The Extra Day

Today is an extra day, or that is what we are thinking around here. It is special gift. Now normally ever Leap day is the same as any other day, but this day happens to be a snow day! We have not had a snow day yet this year. We had two weather days before the school year even started but this is the first full snow day! Today I am able to enjoy my family just a little bit more, get a little bit more done. And really just relax.

This gave me the moment to think about my life and my blessings. I don't think we reflex on them enough. We get so focused on what we don't have and what we have to deal with and when needs to be done, that we forget to look at the blessings we have. We forget to look at all the little things we have. I have 4 wonderful children and a wonderful husband. They are very kind, caring and helpful, well most of the time.

Today I have been able to finish my work, my house looks clean (but according to my sister it is not clean it is just organized, you know what I will live with that!). I have been able to just relax. You know what that feels like, to not have to run anywhere? To just be able to relax, to be able to catch up on my blog. I knew it would only last a few days doing so well, but it is something to strive for.

My house is finally looking the way we want it to, thanks to my wonderfully amazing sister, Bridget, who came to visit but instead helped to organize my house. It is a wonderful feeling to be able to get rid of 5 bags of garbage and 4 bags of donations and to have the ability to walk from one end of the house to the other. The house is not only organized, there is a system in place that will help it remain that way. It is not to say we will fall behind, but there is a method to getting it back together when it does fall apart.

Today I am going to tackle the closet. I am hoping that it does not eat me alive. I do have promised support from my daughter, Elizabeth. This should be a huge challenge and I should take pictures, but that is not going to happen. Maybe I will take the after pictures. I bet you all have it, an area where you just throw everything so it is not just out there. Well we call that the cedar closet. The mismatched shoes, the winter clothes, the video tapes (yes we have a box of them), the dvd's (a box of those too), and any variety of things we might need one day that don't seem to be appropriate for the craft room.

Well wish me luck....If you don't hear from me soon, send in the search party!

It’s about Love

Wow I cannot believe it is Saturday. I do not know where this week went. You know this week had Valentine’s Day and Love Day, a trip to the mechanics for a pickup, a tow and another trip to pick up a vehicle. All afterschool was cancelled on Thursday which was really nice. Turned out that book club was cancelled early in the day so Elizabeth did stop reading mostly out of protest. She made a great deal of progress on reading this book and now she will wait to finish it. I think a lot of people thought that they had one more week to read the book!

I said I would share what we did for Valentine’s Day at Girl scouts. Most of the credit goes to my amazing co-leader, Jaime. I can’t say enough good things about her. The best thing I ever did was ask her to be the co-leader for our troop (now troops) and she has become a great friend over the years. She puts up with my crazy, and helps to ground me when I am getting to over the top. She is creative and patient, exciting and kind. What more would you want out of a mechanic. Did I forget to mention that? She is my mechanic, one of the reasons I only feel like I am going to throw up when the vehicles break, but I never really do. When I count my blessings she is certainly one of them.

So for Valentine’s Day we wanted something special because it was the actual holiday. Early in the year we made plans for what we were going to do during the year and Valentine’s Day was planned based on the boxes and tissue paper Jaime had. We decided to mold chocolate. This is a fairly easy process in the comfort of your kitchen, actually had dipped strawberries for the teachers earlier in the day. We then added dipped pretzels and decorated cupcakes. Jaime then decided brownies were fun to decorate as well. Being the amazing person she is she made the cupcakes, and brownies and all the different frostings. She showed the girls how to use the decorator bags and how roses were made. We let them make dual colored hearts and dip pretzel sticks that they got to put sprinkles and other things on. If anyone has made chocolate with kids you know it is not the neatest activity. Well add to that we had to do it with 15 girls (and a bunch of sibling boys!) and we really had no good method for melting the chocolate. None the less, the girls seemed to have a great time and certainly enjoyed their creations! I just hope that these things are making memories for them like making chocolate in first grade is a memory that has lasted all this time. Next week is easy, we go to the movies! Nice and neat, and no planning need. Okay that is a lie, I have to coordinate it all, and make sure that we have all the permission slips in. Oh and I need to ensure we get there on time, not my strong point and each time we add a kid it gets worse!! A local paper said did an article on boy scouts and said that about 75% of the work done at home is for the Boys Scout troop, I wish I had that amount of time for Girl Scouts, but I need to split myself between Girl Scouts, CCD, Swim, Kids and Work (I work at home, I will talk about that one day. I much as it is a pain, it is a blessing for many reasons. Imagine that work a blessing.)

