What Makes a Good Mom?

According to a ten year old, it is the day the 'Mom bring McDonalds Lunch to School' coupon is redeemed.
My plan was to meet Luke at the doors as he was going into lunch and pass off a McDonalds Happy Meal.
Luke's plan that morning, was for mom to get McDonalds for her and the two little brothers and all eat lunch together in the school lunch room.

WWHHAATTT?

My ten year old wants to be seen with his mother (AND the two preschooler brothers that will inevitably be dragged along) eating lunch in the school lunch room?

Love it!

Except mom was feeling a little bit cheap and begrudged the fact that a single Happy Meal for one was now needing to turn into McDonalds for four. (Tight budgets around here people...)

So instead of McDonalds, Mom suggests picking up a $5 pizza and getting some free bread sticks with the coupon she's been saving.

You'd have thought Luke had died and gone to heaven at just the suggestion.

But seeing that ten year old's face and the faces of his three friends he had told could "share some pizza my mom is going to bring" while I stood there balancing a pizza box, a bag of bread sticks, a ringing cell phone and a throwing-a-fit-four-year-old was even better!

If it only takes a $5 pizza to turn a regular mom into a super-mom, guess I'll become a regular at the pizza store (and at the elementary school lunch room).

(Ellie thought she was pretty special when I let her stay an extra 10 minutes in the lunch room to join us.)

And that my friends is what makes a good mom!

...according to a ten year old.

Half Birthdays ARE A Big Deal

Today is Ellie's Half Birthday. You can be reminded of the details of a half birthday here. They are a very simple day, and in no way resemble the pomp and circumstance that surround real birthdays around here.

Ellie though, must have forgotten the simplicity of half birthdays, as she was quite disgusted this morning at breakfast when she declared, "Nobody has wished me a happy half birthday yet."

Furthermore, she was slightly offended when Mike asked her to help do some clean up later and she questioned, "Even on my special day?"

But then again, Ellie has had a countdown for today for quite some time now. A countdown for a half birthday? Either we're pretty pathetic around here, or Ellie has just patiently gone through the 7 week stretch that included Drew and Joshua's half birthdays and Luke and Megan's real birthdays and she is obviously just feeling the need for a little special day herself.

Well, today was it.
Ellie is 7 and A HALF!

(Please note Ellie's possessive hand on her can of soda. We don't get soda much around here, and when we do, it is a hot commodity--check out Drew eyeing it...)

As I've mentioned before, half-birthday gifts are nothing more than a dollar store type gift, but not the half birthday gift Nana gave, a pillow-pet.

I think this little girl went to bed pretty satisfied with her half birthday.

Now if this innocent and angel-like demeanor continues on during Ellie's waking hours tomorrow. Life will be really good.

Our Morning

Dear Grandparents-

Somehow the extra time this morning before school turned into an impromptu talent show for grandparents before leaving for the school bus (thus the coats). Even though Ellie forgot to count, Luke was irritated Drew was singing in the background, and Drew got distracted with a cough and an Indian hat and forgot his words, it may be worth a few minutes of your time. Joshua declined to perform. Megan left 30 minutes before showtime.
~enjoy

Love,
Ellie, Luke and Drew

Tears and Faces

Yesterday I dragged Joshua into preschool crying. And I mean crying. I had to pry his hand off of the car-seat, and pull various body parts as they wrapped themselves around any object in an attempt to stop us from wending our way into preschool.

Now before you all start wondering why in the world I would essentially 'force' my child to go to preschool amidst such tears, I had a pretty good hunch it was more of a lazy-morning-I-don't-want-to-get-up-and-go rather than perhaps a possibility of a more serious underlying problem.

You see, several mornings it often seems more trouble than it is worth to get him dressed and out the door at 8:55am. It isn't that I have to wake him up and go, and it isn't even as if he is engaged in something he doesn't want to leave. I don't know what it is, but pretty much every morning at 8:45am we have a discussion about what he would miss out on if he really chose to never go to preschool again.

And then I take him to preschool, he hops out of the car and runs in alone.

And then when I pick him up he comes running out every single time, with his big Joshua smile on his face, and runs into my arms as though he has had the time of  his life and as though he hasn't seen me in weeks.

Back to yesterday. Yesterday's trip into preschool wasn't pretty. I passed him over to the teacher's arms just as he stopped crying and I began. I returned to the car, called Mike and cried, and then began imagining myself with two children home all day every day for the rest of the school year.

Mike's advice was "Sure, let him quit. It's preschool."
My thoughts were, "I know it is just preschool, but isn't HE too young to make a big decision that he may change his mind about in two weeks.

When I returned three hours later to pick Joshua up. He was the second one outside. And in true Joshua fashion, his smile spread from ear to ear as he ran into my arms. My eyes got all filled up with tears as all my thoughts and emotions from the past three hours mushed together.

The teacher and I having both talked with Joshua concluded that there is no reason he doesn't like school. No mean kids, no boredom, no problems.

Joshua just happens to really like being with his mother and three hours, twice a week is a long time.

But it is Joshua's decision.
Apparently, tomorrow he wants to go to school.
"And the next day and the next day."

Joshua just happens to really, really like me and the only complaint about preschool I can get is, "It is so so 'wong'" (long). Yet he isn't ready to end his preschool career just yet over missing his mother.

I'm flattered he likes to be around a cranky mother as much as he does. Which is why I took a break from my crankiness to oblige him, and spent a good ten minutes letting him (and Drew) pull faces in front of a camera lens. I didn't even complain after each camera click when he asked, "Can I see it?"

