How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days."

Fortunately for Brad, we weren't in the front row seats at a Celine Dion concert. It was, in fact, at the NBA game.

(He might have had something to do with getting those tickets and was kind enough to let me come along.)

For Valentine's Day we went to the NBA basketball game. Perhaps it wasn't the most romantic, but the tickets were free (WOW!), we didn't have to cart any kids with us, and our weekend had been so busy that we really couldn't fit in a "real" Valentine's Date.

Brad was so excited to see LeBron James up close; I was thrilled about our right-behind-the-media seats! And of course, all the cool photos I could take.

(Yes, we are totally celebrities. Make sure our faces are plastered on the jumbotron!)

I was excited. Until I got there and remembered what a basketball game was like.

Poor lighting, really fast moving subjects, a dinky on-camera flash, and (not wanting to be lugging my big camera around) a point and shoot.

I still got some decent shots, all things considered. And Brad aided in making LeBron feel like a total object by joining in with the throngs of fans shamelessly standing right beside him taking photo after photo. (Of course, just about all of those photos are blackmail worthy.)

We had to take a photo of Calderone (a player from Barcelona) in honour of my brother.

Of course, the Raptor. The cheer squad hooked us up with ample raptor tatoos so our kids would never have to be without a large, red raptor print on their bodies.

I was very impressed with the actual size of these players. Yes, I expected them to be tall. But they are HUGE. Truly. And one in particular still stood taller than the rest. He must have been 7'6". Incredible.

Brad had a great time watching the athletes, but he was really interested in watching some of the "sort of" celebrities sitting in the press box. (Like the owner of a car sales chain.)

It was really fun for me to watch. Yes, the basketball was pretty good. But, I really enjoyed seeing the cheer squad, the marketing directors running the half-time, time-out shows.

It reminded me of a job I once had at BYU as an assistant to the Women's Athletic Marketing Director. I remembered back to those crazy games. Several a week where we would be in charge of music, prizes, attendance gimics.

Normally our seats are up in the nose bleeds (if we ever go) so I didn't even know that professional sports teams actually did this stuff.

At this game they brought out some fun ideas, one of which was "Deal or No Deal" with a $5000 cash prize.

It turned out to be a great time (in spite of the bad weather) and the best part about platinum seats? Exiting the stadium was super fast and easy!! Sooo worth the money!

Breeding Again . . .

Laundry, that is!

Yup. I'm willing to bet that we are the world's experts on how to raise and continuously multiply laundry.

I am constantly amazed at how we can continue to beat our own records for the shortest period of time to have an empty (or even half-empty) laundry hamper.

It seems that the moment I empty it . . . it magically refills itself.

To the top.

Incredible.

We are really wizards.

Now, if only we could figure out a way to reverse it.

Or come up with a spell to make money fill up our accounts as quickly as laundry does our hampers.

Now that would be fantastic!

Happy (Belated) Valentine's Day!

So, this is a little late. But Happy Valentine's Day!

We were way too busy doing fun things to post.

The day before we went out to dinner as a family and then had a blast at Chuch E. Cheese's. Everyone was so excited to go, but surprisingly, the most excited was not Brad or Jackson. It was Avery.

Honestly, she was a force to reckon with as we tried to stand still to get stamped at the entrance. She was doing everything in her power to tear away and get to all the fun games (ball games in particular) and the dizzying lights. Once her feet hit the ground . . . she was gone. So I let Brad follow her around for the evening while I took the "calmer" boys.

The next day was skiing in the morning, tennis in the afternoon, and then a dinner and dance put on by the Young Men in our ward. It was great. The food was excellent and the company was fun too. They had a silent auction in which Brad donated a Family Dental Hygiene Kit and I donated a Family Portrait Package. I keep razzing him about how mine went for far more than his: a whopping $140 vs $77.

Unfortunately, Brad got carried away in all the fun and ended up bringing home NBA tickets, 5 Movie tickets, a car detailing kit, and an ever-so-useful fanny pack. I guess it's for a good cause and all, but YIKES! What are we going to do with that fanny pack? Or more bastetball tickets?

Sunday was crazy at church (as always) and then we flew out to Brad's office manager's wedding. It was beautiful and the food was awesome. As "favours" they gave out Waterford Crystal wine glasses. (Not that we drink, but maybe our Sparkling Grape Juice will taste better in crystal??)

