My crazy zoo boys!

The decibel level in my house with 3 kids and 2 dogs is deafening sometimes but I love the noise.

Soooo I'm lazy or too busy.

I feel bad loyal followers that I have not updated in a week but with back to school coming, last weekends garage sale, Adrians 1st birthday party to plan and my sons new crazy soccer schedule I'm getting a whole lot of nothing done and running around like a crazy woman or as much as I want to be getting done! So for the next little while I will be hit or miss. Although I'm not sure why I'm apologizing for my apathy I'm sure many of you had no idea I had gone! Alright now I feel better and worse at the same time because 1. this is not an interesting post and 2. that I explained my absence. Enjoy the last of August, I know I will as I'm trying to soak in every bit of summer that is  left with the kiddies.

The kids taught me a lot this week!

You get cocky after a few kids, with your confidence in how well you schedule everyone, run the house and manage not losing your mind in the process. Then either your rose colored glasses fall off or just plain ol' reality sets in that in fact you DO NOT have it all under your badly manicured thumb and can be surprised daily.
What the kids taught me this week were not life lesson but lessons nonetheless.

1. Being an 8 year old boy around other 8 year boy all playing soccer means that he will not converse with you while you are on the sidelines asking him question. You are on your own and he does not know you until he needs food or water.

2. A 10 moth old refuses to nice and neatly feed himself so that the food falls on his over size bib but feeds himself so that it only falls beside him to stick to the fabric covering  and his pants. So I have refused to put the adorable cover on the highchair (the reason I bought it) so I can just disinfect it after each meal with out doing a load of laundry and save a lot of time! It now does not look cute but is more functional, oh well sa la vie.

3. A 10 month old does know how to feed the dog from the table.

4. 5 year olds are incapable of putting their shoes on unless you actually check to see that they are actually on their little feet because it is possible that you will drive an hour from home get out of the car and hear "Mommy I don't have any shoes on." and then walk your child into Target barefoot to purchase some new shoes.

You will be keeping your eyes to your nose as people MUST be judging you, thinking how you are an incapable and neglectful mother. Put some rocking new pink Converse shoes on her and then hear "your the best mommy" and be suddenly okay with the whole situation.


5. When an 8 year old is allowed toe ride in the front seat he automatically thinks he is DJ Jazzy Fresh, allowed to rule the radio an CD player with a 5 year old shouting request like a 13 yr old at a New Kids On The Block concert ( is that reference out of date?) from the back seat!

6. You will never get used to the first time your baby says mama out of the blue while eating dinner and smiles at you. You also forget that you go crazy and become addicted to them saying it over and over again like crack until your husbands says "hon give him a break".

7. An 8 year olds socks can smell so bad coming out of their soccer bag that it can make you dry heave.

It's official I'm not 20 anymore. McFatty Monday

Regardless of birthday gifts, cake, candles and friends all gathering at your favorite restaurant. Aging doesn't always click. Do we celebrate birthdays to say "Congrats you didn't die this year."?  "Congrats and hey, try not to die this coming year so we can party again".? or is it " Congrats and we better party because you are saying goodbye to the best years of your life"? Yeah those might be a slight morbid but in my opinion more accurate than not! So I haven't been 20 for a while and I'm fine with it as long as I felt young or as young as you can feel after 3 kids. Feeling young to me is possessing the ability to stay up late, wake up early and still function, falling and healing without breaking a stride. endless endurance that could come from eating Mountain Dew, cold pizza, taco bell  non stop and not calling in to work with stomach cramps and bathroom runs. Each year I take better and better care of my body and I seem to have less and less of those qualities.
So the big realization that I am not 20 anymore is not because my** birthday is coming up but because yesterday I played in a 4v4 sand volleyball tournament with some friends and I experienced something completely new. Fear of getting hurt, being right about getting hurt, complaining like my grandmother about my feet, and drinking a gallon of water just to be able to stand up right. This all proved to me more that if I want to be "Demi Moore in shape" as I get older ( yes I do realize the she is a result of good genes and plastic docs though)
I need to freaking get on the ball.

When did you realize that you are not immortal and have to try harder?

and no there are no fabulous pictures of me eating sand at this glorious event so don't ask.

No-Go BlogHer blog hop and questions!!!

