Friday, April 29, 2011

simple days

There are days when I have moments of, "wow, I really am a mom." It felt like it was just yesterday when I was sitting in the backseat of our Dodge Caravan while my mom drove the 3 us around to dance, soccer, and swimming.

I took a quick glance in the rearview mirror while I was driving the other day. There I spotted my 3 littles and was reminded that I am the one now driving the minivan.



It freaked me out a bit. Time truly does fly. I don't know who coined that phrase, but they weren't messing around.

As we piled out of the minivan to enter the YMCA, I was reminicent of the scorching summer days we spent at the recreation center by our house in Orange County.

And as I followed my boys into the center, I tried to digest how blessed I am to call them my own. There are certain moments when it hits me.

While they kicked, splashed, and blew bubbles in the pool, I watched with a happy heart.



I want them to remember these moments. These simple everyday moments. Yeah, I'm sure they'll remember the big parties and Legoland days, too, but these are the days I want to be forever etched in their hearts.

Just a mom and her boys enjoying simple days.

Friday, April 22, 2011

barefoot

Friday was a big day.

We headed to Sea World with some awesome friends of ours. We haven't had passes for a few years so we were all rearing to go in the morning.

I was super mama last night and prepped ahead of time. So instead of our usual early morning mad dash routine, the kids were dressed, fed, and actually waiting for our friends to arrive so we could pile into our minivan.

Imagine:

2 Mamas

6 Boys (ages 3-9)

1 Minivan

Enough said.

Crazy? Yes, but I do it anyway because I am soaking up these years when my kids are little and I don't want to miss a beat.

All was smooth sailing, until I put on Jack's tennis shoes.



Oddly enough, they fit him perfectly a week ago. Somehow over spring break, my youngest son's feet grew like Pinocchio's nose.

So I ran to my "mall," which is in my garage. I store all my older kids clothes and a select few pairs of well kept shoes in there. You would not believe how much money I have saved.

I whipped out a pair of checkered lace up Vans and put them on his feet.



He had plenty of toe space, but cried and complained about them hurting his feet for the 1st half of the drive. I took them off in frustration and tried to have him walk in them once we got there. I somehow thought the excitement of dolphins and sharks would distract him from his pain.

I was wrong.

Plan B: I Ran into the kid shop by the play area and bought a pair of flip-flops.

However it was not a simple solution for 3 reasons:

1. His feet just barely fit.
2. They didn't carry any bigger sizes.
3. They looked like this.



Not to diss character shoes, but I have to admit they are not my fave.

It is not beyond me to say, "They don't have your size" each time we pass Spiderman tennis shoes. It's just not my gig. So you can imagine me as I am saying to him, "are you sure you want these? Are they hurting your feet at all? Are you sure?"

The kid was certain that he'd wear them so I begrudgingly tore the tag and made the dreaded purchase.

And 15 minutes later with tears streaming down his face, he declared the shoes a no-go. The back straps were squeezing his heels just as I had predicted.

I shoved the Elmo flip flops in the backpack and told him he could be shoeless for the day.



Would I have done this with my 1st kid? No way! I would have paid some other kid for his shoes just so that my kid would not have to go without.

Here my little guy cruised all day long on who knows what on the ground. Talk about me getting over my germ "issues" quickly. I did carry him into the bathroom each time though. I couldn't let go that much.


(Do you see all that who knows what?)

Bottom line: We had a blast. We created memories. We survived.



Shoes or no shoes.

Much love,
Katie

I'm linking up at Heather's Life Made Monday. Come on over and visit.
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Wednesday, April 20, 2011

not all unicorns and rainbows

Sunday was not my most stellar mom day. Truthfully, neither was Monday.

I think it is easy to portray the image of the "perfect" mommy in blogland.

Although I love party planning for any possible reason and doing actvities with my children that have earned me the nickname "camp counselor Katie", I still have those kind of days.

