Friday, September 21, 2012

new way to do cocoa

I found these the other day at the store.  They are just like the little marshmallows that come in the little packets. However, now I can put in as many marshmallows as I want!

Ta da!!

back pack emergency kits

This year my mom decided my kids needed to have their own emergency kits at shool with them. They are now prepared for anything. Lydia even has one but since she has no backpack we just keep it in the car with us. I took some pictures to show what they look like.

My mom got each of them a lunch bag from Lands End to keep everything in. It is the perfect size. Lydia and Laila have pink and Landon has a blue one.

Inside there are emergency blankets and a dust mask.


A first aid kit with bandaids and antibacterial cream.

some food and water. We will see how long this lasts in their kits before they have an emergency at school..like being really really hungry:)

not pictured is hand sanitizer and a whistle.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

UGH

My kids are trying to kill me!!! Ok, not literally murder me but they are sure seeing if I can have a stroke before I reach 30. I am being a tad dramatic but the anxiety and feelings of frustration are fresh. This week hasn't been the best but definitely one for the books, hence the reason I am blogging. I think my blood started boiling once school started actually. I think every start of a new school year takes a little while to readjust but that better happen quick because I am not sure how many more meltdowns I can handle from each of my 3 beautiful children. Most of the recent happenings around the house have been no big deal just a lot of little issues adding up. Everyone is just a little cranky! However, 3 things happened to make this week memorable.

On tuesday I had my first mops meeting of the year. I was excited to see my friends and be able to go with all 3 of my children safely in school, surely unable to interrupt my mommy time. I always put my phone on silent so that I don't interrupt anyone speaking that day or coming up for a prayer. From now on I may be putting my phone on the table so I can check it a few times. Anyway, around 10:20 Pam, one of the ladies who works on the church came up to me and put her hand on my shoulder and said, "hi Liz, your husband needs you to call him right now...it's uhhh..kind of an emergency." My heart starts pounding and suddenly can't hear anything else. I am in my own world now. I quickly grab my phone and head outside. Luckily, Brad answers right away. He says, "I need you to go get Landon and take him to the ER....or umm the doctor...not sure which one...." Of course I need more info so I ask why and he says. "Landon ate a mushroom outside, it might be poisonous and they are on the phone with poison control right now." I pretty much say ok bye and run/walk back to my table and grab my purse. I THINK I said " Landon ate a mushroom can you pray for him?" I don't think I am alone on this as a parent but when you hear there is potential for your child to be in danger and don't know all of the information your mind goes to everything bad first. I am not sure how I made it to mt.view safely. I was speeding, talking to the pediatrician and crying all at the same time. I wanted to know what their opinion was before I even saw Landon. My pediatrician said he I'm sure it is not a lethal mushroom but I want you to bring the mushroom into us and we will go from there. Looking back now I am sure I walked into mt. view looking a bit crazed but I went to the office and saw my lil boy sitting there downing water. The nurse said poison control was pretty sure it wasn't a lethal one based on the description but that it could make him pretty sick. They really didn't seem that worried whatsoever. I started feeling like an idiot for crying but decided I wanted to see what the pediatrician had to say still. We were quick in and out of the doctors office. The pediatrician didn't know what kind the mushroom was either but said he could tell me it wasn't lethal. They just told me to be on my way and watch for vomiting and lethargy. On the drive home Landon fell asleep in the car, which never happens early in the day like that. Luckily, I think he was worn out from all the concern surrounding him. Landon never got sick. We have decided that he must not have eaten as much as originally thought.

Yesterday Landon came home with an oops card. An oops card is sent home when a child does something after being warned. It stated that Landon was tackling his friends. :) I just had to sign it and send it back to school. Obviously Landon's first offense wasn't a huge one. Brad and I had to sit him down and explain to him that it is unacceptable to get in trouble at school. I tried all day to think of a unique consequence but came up blank. Hopefully this will be the last of the oops cards.

We walk everyday to pick Laila up from school. We live to ridiculously close to not but it is also inconvenient with a 3 year old who thinks she's the boss. I am always highly stressed because at any given moment she will drop to her knees because she doesn't want to hold my hand. Most often, right in the cross walk. Why does everything happen in the cross walk??? Today Lydia brought along two strawberry shortcake dolls and two little pet shop cats. The walk there was pretty uneventful until the dreaded crosswalk on the way back. Today Lydia decided to sit down on the sidewalk the second I stepped out into the cross walk with Laila and Landon while 5 cars waited for us. I had to literally grab her arm and carry her across. Half way through she drops a little pet shop cat. Oh no, that was just one pet shop cat that mom just picked up. Now she realized she left the other one on the sidewalk. She tries to run back for it, while Laila starts wailing because it is HER toy. In my deranged Ogre voice I say " we are not getting it...leave it!!" We finally make it across the street with now 10 cars waiting for us when Laila says "oh no the dolls dress!" Before I can even open my mouth she has ran back into the cross walk to get it. It was one of those embarrassing moments when you feel like everyone has just witnessed one of your worst mommy moments. I felt like I might as well have been walking around naked. Anyway, I hate crosswalks!!

After all the anxiety felt on any given day with 3 kids, it is nothing compared to the love and pride I feel for them. That must be why when I browse the kids section on pinterest and see all the cute baby things I day dream about what it would be like to have another. 



Wednesday, September 19, 2012

"Falling" behind

I have such a hard time keeping up with my blog lately. I used to think that my kids were demanding of time as toddlers but now that my kids are older and in school they are busy busy. I am driving all over and the house has NOT gotten any cleaner yet. :) Therefore, the last thing I want to do when I have time is sit down and try to write coherently and intelligently. That said, I still want to document this life that keeps flying by and who cares if all I can muster up are a few pictures now and then.

I now have a 2nd grader who turned 8 on the 16th and a kindergartner that turned 6 on the 7th.




Lydia also started preschool. It is different this time with her because she is one of the younger ones in the class and much younger than Laila and Landon when they started. Laila and Landon were just turning 4 and Lydia has only been 3 since May. She is doing great which I had no doubts about.


We decided to put Laila in fall soccer this year. Actually we gave her the option to do dance for her 3rd year or soccer. Surprisingly she chose soccer. She is on the U9 soccer team which is all girls. She and her friend Hannah are the only 2nd graders, the rest are in 3rd grade. We have had two games so far one at home and one in Elma. Laila is finally learning the different positions and making a lot of progress since summer soccer.

We were able to get enough sponsors so that no one had to pay out of pocket for the uniforms. We also were able to order a team bag, goalie jersey and gloves. We are hoping to get a little more to get a tent for those yucky rainy days. We then would be able to put the names of the sponsors on the tent rather than on their jerseys.

The girls voted on their color of uniforms and their name. Almost everyone wanted blue. I never would have guessed that when they had pretty much any color available. They also voted on their name being Speedy Cheetahs. Trust me when I say it could have been much worse. Luckily, Brad decided before hand that we wouldn't put their name on their uniforms yet. The idea is that these girls will all play together for years to come. We will see if the Speedy Cheetah name endures:)