Happy Father's Day

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Happy Father's Day to the best father (and husband) ever.

Thanks for always being there for us.

Lost and Found

This morning, when I dropped the girls off at school, I took another long walk down to the main office. "I'd like to check the lost and found. Again". It seems like once a week, I'm there, looking for a lost item. It wasn't there. It never is. My next stop, was the cafeteria. Nope, nada. My last stop was second grade. Nope, it wasn't laying around there either. This time, it was a Tupperware sandwich box. Last time, a mitten. The time before that, a cardigan. And those are just the things that are not found before leaving school. It's been mentioned a few times, how they've found her stuff in the cafeteria, on the playground, etc. and returned it to her during school. One time, I was picking her up as she was being called down to the office to claim her hat. They know. They know what is her's. With three kids all at the same school, it's only Einey who comes home with half her stuff.

So far, we've lost (in the last month):
1 red button up cardigan
1 pair of red school sweatpants Yah! I actually just found these after looking for four weeks. they were in, of all places, her jeans drawer. Which is not surprising we didn't find because A) all her uniform pieces are usually hanging up and B) she hates jeans.
1 knitted/fleece mitten
1 Tupperware sandwich container
(why is everything Einey's???)

But judging from her gene's it's not hard to see that the apple doesn't fall that far from the tree. I cannot tell you how many times Husband has lost something that is right there in front of him. It infuriates me when he has his 7 days off every five weeks and waits until 5 minutes before he's due to walk out the door to make sure he has everything he needs for work. He usually doesn't. And I'm supposed to know where they are.

And found:
1 fork

Husband called tonight to tell me he found the fork at work someone mistakenly picked up last night. I had to LMAO and tell him I wasn't worried about the damn fork. His reply "I was worried about the fork, because then we wouldn't have a complete set and I'd have to throw away a spoon, salad fork, knife, etc. Or buy a single fork". Damn OCD! I'm still LMFAO!

Now if only we could find the rest of the missing items!

Spring Break Recap

Today the girls went back to school. While I really enjoyed spending unhurried time with them this past week, they were more than ready to go back. Well, maybe I was more than ready for them to go back, but they didn't put up a fuss this morning, so I take that as a good sign.

The weekend that their vacation started, we had two birthday parties. Einey was dropped of at one Friday night and picked up later in the evening. Very Easy! Saturday (which did not dawn rainy and cool like fore casted) found us at McDonald's for another party.

Monday morning, we made plans to meet some friends at a local park for some bike riding and to play on the playground. I managed to bring the bikes, despite the jungle gym still sitting in the rear of my van. But then, the seat of Meenie's bike broke off. Broke broke as in there is no fixing it (I still need to call about a replacement). She was not happy to settle with a scooter. Once her sister finished with the other bike though, Meenie spent the remainder of the time riding around and around the track. Oh and we finished Husband's cake for his birthday.


Tuesday found us at the roller skating rink. I was a little apprehensive about getting all three o them skates,but didn't know what else to do with Moe. Einey did okay, she seemed a bit nervous, despite not having any problems zooming around previously. Meenie did remarkably well. Sure, she hugged the walls, but she was able to actually do a short distance unassisted by the time we left. And she was on the rink. Alone. That was a huge improvement over the last time where she stayed on the carpet. Moe did great back and forth on the carpet and even went around the rink once with me, but wasn't comfortable with it. With my first child, I never would have dreamed of putting roller skates on her at three. In fact, she was six before she ever slipped a pair on, it just wasn't anything I ever thought of!

They come in ever smaller sizes. But seriously, how cute is that?

Wednesday found us at the zoo. Normally we stay away during school break weeks, but now that we have a school age child, it make outing like that during the off times harder. But we met friends there (coincidentally in the parking lot!) and had a blast. It was a tad more nerve racking trying to keep track of six kids, but it worked out well. After the zoo (which we've been to a zillion times, but still manage to see new things) we went to Build-A-Bear. But I've already posted about that trip and the fiasco afterwards so you'll have to click the link to read more.

Trying to think outside the box and not add to our bazillion pictures of giraffes. Do you ever find that you have all the same pictures?

I just love the way this came out.

The aforementioned new friends

Thursday dawned and Husband had his one day off of the week that day. We had made plans to go to the aquarium. But like any outing with Husband, the kids had eaten and gotten dressed when he finally started to make his breakfast (he can never deal with a granola bar or bowl of cereal like anyone else). THEN he got on the computer to research other possible ideas/places to go (ALWAYS happens when we involve him). Finally he went to play video games get ready. And much later than we liked, we were on the way to go. We spent a few hours at the aquarium and then had lunch at Olive Garden. Luckily, there wasn't a long wait as the kids were h-u-n-g-r-y. The great thing, that whole trip only cost us $10 plus whatever we used in gas (thanks guys for the gift cards!)!

