The Sweet Sounds of Summer

Dropping her off at school for the last time as a Kindergartner!!!

School was officially out for our house this past Friday.  We've just had a lazy weekend hanging out at home.  We've just been kind of bumming it this weekend.  It hasn't been too much different than any other weekend for us.  We couldn't go out of town this weekend because my husband had to work, so we just stayed home. 

We did BBQ yesterday and it was quite nice.  The weather was gorgeous and the food was tasty.  I tried to show my husband up on my charcoal grill mastery skills, but in the end he had to bail me out because I couldn't get my fire to stay going.  He made sure he had a good laugh at that one. He's just waiting to get his gas grill that he's been BEGGING for since I don't know how long now. I'm finally giving in and saying "fine....let's go with a gas grill...."

Completely against my better judgment though!


Every day the kids ask "Can we go to the lake now???"  They REALLY want to go swimming.  I usually wait until June to go to the lake, so they'll just have to wait a few more days.  I am however going to hook the kids up with some squirt guns in the back yard and as much water as they can squirt each other with.  No room for a pool, plus I don't want every neighbor kid out here to be in our pool.  I'd feel awful if someone got hurt for some reason or another. The kids are a little big for those little kiddie pools now, so they'll just have to deal with squirt guns in the back yard and going to the lake on the weekends. 
I look forward to hearing all of the joyous sounds of summer.  Kids playing outside, people mowing their yards, the sounds of laughter and good times being had across the neighborhood.  The sounds of my kids giggling and laughing, squealing with delight and surprise as they spray each other with water from their squirt guns, or pummel each other with water balloons.  I can't wait to see their faces when we go to the lake this year.  I'm so looking forward to our first camping trip! The sound of nature all around us! Birds, frogs, and whatever else.  Not looking forward to the ticks though, I could do without THAT part, not a fan of ticks!  You might hear some not so nice shrieking.  Ok I don't shriek or scream when I see a tick but I definitely want that nasty sucker off me or my kids asap. I'm looking forward to the sounds of baseball being played, and the kids riding their bikes.  Of cartoons too! Can't wait to take the kids to Six Flags this summer.  They've never been and I think they'll have a blast.  Plus not to mention the sounds of the town carnival!! I'm so excited for that! FUNNEL CAKE and SNOW CONES!! Get the kids some wrist bands and let them ride the rides until they are too exhausted to move.




They have another tball (rag ball) practice coming up on Tuesday, and their first game is on Wednesday.  My husband gets to be at both things! The kids are so excited, and so am I.  I actually got to teach HIM a few things about baseball that HE did not know, ha!


Our neighbors got a new dog, and it is supposedly 2% wolf.  Looks like a husky (not much different from my girl Karmen who is a husky mix).  However, when the neighbors dog HOWLS....*shiver* it's like there is a wolf literally standing on your door step.  It's both a beautiful and chilling sound.  If nothing else in that dog is wolf, then the 2% that is...must all be in that howl! I've never heard a howl quite like that. The closest I've ever heard was coyotes that would come up to our back door when I was a kid.  They'd come up and eat with the cats (never hurt the cats, the cats were smart enough to avoid them, and the dogs hid in their dog houses when I was growing up).  The ONLY thing keeping the coyotes out of our home, was a simple country screen door. The sucker didn't even latch, just kind of sat there.  We could sit at the table and eat supper and watch the coyotes eat, and they'd just stare right back at us.  It was both amazing and chilling at the same time.  Those coyotes were never scared of us. On one hand they kept the opossums and raccoons chased away from our yard.  On another...when it hit a certain time we did NOT go outside and play.  There was no camping in the back yard at MY house!


Wild animals are beautiful, but they belong in the wild.


I am finally getting some birds at my feeders! No humming birds yet that I've seen, but there are birds eating at my bird feeders.  Either that or its a squirrel, either way, I'm ok with that.  I do want to get a squirrel feeder for the tree in my back yard. I saw a squirrel in my yard and got all excited.  I nearly cried when I saw a rabbit the other day.  I didn't realize how much I missed seeing wild life in my back yard.  Where we lived 2 and a half years ago we had all kinds of deer, rabbits, raccoons, opossums, mourning doves, cardinals, humming birds etc. 


While making supper tonight (yummy stuffed peppers, my faaaavorite) I was sneaky and snuck in a S'mores.  We had made some the other day after we BBQ'D.  While I was making supper though I had a weeeeee bit of a sweet tooth and the kids were playing in their rooms so I made be a S'more in the microwave.  For the record 5 seconds is almost too long for a marshmallow in the microwave! That could have gotten messy very quickly.  I was lucky and managed to get that sucker eaten before the kids caught me.  Although later Kams goes "Mom, what's that on your chin?"  Ooops that ooey gooey marshmallow had left evidence on my face!

Mmmm this thing tasted so good!

Mae



Why My Life Is A Circus

The name of this blog has been around for years.  I've been calling it "Dance of the Animal Cracker Circus" for a very long time.  Have had a few other blogs with this title, but due to time constraints and crazy mom stalkers I deleted those blogs.  However, I decided I loved my blog, I loved blogging and it's something I've been doing since I was 18 and I wasn't going to give it up. I am not going to let anyone else dictate my life or tell me how to live it.

One day I was watching my children play while snacking on animal crackers.  They were all quite young, in fact my sons were still in cloth diapers and my daughter was still just a toddler herself.  As they were chewing on their animal crackers they were making them dance.  I reflected on this as I watched my kids play and do their silly business for the afternoon.  As I directed and guided them through their play I realized I often felt like a ring master of my own circus, and having just watched my kids playing with their animal crackers, I decided that was the perfect name for a blog.  Dance of the Animal Cracker Circus. 


