Photo Hunt Saturday - Hobby

This week's theme is hobby. And while I have three specific things I like to do, I find myself lacking the time to actual engage in my hobbies.

The first is scrapbooking. I have been doing this for a few years now and really enjoy it. I have books started but not quite done of the older two girls. I find when I am in the mood to work on them, I don't have the right pictures. Since we went digital, I have lacked printing the pictures. They just sit on a disk.


The second hobby is something I can only do part of the year. It's gardening. I really only started seriously working in the gardens last year. Before that, I would try but never think ahead. I would just go out and buy flats of annuals and plant them. They'd look nice for the season and then the following year, I would start over. Last year we planted veggies. They didn't take well, but we at least got our money's worth. The girls loved picking veggies from the yard (and raspberries) and eating them. This year, we are planning another veggie garden, but are going to give it proper care prior to planting. I have also invested in some perennials to keep coming back year after year. I can't wait to see our garden grow! The seedlings you see are the start of our sunflower house!


My last hobby is sewing. This is new to me and while I enjoy it, I don't have much time to do it. I have been working on summer dresses for the girls. This is the fabric I plan on using.


When we brought our house, we brought it because it has a small room off the master bedroom. This is our hobby room, although Husband's D&D stuff takes up most of the room. The following are pictures of our hobby room.

And lastly, here are some pictures of Husband's hobby. He enjoys painting miniatures.

What a day

Remember the pictures of my clean playroom? Well this is what it looked like today.


In addition, Moe decided to combine the contains of four puzzles. And three of them are Strawberry Shortcakes. So I have four hundred puzzle pieces to go through and sort.

Lastly, she tipped over a plant stand and I had this to deal with. Yup, right into the heating register. Ughh!

Overheard....

Mother to child: Why don't you go ask Daddy if he can help you.

Meenie to other Mother: Hey, that's my Daddy's name too!

The two sides of Moe....

Moe can best be summed up as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. She's can be the sweetest, politest little child or the devil incarnate. She's a very active, opinionated, strong-willed blue-eyed two year old. She's not afraid to ask for what she wants and doesn't take NO for an answer. If told NO and it's something she really wants she'll just get it herself. She learned at a young age how to drag chairs around to reach things up high. Her sisters come to her from help when they need to get something behind a door with a child-proof cover on it. That's not to say I let her get away with these things. If she grabs a pudding when I say no snacks, I take it away. If she climbs I make her put the chair back and she has a time-out. She also has very good manners, is not afraid to say sorry, likes to snuggle, shares and loves to laugh.

In some ways, she is wise beyond her two years. Maybe it's because she has two older sisters showing her the way. One thing I do know is she plays better with older children, that is children that are at least her age or above. We've been to numerous parties, gatherings and school functions lately. And always, a few parents remark on how well behaved she is. How great she plays with the older kids - she fits right in. They find her sweet, polite and adorable. Over the past few weekends, we went to several Easter Egg Hunts. Moe freely (and without prompting) gave away eggs to other kids who didn't have any/many.

In other ways, she can't play well with others. And by other, I mean children her own age - kids she should be playing with. She's aggressive - she pushes and pinches. She's a bully. She's made a few kids afraid to go near her.

And here is where I feel as I am between a rock and a hard place.

We belong to a few playgroups. One is basically a few moms who get together once a week (we'll call this group A). The kids play, the moms talk. We rotate bringing snacks, toys and an activity for the kids. Very laid back. The other is a international non-profit playgroup (this can be group B). There are rules and governing board (which I was on until I resigned last week). It's very structured. There are many different "groups" within the group you can attend.

Group A we've belonged to since Einey was 9 moths old and we were just meeting friends at a park. It's had some of the same members for the last 4 years - but never more than 10 moms. Many of these moms, like myself, have 3 children, some 4. We've all at some point been pregnant at the same time. We've been through it all.