Husband found the aquarium feature on our camera

Friday we were supposed to go bowling but I decided we needed a day to recharge. SO we hung out and just relaxed! Oh and went for ice cream!

Of course, I didn't list the hour each day Tuesday through Friday that we had soccer practice. Or games as the girls had their first games this week. Neither of them scored a goal, but they tried hard.


Saturday was another birthday party and then dinner at our church.

Sunday, Meenie and I had alone time, just the two of us. The in-laws took the other two girls to church while I took Meenie to her soccer game. They were supposed to drop them off after lunch, but I never went to get them until 5:00pm! So we had lunch together, worked in the garden, sang songs, talked and played games. We both had alot of fun and I enjoyed spending time with her. I often feel that she gets the short end of the stick most of the time.

Whew!

Anyway, that was spring break in a nutshell. Today, Moe and I went for our weekly coffee and then ran some errands we put off last week.

***************************************************************************

Oh and did I mention the ants? Just like their cousins the ladybugs, they've appeared in the house this past week. And yup, you guessed it, just like with the ladybugs, Moe stands and screams. Or if she's got shoes on, stomps. But it has made her have two accidents while she's stood outside the bathroom crying about the ants. The girls seriously needs to learn to deal with bugs. Its almost summer. Ey Ey yi.

My Epiphany

Yesterday, I had an epiphany.

Einey is a smart, wonderful child. However, like all kids, she has some quirks. She is highly forgetful. I cannot tell you how many times we've started to leave the school, only to notice she's forgotten her hat and mittens (which the teacher gave her the next day - complete set, and still she managed to lose one of the mittens), lunch box, sweater, folder and yes, even her coat once (and of course, it was right before a snowstorm - I blame Husband* partly for that one, he failed to notice and grab it, making me go over later in the day). For the minor stuff, I just leave it there and send in a note the next day. No biggie.

Usually I check her backpack before we leave the school, so if her homework is forgotten, we're able to grab it before we leave. And in such, I've realized, I have been enabling her. Yesterday, she went to a friends house after school. When I picked her up at dinner time, I mentioned how she left her homework folder in her class (again - second day in a row). It was when she looked at me and said "so, we can just stop and get it" that I realized, things need to change.

No longer an I going to grab her forgotten item. She is going to learn to be a little more aware of her responsibilities. Next year, the teacher isn't going to just say "it's okay, she can just do it tomorrow", so she needs to take a little bit of responsibility for her own actions. Once, when she forgot, she had three pages of homework from one night and one from the other night to do. She whined and complained how it wasn't fair and how her friends didn't have as much homework to do that night (duh! They all remembered to bring their homework home the night before and only had one nights work to do). She was not happy. You'd think she'd learn!

So now, I think I have come up with a plan. On nights she forgets her homework, she's going to have to write a note to her teacher explaining why she doesn't have her homework. In addition, I will print a page of something (or pull one from a workbook) that relates to their work for the week. She'll have to do that page and turn it in. In addition, she'll still have to make up the homework she missed the next day. I'm even considering making her write "I will not forget my folder" 10x each. And adding five each time she forgets. I don't want to torture her, but I do want her to realize that there are consequences to her actions. Does anyone else have any suggestions?

* Actually I blame Husband for the quirk as well. The man would forget his head if it wasn't screwed on. I cannot tell you how many times I have to find stuff for him as well. Maybe the smarter you are, the more you forget? After all, there's only so much room in the brain, something has to give!

Happy Valentine's Day

Message I noticed while kneeling on the floor fishing an item out of the bowl

This morning, I was all set with not recieving any gifts. Husband and I talked about not knowing what to get each other (because you know, we buy everything we want). That and well, who needs a holiday to tell someone they love them. After all, we show each other we love each other throughout the year in little ways. It's the little things that matter most.

So this morning, I was very happy with this little message I found on the medicine cabinet door.

So when he walked in the door, I greeted him at the door with a great big hug, kiss and thanks.

His reply. "I'm glad you liked them. Iwas worried because I thought you'd page me".

Me: ???????

...... "page you for a message written in shaving cream?"

Him: "go look again"

Inside the cabinet was a lovely pair of opal earrings from his favorite jeweler (I say his favorite, because it's where he always buys my jewelery from, I've only been there once).

Of course, Husband chose this spot specifically to hide a gift because he knew I needed my contacts. I however, choose last night as the one night to sleep with them in. I didn't even think about opening the door.

