I ask Katie to try new food and I get whining and complaining. Grandma asks Katie to try a new food—raw rhubarb at that!—and she agrees eagerly. She didn’t even know that it would be dipped in sugar when she agreed to try it! And she liked it!
It went well until she missed the sugar…
We’ve already reached this point today because we’re trying to pack for a vacation. 🤦🏻♀️🤯
They’re whining that they can’t find stuff…but they won’t put their dirty clothes in the hamper, won’t put their clean clothes away, or do their laundry. And even though I’ve asked 21 times, the same crap is still on the floor and I’m still stepping on it and over it.
I just keep thinking about the light at the end of the tunnel…the kids will be gone for TWO WEEKS with their grandparents. 🙌🏻🙌🏻
Grannie got Katie this neat pillow craft for her birthday—she did it all by herself!
So let me preface this announcement by asking if you remember what one of my business goals was? Anyone? Bueller?
Yes, it was a family cruise. (I think I specifically said Disney, but realistically any cruise would suffice.) And we hoped the grandparents would tag along—I mean, what a great experience for the kids, right? And we’d all get an amazing vacation where no one has to cook or clean, we all get to relax and have fun with the kids, and hopefully escape some yucky Midwest weather.
So we forewarned the grandparents (they weren’t quite as excited as we were but they promised to think about it) and let our travel agent know we were looking for a good deal on a cruise. But then life takes over and you don’t think about it and time passes and you know that if you don’t actively engage, nothing will ever happen. And then something happens out of the blue and before you know it, you have put down a deposit on a cruise and it’s convenient to wait a few days to tell the kids after their party!
So what happened in an instant? New friends of ours (from baseball) that we’ve been hanging around with (and the kids love) were talking about a cruise they’re going on this fall. And not having any idea that a family cruise was actually in the back of our minds, she (possibly mostly in jest) said “You guys should come with us!” So I took a breath and said “You know, that might just work!”
It was the cruise line we just went on last year (almost the same ship, too) so that was a plus. A quick check of the calendar and with Tom (who pretty much gave an immediate and unequivocal YES!), and a few quick messages with our travel agent…and the cruise was booked! (Our TA even said he’s never booked a cruise that fast before!)
Long multiple-day story short, my dad and stepmom decided to go, too, so that’s awesome and we’re super excited. (We really tried to convince my mom and stepdad to go but weren’t successful.)
In the meantime, Tom started watching YouTube videos about the ship, pretending we were just showing the kids examples of cruises. We reaffirmed that we would be going on a cruise before we moved again, but that still left us two years.
We honestly didn’t think too much about how we were going to tell them, so after the party I rushed to the basement and cobbled together a card with the cruise info on it so they’d read it and hopefully we’d get a great video reaction.
Well, as usual, things didn’t go quite as we’d thought…
Katie’s birthday is obviously today and Owen’s was back in February, but both kids love a pool party so we decided to celebrate both birthdays together! (Owen also begged for another pool party!) So we had a 7th birthday and 10.5 birthday!!
The party officially started at 3:30 but we got to the park when it opened at noon so the kids could get in as much playing as possible (and to stake out the best shade seats, as is my usual). I didn’t take many pics because, well, I rarely take pics at the pool… And once people started arriving and the party started it was crazy busy—we had 15 adults and 27 kids!!!
But first, lunch. Of course the kids hadn’t eaten lunch before we left, so they were hungry pretty much as soon as we got there. We asked if we could have some of our party food early and that wasn’t a problem, so the kids had hot dogs and popcorn! (Our party package came with 20 cafe meals but we were bringing in pizza so technically didn’t need all the meals, so we snagged them for lunch! Brilliant!)
The arrival of the pizza!
Once we got it set up it was like a feeding frenzy. You’d think these kids hadn’t eaten in days. For a moment I wasn’t sure we’d bought enough pizza as the boxes were emptying at an alarming rate, but in the end it was perfect and we ended up with about 1.5 pizzas to take home.
Cupcake time came shortly after…
Of course we had way too many. I figured with 42 total guests, 60 would be just right because some kids would have two. But apparently most adults don’t eat cupcakes… So we literally had an entire tray left! I walked around handing out cupcakes to random people then took the rest to the manager’s office (they were happy to get them)!
We left just a little bit of garbage…
Sooo happy to see these guys together again!!
Tom and I went back to the water to cool off (it was still like 85°) and relax and two of our friends snapped pics of us. 😄
Katie was actually done before Owen so she went home with Daddy a little early.
All in all a great day… The weather was hot (I think it got to 94°) but it was perfect around the pool. Everyone had a great time. No one got hurt. Well, I take that back…Tom tweaked his back a bit but he powered through. And I lost my sunglasses on the waterslide—I had them tucked in my suit but they still came out…but they totally disappeared. They weren’t in the pool with me and we couldn’t see them in the pool anywhere. It’s a mystery.
Thanks to Allison for the pics as I was off getting stuff ready for the pool party!
And with her partner in crime, Sheila. (I made then take a break from playing Hide the Crowns!)
And I didn’t get one good pic in her birthday sash. This is the look I kept getting!!
I knew it wasn’t going to be all sunshine and roses because we did have some work to do before our houseguests arrive tomorrow…but I told them if we got everything done by noon then we could go to the pool. Easy, right?
They literally had less than an hour’s worth of work to do but we are currently on hour five because they can’t stop whining and complaining and fighting and giving me attitude. And not doing what they should be doing.
