Spring, where are you???

Is it Spring Yet?

We are in for a ‘storm’ tonight. And by storm I mean something wet 'may' fall from the sky as the temps dip into the low 30s. This scary senario has all the locals filing into the grocery store to stock up on bread and milk. I usually just shake my head and laugh. When you grow up in Maine it takes a little more than 60% chance of ‘something’ to get me excited. But here’s the thing. I am over winter.
OVER IT!
We’ve had a few glimpses of spring over the last few weeks, but otherwise it’s been a cold, cruel winter. I’m blaming Liza. It’s all her fault. Liza, it's all your fault! There, I feel so much better now. So while we prepare for another night of the sky spitting something at us I reflect on some of the warmer days we’ve had lately. But then I realize it's past 11:30pm and I don't have time to import any pictures of my kids playing outside in tee-shirts because I have to try to get some sleep. William is sick again. He's running a super high fever and has a nasty cough. He's not sleeping well which means I'm not sleeping well.
So com'on Spring, I can't take much more of this ‘winter’ stuff. If there is ice on the ground when I wake up I'm moving to Arizona. If there is ice on the ground when I wake up AND I have more than one child with a fever I am moving to Arizona alone.

Okay, not really. But this winter and these high fevers have got to stop soon. No telling what color hair I'm going to end up with if they don't.

Just in Time

A surprise care package from Aunt Kathy and Aunt Barbie arrived in North Carolina just in time!

Each one of the kids got an Eric Carle book and stuffed animal. Katie got The Grouchy Ladybug. They must know her well.

Ben got 'The Mixed-Up Chameleon', which is just as fitting. A few weeks ago, Ben was reading an assignment at school about a chameleon. Having never read the word before he thought it was some sort of  'Spanish' animal. Leon is lion in Spanish, so Ben pronounced chameleon: 'cha-meal-leon'; complete with a Spanish accent. Once they started discussing the assignment, he laughed in spite of himself. It's been our running joke ever since.

It's a good thing the stuffed animals and book arrived when they did. The next day the flu hit. It hit hard. The kids suffered with high fevers. They were pathetic. Katie slept the entire day in that chair. Holding onto her Grouchy Ladybug.

Will camped out in this chair with his turtle from The Foolish Turtle. Will seemed to take the brunt of this flu. He has missed the most school, ran a fever the longest and still has a nasty cough. Poor little guy.

Ben, on the other hand never really got what the rest of us had. He had an upset stomach for a few days and stayed home from school with the rest of, but he really didn't NEED to. As sad as it was to have all four kids sick at once, I am thankful no one puked. I hate vomit more than anything. Stomach bugs are the worst, I am so glad that is NOT what we had. I'll take fevers, runny noses and coughs over stomach stuff any day!

Miss Camryn had already had her bout of fever by the time the older kids came down with it, so she played nurse with me and loved every minute of it. I didn't get a picture of her with her Hungry Caterpillar, but she sleeps with it every night.

I'm so happy Aunt Barbie and Kathy were able to ease the kids' woes with a new book and animal to love as soon as they got sick. It was perfect timing! Thank you!!

Down But Not Out

What does an active four year old boy do when he's home from preschool with a fever? When Mom won't let him play soccer or basketball or baseball or run circles around the house?? He sits quietly, but continues to move, teaching himself sign language.

 This wasn't even my idea. I suggested he grab a book and curl up in the chair for a bit. Only Will would grab a book that requires physical movement.

 He sat there for a good hour learning and practicing signs. The funny thing is, he can't read, so he really didn't know what he was signing.

 But was able to figure out most of the words by the sound of the first letter combined with the sign itself. It was pretty amazing to watch him.

 He was quiet, engaged, entertained and even excited about what he was doing.

Of course, he was running a high fever. Even Will knows when to slow down and take it easy, even if he refuses to stop completely.

What NOT To Do On A Snow Day ...

I was hoping to avoid this topic all together, but the reality is I can’t. After seeing my good friend, Frances, at preschool the other day she asked me if I had changed my hair color. Well, I told her, that is a funny story. She suggested I share it with all of you. All four of you. I was really hoping no one would notice and I could pretend none of this ever happened, but drastic changes in hair color don’t seem to go unnoticed around here. Sigh.
Here’s the story:
When it snows in the south, and then rains on top of the snow and the temps don’t get above freezing for days on end, we get stuck at home. Literally stuck. We don’t have snow plows to clear the streets. It’s an ugly, slippery, cold mess and schools stay closed for many, many days in a row.
Now if you know me at all you know I love to be home with nothing to do and nowhere to go. I really do love it. BUT when the weather TRAPS us at home, well that’s a different story. If I choose to be home for days on end I am a happy camper. Being trapped at home for days on end is not good for me. And really not good for my hair.


I was feeling trapped. And cold. And longed for warm, sunny days. So I did what any crazy person with hair dye under her sink does. I tried to dye my hair blonde. Did you know that you can’t dye dark brown hair blonde with store bought hair color? Nope. Can’t do it. It won’t work. I know, it was news to me too. Now, I know better than to try to do something as drastic as going blonde by my own hands. I’ve been going to professionals long enough to know that there is a science to these things and that certain procedures ~ like going blonde~ are better left to the professionals in that line of work. But I was mad. Mad, I tell ya. It was either eat every last morsel of food in the house or dye my hair (I wasn’t about to be productive and organize closets or anything). So I tried to dye my hair. Guess what happens when you try to dye dark brown hair blonde by yourself …. It turns ORANGE. I mean, REALLY ORANGE. Fan ~ freaking ~ tastic!

