So Here's What I'm Thinking...

Mother's Day Confession

2010-05-09T15:40:00.000-07:00

So Here's What I'm Thinking........ when I started this blog I actually had a little time to do it. And then things got so busy, and I realized that I don't even have time to think about all the topics that are the reasons I started this blog. But things are starting to slow down a bit, so hopefully I'll be able to post more at least through the summer until things go bonkers again.

Today is Mother's Day.

My mom and I butted heads - a LOT. Yet we are still very close friends. My mother was very quick to forgive, with the exception of the few times when I crossed a line that really hurt her. I wish I could take all of those times back. I had no idea how much of my behavior growing up I would wish I could take back after I got into parenthood. None of us had any idea what we were putting our parents through.

Sometimes I think, "why can't my kids see it this way? It's so obvious?!" Of course they can't see things my way - they're not parents. And yet that doesn't stop us from trying to teach our kids to see the bigger picture, to see what the real world is like. And then in just a blink we go from wishing our kids would get "the big picture", to wishing we could keep them innocent and unaware of anything going on out there. To wishing they could stay 2 years old and completely indifferent to everyones' differences. Sometimes I concentrate on how much they have to learn, when I should be thinking about how much they have to teach me.

I have a confession to make. Today is Mother's Day, and I should probably win the award for being the worst mom on Mother's Day 2010. After church, as my 4 year-old handed me my flower made out of cookies and gum drops, he asked if he could have some. "After we get home," I said. He continued to ask about them in the car, and I firmly continued to remind him that he would have to wait until after we got home. But once we got home we needed to change clothes, my 2 year-old needed his diaper changed, I needed to go to the bathroom and couldn't wait to get out of my church clothes myself. But my 4 year-old could not forget about the cookie-candy-flowers. And my temper grew shorter. "After I get your brother down for a nap!" I snapped irritably. Tears began to flow. And when the tears began to flow, my temper only grew shorter. "Here." I said, as I handed him the cookie-flowers. "I hope you enjoy your cookies." The tears flowed even harder now. As I turned to leave the bedroom, my 4 year-old cried, "but I love you! I thought we were going to share?!"

Today is the day that I am in need of my son's forgiveness. While I so stubbornly sought to teach him about patience, I lost mine completely. And in the end, when all I could see was a lesson about "it's not nice to bug people about sharing things that aren't yours", my son was there to teach me a lesson in love. The cookie-flowers were no good to him unless mommy was there to share them.

Please don't leave me hate-comments. I'm obviously not a perfect mom, and I'm well aware of that fact. But I know I am a much better person than I would be without my children. They are here to teach me when I think I know all the answers.

Top Toys of 2009 (Riddle version)

2009-12-29T15:04:00.000-08:00

Christmas is over and the votes are in. My oldest son has a birthday in December and since the kids get birthday gifts from all the family members (aunts and uncles too) we kind of get bombarded with toys. (And since we don't buy our kids toys during the rest of the year, with the exception of a once-in-a-while dollar store "splurge", we have a tendency to let the kids get spoiled in December. ) Now that all birthday and Christmas toys have had an opportunity to be played with, here are the winners for this year. (Sorry I have not included pictures - feel free to look these products up if you want more info!) Or if you have any toy exchanges or returns to make, maybe you will consider bringing one of these into your home.

Let's Go Fishing!

I'm sure you all remember this game. I think I had a pink and purple travel size version when I was little. You put the battery in, and the plastic "fishing pool" turns while little plastic fish are prompted to open and close their mouths while you try to stick your fishing pole in at the right moment to catch a fish. There are also lots of different versions out now: Toy Story, Cars, etc. My kids love this game. It does have some drawbacks - it is most definitely plastic - cheap plastic. If you have rough and tough kids like mine, you look for durable toys that will withstand being thrown, banged, kicked, and dropped. Within three days of having this toy in our house several of the fish had been tossed out of the game and stepped on (the stepping-on was accidental, the tossing was not). The fish broke pretty easily. Also I have noticed the game does not turn well unless it is on a perfectly even surface. (I tried letting several kids play with it while having it on my lap and it didn't run well.) But when all is said and done, the kids still love it.