Group B is larger but still has a "core" group of moms who see each other often. We've been apart of this since this group started (and longer since we were part of the group that formed this group). A lot of these moms have younger kids (and quite a few just single kids).

The above was just to give a little background - it has no influence on anyone, just to give an overview of the two groups. Both groups are formed by intelligent, wonderful women. Women I am glad to be friends with. And like our children, we are all different. It's part of what makes the groups great. We all have our own styles and thoughts.

At group A, Moe is great. She gets along with most kids (older, younger and the same age as her). Occasionally, she'll do a little pushing or try to take a toy away from someone. Occasionally she'll be the one pushed. Always, its a time-out or re-direction after the victim is finished crying and the "sorry's" said. The children smile and go one their way, continuing their playing. The mothers go back to talking. We've all had a child who has been the victim or the bully. At one point, when Einey was 3, there was a child who was a biter. And Einey seemed to always be the one bitten. We never held it against this child, we understood that that is a completely normal phase. In fact, this child is one of Einey's good friends still. It happens, its a normal phase and children eventually outgrow it.

At group B, Moe is a terror. She goes out of her way to push and pinch a few kids. Re-direction and time-outs don't stop. She gets down and does it again. "Sorry's" don't seem good enough. Someone gets frustrated and anger bubbles up. Again, she's two and it is a completely normal phase for her to be going through. While normal, it's not acceptable. And it also feels like some people just don't understand that two-year-olds push. It's part of their development, and while unacceptable, it's a phase that eventually gets outgrown. It just takes time and patience. I cannot just tell her she needs to stop and expect her never to do it again. While a nice thought, it's unrealistic. And at this point, I cannot control when/if she pushes. I can only take steps to discipline her and hope she outgrows it soon.

Because of this, I have resigned from my positions and backed off. And I feel bad. I hate that Moe is a bully. I feel bad for the kids she pushes around. I hate her being punished (although it has to be done). We were told we could still go to events, but it would be "two strikes and your out" - meaning two incidents and we'd have t o leave. This is completely fair and I understand. But at the same time, I can't do it. I know she'll continue this behavior. I know we'd be leaving many playgroups. And for that I just can't do. I do feel it's appropriate to punish her. But I can't bring myself to punish her sister(s). I know it would cause hurt feeling and resentment from them when we had to leave. I know they would be upset with leaving their friends, after all they look forward to it. So essentially, like a wounded child, I took my "toys and left the playground".

Maybe I'm over-thinking this, but it's something that has been on my mind for awhile. Are they over-scheduled or under-scheduled? I try to think of myself as a fairly relaxed parent. I let my daughters play with "male oriented" toys. I encourage dramatic play, make believe, art and sports. I let them play with swords (or rather light sabers) as long as they don't get out of control. Pool noodles are for, yup, bopping each other. They can run barefoot through the grass. They are allowed to jump in mud puddles. They believe in fairies and spend hours during the summer building fairy houses (and love to see that the fairies visit when they see the fairy dust (glitter) sprinkled around the house. Einey plays D&D. Video games are not forbidden. Books are highly encouraged and we make frequent trips to the library. We've taken lessons (swim, music, dance, creative music, soccer) and gone to story hour. We regularly visit zoos, parks, and science centers. I've even been known to let them have candy for breakfast. I let them watch TV. They are happy, so that should be all that counts, right?

So here's my question. How do you deal with an aggressive child? How do you deal with your child being a victim? What would you do? Any advice or comments would be welcome!

The Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy

We had a great Easter weekend. We braved the cold on Saturday to go to Grandma's for an Easter Egg Hunt with their two cousins. After indulging in too much candy, we headed to a friend's birthday party to see a magician. The girls (and all the kids there) were in awe of the magic tricks.

Easter morning, the girls woke up and I could hear the squeals of delight coming from downstairs as they saw the basket the Easter Bunny came and filled for them. "Mommy, the Easter Bunny brought me a new bathing suit". "Mommy, he brought the Barbie I wanted. The one from the store". "Mommy, look"! After having a box of jelly beans for breakfast, the girls immediately changed into their bathing suits, put on their sunglasses and grabbed their plush bunnies to play with.

