Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Arts and Crafts

They suck. Period.

I hate letting them have glitter, glue, glitter glue, scissors and anything that will make a mess that I will have to be cleaned off of them, the floor, the table, etc. I let them do crafts once or twice a year - not kidding. Today was one of those days. They were so happy. They were not fighting. They were gluing, glittering, glitter gluing and foam shaping to their hearts content and it was then I realized, it is so quiet in here, they are playing together! They are having fun! They really aren't being too messy! And oh, the google eyes are really cute :o)

So I stole away to the basement to do some secret clandestine LAUNDRY. It was almost enjoyable. Then I came back up the stairs and noticed a horrible amount of what I wrongly assumed was shedded dog hair. Shed?!?! Oh, so silly of you to think that Mommy... Plastic. Round. Safety. Scissors. THEY CUT THEIR HAIR, THE DOGS HAIR AND THE CAT'S HAIR. Holy what the F people. No more crafts. No pictures either, I was busy throwing craft supplies away. HRUMPH.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Rain and Soccer



Yesterday I took the kiddo's to get their new soccer equipment, This will be Anthony's third year playing soccer and he really loves it. He is fast, nimble and seems to have endless energy. His cleats and shin guards from last year were too small for him, and too big for Caitlin, how's that for luck. So, off we go. Alex is in tow and at the store is remanded to the custody of his stroller. He has a train in hand as is fine at first but then begins to ask to play soccer too. Try explaining to the almost 3 year old that he only has one more year to wait. C and AJ were getting really excited looking at cleats, I want those, I want those ( orange, purple, yellow ) they had it all. I wanted cheap. As in will be worn for about 3 months and never again cheap. The shoe guy pointed to a sign that said 14.99 - that was my sign! It took entirely too long getting both kids into cleats that fit their feet properly with guards and socks on, so I finally tell them to do a jog back and forth and something is not quite right... I bring them both back over and am checking fit, checking socks, Alex is STILL whining I wanna pway soccer... Finally I said to the shoe guy, I'm not sure if it's me but I think I have their sizes wrong for the cleats, somethings looking wrong. He said, oh that's because they are baseball cleats. JACK - I asked for cheap soccer cleats... Round 2 of picking out and trying on and picking out new shin guards and Caitlin HAS to have pink soccer socks to match her pick " check shoes" (nike brand). 2 pairs of the cheapest soccer cleats I could get on their feet. Clearance rack " pee wee" size shin guards for the Bug and not clearance rack but still cheapish shin guards for Anth, we pay I cringe because holy hell over $80 and we didn't even get a damn soccer ball...
Then the monsoon hits. Seriously, thunder, lightning, sheets of rain. I figure we will wait it out in the store, my Dad calls there is a tornado watch what am I doing? Trying to get 3 kids to the car in the deluge that just opened on us. ( Should have brought the ark, haha.) He said stay where we are, kids are begging to please go home Mommy, Mommy doesn't want to get wet guys, lets just wait a few more minutes. My Dad seconds that plan but all 3 kids veto with tears and fear and so I say ok, let's make a run for it. Cate and Anth grab a stroller handle and we will RUN. We got soaked to the skin. Alex cried because he is wet. Catie laughed and laughed. Anthony was pissed, just pissed. We get all buckled in and head home, and they were cracking up everytime we hit water and it made that big spray off the side of the car. Now that was funny.
Later on when the sun comes out, we head off to soccer clinic where Caitlin gets her first chance ever to play soccer and is wearing her new cleats and the storm clouds from hell roll over and we repeated getting soaked to the skin and running to the car. This time Anthony cried because he didn't get to play soccer yet, Caitlin beamed because the 2 drills she did were the icing on her cake. Poor Alex was just pissed!
That teenie tiny little dot in the middle there, with her foot on the ball, yep that one! That's my girl. ( Note the ominous clouds gathering to the left)

She is so happy! Literally 3 seconds later it started to pour.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

POCONOOOOO, TAKE ME HOME!!!!!

Day 3 of another week away from home. We have traveled to the far reaches of SEPA and landed in the Pocono's! (again) We spend a lot of time here in the Pocono's. I like the relative quiet of the Pocono's. It's 9pm and I am listening to cicada's chirruping all around in the tree's announcing how hot tomorrow will be. I can also hear the roar of car engines, not sure if it's from the raceway or the turnpike.

But, alas - we have deer in our woods.

And we have in no particular order: caterpillar's, moths, tree frogs and spiders. I HATE SPIDERS.

MOTHRA ATTACKS



Caitlin and Alex torture admire a little caterpiller


Butterfly Sanctuary! Really? 100's of butterflies trapped in a TINY room where children are given poking sticks and sun ray magnification devices. And those are the PROTECTED butterflies people. Ok, so they were " feeding sticks", and magnifying glasses. But still. I counted at least 3 wounded and 5 dead.




And we still have 5 days left. I am exhausted.

But at least the dogs are having fun!