Super Skate Floor Clean Boogie

Sometimes, when you want to get the kids to do a job it helps if you can find a way to make it fun (ok now I'm singing Mary Poppins in my head.) Yesterday we needed to get some cleaning done and I was determined to get help. Because seriously, I just can't do it all myself. Primarily because if they are playing while I am cleaning it is just one big tornado of mess everywhere except where I just cleaned. Fun stuff.

Anyway, I really, really didn't want to mop. Yet, the floor was extremely dirty and my mom will be here tomorrow. Plus I haaaaate it when the floor is filthy, so I was trying to think of a way to really quickly get it clean.

So I pulled out every cleaning towel I own, dunked them in soapy water and told them to skate the floor clean. It took about 10 minutes, they had fun, I did the wood floor while they did the tile, and then we were all set to go to the pool. It also helps to come up with a completely fun (if utterly ridiculous) name for it.

While the floor may not be *as* clean as if I had properly done the job myself, it looks pretty darn good. We'll be using this technique again.

Beach Day

I promise I will finish giving every detail of our vacation soon. I know it is riveting, edge of your seat stuff and you can't wait to read it. Ahem, yeah. Just kidding, but still, I will write it. Later. For today, I'm at Deep South Moms talking about our fun day at the beach yesterday.

I'm a little sunburned and I made a major Mommy error and missed parts of Ben's face with the sunscreen. Not sure how I did it, but by the sunburn under his eyes and on his upper lip I'd say I missed that area entirely. Kind of makes me want to cry.

After the Big Day

Many years, after the opening of gifts and general chaos that Christmas morning brings, I am sometimes let down because the kids don't always get excited about the stuff Santa brought and you know, Santa works hard to get Christmas just right. This year I think we, I mean he did very well! This is one of the games the boys got, and we had quite a fun time playing yesterday. Please excuse the piles of laundry that haven't been put away, as well as any other clutter. And my hair, please excuse my hair.

Part of what I love about this game is almost everyone can play. The easy level (colors only) is perfect for Zack, while the harder levels are a bit more fun for the boys... Even though Zack was playing on his own team every time his turn was over he'd run away crying and say "I NEBAH get a turn!!!!" He's a funny guy!

Poor Mark got stuck on my team. Kevin & Eric won almost every round. We did manage one victory towards the end. Before that he was pretty sure the ONLY way he'd EVER win would be to ditch Momma and get on Daddy's team. Whatever little dude!

Impromptu Adventures

The only bad thing about our little adventure yesterday is that I didn't bring my camera. I wanted to pick up a new book I've been wanting to read. I tried checking it out at the library but I was # 84 on the list and I'm just not quite that patient. There were 17 copies, at 2 weeks each being checked out and if my calculations are right that would put it in my hands about February. I wanted it NOW.

On the way to the book store every last child of mine fell asleep. So, I just ran in and got it...

I love bookstores. They make me feel so lovely and just in awe. All of those words, all of that paper. I love the library too, but something about crisp, new, fresh pages waiting to be read for the first time is amazing to me.

Now that I sound like a complete wacko I may as well confess that I got a little lost. Kevin was out in the car waiting for me. As I walked out the door still in my book induced stupor it took me a few minutes to realize that I had walked out the wrong door. This brand spanking new two story Barnes & Noble is part of a brand spanking new outdoor mall so there is a front and back entrance to B&N. I got my head back on straight and resisted the urge to further explore the mall and made my way back to the front and found my snooze mobile. The kids were still sleeping and Kevin and I tried to decide what to do. If we tried to go home and transfer kids to beds someone would wake up. They were obviously tired and needing to sleep. On the other hand, while there was a time when we would aimlessly drive with no known destination those days ended around the time gas hit $3.50 a gallon. Even though gas is hovering right around the $2.15 mark, I still can't justify the needless waste of fuel.

So, I had an idea. Let's drive out to this park that I love, but we don't go to often because it's 45 minutes away. The kids started to squirm just about the time we got into the town and suddenly Mark said "Huh, this place is unusual!" Then, the kids started to recognize where we were and remember the awesome playground which they've dubbed "rock forest." They were convinced we had tricked them about running errands and had planned this outing all along. I told them what had really happened, but I think they were pretty solidly believing that their own theory was correct.

