Mother's Day Fun

We had a lot of fun on Sunday for Mother's Day.   We went to the Morton Arboretum, one of our favorite places to explore and enjoy the outdoors.  We dressed up a little because they had a photographer there to take family pictures for a fee.  I probably could have done better with my tripod, but we'll see what we get in two weeks when our photo package gets delivered!

Again with the wonky dates....I'll fix that eventually!

Always thinking outside the box...

Beautiful blooms, though after she took a sniff she said "Mama, those STINK!"  And she was right!  The did stink!

Seriously, these two are so sweet together it just melts my heart a thousand ways.  I didn't pose them at ALL, they just did this naturally.  

Would you just look at this Momma and her babies!  How lucky were we?!

Making 'fairy furniture' at the craft station.
We also made 'pollination wands' and planted seeds in peat cups.  

And then it was time to hit the gateway to the climbing structure..also known as "The place where the kids always find a way to get wet".   

But this time even I was telling them to jump in, because the pond was full of TADPOLES!

 It was so magical to watch them catch the baby frogs and squeal with delight, then run out of water in their cupped hands and release them back to their habitat.

Even though the pond was JAMMED with people, it was like they were in their own little world.

We finally headed home when Ben started showing signs of imminent meltdown.  Everyone was sopping wet, thirsty and hungry and we had thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon.  Marc wanted to stop and grab some food to grill for dinner when we got home, so we stopped at the grocery store.

Then we noticed that Ben had given me a Mother's Day gift of priceless proportions...

That child has desperately needed, and consistently refused a nap for the last six months.  Finally we cracked the code and he passed out for three hours, even transferring to his bed when we got home.

Molly and I kept vigil, and since her legs were freezing from being so wet catching pollywogs, I told her she could come up front with me and warm them in the sunshine.

 Man, I love my job!

What a great way to celebrate being a mom.  Hanging out with the mama duck and her babies, the baby tadpoles, and my own little chicks as well.  Then dinner on the grill and drinks with the moms in our neighborhood at sunset - I couldn't ask for more!

HOUSE TOUR: Front Door

I'd intended to do an "Around the House" feature post every Wednesday, partly to organize my blogging habits.  Well, no sense dwelling on the past when you can start here and now, so here goes!

I thought the perfect place to start a house tour would be the front door!  When we moved in it looked like this...

Rusty brown is not a good color on anyone, front doors included.  I thought about many, many colors, but I just couldn't see a bold punch serving our curb appeal well in this neighborhood of European-style architecture.  So when I had painters here for another room, I had them hit the front door with a fresh coat of glossy black.

And THEN, I did something I've wanted to do for the longest time.  Before Pinterest was even a glimmer in it's founder's eye, I'd curated a ton of decor ideas (hadn't we all?).  One of them was this beauty from Shelley and Cason at House of Smiths...

I'd always intended to do the same on our front door on our house in Pembroke, thinking I'd cut the vinyl myself with my trusty Cricut.  But Cricut is a fickle beast and I could never find the right font cartridge  to do what I wanted.  So months turned into years, and during those years everyone and their brother pinned Shelley's vinyl decal, so I was kind of thinking I shouldn't bother because it had lost its uniqueness (which is why I liked it so much, besides the fact that it looks sharp!).  

One day I had a 'moment' - you know those moments when you say to yourself "Hey, ding-dong!  You've been longing for this decal for how many years?  And why are you not making that happen again?  Because for $20 or so you can make that dream come true.  I think it's time to put up or shut up."

So I put up!  The vinyl that is!

I just LOVE, LOVE, big puffy heart LOVE it!!!   

And once I spiffed the door up, we needed a comfy spot to sit and enjoy it (and monitor the kids' after-school antics).  Our red adirondack chairs were showing their age, so some new black ones found their way into my cart at Target.  Just $18 each!  Now of course they aren't all that sturdy, so every time there's a thunderstorm someone (me) has to run outside and bring them into the garage for fear they'll blow away.  But so far, it's working for me.

They weren't all that comfy on your back though, so I scored two outdoor pillows at Garden Ridge. 

