More rain = more crafts

I'm going to start today's post yesterday. We were driving home, and listening to the radio. It's kind of a battle between Julie and I - whenever one of us is out of the vehicle, we switch stations. Anyway, yesterday I had won, and we were listening to the '80's station (satellite radio). Def Leppard came on with 'Pour Some Sugar on Me.' I was trying to educate the girls that this was good music, and maybe they should get into it a bit, you know, bang your head a bit. Jorja replied, "I'm not grooving Dad, because I don't like it." All right then.

I'm amazed at the power of a sticker. We've been having some issues lately with bedtime (and by issues, I mean crying, wailing, tantrums, getting out of bed, general carrying on), so we decided to try a different approach. Ginny's issue is going to bed. Jorja's issue is getting up too many times during the night, and too early in the morning. We got them this big book of stickers and each special book to put their stickers in. All they had to do was stay in bed all night, and not come out till 7:00 am. IT WORKED!! If CeCe hadn't been so snotty and up with that, it would have been my best sleep in years. As it was it was actually pretty good. Jorja got up once in the night to pee, and didn't get out of bed till seven. Then she asked if she could go downstairs by herself and play computer games. I was kind of in shock. She would get up by herself and let me stay in bed?! I was all over that. She cam back up after about half an hour and asked if I would get up. So I went down and dozed on the couch. Ginny came down at 8:00, and I turned on Sesame Street, and dozed on the couch till 9:00 while they watched that. I was in heaven.

It was still raining today - will it ever end? Oh well, at least we didn't get snow. After preschool, Jorja was wanting to do something special again on the rainy day. I knew exactly what she wanted, but I was playing dumb. What would be special I asked. I don't know, she would say. This went on for a while when finally I relented. Would a craft be special? Well, that was apparently the answer. We did a quick internet search, and found some egg carton caterpillars. It went quite well - she is definitely in her element with glitter glue in one hand and sequins in the other. Ginny had fun too, but most of her decorating consisted of stickers. That's just as well too. I didn't take any pictures, so you'll have to use your imaginations, put they are pretty awesome.

Hopefully it's nicer tomorrow - I'm not sure how much more Martha I have in me...

Craft Time

Well, I have to say that last night I was feeling exactly the same as Julie's post. I'm not sure what had gotten into the kids, but it wasn't good. Today is another rainy, dreary day, promising to keep us all cooped up in the house, especially since we took the car in for an oil change this morning (we couldn't go anywhere if we wanted to).

I decided to bring out my inner Martha Stewart or whoever else is crafty these days. I'm a little out of the crafting loop. I looked up some ideas on the internet, altered them slightly to suit what we had for supplies and to accommodate a two year old and voila! We had lady bugs complete with googly eyes and pipe cleaner legs and antennae. Not only was I impressed with myself, but it killed almost an hour. My co-worker at the brewery would be proud of me I think. She ran a daycare before coming to work at the brewery and was telling me about craft websites before I left work.

Anyhow, it's time to start thinking about lunch now. Anyone up for fresh buns?

Is it wrong....

to want to wring a child's neck sometimes?? Cuz it's been that kind of day around here! I love my kids, really, I do, but sometimes they truly drive me around the bend.

Some days it seems as though there is nothing but constant bickering and whining. Jorja has been particularly trying, as of late. She's got some serious 4 year old sass and attitude going on. And tantrums!! Oh my!! She stomps her foot, hollers, and carries on like a nasty little diva! If this is what 4 is like, I shudder to see where we're at 10 years from now. And then there's Ginny. She can be just as awful! Always toeing the line, antagonizing Jorja, and such other behaviours. And have I mentioned how crappy night times have been lately? I don't know what the deal is, but she has these major malfunctions after she's been tucked in. She carries on with hysterics and wailing - the scene becomes a major annoyance, and if Jorja's still awake (believe it or not, she can actually sleep through this noise), then she starts to cry because she knows that Ginny's going to catch major trouble.

AND, to top it all off, poor Miss CeCe has caught the dreaded cold that Dave and I have been dealing with. So, she's needing extra love and snuggles in between all of this nonsense.

Highlights of the day include me conquering my fear of yeast. Yes, I made buns for the very first time today, and they actually look okay! Well, that's maybe stretching it a bit - but they taste pretty good. At least, Dave and I thought so. The girls took a few bites and decided that they didn't want anymore. Suits me fine - it just means that I don't have to share them with the girls! Hah!

Anyhow, enough of my whining. Tomorrow's a brand new day, thank goodness. How's the day been in YOUR world?

