Halloween Fun!

There are two months out of the year where I want to make things really fun for the kids and October is one of them. We have a Halloween Advent calendar, a copycat of a Pottery Barn one, and each day there is a fun activity for the kids to do.

Eerika doesnt really grasps the idea as much, but Saku will ask, without a fail, what the Halloween elf wants us to do today. Each morning there is a note for them. Or there have been few late mornings/afternoons when we had to wait for the our messages to come. 

Yesterday we painted pumpkins. We have also drawn monsters, worn costumes and had story times, made foot print ghosts and plenty of other activities that I cannot remember...

Just a little 5 pm pity party

This week has been exhausting. It has been unusually busy with appointments, work trainings (for me) on top of the usual soccer practices and mutual nights. And things wont slow down for another week. 

This morning as we met up to trade cars and hand off Eerika from Troy to me, I was so glad that we aren't both working parents. I don't know how people do it. Just the few hours of day time work schedule that I had this week, left me feeling frazzled and guilty for having the kids in the car so much. 

And then I was up with Eerika about every two to three hours last night. Of course it was the night before I had to get up at 5 am to get to the hospital for my annual performace review. And top of it off, I woke up with a nasty head cold and I am ready to go to bed at 5 pm.  

Yeah my life is not really that hard, but man, I do not enjoy being so busy and so tired. I have episode of The Good Wife and Bones that Troy and I need to watch but we have passed out by 9 pm each night this week. 

On a more positive note, I ate a delicious sandwich today.  Heather came over. The kids played so happily. Troy has been making green smoothies each morning as his breakfast. Troy did Eerika's hair and even thought to use conditioner in the shower to de-tangle her hair this morning. That is a seriously awesome isi. I saw Camry and Camille on Monday for an extended play date and I was reminded again what a treasure a good friend is. 

On a complete different note, Saku informed Eerika about the purpose of his scrotum over a dinner time last week. There is about 99% chance that I could not keep a poker face when he described "the sac under my pippeli that has little balls is for making babies". Why does he know that? Because he once asked me and I told him the truth. This might be controversial. Eerika then informed Saku "I don't have balls, but I have a kitty cat (referring to her black stuffed cat)". I don't think Eerika quite understand Saku's reference to balls. So if you ever feel like your dinner conversations are stale, we can come over and spice up the conversation. 

We spend an hour cuddling and reading books this morning. Eerika's face shows no signs of a rough night where I look rather droopy. 

Girlfriend modeling her hair.

The ponytail stayed up all day. Way to go isi!

One of us was lucky enough to be able to pass out on the floor at 5:20 pm. 

Generous and Loving Children

While we were in Utah last week, we drove through the canyon where I ran my first marathon. We obviously talked about it and Eerika turned to me and said "When I grow up, I want to run a marathon all by myself".  I hope she does run one and I hope she will let me run it with her.

On the morning of Makayla's baptism Cambree, Eerika's favorite friend and cousin, came down the stairs and as Eerika saw her, she said in the most delighted voice "Cambree, you look beautiful". I truly wish that Cambree lived closer to us because these two cousins are such good friends. Without a  fail, Eerika will say that Cambree is her best friend and they only see each other four times a year. 

Once again, I make a comment about Eerika being such a big girl and she generously answered "When I grow up, I will have a baby and you can hold her".

Saku likes to write notes. He can sound out some words and some I help him spell.

Learning New Things

The kids learn new things all the time. I can't even keep track of them or write them down. However, I have learned few things on my own. 

Exhibit A: Setting up a tent. 

I rely on Troy on many manly things. When we go camping, he sets up the tent.

Well, he went to Korea and I promised to take the kids camping. It happened that we only went camping in the backyard, but the kids were just as happy with that.

It took Saku and I two attempts to get the tent set up, but we did it. And happily camped through the night. 

I also drove to Utah with the kids, but without Troy. We made it from Tucson to Orem in 13 hours and 40 minutes, which only four quick breaks for gas, potty and food. And before I went on the trip, I put air in the tires all by myself. Yes, a new trick for this woman.   

Happy Kids after Isi got back from Japan

Sibling Love??

Initially the post was started on Thursday Oct. 3, 2013

Right now both of the kids are in their own rooms. They have been fighting all morning. 

