Car Naps

My kids don't sleep in the car. Or anywhere in public for that matter. Every time we have a road trip planned people say "oh leave at night so the kids will sleep". NOT MINE. During our 15 hour drive from NC to NY, Brooke never napped and Madeline took maybe 1 hours worth of naps during that drive. It was awful. I wish they would sleep, but they won't. This also includes my many hours of air travel with these two non public sleepers. At least they are good sleepers in their beds at home :)

I had to take pictures of this rare event. It occurred after a birthday party that was during nap time.

Hey Stranger, can you watch my kid?

An incident happened at Ballet class a few weeks ago and I have just not had time to post about it. We've been busy around here for once :)

I have found as your kids get older and you spend more time out in public with them, you soon realize how other people parent. I am a hawk parent. Or maybe the term is helicopter parent? LOL. My kids are never out of my sight. Ever.

I remember the first time I experienced the fact that other parents do not watch their own kids while out in public. I think Brooke was around 15 months old and Curtis and I took her to a local park by our house in NC. We were both playing with her and we realized there was a 3 year old boy also playing with us. He was needing help on things, etc. So we helped him. Then we realize his parents are a good 100 yards away at the picnic area and cannot even see him! I was appalled. I felt responsible for this boy's safety since we were now the only adults who were supervising him!

Of course there were more run ins with this as our park trips were more frequent, etc. However, what happened at ballet a few weeks ago takes the cake.

I showed up before class and sit in my usual spot, get Brooke ready, etc. My friend sits across from me and does the same with her daughter, etc. We both have babies in strollers as well.
Soon we notice two moms walking up and down the benches looking for something. One of them lost their car key, which is apparently not on a key chain or anything. At this point I am not paying a ton of attn. since I am getting Brooke ready, shoving food at Madeline, etc.

Next thing I know the woman dumps her giant house of a purse out onto the bench next to me. She rummages through the mound of stuff looking for the key, etc. Meanwhile their two girls (who are 2 years old) are running around in the dance room behind me. The mom with the lost key states how she had gone to get coffee but did not want to go back there because she didn't like the people in there. So my friend says "well you should probably go check since its the last place you went before coming here". So the two moms agree and then look at us and say "okay we are going to go to the coffee shop. Our girls are in there ok?'

And they freaking LEAVE.

My friend and I have no idea who these ladies are and don't even know their kids names. They are freaking two years old and you leave them in a dance studio with strangers??????My friend swore we were on the "What would you do" show . So now my friend and I are watching these two little girls and pretty soon they come out of the empty dance room and start looking for their mom. We tell them she will be right back, etc. One of them just looked sad and scared. I mean I could not believe it!!! Would you ever do this????

They were gone for 10 minutes and then return with the missing car key. Could not one of the moms go by herself and the other one stay with the kids? Am I totally off here? I swear the one mom was afraid to go back to this mystery coffee shop alone. They just sort of walked in and said thanks and grabbed the kids and left.

I am amazed at people. What if one of them got hurt or we really didn't keep an eye on them ,etc??? What if they came back and the kids were gone?

Brooke is 4 and I would never dream of just leaving her with people I didn't know. I can't think of any instance that would qualify.

Meal Plans week of May 22

We were out of town this weekend and now my meal planning is off! Sunday and Monday we were not home so I am planning from Tuesday through Memorial Day.


Tuesday: Frozen Pizza
Wednesday: Cream Italian Fettucine
Thursday: Parmesan Sage Pork Chops , Salad, and riceFriday: Steak with grilled Veggies and risotto cakes
Saturday: Sour Cream Noodle Bake
Sunday: Grilled Chicken with Corn on the Cob and Pasta Salad
Monday: Memorial Day BBQ (to be determined what I will cook )

Dora Live!

I forgot to post about this! Last month I took Brooke to a production of Dora Live at a local theater. I surprised her when we showed up! Madeline stayed home for this event :) The show was great and very interactive. Brooke loved it!

Here she is waiting for the show to start. Everyone got a free popcorn and soda!

Here she is with Dora and Boots. (Brooke thinks she is looking at the Camera. This has been a year long battle as she poses for pictures LOL)

The Witching Hour

It starts young. Like at birth. The almighty Witching Hour. It's the hour/s of the day where you really question your sanity and wonder if your kids have secretly plotted against you.

