Spring Fever

Posted on March 12, 2012 by mommydaybyday

The first sign of spring in my backyard

Spring fever has hit hard. Which only begs one question what happened to winter?

What’s crazy is that we haven’t had much of a winter. It has barely snowed and we have only had a handful of really cold days. Brand new hats, gloves, and boots that were purchased in the fall have not even seen the light of day. They have been hidden in the closet and that is where they will remain until next year.

Not that I am complaining. I appreciate the mild winter. It was nice not worrying about snow removal. Which really isn’t my issue, since I haven’t touched a shovel since I got married! But nevertheless it is still an issue. And I certainly didn’t miss wrapping the kids in layers and layers of sweaters, coats, gloves, hats, and scarves. The mild winter made it nice for everyone, except maybe ski slope owners.

However, I did miss the kids playing in the snow. I do love when they play in the backyard. They love to go sledding and we weren’t able to go at all this winter.

Last year fun in the snow… I forgot how much it snowed last year!

Although, it was nice I do have some issues with the lack of cold and snow. I am a pretty structured person and I function best when things happen how they should. Winter is supposed to be cold and miserable. It throws me off a little when things don’t fall into place in an orderly fashion. I am coming to turns with it and in turn I am beginning to become excited about the impending spring.

As far as winter is concerned it missed its chance. Spring is only a week or two away and that is what everyone is looking forward to. The temperature has been unseasonably warm in the 60’s. We haven’t had one snow day- which suits me just fine because snow days have to be made up and are added to the end of the year. So mother nature better not throw out a surprise March snowstorm. That would be too much for me to handle… and I am sure I am not the only one.

So winter we will catch you next year and let’s bring on the warm weather.

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Glitter Tatttoos, Face Painting, & Feathers… Oh My!

Posted on March 2, 2012 by mommydaybyday


March is a big month in my house, it is my daughter Grace’s birthday! Grace loves her birthday. Birthday countdown usually begins right after the holidays. That’s when the countdown begins, however the topic of Grace’s birthday party is a year long discussion. Many hours are spent trying to determine the very best way to celebrate her birthday. She starts making her guest list in September! Her past birthday venues have included  Chuck E Cheese, a local Ice Cream Shoppe, The Little Ladies Club, & Build a Bear– you name it and she has had a birthday party there. A lot of time, thought, and discussion goes into the final decision. I think I spent less time picking the venue for my wedding!

This year is a turning point for Grace’s birthday parties. This birthday party will mark the beginning of a new era because this is the year when we bring the birthday party back to the house. This year begins the new age, the age of the sleep over birthday party. The origin of this change  can be traced back to my older daughter who had her first sleep over birthday party when she was nine. Grace has been waiting patiently to turn nine to have hers. Basically anything we do with Caroline, Grace records in her head and keeps on file. Then when she is the same age she expects to do the same exact thing. She will remind us often of these milestones, just in case we forgot. Now that we have figured out how closely Grace adheres to these milestones we are much less arbitrary with our choices for Caroline.

So the sleep over is on! Grace has chosen a few of her closest friends to come over and have an all night party- just kidding, it better not be all night more like 10:00 or 11:00. The invitations have been sent, the responses are in, and we are counting down to the big day.

I have learned from my rookie sleep over party mistakes. At Caroline’s first sleep over I arranged for pick up at 10:00 am the next day. Big mistake! I had no idea how slowly the hours would go from when they woke up, which I also didn’t realize would be so early, until pick up at 10:00. I hadn’t really planned any activities for the morning and had a hard time keeping them occupied. Pick up for this party is at 9:00 – problem avoided.

Another problem with sleep overs is that you are the entertainment. I am not that good at being the entertainment so I had call in a professional. I have hired Kimmie’s Kreations to provide the entertainment for me. Each party girl will  get a glitter tattoo, have their face painted, and best of all will get a hair feather. What a find Kimmie is! She doesn’t have a website but does have a facebook page. In addition, she also makes flower headbands that can be purchased as favors. Her prices are reasonable and she doesn’t mind traveling. She also works fast which is a major plus, anyone who has waited on a slow face painter line will tell you… it is torture.

Here are some pictures of her work. She is fantastic!

Flower Headbands- Awesome favors!

Entertainment done!

Favors done!

What a terrific feeling to know that everything is taken care of. It definitely gives me peace of mind.

Up next, the cake…Hmmmm what kind of cake should I make?

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Leap Day… What will you do with your extra day?

Posted on February 29, 2012 by mommydaybyday

Today is February 29th… Leap Day.

What exactly is Leap Day anyway?

Leap Day is the extra day that is added every Leap Year to the shortest month, February.