For Kevin and I this little excursion was an answer to a dilemma, we decided to go based on logic and reasoning. It was a bonus that it would be fun, of course but there was a problem (kids needed to sleep, we needed to keep moving) and this gave us a solution. To the boys, it was a grand adventure.

The time at the park was great! We walked around, then the kids played. There were some serious tree climbing lessons with the bigger boys and daddy. We sat and watched the butterflies in the butterfly gardern. Despite wishing I had my camera it really was a perfect outing.

Watching my kids have fun gives me the same feeling being in the bookstore does. They are so amazing, even awe inspiring. Watching them run and play with no thought to the worries of the world. Motherhood doesn't get much better than that.

Down With the Mouse

You know, the dreaded mouse. The big one that sings and dances and serves pizza and lures your children in with the promise of fun games! and little tickets! and prizes! I never have minded going there. It can get crazy, yes, and crowded. But it has always been worth it to see the looks of pure joy on the kids faces. That is until today.

Today fell right into the category of the mouse is pure evil and I think we might not go back for a very, very long time.

There were at least 5 groups there: daycares, camps, random kids off the street. It was complete mayhem. We ordered the food & got the tokens and let the kids free with 5 tokens each. I only give 5 at a time so they have to come back every few minutes because I have a hard time having them not in my line of vision. So, things were going pretty well. The food got there, which was eaten by some and not by others and then off they went. I tried to eat but even then kept noticing the horrible behavior by these other children. First of all we were approached by at least 5 other children asking us for tokens. I told them they needed to find their mommy. To which they responded by looking at me like I had 5 heads and saying "We're on a fieldtrip." I guess that should have caused me to say "Oh in THAT case HERE, have our tokens." I didn't and they stomped off. Then Eric ran over to me in tears because some little boy knocked him into a game. I'd like to give the benefit of the doubt that it was an accident, but really, watching these kids, I don't even know.

At one point Zack was hiding under the table. I'm not sure why, but I think maybe it was a bit overwhelming for him. In the end, my friend and I walked around the place with all the kids instead of just the smaller ones because it was scary, and easier to maneuver with a mom around.

There were adults with these kids, but you really couldn't tell because they were never around for the bullying, begging, and various other bad behavior.

I could go on, but I won't because, honestly I don't want to relive it. It was bad. I was shaking by the time we left and I think it was just the stress. And in case you think I am just overreacting, there were plenty of other mom's complaining. I even overheard a worker in the prize section say "I'm afraid for my life."

I will say that if any of my children were ever to behave that way in public I would fall over dead right then and there. Really.

Suffice it to say it could be a really, really long time before we return. And at the very least I will be phoning ahead to see if there are any groups of mass proportions there.

Bowling

I think I mentioned that I signed Eric and Mark up for a bowling league for the summer. I was all for an indoor activity. It's on Saturday mornings, but we got 2 free games for each kid for signing up. Anyone guess what we did today? Yep, bowling. Everyone had fun, but let me just refer to my statement in my previous post. It is virtually impossible to go anywhere with four kids without a fiasco of some variety. Let's just strike out that "virtually" part and now we have accuracy.

Bowling was actually fun, in spite of the following.

• The 5 year old who is bound and determined to not have fun no matter what we do. It's never enough and it's never quite right. Someone is always out to get him. Or bothering him. Or something. What am I doing wrong, I just want him to be happy, or thankful, or some kind of satisfied. Whew, didn't mean to go into all that... sorry.
• The almost 3 year old who wanted every turn to be his. Who threw the ball down the wrong lane twice, and somehow in spite of the bumpers on the lane, managed to get the ball stuck in the gutter. How does this even happen?
• The fight over the bowling ball that ensued when Zack tried to steal Mark's turn. Oh boy was that one fun! (Actually, it was rather amusing from my end, in retrospect.)

Ben was held by my friend and somehow her 2 year old did not cause any of the chaos that mine did. Ben tried to wriggle down but was overall very well behaved and did not terrorize the bowling alley.