Monday was family day and we were pretty glad that hardly anything was open. We were pretty pooped and Jayden had a friend's birthday party to go to. (This is the seond birthday he's been invited to and they have both been to girls' parties. The first was an art party so it wasn't so bad that he was the only boy, but this party was a tea party and he was the only boy, again. I am wondering if I should be worried that he keeps getting invited to girls' parties and never any boys?)

He was a perfect little gentleman. All the parents commented on how nice and polite he was.

Since that weekend, we have been going straight. Busy, busy, busy up until this past weekend when we all came down sick.

Counting Down . . .

The thermometer outside says minus 20 (again).

I have had it with winter. I was a good sport up 'til now. No, I was a great sport.

But ski season is over, so winter should be too.

Until Mother Nature figures that out, we'll be heading south.

We can't wait.

I packed the kids weeks ago, only to have them drive me absolutely bonkers last week. To be fair, I think I was over stressed with all the stuff that was going on and had to be done . . . not to mention driving in bad weather. Nonetheless, I began threatening that for every negative thing they did, two articles of clothing would disappear from their suitcase. They could replenish it with good behavior, but (having learned my lesson from other awards programs in the past) they would only get one article for positive behavior.

It didn't work at all. Jayden said that he would save all his good behavior for later on and fill his bag up in one day with lots of chores.

So, at my wits end (and in a desperate attempt to stop screaming and not hit anyone) I brought their suitcase into their room along with a storage tub.

"This is Jayden's pile . . . going from suitcase to storage. And this is Jackson's."

I told them that they were going to my friend's for the week and wouldn't be able to come on the fun vacation with us. She would have strict instructions to keep them in a bedroom without any fun toys until meal times . . . and she wouldn't be serving anything fun. Certainly not meatballs and rice.

Jackson's response:

"That's okay. We're going to drive ourselves."

Jayden's (tearful) response:

"Now we know you hate us, Mom. We know you're really going to leave us in the woods all by ourselves."

Afterwards, I sat them down to look at photos from previous vacations on cruises. They got really sad that they wouldn't be coming. Once I mentioned that good behavior will fill their suitcases up again . . . well, my house quickly became spotless. Seriously, I couldn't believe my eyes.

Jayden has maintained his great behavior, Jackson . . . well, we're still working on it.

But cruise fever is hitting hard.

We're excited about all the fun things we're going to do. All the great (free) food we're going to order and eat.

Jayden plans to order french toast and honey on toast for breakfast every day. Jackson plans to order meatballs and rice. Three times a day, every day. (For the chef's sake, I really hope he can produce some meatballs and rice on demand . . . or else he will have Jackson's wrath.)

I am excited to not have to listen to, "Aww, not this a-gain! I want meatballs and rice. I don't like this." I am also very excited to let everyone have exactly what they want to eat and not have to make five different dishes . . . or clean them all up.

Brad is just excited to get somewhere warm and hopes that the kids' club is great. (That way he won't have to see the kids for a while so he might actually get to take a nap.)

Jackson: Evel Knievel's Idol

As I chased after Jackson, hoping that he would stop before slamming into other skiers waiting for the lift, I heard some ladies snickering. They commented on just how cute this "little dare devil" was. They made a comment that pretty much sums up Jackson's ski season:

"Evel Knievel has nothing on this little dare devil!"

How fitting. It is so very, very true.

I cannot begin to express my panic upon chasing my lightening fast child down a run, unable to catch him but still keeping him in my sight to see him heading straight for a tree. Or a fence. Or an innocent bystander. And when I have just lost hope of Jackson stopping and have decided to place new hope on his helmet (that perhaps it will save him this once) he stops. As if it took no effort.

In fact, most of his skiing was much that way. Today as I watched him bob around down the runs, wobbling from one rut to the next, I was amazed that he could keep his balance and control. (I mean, really, watching him from the sidelines makes you think he is totally out of control, but the fact that he can avoid obstacles and stop--even if it's at the last possible moment--is pretty impressive.)

Add that to the fact that he is really under age to have been admitted to the kinderski program, and his achievement is magnified a hundred-fold.