~Julie

Drama

We were outside playing in the backyard this afternoon, Jorja, Ginny and I. They have a toy lawn mower that the handle pulls off the base. Jorja had found the base, and decided she wanted to use it. The only problem was that Ginny had the handle. A verbal war of words ensued, and then a tug-of-war. At this point I stepped in and said that if they couldn't take turns, no one was going to use it. Well, long story short, they couldn't come to a consensus as to who should go first, so I took it away. Jorja then proceeded to have a major tantrum, stomped her foot, and yelled at me. I calmly explained that this was no way to talk to me and if she didn't apologize, she would be sitting on the outside 'naughty step.' Well, she didn't apologize, so I sent her off. She said no. Stubborn little thing. I said that if she didn't go, I would take something away. She stomped off and broke out into her death-wail, a high-pitched scream that sounds as though the world is ending. And she didn't stop. I'm sure the neighbors must have thought she was in fact dieing, or that I was killing her. Eventually, she relented and came over and said sorry. Good times.

On the upside, I think we set a new record today. We went to Costco this morning, bought four things and only spent $35. I couldn't belive it.

Preschool

Today was Jorja's 'special day' at preschool, which means she gets to bring a special item for share time as well as a parent helper. She gets quite excited about these days (they happen once a month), but I am really not that crazy about them. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind helping out, and I gladly do it for her, but they leave me drained. Today was worse than usual.

First of all, there are the bathroom breaks. I dread them. You have to take whatever kids have to go to the same bathroom, and just supervise. So I have to take them all to the 'boys'. Well, these kids never lock the doors, so I end up standing there holding one door with my hand, reaching the other with my foot and trying to keep an eye on the ones that still have to go or have already gone. It's very stressful. And yes, when one has to go, usually a whole herd has to go. I had three bathroom breaks today.

Then there's the snack time. It's the parent's job to get set up (clean table after craft time and set out place mats) and clean up when it's over. There was a term that was used at work on days when nothing was going right, and it was a general disaster. That term was s**t storm. And it applied to snack time today. One boy's iced tea had leaked all over the inside of his backpack. One girl's spoon had punctured the top of her pudding, so there was pudding all over the inside of her lunch kit. One girl had a yogurt tube, and it exploded all over her face and shirt while she was attempting to open it. One girl spilled a glass of water. One boy had no straw for his juice box, but insisted on drinking it anyway. Ahh, good times.

Craft time itself today was pretty benign, just some glue sticks, scissors and markers. No paint at least.

Then there's the clean up after - sweep, mop vacuum. All in all, a fun filled 2 hrs 20 mins.

This morning the girls all wanted to get into Jorja's bed together (well, I'm not too sure about CeCe).

This evening Ginny was a rock star. I don't know why, but she always puts sunglasses on upside down.

That was about it for today. Time for bed.

The weekend at my parents' place

We arrived in Tofield in time for supper on Thursday. We had left here right after lunch, thinking the girls would nap right away. Well, that didn't happen. We were well past Battleford, and I think it was after 3:30 by the time they fell asleep. Needless to say, it was not an early bedtime. However, for our girls (Jorja especially), a late night does not translate into a sleep in.

That was all right the first day, because we were going to Edmonton to do some shopping. Let me tell you, trying to shop with a four year old, a two year old and a two month old in the West Edmonton Mall is an exercise in futility. One is touching this, one is running that way, one is waking up and wanting the soother...a general gong show really. I had brought the stroller that seats two (the car seat with CeCe and one more), but trying to get Ginny to sit in it was not happening. So we tried to shop a bit in the morning, then met a friend of Julie's for lunch, and then we were pretty much drained.

The girls had fun playing with Nanny and Pappa. At one point, Jorja and Ginny were both sitting on Dad's lap, and he was drawing them pictures on one of those magnetic boards. "Draw a house Pappa."...pause while he draws..."That's not a very good house Pappa. Draw a cow"...pause while he draws..."That's the weirdest cow I've ever seen"...ahh, the honesty of a four year old. Later on, Ginny and Mom were doing a wooden puzzle. All the shapes were in, except one. "I think it's under your bum," Mom says. Ginny gets up and looks, "No, it was under my 'gina (she kind of loses the first syllable of that word)." Ahh, the honesty of a two year old.

We woke up this morning to snow. What's up with that. Then it snowed off and on the whole way home, and now it is still snowing. Last week, we were wearing shorts and sandals. I'm not impressed. Here's hoping it warms up soon.

We're home

Well, we survived the 10 hours of driving with the children on the weekend relatively unscathed. I have to admit there were times when I was wondering what the heck we were doing. We have a small SUV, so the three kids are all strapped in their respective seats straight across one bench. It can make for rather close quarters after several hours. Before we had kids, we decided we didn't want a DVD player in the vehicle - we didn't and the kids should be able to entertain themselves with books, colouring etc... I'm beginning to think we're crazy, but we'll have to see. Anyhow, everyone is alive, and we are home. I'll write more about the weekend later, but right now there's more stuff to unpack, supper to think about...Not to mention I've got a wicked head cold.