Why do we have Leap Day?

Leap Day is added to the calendar because the Earth is a little slower than our calendar year. In truth it takes the Earth a little more than 365 days to travel around the sun. I can relate. I am almost always a little slow at getting things done too. The problem arises because our calendar is 365 days and if we ignore the extra time it doesn’t actually go away. I try this strategy in my life often, and I can assure you that when you ignore something it does not go away, in fact it usually gets worse.

Get worse is exactly what would happen to our extra time problem if there was no Leap Day. Our calendars and seasons would be completely out of whack. Days would shift and over time seasons would start later and eventually we could be celebrating Christmas in July… or something like that. Can you imagine decorating the tree in the summer? Singing Christmas Carols poolside? I don’t think so. And what would we do with all our Christmas Sweaters???

In order to keep everything aligned a very long time ago the extra day was added, however Leap Year was not enough to keep the calendar in sync. In 1582 the calendar was behind 11 days. I am usually many days behind in everything so that might have worked out for me. However, I guess,  it didn’t work for the people back then and the powers that be were not pleased. In order to fix the problem Pope Gregory XIII changed the calendar that year so it would skip 11 days. The calendar skipped from September 2nd to September 14th. Could you imagine that in today’s world?  Think of all of the deadlines, meetings, and endless things we do everyday. Would it be possible to just skip 11 days? I don’t think so. And forget about if it was one of my kid’s birthdays! They would have had a fit!

Apparently 1n 1528 you could lose 11 days on the calendar and it wasn’t a big deal. The modern calendar we use is called the Gregorian calendar to honor the Pope who straightened it all out. In addition, turn of the century years are only Leap Years if they are divisible by 4- Divisible probably haven’t heard that word since high school math class.

Well that is it in a nutshell. Everything you never knew you wanted to learn about Leap Year. The question is what will you do with your extra day? I wish it really were an extra day but in reality it really is just another day filled with responsibilities and chores. However, maybe for a minute we should take a step back from our very busy lives and think of Leap Day as an extra day. It is after all an extra day that we didn’t have last year which makes it special. A day that we should take time out and appreciate our lives, and the special people we love who make it all worthwhile.

I think Leap Day should be an extra day for appreciating all that is good in our lives.

We can go back to griping about our fast-paced busy lives the other 365.

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It’s Lent… What are you giving up?

Posted on February 22, 2012 by mommydaybyday

Ash Wednesday, already?

It is amazing how quickly Ash Wednesday comes upon us every year.  I can’t believe it is here already. Even my daughter Caroline was shocked it was Ash Wednesday. This morning she woke up and proclaimed she was just not ready for Lent yet.

Well ready or not here it is. The question all most ponder every year is what to give up for Lent. What are you willing to live without for forty days? What sacrifice will you make?

There are the usual things: chocolate, ice cream, or candy.

Some modern sacrifices include giving up  playing video games, or going on facebook or twitter.

One year I decided to give up gossiping. This was a noble pursuit… I can’t quite remember if I stuck to it, but I certainly put in a good effort. I recall my friend at work not liking the idea too much because who would she talk to for forty days. She was happy when Lent was over.

My kids are funny when it comes to Lent. They look forward to giving something up, but aren’t that happy with the duration. Many years ago I told my older daughter to give up soda for Lent. I have a love-hate relationship with soda. I really don’t like the kids to drink it and I always tell them I hate, but truthfully I am guilty of enjoying a diet coke now and then. That hypocrisy aside,  I was happy to use Lent as a way to get my daughter to stop drinking soda. She eagerly agreed, I was thrilled and a little shocked. When we got to church on Ash Wednesday she looked at me a little confused and said, “Mom you forgot the soda!” Apparently I wasn’t clear in my explanation of Lent. She believed that we just needed bring soda to the altar and that was giving up soda for Lent.

This year for Lent my older daughter is giving up McDonalds, picking her nails, and soda. My middle daughter is giving up chocolate and ice cream. All things we can live without until Easter. One year they came home from religion class with a Lenten Calendar that had a good deed or prayer to do everyday for Lent. I really thought that was wonderful. I have tried to find it again, but with no luck.

In addition to giving up their favorite things, I try to get them to pray a little more during the Lenten season. This year I am going to try and do the rosary with them as a family. We’ll see how it goes…

As for myself I haven’t quite decided what route to go regarding a Lenten sacrifice.

Any suggestions?

What is everyone else giving up for Lent this year?

Here are some sites I found that had interesting Lenten activities for kids and great suggestions for what to give up.

http://www.imby.net/easter/kids.html

http://catholicicing.com/2011/02/lenten-ideas-for-kids-and-linky/

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2452855/posts

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The Lost Week

Posted on February 21, 2012 by mommydaybyday

I think I blinked…

A minute ago it was Sunday night

Now it is Monday night a week later.