When my daughter was a baby things were "easy".  She kept me on my toes, but I could keep up and we only had a few slightly terrifying moments during her infancy and toddler times.  She was one of those kids that wanted to eat things she wasn't supposed to, and climb and jump off of everything she wasn't supposed to.  Turn your back for a minute, and she'd be doing some death defying stunt.  She is what I would call have called the sword swallower/acrobat of the circus had she been old enough to be IN a circus anyway! (Not that she ever tried to swallow a knife or anything, though she did attempt to eat a thumb tack once, that I didn't know had fallen out of my desk drawer).


When the twins were born...life got....a little more complicated.  Twins are just different that's for sure! Then throw in a toddler, and then add in one son being diagnosed with childhood cancer, and the other with a mild seizure disorder, life was super stressful and crazy for quite some time.  Thankfully, we made it through that wild crazy circus!


Then the kids started preschool, and life took another dynamic change.  My babies are growing up on me.


Now this fall, all three of my children will be in elementary school.  What's a mom to do?  I quickly found out this year with just my daughter in Kindergarten, that life gets WAY busier and crazier once they are in elementary.  Lots of maneuvering and changing, scheduling, listening, learning, scheduling, and craziness. Now with all three kids in school this fall, I expect to be even busier.  Part of me wouldn't want it any other way! Another part of me wonders when it will all slow down! Though I know that when it DOES slow down I'll miss the busy hectic life style!


We have always been a family that loves animals, so now our crazy little animal circus has really become an animal circus.  With three dogs, a cat, a hamster and the occasional foster animal, it seems like our home is never boring or empty or void of animals! We're still looking to replace our beta fish that died a few months ago, he lived a good life, and will be missed.


Currently we're fostering a big ol' dog.  I'm not usually one to foster the big dogs, but we ended up with her due to extreme circumstances. Hopefully her situation will be resolved soon and she will be back where she belongs. 

I also was part of a rescue yesterday evening of a young kitten out of the middle of a very busy high way intersection. Poor little kitten.  Not sure exactly HOW the kitten came to be in his situation.  My guess is he fell out of a cars engine, but I will never know for sure I guess. I watched in horror as he sat in front of a back  tire, then climbed up on top of a car tire. I was praying it would be the long red light ever to give this cat a chance to get to safety.  He thankfully ended up right in the middle of the car.  The light turned green and the car drove off.  I pulled up with my hazard lights on and stopped traffic in the intersection and another man was trying to catch the kitten.  I told him if he could grab the kitten I would take it, so I ended up with the kitten.  His name, is Oliver.  (You know from the movie 'Oliver and Company')  That movie makes me bawl my eyes out all through the beginning of the movie, and it reminded me of this kitten, so I thought it was an appropriate name!!! Poor little Oliver has some goopy eyes, and he's absolutely TERRIFIED.  But with love and patience, I think he'll be ok. As soon as he is less scared, and healthier he'll be up for adoption.


I certainly wasn't planning on bringing home a kitten yesterday.  However, what would you do if you witnessed a kitten in a busy intersection?  You don't just leave the kitten there to die, you do something, to help.


My cat Hagrid is actually very gentle with this kitten and gave him a bath immediately upon meeting him.  I think that really helped the kitten feel better.  Now if only I could get my kids and dogs to be a little quieter so the poor kitten could relax a little bit more!


I certainly have a full house around here most of the time. There is never a dull moment.  My kids, their friends, babysitting kids, cats and dogs and friends popping in for a visit...yep, it can be loud and crazy, but a home full of love and caring, creativity, and awesomeness. We may not have a big mansion or a ton of money, but we are quite rich in what we DO have.

I wouldn't trade my crazy little Animal Cracker Circus for anything in the world. Even on the days where it sort of feels more like a crazy zoo than a circus. Kind of like today! The amount of barking dogs in my home (you might be surprised to know how much barking can come from 3 medium/small dogs and one large dog).  It's a bit insane, and I might lose a bit of sanity today. I wish dogs came with a mute button sometimes.


For now I am off to the local animal shelter to photograph dogs there to help them find home or rescue. 

Later my husband and I will be taking the kids to a ball field near our home to work on a few things I'm using them as my guinea pigs to sort through drills and stuff to do with the kids during ball practice on Tuesday. I promised them playtime at the park if they did well.  So we shall see!


Mae

Summer Play Dates and Surviving Ball Practice

Well, we managed to survive the first night of Rag ball practice.  FYI if you are wondering, Rag ball is pretty much T ball.  Why they call it rag ball, I have no idea, because they are certainly not using a "rag ball".  They do use a softer ball though.


I only made myself look like a doofus a few times.  Like when I couldn't figure out where the dumb bases were so the kids could practice running the bases.  They had spray painted the lines and "bases" on to the grass field, only....you couldn't hardly SEE the darn lines! So I wasn't really sure where I was having the children run to and had them back track a couple of times.  I was as confused as the kids.  In the end, I got it sorted out and we knew what we were doing.

The kids and I before we left for their first practice!

One of the worst parts of coaching your kids little league team, you don't get the chance to really take pictures of them participating in the activities, which is kind of a bummer.

We did introductions, handed out team shirts, had the kids play catch (of which one of my sons got the first injury, when his sister threw the ball too high and too hard and it slammed into his mouth giving him a slightly busted lip, go figure). 