Now I promised I would tell you about Love Day. I am not sure if it happens around you, but it seems if we do it one year and it was a success, it becomes a tradition. (It helps to explain why we give out teacher’s gifts for the first day, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day and the last day. You will have to stay tuned to learn why St. Patrick’s Day is a gift giving holiday!) Years ago, when the girls were little, we had a very bad Valentine’s Day. It was one of those days that nothing lives up to what you expect and each part just makes the next worse. The worst part was actually the next morning when Joe said that what was the worst for him was he did not even get a card. It made me think about how selfish I was being. Things were not just as I pictured so I was pouty not thinking about the effort that was put in, or about how others perceptions were different. It was at that moment that I decided Valentine’s Day was not a big enough of a holiday to celebrate together, that the Dads and husbands need their own holiday. I was at home with two little ones so I had to become creative. Everyone at my house loves my meatloaf, which I make to resemble a bundt pan, so I shaped it like a heart. I made real mash potatoes, and set the table with a table cloth and the fancy dishes. Elizabeth said it could not be a special day without dessert so I went into the cabinets and we made a dessert together. When Joe came home he saw the table set, and the dinner cooking and wondered what was going on. The girls were excited to tell him it was Love Day, a day to celebrate how much they love their daddy. This was 7 or 8 years ago, but the tradition has lived on ever since. The kids all look forward to celebrating this special day. We normally have meatloaf, but I bet there were years we had something different. Every year the kids make a card and a present. Every year it is and will be a holiday in our house and hopefully my children will bring it with them to their home. Maybe it seems silly to people on the outside, like when I call my mother in law and say I need vegetables for Love Day, or when I tell me friends I need to get home to make Love Day dinner, but I hope that this shows Joe how important he is to me, to all of us. Our traditions are what is important to us, what make our family special and different from all the others. Our traditions help make use the family we want to be….at least we can hope, because you know every day really should be love day.

For Today

See, I knew the streak could not last! I started this post on Friday, but things have been so busy I just have not had time to finish it and as time has passed so has my outlook. Here it is, we all struggle almost every day. It is like we all have a rock, and our rocks are all different sizes at different times, and the hill has different obstacles for each of us. There are times when we are doing well and the rock is easy, and others times when we certainly are going backwards further from the top. As we are dealing with our rock we see others with their rock, some have a much bigger rock but they seem to always be moving forward, dealing with their rock just fine. Others have much smaller rocks and continue to go backwards complaining about the size of their rock all the time. We sit and deal with our rock, wishing our rock was smaller easier, wishing we could help all those who have such big rocks and are moving back and wishing those with such little rocks would just be quiet. It occurs to me, that we need to really evaluate what helps us with our rock and see if there is a way we can help others with their rock at the same time.

So in the last week Joe’s truck need huge repairs, and my car dying at the school, I realize more and more that it is not what we have in our lives but who we have that makes life. It is moments like this that I realize how blessed I am. My first call, of course, was to my husband, who was at work, and although he really could not get away was willing to come rescue me. I told him I would be okay because I knew that I had people who would help me accomplish my goals. Stephanie was still in the school volunteering but when I shared my problem with her, she dropped everything. Her plans changed each moment as my plans changed. She would not leave me at the school, except when she thought she had to get my Girl Scout cookies. She finally did need to go get them, but she took me with her because my van was on its way to the doctor, where I knew it would be safe. Jaime, who is not only my co-leader and a very dear friend, was having the same crazy day but as always tried to figure out a way to help out. I told her that we had everything under control, I just had to let her know the van was on its way to her, see she is my car doctor. For me, having own the auto repair shop is like having a trusted doctor. I trust her opinion and never feel I need a second opinion. Knowing that my van is in safe hands that care makes a huge difference for my mental state. Knowing what was wrong before I was finished lunch was amazing. So when I finally got home I had to make Love Day dinner….I will explain that one day, I realized I was supposed to buy vegetables. So I call my mother in law, and explain my problem. Of course she has vegetables and she will sent them home with Joe and Jakey, who always spends Wednesday with Grandma. There were others who were more than willing to step up and help, like Tonya who offered help for each step. Like Lisa who has her own huge rock, but still stopped to get me Dunkin Donuts and was concerned when I told her about what happened at school, that I did not ask for help. Like the swim dad who made a joke, which turned into a conversation, where we both agreed as long as we get to try again tomorrow then things are not so bad.