Finally, they had enough and clamoured to get into their Easter dresses. We went to Mass, where Moe kept exclaiming every time the organist played "All Done". Overall, they were were very well behaved, which is why I don't mind bringing them to Mass every week. I know it's the one place they will sit relatively still and be mostly quiet for 45 minutes. Then it was home for lunch and naps.

Oh wait, what about the box from our dear friends in VA? Sure lets open that. As I am opening the box, I head Einey start crying hysterically. Apparently as I was opening the box, she was bouncing excitedly next to it and I knocked her tooth our. She was so upset, her tooth was out an we couldn't find it. I think it scared her more than anything, she had been very nervous about it coming out for the last few days. After about 15 minutes of her asking "is it bleeding still" and me reassuring her that it WAS ready to come out, if it wasn't the little bump wouldn't have knocked it out. She finally calmed down. We never did find the tooth, but she was reassured that the Tooth Fairy would know and still come.


So now lunch was way late, but they ate and slept a little. Then it was off to Mema and Pepa's for another Easter Egg Hunt and more Easter Baskets. And dinner of course! This is where they looked around and gave their "ewws and yucks". But in the end, they proved to be good little Polish kids and found out that they do in fact like Pierogi's, Sweet Bread and Easter Kielbasa from the semi-local Polish Deli. And not the frozen Pierogi's you can find in most grocery stores. Mema spends at least two days cooking them. Now to actually get Mema to pass down the secret family recipe and to teach someone how to cook them, we'd be all set. Unfortunately, they only get made for holidays.

Then it was home to wish Daddy a Happy Easter, show him the spoils and go to bed. But not before putting the tooth box under Einey's pillow with a paper tooth inside.

Them Mommy went through the Candy box, throwing away the left over Halloween and Christmas candy to make room for all of the Easter Candy.

The Tooth Fairy did come and she left Einey a gold dollar coin (very special), a paper dollar and a note all covered in fairy dust. I heard those squeals of delight at 6:30 this morning as she found the goodies nestled under her pillow.

Photo Hunt Saturday - Clean

This weeks theme is Clean. I am very late with this but had a busy weekend. Here are two photo's of our clean playroom. Usually it can be found with toys all over the floor and books falling off the shelves. The shelves are not perfectly organized, but most things are where they are supposed to be. As long as they are put away, I consider it clean!

Weekend Recap

We had a busy weekend!


Friday was a half day of school, so after picking Einey up, we decided to visit the zoo. On the way there, I started to suffer from a panic attack (I've been getting them lately - not fun!). Luckily, we were under 10 minutes away from the zoo when it happened so I was able to make it there and once we walked around for a bit, I was able to relax. It could have been much, much worse! The girls had fun, despite the fact that the zoo is undergoing massive renovations and many animals were not out/around. They loved the flamingos, one of who was standing in the water dish and walking around in circles the whole time. They also love the tamarins, especially Moe who was visited by the baby!


Saturday, we went over to a friend from Einey's class for an Easter Egg Hunt. There were plenty of activities and food and eggs. Again, I was hit with a panic attack, but this time I had my medicine with me, so I was able to take that and relax. Meenie participated in the "bunny hop" with all the big kids and even managed to beat them across the finish line. When it was time to hunt for the eggs in the 7 acre field, Meenie took off with the big kids. They went straight up the center and back on the right side. Moe and another little guy (who was almost 2) went to the left and made a killing with eggs that the big kids by passed. One of the kindergartners wen with them, but she didn't take the eggs from them. Moe was funny to watch, she shook each egg when she picked them up. Meenie only got one egg, but on the way back to the house, one of the big kids shared her eggs so Meenie had almost as many as the other kids. Then the kids rode bikes in the yard while the parents got to interact. It was nice actually being able to talk to some of the other mothers (and fathers) besides the quick - "hi, how are you" at drop off - pick up time".