The kids did good batting, and practicing catching ground balls, and staying pretty well on focus.  Cept my sons.  Oh no.  My sons made me so embarrassed.  They were NOT listening or making very good choices today.  Every time Mommy's back was turned....ACGH!!!! I was ready to lose my mind. My daughter complained about being hot and sweaty.  She doesn't like the batting helmets because they make her "head sweat" and she doesn't like having "sweaty ears".  I don't know if that's a sensory issues or a normal thing, but either way...I got tired of hearing about it every time she was up to bat! Guess what...she survived...sweaty ears and all.


The other kids did very good at listening and trying very hard.  Only one kid did not show up and I tried my best to contact them.

The sports complex in our community is VERY nice! I was impressed! (Nope I had never been out there before! I knew roughly wear it was but had never been there).  It really is nice. 


The darn park ranger did not ever show up to give us a t ball stand, which is what the parks and rec office told us to do, no one ever showed up.  Thankfully a parent happened to have a spare one in their truck for us to use. 


Next practice is Tuesday, before our first game which is on a Wed. With the busy holiday weekend and school getting out the parents decided it would be fine to just have practice next week.  I felt we should have had another one this week, but the parents wanted to do it Tuesday so I agreed. It's a very laid back game this "rag ball" no one takes it seriously and it's just the kids having a good time and figuring things out, so not really any pressure.


It was SUPER hot out there on those fields.  I was afraid the kids might melt (I know I nearly did by the time it was over)! Since my sons were not cooperative tonight and were more embarrassing than anything else with their behavior, their punishment was to pick up all of the equipment and put it back in the equipment bag and carry everything to the van.  They complained, but they understood WHY Mommy was making them do this. 

Hopefully next practice will go better for them!! I think next year we will do soccer.  My sons at least need a sport where they can be in constant motion!! (I am DEFINETELY NOT COACHING SOCCER!!)


Tomorrow is the last day of school for my sons, and it's also their field day.  I'm hoping I can pop by and see them participating in field day.  My daughters field day is also tomorrow, but her last day of school isn't until Friday. 

Every year on the last day I try to do something special to hand out to the kids (and teachers).  This year we made summer play date cards to go on the things they are handing out.  As well as cards to hand out to the teachers thanking them for helping them "grow" in their education this year.

Cards made for each of their teachers (for privacy reasons I blocked out the teachers faces and any names). 

For safety reasons I obviously removed some info before posting here.

Again for safety reasons I removed certain info, but you get the point.

Cute little guys huh?

My daughter chose to hand out fruit snacks, so we stapled her summer play date cards to the fruit snacks and she'll hand those out to her friends. My sons wanted to hand out this little 'Hug' kool aid barrels and so we'll be fastening their summer play date cards to those.  I think it will be cute.


To create the hand out cards I just used some business cards I bought at Wal Mart (they were actually some I had left over from making my last batch of business cards for my photography).  I had just enough sheets left over to make 20 cards for each kid.

I had already taken a good photo of each child this morning before they left for school and edited the picture up. 

I went to the Avery website to choose the template I wanted to use. I then just used the program on the Avery website to create the card.  I just printed on one side.  Popped the business cards out and tada, instant summer play date cards.  Hopefully the kids will still be able to keep in touch with some of their friends this summer.


I am ready to go to bed, practice wore me out, ha!

I know when we got home my kids ate 3 helpings of Grandma's home made tuna casserole, and then scarfed down a home made pumpkin muffin.  They worked up an appetite out there today.  After snuggling and watching a movie they went off to bed and were out like a light.  Nothing like a good hard baseball practice to wear you out!


My husband had to work a 12 hour shift today, so he was bummed he had to miss the kids first practice (I was bummed too I could have really used his assistance). 


Mae

Just Call Me Coach

Well, this was certainly unexpected! I never in a million years thought I'd be coaching anyone, on anything.  Especially not sports.  I'm not exactly sports player of the year here (that would have been my husband when HE was in school, he played EVERY single sport since elementary and he was GOOD AT IT, he went to State for many things, he knows like everything about every sport).  In fact I never played any sports in school (minus the week or two I spent playing softball in like early High School or something,  then I got clobbered in the face with a ball during practice and decided NOPE, not for me...I don't do pain).  I wanted to play sports I really did, but my Mother would never let me (though my sister got to play soft ball for several years...good for her).  So by the time I was in high school, it was a bit late for me to play, everyone had years of experience over me, so I was just kind of a dorky looking kid when I tried to do anything sporty.

I guess I'm still kind of dorky lookin' huh?  haha

If I'm running, you better run too.  Either something is trying to kill me, or one of my kids is injured (or in an otherwise precarious situation that could lead to something dangerous), I'm very late for something, or I'm after the ice cream truck or a great deal on shoes, or trying to be the first in line for a delicious coffee (but the coffee shop I love is a drive through, so really no running involved). 


So imagine MY surprise when I somehow managed to get drafted (suckered) into being the coach for my children's little league rag ball team. 

Seriously?  HOW THE BLOODY HELL DID THAT HAPPEN!?


I panicked.

I felt pressured.

I caved.

I signed my kids up MONTHS ago (ok so like only back in March I think).  I figured it was no big deal.  You sign your kid up, buy them a glove (that's all the gear required for this age group).  They get a team t shirt, you show up to practices and games and TADA you are good to go.  Your kid plays a month of baseball and you bring some water bottles and orange slices to a few practices and games and that's that.


Boy, was I wrong. 


Turns out, they couldn't find anyone to COACH their team.  11 kids were without a coach.  The other teams were going to have to take on more players.  Then I panicked.  Wait, I have THREE kids playing and I cannot be in 3 places at one time for practices, I just can't! So how on earth am I going to do that? They can't get split up, they just can't! I paid $120 and then $30 extra on ball gloves, not to mention the extra money I spent buying a bag of tballs for the kids, and a Tball stand. 


Crud. 


