I don’t think you’ve seen pure joy until you’ve watched children sled downhill. The big smiles and laughter make for a magical moment. For a little while, life is perfect. It’s one of those moments that I wish I could freeze….before my kids start whining about being cold or have a tantrum about the fact that their shoes are getting wet in the slushy snow. Motherhood has taught me that Hallmark moments are fleeting.
A Slippery Slope
My Christmas Miracle
My family experienced a Christmas miracle last Sunday at Cookies with Santa. I actually got a decent family photo. The Mothers of Multiples club that I’m a member of hosts the event each, and the Santa is quite authentic.
Of course, this was the one year I didn’t go to the trouble of coordinating festive outfits for my children to wear. If I had known our time with Santa would be almost picture perfect, I would have. Maybe that’s the secret to snapping a good family photo—have...
Granddad Stew
These days I seem to be running about two weeks behind on everything. Needless to say, this is why I’m just now sharing pictures from Thanksgiving. We gathered at the beach for a Thanksgiving weekend with my husband’s extended family.
The highlight of the entire trip was watching my children play on the beach with their 97-year-old great-grandfather (who happens to be a newlywed of nearly two months). Granddad Stew, as my kids like to call him, is an inspiration to anyone wanting to be forever...
Halloween Revisited
It’s Dec. 1, and Siler finally got dressed up in his Halloween costume for pictures. I guess that officially qualifies me as slacker mom. In my defense, I did take pictures the week after Halloween, but he still had that lovely green drainage pouring from his nose. I should really erase those ghastly pictures from my hard drive in case Siler’s ever on American Idol or runs for political office one day.
Putting on a costume doesn’t sound like a lot of work, but it is when you have two other children...
Girls Night Out
Mila and I had a Girls Night Out last week. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but it’s actually a big deal at my house. My twins have never had much one-on-one time with Mom or Dad.
Mila and Eli came into the world together, and aside from naptime and bedtime, they are with each other nearly all the time. Because of this, Mark and I have created something called special time. I know that the name is lame, but I don’t have the time or brainpower to put into creating a more original name. The...
Making Play Dough
Sometimes even a parent can learn something from preschool. Recently I learned how to make play dough and also how NOT to make play dough.
When I picked up my twins from preschool, I saw a note the teacher posted outside the door requesting volunteers to make play dough for the class. The note included a recipe, and it seemed quite easy (only 6 ingredients) so I thought I’d give it a shot.
The next day I bought the ingredients and asked Mila and Eli to be my kitchen assistants. I hyped up the experience of making play dough from scratch, and they were excited about our project. We mixed up our concoction, but I just couldn’t get it to the right consistency. It was soupy,...
The Wal-Mart Episode
Last weekend I went to Wal-Mart with Mark and the kids. Trust me. You’ll want to read this. All great stories follow a sentence about going to Wal-Mart.
Our quick stop (or what should have been a quick stop) into Wal-Mart turned ugly. Mark and I made an unwise decision NOT to detour the toy aisle. Eli quickly spotted some cars from the Disney Cars movie, which began a 10-minute standoff. He was determined to leave with a car, and I was determined to teach him that he wasn’t going to get what he...
The Halloween curse
Some days don’t turn out quite the way you picture them. That was the case this Halloween. I pictured an evening trick-or-treating with friends….smiles, laughter…basically a scene from a Hallmark commercial. With children though, there’s always a risk of a wild card. This time the wild card came in the form of surprise fevers on Halloween afternoon.
Flu shot adventures
Hunting season has begun. I’m not talking about wading through a dense forest to take out an unsuspecting deer though. I’m talking about scurrying throughout town in desperate search of a flu shot. That’s how I spent a good part of last week.
After calling my pediatrician’s office and coming up empty handed, I knew I was in for some investigative work. Yes, I began stalking the flu shot at CVS. I called the drug store nearly every day and after two visits, I was tipped off that a supply would be...
Hiking with Kids
This weekend Mark and I made the spontaneous decision to take the children hiking in the mountains. I know it probably sounds like the cooling temperatures are impairing our brain function. After all, who in his or her right mind would take three children under four on a hike?
Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith as a parent and pray that everything turns out well. Fortunately for us, our leap of faith didn’t end like the Roadrunner on Looney Tunes. Our children did amazingly well. Who...
