Superpaige's Pad

The Trials of a Busy Mom

Category: Kids (Page 11 of 19)

More fun and free

June 14, 2009 / / 0 Comments

Last week we went to a really fun event at the BYU Museum of Art
There was a family fun day to celebrate the Walter Wicks exibit .

There were stations where you could build a castle with blocks
, and one station where you could build your own bubble wand out of these tinkertoy like things. Then you got to try it out with the soap and see how big of a bubble you could make.

Although crowded, it was lots of fun. There was a cookie decorating station, and then lots of Walter Wick’s books to look at, as well as the wonderful exhibit of his artwork and sculptures.

They also had a story time, a sing along, and face painting!

I left my camera in the car, and was trying to take pictures with my phone. I don’t know how well YOUR phone takes pictures, but mine is less than user friendly. Thankfully, my sister came and she had HER camera, so I was able to take some pictures of the kids after all. Thanks, Amy! She even took some pictures of us leaving. Thanks for capturing my best side, there.

We also love the Dan Steinhilber exhibits, especially the Styrofoam packing peanuts!

So, if you happen to be in the Provo area, you should really take the chance to check out these exhibits! They are there all summer. I don’t know when another family fun day will be, but I’m going to definitely try to do that again. A whole day of fun, and it was free!

And you know that those are two of my favorite words…fun and free!

It’s a contest! Help me WIN and YOU win.

June 11, 2009 / / 9 Comments

Wow, have I got a prize package for you!
Do we have any Alex P. Keaton fans out there?
Children of the 80’s, you know who you are. Did you love Family Ties as much as I did? Well, I’ve got the 5th season (1987) on DVD up for grabs here.

Next, a book I received from the author,
Award-winning author Karen Wiesner is the founder of Jewels of the Quill, an award-winning group of authors in all genres banded together to promote their books. The group also does anthologies together. Woodcutter’s Grim Series–Classic Tales of Horror Retold is a compilation of the first two novellas in the series that Karen contributed to Jewels of the Quill anthologies, plus two bonus stories in the series never before published!

Also, a brand new Gladys Knight and the Pips CD–LOVE SONGS.

featuring:
Everybody needs love, Take me in your arms and love me, The look of Love, Help me make it through the night, and more.

And, for a nice smell, I am throwing in a plug in home fragrance diffuser from Bath and Body Works.

This is a warm apple pie scent that smells like you’ve been baking all day! Yum.

And, because it’s not a good contest unless there is chocolate involved, I’ll be sure to throw in some chocolate for our winner, too.

Now, what do you have to do to win this FABULOUS prize package?

Here’s the thing. I’ve entered a “cute kids contest”, with the grand prize being a trip to San Diego. And you know how much I would LOVE to take my family to San Diego? Very much so, thank you. But in order to win, I need votes. Lots of votes!

To vote for my sweet daughter, go here and click on “vote now”. Then vote for #43.

Here’s the voting instructions:

How to vote:

1- Check the circle button next to the entry you wish to vote for (#43)
2- Scroll to the bottom of the entry list
3- Enter your email address
4- Press the vote button.
5- Check your email for your confirmation message.
6- Click the link in the email message you receive to verify your vote.
7- If you do not see the “circle” option buttons listed below, this means your vote has been entered or someone has already voted on your computer.

You can only vote once per computer
Once you have voted, come back here and leave a comment. You can only vote once per email address, but if you have more than one email address, maybe you could vote again, and then come back and leave another comment. And if your husband or kids have their own email addresses on their own computer, wouldn’t that be wonderful to have THEM vote and then come back and leave me a comment.

For 5 extra entries, blog about this contest! Your friends would like to vote for us, too, wouldn’t they? Then post a link to your blog post in a separate comment.

Help spread the word– Help ME WIN and YOU win. Voting is open until June 29th, so we will close comments here on June 30th and draw from all the qualified comments for our prize winner.

This date shall go down in history

June 10, 2009 / / 6 Comments

I would just like to document a GREAT moment in history. Today, whilst driving in the car, my 13 year old daughter–the sullen, sometimes grouchy one–said to me, “Mom, you’re the best mom ever.”

stunned silence

She didn’t say it all that loud, and I just wanted to make sure I heard her correctly, so I said, “What? What did you just say?”