In an attempt to break the vicious cycle of bugging each other and giving each other dirty looks. I busted out a caramel apple, a treat from Troy, and I wanted to have a little moment of peace as we ate our apples outside on the porch. Then we got the chalk out and the fighting continued. Eerika colored in Saku's pictures and Saku got mad. We tried few different times and then I just decided that they would go to their own rooms and hopefully appreciate each other after a mandatory alone time. 

I know it is part of being siblings. I know it is part of this age and the social learning that they need to go through. They are fabulous kids. 

BUT man, is it tiring to listen to fighting and crying and keep asking "what happened?" and "what did you do?"

The more insightful thought, since I dont have an answer for the fighting, is the fact that if I had posted pictures of our caramel eating and put few cute captions of the moment, it would have painted a different picture of us.

It could have looked as "I am such a fun mom. We just have fun and eat caramel apples and my kids are adorable. Life is just perfect."

I think I am a fun mom. We have fun and we did eat caramel apples. And my kids are dang adorable. And my life is so blessed. So blessed. 

However, the illusion of a perfect behaving kids with a perfect mom can be hard. It can be hard to measure up to. Actually it is impossible to measure up to.

Fortunately, for all of us, the kids played well together in the afternoon. But this weekend Troy noticed the fighting and he said "I'm sorry you have to put up with this all day". Of course, it isn't fighting all day, but it was nice to have him recognize the odd challenges that I face as I get to be home with the kids. Sometimes it is pure bliss and sometimes it is pure mental torture.

But again, I wouldn't want to do anything else in the world. As long as I get a 30 minute to myself each day during Eerika's nap:)

Where to Use My Time

Lately I have been wondering how all these women around me look so good all the time. I am not putting myself down, but somehow I just dont get my hair done and make up done each day. Well it is not that it doesn't magically happen because I know it doesn't magically happen to anyone, but I have just realized that I don't care enough each day to get all done up. 

The other day we went to a play date that started at 10 am. I ended up doing a short one mile run on my treadmill, more for the mental benefit than physical fitness, and jumped in the shower around 9:30. The kids were all dressed, teeth brushed, hair done, but  while I did have time to get cute clothes on and make up on, I did not have time blow dry my hair. So another day of air drying my hair that results in some craziness.

On Friday I got together with Heather. And this is why we are best friends, among many other ways, because she greeted me with her work out clothes and no make up face. 

So if I look back at my pictures and wonder about the lack of good hair days or eye liner, I wanted to write down things that we have been spending time on.  

We have been having lots of cupcake parties. Miss E could spend her whole day doing cupcake parties in her room. Fortunately, it is pretty low maintenance from my part as she bakes for me and I get to taste all the different varieties. Chocolate cupcake sometimes looks like a pork chop.  And Saku is very good about doing those parties with her. He often says "that sounds like a great idea" when she suggests a cupcake party. 

We have been reading tons of books. I mean like I think we have read 90 books this week. We went to the library on Monday and checked out 35 books and we have read each one of them at least three times so far. Again, my favorite thing to do with the kids. They cuddle up on me and we read and it doesnt require me to come up with a dialogue about Star Wars, which is what playing legos and pretend requires. My kids truly love reading. 

We are very into Star Wars. Well Saku is into Star Wars but that means we all have to kind be into them. It takes up a lot of energy to play Star Wars legos with Saku the way HE wants it. That is why reading is so much easier. 

We have been getting a lot of sleep. This week I went to bed around 9:30 each night. Troy was gone and I didnt feel like staying up just for the sake of staying up. And magically, my kids were asleep by 7:30 on most nights so we all got plenty of sleep. 

Drinking green smoothies. We invested in a Vitamix and I have been making green smoothies on most days. Two handfuls of spinach, frozen pineapple, peach and banana have been my main ingredients. And Troy likes them! So I have felt like a good steward of our health as we have been eating more fruits and vegetables. 

I have been a referee here. Eerika is a little bugger. She loves to bug Saku. And Saku loves to bug her so I have been refereeing a lot lately. I know it is part of the sibling relationship but it can be hard to remember to use my kind words to remind them about kind words. 

We decorated for Halloween. 

We have gone on walks. We have started to enjoy the cool evenings and walk around the neighborhood. The kids are excited to see who is decorating for Halloween. We spotted "our friendly spider", a green spider who hangs out in a tree, and continued our conversations with him. He got almost a daily visit from us last year so I am sure he was glad to see us again. 

On a drastic note, I am tempted to get off Facebook. I wasted too much time on it...but am I brave enough to do it...