When I think back to those first few days of heart attacks skiing with him to the runs I was able to do with him today (while keeping my blood pressure at a normal level) well, it's a great testament to the fantastic ski instructors that our club has. I am amazed at their willingness to work. Hard. (Seriously, at the beginning of the season Jackson was in his own little world, unable or unwilling to follow any instructor, their instruction, or even maintain any kind of control on the hills. Those instructors had to chase him down, many times even pick him up off the ground . . . or hike up the hill to pick him up off the ground.) His main instructor, Craig, deserves a gold medal for sure.

Today the instructors passed out "awards" (or report cards). Skills were ranked (1) Mastered (2) Working On (3) N/A. Here are some of the more interesting skills I found:

Can go from straight run to snowplow stop (1)

Safely and confidentently skis Green runs (1) Blue runs (1) Black (2)

Understands the importance of skiing in control (1)

Rides the magic carpet without assistance (1)

Gets up without the assistance of the instructor (2)

Skis without the assistance of a worm (1)

Comments: Jackson, you've becomes such an amazing little skier this year! Continue to work on increasing your speed {really??} and confidence--I know you can do it! Keep up the great work; it was awesome skiing with you this year!

Their certificates were really great. They put each child's photo on the certificate. What a great idea and a cute keepsake!

Here are some (in focus) shots of our little Knievel. (Getting great shots of our little speed demon were tough with flat light and a point and shoot.)

Yes, those are flames on his helmet. Maybe they gave him a little too much of the wrong kind of confidence?

Racing with Dad. One day the ski program set up a course to help prep the kids for the Club Championship races. (Apparently in the past younger kids have been afraid of the gates or have gone through and unknowingly stopped before getting through the finish line.) The jr program had gold medals to pass out to all their students afterwards. Jackson had so much fun, and he was remarkably controlled while in the course.

Riding the chair lift with dad and a new friend. Jackson was making friends everywhere and at all times. Whether it was plunking himself down on the couch near the fire and spilling his life details to the much older girl beside him, or meeting and greeting everyone who was unloading their cars as we walked the parking lot to get to the locker room . . . he was never short on friends.

Jayden: Following His Mother's Legacy

Hee hee!

(Of course I was the greatest skiier on earth, in my day. Well, maybe not the greatest on earth, but I was the winner of many races, MVP on many occasions, #3 in Ontario, and I have 2 silver Provincial medals to my name.)

Jayden has certainly done me proud. He has taken to skiing so easily and he is really fast.

In fact, my heart stopped beating a couple of times when out of nowhere he began tucking down some black diamonds. (For those of you unfamiliar with skiing, that means he was crouching down--minimizing wind resistance--on one of the toughest, steepest hills in skiing.)

He also became really interested in jumping (not quite my thing as a skier, and as a mother, it's really not my thing!).

But, when it came time to run the race course, he was a pro. I am sad that he won't get the opportunity to compete in the club championships in a few weeks since we'll be on vacation. Next year, I guess!

Jayden's favourite thing about this ski season was skiing down Kenne's Kicker (black diamond) and O.K. Ross (blue square).

He began to develop his parallel skiing and can do it on most hills (except blacks, because, well, apparently it's just more fun to bomb the hill. ;) ).

Cameo was his instructor this season. She is a spunky university student (who I am sure aided his new found interest of jumping, skiing backwards, and bombing hills) and a great instructor. She had no fear taking four 5 year olds all over the club, including places that required a ton of "skating" on flats. (Even I didn't have the energy or ambition to take my two boys on that!)

Here they are on "Crazy Helmet Day."

Some photos of the 2024 Olympic Gold Medal Ski Champion.

Backwards skiing.

2009 Ski Season

As I sit here watching the blizzard whirling snow outside my window, it seems silly to be writing a post that wraps up the 2009 ski season.

(Seriously! Okay, the blizzards at Christmas were really beautiful. The horrible weather and mounds of snow the last few months, somewhat barable since we had fun skiing to look forward to. But now?? Ski lessons have wrapped up, so Mother Nature, that means NO MORE SNOW. At least here anyway. And don't even try squeezing in some of that sleet and bad weather either.)

I signed the boys up for Saturday morning ski lessons since Brad works most Saturdays and, well, what else was I going to do all day with two busy and energetic boys??

