New Years Resolution

I am not one to make New Years resolutions, as I am a believer that if you want to set a goal for yourself, it can be done at any time, not just at the start of a new year.  This year however, I did make a resolution for myself.

During the holidays, we had all gotten into a lazy habit of waking up late.  One morning, we had barely gotten out of bed when we heard the recycling truck come down the street.  Having forgotten to put our recycling out the night before, I ran outside to the back of the house and took everything to the front of the driveway.  By my second trip of dragging out recycling bin #2, I was totally out of breath.  It could've been the adrenaline rush, but at that moment, it dawned on me how out of shape I was.  I always knew I should exercise more (and I often used my kids as an excuse on why I don't have time), but I didn't realize the dire need for it.  With it being New Year's, I decided to make a resolution to get in better shape.

Today is January 9, 2016, and I am off to an okay start.  Not great, not even good, but it's better than nothing.  Earlier in the week, I started cleaning out our office (which has been an accumulation of junk over the past nine years) to make our elliptical machine more usable.  I took away all the trinkets hanging from the handle bars, moved all the paperwork on the floor away from the pedals, dusted the whole thing off, and away I went.  That lasted all of five minutes.  I had intentions of going on it every day, but needless to say, that didn't happen.  Five minutes was spent on the machine on Monday, six minutes on Wednesday, and this morning, a whopping 10 minutes (I even broke out into a sweat!).  Here's to hoping I can go up to 30 minutes at least four times a week by May and maintain it.

A Gift For Jesus

I love the conversations I have with my son in the car.  Here’s one from the ride home tonight that was particularly memorable:

Baby M: Mommy, what are we getting Jesus for Christmas?

Me: I don’t know… what do you want to get him?

Baby M: How about a bush?

Me: A bush??? What is Jesus going to do with a bush?

Baby M: Play with it?

Me: Umm… I don’t think Jesus needs a bush.

Baby M: How about grass?
Me: [Silence… as I let him think it over…]

Baby M: Does Jesus have grass already?

Me: Yes, Jesus probably has grass already.

Baby M: Okay.  How about a phone?  A REAL phone.  Mommy, let's get Jesus a real phone!

Me: Why do you want to get Jesus a real phone?

Baby M: So he can talk to the angel.

On another note, big sister K was talking about her writing in class, and she chose “Christmas” as the topic.  We asked what she was writing about, and she started talking about presents, Santa Claus, and how Santa Claus is really St. Nicholas… then she goes on to say that that is not really what Christmas is all about, that Christmas is about Jesus and His birth, but then she said that it was inappropriate to write about that in class.  At first, we thought this direction came from her teacher (without us really knowing the context of the writing assignment), but after a bit more probing, we came to learn that one of her friends (who happens to be Jewish) in class told her it was inappropriate.  Big sister K said not everyone goes to church and believes in Jesus, so she shouldn’t write about it.  This started a whole new discussion about not letting her friends (who could be wrong) influence her.  People can write freely about Chanukah, Diwali, and other beliefs without worry of being chastised… why should one’s Christian faith be any different?  I told big sister K that unless the teacher (or some other authoritative figure) tells her it is inappropriate, she can write about anything she wants.  Hopefully she will take this to heart and show some gumption next time!

Baby M Turns 4!

Baby M's birthday fell smack in the middle of the week this year.  On Wednesday, I stopped by ShopRite during lunch and picked up a box of popsicles to bring to his class to celebrate (seems like all other food items are banned at this place!).  I arrived just in time as the kids were starting their snack time.  Baby M was so excited about his Avengers popsicles that he didn't even have his regular snack!

My birthday boy - king of the day!

On Saturday, we had baby M's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's - not my preference, but he chose it.  I've never been there for a birthday party, so I didn't know what to expect, but the place is an absolute madhouse!  There were so many kids running around, so many parties going on at the same time, I couldn't keep track of anything!  The kids had a great time, but I was totally stressed and couldn't wait for it to be over!  Add to that, baby M was sick (we wanted to postpone, but it was too late to do so), and that was just one extra worry we didn't need.  He made it through the evening fine until we were about to leave, when he decided to throw up.  Fortunately, all the guests had left by that time.

Pinata time!

This was the best kids photo I could do with 13 impatient youngsters...

Blowing out his birthday candles:

Photo op with Chuck E. Cheese himself.

Happy Early B-day Big Sister K!

We celebrated big sister K's birthday about a week and a half early with her friends from school in order to accommodate her busy Saturday schedule.  After much research and contemplation, we decided to have it at ProSkate, an ice skating arena.  Since NJ public schools were closed the majority of the week due to a teacher's convention (and a lot of families took the opportunity to take a mini-vacation), I wasn't sure how many people would be able to make it.  Fortunately, a good number did show up, and they all seemed to have had a blast.