There's more to life than preschool, right?

The Bestest Best

I love, love, LOVE the megaphone I received for my birthday a few weeks ago. I really do. I love saying goodbye to my children WHILE they are at the bus stop, I love being able to call them home from dinner, and I love telling my husband I love him while he is upstairs in the shower and I'm downstairs in the kitchen. (Okay, well I haven't done that last one yet--Mike isn't a huge fan of the megaphone, so I'm trying hard not to press my luck with it.)

It really is one of the best birthday presents ever.

But if you can believe it. I got an even better birthday present than that. And I mean, hands down, the BESTEST birthday present ever. From none other than my BESTEST BEST FRIEND.

This was it:

(she felt bad the coupon wasn't fancier-but seriously-with that kind of content, who needs fancy?)

This last weekend we cashed it in. And it was H.E.A.V.E.N.
I don't even care that we had no exotic place to visit or a fancy hotel to stay in. We had the house all to ourselves for almost 48 hours. (Well Mike worked for 7 of those hours on Friday, and then we opened our home to the great couples that attended the Power of Moms workshop for a few hours, but the rest of the time it was MIKE and ME, ME and MIKE.

We Christmas shopped, we ate lunch together, we went out to dinner, Mike did a garage project, I did some computer work, we visited with each other, we laughed together, we relaxed. And darn it, I should have carried a camera around with us to capture some of our fun.

We plain and simple just enjoyed being together with absolutely no distractions.That is a rare, rare thing. (The distractions, not the enjoying each other.)

We spent the two days commenting over and over to each other how strange it was to not have 'stuff' lying around everywhere. Our stairs stayed clear of toys and debris, the hallways were empty, bathroom towels stayed on racks, and no shoes magically escaped the shoe basket.

I let go of the guilt after the first 20 minutes of saying goodbye to my children, and embraced the blessing of having such a fine friend. You can read all about the fun nail polish party, sledding, and news desk dinners here on Melanie's blog.

I have to admit I felt an overwhelming sense of disappointment as Mike left to pick up the children, especially after a text exchange with Melanie in which she said, "You are welcome, they could stay 5 more days...it has been no big deal. I think they have all had a lot of fun."

FIVE MORE DAYS!!!!?????!!!!!! But instead, even though I certainly could have enjoyed several more hours of uninterrupted time, it was time for the fairy tale to end. Besides, I was (semi) anxious to get our little family all back together under the same roof.

But then a few hours after all being back under the same roof, I started counting the days until next years birthday in hopes that it will be a repeated gift...

Just kidding. I shouldn't push my luck.

*All tongue-in-cheek joking aside. You can read HERE, about an experience I recently had when my daughter reminded me what motherhood is really about.*

A Nine Couple Date Night

What a wonderful evening Mike and I had on Friday night at a Power of Moms Couples Workshop. No matter how many times I attend or present at a Power of Moms Workshop or Retreat, I am amazed at the new stuff I learn from other great mothers and in this case, some great dads too.

There is something so uplifting about being gathered together in a room, with parents focused on their families and the systems they can implement in their homes. We had 9 couples representing 48 children!! (With twin babies on the way for one couple.) That is a lot of lucky children to have parents who put in the effort to make their families stronger.

I am SOOOO sad (and a little mad) that I forgot to get out the camera. I wish I had photos to capture some of the laughter, learning and listening that went on. These couples were such top-notch people. I was so happy to meet them and learn from them. So many fabulous ideas...

• forming a 'Crazy Cleaners' group that makes cleaning times much more fun
• becoming consistent and following through with the bag monster even for a teenager...
• working out trades for the older children that are often used as family babysitters
• not forgetting my younger children still need to be learning good lessons about work and rewards, instead of focusing more on the older ones

And plenty of other ideas that Mike and I continued to discuss over the weekend.

If anyone needs parenting help, it is me. Remember this photo from over a year ago, which now hangs in a very large frame in my front entry way. This is my life. I appreciate all the help I can get...

I found Power of Moms by a fluke almost two years ago, actually I take that back. It wasn't a fluke at all, it was something that I was meant to find. There hasn't been an article, program, or event that I have been a part of that I haven't learned something from.

Indeed, a fine place for mothers to gather. Check it out HERE. 

(Are you wondering where my children were during Friday night's workshop? More on that later--it is worthy of a whole blog post in itself!!)

Then and Now and Now and Then

I've been working on an assignment tonight, and it made me get all sappy and sentimental about the passage of time. And then while looking for a particular photo, I stumbled across this one that I had NO IDEA I still had copies of, let alone on my computer!! I couldn't help but oooh and aaah over these two little babies. I once had only TWO kids?! It seems like a lifetime ago.

But then at the same time, what seems like in a blink of an eye, we have gone to this:

And then while pursing another part of my assignment, I thought about my in-laws. I'm sure to them it probably seems like a blink of an eye that in 30 years, my in-laws went from this:

(engagement picture sometime late 1969/ early1970)

To this:

(December 2010)

30 years! I know it seems like a long time looking forward, but when I consider Mike and I are half way there. It makes me sad and melancholy.

Okay, but honestly sometimes-- it doesn't. Sometimes it makes me a little anxious and overly-excited --thinking about a life with no carpools, fevered kids, poopy diapers, or science fair projects, sounds SPLENDID.

But--then I look at this picture--and realize this was just 9 short years ago.

Project forward another 9 years... two of my kids will be full blown adults. Okay, wait I can't think about it after all.
It makes me cry.

"The days are long, but the years are short."