Sharing Secrets

Here are my two girls having fun yesterday.

Mocha Frappuccinos at Home

I frequent a blog called Starbuck's Gossip where I keep up with the funny and interesting things happening in the world in regards to Starbuck's coffee and their stores. It is here that I am made aware of the special drinks each season, like the Cinnamon Dolce Latte, which was fabulous by the way.

Recently on the blog, they linked to this article where they include a lowfat, lower calorie recipe for a Starbuck's Grande Mocha Frappuccino. I immediately printed it out and yesterday I tried it. I made it exactly the way the recipe says, except I added one extra teaspoon of sugar and omitted the whipped topping. It is EXCELLENT! If you like mocha frappuccinos, you must try this at home. Really good!

Personalities

I've often been intrigued and sometimes perplexed with how my kids handle social situations. Where did they learn to act the way they do? Was it me? Or is it an innate reaction to events that makes them behave the way they do? Probably, a combination of both.

Today, while at the mall in the play area while our house was being shown (or not shown - see next post), Emma and Zoe were enjoying the climbing toy and other little toys inside the play area. There was one circular toy hanging on the wall that had several little paths and a ladybug that could be maneuvred through the paths by turning the wheel back and forth. The goal was to get the ladybug "home." Emma could get the ladybug home and was enjoying this when a little boy no older than two years came over and started to play with the wheel, too. It's pretty much a one person toy. Emma let go of the wheel, let the boy take over, and came over to me saying he took the toy. I told her she had it first, but let the boy have it instead of telling him politely that she was still playing with it. I told her to ask him if she could have a turn, otherwise she would have to wait until he was done. She decided to run off and play with something else.

Enter Zoe, a few minutes later. The boy had lost interest and Zoe went to play with the ladybug wheel. She was having a great time spinning it around when the same little boy came up and tried to play with the wheel again. This time, unlike her older sister, Zoe would have nothing of it. She pushed the boy's hands away and told him "No." I watched her do this three times, and the boy finally gave up. I was proud of her, standing her ground. Even though I want her to be a kid who shares and is generous, I also want her to be a kid who doesn't let others push her around. I saw that in her today.

Selling A House Sucks!

Brendan and I put our house up for sale 3 1/2 weeks ago. Since that time, I've been busting my butt to keep the place clean and ready for any and all showings. Having three kids, age six and under, makes for many cleaning opportunities. Breakfast and three snacks, all before 10:00 AM result in a lot of sweeping of the floor and wiping down of the kitchen table and other surfaces. (Those of you without kids are wondering why any child that ate breakfast would need one snack, let alone three before 10:00 AM, but those of you with kids know exactly what I'm talking about!) I have cleaned my bathrooms more times than I care to admit in one week, mainly because of hand washing, teeth brushing, and potty accidents.

But what is really beginning to grate on my nerves are the showings that are either non-showings, or showings that I don't know happened. Three times a realtor has come and either not left a business card or not shown up at all. I don't actually know which, because I can't tell if a brochhure was taken or not, and THERE IS NO BUSINESS CARD! Keeping a house ready to show is a pain in the butt enough, without having to pack up your kids and take them someplace entertaining without costing a lot (if any) money each time. Then, after altering your children's nap times so someone who may or may not want to buy your home can look at it, you come home to what appears to be a no show for the scheduled showing. No message, no card, no nothing. It's more than a bit frustrating, and highly unprofessional.

By the way, it doesn't help that the neighbors who bought the house across the street from you less than a year ago just decided to list their house for sale yesterday.

Another Mispronunciation

Having a six year old son who is a voracious reader makes for some fun vocabulary coming out of his mouth. Tonight, in response to whether he had used the bathroom before climbing into bed was, "No way, Jose." However, instead of the typical "hosay" pronunciation of Jose, we were greeted with "jozay". It's how I'm going to say it from now on.

It's Batch!

We have a nifty toy called Music Blocks by Neurosmith that we got for the kids several years ago. It only gets played with occasionally because even though it is a very cool toy, we only have one cartridge of music that it plays, rendering it somewhat repetitive after three years of play. Basically, it is a music player with five different colored blocks, and each block has the same six different shapes, one on each side of each block. When placed in order, the blocks each play a piece of some music. Each different side plays the music from a different instrument. You can play all the same instrument in order, to hear the music played by a violin, or mix it up and have several different instruments play the same piece of music. You can also change the order of the music by moving the blocks into a different order, in essence creating a whole new piece of music with the five pieces of one song.