Sunday and Monday were most certainly those kinds of day from the start. On Monday, the kids fought all morning long over LEGOS. There was screaming, crying, and time outs.

And that was just for me.

Just kidding.

Sort of.

On Sunday I was falling asleep in church despite my cup of morning happy. Head bobbing and all. Embarrassing.

We then attended our town's local annual festival despite my inner protest. It felt like summer instead of spring and crowds make me super cranky.

Just keepin' it real.

The hubby even gave me an out, but I wanted to be a good sport.

Except being a good sport is sometime hard to do.

By the time we got home, I crashed on the couch.

You should know that I NEVER nap. NEVER. EVER.

And when I woke up, I had a sore throat and burning eyes.

REALLY?!

For dinner, I didn't defrost anything so my kids got pancakes.

I ate two chocolate cupcakes which were leftovers from our party on Saturday.

There wasn't enough batter for the hubby so he had oatmeal.

Sometimes I feel sorry for the guy. He spent a good chunk of the afternoon editing our Easter Story video and he had to eat oatmeal for dinner.

Then when the boys were playing outside, I explicitly told them to not pass our boundary while they were on bikes and scooters. Of course my oldest goes right past it with me watching in disbelief and sped his bike down the hill right into our middle son and both of them crashed to the ground. There were tears, bruises, and lots of skinned knees and elbows.

As I sprinted to them I was conflicted between my feelings of concern and feelings of anger that he didn't listen to me.

That's bad. Really bad.

And well, as for Tuesday. Let me just tell you that it involved this up a nose...



and this on a face...



Sooo my friends, it is not all perfect with prancing unicorns and sparkly rainbows in blogland after all.

Much love,
Katie

Monday, April 18, 2011

Easter Party

Our Easter party was filled with fun, laughter, good food, and top notch company. It's why we do it year after year. And I hope that my kids will look back on these days with fun memories and remember their crazy mom throwing parties for every occasion.

Let me tell you a bit about this party 1st. I've learned a few things after throwing a few of these. Having several centers that are self paced work best rather than doing one activity at a time. Then you don't have busy littles waiting for others to finish up before the group can do the next activity. Have the parents do the centers with their kids to keep it running smoothly. We usually have one big event or game after centers at our parties. For Halloween, we play "Hide the Bones." At Christmas, we do a gift exchange, and at Easter we have egg hunts (two separate ones divided by age).

We also schedule our parties at a time when a major meal does not have to be served. Guests are asked to bring an appetizer or dessert to share. That way, I can free up time and $$$ for the kid and grown up drinks, decorations, and activities. Parents also helped by bringing a carton (with name labeled) of eggs for the egg dyeing and 10 stuffed plastic eggs per child in their family for the egg hunt.

For all of our parties, we ask that our friends bring canned goods for our local food pantry.

I shopped at Party City for the tattoos, the Dollar tree for paper goods, bubbles, crafts, egg dye and tubs for tattoos. I bought the candy necklaces at Jo Ann's.

The day was perfect.





































Happy Easter, Friends!

Much love,
Katie

party time!

We had our annual Easter party with close local friends on Saturday. To say that we had fun would be a grand understatement. To see 20 plus kids under the age of 10 in their element makes every run to Target, Michael's, Walmart, and the Dollar Tree worth it.

I've been prepping little by little for weeks. My super hero friend helped me set everything up today in 90 degree heat. Don't we all need a friend like that?

Here you can see the set up before the rush of kids hit the food and activities. And just so you know, once a teacher, always a teacher. I do happen to set up "centers" at all of our holiday parties. Fortunately, my friends get a good laugh at my expense. They may or may not call me "Mrs." at these parties to poke a little fun.

It's cool. I can roll with it.

Oh what a lovely day it was. I'm still smiling.














(Please ignore the "e" I left out on the egg dyeing sign).





I hope you can stop by in a few days to see pics of the kids in all their glory.

Much love,
Katie

P.S. Click here to see the LEGO Easter Story video we created with the boys. Your kids will love it!