I spruced them up with some ribbon from my stash and a clip-on flower from Michaels, so they'd match the forsythia wreath on the door.  Which I should probably take down now that forsythia season is over, but I love it so much I think I'll wait until June when I can switch to my Fourth of July wreath.  I'll probably swap the pillows out then too.

Because I was nervous about having to chase the pillows down the street in a storm, I used some more ribbon from my stash to sew ties to them.

So far, so good!  Haven't lost a pillow yet!

I also filled the sad and lonely urns up with some faux greenery and florals.  There's no sense in using real flowers because they burn out so quickly and I can never keep them watered properly (learned that lesson on Edgewater Drive!)   When you get up close, you can tell it's all fake, but from the street it looks fine.  And I can switch the forsythia and friends out for red geraniums come summer.  At least that's the plan.

I love a good before and after, so here it is again!

BEFORE 

AFTER!

I have visions of adding some black shutters and window boxes, and when I win the lotto, of pulling all the flowers (they're lovely, but the bees make it kind of hard to get to the door!) in favor of a paver patio and half wall where I can put a bistro set to enjoy my after-school cuppa Joe while I watch the kids zoom past on their bikes.

But for now, I really like what we've got going here.  So glad I kicked myself in the pants and ordered that vinyl!

It was the best of times...It was the worst of times...

It was just another day in the land of parenthood!

It was SUCH a beautiful morning today.  

Not a cloud in the sky, just the right temperature.  PERFECT.  All the kids had school, so I did something highly unusual for a mama who consistently puts herself last...I put on my sneakers and went for a walk!  A LONG walk, down a trail by the river that I've always wanted to explore.

I spent a great deal of that time just breathing in the loveliness and thanking my creator for all the blessings in my life.  Marc, the kids, our families, a beautiful home and city to live in...great friends far and near.  Just being healthy and being able to go for a walk is such a blessing so many don't have.  I was just so thankful today.  It was a perfect morning.

Then I picked Ben up from school and my perfect morning ended.  Abruptly.  

He was clearly overtired.  Meaning he was a miserable, grumpy, whiney basket case.  Being that I'm fresh off a motherhood retreat, I jumped right in,  fully prepared to love him right through it (you know, instead of losing it and yelling the way I otherwise might?).  I was really proud of myself for maintaining my calm parental role, and seeing his misbehavior for what it was - just a kid off his game, not a personal attack.

Until of course, it became a personal attack...but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I tried to run ONE errand.  One teensy, weensy errand. But Ben was a mess at the store, so I got out of there as fast as I could, sensing an imminent meltdown.  He'd decided he wanted a toy and when he realized we were going home without it, he started screaming.  Bloody MURDER.

He was so mad he refused to sit in his car seat, instead wedging himself in Molly's booster and promising a fight if I had to move him.  So I buckled him into the booster and just as I was about to back out of my spot...

"Click"

He unbuckled himself.

So I put the car in park, opened his door, let him speak (scream) his opinion...which mostly sounded like this...

IWANTIWANTIWANTIWANTIWANTIWANT!!!!

In response to which I calmly explained why he didn't get the toy he wanted and tried to redirect him.

"Remember buddy?  The rule is you get a donut, not a toy.  You earned a donut for a good day at school.  If you want a new toy, you can do your jobs at home to get your allowance and then you can buy the toy for yourself.  Which toy do you think you would choose?"

I buckled him in and got back in the driver's seat, continuing my chatty attempt at diversion.  But the second I started backing out...

"Click"

Sonofagun.  He did it AGAIN.

This time I went back and explained that he was not being safe and that was breaking a family rule.  I was going to buckle him in one last time, and if he unbuckled himself, I would have to ask him to move his 'clip' on our new discipline chart when we got home, into the "Warning Zone".  (more on the chart tomorrow!)

I managed to get out of the parking lot and was driving home when I noticed in my rearview mirror that Mr. Personality had a smug grin on his face.  I tipped the mirror down to see that he had quietly (and smugly) unbuckled his seatbelt.  Little bugger!  I knew that no matter how many times I buckled him, he was going to unbuckle, so there was no sense in trying.  And though I realize I spent my entire childhood unbuckled, and survived, that ride home I had my heart in my throat. 