*slowly raises hand* Yes parks and rec...you got me.  I'm suckered into it. Yes sure...I'll coach.  (don't worry I told them I had NO experience and wasn't sporty, somehow...I think they could figure out I had the word "NEWBIE SPORTZ CLUTZ" on my fore head or something to that affect...).  They also knew I was a mom desperate to keep my kids on the same team this year.


So just call me "Coach Mae" my husband and kids have been having a GRAND ol' time calling me "Coach" today, it's driving me NUTS!


My husband wanted to be their coach, he was SOOOOO so so excited.  Only to find out, he couldn't coach because practice and  game times are right during his work hours so that's a no go for him.  In fact, he'll miss every single one of his kids ball games this year, which has him CRUSHED. 


He's trying to give me pointers and tips and doing his best to help me out, while I sit here in the fetal position sucking on a soft ball and weeping into a ball glove.  I may just bonk myself over the head with a little league ball bat soon enough.


It isn't the 11 small children (from the age 4-6 range) that bother me.  I'm not worried about handling a group of kids at all (hellooo been babysitting kids since I was 12 from all age ranges, I got this, kids don't scare me AT ALL). 

The PARENTS scare me!

First of all, I have HUGE parent anxiety (as in I hate dealing with or meeting new parents)  Have had several bad experiences with absolutely INSANE parents (moms usually), so I try to avoid other parents (moms mainly) like the plague.  They literally cause me great anxiety. 


Girl Scouts and my daughter starting Kindergarten have been hard enough! Meeting new moms having to talk to them and hope they aren't secretly evil and plotting against me (ok part of that I'm not thinking because that'd be crazy, but I do have trust issues when it comes to other parents).  Thankfully I DO have a great group of MOM friends that I've known for years and our kids have literally grown up together, so most of the moms (and dads) I deal with on a regular basis I've known for a long time (many of them since before we all had kids), that it's not a big deal meeting with them or talking to them at school functions and what not. 

I'm no where near brave enough to do PTO stuff. Nope.  I can already tell THOSE moms would eat me alive.  No thanks.  My daughter isn't missing anything by her Mommy not being a part of the PTO or School board.  Nooooo thank ya. 


When I was younger, before I had kids or got married.  During my time in elementary or high school, I was FEARLESS.  I signed up for nearly everything and took on the world.  I LOVED being in charge and organizing things.  LIVED for it.  However, the older I got and the more experienced I got working with crazy people (or just talking to them via online and sometimes face to face) I decided that parents (some in particular) are a LOT out of my range of being able to deal with.  After dealing with a lot of "mean moms" (they should totally make a movie about "Mean Moms" it's be great...like a "Mean Girls" sequel....)  Online mom bullying from people who didn't even KNOW me, but THOUGHT they knew EVERYTHING about me, I decided I was going to do the whole, ehhh lets avoid as many crazy moms as we can and just not talk to any of them!

So yep, that's why I'm slightly smacking myself now upon fully realizing what I just signed myself up to do this summer (hey it's only a month, it can't be THAT bad, right)?


The moms (and one dad) I spoke with tonight all seem really awesome and understanding.  Many of them were just like me, on the cusp of volunteering to help, but were REALLY hoping another parent (sucker) would come forward and volunteer to be the coach (sucker). That sucker...is me *points to self*  Ooooh yes. 


So I'm sitting here, more terrified of the parents than anything else.  I mean, it takes MONEY and TIME to sign your kids up for this stuff.  I signed up three kids and that alone was $120, not to mention the extras I already mentioned.  I do not want the parents to feel disappointed like they are not getting their money's worth.  Like I'm not a good enough coach.  Never mind the fact that it is LITTLE LEAGUE BEGINNER RAG BALL.  Where really they are just learning the basics (this is the way you run around the bases, how you hit the ball, how you catch, etc).  It's non competitive too. 

However, you know how parents can be sometimes.  They want to win, they want their CHILD to win. They want the best  for their kid, the best coach too.  *gulp* I will do my very best.  When making phone calls tonight to touch base with all the parents (to confirm that YES there is a coach) I made sure they too knew that I was a first time coach, and wasn't very sporty myself.  I made sure they knew we were a TEAM, and all help was welcomed and appreciated (meaning suggestions as well) and I'd do my best to work with everyone, and that between us ALL we should be able to help the kids do their very best, because after all we are doing this for the kids.

*fingers crossed* Wish me luck. 



Things I can add to my parenting "resume"

1.  Birthday cake baker
2. Costume designer
3.  Head craft organizer
4.  Seamstress
5.  Accessory creator (hair bows, bracelets, purses, etc)
6.  Hair stylist to my 6 year old kindergartner (well, she's now a first grader).
7.  Chef to three awesome (yet sometimes picky) eaters.
8.  Personal decorator
9.  Piano  teacher (been giving my kids piano lessons for a bit as I've played for years)
10. Vocal coach (been teaching my kids to sing since they were small, so far only my sons love to sing).
11. Speech 'teacher' (ok I don't teach their speech I just help re-enforce what they learn in their speech class)
12. House keeper
13. Laundry keeper
14. Referee of children's wrestling/fighting matches
15. Resident artist
16. Photographer
17. Doctor Mom (Band aids, Tylenol, kissing boo boo's and more band aids are my specialty)
18. Tutor/instructor (re enforcing what they learn in school)
19. Chauffer
20. I can now add Little League Coach.


(I'm sure there is a lot more I can add to the list LOL Can you REALLY list everything a mom/parent does for their children every day?  I don't think so LOL)

Today on top of my new found 'Coach' title, I got to watch my little girl (who really isn't so little anymore), graduate Kindergarten. 

