He gets it!

Last night I drove A-Dog to baseball practice...just the 2 of us.


When we pulled up I said:


"I'm going to get a beverage at Starbucks, I'll be right back"


He says:


"You think because you drove me to practice, you should get a reward?"


Yup.


Yup I do.


It was not an easy task to leave a couple of sick kids home with daddy (1 is not)...all needing a shower, dirty dishes all over the counter, toys all over the floor....


But I DID IT! 


And I should be rewarded :)...or something. 


Plus, it was going to be like 48 degrees with a bit of wind at practice...and if I was going to make it until 8pm, I needed a warm drink.


(Hey, come on - my sweet husband did the EXACT same thing to me Sunday night(left me with the house in total shambles....but I'm pretty sure he didn't get a reward...but the practice HE went to got moved indoors, that is reward enough!)

Less is more?

If less is more, is it OK to have less more often? I suppose more or less it could be...


Thanks to Starbucks' price increase, I've had to either go longer in between drinks or buy a smaller size.  My Mocha is a reward for my survival. Raising 4 kids can be very stressful (and even when it isn't, I still reward myself). 


Honestly I only get 1-2 a week, so it's  not like I over indulge. It IS 10 miles to Starbucks and no where near my neighborhood, so I make up reasons to go to Target (which houses a Starbucks) or run errands near one with a drive thru.


So, what started out as a wonderful Valentine's Day filled with candy, cards, Valentine's hugs and a trip to Target - came crashing down on me as soon as we got home.


Agent P spent his $1 on a new Hot Wheel.


Which he dropped in the potty.


While he was pooping. (please don't ask me how this could possibly happen. I really don't know. I've tried imagining it and it is too much for this mama to handle)


And I had to retrieve it.


With poop in the potty.


Thank goodness I have gloves.


Did I mention there was poop in the potty?


I hope you were not eating lunch or anything while you read this...


I have no photos of the event.


Again, you are welcome.


And I may have to drive back to Starbucks. And reward myself. Again.

Dodged a bucket

After a couple puke sessions over night on Monday - yesterday did NOT bring more stomach flu.


It brought one more kid with Strep Throat.


YAY! 


It is sad that I am very happy about that, but I am.


I don't appreciate that Strep often brings a bit of puke, but it is easier to manage than every 30 minutes of vomit!


So, 2 out of 4 kids with Strep - and enough antibiotic between the 2 bottles to treat 3 kids. How sweet is that?


Now, if we can get thru it quickly, so we can leave the house again.....

Stomach flu, you are not my friend.

I thought it was a simple cough.

My sweet husband had just gone into their room and covered them back up. Literally, 30 seconds later Monkey was coughing. Then he cried a bit. So, I reluctantly got out of my warm bed and ventured into the room. Thinking he needed a drink or something, I took no precautions to grab my glasses or turn on a light.

He wanted a "tissue for his mouth". Ok, not a problem. But, then I got closer. 

Oh for the love of....what on earth...eeeewwwww.

Really?

At 10pm? 

Does the stomach virus have some sort of time table it is required to keep? Some law against starting up prior to people GOING TO BED??? OR SLEEPING???

So, I scooped him up and took him to my sweet husband so he could get cleaned up.

And I went back into the toxic zone to assess damages. (note to self - a full body radiation suit is a good investment for this task). Not good. Down side of bed, on floor, in slats of toddler bed. Lovely.

I think I singed my nose hairs with the pungent aroma of puke. I am still smelling it.

My hands will smell for days. Even after scrubbing them. 12 times.

My washer has been running since last night.

Why couldn't he just get Strep throat like Agent P (who started antibiotics for that yesterday)? Although, puking often goes with Strep, so I just don't know.

Just to be safe, here is the letter I've composed.

Dear Mr. Stomach Flu ("Mr." because no mama would allow this in her house), 

We cannot be friends. You cannot come over to our house anymore. We do not like the way you play, and frankly, we do not like the way you smell. 

You are a nuisance and a disruption to our normally chaotic life. You interfere with the laundry 'schedule' and may cause certain somebodies to dig jeans out of the dirty pile again (I admit, last weeks laundry debacle was not your fault, but I'm just sayin'.)

Goodbye. Stay away. And please, I'm begging you - LEAVE THE REST OF US ALONE.

OH - and I didn't add any photos.


You're welcome.

Taking the plunge!

This is what we woke up to yesterday. According to my weather station....

Do you see it? 12.9 degrees, 13 mph wind and -1 with wind chill???


I know some of you might be thinking "girl, you don't even KNOW what cold is!"


It is true. I'm the biggest of wimps. I grab a jacket if I know it will be under 70 degrees. 


Go ahead mock me if you must. Others do.


But even my windows didn't appreciate this temperature plunge.

This is ICE the INSIDE of my window in the kitchen.

I will look back on this day as a 100 year old record broken, coldest day of my life and the day I almost let my 5 year old skip school because I didn't want to leave the house to take him to the bus stop (by then it was 19 degrees, 10 degrees with wind chill).