So how was my rock today? It was huge, including a very upset daughter who had many things go wrong at school. Amazingly enough, despite how big the rock looked today, it was light. The obstacles were huge, but I was blessed that my friends and family were so able and willing to step and help. Today I choose to look at my blessings and try to focus on them. I was able to remain mostly calm despite the pressure I felt. I was able to help Elizabeth to find some peace. Swim helped her to calm down, and then a friend helped her to feel better about everything. For today, I was able to see how blessed I truly am. Today I feel a peace that is helping me believe that God is truly helping me through… For today, there is always tomorrow.

Wondering Wednesday

Well 4 days in a row was a lot....Today I should tell you about my wonderful husband, but really I am too tired to do that. I would love to show you what we made in Girl Scouts yesterday, but I can't because I don't really have a good way to take a picture of them. We needed to make something for our upcoming trip to the mall for our non-sleep over night. We also wanted to work on a badge so we decided to work on the jewelry badge. We made pendants which we turned into pins instead of necklaces. So shopping took me to AC Moore and to Home Depot. AC Moore was easy, but Home Depot was another thing.
HD employee: "May I help you find something?"
Me: "well, I need washers they need to be about this big (as I make a circle with my hand) and the should be light and most important cheap.
HD employee: "Ummm, well these ones are about the right size but you really should know the real size"
Me: "oh they are a craft project, Cheap is the most important thing."
HD employee: "Oh well in that size these are the cheapest." And just walks away.
So we get to the school for girl scouts. Well no matter what they say about not liking crafts, break out the markers, paints and stickers they have a great time. Add the glue gun and they are in heaven. The Washers did not come out as well as I would have like...Well I can not say that some of them came our amazing. We used different colored sharpies and paints, stickers and decoupaged them. Easy to do, lots of fun. We were even able to put our troop number and location right on them. I think the girls will be proud to share them during the SWAP. Working on these as part of the badge helped to make it more interesting for those girls who will not be going go the trip to the Mall. So we talked about what it takes to plan a meeting and even after that my wonderful Abigail says to a mom, "No she just makes up what she is doing that morning." I tried to explain to her and the mom that was there, that I might go shopping in the morning, but I generally know what we are doing well ahead of things. It was good thing I handed out the calendar for the upcoming month, made it a little more believable.
Today was a no school for kids day. Joe had to go in to work but the kids had off. Joe likes these type of school days since he is able to get a lot of work done. For me it is not real much easier. Today however was a cleaning day. We got a new entertainment center from the Goodwin's. They are moving which is making us very sad. We are very happy for them, but wish that it did not have to happen so soon!! Anyway, since we were getting the furniture, we needed to clean the room to be able to put it in the room. My bedroom is one of two catch all rooms in the house. Everything that has no where else to be comes in to the bedroom. When it has been banished from the bedroom, it winds up in the dinning room. Today all the laundry got folded and sorted and that which could be put away did get put away. The kids baskets are still in here, but that is because the girls could not put theirs away, the room is still being painted, and the boys room was too messy. The floor is cleaned, baskets and such organized, regrouped and put away. It is nice to be in a room that is just freshly clean. The girls helped out cleaning today, although they played a lot more then clean, they made progress and that is a great thing. The Dinning room had much less stuff in it, that was until Joe decided to take the toys away from the boys and put it in the dinning room....So the whole cycle begins again. So today I wonder how does all this mess keep growing.

