When "I can't grow a plant if you paid me", meets "I really really want a Chia pet for Christmas"

Ah, plants. You'd think with the fact that I have somehow managed to nurture and care for three children as well as a dog, or the fact that I am the oldest of 10 and have been babysitting or watching children in some form or another for over 20 years, or maybe  the fact that the career I have chosen is based on caring and nurturing, that this somehow would have given me an edge on the whole gardening skill. But, alas, as poor Chia Shrek found out, this is just not the case. I can't grow anything. We actually have one living plant in our entire house and if it weren't for Chris' diligence in watering it, it would have died years ago.

Chia Shrek was a Christmas gift to Alex who was soooo excited to watch him grow. And now,  nearly 2 months later (yes, we tried to grow him beginning on Christmas Day), I think we need to just let it go. Of course, we stopped watering him about a month ago when we realized all we were doing was just prolonging the inevitable and getting Alex's hopes up just to be dashed. However, in the busy-ness of life, he has sat on our kitchen counter, staring, almost mocking us, waiting for a decision. Today I think I have looked at this sad creature long enough. So- sorry Shrek and sorry Alex. Perhaps I should just stick to humans and animals (mostly humans).

Sarah's Dance

The following is more than just a cute video of Sarah dancing to her favorite Taylor Swift song.....it is also a good snapshot of what 3 minutes of Sarah is really like. In this video, you will see

- Sarah hitting her head (not that it slowed her down)

- Sarah being defiant

- Sarah being indepedent

- Sarah being just plain busy

- Sarah getting distracted

- Alex and Anna competing for attention




Just another 3 minutes of our lives :)

The Fun of Winter

We aren't really winter "people". We don't really enjoy winter sports (unless ice fishing counts, and even then only about 20% of the household truly likes that), we don't do much outside from December until April. Every year we ask ourselves why we continue to live in this miserable state. But, every once in awhile we do brave the outdoors and try to let the kids know that people really do still go outside when it is below 60 degrees. Here is our attempt at winter fun.....

And after filling up on handfuls of snow.....Sarah smartened up and went inside to watch :)

And at the end of the night, here is what winter at our house looks like.....

SARRRRAHHHHH

I have to admit, we seem to find ourselves hollering out the title of this post more than you can imagine. Sarah is a bit of a handful. She is like the energizer bunny on steroids. You just get her out of one thing and while you are cleaning up whatever mess she has created she sees an opening and gets into something else. She is tireless, even when the poor kid can barely breathe and is coughing like an 80 year old asthmatic. I know that kids are kids and they are all busy at this age. BUT- we have done this before, twice, and survived. I'm not so sure we'll make it through this one. This is different. She is destined to do something athletic, we are certain of it. The kid can climb, jump, run, somersault. The worst part of all this though, is she does not have any fear. She will fall right on her head, get up and do the same thing again, with more determination. Actually- this just happened yesterday during our visit to the pediatrician. I was trying to listen to the instructions on the home nebulizer machine when she managed to get up onto a chair and then dive off of it (trying to get to the examine table I think) and hit her head. I tried to console her, but all she wanted was to try it again, even with the tears running down her face.

So, today, Anna made the comment that Sarah's name actually works really well for her because we are always saying "ahhhhh" when she very nearly tips something over or manages to get the baby proof outlet covers off and is busily trying to stick Alex's star wars pieces into the outlet. So, thus, Sar- ahhhh. Hopefully she won't really think this is how her name is pronounced :)

Thou Shalt Not Clean

Do you ever just feel like you weren't meant to do something? Warning- this will be a bit of a whiney post but just keep in mind I got a whopping hour and a half of sleep last night and am really not in the best mood. Onto the posting......so, it's a very slow day at work today so I had the opportunity to take an extra day off. Doesn't happen too often so I took it with the intention that I would clean my carpets, catch up on my laundry room and tackle the death trap that is my storage room. Doesn't that sound like a fun day? Well, in hindsight it really would have been extremely fun. However, God had different plans for me today. At about 12:30 this morning Anna woke up screaming in pain. Her ears were absolutely killing her. We gave her ibuprofen and tylenol but neither did anything. She didn't sleep at all, just cried in pain. And so, I didn't sleep either. I was up and we were in the parking lot of the pediatrician at the opening time of 7:45. We found out as I suspected she had 2 very badly infected ears. One has a large blister on it and the other had actually ruptured so there was quite a bit of junk coming out of it. I got a prescription for her and we were going to Target to fill it when Chris called saying that Alex was complaining his ear was killing him. I had decided I would have to go home, pick up Alex and bring him to the doctor as well. On the way home, (going to wait for the Target stop til after the other appt), Anna threw up all over the backseat of the car. Not much I could do at that point so we just kept driving. Got home to find Sarah with the nastiest tightest cough. Decided I might as well take her with too. So, $60 in copays later, Alex has an ear infection, as does Sarah. Sarah also has neb treatments that she needs 3 times/day because she is wheezing. And so, we are home now (finally), it's noon and not only have I not actually cleaned anything....I now have a car seat and a backseat full of pink vomit (yogurt), a pile of puked on clothes, 5 new prescriptions, a shiny new nebulizer machine (yes we had to buy one) and a headache. I think the lesson God has taught me today is: Don't even think about cleaning up that mess- really, why bother? And so, I shall go now and sit on the couch with Anna who is still throwing up and attempt to assemble our new nebulizer machine. Anyone know a good maid?

Waitress, may I have another?

Really....who needs toys when you have picnic baskets?