 

Yes I do wish I could go to BlogHer but I'm not sure if its because that it would be three days of not being  "a  full time mom". Wear heels without carrying a diaper bag and dropping kids off to soccer or to network with other great mom bloggers that I love! Either way life did not have it in the cards. The kids are hitting a climax of activity this time of year and with a husband on call as much as he is there is no way I could make it. So I am stoked (is stoked still a cool word to use?) to be joining the NoGo BlogHer!

 
 When did you start blogging? I never even knew anything of the blogging world till I joined a site called The Bump during my last pregnancy with my son and started talking to other moms out there and seeing what blogs where all about.  
 
Why did you start blogging?
I loved the idea of blogging first. I have always as a kid wanted to keep a diary. I had locked unicorn diaries,  Lisa Frank diaries and many other glittery things that I never finished. I always started out well with 2 weeks of solid entries and then blank pages. So the idea of blogging and having a record of my life was very intriguing.  

What is one thing you are doing this week that is way cooler than attending BlogHer?
We have swim lesson for the kids the rest of the week and then Saturday I was asked to play in a 4v4 sand volleyball tournament. Right now I'm thinking "how the hell am I not going to die while I pretend to be 22 again". UGH! 

Share a post that is your favorite or the best description of you.
     http://nicolesspirit878.blogspot.com/2010/04/5-things-about-us.html

My thought on "the mom tattoo".

Today we went and had little Kyas hair cut at a new salon in town and as I was being type A all over the hairdresser to make sure they didn't give her the "pineapple" cut I noticed  the stylist on break lounging in her chair with a little tattoo on her foot and it intrigued me.  She had a small pair of scissors tattoo in just black and white something similar looking to this.

Now I have been thinking for years now about getting a tattoo and what I could live with for the rest of my life. I really was struck by this young hairdressers choice because its her career, maybe her passion and apparently something she can and will live with for the rest of her life. I thought about other professionals that decide to have it imprinted forever on their bodies.

Seamstress                                                                         

Chefs

To have the guts to put this on yourself you had better be dang good at your job otherwise you just kinda look like well...an ass.

Now as a stay at home mother what kind of instrument displays my joy of motherhood? A diaper? A bottle? A soccer schedule? Folded laundry? A child climbing my leg? The more I thought about it I realized unlike many professions out there motherhood has no specific instrument that defines your "job". So I'm still thinking about what I want to get but it could be years away still or maybe next month but I do know its not any easy decision and the only thing I do know I carry everyday as I do my "job" is a heart bursting with love. Although I don't think that a graphic tattoo of a heart bursting is going to look very good.

Do you have any tattoos? What do you think is the best mom tattoo?

The kids new favorite game and a giveaway!

I was contacted by JumpStart a few weeks ago to test out their program for kids and I graciously accepted. I wasn't sure what to expect. I consider myself a kid game conasuir. We own the Playstion 3, Wii, Leapfrog Leapster x2 and the DS. I know what is appropriate for kids, what is easy for kids, what is actually educational for kids and what if fun for any age between 4-10.

Also because of this overload of gaming systems in our house the kids are critical of games and get bored very easily, so we were really a great family to review this. We logged in together and since the minute they got to custom design their character they were HOOKED. They love it and I love it. The kids love the fact that it is a free range game that allows them to go and do whatever they want. If they want to follow a laid out adventure they can and receive certain special prizes. They are responsible for how far they go and can advance by earning coins by playing many games in adventure land and spend their earned credit to make changes to the character or homes. The game offers many educational games put in a fun field for kids so that they are actually having fun but learning and sharpening their reading, math or logic skills while they do it.  I love how I can sit in the other room and hear "awesome", "that's sweet" "mom come look at my score". So bravo to JumpStart and their product.

Now on to fun stuff for you. JumpStart is a membership only site and they have generously offered to provide one of my lucky readers a 3-month completely free membership. WOOT! If you have a child between ages 5-10 I would really recommend you sign up.

**Now for the details**
Mandatory entry:  Like JumpStart on Facebook
                             Tell me who you want the membership for

 Extra entries:  Follow the JumpStart blog
                      Follow my blog
                      Follow me on twitter

Leave a separate comment for each entry and make sure you have an email for me to contact you in case of a win! Good luck and check out there site. Giveaway will close on August 8th at midnight.

“Disclosure: I was provided with a JumpStart membership at no cost by Knowledge Adventure in order to test the products’ abilities and give my own personal opinions on it. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided.”