Where did last week go?

Last Sunday I had just arrived home from a ski weekend with the in-laws. My mind was preoccupied the entire ride thinking about all the activities and matters that needed attention in the upcoming week.  It was going to be a busy one and I definitely needed to bring my “A” game.

Girl Scout Cookies needed to be picked up, unpacked, sorted and delivered. In addition my Partylite Candle orders also needed to be unpacked, sorted and delivered. And finally, to make matters worse, I had to separate into classes Yankee Candle Packets for a PTA fundraiser that I am running for both elementary schools. Throw in a yearbook meeting, Board of Education Meeting, Valentine’s Day, and dinner with a College friend- I was in way over my head, I just didn’t know it at the time.

I was full of energy on the two hour car ride home and had formulated many grandiose plans on how I was going to  get it all done. The answer was simple I would stay up, no matter how late, and get it done. This way I wouldn’t be pressed for time or rushing for the rest of the week. I would be a step ahead.

Unfortunately, none of these plans became a reality.

I pulled into the driveway full of enthusiasm that quickly died out by the time I got the kids in the house, got them ready for school, and into bed. I don’t know what happens, but every night I turn back into a pumpkin around 9:00. I just can’t stay awake! I try so hard to stay awake but I am never successful. All car ride long I talked myself into staying up and getting a jump start on all the chores that needed to be completed. However, my bed starts to call to me and I can’t resist. I did no unpacking, sorting, or separating… I didn’t even unpack the car. Luckily I sent my husband out to get the Girl Scout Cookies or they might still be on the cookie mom’s porch.

So that started my week off on the wrong foot and then the next thing I knew it was Monday night a week later.

I woke up Monday, not too panicked because it was only Monday after all. The saving grace was I had thought to run out and get Valentine’s Day gifts the week before,  at least I was covered there. Monday night we celebrated Valentine’s Day with dinner at my mother’s house. I had to work late so only arrived at 6:00 and had to leave at 8:00 for a Board of Education Meeting. Needless to say nothing else was accomplished that night.

Tuesday was Valentine’s Day and I was determined to make a nice dinner for my family. I went to the butcher and ran in to get chicken cutlet. I was completely distracted by my thoughts, worried about getting home in time to cook dinner that I walked right past the parking meter. As luck would have i,t when I got out of the butcher ten minutes later there was the meter maid giving me a ticket. Happy Valentine’s Day to me! A little speed bump, but I forged ahead racing home to cook dinner. At seven, an hour later than planned, we had a lovely family dinner. After dinner BJ had to bring in all of the Girl Scout Cookies. We were storing them in his truck for fear the dog would eat the cookies boxes and all. My daughter Grace helped and we sorted them. One job done. It was only Tuesday not so bad.

Wednesday morning panic started to settle in. I had to get the Yankee Candle packets to the schools in order for them to be distributed to the students before February break. Also, Barkley, our dog had been eating the cardboard boxes they came in. It was becoming a big mess and I was worried he might actually eat the packets. I quickly sorted them into 40 classes of 27 each before work. I couldn’t be late for work so I left the task of delivering the packets to the elementary schools up to my mother and sister-in-law. One more job done. It was only Wednesday not terrible.

Wednesday afternoon I had a photo shoot with my sister-in-law and her kids. We were taking a long overdue grandkid shot for my mother-in-law. Even though it was a crazy week it had to be done that day because my sister-in-law had a Groupon for Clix which was about to expire. When we returned from the photo shoot I quickly began unpacking and sorting the PartyLite boxes, which also were being eaten by the dog. Fortunately, he doesnt’ like candles. I gave the kids a quick dinner and was off again to meet my college friend, Kerri, for dinner. Chalk up one more job finished.

Thursday thankfully was a little slower. Another quick dinner for the family and I was off again to a yearbook meeting. I was also able to bring in the suitcases which had been in the car since the weekend.

Friday. Finally I had made it to the weekend and the start of vacation. My focus now was getting ready for a week away skiing and distributing the last of the cookies and the candles.

So at last I am here wondering where my week went.

Is it really a mystery? Don’t I really know where it went?

Almost all of the reasons I was so busy were brought on by myself. As mothers do we spread ourselves to thin? Is it necessary to volunteer for every committee, to say yes to everything?  What am I trying to prove? I am I trying to be supermom? In the end, I got everything done,but was it worth it?

My husband certainly feels that I do too much.

After a week like this sometimes I think he is right… (just don’t tell him I think so)

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