I finally purchased two new cartridges and they arrived today. One was called Jumpin' Jive Jazz and the other was Bach. Ian played them both with gusto when he returned from school, and even got Zoe in on the action, too, by dancing around the living room with her and changing the cartridge each time she asked him to. It was very cute and fun to see them interacting so sweetly together. Ian liked the jazz cartridge right away. He noticed that the Bach cartridge was classical music, like the original Mozart cartridge that we have. This is how he told me:

Ian - "Mom! The Batch is classical music, too!"

Me - "Yes it is. And it's pronounced Bock."

Ian - "Hey, Zoe really likes the Batch, too! She is dancing like crazy to it. These are both cool. I like the Jazz and the Batch. Thanks for getting them, Mom."

Me- "Your welcome."

Shocking News!!!!!

OK, actually, if you know my husband, this really won't come as a big shock, but I just discovered it today and thought I should share. I've been married 10 1/2 years, and while I suspected the following information was true, I had never confirmed it until today. While hanging up one of Brendan's shirts in his closet, I noticed that every single shirt was hung on the hangers the same way. All of them face the same direction. EVERY SINGLE ONE! Now, while many people might say this is the proper closet etiquette, even necessary for keeping your clothes neat and tidy, I say, "Hah!" I don't know which way my clothes hang, and I'm sure each one goes it's own way. The only reason I discovered this quirk in my husband's personality today was because I had put the shirt on the hanger the wrong way, and as I was haning it up I noticed that it was on the wrong way. So, as a good wife, I turned it around and hung it up his way. That's because I care.

Selling the Homestead

Two weeks ago, we listed our home for sale and hoped a buyer would come along, recognize what a fabulous house we have and snatch it up with a quick and wondeful offer. While we have had several showings, and a few repeat showings, no offers have made their way to us. While I'm enjoying the de-cluttered and extremely clean look of our house, I'm getting a little tired of acting like we don't live here. Stashing the menu I keep on the fridge everytime there is a showing, running down to the basement to put the laundry basket that has no permanent home underneath the stairs, maniacally reminding my 6, 3, and 2 year olds to NOT use the good towel in the downstairs bathroom but instead to use the dingy yellow one, making sure we only use our green and yellow towels in the full bathroom so that they match the green and yellow walls (OK, I like that last one.) It's not particularly fun living here right now.

The unexpected upside to all of this? I have become an exceptional housekeeper, one that I didn't know existed inside this skin. I clean both bathrooms, every week. I mop the kitchen, including the laundry room, entry way, and upstairs bathroom, every week. I vacuum upstairs every week and downstairs twice a week. I DUST. I clean the front of my appliances and I wash down the cupboard doors. I do laundry, fold it, and put it away - all in the SAME day. I make beds and keep both my dresser and closet clutter free. I don't know how I do it. My husband, who obviously has the cleaning gene that I do not, actually said to me when I asked him to clean up some toys in the basement, "But the showing isn't for three hours!" At which point I grumbled that I would do it myself. It's like aliens have come and taken over my mind. I don't do this much cleaning in a month, let alone a week. I think my husband secretly loves it. He may never openly admit it, but I'm pretty sure I've turned into the housewife he's always wished I was. I kind of like it, too, except for the hiding of the laundry basket.

Happy Easter!

Easter Chickens!!! Emma made these as gifts for the people she loves in her life. We finished them with Easter grass and a few treats. Have a wonderful Easter!

Zoe - Super Sandal Shopper

After dropping off eBay packages at the Post Office this morning, the kids and I headed over to Payless Shoe Store. I was on a mission to get Zoe a pair of white sandals for both the summer and Easter Sunday. She has been wearing Emma's size 8 princess sandals from last summer, but they are too big and are always falling off her feet. She also has adopted a pair of black patent size 8 shoes with rhinestones around the front, and wears them most everywhere I'll let her. She has no size 7 dress shoes, and I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone by purchasing a pair of white sandals for both Easter and summer fun.


