sssshhhh... don't tell where I am ;)

I'm hiding in my computer room. Thing 2 is not taking no for an answer, it's been over an hour I'm doing the right things but I'm going cuckoo for cocco puffs!! Haven't raised my voice but I've put her in the thinking chair so many times my arms are sore. I can't believe she has a voice left from saying "please mumma". If she would just listen she would hear that the answer is not no...

Thing 1 is being fairly good, hit her sister for taking a bracelet but other than that really good.

Sunshine is awesome! Homework done, outside time, friendly, shower done, wow!!

OK, I can come out of hiding now it sounds strangely quiet out there and supper has probably cooled enough to eat (shepards pie with leftovers).

Oh, on a good note hubby may be taking me away for the weekend next month! I asked my mom to watch my kids while the temper tantrum was going on... probably not the best time! But crazy woman, she said yes anyway!!! Isn't she the greatest???

trying to achieve peace and harmony....

"And I'd have suceeded too if it weren't for those meddling kids"! Did you reconize that from scooby doo?? Gotta love scooby!!



Honestly, I am finding myself coming out of the darkness of a long drawn out bout of cabin fever. The sun is shining, the snow stuck to the trees looks so pretty.... ah peace and tranquillity.



Then the kids come into the picture. Each is going through "something" right now. Sunshine's problem is add and tv... nothing new!! The goodness shines through when she's reading or has one on one time with either one of us.



Thing 2 is into instant gratification, and begging. No is not in her vocabulary and she will not accept it willingly. "Please mumma, pleeease mumma...." is her favorite chant! Oh, and have I told you she's really loud!! Her problem is settling down for bedtime....Fun times!! Scarcasm aside, she really is fun (most of the time) She is willing to try new things and has no fear of sledding, snow tubing, iceskating.... she's my let's go baby!!



Thing 1... ah my pretty little thing one. Amazingly bright, cute as a button, and as snuggly as they come. Small enough to still carry.... oh, that's part of the problem! I really worry about her. She's extremely moody lately. I'm getting a lot of things being thrown with a dramatic "you don't love me, nobody loves me!" I call her my teradactyl baby. Her temper tantrums are legendary. I don't buy into them but they still occur, more so lately. She also has a problem communicating when she's angry. She just sulks and throw things! She's not into new adventures and seems to have phobia's about public events. She can't stand thinking everyone is watching her do something she doesn't know how to do. Most of the time she's sulking or attached to me like glue.



Most days I just don't know what to do with them. I try my best. I super nanny them the best I can. I wonder some days if I missed something... do they have issues?? Do they need a diagnosis and someone else to train them to be good people??? Will they eventually turn out ok??



OK, so I'm probably just over worrying. I hear these things from other moms too. I know they go through phases. But really, If I can't handle this what am I going to do with three teens??? Lord help me!!!



I often sing the old hymn to myself "One day at a time sweet jesus, that's all I'm asking from you, just give me the strength to do everyday what I need to do". Yes, I have given up and given to God!

Lets see if he'll give me that special ordered patience in 1/2 an hour when the kiddos get off the bus???

beautiful snow day

We were up early snow blowing the driveway. The heater bank was up to hubby's ribs... poor guy.

Our house looked painted with the snow. One swipe of the snow blower leading to the heater bank... so much more to go!!

Looking up into the icicles. I've watched a Christmas story enough to know "Those things have been known to kill people". I couldn't resist.

The sun came out. There is something about the glorious sunshine shining onto the new fallen snow. The world around me feels refreshed and new. A new beginning, I can do anything. I feel truly alive.

Sledding with friends. A perfect way to spend a gifted snow day. This was a rare occasion. Our friends neighbors are away for the week. This is their unplowed driveway. We called them and asked that they don't return til spring ;)

OK... who played a joke on the oscars and why is noone talking about it???

Picture it: Last night, the kids are finally in bed (that was rough after being off routine for a week!) I snuggle into bed with my bowl of slow churned 1/2 the fat creamy goodness. I flick on the TV to watch the Oscars and I see a blue screen saying: "What is your inside joke" reminiscent of a Charles Shwabb commercial. OK... sometimes these things happen so I switched it to the race. I turned it back 15 minutes later and still "what is your inside joke?" This went on for a good hour!!! I was furious! OK, so that's pretty strong. More like really bummed. By the time it came back on I was grumpy and too sleepy to watch anyway.