And she said it again, “You’re the best mom ever.” Not much enthusiasm, but her words, those WORDS I long to hear!! I couldn’t resist taunting her just a little bit more.
“What did you say? I don’t think everyone in the car heard you quite right. Could you say it again??”

crickets chirping. As usual, I pushed it to far. She wasn’t ABOUT to say it a third time. But sweet 8 year old is not above a little mom love, and she said, “She said you’re the best mom ever, mom.”

“That’s what I thought she said!!! HA! I AM the best mom ever. You kids are so lucky!” A little too much? Probably. But it’s just nice to hear it once in a while.

And that comes with a nap, right?

June 7, 2009 / / 9 Comments

Today was my Mother’s Day dinner. Yes, I know, Mother’s Day was a long, long time ago. But my husband was out of town on Mother’s Day, so I asked him to please make me dinner on some other Sunday. For the past two Sunday’s we’ve had dinner invitations first to my parents’ house, and then his parents’ house (NICE, I know!), so today was his next chance. He did a fine job. We had a pork roast, potatos and carrots in the crock pot, and fruit and salad to go with it. After that, I asked if I could take my mother’s day NAP, which is, we all know, the best part of Mother’s day. Right?

As I went upstairs, he even told the kids, “Mom is going to go have a nap. Don’t go and bother her.”

About 45 minutes into my nap, I hear a knocking on the door. Groggy, I answered. Doh! “What?” I said. Why did I answer? Never answer them, or they’ll know you really are in there. I heard little John’s voice saying over and over, “Mom! Open the door! Mom! The door’s locked.” Of course it’s locked, silly! I’m trying to have a nap. I groggily said that I was taking a nap, and could he please go away.

And it worked. He went away. Maybe to ask Dad, or maybe to use the other bathroom, I don’t know. But about 5 minutes later, he’s back.
scritch, scritch, scritch at the door.
“Moooo-ooom.” really quiet.
But I’m not going to answer this time. Maybe he’ll realize I’ve gone back to sleep.
Like a predator, he keeps at it.
“Mom?”
“M0-om. I’m hungry.” Knock, knock, knock knock, knock.
Hungry? Didn’t we JUST have dinner?
“Mom?”
“Mom!”
“Mooooooo-ooom”
Knock, knock, knock.
Each knock is like a red blast in my head. My head that is trying to sleep so that I can be a patient mommy again when I wake up.
“Mom?”
“Mom?”
“Mom?!”
BANG, BANG, BANG!
I am still trying to ignore and not give into the anger that is encompassing me with each disturbing noise.
“MOM!!!! I want that cookie you told me I could have! I’m hungry! MOM! Mom!” He’s getting pretty loud now, and I’m wishing that someone–Anyone–would come and rescue me from my tormentor. Isn’t Dad around? Doesn’t he hear this racket? Won’t he save me from this injustice?
I could call him downstairs and tell him that John is disrupting my Mother’s day Nap. But I don’t have my cell phone up here and I certainly can’t remember HIS cell phone number (it’s on speed dial).
“Mom?”
bang
knock
“Mom?”
I can hear something getting stuffed under the door. Maybe it’s a note.
“Mom?!”
BANG, BANG, BANG!
I can ignore this, right?
The guard at my door, the one who is NOT going to let me sleep, is getting louder and louder and I, behind my closed eyes am getting angrier and angrier. I’m trying to just stay calm and ignore it, but I’m trying to nap, dang-it, and he needs to STOP THE NOISE.

Something in my snaps, and my anger takes over. I sit up in bed and say, very loudly, “Go. Away.”
On the other side of the door is silence, and then crying as the little boy goes… I don’t know where he goes, but he does go away. And I did get the rest of my nap.

Looking back, I realize that I should have just gotten up and talked to him. The calm, logical thing would have been to get OUT of bed, go and talk quietly with my little boy, and figure out some kind of a snack that he could have. But I wasn’t being calm and logical, I was cranky and sleepy and supposed to be napping. And I’m sorry. When I came downstairs after my nap and saw my husband asleep on the couch and my other four kids playing on the computer, I asked where John was. “He’s asleep in his room,” they told me, “he was knocking on your door, but then he started crying and went into his room and fell asleep.”

Oh, now I have mother guilt. He cried himself to sleep. And those other kids KNEW he was banging on my door and did nothing to stop him. -Sigh-

No, I’m not a perfect mother. I love my kids fiercely, but sometimes it’s hard to like my kids. They are the reason I need a nap.