I am so lame that I was happy with just a simple little I love you message!

Communication

Communication, or lack there of, is what almost gave Husband a heart attack tonight. He was on the phone when I went to pick up his mom from work, but apparently didn't hear me tell him I had Moe with me. Two minutes after I left, I got a frantic phone call asking if I had Moe. I could hear the relief in his voice when I reassured him she was with me. I'm not sure why, but something told me to keep my phone up front in case he called for that very reason. Net time, I'll make sure he hears me before I leave with one of the girls.

Pigs DO Fly...

Husband surprised me last Friday night, in honor of our upcoming (tomorrow) anniversary, in arranging to have his mom watch the kids overnight. The first time that did not involve a hospital in almost six years (since the night before Einey was born). Unfortunately, because his mom kept waffling on whether or not she would take the kids, he couldn't make concrete plans. And we had to pick them up by 8 am so we couldn't just drive to Boston or New Hampshire and spend the night.

So since they didn't take the kids until 5pm (we were supposed to drop them off after Einey got out of school at 3:30 but they were not home) we drove up to Mass and ate at the Outback. We cracked Aussie jokes in fake Aussie accent's all the while saying our Aussie friends would be so disappointed in us. Not to mention that they would probably scoff at the menu as it isn't true Aussie fare. It was fun to be able to relax and talk in grown up terms about grown up subjects. Without interruptions, without fingers grabbing food of our plates and eating while our food was still hot. I didn't have to share and it was very relaxing.

After dinner, we hit Toys R Us (I know, no kids and we go to a toy store) as we have a birthday party coming up and can only find Pokemon toys at TRU. We were able to actually browse and get some ideas for Christmas without kids pulling us in thousands of directions.

Then we headed home. Our plan was to stop and grab a bottle of wine and a movie. Unfortunately, we didn't think this through and forgot that alcohol is not sold after 8pm in our grand ol' state. We bypassed the movie and were going to watch one of the dozens we have at home but haven't had time to watch. Instead, I crashed on the couch at a way too early time. But I actually got a really really good night of sleep - no kids climbing into bed, no kids tossing and turning, no nightmares, no coughing. Just silence. And silence is golden.

Photo Hunt Saturday - Art

This week's photo hunt theme is art. Art is a stimulation of the senses. It is unbounded creativity released by an individual for others to experience. There are no boundaries in art.


The picture's that follow are some watercolor art, painted by Einey, Meenie and Moe this evening. As a treat, and because they love all things artsy, I allowed them to paint on the deck after dinner tonight. Unfortunately, we left them out on the deck to dry and got hit with a sudden downpour. By the time I made it outsdie, the paint had all been washed off.


And while I can appriciate art, I am not artist. In fact, you probably don't want to be anywhere near me when I am wielding a paintbrush. Husband on the other hand can usually be found, paintbrush in hand. If you want to view his gallery of work, click here. He has made quite a name for himself painting these figures. In addition, he has designed and drew the program for our daughter's dance studio, gives the girls cool tattoos, and drawn numerous pictures for the kids. I am trying to get him to illustrate a children' s book, but I would guess I would need to find an author first :P


Now if you excuse me, I need to go design/paint a banner for the Kinderbration. This I think I can handle...

Please click on the links to see other cool art!

A Cool Dad...

Last month I posted about the cons of being married to a painter.

This week I will post a few pictures of the benefits.

Really cool tattoos!

Einey

Meenie

Moe

In Training....

Husband introduced Einey to his favorite hobby this past weekend. He ran her through a dungeon, delve style. Capturing the treasure was the objective, which she completed with her whole party left. Her party members were a Dwarf Sargent, Elf Warsinger and Dragonmarked Heir.

They started off with her coming down the stairs into the first level of the dungeon. She decides to take the passage to the left. Through the first door, and she spies a statue in the corner.

"Mom, what do I do?"

"Do you see it moving"

"It's a statue, it doesn't move"

"Just ask."

"Is it moving?"

"DM: Roll your D20" 14. "You see it blink it's eyes".

Einey picks up the piece to inspect it.

"Use your imagination honey"

"Now what"

"Shoot it"

After two rounds, she made her first kill and defeated the Gargoyle in the corner.


Her next encounter was a Sorcerer and his "pet rat". She took out the rat first, with a little help as she tried to "target" her party members with her fire and ice spells.

Next up was some dragons? And lastly was a troll at the entrance of the Treasure Room. She defeated the troll and claimed the treasure. She leveled up her characters picking a +1 to attack bonus for the dwarf and Dragonmarked and a second cure spell for the Elf.