I will also remember it as the day they started digging up our backyard for our POOL!


So, if we ever said it would be a cold day in you know where before we get a pool, that happened yesterday, hence the pool. Just kidding, we've been talking about a real pool for a couple years. Really, I swear!

Summer is just around the corner...I think.

Untraining the untrainable.

I admit, I have done things I'm not proud of to 'just get by' when it comes to managing my three little people in public.


I have used food and treats (gummies to be more specific) to..ahem.. bribe my kids into behaving. 


I already admitted my lack of pride for my behavior. But I bet that you'd do the same thing...and some of you, probably DO! It's ok, I get it. I'm there with you. 3 little copy cats...bad behavior is more prevalent than good behavior!


However, I have created 3 Pavlov children using 'destinations' as a trigger for needing food. Not 4 kids because bless his heart, A-Dog has already been trained and untrained.


Arrive at Target? They are all 3 hungry.


Arrive to Church? They are all 3 hungry.


Zoo, grocery store, Grandma and Grandpa's house? Yup, you got it - they are HUNGRY!


I'm sure you are thinking to yourself. "Why don't you just feed them before you go somewhere". I assure you, that is not the problem. 


This week, I have begun the untraining. Trust me when I say, I will be the one paying the price! (I will be needing a reload on my Starbucks card...or is that just another Pavlov issue?)


Before we left the house Tuesday, I warn them all "you JUST ate, I am NOT bringing any snacks. If you need a drink, get it now". 


What do you think they said when we got to Target? 


"I'm HUNGRY".


I quickly told them that I didn't bring anything.  Monkey says "not even GUMMIES???". No Monkey, nothing. AT ALL. I didn't even look them in the eye - I could hear the disbelief as they looked at each other and sighed.


Today we went to the grocery store. Agent P says "I'm thirsty". Making no eye contact again, I just reminded him that there was no water and quickly shuffled them out of the van.


It's not summer here, so I am OK with them being without water for 1 hour. 


They say it takes 3 weeks to break a habit.


I am on day 5. Wish me luck :)

Where do I start...

Today A-Dog and I ran a 5k. Let's start there with the basic story. (I could say "then end", but how boring would that be?)

Never mind the fact that it was 38 degrees when we left the house.

Because it did warm up. To something else...but I left my weather station at home.

Let me tell you the whole story without leaving out the best parts. You know how I love to drag a story out and get side tracked as often as possible.  I just never want you to leave here feeling like you just haven't gotten the whole story..and then some. You're welcome.

I finally committed to the 5k about 9 days ago. I have had it on the calendar, but until you register and spend the money - you are NOT committed. At all. Unless of course  you've told people that you are running - then you either run the race or deal with the questions as to WHY you didn't.

So I did. Commit and run.

A-Dog conveniently decided he was going to do it the day after the rates went up by $2. Don't worry, I didn't charge him for it :). I easily could have tho.

Today I opted to not have my Smart-phone with me as I ran. I have a really great running program on my phone that tracks my pace and distance (along with many other items, but you really don't need to know about my calories burned right?). 

I often obsess with my pace when I'm running and knowing how much farther I have can have devastating effects on my stamina. I'm sure you can understand when you think you are near the end and you then realize you still have 3k to go :). I don't know why I told you all that, but I did. It's an illness I'm afraid.

Ok, back to today.  Today A-Dog and I ran a 5K. Did I say that already? I know, I need to focus, or go to bed. Either way...

Obviously pre-run, I'm smiling :)

It was a really good run - I had to take 3 breaks. A break consisted of us walking for about 7 seconds.

Very refreshing.

As a side note, our 5k had mile markers at 1 mile and 2 miles. Explain that one.

I could see the last turn and knew we were in the home stretch. I was conflicted as to which way to turn - right to the end, left to McDonald's. I eventually went right. I told A-Dog - "go ahead son, be amazing and finish strong".

He totally left me. Not even a second thought.

That's ok, I'm pretty sure there was about 15 other times he debated it and only stayed with me for fear of a wrong turn I might make and head out for breakfast without him. Once we turned that corner, he knew I had no where else to go.

I have to say, I was so proud of that boy - he really dug in and picked up the pace for the last 1/2k. I was doing really good. I could see the end and I was still going.

A-Dog at the finish!

Then something devastating happened.

Really bad.

I got passed.

By an elderly gentleman.

There was nothing I could do about it. No way I had anything else in me to pass him or ahem, race him to the end.

So I let him beat me. What else could I do?

I looked up the unofficial results online, here they are:

A-Dog: Finished #100 of 198, in his age group (ages 10-19) he finished 15th. 30 minutes 12 seconds.

Me: Finished #111 of 198, in my age group (30-39) I finished 11th (seriously RIGHT? 11th??? ALMOST in the top 10!) 31 minutes 10 seconds. My best time yet.

The sweet old guy who passed and finished ahead of me? #110? Finished 5th in his age group (70-99). It does post our actual ages (mortifying I know) he was 70. I'm pretty sure I'm totally proud of that guy.

Next time, I'm going to keep a better eye on who is behind me....