Manic Monday

Just another swim day, my I don’t have to run day. No really, I like Monday’s they are my I don’t have to run days. I do have swim, but I have swim all the time. Now don’t get the wrong idea, I don’t actually swim, but I am here enough it feels like it. When asked what she wanted me to say about her in the blog she said “say nothing, there is no reason to blog about me.” I told her that I blogged about everyone else so it was her turn and I was going to do it night at swim. To which she responds “well tell them whatever you want, just don’t make me like evil or rude.” She is neither but she is not always the most social one either. She is a swimmer. She is an alter server. She is an excellent student. She has been an alter server since she made her first communion. I convinced her saying I would do something, but my part never happened. I am not as brave as her. Elizabeth has been on the swim team since last year, started on the pre-team in October just before getting pneumonia and moved up to the team in April. She has wanted to be on the swim team since kindergarten, never really taking an interest in any other sport. Swim does take a lot of time and money, but to see her happy and striving at something that does not come easy, it is all worth it. I think that watching her at practice is one of the reasons that it does not seem so much like a chore. She pushes herself and seems comfortable with what she is accomplishing. Elizabeth is the kid that most things come easy to. She does very well in school, getting mad at herself when she gets less than a 96 with little to no effort.

Swim has not always been easy and she is not where she wants to be yet, but she is getting there and setting goals. Watching her interact with her coaches and teammates is refreshing. Like I said most things come easy to Elizabeth, making friends has not always been one of those things, but at swim that is different, she is social and outgoing. She is fun and funny. Outside of swim, Elizabeth has the same attitude as me, which is not always a good thing. She has a hard time not following the exact direction, but she is learning how to adjust to changes. She is learning is that she needs to make things her own, work on the intent of the directions to make them work for her. She is learning a little extra sugar or some vanilla can change the recipe to taste just the way she wants. Is learning what will and will not work. There have been successes and failures, but each opportunity is a learning opportunity. She approaches cooking and swim with the same excitement and dedication. She wants to conquer it all and be the best at both. The setbacks have not stopped her from pushing ahead. Elizabeth has a strong sense of what is right and what is wrong, and struggles with a world that does not always see it her way. If it is some unfair practice for picking the Student Government or who is out in a game of musical chairs, Elizabeth expects that everyone is held to the same rules. Even when they are not, Elizabeth tries to maintain them for herself. Of course this not the case when dealing with her siblings or if it comes to a really good dessert!! Swim is helping her understand that everyone is not fair, and things are not always fair but that if she does what she knows is right then she has something to be proud of, herself. Elizabeth is learning no matter what, as long as she is working on improving what she believes in, what she can do, then that is the most important thing. Elizabeth is the reason for a Manic Monday, but I could not be any prouder of my oldest daughter.