Some things I observed with Einey were she was adding her own dice rolls to the bonuses on the cards (much quicker than some older players we have played with), she was reading the correct information off the cards (i.e. dmg) as she went along in the game and she knew if she rolled over the AC. They both seemed to have alot of fun playing! As she walked into different parts of the dungeon, she would chant "I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid"! I really wish i had a video camera to capture "her first game".

Husband made up this adventure as he went along, but has already started to plan the next one.

The Good and the Bad...

I could have killed Husband this morning. And if he were home, I probably would have considered hurting him.

Husband's hobby is painting. He paints fantasy figures as a hobby (picture little statues smaller than the Little Pet Shop toys ~25mm for those of you who can picture it). Apparently he's pretty good, because people from all over the world hire him to paint for them. Actually, he is pretty good if you look at the amount of detail on them.

Anyway, he keeps his paint in a bucket and brings it downstairs at night so he can paint while watching TV. During the day, the paint is supposed to be upstairs, in the hobby room attached to our bedroom so it is out of the way. The last few nights, what does he do? He leaves it sitting downstairs in the living room. Yesterday, Moe took a bottle of green paint and dumped it into the palette that was sitting on his painting table. No harm done except to the green paint. This morning, apparently she was trying to dump the brown paint into the palette. Only she had the palette sitting on the couch. And it spilt. All over the couch. Did I mention the couch isn't very old? And was now covered in paint?

Somehow I managed to blot all of the paint off the couch. The cushion was much worse than the couch. But I put that in the sink and continuously ran water over it while blotting and squeezing. I'm not sure how I did it, but I believe I got it all out.

The couch is brown with red and green. The paint was also brown, but a very light/bright brown.

At least it came out.

What I accomplished while Husband was away

Husband has been away in DC since Wednesday. He attended a gaming conference, where I am told he had alot of fun.

While he was gone, I managed to do a few things around the house.

1). Let daughter miss her first day of school. But she was sick and it was only 2.5 hours.

2). Have the dishes washed every night, although I have no one to prove it.

3). Fixed the toilet that has been broke for about 10 months. If I knew it was only a 5 minute Job and so easy, I would have done it back then instead of waiting for him.

4). Re framed a bunch of pictures which had been knocked down and had the glass broken. Also have them hung back up on the wall.

5). Rehung the mirror in Einey and Meenie's room that I have been waiting on Husband to hang. Almost as long as I was waiting on the toilet to be fixed.

6). Hung some pictures of the girls in our bedroom. Although they are about 3 years old. And there's none of Moe. But we have been working on painting and wallpapering the room for a looong time (who has time to paint and wallpaper?) so I can't blame this one on him.

7). Cleared the ice off the steps so I don't fall on my ass leaving the house. I couldn't find any ice melt (because, who carries it when you actually need it?). I accomplished this by pouring hot water on the steps and then shoveling the sludge away. Then I put a crap load of dirt down.

8). Washed and folded (and even put away) almost all of the laundry.

9). Moved some toys around. The kitchen set, which has been unused for months, was moved from Einey/Meenie's room to Moe's room. The dishes and food which was in the playroom also got moved upstairs to Moe's room. Then all three of them promptly played with it for hours.

And now I am letting the girls stay up late watching a movie. I want them to sleep in tomorrow morning!

Feeling better

I am a perfectionist and hate when we have to miss anything. The bad mom in me said send her in. The good mom said let her stay home. She has until Tuesday to recover and it's only 2.5 hours!

Einey is feeling much better. I felt bad as she couldn't go to school on Thursday due to being sick all day Wednesday. I actually almost sent her in anyway as they only had a 2.5 hour school day. They had a 1/2 day scheduled and ended up with a 90 minute delay due to weather. They were going to have their Valentine's Day party and probably just free play the rest of the time. But when I went out to start the van, it was covered in a solid 1.5 inch thick layer of ice. I tried leaving it run for awhile but it wasn't helping much. I finally said screw it and went back inside. She shouldn't have gone in anyway. Plus, with her feeling sick, did I really want her eating party junk? I sent in her valentine's earlier in the week, so her friends got them Thursday. She'll get her bag when she goes back on Tuesday.

I moved the van into the sun to try and melt the ice. Today, I had to go out and chip away what was left. I don't think I have ever removed ice so thick from my vehicle before. My driveway is covered in ice. I had to throw dirt down on the steps to give us some traction. I hope when Husband comes back from his trip, he grabs some ice melt to do the stairs, even with the dirt, they are a slip and fall waiting to happen.