We went into the Payless and headed for the size 7 shoes. There was a cute princess sandal, and an absolutely adorable white sandal with little multicolored bows on them. I offered the princess sandals up for Zoe's approval, and she emphatically pushed them out of my hand back onto the shelf with a strong "No." Before I had a chance to look at any other shoes for her I hear, "Dora!" come out of her mouth. Dora the Explorer is probably Zoe's favorite show on TV, so sandals with Dora and her sidekick Boots on them comes close to making Zoe completely, purely happy. We took the sandals off the shelf, took off Zoe's shoes and socks and tried on the Dora sandals. Zoe was so pleased she wanted to put her black rhinestone shoes on the shelf in the box and leave them at the store. We went up to pay, where I had to lift Zoe up so the saleslady could make sure both shoes were the same size, and we paid.

Time in store, less than five minutes.

As I left I realized that the sandals were not white and would not match any dress I pick out for Zoe to wear for Easter. Oh well, neither will the pink sparkly shoes Emma picked out while we were on a mission for her white Easter dress shoes. Neither of my girls will match on Easter Sunday, but they will be two of the happiest girls in church, with their pretty new shoes.

Spring Has Arrived

And with it's arrival have come my beautiful daffodils.

Springtime in Chicago

Taken off my deck this afternoon.

Mr. Clean Saves the Day!

Brendan and I have been very busy this month trying to get the house ready to be put up for sale. We've had the kitchen floor replaced, bought and hung new curtains for the sliding glass doors, washed walls, decluttered the kitchen, removed all magnets and pictures from the refrigerator, etc. Yesterday, I spent three hours cleaning, decluttering, and stashing stuff so that our realtor could come over for less than five minutes and take pictures of several of the rooms in the house to put on the brochure and internet when we list the house.

Brendan has been planning to paint several walls thoughout the house this weekend that are very dirty, or just have to many marks on them. The upstairs hallway, that we haven't painted ever, we just left it the way the previous owners had painted it, had one wall with large and dark green marks from our clothes hamper on it that Brendan was going to have to paint over. We hoped that the paint in the basement marked "ecru" and left by the previous owners was the color that was on the wall, although we don't know for sure. Well, last night I had a great idea. I would try the Magic Eraser. After several minutes of gentle scrubbing, our wall looked as good as new. No green marks, no paint removed, nothing. Just clean, ecru (we think) colored walls. I was so proud of myself. I just saved Brendan lots of time, time he can now spend cleaning or packing other things!

I Can't Wait Until April 2!

All three of my children woke up at 5:40 AM this morning. Zoe, who regularly sleeps until 7:30, was crying and I knew I would have to get up with her. I went into her room, and although the sun was peeking through the sides of her blinds, I told her it was still "night night" time and that she had to go back to sleep. I proceeded to pick her up, sit with her in the rocking chair, wrap her up in her blanket, and rock. As this is going on, I hear Emma looking for me in my bed. After a few tears, she goes downstairs to look for me there. Upon not finding me, she becomes very concerned and goes to consult her big brother Ian. After talking with him for a few seconds, she decides that asking her dad, who is showering, would be the best method to finding me. I am still rocking Zoe at this time and keep hoping Brendan hurries up so he can grab Emma and Ian if need be and usher them downstairs so that they don't interrupt Zoe going back to sleep. Emma went into the bathroom and scared the hell out of Brendan, who told her I was either in bed or probably in with Zoe. Emma knew I wasn't in bed, and didn't think I was in with Zoe. Brendan, hoping to finish showering and getting dressed without any further near heart attacks, sent Emma out of the bathroom. Emma went back to her room and chatted with Ian about my possible whereabouts once again. I then heard a loud whisper outside of Zoe's door, "Mom, are you in there?" It was Emma. I didn't answer her, Zoe was looking very heavy eyed and I didn't want to risk it. Emma repeated herself, in the same loud whisper. Again, no response from me. I hear her heading back to her room to talk to Ian once more. He must have advised her that I probably couldn't hear her because she was whispering, because her next question, in a quiet tone, not a whisper, was "Mom, can you hear me?" I wrestled with whether to respond or not. On the one hand, if I let her know where I was, she would hopefully stop bugging me. (I have trained the older two kids pretty well on not coming into the room when I'm with Zoe during a sleep time.) If I don't tell her, she'll keep asking if I'm there until she gets the information she wants. But telling her risks the balance of putting a sleepy two year old back to bed. Three year olds are very persistent, and Emma is no exception. Because of this I decide to let her know where I am with a loud "shhhhhh." Zoe isn't bothered too much, and Emma is happy to know where I am. She informs Brendan of my location and happily goes downstairs with him for some juice. I lay Zoe back down in her crib, grab my bathrobe, and head downstairs myself, where I am greeted by Brendan, Emma, and Ian. It was 5:55.