So I had to go to the professionals THAT NIGHT and have them try to fix it. It’s still a work in progress. I will go back in two weeks to have the final color done and hopefully be done with trying to do my hair myself. Sigh. 

Why, you may ask, would I do such a crazy thing when I have beautiful dark brown hair with natural caramel highlights? Well, it might have had something to do with a certain picture that sits on Jon’s dresser. It might have something to do with that husband mentioning something about liking my hair in that picture. Never mind that the picture was taken in the middle of the summer when my skin was a nice bronzed brown. Never mind that I was voluptuously curvy and positively glowing in my second trimester with my third child. Never mind that it was (ahem) FIVE years ago, and I was (ahem) younger. Nope all I heard was he liked my hair. I was just trying to make him happy. And I ended up with orange hair. I’m such a good wife.

Sigh. At least Ben liked it. Orange is his favorite color.

Good Intensions

My plans for a day revolving around Martin Luther King Jr and the civil rights movement went out the door last night as Camryn burned upwith fever. I got myself to the doctor this morning knowing I would need to get myself better if I was going to take care of sick kids all week. Got some meds. (Bronchitis. Lovely.) Then spent most of the day holding a puny Camryn as she dozed on and off. I caved and gave her Motrin at some point and she started to come around and allow me to put her down for a bit. At that time I broke out my laptop and you-tubed MLK’s  "I Have A Dream" speech.



Ben and Kate have been studying Martin Luther King Jr in school. But I really wanted them to hear the entire speech, read the speech and then have a chance to talk about it and what it all meant. Here’s a little glimpse of what went down in the kitchen today:






Katie “MLK was shot in another country because they didn’t like what he said”


Ben “No, Katie it was our country. But not in our state.”


Kate: “A white man shot him, right mama?”


Me “Yes, that’s right”


Ben “Because the white man didn’t want the laws to change?”


Me “Yeah, pretty much. There were a lot of people who didn’t want things to change. They were happy with the way things were and didn’t believe in the things that MLK believed.”


Ben “Were white people stupid back then?” (He was completely serious.)


Me (trying not to laugh) “Some might have been considered stupid but most were ignorant, not knowing any different, others were scared and some just didn’t agree with what he was trying to do.”


Ben “I’m glad he changed things.”


Me “Me too Ben, he was a very important person in the making of our country”


Katie “I have a dream. A dream where I live in a land of candy”




And that was the end of our conversation.

Snow Day Advice

You know those days in the south when it snows more than 2 inches and everything shuts down? Ever wonder what to do on those days? (Because you know they will turn into DAYS!)

 

Here's what you do. You get out and enjoy it. Bundle everyone up, yourself included, and submerge the family in snow. Sledding, snowboarding, snow fort building, snow man construction. Whatever you can think of to do in the snow, do it. We even played a few games of snow soccer. Fun for the entire family. Plus it's great exercise and tires everyone out. Especially moms.

So once you are over the thrill of snow. And everyone is cold and hopped up on hot chocolate and marshmallows. Here's what you do next: break out the paints. Every kind of paint you own. Finger paint. Tempura. Water colors. Just go ahead and set aside a couple of hours of non stop painting.

 You and the kids will have hours of fun. And hours of clean up as you wipe everything from fingers to window sills and the dogs tail that the two year old insisted should be 'puple'.  Bask in your creativity, or in my case my kids creativity since I have none. Make big messes and take your time cleaning up, but whatever you do, do NOT make these:

These were created by the devil himself. Don't try to tell me otherwise. Ignore the fact they are so easy it took you five minutes to whip them up. Ignore the fact they taste like heaven melting in your mouth. Don't kid yourself that you will just make one more batch to bring to the neighbors. You can't resist these. They have powers beyond your imagination. Think kryptonite. Put down the butter, brown sugar, pecans and almonds and step away. Turn around and run. Run far, far away. Far enough away to burn the zillion calories you just inhaled.

Do yourself a favor. Stick with painting. Just trust me on this one.

2011

School started back yesterday. Blah. The kids were ready and even excited to get back to their daily grind, their friends and teachers. But me? Not so much. I hate school. Well, that's a little harsh. I hate that my kids have to go to school. I hate how it controls our lives and interrupts our days. I just want to be home.  In our pjs. Playing boardgames and doing crafts all day. Is that so wrong?

Of course if they never went to school then Camryn may never stop saying "Watch Me Out!" which means "look out, I'm coming through here." She might actually start saying things like "I don't like that" instead of "Me likes this, no." Who knows she may never pronounce her Ks and always call her big sister 'Tatie'.

And Will may always think that nutcrackers are called cracker jackers. 

 

Ben would still be calling his humidifier a camp fire.

And Kate would still be sleeping in 'jamanas'.

So I guess school isn't all that bad. I just miss them when they are gone. And miss our lazy days of being together and hanging out as a family. I guess that's why parents look forward to summer even more than kids do. Sigh. Just a few more months ...