As newborns its when the babies suddenly cry for no reason. And they don't stop. It's usually right around when you reach your point of exhaustion for the day and are trying to cook a meal to give yourself more fuel to get you by until bed time. I distinctly remember cooking dinner with Brooke in the Baby Bjorn because it was the only way she would calm down.

As they get older, the witching hour changes slightly. While the kids might not be crying from 4-7 pm, they instead embrace the almighty whine. This whining could involve just about anything and usually makes no sense. Sometimes the whining is about the fact that they are staving and cannot wait until dinner to eat. Sometimes its about Rapunzel's hair not being long enough to rescue Flynn Ryder from the couch. It's anyone's guess.

It's usually when an infant insists on being held and not put down until bed time. Of course what are us mom's trying to do: Cook dinner! The result of this is many nights of frozen pizza and left overs (if you are lucky enough to have cooked a meal earlier in the week).

This time of day is also when you never feel like leaving the house and going somewhere. It would be such an easy fix if you can just load them up and go to the park at 5pm. The issue is, Madeline goes to bed at 6pm. Plus your energy level is so low by 5pm that you might as well call it quits.

I learned this yesterday as Brooke had a Dr. appointment at 3:30. OH BOY. Normally I would never in a million years schedule a Dr's appt in the afternoon. It is just a recipe for disaster. You are basically combing the start of the Witching hour with kids in a confined space! I brought enough snacks to feed us for 3 days, but they were all eaten within the first 10 minutes of our visit. The highlight was Madeline trying to stick her fingers in a socket as I am talking to the Dr. about Brooke. Mother of the Year here. Then you are stuck driving home in traffic with over tired kids screaming in the back.


Today's witching hour includes Madeline throwing a fit because the two bowls she is carrying around do not fit on her head as hats at the same time. Brooke is obsessing over a lost piece of play food from the picnic basket and has emptied out the entire toy box in an attempt to find one small lost piece of cheese.

Will I make it to bed time? YES. Will we have dinner cooked? Who knows. Will the house be picked up and cleaned? Definitely Not. Will we all survive and still love each other? Of course. :)

Say Cheese!!!

Madeline now makes this face when you take her picture. I laughed so hard when she did it that I am surprised these even turned out.

Meal Plans Week of May 15

Sunday: Slow Cooker Taco Soup
Monday: Grilled Cheese and Tomato soup
Tuesday: Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Wednesday: left overs
Thursday: eat out
Friday: dinner at Julies
Saturday: Birthday Party
Sunday: eat out

Following Directions

This weekend was a struggle for both kids and following directions. It was a very long weekend with lots of time outs! Today there was finally a turn around!

Madeline has been doing pretty well following one step directions. She is very good and finding objects if I ask her to bring me her baby, cup, shoes, etc. I like this age because its so fun to see how much they learn every day.

Well today I could not find my car keys. Little swiper LOVES car keys. So after a few minutes of searching I said "Madeline, where are the keys?". Well wouldn't you know she walks over to the Little People farm, opens the hatch, and there are the keys!!!! I would have never looked there! She was so very excited to hand them over.

I was very proud that she followed the directions so well, but then became terrified that she actually took my keys and hid them somewhere. This kid gave me my first gray hair I swear!

Then tonight I had promised Brooke she could go get her nails painted. This was something we were supposed to do on her birthday but it kept getting pushed back. We walk into the salon and she chooses hot pink and a purple glitter color. She wanted them on alternating fingers. Have at it kid! Well due to the language barrier we ended up with hot pink fingers and purple glitter on top. Even better! They also put flowers on her fingers too. To top it off, they did it for FREE! So nice of them! They thought she was hilarious. Plus I was just in there yesterday getting a pedicure. Brooke just kept turning to me and saying "thank you so much mom for bringing me here".

After that we walked over to the Italian Ice place and got some Italian Ices and then started walking home. Pretty soon we see tons of Police cars so we stopped to see what was going on. We saw people processing down the street carrying something. All of the sudden Brooke screams "ITS MARY!!!!! She's wearing her crown!". (Good to know she is learning something in Catholic School )Yes, we stumbled upon a procession of the Virgin Mary with a ton of people following her and singing hymns. Brooke seriously thought this was the coolest thing. She was screaming "This is the best day ever!!!!!!". Then we had long conversations on the walk home about how she wished the Virgin Mary lived closer, like here in NY.