Saturday night Einey and Meenie had a sleep over at Mema and Pepa's so it was just me and Moe! We had fun, just the two of us. She actually was so tired, that she snuggled up to me and fell asleep in my arms. That is one thing I miss about the girls growing older. Unfortunately, Moe came down with the cold we've all had, so it was a restless night for us.

Sunday we went to church and then an Easter Egg Hunt at Pepa's work. His company sponsor's all sorts of holiday activities for employees and their family. The girls got to meet the Easter Bunny and participated in another Egg Hunt. Another panic attack - but the medicine does help! The girls ended up with alot of eggs, but had no problem sharing with the kids who didn't get any/ or only got a few. I am so proud of them!


Anyway, that was a recap of our very busy weekend.

Soccer is supposed to start tomorrow for Meenie. Einey still doesn't have a coach, so we are waiting to hear when she will start. Moe is, much to her dismay, still to young to play. She keeps repeating "grow up bigger soccer ball". If you remember, is a big fan of Mia Hamm. She definitely has the ability to dribble the ball!

Phot Hunt Saturday - Water

This weeks theme is Water. Water is, essentially everywhere. I love being outside with my girls, so it comes as no surprise that I have more than a few "water" pictures floating around. The real task was figuring out which ones to use.

This is a picture of the waterfall in the garden pond at my in-laws house. A frog named Maya has taken up residence in the pond along with 6 goldfish. The girls love to feed the fish and watch the different birds who come for a drink.


Here is a mother goose out with a swim with her gosling's. They are enjoying the cool water on a warm day.


This is a blackbird who decided to rest on a branch near a pond.

Saturday Photo Hunt - Empty

This weeks theme is Empty.

Last year we found these nuts (not sure exactly what they were). What I do know, is in addition to these spiky outer shell, there were also round seeds that went inside. This spiky shell happened to be empty when we found it.

On a trip to the beach last year, we found this skate egg satchel washed up on the shore. It had already hatched and was empty.

In our gardens, we have snails. Our snails actually have shells like sea snails. This particular shell found in the garden was empty.

We went on a tour of a local dairy farm. Inside the barn, we saw this rack of empty milk bucket.

Popcorn Plants

Today we went over to my friend's house for an activity. The girls painted some terra cotta flower pots and then planted some sunflower seeds inside. Then they sat down for a snack - popcorn. I walked around the corner to find Einey digging in her pot. When I asked her what she said...

"I am planting some popcorn."

It took me a moment to realize that she was putting her popcorn kernels in the soil.

Feeling Better...

The stomach bug only seemed to have affected Husband and Einey (unless of course, it shows up over the weekend in someone else). Einey went back to school the next day and all is well on the home front except...

I now have a killer sinus infection. I can't complain much because I used to get frequent sinus infections and over the last few years, I haven't had any. Unfortunately the Sudafed PE isn't working so i need to try something else (as long as I haven't used my allotted decongestant purchase for the week. What really bugs me is when you have a family of 5 (most of whom are prone to allergies and require a decongestant at the same time) but you are limited to how much you can buy. How do you pick who can get relief and who can stay miserable and snotty?

Anyway, that all that's up here.

Edit: 9:00 pm I was able to pick up some Tylenol Cold and Sinus today, but I still feel like crap. My head is pounding, my throat hurts when I talk (so the kids are going to get away with alot the next few days) and my chest hurts when I cough. I can't take anything to knock myself out either as Husband is working nights and I don't want to be unconscious if needed.

Round 4 (or is it 5, I've lost count)....

It came without warning, without pain without aches. It came very suddenly, not one could escape.

