Spring is coming

Spring is coming. That's my mantra. It has been a cold dreary winter up to this point. Well, until the other day. The sun has been out two days in the last week. It's a mood lifter, that's for sure!
At this point, there are 63 days until the official arrival of Spring.   But every day lasts a little longer and the nights get a little shorter, and I swear that even at -22 I feel a bit of warmth in the air. I can't wait until going outside means simply tossing on sandals and heading out.
Spring. That has to be one of the best words in the English language.

Soundtracking our lives

We arrive late every morning to my youngest's school, partly by design in order to accommodate his SPD  and partly because I'm me. Let's be honest, with three schools to drop off at, my goal is to get to the last one within 10 minutes of bell time.
Friday morning is "DANCE DAY!"  Shout it with enthusiasm because all 300 of the kids in the school certainly do. Yes, it's a hyped up energetic dancing segment where all the staff and students dance their butts off. It's lasts 5 minutes max, but if we miss it, the kids act like I ate their last Lindt chocolate square or something.
As we were racing out of the car this morning a version of footloose was blaring from the outdoor loudspeakers-   My son, in all seriousness turns to me while running and says " It's like we're in a movie right now, and the music is for our dramatic scene while we run. We should be YouTubers or something!"
This kid kills me. He does like to soundtrack his life, months in advance he planned some ocean themed music for when we were driving to the beach, (it was no music I'd ever heard before). So, who knows- maybe he'll make a career out of creating epic cinematic scores!

Never give a nude kid an Ipad

I'm sitting in the living room waiting while the kids go up and get into their pj's upstairs. My son was carrying his iPad after taking his clothes off, I guess... because next thing I hear is... 'hey, B did you know that a penis works the iPad? I can use it like my finger! It's so cool.'
The conversation I was having with dh trailed off as we heard the word penis.  "eww! Z that's gross!"  his sister yelled.
'No, look, look! It works, for real!'
"He's using the ipad with his penis!."
'yeah, but it works! ' He is triumphant. Thrilled by his discovery. At this point, dh is laughing too hard to intervene and I have to be the grown up who chokes down the laughter. Which I do. Barely. Long enough to yell-"don't touch the ipad (insert laugh cough here) with anything but your hands! Now get your clothes on!"  DH is killing himself laughing. Seriously. Likely just jealous he didn't think of trying it first.
I have no idea what possesses that kids sometimes. But that is why people don't hang about nude in our house.
Yes, I disinfected the Ipad.

Partridge family. Or not.

I was determined to blog more as 2014 began.Mentioning it was the kiss of death I guess. It's been one long dreary winter here and I'm dreaming of escape.

  I found out recently that a mom I know is going to be pulling her kids from school, selling their house and travelling around for a while. I had just been mentioning this to dh the other day as something I'd love to do. 

It's a little awkward when you have two kids nearing the end of high school, who can't just take off, and two young enough to be at the perfect age for it. Of course from a financial standpoint we couldn't do it anyway. But I can dream can't I?  Dh pointed out that we could, in theory travel for the summer months, as long as he can get connectivity for work (and permission to work exclusively from home during that time period).

We could be like the partridge family... without the hippie bus and duds. 

Or singing. Or tambourine playing. We could travel together exploring the country, learning and maybe vlogging the whole scene. Our wonderful family togetherness. Smiles! Adventure! Family high fives! 

Actually it would probably be more like this.

Me: Yay, we're off! 

...

Them: Mo-om! Are we there yet?! 

Me: No (I can still see the driveway in the rearview mirror).

Them: Mom! She's touching my seat!     Am not! That's my part of the seat!

DH: are we there yet? 

Me:Why did this seem like a good idea?

Jan 3 2014

I want to do better this year. I want to write and actually have something to show for it.  I am a terrible blogger-I always begin to write on a topic and then end up so far off on a tangent that I need a gps to get back. Aaand... no matter my intentions, my posts sound like rants. Then I feel bad and almost always hit delete, because my mom always did tell me to be nice or keep it to myself.   I'm going to try to stay on track long enough to write some posts this year.Key word. Try. So, mea culpa reader, because my mind travels where it wants and often forgets to take the map or leave a crumb trail. 

Unsuccessful weeks

Lately I've been feeling frustrated.  The kids have been spending a lot of time inside, making huge irritating messes, my son's asthma has been flaring up with a vengeance, meaning he is having trouble spending time outside . The attacks ratchet up his anxiety and his grumpiness, which increases his less desirable behaviours. I'm waking up feeling like I've run a marathon in my sleep (frankly the only way I will ever run one).  I'm cranky and snappy, and even acknowledging and trying to control my bitchiness isn't helping.  I've come to loathe Christmas and preparing for it isn't helping.  So much stress about  family that doesn't like each other,and where will we gather, what about presents, and shopping! Gah! People. Everywhere. Bumping. Pushing.So loud.  It's not for me.  I lack any religious affinity for Christmas, so the whole thing is becoming a high pressured money and emotional suck for me.  I wanted to pack up the kids and drive south the second school got out on Thursday.  Then I remembered that we had a year where no breadwinning income came in for 7 months . Yeah. And so I didn't pack the car and flee the madness

I can't wait for it to be over, and that makes me sad because I remember how excited I was as a kid, and I wonder what's wrong with me.  

I can't even come up with a parenting success recently. So I've had nothing good to report for weeks.  

Wait. My 4 yo baked for one of his teachers. And I let him.  Well, I did the in and out of the oven parts    I guess that counts. He made fortune cookies as one of the things for his teacher and came up with the things to say, completely on his own. I helped him spell, but I didn't correct his handwriting. 

Ouac navigated!

Parenting success : after much deliberation and research, I helped my oldest son apply to his top university programs of choice.  Number one was a full French program, math and teaching. 

So yay! Success! 🎉

  One child ready to soar on the wings we've helped grow

(I hope he gets in!)

And then I hugged him, and said I was proud he'd made his decisions. Then I went upstairs to lay down with my youngest to help him fall asleep, and cried while writing this blog post. Which is ridiculous.  But whatever.  

 Here he is, way back at 21 months