Singing to the birthday girl:

Baby M was actually willing to go on the ice, and he did pretty well too!  Granted, he held onto the walker most of the time, but he wanted to do it on his own and wasn't afraid to fall, as he had been when we went skating back in January.  I would say it's quite an accomplishment from 10 months ago, where he refused to step foot onto the ice after the first try.  I was so proud of him yesterday!  Now M wants to start him on skating lessons...

My fearless girl!

2015 Halloween

The kids' Halloween parades in school has been an annual tradition of mine not to miss.  It was easier in the past when they were both at the same daycare, but for the second year in a row, I've had to split my time in two different places.  Fortunately, the parade times were far enough apart that I was able to make it to both.  On Friday, I took the afternoon off and drove to big sister K's school to watch their parade, followed by a Halloween party in her class.

My Spider Girl and me:

Afterwards, we went to baby M's daycare to enjoy our second parade of the day.  We couldn't have asked for better weather!

 Love my babies!

A Day of Play

Big sister K didn't have school on Columbus Day, so I took the day off in order to watch her.  In doing so, I didn't bother bringing baby M into daycare.  Having one of them home with me is manageable, even enjoyable.  Having both of them home with me... what was I thinking???  I had some work to take care of in the morning, and the two were just creating a ruckus all over the house.  Finally, I offered to take them to the library, much to their delight.  They picked out a few books, I read to baby M, and then we headed out to meet M for lunch by his work place.  We ate at Chick-Fil-A (pretty much out staple whenever we get a chance to have lunch with him), and afterwards, I walked around Woodbridge Center mall with the kids.

Having fun with some Halloween displays:

 

 

Labor Day Weekend

My brother had recently bought a house in the Poconos, so we decided to take advantage of the 3-day weekend and head up there to pay them a visit.  We left Saturday mid-morning and surprisingly got stuck in a lot of traffic.  The drive should've normally taken us two hours or so, but it seemed like every road we turned on, we'd be going at a snail's pace.  The trip took us probably double the amount of time it should've, and this is without making any stops.  The kids were asleep for the most part, but halfway there, baby M woke up yelling that he had to go potty.  Of course, this had to happen right after we hopped onto I-80, where we were moving at five miles an hour, all the way on the left lane (unable to exit) and no shoulder to stop at.  I refused to let him pee in the car, so I unbuckled my seat belt and jumped to the back, where I got him out of his car seat and took out a half empty water bottle for him to pee in (fortunately, we literally were moving at 5 miles an hour, otherwise I would not have risked taking him out of his car seat).  He peed and stopped, so I proceeded to pull the water bottle out... BIG BIG mistake.  It turns out he wasn't completely done yet, so as he continued peeing, urine went all over the car... mostly on me.  Thank goodness for sani-wipes!

Other than the pee incident in the car, the rest of the day went smoothly.  We got to my brother's place, had lunch, then spent the rest of the afternoon in their community beach/lake. The kids were in the water trying to catch the fish.  Baby M wasn't too interested, so M and I took him on a paddle boat ride.  It didn't last long though, as he got bored sitting in the boat and wanted to go back on shore to play with his sister and cousins.  Afterwards, we checked out big sister K's tennis skills by the courts (as she spent the entire month of August in tennis camp).  To my disappointment, she did not progress as much as I would have hoped (though my expectations of her are at times unrealistic and I need to remind myself that she is only 6).  When the kids got tired, we took them to the pool to cool off, then went back to the house to shower and get ready for dinner.  The day went by quickly.  Baby M and big sister K got to have a sleepover in their cousins' room, and they loved it.  Sadly, we had to leave the next day...

Getting ready to serve:

One last photo of the kids before we left:

PHOTO-BOMBED!

On Monday, we made an impromptu decision to go apple-picking at Battleview Orchard.  We went early enough that it hadn't gotten too crowded yet, so that was nice.  They had a few varieties to pick from, but our favorite was the Honey Crisp apples.  The kids had a great time "taste testing" everything:

First Day of School - 2nd Grade

Summer just kind of came and went... and now it's back to school time for the kids already!  Big sister K started her first day of school on Wednesday.  She was so excited that she got out of bed all on her own, got dressed, brushed her teeth, and was all ready to go before the rest of us barely got started!  This year I let M do the drop-off and didn't tag along as I had previously.  M told me she just ran off after he signed her in, not looking back once to wave bye.  SIGH... all grown up!