However, I also had a one year old who couldn't be squeezed into any ski classes, and I didn't want to give up my Saturday afternoon tennis lessons either.

That made for one CRAZY day. (Especially when you'd add in searches for missing children, hunting for cool sticks, and endless last-minute bathroom emergencies.) We'd get out of the house by 8:30 am to do the mad dash at the ski club of dropping Avery off at day care, trekking back to the locker to suit the boys off and drop them off at their lessons.

This provided me with one hour to myself to tear up some runs like I used to . . . The strange thing was, I wanted to follow my kids' classes around and see what they were doing. (I did manage to force myself to have some fun free runs without 40 lbs of excess baggage, but it wasn't as fun.)

I am glad though that it is over, because the double life I was leading got to me. (I am so pooped! All that running around left me dead tired for tennis and anything else Saturday evening.)

The ski season itself was great. Lots and lots of snow. And several days that were WAY too cold. I think the most satisfying of the season was to see how much the boys improved and being able to ski with both of them . . . and not worry. (Well, not worry as much. We're still skiing with Jackson!)

One Dish Wonder

Meal time is always a time of stress and angst on my part.

Trying to find food to satisfy everyone's tastes (and my limited energy and cooking desire) is always a challenge.

Last night I made mini-quiches and salad. Jackson refused to eat the quiches and hated them so much that he actually preferred to eat the salad. (He never eats salad. In fact, he rarely eats anything green or that can be grown from the earth . . . unless you count sugar cane.)

Glad that he at least had a third helping of salad, I counted myself lucky and a great mom. I found a bit of energy to make fruit salad for dessert.

It was great. Strawberries, blueberries, bananas, and pineapple all coated in a raspberry-yogurt glaze.

Unfortnately, some did not care for the dessert. Jackson refused to eat anything but the strawberries. Avery limited herself to "balls" (aka blueberries), and Jayden came through for me and ate the pineapple and bananas.

I suppose I was lucky that everything got eaten by someone, even if no one ate everything themselves.

Now . . . if I can somehow figure out a way to make a one-dish meal that has components that everyone will eat . . . or at least eat one part of.

Finished.

Yes, I'm still here. And I have oodles of photos and posts to get to . . . but our last week has been SO crazy busy . . . and I have been tirelessly working on our latest family album.

I am so glad to announce that it is finished! All 158 pages of our 2008 album have been put together and are now being printed.

It's funny how getting the text and photos in (and putting them in the right order) isn't even half of the work of completing the album. The editing, fine-tooth combing every word and type size and font, takes forever.

When Brad heard about how long it was he said, "I think we do too much." He could be right. We do try to squeeze too much into too little time. (Take last weekend, for instance. We went out Friday night with the kids for dinner and then a stop at Chuck E. Cheese, Saturday morning was ski lessons, Saturday afternoon I had tennis lessons, Saturday evening was spent at the Scouting Fund Raiser at Church, Sunday was filled with Church meetings and then a wedding for Brad's office manager, and Monday was "Family Day" where Jayden had a birthday party and the rest of us went for a drive, out for lunch, and played together.) But what else are we going to do with our time?

It is really nice to look through the album and see all the fun things we've done, and even the not-so-fun mundane daily tasks.

Anyway, it is getting printed at Blurb and I'm so excited to see it published.

More posts with all the fun things we've been up to lately will follow . . . when I have time!

Puzzle Masters Don't Eat Sloppy Joe's

Yesterday at 5pm I found myself in a dinner time scramble.

What am I going to make in 30 minutes? We'd already had grilled cheeses for lunch, so I figured we had better have something a little more nutritious and filling for dinner.

Solution? Sloppy Joe's.

When I was a kid I loved this stuff so it appeared to be a great meal.

I made a quick side salad and plated dinner out for everyone.

"I don't like that stuff!" Said a certain blonde that will remain nameless. "Don't put it on my bread."

I insisted that he at least have half of his bread covered with the meat sauce and then sliced it in half.

Apparently there was some tiny sauce remnants that made their way onto the plain bread half so a certain boy took out a dish cloth to wipe the sauce off.

Whatever, I thought. At least I have a few minutes to eat in peace.

Then I dished out the salad.

