Adventures in Mommyhood

Once and a while, I have a really brilliant idea. My latest was one that involves the kids doing some quality "playing" while at the same time giving me a chance to be productive and also enjoy their presence. It is called "ART CHALLENGE" It all started with Claire wanting to draw a rainbow, and Lance drawing the lines on the paper for her to color in. When Fisher got wind of this, he wanted in on the action, and soon we were in the middle of our first "art challenge." The "challenge" was to draw a picture of a rainbow. Here are the results: This is Claire's creation: Above the rainbow she drew the sky, a bird and some clouds. Below you will see some flowers, a tortoise, and Holland, Fisher, Me and Claire (Daddy and Jenny are at work). Fisher's drawing included birds, rain, cornstalks, a pot of gold, a leprechaun, a dead bird, the sun, some sunflowers, and a tortoise... can you spot them all? It was really fun to listen to them thi

Trying to Find Time For A Schedule.... Holland has been reminding me that she is a BABY and she needs a SCHEDULE! I had been a mom to toddlers/preschoolers for so long that I really got used to mixing up my mornings- staying home and baking, coloring, playing outside, or maybe heading out to the zoo, or the outdoor campus, or to a play-date, or to the grocery store, or to the gym. For the first 6 months of Holland joining the crew, this was still pretty possible. She could sleep in her carrier pretty well, or if she didn't get a good nap in, she could make it up with one of her 2 or 3 other naps during the day. But now, Holland is a "big" baby. She takes two naps a day, and we need to try to work life around those naps. Today, I woke up and decided that I really wanted to go to my favorite 9:15 am class at the gym. Yes, this was during Holland's morning nap time, but I figured she would fall asleep on the way to the gym, and blissfully sleep away while I was wo

Another First Claire was off to her first day of preschool today. For the past two years, she has taken her brother to preschool, and today it was her day to stay! Yesterday I took her to Target where we both picked out this adorable pink dress on the clearance rack, and then we had enough to spend on shoes! I successfully steered her away from the Disney Princess shoe section, but couldn't quite convince her to get these really cool pewter flats. Luckily, we spotted some pink All-Stars, and it was a perfect compromise. This morning she was super excited and even let me comb and gel her hair without protest. On the way to school, she kept scrunching up her face in anticipation. She stuck pretty close to me while we hung up her sweater and back pack, and found her name tag. Then we sat down to color and she told me she loved me, and it was ok for me to go. What more could I ask for? She loves me, and she's ok. She'll be at school from 9-11:30 on Tuesdays, Wednesday