I counted to ten and took a few cleansing breaths so that when we got home, I could calmly and lovingly tell him that I was disappointed in the choice he made and that he would have to move his clip.

He refused and told me shut up.

This was pretty much how the next hour went.  Finally there was no choice but to put this child to bed for a nap.  He could not pull himself out of his tailspin, and neither could I.

The trip upstairs and subsequent climbing into and out of bed felt like a fistfight, because frankly, it was one!  I got kicked, slapped, and called all manner of names.  Over and over again, I returned him to his bed, telling him calmly that he needed some rest and he was not getting up until he spent some quiet time in his bed.

He screamed so loud I had to leave the room because I had a splitting headache and my ears were popping.  That's when he started throwing things down the stairs, laughing.  

Suffice it to say that this went on for two HOURS...straight through the time that I was supposed to be baking muffins for Molly's last Daisy meeting (it's her birthday month, so I wanted to do something special).  I had 45 minutes to deliver the snack, so I had no choice but to get Captain Knucklehead back in the car and get to the grocery store. (actually, I did have a choice, and probably could have rustled up something out of my cabinets.  But I was blinded by the ringing in my ears and going to the store seemed like the only solution at that moment.)

We spent the whole trip with him begging for snacks (of course he was hungry, since he'd refused to eat his lunch earlier!).  Finally we got back in the car, him still whining and yelling that he didn't get to buy a snack at the store.

I decided to distract him by changing the subject.  I'd just listened to a Podcast about disciplining with love, the main focus being that children at their WORST, need love the MOST.  So when your child is being abysmal, you need to love him MORE.

I began telling Ben the story of how he came to be our baby, and how God looked at all the families all over the world and just knew that he would love being Jack and Molly's little brother.  I told him how much we loved him, and how lucky we were that he was part of our family.

I was so busy patting myself on the back for putting the whole LOVE MORE theory into practice, that I didn't hear the whizzing noise of incoming artillery.

SMACK!!

Driving down the road at 45mph, I got hit full force in the ear with a huge plastic toy.

"Hmph!" He said.  
"That's all your fault for not getting me what I wanted!"

It hurt physically, yes.  But my feelings were hurt so deeply that I finally broke down.  I don't think Ben has ever seen me cry, but I just lost it, bawling like a baby, tears dripping down my cheeks,  totally out of options, hoping that somehow, some way, Ben's empathy would kick in and he'd feel sorry for what he did.   Through my tears I told him how much he hurt Mommy and how hateful and mean he was acting when I loved him so SO much.

And from the back seat, I hear, in a soft, quiet voice.

"Sheesh.  You don't have to be a baby about it." 

Oh no, he didn't?!!!  Oh yes.  Yes he DID.

Dickens sure had it right.
It undoubtedly is the best of times and the worst of times, all rolled into one.  Here's hoping that tomorrow has a little more "best" and a little less "worst".

Easy Peasy Potsticker Soup

One of the tips I've clung to, in trying to lose weight, is to figure out how to fill myself up for as few calories as possible. Because I'm a hungry girl.  And I don't have a great deal of willpower.  So me walking around trying to tough out an empty stomach is a recipe for disaster.

Two of the things I've found give me that happy, full belly feeling, for very few calories are SOUP and TEA.  If I can eat soup for lunch or dinner a few times a week, or have a bowl quickly when I'm about to go on a Tostitos bender, then I can manage the pangs and pull through.

Today's lunch was a quickie I made up on the fly, but was SO TASTY and satisfying, and full of the Asian flavor I often crave, that I know it will be something I return to often.

Here's the cast of characters, I mean, ingredients...

Hmm, seems a little someone fiddled with my camera and turned on the date stamp.  I wonder if the same small person can teach Mommy how to turn it off!

RECIPE: Potsticker Soup

7 Trader Joe's Chicken Gyoza Potstickers (210 calories)

Birdseye Steamfresh Asian Medley Veggies(175 calories)

Vegetable broth (like, two calories)

Scallions (half a calorie maybe?)