Dry Erase and Magnetic Preschool Letters and Numbers Workbook

I'm sure there are several different brands of this kind of thing out there. The one we got is large - the size of those giant coloring books. So long as your kid can be trusted with a marker this is a wonderful gift. In fact, even if they can't be trusted with a marker a crayon works just fine. Our 21 month old insists on doing this workbook with his older brother and though it does take some extra elbow grease, the crayon comes off just as well as the marker. There are lots of different activities to help your child learn new skills and practice what they already know.

Ball Hopper

Every time I see one of these it immediately takes me back to my most favorite part of elementary P.E. class. And what's funny is that whenever my son wants to play with it, he says he has to "go exercise". One word of caution: this was the first toy my husband received stitches on as a child. (He hopped into the corner of a dresser.) Am I crazy for getting my child one of these? Like father like son? Hopefully not...........

Elefun

This game is so cute, simple, and a wonderful way to practice hand-eye coordination and patience. (Both of which my oldest son is a little lacking in.) However he is also very stubborn, and was determined to get better at this game. You have a small low powered fan that is disguised as an elephant with a long plastic tube for a trunk. The game also comes with what feel(but don't exactly look) like little vinyl twisty "butterflies" and four butterfly catching nets. You put the butterflies in the compartment on top of the fan, replace the "trunk", and turn it on. The butterflies fly up and out of the trunk 2 or 3 at a time and the kids try to catch them. As I said, the fan is low powered so there's no fear of little fingers getting chopped off. At first the butterflies looked pretty frail, but so far they have been stepped on and crumpled without actually suffering any permanent damage. My oldest son played this game almost nonstop for 2 days.

Dirt Devil Toy Vacuum

My little one who is 21 months old loves the vacuum. To the point that he wants to get it out almost every day. The reason I recommend this particular toy vacuum and not another is that this one looks real. I knew if we got him a different one (all the others I found looked more like toys than the real thing) he would see it as a toy and not a vacuum (granted, these other vacuums cost a little less). Plus this "model" even picks stuff up. It has a separate compartment that sucks dirt and crumbs up so your child really is helping you out (a little). There's no cord to drag around, and it's not as noisy as a full fledged vacuum cleaner. This has definitely been one of the favorite Christmas gifts so far.

Leap Frog Scribble and Write

This is yet another toy based on teaching kids their letters, but focuses primarily on writing them. Red dots light up to form a letter that your child then uses a special pen to trace in order to learn how to write that letter. It also introduces lower case letters which I think is a good feature. While my 4 yr.old knows all of his capital letters backwards and forwards, most lower case letters are still completely foreign to him. Keeping in mind their target audience, the folks at Leap Frog incorporated a little drawing game after each letter writing lesson to help keep things fresh and not so monotonous. The sounds it makes aren't annoying and my son finally thinks writing and drawing are fun and not frustrating!

IKEA Lillabo Train Set

If you have a child who wants a train set, please, Please, PLEASE GET THEM THIS ONE!!!!! It costs a lot less than most of the others out there and it is so very easy to put together. In fact, I would rate this the #1 toy in our house. It rarely gets put away because it gets played with so often. The track goes together very easily (basically like a simple puzzle piece cutout) and the train cars are wooden with magnets on the ends to make the cars stick together. No latching, hooking, or fiddling with small plastic pieces to fit together. The track is a very simple wood design and because of it's simplicity you can make a different layout every single time you get it out. While it does not come with any fancy scenery, depending on the set you buy you can get a tunnel and bridges with tunnels cut out underneath to loop your track through if you want. I believe there are 2 or 3 different track sets you can get, but they all fit together. The track works just as well on carpet as it does on hard flooring. Since it is not electronic the only noise making you have to worry about is the "choo choos" coming from your kid. (Or the entire Polar Express movie dialogue if your child is as obsessed with trains as mine.) The only negative light I can throw on this toy is that if you have babies or young toddlers who really like to put things in their mouths, make sure they don't get a hold of the train cars (magnets). However we have had our set for two years and so far no magnets have come off, and no track connectors have broken. This is a great durable toy that really lets your child use their imagination. We love it!