"I don't like the lettuce." Said two little boys who will remain nameless.

Tired of the daily meal battles, I just picked out the veggies and left the salad in the bowl.

The little blonde asked for more plain bread. I said he needed to at least try the meat sauce half before he gets anything more.

So he did.

There was a speck of the sauce (no meat) on one prong of his fork.

The way that he went about tasting it was as if I was making him eat poison . . . or grasshopper legs.

After the big taste he turned to me and said, "Mom, don't you know that Puzzle Masters don't like Sloppy Joe's?? They only like meatballs and rice."

And he left the table for the evening.

Girl or Boy?

My conversation with Jayden at dinner yesterday:

(J) "Mom, how do you know that Avery will be a girl when she grows up?"

(M) "Because she is a girl. Why? Don't you think she is a girl?"

(J) "No."

(M) "Why not?"

(J) "Because she has boy hair. Girls' hair covers their ears and hers is too short."

Hmmm. It's bad enough that strangers ask me questions about my "baby boy" who is wearing ruffles and hearts dangling from "his" clothing, but now Avery's siblings don't even believe that she is in fact: a girl.

I dress her in the hottest pink, most of the time. When I get sick of peptobismal, I do dress her in boyish outfits like blue shirts with bows, or brown pants with ribbons. (To the strangers who believe I would subject a poor son of mine to this, I am shocked that they would even think it!)

I have tried to put hair clips decked out in sparkles and bows in her hair, but they are shorter lived than shoes, socks or mittens.

So, after half an hour of playing in the bathroom sink, we've come up with a new realization:

Her hair is just barely able to do this:

And maybe I should do it regularly, in spite of the mocking I get from Brad about trying too hard. Because if someone would mistake her for a boy looking like this . . . Well, I give up then.

The Hair Monster

Night time is pretty scary over here.

But not, however, more terrifying than the morning after.

When we actually get to see what the Hair Monster has been up to.

You see, we have a monster that comes in the middle of the night.

Like most monsters, he hides in closets and under the bed. Waiting . . . waiting . . . until the boys are sound asleep.

But unlike cute, furry, purple and green monsters from Monsters Inc., he doesn't care to scare sleeping children.

No, he prefers to scare their parents . . . with wicked, crazy hair in the mornings.

Obviously the Hair Monster was very hard at work last night.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Yes, it is just that cold out here.

Minus 30 celsius.

Brrr.

Bedtime

It seems I am always ready to blog about a bad day, or a trying time getting the kids to do, well, anything.

Tonight, I am proud to say, they were golden.

(Well, after a stern talking to about running (naked) through the house like banshies after their bath.)

Once their pj's were on, they were perfect children.

They let me clip their nails without a fuss. We read books and scriptures with only minimal background noise.

And, when I asked them to sit in their beds, quietly, looking at a book while I put Avery down . . . they did. Without a single sound.

Avery went down easily (lately she has been putting up a fuss to be "imprisoned" in her crib) and has stayed down.

And, upon returning to the boys' room I found Jayden studying his vehicle book studiously and Jackson was searching (with help from his stuffed polar bear) for hidden objects in the pages of his book.

It was one of those "melt your heart" moments. You know the ones where you feel like you must be the world's best mom because you have managed to raise little angels.

* * * * * *

Of course, as I write this I decide to take a portrait of a precious sleeping child. And, while one child was asleep, the other was searching through his portfolio box for a blank sheet of paper so that he can perfect his car drawing. Apparently, the cars he was drawing in the dark were not turning out well and he couldn't sleep until he drew a good one.

I Wanna Be a Big Girl

I don't know why, but I have a horrible habit of trying to keep Avery from aging . . . at all. I just want her to stay small forever. Well, at least for a decade.

But, she has quickly realized that there are two other people in the house who are small (in comparison to her parents) but able to do more things than she can.

Like sleeping in beds. Without caging or railings.

And eating at the table. On a chair. Instead of being bound in a high chair and then pushed off to the side.

She wants to be big.

She wants to sleep in a bed. I want to keep getting use out of the adorable crib bedding I could finally purchase and use for a girl.

She wants to sit on a chair at the table with the rest of the family. I am having trouble thinking of the messes that will be on my table cloth . . . and having her a little more mobile in her booster seat.

