I don't know how other people react to cold days but they make me want to cook.  I am in Michigan right now and it feels a lot more like late September than August.  Some of the leaves are already changing! Fall is my absolute favorite time of year but August is a little early to start even for me   Instead of throwing some shorts on, drinking a glass of water and getting outside, I threw some jeans and a long sleaved shirt, had some coffee and curled up on the couch.  I ...

My heart is still racing and my stomach is still in my throat.  My 4yr old got away from me at the mall.  What a nightmare! My 7 and 4yr olds were holding hands and walking right in front of me when I recieved a cell call from my hubby.  While talking on the phone the boys, still hand-in-hand, jogged off ahead into the book store where we were headed.  What I didn't see was that the 4yr old ran right back out into the mall. As soon as I entered the book store I saw the ...

I got the opportunity today to spend some time on my own and boy did I get stuff done!  My hubby worked from home and kindly took over care of the boys so I could venture out sans children.  In 1.75 hours I ran to 4 different destinations one of which was to get a pedicure and manicure.  I feel so exilerated now! Monday my parents helped me finish some lawn work and watched the kids so I could run out for a couple of things.  I was in and out of the market in 20 mins! ...

I was recently made aware that it is "old fashioned" to have your child's birthday party at your home.  I am not sure when the trend began but I guess most parties are now held at Chuck E Cheese or some other child activity related place.  Our kids have been to quite a few lately.  Gymnastics and pottery places seem to be quite popular as well as swim parties at community pools. My kids are home bodies and enjoy having more control over their day.  I enjoy a more relaxed s...

If you have been following my blog you will know that my 7yr old was ill yesterday.  Well, I got him in to the doctor today and he has Scarlet Fever.  I told the doctor about our babysitter's symptoms and she said the symptoms and timing make perfect sense for the sitter to have had strep throat on Fri and now it has come out as Scarlet Fever with my son. I never even knew that the strep virus caused Scarlet Fever.  Poor kid is roasting and covered in a rash.  So we are qu...

Here it is 2:00 in the afternoon and the boys and I are still in our night clothes.  It was a rough night and morning.  My 7yr old started the day with a 100.3 temp and vomitting.  Fun! Today was supposed to be the school's field day.  The good news (sort of) is that it rained so I don't think my son missed out after all.  The poor guy was laying on a blanket in the middle of the living room, shaking like crazy saying, "I'm fine.  It's field day".  When I ki...

If you read my blog about what happened last week with my sitter, you might be interested to know that I got her to come over and had a talk.  I had written her a stern email since I couldn't reach her on the phone.  I told her we really needed to discuss what happened but the fact that she and her boyfriend (she is 19 and he is 21) together thought it was okay to send my 7 and 3yr old boys out in the dark stormy night by themselves, prevents me from having them sit again. Well, she...

I admit to being an over protective parent.  I thought I had found a reliable babysitter that my kids really enjoy.  I was wrong. This weekend we had a family event.  During the festivities, we got a message to call home immediately.  Apparently the babysitter felt ill and either she or her boyfriend who was there at the time decided it was neccessary to call 911.  In the meantime, while waiting for the EMS to arrive, these 19 or older adults decided to send my 7 and ...

My 7yr old had his first coach pitch baseball game last night.  They won 10 - 2 !  It was so cute and he had so much fun. We had pizza with the coach after the game and all of the kids played together until 9PM!  I am dragging a bit today.  My 3yr old loved it too but would have preferred to have spent the entire game at the playscape rather than watching big brother play. My kid has a great attitude.....maybe too great.  He really needs to practice hitting since h...

I just love the innocence of youth. I eat it up every day. Our home has a hall that overlooks our living room. My husband likes to throw his socks at our sons as they watch cartoons in the morning. If he misses, I hear "Missed me, missed me, now you gotta kiss me!" And then a lot of running, screaming and smooching sounds fill the air. I love it! There are raucous games of "Tickle Monster", over flowing bubble baths, games of tag, and all sorts of wonderful fun things that we enjoyed...

Anyone who knows my 7yr old will tell you he is one of the most creative, imaginative kids you will meet. I, unlike a lot of parents, don't just chalk that up to his superior intellect. I think his freedom to think has a lot to do with it. Unlike a lot of kids we know, we didn't chuck him in preschool as soon as we could. I did a lot of research on the pros and cons of early education. My findings pointed toward restricting free thinking by too much structure too early on. Kids are sh...

Bed time, I so look forward to it some days. Those days when the 3yr old has whined and destroyed all day long. Those days when the 7yr old is constanly doing the "look at this" "I want to show you something" routine. I hold on until the blissful quiet of bed time. The last couple of nights have been a total disappointment. The 7yr old has another loose tooth and it seems to only bother him once he goes to bed. It isn't loose enough to yank yet so I put baby Ora-jel on it and tell him...

We have been in our home for almost a year now. We painted both the boy's rooms in a light blue and put up posters. We are now ready to think about themes. The 7yr old thinks he wants to decorate his room with maps. I think it is a clever idea. His room in our last house was really cool. One wall had a space wallpaper on it and the rest of the room had dinosaurs. The bottom paper had dinosaur skeletons in sand and there was a border of dinosaurs in the jungle. We did it that way b...

We as a society, meaning the majority of us, seem to view homemaking as something that anyone could do therefore it isn't a real job. If you are a homemaker and your spouse/partner isn't doing "their part" you must be subservient. And there seems to be no consideration of how well you do your job or how many tasks are included in your job. Sure, anyone could do almost any given part, but few could do all that a homemaker does. Then there are those that seem conflicted in their view. The...

The murder of 11yr old Carlie has given me a stomach ache since it happened. I have two young children and now my heart jumps every time they are out of sight for any amount of time. To have seen her actual abduction on tape and then have her end up murdered is just something I am having a hard time dealing with. Recently I came across a group called Kidz Idz. They go around to places like Chuck E Cheese and finger print your children for free so you can keep it on file. They were outside...