Steam veggies in microwave per package instructions.  While they are cooking, bring the veggie broth to a boil in a medium saucepan and drop the potstickers in for 3 minutes.

Put the veggies (yes, the whole bag) in a bowl and ladle the postickers and as much broth as you like on top.  Garnish with scallions.  Lemongrass instead of scallions would have been DIVINE, but alas, it was not in my fridge.

I had to use a serving bowl because it was too much food for my regular soup bowls to handle.  Half of this would probably fill up a normal person's tummy quite well.  But I am far from normal, so I pushed through and finished all but the very last bit.  

And all for or under 400 calories!

Beautiful, Beautiful Bluebonnets

When we were headed over the bridge to our Easter Egg Hunt last month, I saw them out of the corner of my eye and gasped.  BLUEBONNETS?  Growing wild?  Here????  I'd only ever seen them in pictures, but there they were, like a blue pool in the center of the park's tallest trees.

I'm a sucker for any great big swath of flowers.  Any color, any height, any type.  I just want to be *IN* them, with the kids, and my trusty Canon too.  It's like submerging in nature, walking where fairies tread, communing with God.
It never fails to take my breath away.

The bluebonnets were beautiful, but I had so much to do; the egg hunt, Easter, healing from my awful chest cold, getting the house ready and getting packed in time to leave for Las Vegas.  Besides, my camera lenses were both broken so photos were a no-go.  I resigned myself to the fact that there was a season for everything, and that Spring 2012 was not my season to dance among the bluebells.  I thought about them often, figuring that they were probably already spent for the season.

But the day before we were leaving for Vegas, Ben's teacher Miss Janet casually mentioned in her perfect British accent,  "If you get a chance to go around the bend, the bluebonnets are so beautiful!  The children had so much fun in them, and they won't be around for more than another day or two".

Well, you know I had to make it happen don't you?  You don't often get a second chance so blatantly tossed your way!   We were going to the park at sunset some way, some how.

After dinner, I just threw the kids in the car - I didn't even wash faces.  They were filthy, dressed like orphans, and completely disheveled.  But the light was fading and I had no time to worry about that.  This was about catching the magic, and the magic wasn't going to wait for me to brush teeth and hair.

I'm so glad we went.  It was AWESOME.

The sun faded fast, but the magic was there alright.  Ben offered Molly a bloom...

And she offered him a kiss in return...

(I swear I did not stage this!  I was holding my breath thanking the heavens that I went and shelled out the bucks for a new lens that morning!)

He was ambivalent about the kiss.

But in the end, he must have decided he liked it, because he snuck up behind her and gave her a kiss back on her neck while she wasn't looking.

Seriously.  This is what it's *ALL* about.  THESE are the KAIROS moments.  The ones that make time stand still.  The ones that enable you to diffuse the seventeenth argument of the day, or sweep the kitchen floor for the gazillionth time, knowing that you'll be doing it again, and again, and again.  To spend all day giving of yourself to your family and CHOOSE, deliberately to do it again the next day, and the day after that.  Even if you screw it up on a regular basis.  These are the moments that make you want to keep going.

That's Ben's preschool in the background.  And this is his playground.  Instead of jungle gyms and circle time, they have nature walks and adventure time.  It's pretty much the best preschool EVER.  And all for the bargain price of $98 a month!  It's easily the cheapest preschool in Naperville, where folks can pay close to $20,000 a year for the luxury preschools.  But it's the right one for Ben, because he's thriving there!  And I think so highly of it I recruited two of his friends for next year...can you say CARPOOL?  Yahoo!!

Oops, sorry...tangent.

Back to the magic...

You might wonder what Jack was doing all this time.   He was keeping busy...

Practicing his Jedi skills by cutting the grass with two light sabers.  Good on the right, evil on the left.  Duality.  Kinda appropriate for my sweet/angry boy.

As the last rays of the sun disappeared, we had to hustle home to welcome Nannie and Gray from the airport with Daddy.   But that didn't' stop them from one last adventure climbing up a tree.  Not sure if this type of communing with nature (tree hugging, literally) is park-approved activity, but it sure made for some happy kiddos!