All About the Weekend

How is it already Monday?

This was one of the best weekends we've had in a while. I didn't even feel the desire to escape, scream, or run away until about 6 last night. And it was almost bedtime! I got a little twitchy about then, but it was short lived and the kids even got to stay up a little later than 7.

Saturday morning was bowling. That was lots of fun after the first kid freaked out about not bowling with his brother, and after the second kid freaked out about not bowling with his friend. That part had me literally rolling my eyes and probably looking like a crappy mother. In the end, Eric was able to play with the younger kids, and Mark finally warmed up to the boy who he was paired with. (They put Eric with Mark's friend.) Everyone was happy! Hallelujah. There was a little whining throughout but I think it's just some law of childhood that they must whine no matter what the occasion or how much money mom and dad have shelled out so that they could have some fun. Oy. Anyway, afterwards we had lunch at McD's and made grand plans to visit Pier 60 with our friends later that night.

Pier 60 was awesome and I can't believe we've lived in Florida for 18 months and haven't been there. We've been missing out. First there was a really awesome playground with things to climb and climb they did. To the top of that rope structure. And they were jumping off of that rock. Which made me wonder, who the heck are these kids? A year ago neither of them would have jumped off of anything that high. I'm proud of how far they have come, and terrified of the broken bones that are surely in our future.

After everyone was covered in sand, we went to wander a little bit. There were lots of "street" performers and we walked by just as this 16 year old kid was setting up to escape from his strait jacket. He picked Kevin to be one of his helpers. Kevin was reluctant, but helped and had maybe a little toooo much fun helping the kid into the strait jacket and then tying him up with a rope. I know it's all trickery and stuff but it still looked really hard. And he (of course) escaped just fine. Very entertaining (and I don't have any pictures of that part because Kevin had the camera with him. Our friends got some good ones though, so I may add them later.)

Then we got ice cream which made everyone happy.

Then we walked out on the pier, where there were lots of vendors and at the end it was just breezy and relaxing and beautiful. We stayed out until 9:30 which is late for us parents of four kids and all the kids fell asleep on the way home. I then broke my cardinal rule of parenting... never wake a sleeping child... because they were so dirty it was ridiculous. So at 10 PM I woke four sleeping boys and bathed them, much to their dismay. Luckily for me they all went right back to sleep and life was good. And for the first time since Ben was born he slept until 8 AM.

Whew, that was a fun day! Sunday wasn't as fun, but it was still great! I had this grand idea last week to sew a tote bag for our library books. I haven't used my sewing machine in ages, but it seemed like a fun and (maybe) easy project. So, my objective for yesterday was to get fabric, dig my sewing machine out of the closet, find some little corner of my bedroom to set up the sewing machine and make a bag (or two depending on how the first one turned out.) So, we needed paint too to finish our "we hate builder paint so we must repaint every wall of our home" mission. We got paint and we got fabric, and on the way there and back home we talked. We talked about where everyone sleeps and someday we won't have to have a playroom for the boys and someday we should use that room for a hobby room. Somewhere along the way I thought. Hmmm, we could do that now if Zack and Mark share a bedroom, we could put the playroom upstairs and I could have a sewing room now. Why the desire to make a bag necessitates a whole room designated for sewing I'm not sure, but Kevin thought it was a good enough idea to spring into action and we started moving Mark into Zack's room. They loved the idea. So tell me friends, why do I feel horribly guilty about this? We bought this house because it had enough rooms for everyone. Then we decided it would be better to have Eric & Ben share because that way we could have a playroom. I'm okay with that because the playroom benefits them. Putting the other two together just so I can have a space makes me feel terribly guilty. I've been told to get over it, but it's still there. Anyhow, the room needs painted just as soon as I can go get the paint because DUDE the boys did some damage to the walls in there. Not by coloring on them or doing anything destructive, but seriously have I mentioned that BUILDER PAINT SUCKS? Cause it does. We aren't completely finished with the moving process, but I did get my sewing machine set up, and I made a bag. It's not perfect, but it does hold library books!

~Have a great day~