10 minute snippet of my day:

Scarlett starts screaming.  Greg and I roll eyes.  *sigh*  What has happened now?  Who hurt/sat on/took a toy from whom?  

Scarlett comes running in the room with a giant silver toy rattle STUCK in her MOUTH!!  I scream.  Emergency room scenarios start pouring through my head - I begin to try to remember where I put the diaper bag for a quick escape.  Eventually I manage to pull the rattle out without breaking her teeth.  

Sche runs to the bathroom wanting a bandaid for her mouth.  I hold and rock her and explain that you can't put a bandaid on the inside of your mouth.  Instead, I offer Mr. Bump (a cold compress from the fridge), which is an ok compromise.  She takes Mr. Bump and goes to find her pacifier.  

Crisis averted.  

Mommy nearly faints.

It is true.  Your children will never comprehend how much you love them.... until they have children of their own.

For example:  I have not eaten a meal without sharing it - (when I was at home and not at work of course) in years.  However, this has also been good for my waistline.

The sheer amount of stamina and will power that it takes to care for several sick children while you are also sick is just staggering.

The amount of humiliation and pity I put up with in order for my children to attend classes and programs at our family center should show incredible amounts of love.

I still (STILL!) check on their breathing while they are sleeping at night at least twice.  (and Max is almost 6!)

All of my electronic devices that I cherish so dearly have been damaged in some way by my children.  And yet I still let them use them because I know they enjoy it so much....  My iPad, the Wii, the gameboy.

My beautiful car looks like its on its last leg and its only 3 years old due to the just incredible amount of wear and tear from several little people climbing in and out and jumping all around in it.  Omg and the cheerios.

And I swear if one more person says, "well we only bought this 1 (couch/dining room set/bedroom set etc etc) and its lasted through all of our children and its 175 years old and going strong I'm going to puke.  That's nice.  I don't ever know how to reply to that.  "I can't afford such good quality?"  "They don't make things like they used to?"  "My children are furniture demons?"  "Your children are boring robots?"  "Not everyone can be as perfect as your family is?"  I just don't know.

And the worrying!!  Are they making friends?  Should they have more playdates?  Are they warm enough?  How are they doing in school?  Are they happy??  That's where all those little gray hairs come from!

And I check and re-check backpacks for lunch money, permission slips, homework, book club orders....

And you know with all of this (and oh there's more... expensive cosmetics in the toilet, sharpies on the wall, my white bedroom set that has red marker all over it..... still not sure who did that one), its fine.  And I'm so grateful for the experience, that they are mine, that I have the privilege of being their mom.  And one day when my walls aren't marked up and my couch isn't jumped on and my car is clean.... I bet I'll be bored and miss it.  Of course by then I may have grandchildren to clear all of that up.  Or maybe I'll go visit my children and help my grandchildren make masterpieces on the wall.

And there are the priceless moments....

Scarlett learning to put hats on her head and walking around with ENORMOUS winter hats on.  New words like "baby" and "I'm Scar-wett" (for Scarlett of course.  Those "L"s are hard!).  Watching Max sit down to "read" a book to Scarlett that he has memorized.  Rocking them to sleep on the occasion that they're having trouble sleeping and they let me hold on to them.  Family vacations together.  My favorite.  Listening to Max and Ash have conversations in the car.... Ash:  "Max, what is my big name?"  Max:  "I'm sorry Ash, I can't remember right now".  Watching Max give an AMAZING presentation in Kindergarten on his Star Day.  Finding out that Ash has actually sold someone at the park a leaf for $ 0.25 or that his pre-school test scores are technically high enough for him to start Kindergarten right now.  And he has a year to go.    And these are the moments that fuel my world.  That make everything worth it.

Aaachooo!

Ugh.  So Scarlett and I are both sick with colds.  I got everyone off to school and am now sitting here sneezing to myself. 

We had cereal and yogurt for breakfast and I had to wrangle Max and Ash away from each other while I was trying to get Max on the bus.  They were trying to play light sabers while we were getting out the door.  Very difficult to get on the bus that way.  I sent Max to school with a cookie for a treat at lunch.  I hope he doesn't forget about it or try to eat it on the bus or something.  I also hope he's allowed to have that sort of thing at lunch - I really don't know and they have such funny rules about food now. 

Ash and Scarlett watched some Blues Clues and played pretty well.  Scarlett enjoys taking all of the magnets off of the refrigerator right now.  So that's fun.  Normally I wouldn't mind so much, but again, I'm not feeling well. 

So we had pasta salad with spinach for lunch and cookie for dessert and I sent Ash off on the bus.  He LOVES to ride the bus.  Loves it! 

I'm doing a quick updates, trying to get Thanksgiving travel plans in order and then I think I'm going to take some cold medicine and take a nap.  I have cancelled our appointment with Alejandra from the Family Center (for Scarlett's in-home baby class today) because I don't want to get her sick and Scarlett probably isn't up to it today anyway.  Poor baby. 

Tomorrow is my busy day and then Greg gets home just in time for us to try to run all over the place to get to the Kindergarten curriculum night.

Nature Preserve

Today was Rosh Hashanah, so the children didn't have school.  We met Max's new best friend in Kindergarten, Liam, for a playdate at the Emily Oaks Nature Center in Skokie.  We rented "adventure packs" for the children of which the main component was binoculars and took a nature hike around the lake and looked for geese and chipmunks.  The boys had a fun time playing in the nature watch areas and on the bridge while looking for gold fish.  We all had a picnic lunch at the playground and the children spent the rest of the afternoon playing on the playground.  With the exception of Scarlett trying to be an escape artist for part of the afternoon and me learning to sprint 30 yards at a moments notice, everyone had a great time, got lots of fresh air and exercise and went home happy and exhausted. 