Amazingly Special

I figured I would go in order youngest to oldest so today is Abigail's day, which is a good day to talk about her. Today was a busy day for her, first she had to serve at mass. She has been an alter server since she was old enough to be able to do it. Yes, she had her sister to follow but she was just as eager to offer her services. She does an excellent job and tries to hard to make sure everything she does she does well. You see Abigail is sort of flighty. She is so concerned about making sure that things are done well, and trying to make everyone happy she tends to forget things A perfect example is the end of last year when she came home from school I asked for her report card and she said "Oh I forgot it at school, I will get it tomorrow" She could not understand the problem until we reminded her that she was home 3 hours early for a reason. It seems she clean out her desk, checked ever desk then someone asked her for something in her backpack so she took everything out and put it away.....in her desk. When I told the teacher about it, the teacher said "Abigail to the end, that is why I love her so much." You see that is the other thing about Abigail. She has a way about her, that everyone seems to love her. Since she was very little she had a way of just making everyone fell better. At parties she would pick someone who would be "hers" if it was my Aunt who came to visit for the first time, or my friends husband who wanted to be anywhere but at the party, she would pick them to help her with anything she needed. In doing so each person feels special and important, one of Abigail's best skills. When I asked her today what I should tell people about her she said "nothing". I said I have to write about you, I want to write about you. She said, what do people want to know about me, why would they want to know I play basketball. I tried to explain they would want to know about Abigail, not just what she likes but what she is like. Her answer was "I don't know I try and not be mad" So after alter serving and going to the store to get the stuff for the basket and the dance for Joey and Elizabeth we had to go to challenger basketball. Abigail was a little upset that we did not get the stuff for to bring for the dance, but the store did not have what we needed and she does not know what she needs for her basket. She knows I will get it for her, but it just the way things go, they tend to be a little more difficult to work out for Abigail. Even at birth it was a little more difficult. See I had HELLP when I was pregnant with her so she was born clinically dead. She is fine now, but I think knowing that gives her a different out look on some things. She has always had a connection we can not explain, like she told me that Jesus told her about the baby boy in my belly when I was pregnant with Josef. When my sister passed away, Abigail told me that Mary called (on the play phone) and told her the M asked her to call because she was not able to call but really wanted everyone to know she was okay. So much has happened to Abigail, like her burn to her chest, and passing out while alter serving and being rushed to the hospital, but she always just seems to have a why to make things better. So back to the Challenger basketball, it is a program where children with mental disabilities are given the opportunity to play on a "team" with the assistance of the other teams. Today was Abigail's day to volunteer and she, along with her whole team, did such an excellent job of helping the kids and encouraging them to be part of the team. It was so refreshing to see all the smiles from all the kids playing. When we left I said to her that I was proud of her. She said "why? it is so much fun, you know we love to play basketball." And that is Abigail, she really has no amazing special talents, she is just amazingly special.

Just another day in Paradise

Everyone says they look forward to the weekend, and I guess I understand that, but for me it is not any more calm and certainly not relaxing. Today we started with Basketball, then home for lunch despite the loud protests that it would be much easier to go out to eat. I agree, easier to go out to eat, but not really and certainly not as affordable. Then it was off to get paint to paint the girls room. They are tired of the pink and purple in their room. It was done 6 years ago and pink is not anyone's favorite. Went to Home Depot because Consumer Report said it was the best paint for the best price. So off to Home Depot the 5 of us go! Jakey wants to be in the cart until something catches his interest and then he is off. We try hard to keep him in the cart as long as possible because as I said yesterday he like to run and at the store is no different. So Abigail and Elizabeth happen to be able to agree on a color for both the walls and ceiling. We are not painting the ceiling white, but rather a sky gray. The colors should look great together. I will try to take pictures and share when it finally gets painted. Joe meet us at Home Depot and took Jakey and Abigail home, and the rest of us went to Target for the birthday present. Joey, or Josef as he is known in school is a kindergartner and he loves every part of it. He loves the idea of reading and writing. He loves the idea of going to specials like art, music and gym. He loves being about to go through the halls. He loves knowing the teachers and eating lunch. But his favorite thing has to be having so many friends. See Joey is just a loving caring sweet little boy who want to be friends with everyone. He loves to meet new people and he loves to get to know people. One of Joey's most amazing qualities is ability to observe and remember. He can remember places even when we come from the other direction. He is great to go shopping with because he remembers what we need to get. even when I don't. It has come to the point that when he says we need something, we buy it, whether it is cleaning spray, coffee or cookies. He will be the first one to notice a new hair cut or new outfit. He is also one of the best cleaners we have in the house. He is so funny, he will get in trouble and then ask if he has to stay in his room until it is clean, like he needs to be punished to clean his room. Yes, he does get a lot of time to spend in his room. He really is a good kid, but like all kids he wants to do things his own way and that does not always work with out so well!
So back to the day, we brought a gift for his friend. Now this took a while, because we had to pick the prefect gift. It would have been easy if we had an unlimited budget, but of course we don't! We finally decided a gift and headed off to swim. Elizabeth loves being part of swim and it certainly take up a lot of time. So she complains the whole way but when the coach says practice is over she says "but we still have 10 minutes". I will tell you more about her another day. So then off to Joey's birthday party. It was at the movies. He thought that was just the best things, well at least the best things since the roller skating party, which was the best since the outside party. Of course I have to go pick up Elizabeth from swim, so I tell Joey I am going to leave him at the party. He says "Okay have fun, I think you should probably come back and get me after the movie." I told him I would be there well before the movie was over. He is not the least bit concerned about me leaving. I came back to get him off course and he said "you could have been a little late." We get home and the first thing he says is "I don't think they started painting, it does not smell like it." Of course he was right!

