Stalled

I am still taking photos every day, but I am FAR behind on getting them up on the blog since I can only use my phone camera.  Our real camera broke.  To be more specific, we lost the battery charger.  Even if we COULD find the charger, we still could  not use the camera because a certain toddler spilled juice on the camera so the shutter no longer opens. 

But we are still around, still busy, still snapping photos when we remember, and occasionally videos.  But my whole existence seems to be stalled right now.  Aside from day to day functionality, everything else is ignored. The kids are a handful due to chilly temps and lots of drizzle and massive amounts of pent up energy.  I don't have much help since my husband is working nearly every day and not regular business hours.  So I do what needs to be done to keep them happy and fed, but that's about it.  After that I can't seem to muster the energy to focus on me or our house.  Minimal cleaning is done... enough to keep us clothed, ants away, and visitors not disgusted. 

I don't intend this to be a venting post... I'm not really sure what my intentions are at the moment.  Kids are entertaining themselves and I have found myself having a few free moments to let my mind ramble on, and my fingers seem to be following suit!  That seems to be happening a lot lately, the mind wandering, keeping me up at night thinking about all I wanted to accomplish but didn't, thinking about all I am ignoring, lists of things I want to do but just don't have the energy to do.  I've been here several times before... sometimes harmless, others...well, lets just say interventions were in order (don't worry, nothing like that now!!).  But that fear of "oh gosh...I don't want to go down this road again" are creeping back into my mind as it goes around in circles.  So long as I can keep the day to day going smoothly, things will get back on track, or so I hope!

But right now, with that "single married mom" feeling going on, it is a little difficult to get myself grounded and put my foot down and yell "this is ENOUGH! Go do what you need to do already!!"  So stalled is a good word for me and my life right at this moment.

Snippet From Memorial Day Parade

Chicago Memorial Day Parade ... Go to time stamp 3:49 to see Navy Band Great Lakes... Good closeups of my husband (the tuba player with a blue mouthpiece!).

The Dumb Things We Do

Sometimes as a parent you come up with a really great idea to entertain your children that turns out to be the dumbest idea ever. Here are some of my more recent ones...

1.  Stamps... stamps are fun. I have fond memories of using stamps.  Of course most of those memories are from when I was 8.  Not TWO and FOUR years old.  Thankfully I was intelligent enough to spread the 2 dozen stamps and ink pads on the tile kitchen floor so the mess was easy to clean up.

2.  Six Flags on a 95+ degree day... Yeah, not so much. I thought if we went in the morning then we would be ok.  I felt as though I was dying after 45 minutes! Goodness knows how the kids were feeling in the heat, but weren't telling us because they didn't want to leave.

3.  Bouncy Balls... Yeah, God help my children if they break anything with this dang bouncy balls!  The Jacks that came with them weren't the best idea either.  The four year old is sad because the two year old keeps stepping on them and breaking them.  Thankfully the jacks were free from the treasure box at the dentist.

4.  Water guns... These are a current favorite at our house right now.  Two year old hates being sprayed with water, but of course is spraying his sister which means she WILL retaliate.  Oh well.. at least we bought 8 more yesterday so when friends come over there is no more fighting (over the guns, there will always be fighting over something!)

5.  Rocking chairs... I bought two at a yard sale and they are SO super cute.  They are wooden and just the right size for my kiddos.  Unfortunately the four year old has taken to extreme rocking chair activities. I swear it as if her butt will explode if it touches the chair.  She sits every way BUT the correct way.  I can't recall how many times I have threatened to give these chairs away.  She is a goober and knows that I won't go through with that threat.

Those are just a few examples of my dumb mommy brain as of late. I'm sure there are about 100 more examples of things I have done that I thought would be really great but turned out to be stupid ideas that I soon regretted.  Do you have any examples? Hopefully fewer than mine! 

Forget Spring, Hello Summer!

Apparently Chicagoland has forgotten a very important piece of information that most of us learn in preschool... the seasons go Fall - Winter - SPRING - Summer... How on earth have we gone from temperatures in the 40s/low 50s to 90?!  I actually like the mid to high 60s, thank you very much!

Thankfully my kids don't seem to care about the missing season.  They are quite content to dive into summer and all summertime activities.  I am pretty sure my daughter will be living in bathing suits the next few months except when clothing is not optional! Tonight, after dinner, Jordan declared it "water play day at our house!" and we filled up the kiddie pool and water table.  The sandbox got opened, bubbles were played with, and daddy got the fire going for (MINT!!) s'mores.  It is definitely summertime!

Where Oh Where Has Spring Gone?

I know it rains in spring.  I accept that fact.  But today is May 26th and it is raining for the third day in a row, and the temperature is not supposed to get higher than 49F.  That is just WRONG. Memorial Day weekends are supposed to have people in shorts, grilling, and playing outside.  And here I am hiding the kids and myself inside as if we will turn into icicles if we step out of the house!

Not that I had grand plans for the weekend.  Holidays in this household are a bit jaded... they mean my husband will be working long hours every day.  No holiday weekend for us (if we are lucky we will get a few hours with him!).  So it is not like it matters if we are housebound, but I would at least like the OPTION of taking my kids outside without hearing whining about getting wet.

I am sure I will find things for the kids to do this weekend; childrens museum, husband's concert, crafts... but I would prefer to choose those things because we WANT to, not because those are the ONLY activities we can do.  I would like parks, Six Flags, walks, etc to be an option!  So, please Mother Nature, return spring to Chicagoland... all of us mothers would REALLY appreciate it, especially yours truly!