However, I have this incredibly cute placemat that I am dying to let her use so maybe it would be all right to sit her at the table.

And maybe, I could let her sleep on a mattress on the floor and keep her crib up to display the bedding that I so love.

It's so odd.

With Jayden, I couldn't wait to rush him to grow up. He was out of his crib at about 13 months. Jackson may not have been rushed that quickly, but he was still out of a crib and high chair by about 14-15 months.

They turned out fine. (So far at least.) But I can't help but wonder if letting them come out of the crib so early aided the night-time/nap-time struggle and the many messy bedrooms I would open the door to.

Same with the table. It has only been about 2 months since I have had to worry about war zone-like disaster meal messes with Jackson at every meal. I wonder if leaving him in a high chair could have eased my clean up load?

Avery is 16 months now. I guess sitting at the table with her family is hardly like going off to college and moving out of the house. I have to give her some independence sooner or later. I was just leaning more to the later.

The Puzzle Master

Someone has found his calling in life.

Someone else has found a glimpse of her sanity returning.

And they both came about because of puzzles.

Yes folks, we have finally found something to occupy Jackson's time with instead of mixing new cocktails of cleaning agents, sniffing out new sugar treats, or feeding new (dead) bug friends . . . Jackson has taken a liking to puzzles.

Not just a liking, but an obsession. Like Jayden is to cars, Jackson is to puzzles.

I will come downstairs into my living room and find a trail of about 5 puzzles already made and set out for display, and anther one in the works.

He makes puzzles for me, for Avery, and even makes them for Guillermo to admire.

Everywhere he goes, he introduces himself as "Jackson, the Puzzle Master." (And I chuckle, everytime!) He knows he is good and wants everyone to know.

It's not a huge surprise, I guess. Jackson is very much a "hands-on" type. Very mechanical. He loves to take things apart and to explore everything around him. He loves music and cooking, everything that is concrete.

Never in a million years would I have imagined that the key to keeping Jackson busy and out of trouble was so simple.

Puzzles!

Who knew?

Birth Order

I thought this was kind of cute:

Birth Order of Children

1st baby: You begin wearing maternity clothes as soon as your OB/GYN confirms your pregnancy.
2nd baby: You wear your regular clothes for as long as possible.
3rd baby: Your maternity clothes ARE your regular clothes.

Preparing for the Birth:
1st baby: You practice your breathing religiously.
2nd baby: You don't bother because you remember that last time, breathing didn't do a thing.
3rd baby: You ask for an epidural in your eighth month.

The Layette:
1st baby: You pre-wash newborn's clothes, color-coordinate them, and fold them neatly in the baby's little bureau.
2nd baby: You check to make sure that the clothes are clean and discard only the ones with the darkest stains.
3rd baby: Boys can wear pink, can't they?

Worries:
1st baby: At the first sign of distress--a whimper, a frown--you pick up the baby
2nd baby: You pick the baby up when her wails threaten to wake your firstborn.
3rd baby: You teach your three-year-old how to rewind the mechanical swing.

Pacifier:
1st baby: If the pacifier falls on the floor, you put it away until you can go home and wash and boil it.
2nd baby: When the pacifier falls on the floor, you squirt it off with some juice from the baby's bottle.
3rd baby: You wipe it off on your shirt and pop it back in.

Diapering:
1st baby: You change your baby's diapers every hour, whether they need it or not.
2nd baby: You change their diaper every two to three hours, if needed.
3rd baby: You try to change their diaper before others start to complain about the smell or you see it sagging to their knees.

Activities
1st baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics, Baby Swing, Baby Zoo, Baby Movies and Baby Story Hour.
2nd baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics.
3rd baby: You take your infant to the supermarket and the dry cleaners.

Going Out:
1st baby: The first time you leave your baby with a sitter, you call home five times.
2nd baby: Just before you walk out the door, you remember to leave a number where you can be reached.
3rd baby: You leave instructions for the sitter to call only if she sees blood.

At Home:
1st baby: You spend a good bit of every day just gazing at the baby.
2nd baby: You spend a bit of everyday watching to be sure your older child isn't squeezing, poking, or hitting the baby.
3rd baby: You spend a little bit of every day hiding from the children

Things That Make Me Want To Hit My Head Against a Large Pane of Glass . . .