Ok so technically it isn't a GRADUATION, they call it Kindergarten Celebration at their school.  So my husband and I went to her kindergarten celebration today.  She was awarded a certificate for passing kindergarten, and she gave a little presentation on what she wants to be when she grows up (as did the rest of her class). 

Apparently, my daughter wants to work with kids when she grows up because she loves kids.  She isn't sure if she wants to be a doctor for kids or a teacher for kids, just wants to work with kids because she loves kids. 

This is highly ironic.  This is the same child who wants NOTHING to do with children who are younger than her.  She will completely ignore the fact that a child younger than her even exists (especially babies and toddlers she REALLY doesn't want anything at all to do with them).  So the fact she wants to work with kids, cracked me up. 

For two years now my daughters "What I want to be when I grow up" have been.....


"I want to have my own animal shelter"  (meaning she wants to run her own dog rescue when she's older and save lots and lots of dogs and cats because she loves animals). 

"I want to get money for going SHOPPING!"  (Meaning she wants to be a personal shopper for someone rich and famous, because she LOVES to shop and she loves clothes so she'd be great at it). 

"I want to make SCARY make up!"  (Meaning she wants to be a special affects make up artist.  Shows like Face Off on SyFy absolutely amaze her.  She loves watching how a person can be transformed into a scary monster, alien, were wolf or vampire or just whatever). 


Now I guess we can add "I want to work with kids" to her list of things!


I am very proud of my little lady, and she is super excited for first grade.  Tonight she was giving her brothers a lot of information on what they CAN and CANNOT do in Kindergarten (I think my sons are going to have a rough time following all of their sisters do's and don'ts)!


Last week I went with my daughter on her little field trip.  They went to Pizza Hut here in town and actually got to make their own personal pizzas (and they earned a certificate calling them a Jr. Pizza Maker).  Which crosses another goal off of her "what I want to do when I grow up list"! When she was REALLY small, she would always go around saying "I want to be a pizza guy!"  She wanted to make, bake and deliver all the pizzas to everyone and her pizzas would be the BEST. 

She felt very accomplished when she brought home her JR. Pizza Maker certificate. 


The kids went to the local park and played and they also went over to the mini train station and road the little train.  I loved going on her field trip, we had a lot of fun and it was nice having that Mommy/Daughter time.

Later this week they have their Field day where they will spend a couple of hours in the afternoon outside doing sports and activities, I think this will be a lot of fun for them.  (I think I volunteered myself to assist with that too?  Or at least bring a snack or something to it?  I honestly can't remember now). 

Girl Scouts seems to have wound down for the year as well, we had our probably last meeting last week, which is bitter sweet because my daughter hasn't gotten a chance to earn all of her Daisy scout petals yet so she has a lot to do when we start back up.  I think she has three of the petals so far.  I wouldn't mind a few meetings over the summer, but with baseball I don't think it'll happen for us (at least not in June). 

The girls made pine cone and peanut butter bird seed feeders during their last meeting.  I think the kids really enjoyed.  Now if only the birds would come and enjoy it! It's been hanging out here for a week and no birds have even passed it a glance.  Snobby birds.

So here is to the end of a school year, and on into a busy summer! We're hoping to go camping this summer and hopefully hitting up a zoo too.  Worlds of Fun or Six Flags is a possibility too, so we shall see what we choose to do and what is and isn't a possibility.  Here's to having to get to know all knew moms next year when my daughter goes into first grade and my sons start kindergarten.  Oh boy! I adore the moms that belong with the kids in my daughters class, they are an awesome bunch of moms and dads, I hope that a few of those same kids are in my daughters class next year!

The kids were kind to me for Mother's Day (ok so it was a little bit late, but hey it's ok I wasn't worried about it). 

Bird feeder from my son Marshall

Humming bird feeder from my son Keegan

Lilly from my daughter Kams

Well, this Begonia isn't for Mother's Day but I got it, and I love it. (It isn't officially planted yet, just sitting here for the time being until it gets officially planted)

My pink Petunia's aren't a Mother's day gift either, nor are they officially planted either, they are also just chilling until I get a chance to plant them.

And I can't remember what these little fella's are called, but they are pretty and will be getting officially planted just as soon as I have a chance.

For now though...it's on to coaching baseball *gulp* again...which me luck, I think I'm going to need it!


'Coach' Mae.

Let It Grow, Let It Grow!

So I'm apparently one of those "hippie moms" that let her sons grow their hair out long.  I get a LOT of grief over it.  It's not that my sons have NEVER had a hair cut, because believe me they have had several.  Their hair grows SUPER fast and is just simply goooorgeous and is usually the envy of many.  They love their hair.


I love their hair.


Most people however, have a problem with how LONG it is. Well, if it were buzzed short you wouldn't see how awesome it was.  You'd see....a buzzed cut hair do.  My sons just aren't the "buzz cut" hair type.  They wouldn't look right. They've always had shaggy hair for as long as I can remember.  They were born with more hair than my daughter (though they still weren't born with that much). 


They've had their hair cut fairly short, and that's ok, but it grows quickly especially after being cut! So it doesn't take long before you can't tell they haven't had a hair cut. I always get numerous comments or suggestions about it.


"When are you going to cut their hair?"
"My so and so cuts hair, they will cut it for you"
"You know they are BOYS right?" 
"You already have a DAUGHTER with long hair."
"Boys, don't have long hair, it doesn't look right"
"How hard is it to go cut their hair?"
"Ohhh what pretty little 'girls' you have with that long hair...." 


and so on and so forth, yadda yadda yadda....This comes from strangers, friends, and family too.


I say? 

Shove.  It.