They have been having nonstop fun for days and days but today, when I’ve asked them to do a tiny bit of work to prepare for overnight houseguests FOR THEIR DUAL POOL BIRTHDAY PARTY, they lose their shit because they can’t follow directions and I refuse to give in and reward them for poor behavior.
I know being a kid is hard, but being a parent on days like today is something I am not prepared for (unfortunately I have lost my cool more than once). I even shut myself in my room at one point because I just. couldn’t. anymore.
I know today will blow over, but we need to do something because I cannot go on like this.
So I need all your suggestions. I’m totally open… books, theories, classes, therapy… Whatever.
#parentingsucks #keepingitreal
I heard about this cool mini golf course that was supposedly difficult so we tried it today…and while it was neat (with lots of moving parts) I wouldn’t call it difficult.
They had some of the coolest balls we’d ever seen!
Getting some math in while keeping score!
A water hazard led to balls in the shrubs and Tom ended up pulling out about four extra balls trying to get ours.
Super cool moving parts:
Today the kids and I hung out at the pool with some friends and then were invited over after. Tom already had some beef tenderloin smoking so we let that finish, grabbed some salads and a watermelon at Sam’s, and spent the night hanging out with friends. All the kids get along smashingly and hated to say goodbye.
8:30am
9:15am
10am
Sometimes it’s the little things.
Even though I may complain about my kids and how much they drive me insane in the summer, I obviously still love them. But maybe today I loved them just a little bit more since Tom took them on a bike ride and let me have a good hour to myself…and then they played together—without fighting or drama—for a good 3-4 hours…and then we went to a friend’s house and they played with other kids for hours. 💕😜
The kids were getting on each others nerves so I got out a unicorn painting kit for after lunch, thinking that would take up a good hour, right? They both saw it and were super excited, and asked me every three minutes if it was time yet.
So after the rigamarole of finally getting everything out and ready and set up, Owen paints for like 5 minutes then says he’s done and he’ll paint later or tomorrow. NO. NO NO NO. Then Katie decides she’ll paint later today, too. NO. NO NO NO!! 😡 This is the project for RIGHT NOW. That you wouldn’t stop asking me about.
So now I have a table of half painted unicorns and their associated mess. 🤦🏻♀️
So is this a Fun Mom™ win or fail?
Thanks to Amazon Vine, we have an amazing LED HD projector. Just add in a $30 projection screen, $40 worth of PVC pipe, and a Bluetooth speaker…and you get an awesome movie night with some neighbors.
We made popcorn, did sparklers and a few fireworks, then watched some music videos. All in all a good inaugural movie night!
When your kids have kinda been poops and then they surprise you with roses. 💕
Katie said I have to be careful because the roses are pricks. 😂
But Fun Mom™ still won’t let the slime leave the table—and it’s going into the garbage after. #babysteps #ihateslime
I signed the kids up for a week-long class at the rec center where all they did was messy projects!! Perfect, since I hate messy crafts!! They’ve done finger painting, rock painting, shaving cream slides… And today was something with paint as you can see. Tomorrow is slime and Katie is super excited!!
It’s going to be a looooong day.
Look at that face!
And then this.
So proud of this girl!! I don’t even want to go down that slide!
I love the pool but this is my idea of hell because I might be able to grab one of the very last seats in the shade. If I’m lucky. But on the positive side, I’ll have the alone time I need because the kids will be off playing.
It’s honestly normally not this bad mid-week but since this summer has been cold and rainy thus far, everyone is crazy to get out of the house! So I think every day that’s nice is going to be like this for awhile. Today’s crowds were like holiday weekends!!
8:15
8:45
I guess it’s a good summer?!
So Katie has been playing with friends since about 11am. Within 5 minutes of her getting home at 6, and being asked to finish unloading the dishwasher (one of her few household chores), she started being snotty to me, asking WHY she had to unload the dishwasher and why *I* never did it. She kept being snotty and we warned her to watch her tone or she would go to her room. Her response was “NO. I WILL NOT GO TO MY ROOM.”
So I reached out to her shoulders to turn her around toward her room, and Miss Drama Queen flings herself to the ground and starts screaming at me for throwing her. 🙄
Tom came over to get her up to her room and I tell her that we don’t need this drama queen attitude and as she is stomping up the stairs and slamming her door, she screams I AM NOT A DRAMA QUEEN. 😂😂 Yes, I burst out laughing.
Is it time for them to go back to school YET? PLEASE?
Well, sometimes anyway. Some days it’s pure whining about how tired she is and it’s soooo far.
We wanted to have a party but inviting the whole team seemed overwhelming so we just invited the coaches and team mom. And it was awesome! Everyone was able to come (minus one kid who had a sleepover already planned) and we all had a great time! The party didn’t break up until midnight!!
It’s not a margarita and I’m surviving! Go me!!
Tom making the other guys want a smoker and a flame thrower. Mark was even Instagramming it!! 😂
And of course, fireworks.
This might have happened late in the evening.
The day was gorgeous, Katie was cute as a button, and I had my real camera, so we’ll start with a few pics of her.
Some of the coaches!
The best place to try and get pics (since I can’t be on the field) is beyond the first base in the outfield. Telephoto to the rescue! I love in the first pic you can seem him looking at Tom!
Pitching!
Getting a pep talk from Coach Dad!
Warming up for the next inning. I finally just went and stood in the dugout to get a few closeup pics.
This is what Katie does for most of the game!
Batter up! (He got walked.)
We won! Now we are off to the first round of championships!!