Chicken Run

April 19, 2009 / / 5 Comments

This week my kids are taking care of the neighbors’ pets. By pets I mean a dog, a goose and some chickens. Lots of chickens. And baby chicks. They have to be fed and watered twice a day, and they have to collect the eggs. This family also runs a little egg business, and have egg deliveries scheduled for about every other day, so we’ve also been taking care of that, too. But, as usual, this animal caretaking has not been without incident. Two of the girls went on Thursday to do the first run through, and after about an hour, I began to wonder where in the world they were. ‘Did they take a phone with them?’ I’m asking myself. No, they did not. I was about ready to go over there and check on them, when my daughter showed up at the door.
“Mom!” She called, “the chickens got out and we can’t get them back into their coop!” Her shoes were covered with mud, and so were her pants. Her new shoes, I might add. Ugh.
“We’re using Natalie’s jacket to throw it over the chickens and catch them!” she said breathlessly. Joy. Double joy.
Being in the middle of making bread, and not particularly enthused about going to chase down chickens in the snow (yes, we still had snow last week), I sent her brother to go and help her. “And take another coat for Natalie, and TAKE the phone!” I hoped the addition of one more person would help them, and they wouldn’t be outside in the cold for too much longer.
I waited 45 minutes before I called my son on the phone. “Are you guys done with those chickens, yet?” I asked. “Only one more!” he said. I could hear lots of noises in the background. It could have been the girls laughing/screaming, or it could have been angry chickens, I wasn’t sure. “If you are not done by 5:30, just leave the chickens and COME HOME anyway!” I said. Chickens or no chickens, I don’t need my children getting sick because they were outside for more than two hours.
Then I called a friend of mine. A friend who also has chickens. “Friend,” I said (only I used her real name, of course), “I have a weird question for you. My kids are trying to wrangle the neighbors’ chickens, and they can’t get them back in their coop. Do you have any tricks?” She told me that usually the chickens would go back inside for food, but if they had already fed them, then she didn’t know what to tell me. But she offered to send her five year old son over. He apparently has a talent for catching chickens.
It took about 15 more minutes for the kids to show up, but I guess the little guy really does have the chicken talent. He came, scooped up the chicken and got him in the cage. Immediately. I should have called for him sooner!

The good thing is, my kids got lots of exercise and fresh air that day. The bad thing is, I had three kids covered with mud. The pants, the shoes, the jackets, the shirts–all muddy. And they were freezing! I had them leave their shoes outside and took ALL their clothes to the laundry room for immediate washage. Then they took showers, changed clothes and got cozy under some blankets to warm them up.

The next two days passed without any such incidences. They would stay to play with the dog, collect the eggs and feed the chickens and were done in about half an hour. Today they had to catch some chickens again, but it wasn’t nearly as hard. Or as muddy.

And I’m enjoying having fresh eggs. Is it worth all that hassle? I don’t think so.

How to have an afternoon of fun for under $4

April 16, 2009 / / 5 Comments

Today’s spring break activity was Boondock’s fun center in Draper. Before we left I had the kids make themselves a sandwich, and we packed a lunch. There is no rule that just because you are going to a place that serves food, you have to buy and eat their food. A couple sandwiches, a few cookies, a few capri sun drinks and a diet coke for mom, and we’re good to go.

We also rounded up a few report cards. Why report cards? You ask? Well, Boondock’s is one of the places that rewards kids for good grades. So, anytime you go, make sure and take a report card with you. It doesn’t have to be current. One of the ones we found for Cole was two years old. For each A grade, they will give you three tokens, with a max per child of 18 tokens. With four kids in school, that’s 4 x 18= 72 free tokens. That would cost almost $20 to buy those. Then we took in our 6 free laser tag certificates that the kids earned for participating in PTA reflections and other things at school. Each game of laser tag normally costs $6, but we got those for free. If you don’t have free laser tag coupons, you can scour the ValPack coupons for the buy one get one free coupons, or there’s usually one or two coupons in the Happening’s books. I was planning on using the buy one get one free coupon for Jenna and John to play in Kiddee Cove, which is only $3 each, but if I can get one for free, that’s always better. Jenna, however, was too tall, so we didn’t buy her a pass.