Six Flags!

Whew!  What a.....month or few months!

Every year Greg's company has "Six Flags Day" for all employees and so this year we got to go!  They rent out the entire park for the whole day for employees only and parking and tickets are included!  Yay!  So we packed up the kiddos early Saturday morning and made it to the park by 10.  (It's about an hour away)  They were SO very excited to be going to an "Ma-Musement Park".  We're working on it.  Anyway.  We walked in and had pictures taken by the beautiful yellow flowers and then rode the carousel.  The boys and Scarlett all loved it.  Next we walked over and rode the Parachute ride.  All of us were able to ride, so that was nice.  Afterwards we took a bathroom break and grabbed lunch - we brought a picnic lunch and found the picnic area and fed everyone.  None of the children eat hamburgers or chicken nuggets or anything like that anyway, so it worked out well we didn't try to spend gobs of money on fried "something" that they wouldn't eat.   After that we had pictures taken with Shaggy (from the Scooby Doo tv show) and Scrappy Doo and then ventured over to the "Little Dipper" roller coaster.  (its a kiddie coaster, but bigger than you might imagine!)  Max LOVED it.  And he even made it through the 30 minute wait!  Ash was so nervous - but kept saying he would be brave.  And he liked it as well, but not as much as Max.  Scarlett and I waited patiently at the exit.  Next we headed over to a "kiddie ride" area and the children rode:  the Mystery Machine, the Flintstone cars, and the motor boat ride.  We were so proud of Scarlett she did so well on all the rides - Greg and I weren't allowed to ride the kiddie rides - just the kids - so she sat with her brothers and did just great!  That's my brave girl!  So proud!  Everyone was pretty tired at this point and I had to get back home for a babysitting job so we rode one more ride on the way out..... the boys and I rode the Pirate ship water ride and got WET!  But it was super cute and a lot of fun.  All of the children were so well behaved.  We just praised them up and down all the way home.  We were able to stay at the park much much longer than we expected - no tantrums - no "total" loss of focus - everyone followed instructions and stayed together - honestly you can't ask for better than that! 

Our schedule this week!

Monday we took Ash to his 4 y.o. check-up with Dr. Weinstein and then took everyone to the Tree House to play.  Later in the afternoon, I took Max to his occupational therapy appointment.  Tuesday I took all the kids to "baby class" - Scarlett made a "hungry" caterpillar and the boys made gumdrop sculptures.  Wednesday we went to story time at the library - always a good time for the kiddos.  Thursday this week Scarlett had her home-visit baby class (we worked on fine motor skills this week) and then we went to the Kohl Children's museum for as long as the children could hold it together.  A great way to have fun and burn all that energy!  Friday we packed up and walked to the beach!  This was the first time we have walked to the beach from our house.  We put the boys in the red wagon and Scarlett in her stroller and walked on down to the beach.  SO relaxing.  We're doing that at least once a week until the beach closes now.  the kids had so so much fun and it wasn't very crowded at all!  Friday evening I went scrapbooking with my friend Laura - always nice to get away and do something "me" for a while!  Today we are headed to a pot luck luncheon at the family center - we're bringing brownies.  This afternoon we may catch the tail end of a garage sale or two and then I have to babysit.  So - that's pretty much what we've been up to in a nutshell.

I'm trying to "be in the moment" today and relax and remember how much fun (and actually relaxing) it can be to lie on the couch and feel the (finally) cool breeze while listening to Max play Angry Birds on my phone and watch Scarlett and Ash chase each other around the room.  SO very nice.  Relaxing and calm and it makes me remember how much I love where I am in my life right now.  I'm not anxious about tiny babies anymore and I'm not raring for them to get grown up and out of the house.  I'm not jealous of people with no children and I'm not jealous of people with more or less children than us.  For me - this is perfect.  This is the perfect amount of everyday chaos and everyday calm.  I've been relaxing on the couch just watching the kids run around and Scarlett and Ash bring me toys (a yellow duck and a pull-toy dog, Ash worries that I am cold and keeps trying to cover me up and Max keeps chastising Ash for bothering me.  So very funny to watch.  They are growing up so very fast.

Scarlett can go in the children's room and close the door by herself!  She can also do this in the bathroom and occasionally locks herself in because she can close the door, but not open it - so we have to be careful about that.

All of the children have been good about sharing Ash's new birthday toys.  Yesterday (on Ash's celebrated birthday - we had the party on a Saturday of course, so all his friends could attend) they were especially careful to let him play with the toys first and let him pick out which shows he wanted to watch - I'm so very proud of them for being able to do that.  Its so difficult to learn!  Ash got a Thor hammer, a batman car, a Buzz Lightyear skateboard toy, Candyland, Toystory fishing board game, and a sand box from granny and grandpa.  His big present from mommy and daddy is being shipped this week!  (T-ball bat and ball set)  Ash's party was a big success!  The kids came over and played in the baby pool and sandbox for an hour and then we had pizza, apple slices and cake and the kids did the piñata and we passed out goodie bags.  Ash had Spongebob Squarepants cupcakes and a pirate piñata.  By the end of the party most of the sand was in the baby pool and most of the water was in the sandbox - but it was ok - everyone had fun and there were no tantrums, arguments, crying children or tussling over toys.  All the parents hung out in the shade structure and had beer and wine.  We all snacked on watermelon throughout the party.  We decked out the yard in lots of colored balloons which worked perfectly with the blue and white shade structure.  Maddie, Christopher, Andrew, Charlie, Eddie and Marcus were there plus our kids of course.