We'll keep it short, to a list of ten:

10. Searching for the van under a blanket of snow for the seventh time in one day.

9. Searching for and replacing Avery's footwear and socks . . . every time we get out of the car.

8. Bedtime. The kids', not mine.

7. Transformers. It takes me a good 20 minutes to transform any of them, and then the boys are back not even a minute later wanting me to do it again. All day long.

6. Meal time with Jackson. Any meal that doesn't involve solely meatballs and rice.

5. Avery and the garbage can. And how she runs to open it, pull things out, and eat whatever she finds.

4. Avery and dog food. I try to keep it up high, but every so often I bring it down so Guillermo can eat. But somehow, Avery gets hold of it and throws it all over the house . . . or eats it. (Good thing I always buy the gourmet kind!)

3. Listening to whining, crying, and screaming by all three kids.

2. Boys and rough housing. OH my-gosh. Need I say more???!!

1. Reading lessons with Jayden. This requires a post all to itself. They are unbarable. Torture. For both of us. Really. Jayden is just so sweet and so smart . . . but at reading time . . .(shudder) Where's a pane of glass???

It Just Keeps Coming!

Unfortunately, the ground hog was right yesterday.


All three of them.


(Up here we apparently have three weather savvy ground hogs to listen to . . . because everyone wants a second-or third-opinion if the first sees his shadow.)


6 More Weeks of Winter!



And today was a stark reality that the ground hogs were all right.


Another storm.


Here is a photo of the fence in our backyard. It shows how hard the snow has been coming down all day today.



It was crazy trying to drop Jackson off at preschool today. I could barely see the road . . . and we live in a pocket where we get milder weather/rain/storms than other places.


At least for us, we have the hope of a warm weather vacation to the Caribbean to look forward to. And until then, while I am house bound I figure I may as well dive into our spring cleaning. (Why leave it to be done when the weather is somewhat nice??)


Certainly, we could use some cleaning. Deep cleaning. Like de-cluttering cleaning.


I meant to do it before our last move, but we moved a little spontaneously and I was 2 months pregnant so I could barely throw our belongings in boxes, let alone sort them. Then came the baby and life got, well, busy.


When we first moved in, our basement was so cluttered with half empty boxes of "junk" that I got Brad to "do something" with them. (I was really too overwhelmed to think of sorting through all of our stuff.) And something, he did. He dumped half of one box into another, another half into another, etc. and then piled them neatly into the corner.


It was not what I had in mind, but then I didn't have to touch any of the boxes and it looked neat. So, I left it alone.


Unfortunately, when ever we were in need of something in storage, we had a heck of a time trying to figure out which box it might be in. And the kids got into the action too, finding a random toy in a box full of tools and nails one day and a ball in a box of outerwear. Naturally, this made them more curious to see what else they could find in another box . . . and well, soon enough it became this:



Yesterday I tackled the "wall", or the "crumbling wall" rather. I had a great time for a while, discovering ski suits, gloves with pairs, long lost laundry from 2 years ago, and even all my highschool awards/memories that my dad had lovingly stored in a box for me. I also found our missing family album, a special diamond ring that my grandmother had passed down to me, and two short stories that I wrote when I was 13. (I just might have to team up with my mom to do some illustrations and print them . . . they are pretty good.)


After I came across all these great finds, and realized that the basement was even messier than when we moved in with all my sorted "piles" of garbage, recycling, garage sale items . . . I thought I'd quit while I was ahead. So there are still about 10 boxes that I didn't even look in. But it's a good start, and since we are only allowed 2 bags of garbage a week (and had exceeded that limit with three mountains of recycling, two of trash, one big mound of donatable items and four garbage bags of clothing), I couldn't really do anymore. Where would I store it?



Most of the boxes in the front two rows are just empty, I didn't want to break them down and not have them ready for our move (if it ever happens!!).


Next on the list: the toy bins. I am sure we don't need all 10 large rubbermaid containers full of them.


I think it will be great to be "streamlined" when ever a move might come our way.


(But seriously, how do you get streamlined when you have a family with three young children??)


So, while we wait patiently for our cruise out of the deep freeze, I can look at the bright side and see it as an opportunity to get things done.