Anyway, we are surviving well without Husband home. He seems to be having fun and we can't wait to see him Sunday!

Happy Valentine's Day...

I hope yours is going better than mine.

I kissed hubby goodbye at 10:30 am and sent him on his merry way. He's heading to DC for the weekend to a gaming con with some friends. At precisely 10:45 am, Einey started to puke. And puke she has since then. I was slightly amused at first - it came up bright pink and seemed somewhat fitting for the day (powdered donuts and strawberry milk).

So here I am sitting in a virus infested house with the kids. We are getting low on milk (I may have to ration it).

There was no school today due to the ice and snow that fell last night. So daughter will not be going to school tomorrow. Which means she has 6 days off. Plenty of time to rest.

I had to cancel having friends over Friday night to keep me company as I don't want to infect anyone else.

I brought some new sleds last night hoping to use them this weekend, but as of right now, we have about 1/2 inch of snow and the rest is ice. Not enough to use the sleds.

Last night, husband and I went out to a nice quiet dinner. Alone. It was very relaxing. After that, we stopped and picked up some flowers. Just a mixture bouquet, which I prefer over just roses anyway. And that is all I wanted for Valentine's Day. I don't feel like we need a holiday for him to ell me he loves me. He does that all year long. He shows me he loves me with the little things. One day isn't going to change it.

Anyway stay warm, stay healthy and enjoy whatever treats you get.

The End is Here - It's Finally Over!

Last night was husband's last night on at work!

He has been working 12 hour nights, 6 straight days a week since the beginning of September. Except for his one night off a week, I see him one and a half hours a day (which is usually what time he spends bathing and eating so it really isn't quality time)!

But the end is here! Last night was the last night! Now he's home for 5 whole days!

He did what?

The other day, I went to feed the dog and noticed there were mealworms in her food. So I put the container outside to be emptied and clean. I came home from work on Tuesday and husband had cleaned out the food container. I was pretty happy that he took care of this.

I assumed that he had tossed the food in the garbage and didn't think twice about it.

However, when I came home last night, I saw a cat about ten feet down the driveway eating something. Thinking that it caught a mouse and was playing with it, I left it as that. I came home today and decided just to walk down the driveway. There I found this big pile of dogfood and milkbones. Just laying there. As if we didn't have enough problems with animals in and around the house. Arggh! So now I have to get out a shovel to properly dispose of it before any other creatures decide to make themselves home inside and on top of my home.

Husband....

I got to thinking a lot about just who my husband was after reading a post on MetroDad.

So I am here to now tell you a little about my husband.

First and foremost, he is a funny, sensitive, caring individual. I have know him for so long, I can't even begin to imagine my life without him. He is as much a part of me as my daughters are. He usually knows what I am thinking before I tell him.

Of course, life isn't always roses and rainbows. After almost 7 years of marriage, he still doesn't know where some of the dishes belong (even if he takes them out), he always leaves the sponge in the bottom of the sink (to get buried by dishes - ughh, I hate that), leaves the paper towel roll empty and doesn't always put a clean trash bag in the garbage when he empties it. But those are small ripples on the ocean of life.

He is one of those dads that world revolves around their kids. He would rather be watching them play soccer than watching a game on TV. He would rather be taking them on adventures than messing around on the computer. He strives to teach them new things everyday. From turning over logs in the yard to teaching them new games. He has never balked at the thought of changing a diaper.

After working 40+ hours a week, he never complains if the house is not spotless, if the dishes aren't done or the laundry put away. He likes to help cook and will even do the dishes after.

One of his biggest hobbies is painting. You can see some of his work here. He has painted the Noah's Arc mural in our nursery and drew pictures for the playroom. He even drew the program for my daughter's dance school's recital last spring.

And the center of the ceiling.

So anyway, there's a little bit about the man I married.

Remind me again why I love you?

Sometimes I need a little reminder why I love my Equal. Why was it I married him again? Usually it's when he's yelling at the kids for no apparent reason.

I came up with a list of little things.

1. He brings me home coffee on his way home from work without me asking (and not just any coffee but Caramel Latte's just the way I like them).

2. He surprises me with flowers. And not just any flowers, daisies because they are my favorite.

3. He gives me backrubs when he knows I've had a rough day.

4. He doesn't complain if the house is a mess when he comes home.

5. He does the dishes.

6. He watches the kids without complaining so I can go out.

7. He eats the rest of my food when I am done eating.

8. He doesn't complain if I buy something new.

After 6 1/2 years of marriage (and 11 years together) I can't imagine my life without him. He makes my world complete. He is the yang to my yin. He is everything I can imagine in a partner and father.