I'm their mom.  Not you. It's hair growing on MY child's head.  If they want their hair long, so be it.  If they wanted to shave it bald, so be it (I would probably shed some tears, but I'd let them do it because it's well...their hair). 


When I was in Kindergarten my Mother got fed up with trying to brush my unruly thick red curly hair (her hair is thin, fine, limp and life less the TOTAL opposite of mine).  I really don't think she had a CLUE what to do with my hair or how to handle it's awesomeness. So she hacked it off.  RIGHT before Kindergarten school pics.  HARSH.   I look like a boy wearing a purple flowered dress.  It was like that all throughout elementary.  My hair was AWFUL.  It started to get a BIT better after Jr. High....by the time I was a Junior and Senior I pretty well had a handle on my hair, and now it's not an issue at all. My hair and I "Get" each other.  However, I still hate the fact my Mother forced me into super short hair my whole life.  Yuck.


Even my husband sported long hair in like 9th grade.  I still have yet to see photos of it, but he had that long on top hair DON'T.  Where it's shaved underneath and the long top was pulled back into a pony tail (Ew).  He makes jokes about himself still because of that hair style.  Not surprised there aren't any photos of it around!


I recently came across a blog that was shared on the Huff Post website, and  for once I really really liked a blog that was shared there. This mom has a 2 year old son with gorgeous long locks, and she has heard many of the same things I've heard from others who "care" about her child's hair. Her son, like my own sons, has a story behind WHY he has long hair. 


If you'd like to read this moms post, please go read "What I Really Want To Say When People Ask Why My Sons Hair Is Long"


My youngest son was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, one of many types of Childhood Cancer when he was a newly turned 3 months old.  He was born with it.  It was a long and wild year for us.  In that time he had chemo, scans, tests, surgeries, transfusions, blood draws, and was poked and prodded by so many doctors.  During chemo he lost nearly all of his hair, but it wasn't quite like some other children that go through treatment for cancer.  However, when compared to his twin brother you could clearly see a difference in the hair. 

It took forever for his hair to start growing again, I was afraid it would never start to grow again! His brothers hair had taken off and grew so well, but Keegan's hair took awhile.


So when it did start growing, I just let it grow.  The more it grew, the more I let go the fact that he had faced such a long struggle.  The more it grew it made me feel like he was putting this behind him and was showing the world he was a fighter. He grew, his hair grew, and he was able to do more and more of the things he hadn't been able to do. 

He was changing.  He was growing.  He was turning into such a big boy.  Things I was afraid he might not get a chance to do because of cancer.


The boys have decided since their last hair cut (which I think was in October?  Perhaps November?)  That they wanted to grow their hair out to donate to WIGS FOR KIDS an organization that creates wigs for children who are going through cancer treatment or who suffer from Alopecia or other hair loss illnesses.  I'm incredibly proud of my children for wanting to do this, even my daughter wants to grow her hair out like Rapunzel so she can give it to other little girls who lost all of their hair.  She says all little  girls deserve to have beautiful hair, and she wants to share her red hair with another little  girl.


They are growing their hair, for a purpose.  At the age of 5 my sons already have a big grasp on something that they know affects children of all ages, and affects them in very big ways.  It's something they've been through. 


Will they successfully make it to the "cut off" with their hair?  It's hard to tell.  They may end up begging me to cut it off this summer, but they are at least trying. I will give them credit for that.  We do have to watch them, because Keegan has trouble controlling his body temp and so he can over heat too quick and too much hair could be an issue, so we have to watch him.  Marshall has dealt with a seizure disorder in the past, and again...too much heat could be bad for him, so we have to watch him as well. Their health is still more important than growing their hair long.  However, at this moment in time....they are trying.  They have a goal, and they are trying to reach it. If they don't reach it this year, they will try again I'm sure!


We aren't hippies, we aren't care less, we aren't lazy, we are letting our children express themselves and tell a story with their hair. Our family has had a journey. Their hair is kept clean, brushed and taken care of. They know it's hard work to have hair like theirs.


The only thing I worry about when it comes to their long hair (other than them over heating or something), is head lice! I kind of cringe at the thought of ever having to treat their hair for that! So I pray they don't come in contact with anyone that has lice!  It would take a VERY VERY long time to get through all of that hair.  Same for my daughter.  Oh the hair!










Mae :)

Happy Mother's Day!

I'm not a  great big enormous fan of Mother's Day.  Not even when I was little.  It just wasn't ever really that huge of a holiday in my home.  I mean, yes I was that little kid who would wake up early and sneak into the kitchen and do my best to make my Mother breakfast in bed.  Growing up in a single parent house hold, my Mother filled both rolls of Mom and Dad until I was 14 and she married my stepdad, so she got the same treatment on both Mother's day and Father's day.  My own little "home cooked" breakfasts. 

They started as a piece of toast, and a glass of milk.  As I got older they went up to cereal and toast, oat meal and toast (apparently I had a thing with toast, ok)?  As I got older I was able to make things like scrambled eggs and bacon (I hate cooking bacon by the way.  I will eat the heck out of it given the chance but I hate cooking it which explain why we rarely eat it at my house now!) 

My Mother always appreciated every little burnt piece of black toast or dry oat meal I brought her.  Even when I would make her coffee that was either far too strong, or too weak (I'm still not very good at making coffee and I'm 29 now, just the whole science of the 'perfect cup' eludes me!) 



I remember when I was younger my mother would give me about $10 and we'd go to the store with my Grandma and I'd walk around with my Grandma and pick something out with my Grandma for my Mother for Mother's Day.  I'd take it home and wrap it up and present it to her with my carefully craft breakfast for my Mother.