Paradise

Just another day in Paradise. How often have you dreamed of living in Paradise? Well I am happy to say I do!! No, really I live in Paradise, Paradise township that is. I am not sure that it what I envisioned when I was growing up. No, there is no Beach or palm trees, no people serving me all the fancy drinks with little umbrellas, but I have to say I love my life! My kids are a ball of energy!
Lets talk about Jake, who just turned 4. He is the baby in the house, but don't call him the baby as he his getting big. He does not like to walk, he has to run every where!! If you ask him why he runs, he says because he can. Jake also has a tendency to repeat "Mama". Ever see that Family Guy where Stewie just keeps repeating Mama then Louis, well that is Jake. Fortunately he is not out to kill me, or at least I don't think he is. When he went to VBS he said about 5 words the whole week, which for everyone who knows him can not believe because he talks non stop. He is a ball of energy from the moment he wakes up until the moment he crashes to sleep. I have to admit he is calm when he gets to play on his LeapTablet. It was the best investment Santa brought for him and his brother. I can not believe how much they love to play with it. I do need to find some new games, because he has become very good at the ones he has! Even that only keeps his attention for a small amount of time. Jake is very creative, I think maybe he will be a scientist when he grows up, since he is always experimenting. Yesterday it was with 5 pounds of sugar and some water. What he learned is all that makes is a mess, after all that is Jake's favorite thing to make. The bigger the mess the better. Jake loves dogs, and has wanted a purple dog for about 6 months and not a stuffed dog, a real one. He does understand there is no real purple dog, but that is what he wants. His chances of getting a purple dog are about as good as the chances of finding a purple dog. It is not that I don't want a dog, it is just that I can not image having someone else that needs my attention. You know if we got a dog I would be the one that has to take care of it. One day, when Jake is a little older and he can take care of the dog. Don't think it will be purple.

Just Thinking

So I figure I need to start a blog. Everyone is blogging these days so I guess it is time for me to do the same. Not sure what it will be about since every day is a new adventure for me. Today is a calm day only one activity for the day. Let me start at the beginning. I am a Stay at home mom of four, two girls 11 (Elizabeth) and 9 (Abi) and two boys 5 (Joey) and 4 (Jake). I am not sure of who thought of the term stay at home mom, because I would probably be home more if I worked outside of the house. They are very active children who love to do everything that comes their way, which means I get volunteered for everything that comes their way. My husband (Joe) of 13 years is a Special Education teacher who is also an entertainer (Musician/DJ), needless to say he is always on the go. This makes for a very busy life, but I would not have it any other way.
Today is the calm day of the week, well at least for a while...but then some club starts and I have to drive the kids to school. They will be starting Newspaper Club, or is it Art Club on Thursday? All I know is soon they have one on one day and one on the other. Monday is fitness for me and the kids! Well that is a treat...you have to see the five of us working out with the rest! I will share the day with you on Monday. Wednesday is the day I volunteer at the school, and after fitness on Monday I am surprised that they continue to let me work with the other kids!! No, really my kids are good kids just active and silly so watching the 5 of us is funny. So this is just the morning. 3-4 nights a week Elizabeth swims, then Abi has basketball, there is also Book club, CCD, Alter Serving, and Girl scouts. The boys did not do a sport this season, but they do want to do T-ball! We shall see, but it might be a good idea to get their energy out!
My idea is to share with you my random thoughts and challenges that come up being a CCD teacher, Girl Scout leader, School volunteer, Swim mom, and all the rest. So what do you want to know? Ask away!