I'm not a big movie buff however, my husband and I make it a fun night. We take the newspaper and try to guess who's going to win and bet between ourselves. It's really funny since I don't keep up on these things. I just pick a title I may have heard mentioned somewhere, or something that sounds pretty ;)

The thing that irks me is not that I had to watch Nascar (I do like racing, go Kyle Bush!!) it's that I watched the news this morning and no one mentioned it!! Yahoo didn't mention it either. It leads me to believe it was someone hacking into the WMTW studios here in Maine.

So I need your help! Could you see the academy awards last night?? Do you think it is a big cover up or by the time I was able to tune in everyone else had tuned out and didn't notice???

The winding down of another school vacation

Busy Busy Busy! Yes, indeed... that sums up our Feb. Vacation. We didn't venture far however, we were out and about a lot. Today, when I gather the children to ask their favorite memory of vacation I'm sure they will say "I loved everything"! This comment always bothers me. I feel as though it's just a blanket answer, as though they don't want to discuss the adventures with dear old momma. My second question is always "so, what did we do this week??" To this, I finally get answers. The talent comes in calming them down enough to hear one child at a time ;)

What did we do this week?

Friday (really was this only last week??): Valentine's pizza party and Sunshine's father daughter dance. When the girls got home from school I had the table set with little trinkets of affection (including a journal and pen set... they love to write!), pudding cake, and buckets filled with popcorn. They loved it! After going over their loot from school, I made home made heart shaped Pizza and pampered my Sunshine. She looked beautiful and had a great time with daddy!

Saturday: A trip to visit the grandparents, fun at the bounce zone with the girl cousins, and a night away for mommy and daddy ;) Thanks Grammy!!

Sunday: Fish hash dinner at Grammy's. Oh soooooo yummy!! My hubby's mom is from Eastport Maine and their old family recipe is salt fish hash. Smells.... sorry, pretty gross.... tastes wonderful! Even the three princesses like it.

Monday: Home again home again. Any rest for the weary??? Nah! We found a new ice skating rink and then went to BJ's! I swear my darling hubby needs to 12 step this place. It's worse than bringing the girls to Chuck E Cheese!

Tuesday: Clean clean clean!!!!! The boy cousins arrive to a semi clean house... much cleaner than it was Tuesday morning anyway!!! You could remarkably see sunshine's bedroom floor, wow, I wasn't sure what it looked like ;)

Wednesday: We are making our rounds to Bounce Zone's across Maine. This time with the boy cousins and a group of friends. Top it off with lunch at Mc Donalds Playhouse and you get 5 wired kids and two exhausted mommies!!

Thursday: Never let a snowstorm stop you from having fun!! We ventured out to the open swim at a local college pool. Lots of fun for the kids, lots of tums for the moms. Felt like taking the kids to the local pub for a little liquid lunch but talked myself out of it. Instead we went to Friendly's. Wooo Hooo!! Poor twin #1 decided to look very peaked and spike a temp while we were there. (she luckily waited for the good stuff til we got home!!) Carrying a sick wilted child and corralling 4 others while desperately wanting a nap (me not the children) we headed back home. The healthy kids found a robot kit from two Christmases ago and NEEDED TO make it work!! I have no idea why it says it's for 8 year olds. The screws were sooooo hard to tighten. After some Excedrin and again talking myself out of the liquor cabinet my little "helpers" and I got it to work. They had fun with it and that's what counts.

Friday: Alone at last! No offense, LOVED having my sister in law and the boys here but I was pooped!!!! #1 was still sick so unfortunately *Note sarcasm* I had to stay home while daddy took Sunshine to a kids ice fishing derby. They had fun and were interviewed by NECN.