We have entered round 4 (or possibly 5) of PukeFest '07. Is it even possible to be sick that often? It seems like once a month since December (possibly November - I can't remember that far back) we have been hit with the stomach bug. Yesterday it started with Husband and moved to Einey. I may or may not have gotten it, if so it was very mild. I am not taking the kids to playgroup for at least a week because last time, we went FIVE DAYS return to school once she is feeling better, but between kids getting sick. We thought we were out of the woods, you know, the whole 24 hour thing, but nope. I will let Eineythat's it.

There is nothing worse than trying to lift a puking child off the top of a bunk bed when you can hardly reach her. Did I mention she was puking? So we all stripped and showered, threw one load of disgusting bed stuff in the laundry and tried to sleep. She slept well and that was it, but Husband was up every 2 hours and I slept lightly.

This morning, I have already washed 3 loads of puky blanket, Lysoled the entire house and am working on washing everyone else's bedding. I am minutes away from scrubbing down the entire house, floor to ceiling. However, I think that may end up being a project set out over days - one room at a time. That way I don't neglect the girls and I can get everything done. I want to clean the baseboards, wash the walls, scrub the floors and organize the toys (yes I just did this, but this is a once a week job).

Thankfully, spring arrives tonight. With it, I hope the warm weather arrives, so we can air out the house and get out in the fresh air much much more often.

I am sick of being sick!

Photo Hunt Saturday - Drink

This weeks theme is Drink.


My favorite drink is a nice, hot caramel Latte. My second favorite drink is a bottle of Ballet of Angels (pictured above), a wine brewed at a local winery.

My Visual DNA

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

I found this via Ryan and thought is was interesting. Apparently I am an easy rider, escape artist, back to basics, touchy feely girl. Go visit and get your own visual DNA!

Real Moms let their kids watch TV...

Courtesy of Kristen's Real Moms Meme, in search of the Real Mom Truth.

Brought to me by Binky.

Real moms know the power of TV.


Real moms know that TV isn't all bad. Real moms know what it takes if they want to:
hit the bathroom in peace,
get some chores done,
spend some quality time with their husband before older kids come home,
relax by the computer, reading blogs and drinking a latte,
cook supper,
take a bath without having company.....
the list goes on....

What else can distract a toddler so that you can get things done? It can even be educational, if you pop in Baby Einstein, Leap Pads Letter factory, TMBG: Here come the ABC's and many others.

I tag:
Mrs. Chicken
Toyfoto
Mom- 101

unless of course, you've already been tagged, in that case.
Shit, I've got nothing.

Signs of Spring

Today we went searching for signs of spring and this is what we found.

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

The Joys of Spring...

Today was a beautiful day. The temperature topped 58 degrees so we decided to hit the playground after school. A few friends met us there and we had alot of fun.

There was just one problem.

Spring equals melted snow equals muddy playgrounds equals dirty kids equals thank god mom keeps a change of clothes in the van.

It was fun until daughter lost her shoes to the mud goddess. I fished them out and she had to walk barefoot to the van. We came home and immediately placed all of our clothes and shoes in the washing machine.

Mental note: Do not let kids wear brand new shoes to the playground when you know it is probably going to be muddy. Make sure each kid has a full change of clothes in the car (only Moe did and thankfully it was her that fell into a puddle and not one of the others or we would have had to had left earlier).

Hey Einstein...

You were supposed to turn your clocks ahead last night, not back.

Hahahaha!

They won't be winning any MENSA awards with this thinking.

As we left the house this morning, we could hear people over at the rifle range (or hunting) across the river. The girls asked "what's that". When we explained that is was gunshots, they said "what are they shooting? They're not shooting at us, are they". We explained that they were shooting at targets or animals like deer or turkeys.

A few minutes later in the car....

Meenie: "They can't be shooting animals, they won't fit."

Me: " Where won't they fit, I don't understand"

Einey: "In the guns, the animals won't fit in the guns.

After laughing for about 5 minutes, I had to agree with them.

About an hour later, we were walking into the store, and the girls heard a truck which they thought sounded like the gunshots.

"That's just like the gunshots we heard at home this morning."

Um, lets not talk about that okay, we don't want people thinking the wrong thing......