I remember making her little scribbly home made cards and those little flowers we planted at school as a "science project" and then brought home to our moms as a Mother's day gift (it was ALWAYS marigolds!) 


Now that I'm a mom....I get those same wonderful experiences.  Minus the breakfast in bed part...my kids haven't gotten that creative yet and honestly...having witnessed my kids helping in the kitchen I'm VERY glad they haven't decided to try their hand at making me breakfast in bed.  They'd probably just chuck a granola bar or pop tart at my head and call it good, then they would probably end up eating my pop tart or granola bar. 


I still get the awesome scribbly Mother's Day cards! I love those, they make my heart smile.  My FAVORITE bouquet of flowers, dandelions.  I don't care what ANYONE else says, dandelions are the best flowers from children ever.  They are given with such love, and children don't see them as "weeds" like adults do.  They see these plants as beautiful flowers that mom will LOVE.  They pick these precious yellow puffs with all the love in the world.  They give these soft yellow flowers with their whole heart.  Smudgy dirty hands, sticky faces, and eyes that just SHINE with love, they present you with as many dandelions as they can fit in their hands. Dandelions to me, represent so much.  They grow close together, they grow fast in the blink of an eye.  As they age they send out their children (the seeds) to spread out and go out into the world and start their own families.  If you stop and think about it...they represent parenting so well.  They are colorful, hardy plants.  They can grow anywhere under the toughest situations and never give up. They are SURVIVORS.




I never turn down a dandelion or clover given to me by a small child. I hate it when I see parents just toss the plant to the grown and say something like "ew, don't give me that, it's a weed we don't pick weeds, we kill them"  That poor kid.  The look on their face.  They deflate  YES, I have heard parents say this to their children more often than you might think! Unless your kid is bring you a bouquet of poison ivy or something dangerous....don't throw it away like it's trash.  Those flowers mean a lot to them, they are presenting you not with just "flowers" they are presenting you with their love.


I will happily set up a million tiny vases around my dining room full of fast wilting dandelions, forever and ever until my children out grow bringing me dandelions.


I love sitting in my back yard with the kids and picking dandelion puffs and making wishes with my kids as we blow the puff of seeds into the wind, off into their new start, who knows where they will land and start growing. Grow plants grow.


So if you see my lawn over run with dandelions, it's ok.  I don't need a gardener.  My yard is filled with love.  There will come a time and place that I might consider removing the dandelions from my yard, but probably not.  They will always bring a smile to my face and make me think of happiness.  I will always fondly look at dandelions and remember spring and summer days spent with my children or of my own child hood.  Time spent running and playing, running bare foot, BBQ's, swimming, gardening, swinging on the swing set, playing baseball or soccer, and so many other fond memories from my childhood, as well as my children's.  They are just cheery little poofs of happiness and sunshine!


So my kids didn't pick me any dandelions for Mother's day, they DID bring home those awesome little decorated flower pots, complete with their very own Marigolds happily planted inside.  My sons Marigolds are already nearly ready to bloom! My daughter who brought home several of them, still have a lot of growing to do. I look forward to watching their gorgeous plants grow and blossom, just like I look forward to watching my children grow and blossom.


My husband slept in this morning, which is fine as the kids and I went to Church this morning.  When we got home from Church he made us pancakes for brunch and they were delicious! For supper my husband made home made lasagna and garlic. I'm lucky to have a guy who is handy in the kitchen!

He didn't used to be, I literally taught him everything he knows about being in the kitchen. When we started dating when we were 17, he could barely make a bowl of Ramen noodles in the microwave! I'm happy to say that now at the age of 29 my husband is one heck of a cook! If you tell him what you want, he'll cook it for you. If he doesn't know how, he'll find out how. We love cooking in the kitchen together.

He usually cooks at least one meal a day, some times not as often, but on average he does usually cook at least one meal a day.  Which is so nice and I'm going to miss it now that he is back to work. He misses  2 meals a day because he's working, and breakfast he's usually sleeping through because of work. Though the other morning he worked until midnight, got to sleep at 1, and got up at 8 in the morning and made home made hash browns, scrambled eggs and toast for the kids and I for breakfast.  I was surprised and thankful. It's a huge help when you have a husband who helps you in the kitchen.


The kids allowed Mommy to rest on the couch today.  There wasn't any napping (sadly, I could have  REALLY used a nap too!)  They did take the time to bring me their favorite blankets and cover me up and make sure I had a pillow and even brought me a stuffed animal to cuddle, and gave me hugs and kisses and snuggles.  How sweet is that? 


My resting time was cut short though when I saw the weather channel report.  My sister in laws town in Iowa was looking like it was about to be completely slammed by tornadoes.  So of course my panic button ensued and I called her up on her phone.  They don't have TV and don't really pay much attention to the weather.  Thankfully she did have a text alert so she had just gotten a text alert literally a second before I called.  Right as we started talking the tornado sirens in her town went off.  Scary stuff.  Then the phone call started experiencing interference and I could hardly understand her due to static. It was a bit intense, but they are all ok.  My niece and her mom and her boyfriend are all good and safe.  So is my cousin and her fiancé and their son that live in the same town.  My stepdad also doesn't live too far from there and he is fine as well. Whew! Darn storms!

I'd like to say the storms are over, but no they aren't.


More storms are moving through Iowa where my husband and I have plenty of friends and family that live.  So I send prayers out to them!


I guess we're supposed to have some more storms through our neck of the woods too, but haven't really heard a whole lot about that honestly though so not really expecting anything major. We had some storms last night but we missed every warning which is a good thing because every county around us had enough warnings!! How we didn't get any is a mystery to me. I guess our county was just "lucky". 