Karate Ian

Wow! Ian has had a great two days. On Sunday he competed in his first karate tournament and won second place! Then on Monday, he tested for his green belt in karate and got it!

In the tournament he competed against other six year old orange belts and ended up with a second place trophy. He got a buy in the first rounds, then went up against a girl who was not very aggressive. He beat her 3-0. Then in the final match he went up against a boy who was excited to be competing. After an accidental kick to Ian's groin, Ian went on to score one point, to the other boy's three. He stuck through the match and really did a great job. After receiving his trophy he told Brendan and I that his trophy was very valuable to him. "It's as valuable as my Gamboy and Bunny," he said.

Then on Monday he tested forhis green belt. We were there to cheer for him as he received his next belt ranking. He was so proud, and so was I.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

From my three (half) Irish and green clad children to all of you, have a good one!

When Procrastination Pays Off

I am a subscriber to Family Fun magazine and really enjoy looking through it, reading the articles, and even trying a few of the cute ideas. Ian's and Emma's valentines were made from an idea from this magazine and I've made a few fun recipes. I decided not to renew because even though I really liked the magazine, I thought we could save a a little money. Well, yesterday I got a call from representatives of the magazine and they offered me a three year subscription for just $0.93 an issue! They only publish ten times a year, so I'm locked in for $9.30 a year for three years! How great is that! All their renewal offers were for $14.95 a year, so I'm quite pleased with how this turned out. Maybe we'll try this tactic with Brendan's Sport's Illustrated subscription.

Murphy's Law

Murphy’s Law says that when you are having a new kitchen floor layed, and you have to do 25 additional things like pack two extra lunches, get packages ready to send after selling on eBay, and remove the stool and tissues from the bathroom before it is time to take your six year old to school, your three year old, who hasn’t had an accident in over 6 months, will pee all over the bathroom floor, your six year old who is holding himself because he has to go pee so badly will argue with you that he doesn’t want to go upstairs to use the bathroom but instead wants to use the bathroom with the pee all over the floor, the pee from the 3 year old will go all over your six year old’s favorite stuffed bunny, which you will now have to wash this morning otherwise he won't have it for bed tonight because you won’t have access to your washer and dryer because your kitchen floor is being layed today, and all after you have just poured milk onto your cereal so you can't eat it because it will all be soggy after you have cleaned up the mess. And blogger is having technical difficulties so you can't blog about it. At least that’s what Murphy’s Law said at my house this morning.

This Is My Husband

I have always loved Fox Trot. It is a well written, well drawn comic that is always current and always delivers a laugh. Today's is especially good, if only because my husband has been waiting for these stamps to come out (and may have pondered this same question Jason has!).

Heaven

Ian was teasing Emma this morning and somehow ended up telling her she was dead. Instead of getting upset about it, Emma became extremely joyful. She said, "When I'm dead I get to go to heaven and see Jesus and his mother and give God a hug." Then she danced around in circles and said, "I can't wait until I'm dead and get to go to heaven. It's gonna be so great!"

Now, I have to admit the innocence and exhuberance Emma showed was sweet, and kind of fun to watch. But it was also slightly disturbing to me as well. As happy as I am to hear her talk about going to God when she dies, the very thought of her death frightens the hell out of me. I know she wasn't truly deeply contemplating death, but it was still unnerving to hear a 3 1/2 year old talk about when she will be dead. Maybe we should all look at death with the innocence of a three year old; but of course we can't because we know of all the things we have done in his life, both good and bad.

Emma capped off her joyful exhaltations about death with this final comment. "When I'm dead, I want to wear this." (her pink fleece dress, white shirt, pink tights, and black shoes.)