I Shouldn't Have Missed This One

2009-12-03T18:50:00.000-08:00

So, when it comes to my movie posts, they will really relate for the most part to those of you like us who simply cannot afford to go to the movie theatre more than four times a year. We are more of a Redbox family (AWESOME, by the way. If anyone has not used a Redbox PLEASE DO SO. It is $1.00 per night --well, there's tax, so $1.06 per night - and no late fee so long as it is returned by 9:00 the next night. You can return movies to any redbox anywhere, and they have a pretty good variety to choose from. We have Redboxes at our Smith's, Walmart, and McDonald's.) Anyway, sorry about the mini plug. Getting on with it, until a couple weekends ago I had not seen the new Star Trek. We were adamant on seeing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen this summer, and of course we could not miss Harry Potter, so Star Trek got missed. I figured,"Oh, it's been so long since they've made a Star Trek movie based on the 'James T. Kirk' crew. It will probably have a bunch of modern rap/rock music, sex scenes, lots of unnecessary language. It's probably worth it to save our money." Wrongo!
Definitely should have seen this one in the theatre. Very good special effects, good plot, good acting, and most importantly, it had the same "Trekkie" feel to it. I grew up on Star Trek - captain Kirk at first of course, then Next Generation (Data was SO CREEPY/COOL), then the first years of Deep Space Nine, before high school life got way too busy to watch Star Trek with my mom. My mom has always been a Trekkie, and while I made sure never to divulge my secret to my junior high and high school friends, I enjoyed watching the "voyages of the star ship 'Enterprise'" as well. So right at the beginning I tried not to get my hopes up. Now that I've seen the movie, we are planning to get it on Blu Ray DVD, and I've been inspired to start collecting my other favorite ST movies of old.
The movie does have a Beastie Boys track playing in a beginning scene, and a brief almost sex scene. But anyone who might have a little Star Trek nerd in them and hasn't seen this most recent movie should definitely "Boldly Go" and rent it!

Doesn't It Bug You When........

2009-11-12T20:06:00.000-08:00

You are using a public restroom and you have to rip the cheap toilet paper off one square at a time, and the stupid roll weighs about 10 pounds so it won't turn, and the TP is so thin and cheap that you spend a solid 5 minutes ripping off squares until you can finally get enough in your hand to actually wipe? And by that point it looks like you are wiping with a shredded kleenex. I grew up with cheap TP, but it was still never that bad. This November I am thankful for quality TP. Not the lotion-y "blankety - quilted" stuff that costs an arm and a leg. Just the stuff that I don't have to rip off one scratchy square at a time.......

More Like "Sip & Spill"

2009-11-12T10:02:00.000-08:00

This is the Gerber "Sip & Smile Spill-Proof Cup". With my first child I bought some Gerber Sippy Cups similar to this one in 2006 and they worked GREAT! They were definitely spill-proof and never leaked from the drinking valve or around the rim where the lid attaches. I never worried about giving my son something colored that might stain or leave a sticky mess because these cups never ever leaked. My son could grasp them easily, even as a baby (he graduated to a sippy cup at 7 months) and didn't have to suck too hard to get the liquid out. Two years later we had our second child, and once again I found myself shopping for sippys. Recalling the success we had with the first Gerber sippys I purchased, I bought six of the Gerber "Sip & Smile Spill-Proof Cups" without blinking an eye. Apparently when they tested for "Spill-Proof-ness", they only tested the drinking valve. Every time one of these cups gets left on our floor there is a huge puddle where the drink has leaked from around the lid. The drink also leaks out easily if the cup is shaken. Though the cup in this picture looks like it sits straight up, for some reason the cups I purchased have a tilted opening where the lid screws on. (The cup can be standing up on a flat surface, but the lid is tilted at an angle, if that makes more sense.) This makes screwing on the lid a 10-minute wrestling match of frustration. So, I tossed these cups, mourning the loss of the money I spent on them, and went back to good old Nubys. Whenever our third child comes along I will be buying Nubys, and foregoing the risk of more Gerber duds.