Now if we were going to Boondocks in the summer (or a spring break when it isn’t snowing) we might want to spring for the passes so we could play miniature golf and go carts and all the outside stuff, but when we’re stuck inside anyway, this is the way to do it. My kids played for two plus hours before their tokens and free games were up. Then, while I was playing my one game of Deal or No Deal, some nice kid came up and asked if we would like free popcorn coupons. “Ok, Thanks!” we said. He gave us three coupons for free popcorn at the concessions stand. 3 Popcorns at $2 each–Free. Normally we don’t have people coming up and giving us free things, but I’ve given away free tickets and things before, so I understand. They probably had to leave and we were just lucky, I guess.

About the time everyone finished up all their tokens and we were about to leave, the kids asked if they could use another set of report cards to get more tokens. Yes, I brought another set of report cards. Because we don’t always get to Boondocks every single quarter, and so, why not? So the kids went up to the counter and there was a different person there than before and they redeemed their report cards for 18 more tokens each.

So, our running total is:
144 tokens ($37)
6 games of laser tag ($36)
3 popcorns ($6)
Kiddie cove for one child ($3)
_____
$82+

I paid $3 plus tax. Cool, huh? Plus, the kids came home with a bunch of crap. Jenna and Natalie got a pretty decent size stuffed animal, some rubber ducks and some jewelry, John got a “laser gun” that lights up and makes noise, Cole got a silly pretend cell phone that shocks you when you push the button, etc….

I consider it a success. The kids had fun, I had fun, and we didn’t spend very much money. Hooray!

Spring Break Shenanigans

April 15, 2009 / / 2 Comments

It’s spring break in our neck of the woods, and no we aren’t going to Disneyland. Or, well, anywhere out of town for that matter. But just because we are not going on vacation doesn’t mean we aren’t going to have fun.

Monday we started the week with an at home day. The kids did some jobs and Cole mowed the very last of the lawn that Ryan didn’t get finished on Saturday. It was nice weather and there was a lot of trampoline jumping. Even though some of the kids complained that there was NOTHING to do, and they couldn’t find friends to play with, I think they found enough to do to keep them occupied, broken tv and all. At 5:00 John went to his first baseball practice, and was VERY excited about his team shirt, baseball pants and shirt that says “River Cats”. I don’t know what a river cat is, but it looks like a cougar, I guess.

For FHE, we decided to do something outside, since it was supposed to rain for most of the week. The kids all grabbed scooters (except for Megan, who brought her rip-stick). We went to the trail by the river that’s about a 1.25 miles from home.

We drove there, and then got out the scooters and wheeled vehicles and started out on our walk/ride. I was walking. They would scooter ahead and then wait for me to catch up. I should have changed to workout clothes, but I was in my jeans. Good shoes, but not exercise clothes, so the little bit I was jogging to keep up with them felt funny. Not having a pedometer or knowing how far we went, I would guess we went about a mile and a half up the trail before I made them turn around and come back. The trial continues around the golf course, but it gets steep and I didn’t want to be out too late.

We were having a great time until John hit a downhill spot and was going a little too fast. You know where we’re going with this, don’t you? Well, he biffed it and went down hard on the trail. I was about 25 yards behind him when I saw the accident. I never run as fast on the treadmill as I did right then. I saw him get right back up, so I knew it wasn’t a serious injury, but he was crying, and it takes a lot to make that boy cry.

He had a big scrape on his elbow, with blood trailing down his arm. I picked up his scooter, but he was ok to walk, so the two of us walked back to the car. He was so sad, it broke my heart. “We should NEVER do this again,” he said. What could I say? I thought it was a fun family activity. One where my little boy, who won’t slow down when anyone warns him, got hurt.
“I won’t ever make you come here again,” I said.
“Because this was a BAD place to come, ” he said.

I gave Cole my keys and told him to hurry to the car, and get some band-aids out of the first aid kit and then hurry back. I would guess we were about 3/4 of a mile from the car. I would have picked him up, but I couldn’t really carry him and his scooter and the camera without dropping something or bonking him with the scooter, so we just kept walking. And crying. What a sad sight.

Cole finally made it back with the band-aids, and that made him feel a little better. When we got to the car, I asked him if he wanted to go right home, or if he wanted to go pick up a movie from Redbox at the grocery store. He voted for Redbox. So, I knew he wasn’t hurt THAT bad. He picked Spongicus. A classic. It made him happy to carry it out to the car.

When we got home, Ryan did the honors of washing him off, which brought about another round of crying. Poor little guy. But I was pleased to find out that it was only his elbow, and a little scrape on his back. I let all the kids stay up late and watch a movie downstairs. It is Spring break and all.