Photo Hunt Saturday - Architecture

This weeks theme is architecture. I had a tough time in that I couldn't decide what to post, so I am posting a few of my favorites!

The first two are natural architecture. We found this birds nest last summer under a tree in my parent's back yard, so the girls brought it home and placed it in a bush. They were hoping some birds would take up residence in it, but they had no takers!

What creature is better at building it's home than a spider? Here is a web with fresh fallen dew on it!


This building will always have a special place in my heart. It was standing under the stone arch, under the sunset with the waves crashing behind us, that Husband proposed to me just 9 short years ago. I have always loved walking around, admiring the stone architecture of this building by the beach!


We love to take the kids hiking in the nice weather. One of our favorite places to hike is at the local Audubon Society. It has wetlands, marshes and fields. While hiking last summer (the same trail we usually take, we discovered this old stone arch leading under the airline trail. We thought it was just a unique piece of architecture, in the middle of nowhere!

This is a picture of a local private boarding school, where some of our friends live. I have always loved driving by, seeing the ivy climbing its way up the sides of the building.

And this last photo is a shot of the dome inside the Children's Hospital where Meenie spent a week last summer after coming down with viral encephalitis. Many meals were spent under this dome, as it was the one place we could use or phones to keep in touch with family and the girls. I would often sit in the center and stare up at the dome, marveling at the architecture and could just feel a sense of calming. It was a place I could relax and forget about my sick child upstairs for just a few moments.


I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Feel free to browse around the rest and take a peek at my 365 Day of random Pictures (link on the sidebar)! I promise more interesting pictures coming soon, as we exit the big freeze (aka winter)!

The Joy of Internet TV

Just this week, I have found the joy of watching LOST on my computer. Since they switched to the 10-11pm schedule, I just can't stay awake to watch the episodes (and one week, I just forgot). I wish more companies would air their episodes on the Internet once they have played!

The girls have also found joy in watching clips on the computer. While watching something last night, they had a clip of the hiccuping panda cub. I remarked to Husband that I saw it on YouTube one day so off he went. And played it over and over, laughing hysterically. Then he showed it to the girls and now they request it. Others that they seem to like are the Hippo and the Dog, and the Wii clip.

And of course this was also a favorite. Unfortunately I couldn't find the video itself, but it is the first one on the clip. Really Big Universe is great for all you since nuts out there.

So, what are your favorite clips?

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.

Photo Hunt Saturday - Salty

When I think salty, I think of the ocean. We took these pictures of some tide pools last summer (Atlantic Ocean). Whenever we go to the ocean, we always try to find some tide pools - you never know what you are going to find in them! We love just searching through the pools. These two pictures have just some sea snails and baby mussels.

Snails!

Mussels!

Miss Independence...

This week, Einey has entered a new phase in life. She is trying to carve out an inch of independence in this crazy household. She shares a room with her sister, while Moe has the room to her self. As Moe gets older and sleeps regularly through the night (she still on occasion, wakes up which is common in toddlers). Eventually ,we will probably reverse the sleeping situation, giving Einey, as firstborn, a room to herself. However, with three bedrooms and 5 people living in this house, some of us have to share.

At a friend's house the other day, Einey saw a sign on her friends door which read "Get Owt of My Room". The sign was put up to deter his two younger sisters, neither of whom were at the reading age, from entering his room. As the only boy in a four child home, he earned that single room.

This morning, after dropping Einey off at school, I noticed this note she left on the Magna Doodle:


The fact that she has to share her room has not deterred her from trying to keep the others out. The fact that she does not have a door on her bedroom has not deterred her from making a sign. The fact that her sisters cannot read has not deterred her. The fact that she told me after school, that she only one's one of her sisters to stay out hasn't deterred her.

As other friends are dealing with their children learning new words, and thus asserting their independence, we are entering the need for privacy phase.

There is a whole world to explore out there and she is one step closer to being ready to explore it alone.