Fun with Mom | Marriage Confessions Fun with Mom

On Mother’s Day afternoon, I was sitting on my parent’s porch with my mom, Grandma, Sarah, and the kids. We were eating strawberry shortcake and enjoying the beautiful weather, while Bean and Gracie puttered around their little picnic table my mom bought for them.

Life was grand.

Sarah and I were talking about something when all of a sudden, we both heard Bean say (quite loudly), “HOLY SH…” Immediately, it was silent out on the porch.

“What’d he say?” Sarah whispered.

“I don’t know,” I whispered back. And then turning to Bean, I said casually, “What’d you say, Buddy?”

He looked right at me and clear as a bell said, “Holy shit.”

Now, I know the appropriate thing to do in these situations is to ignore your child. Bean wasn’t doing it for attention, and so I didn’t want to call attention to the phrase unnecessarily, but I turned to look at Sarah and she was literally falling off the front porch swing where we were sitting because she was laughing so hard.

Which got me laughing.

Which got Sarah laughing.

Which got me laughing.

Which got BEAN laughing.

And then we had to stop. Because if he knew what we were laughing at, there was a good chance he would say it again. So, we stopped.

And then Sarah started laughing again.

And then I started laughing again.

Goodness, I never knew inappropriate language from a toddler could be so funny! NOT THAT WE ENCOURAGE THAT, but still. It was good for an afternoon giggle.

17 comments | posted in About Beanie, Family, Fun with Mom, Playing, The Romper Room, Toddlerhood | tags: humor, toddlers

Things are winding down at school for me. And as the end of the year draws closer, I realize that summer vacation is drawing closer as well. It’s all I can think about. I can’t wait to sleep in a little, go grocery shopping on a Tuesday morning (instead of throwing dirty looks and elbows in the Sunday after church crowd), put lemons in my hair and lay out by the pool. Summer is glorious for teachers, and any teacher who denies that is either doing it wrong or lying to your face.

One thing that I did NOT think about in my summer daydreams was the fact that I would have two children with me all summer. Not quite sure how that slipped my mind, but it just did not register in my margarita-hazed thoughts. When it finally dawned on me that I would have two kids home with me this summer, I can’t lie. My first thought was, “FUUUUUUUUUUDDDDGGGGEEEEE!” which was quickly followed by, “HOW WILL WE ALL SURVIVE?!?!?!” which was quickly followed by, “WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH THEM????? ALLLLL SUMMERRRRR LONGGGGGG????”

But then, last weekend, we had our first family weekend in the pool. Chris has been fighting with that darn pool since we bought the house. First he had to fix the pump, then the timer on the pump, then get it all cleaned, then he got it all fixed and ready and a cold snap came. So, he spent the next week keeping it clean so that when it was warm enough, we could all get in. And then we went out of town. Two weekends in a row. And that sent the pool into a downward spiral. He has spent the past two weeks getting it back to swimming shape and just last weekend it was time for the inaugural swim.

AND IT WAS AWESOME!

We spent the entire weekend outside, either in the pool or the yard. The kids had a blast, Chris and I had a blast, the dogs had a blast. It was just a really great time. And then I remembered how much we were in the pool last summer. How tan Bean and I got. How much we both loved swimming. And now, I’m excited about summer all over again!

I’m co-chair of my church’s vacation Bible school this year, so Bean will be doing that for one week, and he’s doing a summer camp at the theater where Chris works for a week, both Bean and Gracie are taking swimming lessons at the local Y, and we’re traveling some, too. It should be a busy, full summer and I can’t wait!

14 comments | posted in Fun with Mom, Out and About, The Romper Room | tags: parenting, SAHM, summer

In my wise old parenting experience, I have found one particular baby holding position to be incredibly versatile: the Front Carry.

The Front Carry serves so many purposes in life. It’s like the sandwich bags of baby holds. You can just do so much with it. Here are some of my favorite reasons to use the Front Carry:

1. To keep grubby hands off of me when I have to pick them up to take them to the bathtub for an immediate, emergency bath.
2. To keep grubby hands off of me when I’m dressed for work and they have peanut butter toast hands.
3. To keep slobbery mouths off of me when I need to keep my clothes clean and dry for something.
4. To hide my tummy pooch.
5. To distract crying babies. (I think the hanging thing distracts them and they stop crying long enough to think, “What the heck is going on here? How am I not falling?”)
6. To fend off people I don’t want to talk to. Babies are very distracting. Especially hanging ones.
7. To make my way through a crowd. No one will run into a baby, but they sure have no problem plowing into me.
8. To keep a dirty diaper from soaking through on my hip. (Please tell me I’m not the only mom who’s had this happen…)
9. To balance me when I’m doing squats. Or carrying a load of laundry. Or carrying a toddler. (NOTE: If said toddler is dirty and/or grimy, the parent may implement the illusive and effective “Double Front Carry.”)
10. To keep beach sandy feet from wrapping around me in a death grip.

Just be sure you hold on tight in the Front Hold. It can all go wrong very quickly.

P.S. I’ve lost my camera cord. Normal photos will resume as soon as I find it.

10 comments | posted in Fun Baby Things, Fun with Mom, The Romper Room | tags: babies, humor, life

A few weeks ago at my favorite place, Target, I ran across these adorable aluminum mailboxes in their $1 bins. I scooped up three of them and thought that I’d use them sort of as stockings for Valentine’s Day. I had all these plans to decorate them with puff paint and stickers, but it’s 9:37 on Valentine’s Eve and I’m tired. So, I Sharpie’d their names on the mailboxes and called it a day. I still think they came out really cute.

Chris and I agreed to keep Valentine’s Day cheap and sweet this year, so I did most of my shopping in the check out aisles at Target. In Gracie’s little mailbox, she is getting a new rattle/teether. She has a ton already, but she loves these suckers! I also picked up this adorable bendy flower that I wrapped around the mailbox flag. I stuck some candy in there for her, more for show than anything else. Although, I kinda want to let her try a piece of one of the jellybeans. I bet she’d flip out!

Bean got a Finn McMissle toy car from Cars 2. He has all the other character cars, so this completes his little collection. He’s going to be so excited. He also got a new box of crayons, which he really needs. He goes through Crayons like a mad man. His Grandmomma sent him some Angry Bird bandaids, too. I think Chris might steal some of these from Bean. He was pretty excited when they arrived in the mail today. Bean got some chocolates, too. It IS Valentine’s Day, after all.

Chris even got a mailbox! I stuffed his with my traditional gift of silly themed boxer shorts. And, of course, candy.

I think all total, I spent $20 on everyone’s gifts. Turns out that cheap and easy is totally doable!

I set up each mailbox on the living room table so that we could all open our gifts tomorrow morning before school. Under each mailbox, I put all the Valentine’s Day cards that family and friends have mailed the kids over the past week.

This is a new tradition for our family. Truthfully, Chris and I have never done anything really intentional for Valentine’s Day before, but it has been a lot of fun to plan and collect little odds and ends for each of them over the past week. I hope they all have as much fun opening everything tomorrow morning as I had putting it all together!

15 comments | posted in Fun with Mom, Holidays, Parenting Ideas, The Romper Room | tags: Valentine's Day gifts