On Tuesday, I took the kids up to Temple Square.

We haven’t been to the Church History Museum in quite a while.

We especially like the kids’ area. Here we are dressed up as shepherds, coming to see the baby Jesus.

Even with all those fun things to do, my kids would rather play on the escalator.

We also went to the temple square visitor’s center and saw a few presentations. If you haven’t been in a while, it’s always a fun thing to do. We really liked the presentation on the Family: A Proclamation to the world. Of course it made me cry.

We topped off our visit with lunch at the Nauvoo Cafe. Even though it was raining most of the day, it ended up being a fun day.

Stubborn. And Stupid. Stubbornly Stupid.

March 28, 2009 / / 6 Comments

Why are kids so stupid? And so stubborn about it? They are stupidly stubborn. Don’t they know that their mother knows more than them? Arrgh!

I just spent 10 minutes in the car trying to make my daughter put on her gloves and her hat. It’s 31 degrees outside, and she’s going to be outside playing soccer for the next two hours. Don’t you think it would be smarter to WEAR A HAT!? I did manage to get her to put on gloves, but she ran out hatless, even when I told her I wouldn’t pay her for babysitting last night if she didn’t put. that. hat. on. Do you know what she said? “How much are you going to pay me for babysitting? Two dollars? I’ll go without the hat.” That is what she said to me.
“It was going to be THREE DOLLARS!” I felt like yelling from the car window. But that would let all that cold air in, so I didn’t do it.

The other day, on our first of three freezing snowing windy games this week, she came down dressed in her shorts and short sleeved soccer jersey. Um, no. “Go back upstairs and find a long sleeve shirt or sweatshirt to put on under that. You also need pants, leggings or tights,” I said calmly.
“Ti-ights?” she whined. She said the word ‘tights’ like it was a fatal disease and I was asking her to lick it.
She stomped up the stairs (the image of which just makes me think of 30 Rock and how Kenneth sees everyone as muppets, and Liz Lemon stomps on by with her arms all swinging. Ohh, that was SO funny!) and came back shortly with a turtleneck shirt under her jersey, and her favorite track pants that are her brother’s hand me downs that she would wear every day if I let her. And her shorts over that. Yes, it looked a little silly, but I wasn’t going to complain. She was, after all wearing pants. I then got out the glove and hat box (the box that I had thought we were DONE with this season) and found matching gloves, an ear warmer headband, and a hat. “Here you go. You’ll need to wear these. It’s going to be REALLY cold. That put her over the edge.

“This is the only thing I like in life, and you go messing it up making me wear hats and pants and gloves and stuff!” she said.

“Oh, this is too good,” I said. “Let me just get a pencil and write this down. Would you mind saying that again, because I want to quote you just right when I put this on my blog.” I found a sharpie and a post it note and wrote it down. “..’the only thing I like in life…’ am I getting this right?”

“ARUGH!” she stomped off while I laughed and wrote. She then tried to rip the post it out of my hands, but I’m just too smart for her. Which is the whole point of this point. I am smarter than she is, yet she won’t listen to me. I’m sure I was NEVER like this when I was her age.

I’m hardly old enough to have a 15 year old, thank you very much.

March 26, 2009 / / 3 Comments

Happy Birthday, Cole!

I’ve been bugging him to plan something IF he wants to have any kind of party. Since it’s not really his party year, I’m letting him put together his own. Not until LAST NIGHT did he finally come up with a plan, and a list of people to invite. I guess we’ll be having a party on Sat night. Hooray.

The kids got up to make him a wonderful breakfast. I think Natalie did most of the work, and made him a ham, egg and cheese sandwich. The kids all made him cards, which I think is cute.
birthday-cards

Here’s the inside of that card:

birthday-card-2

Natalie also did a card. birthday-card-3

Her sentiments are so sweet, don’t you think?

birthday-card-4

Cole likes turtles, hence all the turtle drawings and stuff. I would put in Jenna’s card, but now I can’t find it.

We will be celebrating and opening presents tonight. I’m not sure if that’s before or after we freeze our behinds off at soccer. And I don’t know what we’re doing for dinner, either. Real prepared, I know.

Happy Birthday, chap. I can’t believe you are 15! I hope it’s a GREAT day for you. You are a wonderful kid, a great son, a good big brother and example to the other kids. WE love you!

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