My thoughts are with the places in Missouri that did experience tornadoes last night.  Shelbina, Orrick, Marshall, and Macon.


So other than the storms in areas where I have family and friends, it's been a lovely day. Had a good Mother's day, spent time with my kids and husband what could be better?  I didn't need or want anything fancy for Mother's day. 


We also had a great Easter too.  The kids had an enjoyable time at the Egg hunt, my niece had a good time visiting us and went home the first of May.  It was good to see her but I'm glad my kids aren't toddlers anymore! I don't miss that age! HA!


School will be over soon, which means my daughter is THAT much closer to being in first grade and my sons are THAT much closer to being in kindergarten!! AH! Doesn't seem possible.


I'll be going with my daughter on her field trip later this week.  She has her kindergarten celebration (like a graduation but for some reason they aren't allowed to use the term "graduation") 


At her class assembly the other day she received an award for always having a "positive attitude", so proud of her! She's always been a very positive child and a very good go getter!


My sons had their preschool graduation the other day, and there were plenty of tears from this mama! How I kept them hid I don't know!!! I was definitely hiding behind my camera and sneaking a tear swipe so no one would notice.  My handsome boys, I just can't believe they are 5 years old already and heading to kindergarten.


They had a wonderful 5th birthday party.  Although, we weren't sure if they were even going to HAVE a party! We were under a bad storm warning that day and my daughters Girl Scout event almost  got cut a little short because of the incoming weather but thankfully we sped things up and everyone  got out of there in plenty of time.  Then the boys were getting ready to have their party and we weren't really sure if the storm was going to let up or not! Thankfully the storm DID let up and they still had plenty of guests and they had a lot of fun.  We appreciated everyone who braved the weather to come help my sons celebrate their birthday.  Even if it would have just been our little family there and no one else, it still would have been an awesome birthday.  Storm, or no storm!




So April ended on a good note, and May has started on a good note (other than Mother Nature just being a royal rip lately!) What is up with the weather?  I mean yeh I know it's storm season but sheesh!


The husband's college is winding down for the semester, he started back to work and is staying super busy and ready for summer.


We're planning our first ever family camping trip (I'm a little nervous for that!! There will be some swimming, fishing, hiking, and of course actual camping during this trip!)  My kids have never done any kind of camping other than setting up their pup tent outside in the back yard that they've never slept in over night.


We have a few other trips we'd like to do this summer, but I don't know if we'll be able to squeeze all of those in.  Babysitting money I was hoping to have and save up for our summer trips kind of  was yanked out from under me by a person deciding not to pay me anything before they up and moved town, so that REALLY put a hurting in my summer savings account! There went all of our fun money.  How we planned to do any kind of mini family vacation this summer.  We were wanting to take the kids to Lego Land in Kansas City this summer, looks like that trip won't be happening. We wanted to check out the Missouri State Fair, that won't be happening either.  We were hoping to hit up the St. Louis Zoo (and botanical garden and go see the Arch) this summer, as well as check out the Des Moines Zoo when we went up to Des Moines for a family reunion this summer. Plus helping to cover the cost of sending my dog to the doggy sitters while we're gone.  Doesn't look like ANY of that will be happening this summer.  The woes of babysitting for people who decide they don't need to pay you for your months of service.  Of keeping their kids alive after school and on the weekends, feeding them, helping them with their home work and treating them like they are part of the family.  Parents, are the main reason I hate babysitting.  It isn't the kids, they are awesome I love working with kids, but I don't so much like working with the parents who don't even attempt to pay me and I have to poke and prod to get money out of them.  *sigh*  I TRY not to be bitter over it, but I kind of am. I was excited to take this on because I had a plan for that money saving it up for our summer fun, something we don't generally EVER get to do. We usually spend every summer at home, bored.  Doing nothing other than the public pool and the public park.  That  gets boring after several years. 


Last year we took our first REAL family vacation, thanks to my mother in law who paid for it all.  We drove 10 hours (it would have been less if we didn't have 4 kids under 6 at the time! That is a lot of potty breaks and my mother in law needed to stop a lot too).  We went to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha Nebraska.  It was AMAAAAAZING! Coolest zoo ever.  I LOVED the dinosaur section with the robotic dino's.  I think I was more excited about it then the kids were.  I was literally nearly in tears (yeh I know I cry easy, I can't help it, some things just make me so happy it's crazy).  I'm a bit of a dino nerd/animal nerd.  So the dino exhibit, and the JUNGLE DOME.  Oh my gosh.  I could have LIVED THERE!  There were so many sections I just loved.  I'm so glad my kids  got to experience that zoo.  We tried to ditch my husband in the Gorilla house with his family members, but he didn't find that too funny.  Haha.


I know we will be hitting up the lake near us though.  That's where we will be camping this year too probably.  Will be picking up a couple of fishing licenses and doing some fishing with the kiddos. I'm not the worlds greatest at fishing.  The fish literally swim circles around my hook and laugh at me.  Plus I do NOT have the patience to catch cat fish, nor am I quiet enough.  My family always hated taking me fishing with them, hahahahaha!


So one way or another, we'll have a fun summer.  The kid are playing rag ball this summer so that will take up a lot of time, and they are going to the extended school year so that's another thing to keep them busy. We usually go back home for a week to visit my Mother for the 4th of July, but we didn't do that last year and we probably won't this year either.  She moved to another town (it's closer to us) but it isn't the SAME as going back to the area that is more of my home town where I can easily see and visit with people I miss.  So we'll probably just stay home for the 4th like we did last year.


For now though, I will just revel in the fact that I had a fantastic Mother's day with my children and husband. I'll let the rest of it sort it's self out later.  Things will work out.


It is now time for me to go to bed!

Mae