Saturday: #1 is finally better. #2 went to B-ball practice. It was an interesting time. She decided she didn't want to throw "hoops" and the coach and I had to talk her into going with her team and just practice dribbling and passing. SO FUN!!!! *oops more sarcasm* When we got home the rest of the crew was gearing up for ice skating. No rest for the weary!! I wish we had made that rink out back, I could have stayed inside and read a book ;) After ice skating (and three separate temper tantrums... no not from me!) I set my darling daughters in front of the television for some decompression. I think they were as exhausted as I was. Of course it was then that I realized we had nothing to eat and a snowstorm on it's way. With hubby at a fishing derby in the morning there was only one time to go grocery shopping... yup, NOW!! So I packed up little twin #1 and we had a very pleasant and expensive shopping trip at Shaw's. It was really nice spending time with just 1 sweet child and we had a ball!!

Sunday: We are now at today. My hubby left early to ice fish with a good buddy (who slept on my breezeway couch, but that's another story...) The girls are still sleeping in the living room (after an end of vacation camp out) and I am decompressing with a nice cup of coffee. What will we do today??? Good question. I'm thinking we might try something new. It's called staying home. I'm not sure they have heard of it. I should do housework. My poor laundry I had been so good at keeping up with is begging to be put away (Hey, I was impressed I maintained the washing and folding). My floors are causing black footed socks (yuck, I can't stand wood floors, tracked in dirt, and soot from the wood stove) and there are fingerprints and I don't know what else on every surface imaginable (Sad to see them go in a way, I look at them as a reminder of my cute little nephews and all the fun we had).
OK, so the housework may not happen but I do know I'm going to put a nice meal in the crockpot and have a nice mellow day with the kids. What a perfect way to end vacation.

Until I write again....

I haven't talked about the pretty girls lately....

Oh yes, my little pretties! They are something, always an adventure! Lately we have been keeping them busy with ice skating, snow tubing, sledding, etc... it's hard to keep them active in the winter but we try our best!

Last Friday Daddy took the twins to their first Father Daughter dance. (sunshine is going to a special father / daughter dance soon... alone!) It was precious. They had a good time. They mostly danced with their friends, but that's what kindergartner's do. Daddy understood that and stood by camera in hand taking pictures and video for me! The did the marcarana and the "jump up and spin dance".

Isn't it fun to be 5??? I think I'd hurt myself doing this!

Their hair had a little 80's / 90's flair (before the dancing of course) with the curled bangs and ringlets on the sides. So cute though. So you know, they are growing out their bangs (not something I wanted) and curling was the only thing I could think of that would keep it out of their face and look nice for the dance. (It's still kinda short and looks funny in a pony tail or headband) Of course now I've created monsters. Today they insisted I curl their hair for school! Are you sure they are 5? I felt like when I was in high school. I'd go to my girlfriend's house before school and we'd do each other's hair... OK, the twins weren't that bad! We would make ours as high as we could and spray it solid. Oh, the good ol' days!

A new (to me) garden site and a few ramblings

I got this from "A friend of a friend"... meaning I found it on Chris the gardener's blog and it came from a comment from Ali at Henbogle! Of course! She is my guiding inspiration when it comes to my new found love of gardening!! So check out gardenweb... it's awesome!

Have I mentioned how much I want spring to arrive? The good ol' groundhog decided it would be 6 more weeks of winter... thanks!

I'm pretty sure I have a bad case of the cabin fever blues. I'm tired and irritable most of the time. I'm a bottomless pit... open mouth and insert food! And I'm forcing myself to do everything. If it wasn't for my stubborn personality I would be unwashed, on the couch watching TV with a plate of food 24/7.

I'm trying to be positive. It won't last forever and really it could be MUCH WORSE! Bad things have been happening to the people around me and I feel truly blessed that my family has been spared these life changing events thus far. I'm also glad I can help out when I can. Take a dinner to a friend who had gallbladder surgery, offer to watch the kids for a friend with breast cancer, do what I can for a friend who is losing their home.... I wish there was more I could do. It's a hard time in the lives of many of my Friends. It makes me wonder why I'm OK? Thank you god that I'm OK!! Supporting them is getting me through this bummed out time, boy isn't that selfish and generous at the same time???

Enough of that for today! I must get up and fold laundry before my girl scout meeting.
Here's to the promise of a new day, a happier time, and warmth!!!!