Halloween Candy

2009-10-29T10:15:00.000-07:00

With Halloween coming up in a couple days, I thought I'd post about my favorite candy. So here's what I'm thinking: Reese's peanut butter cups. These seriously have to be one of the best candies ever made (a close second to Lindt truffles). Other favorites of mine are Skittles, peanut butter M&Ms (no, they are NOT the same as reese's peanut butter cups), Skor bars, Sugar Babies, Milky Ways, Nerds, Junior Mints, Butterfingers, gummy worms, cherry sours, and Hershey's Cookies and Cream bars. (Can you tell I like chocolate?) Hmm, any candies I am not a fan of? I get somewhat creeped out at those gummy candies that are supposed to look like hamburgers, etc. - they don't really look like something you would actually want to eat. Not really a fan of cinnamon candies, and what is up with the buttered popcorn jelly beans in jelly bellys? Really folks, let's just stick to the sweet stuff. What candies are you looking forward to swiping from your kids after they're in bed?

Diaper Wars

2009-10-23T20:41:00.000-07:00

I have two children. Here is my take on diapers:

When my kids are newborns it is Pampers all the way. Are Pampers shaped like bricks, just as Huggies claims? Yes. Do baby blow-outs contain themselves to the nicely shaped fitted curves of Huggies? NO! (For all those not familiar with "blow-outs", it's pretty much what it sounds like. The pooh explodes out as if some sort of rocket powered propulsion has replaced your child's bottom.) Pampers also seem to be a bit longer in front and back, so that messes don't squirt quite as far up and out. (If this happens, it's all over - try taking off a pooh covered onesie without smearing it all over your kid's back and hair. Not easy.) Once my kids are out of the blow-out stage it doesn't really seem to matter, both brands function great, though I do think Huggies fit just a bit better. They are both about the same in price range (where I shop anyway).

Now - as for the cheaper diaper brands. Luvs seem to be ok for the most part. I don't really care for how they almost seem like they're made of paper. I have had several of them rip when trying to close the front tabs. Otherwise they cover leaks alright. I have also tried Parent's Choice, and while they didn't cover leaks as well with newborns, they seemed to hold up alright when my kids got older.

What do I buy for my 19-month-old right now? Huggies - they send us some great coupons in the mail, fit well, and I don't have to go to a certain store to find them.

Steam Mops

2009-10-23T20:18:00.000-07:00

For Christmas last year my in-laws gave us a steam mop. (It's a Bissell - good brand.) This was a good gift for our home, as we have a great "test house". On our upstairs floor alone we have tile, marble, granite, and hardwood. The steam mop works great for the tile, marble, and granite. It is very easy to use - just push the button when you want more steam and the steam will suck any dirt or stains right off the floor (just make sure to use distilled water). Yet it is not quite hot enough to do any damage. It is light weight and the cleaning pads are easy to wash and reattach. I have tried it on a small portion of the hardwood. While it didn't do any damage, it left the surface really dull, so you basically have to mop twice - once with the steam mop, and once with a floor gloss. So I don't use it for the hardwood floors, I just stick to my regular cleaner/gloss.

Downstairs we also have laminate flooring (along with more granite and tile - yes, we do have carpet in some portions of our house; bedrooms and hallways basically). I have yet to try the steam mop on the laminate, so I will post how it goes once I do.

MAY BIRD

2009-10-21T20:43:00.000-07:00

If you like to read children's fantasy books, and are ok with creepy oddities such as those along the lines of Tim Burton, you will LOVE these books. It is a trilogy: "May Bird and the Ever After", "May Bird Among the Stars", and "May Bird, Warrior Princess", written by Jodi Lynn Anderson. May Ellen Bird is a 10 yr. old girl who doesn't have any friends, and is different - shy, but when she's alone she is carried away by fantasies of being a warrior princess with her hairless cat, Somber Kitty by her side. After recieving a mysterious letter from an unknown sender she is drawn to a dark lake deep in the woods and ends up in the Afterlife - but still alive. The story is about the friends she makes, her journey home, and the courage she finds along the way. I am currently three-quarters of the way through the second book and cannot wait to continue the story in book three. Like I said - these books are a little wierd at first - and kind of scary if you are like me and try to imagine viewing the story in movie format. Once you get past the first dark chapters in book one things start to lighten up a bit and you are able to get over startling characters such as Arista, the blind mind-reading bee. There are goblins and ghouls, the Undertaker (who is female by the way) and lots of puns for the Underworld - oh - and the Bogeyman. While I didn't realize it when I checked these books out a couple of weeks ago, this is the perfect trilogy for Halloween!