I'm linking up with Heather's Life Made Lovely Monday. Come and over and visit.
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Saturday, April 16, 2011

i heart spring

Heat.

Blue Skies.

A Good Excuse for washing the car.



Or toes.

I heart Spring.

Much love,
Katie

P.S. linking up to Yellow Songbird here. Come check out some super cool photos from other bloggers.

calm before the storm

We had our annual Easter party with close local friends on Saturday. To say that we had fun would be a grand understatement. To see 20 plus kids under the age of 10 in their element makes every run to Target, Michael's, Walmart, and the Dollar Tree worth it.

I've been prepping little by little for weeks. My super hero friend helped me set everything up today in 90 degree heat. Don't we all need a friend like that?

Here you can see the set up before the rush of kids hit the food and activities. And just so you know, once a teacher, always a teacher. I do happen to set up "centers" at all of our holiday parties. Fortunately, my friends get a good laugh at my expense. They may or may not call me "Mrs." at these parties to poke a little fun.

It's cool. I can roll with it.

Oh what a lovely day it was. I'm still smiling.














(Please ignore that in a rush, I left out the "e" on the egg dyeing sign)





I hope you can stop by in a few days to see pics of the kids in all their glory.

Much love,
Katie

P.S. Click here to see the LEGO Easter Story video we created with the boys. Your kids will love it!

I'm linking up with Heather's Life Made Lovely Monday. Come and over and visit.
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Friday, April 15, 2011

drive by

As I was cruising up the 5 freeway in Orange County to visit my friend and her new baby girl (swoon), I was jamming with my headphones on while I was happily enjoying the moment of not having another body in my car, which has the ability to seat 8. And trust me, there are many times when every seat in that car is taken. So you can imagine how I felt when I had a full hour to listen to grown up music, to think, and to not pass sippy cups and snacks to the littles behind me.

Bliss.

Suddenly I was jolted out of my peaceful drive when I passed this...



UCI Medical Center. The place where Kevin was treated for his Melanoma.

And if you were on the 5 freeway at 10:35 a.m, I am the crazy lady you passed who was taking pictures of buildings while driving. Guilty. At least I wasn't texting.

Although I have driven past the hospital several times since his surgeries and treatments, I've always been distracted by the noise of 3 crazy boys in the back.

This time was different. I felt my stomach tighten. My heart sank. Instantly images came flashing through my head.

I saw Kevin in his hospital bed recovering after one of his surgeries.

I saw my tears streaming down my face.

I saw the young dad with a 2 year old daughter and wife sitting next to us in the waiting room while he waited to see his oncologist regarding his colon cancer. He was in his twenties.

He seemed so young, even though Kevin was just a couple of years older.

I saw Kevin's oncologist point blank telling me that he doesn't have a crystal ball even though I was tempted to scream at him that he better invent one because I wanted to know...

Survival rate.

Recurrence rate.

Will my boys have their dad around for big milestones: turning 16, graduating from high school, college, and weddings? Will he be there to see the boys follow their dreams?

I saw my weak husband, minus 20 pounds, sitting on a stool in the kitchen with a beanie on his head as he poked himself with a drug to boost his immune system. On some days it just seemed routine. It knocked the wind out me on others.

I saw my dad, brother-in-law, and a dear friend take shifts in driving Kevin to UCI for his awful IV treatments. I watched the heartache of these strong men as they took care of my wasted husband.

I saw the stage 3 melanoma written on every medical form as I tried to untangle myself from the web of disbelief.

Melanoma. UCI Medical Center. It is never far from our minds and hearts no matter how distracted we get.

And yet, we choose to move forward. We choose to believe. We choose to hope.

Much love,
Katie

P.S. As it starts to warm up, please, please, please remember your sunscreen. It only takes one bad sunburn. That's it. 1 in 5 will develop skin cancer in their lifetime. Don't be that 1. Skin cancer can be prevented. Take care of yourself and your littles.