It was just such a nice night! The weather was great! Brooke also was on her best behavior. She didn't whine or cry at all and was just so appreciative. I needed this. It was a rough weekend with the kids.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today is my 5th Mother's Day! I can't believe it! I have dreams of a Mother's Day when the kids wake up by themselves, make their own breakfast, and stay quietly downstairs until I arise from my slumber. Well that's not happening yet so here is how it goes with a 4 year old and 1 year old.

I got up as usual with Madeline (she did not get the memo that she needs to sleep in at least until 9am on Mother's day). Curtis was getting ready to go to his football game when he gave me my awesome Spa Gift Certificate for a Day at the Spa. Just what the doctor ordered! I am booking this on Monday so I don't have to wait until the end of summer when space opens up again!

When Brooke woke up I decided we should all take a nice walk to the bagel shop to kill time until Curtis got home from football. Well there were a few issues with this. Problem 1: The line was 20 people deep and out the door. Hello! I forgot its Sunday AND a holiday. There were gobs of men looking frantic as they ordered their bagels while holding giant bouquets of flowers they bought next door. Last minute planning guys? LOL! Problem 2: While waiting in line Brooke decided she wanted a giant cupcake. The issue is that they did not have the exact same cupcake she saw in the store last week. She did not want the plain chocolate one. The one she wanted had a white flower on top and was not present. Problem 3: Madeline. While very good when the stroller is in motion, she is not a fan of just sitting there waiting. She starts to flip out, I convince Brooke to let Madeline hold her rubber Princess Aurora Polly Pocket, fighting and screaming ensues, etc. The gobs of men at this point were not thrilled with my two.

Finally our bagels are ready and we head out to the lovely tune of Brooke whining about her lack of cupcake ownership and the fact that Madeline had touched Princess Aurora. At this point she was scolded on the side of a busy street with witnesses. This mortified her. Then I was oh so lucky have to hear here bawling her eyes out for the rest of the walk. To top it off she then tripped and scuffed her brand new crock. DRAMA! Finally I turned to her and said "It's Mother's Day. Can you please just be a nice girl for mom on Mother's day? No more whining and crying". Her reply as she sobs "Well mom, kids are mothers too!!!". Um, nice try kid.

When we walked through the door I decided Mother's Day was starting over at 10:00 am. I am forgetting about my attempt to have a nice morning with the kids. Madeline went down for a nap and I treated myself to a long hot shower free of screaming children. Curtis got home and we headed out to the park! Yippeee! The weather is finally nice enough to be outside and need sunscreen. The park was a blast and I realized that my summer will mostly involve fishing sand and rocks out of Madeline's mouth. Brooke is at least old enough now that she requires very little assistance at the park so it all balances out.

Here is the group shot. I so happy that both kids look relatively happy and are looking at the camera!

Spring Break!

Last week Brooke was on Spring Break from school and Grandma was visiting. We had grand plans to do a lot of things, but quickly realized that doing anything with a one year old was very very hard. Instead we did a lot of mall trips and hung out around the house. We still had fun and hopefully next time Grandma and Grandpa come to visit we can get out a little more!

Grandma taught Madeline how to smell the flowers:


Brooke posing in her new outfit (and not looking at the camera of course)


Madeline's new love-SUNGLASSES!


Cousin pic on Easter. Madeline is thrilled as usual.


Madeline trying on a new outfit from her birthday. Hopefully we can wear it in a month!

The Rapunzel outfit!

Cupcake love!

Dressing up!

Meal Plans Week of May 1

After a two week break (vacation and mom visiting) I am back to meal planning! I am also back on the coupon wagon full force so hopefully I can post with some good savings this week!

Sunday: Chicken Cacciatore
Monday: Beef tips over noodles
Tuesday: Sweet and Spicy Pork Chops with mashed potatoes and carrots
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Goldfish Chicken with Green Beans
Friday: Home made Macaroni and Cheese with Grilled Hot Dogs
Saturday: Out at a Birthday Party