Just another stay at home mom trying to do it all, save the world, and not run out of coffee.
My published articles: exm.nr/gkA1yp Twitter: @CarolBruckmann
Elijah had a freak fever, so he and I missed field day. Thankfully my good friend took Caitlyn (and my camera) so she wouldn't miss the fun.
I left the kids alone with a snack so I could quickly look at a recipe. I was only gone for seconds, but when I returned my sun had swiped his head with a sunscreen stick and a black crayon. I think we have a new suncare trend. I him up with Benadryl so he would feel better and rest during awards
night. That plan backfired, and since I was a teacher with
responsibilities I could not leave. I'm sure most of the parents wished I
had taken him home and left my section of the final song to fend for
themselves. Thankfully my friend stepped in towards the end with an iPad
to keep him quiet.
Here is most of Caitlyn class reciting their Geometry facts. She was at a
disadvantage because we learned them by singing them, and her teacher
wanted it recited. I think she did well anyway!
I can't believe I will have a first grader on my hands in a few months...
I assume it's going to pay off. One day I will have two wonderful, compliant older children who can cook and clean for me while I sit on the couch reading Lynn Austin. (Moms of teenagers - do NOT burst my bubble.)
Every task now is sooo slow. Either I am interrupted by the sound of a Lego box being dumped or lingering silence that indicates something far more sinister.
And every time I cook I hear, "Hey! Can I do dat? Can I hep you? Can I do it?" So I have 3 and 6 year olds who slowly but surely help me prepare our food from scratch. Dinner prep takes roughly 1/100th of the time dinner consumption consumes.
But I've noticed that lately my 6 year old is actually helpful when she helps me. And my 3 year old may not be so much, but he is the cutest chef in town. (No shoes, no shirt, no problem as he demonstrates how we made spaghetti sauce from a bunch of veggies that were past their prime.)
Eat your heart out Bobby Flay. He's coming for you.
On Tuesday he climbed our play structure and took off all his clothes, causing our 6 year old neighbor to cover her eyes yelling, "I can't look!" Later, fully dressed, he escaped our yard while I was doing schoolwork with his sister and made a break for our neighbor's house. The dog listened and came back to the yard. At least I have one obedient child.
Yesterday, big sister (who I affectionately refer to as Jekyll and Hyde) kept slipping into full monster mode. There is no warning system for my children's moods. They are more like tornadoes than hurricanes. You sometimes see signs that one might pop up, but those F4 winds can just come out of nowhere.
To understand this next part, you have to know that I am slightly obsessive about wasting food. Okay, I'm full on crazy. So when the almonds that I had carefully soaked and dried looked like they had mold spots on them, I did what any other insane person would do. I peeled every almond. I sent a couple of cups to work with my husband, but I needed to do something with the remaining seeds.
After a quick Internet search, I decided to pulverize the almonds into almond meal in the food processor. I may have left them too chunky in an effort to avoid turning them into almond butter. After reading too many comments on a recipe for almond flour waffles, I took one suggestion to fluff the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold them into the waffle batter. The "waffles" stuck to my wafflemaker, oozed out the sides, and had the consistency of a crepe made from meringue. After peeling/scraping 6 "waffles" from the contraption I decided to dump the rest of the "batter" into a Corningware dish and bake it in the oven.
It looked like a success. The "batter" baked up like a lovely meringue. But as I pulled it from the oven, my mitts slipped and the entire dish crashed to the floor. Finally I had reached my limit. The dog came to help clean the mess, and Elijah comforted my by saying, "It ho-k Mommy. Zeke is a good lickah!" But I could not be comforted. I turned to my golden calf.
"That's it!" I threw up my hands and shouted. "I give up! I am going downstairs to read in bed." Caitlyn followed me, copying every word and going to get The Magician's Nephew from her room. We sat on my bed and read. Elijah did not know what to do with himself. After about 10 minutes he touched my arm and comforted, "It ho-k Mommy. I can hold you recipe!" Thankfully I was reading on my iPod which can transform into a video camera.
That was enough to get me back into supermommy homeschooling mode. The rest of the morning was tough, but somehow he took a nap and big sister decided to do her schoolwork in the afternoon while he slept.
We returned home late from church, and it was after 9 when I tucked them into bed. But little brother was not interested in staying in bed. Thankfully Daddy was home soon to help me deal with the escape artist. I'll let my 2:20 am Facebook status tell the next part of the story.
Apparently he was trying to get the cat, whom he feared was escaping into the wall.
This was as good a time as any to finish typing my devotion, so I ignored him and wrapped that up.
Then at 2:34 am:
"Mommy you drop you recipe?"
I nodded.
"Oh. I hold it. I really hold it."
We spent Easter weekend with my in-laws at Oak Haven Resort in Sevierville, TN. The cabin was equipped with tvs, a hot tub, a pool table, and a retro video game machine over which the kids could fight. Caitlyn wanted to sleep alone, so she crashed in the hall on a love seat each night.
The day after we arrived, the resort sponsored an egg hunt complete with bounce houses, prizes, and the Easter bunny himself. Caitlyn wisely noted, "That is not the real Easter Bunny. I can see his neck."
Caitlyn's cousin won the prize for most eggs in their age group, even after he shared eggs with Caitlyn! Between the hunt, the candy my sister-in-law brought for an in cabin egg hunt, and the real Easter bunny, we will have candy in our house for months to come. (Unless little man figures out a way to reach that top shelf....)
To prevent cabin fever, the parents and kids headed to The Track in
Pigeon Forge.After calculating the number of points we would need to
purchase to most cheaply blow our cash, we all started out with a round
of mini golf. Elijah would walk to each hole and excitedly putt in his ball.
He had the best score with a hole in one every time!
We were surprised when Elijah could drive by himself. All those hours of Mario Kart paid off!
We arrived home just in time to celebrate Grandpa's 80th birthday with dinner and cake at the cabin. The kids were adorable in their Easter outfits for church the next morning. The girls were excited to discover that their dresses matched. Everyone was entertained with egg hunts, egg coloring, musical parades, and random silliness.
Our immediate family had some time to kill the last day, so we visited Wonder Works in Pigeon Forge. Caitlyn and Daddy waited in line for quite a while to climb the blacklight ropes course. I stayed entertained by chasing Elijah around. We played at a fun local park until everyone was worn out enough to head back to NC.
I left the kids alone with a snack so I could quickly look at a recipe. I was only gone for seconds, but when I returned my sun had swiped his head with a sunscreen stick and a black crayon. I think we have a new suncare trend. I him up with Benadryl so he would feel better and rest during awards
night. That plan backfired, and since I was a teacher with
responsibilities I could not leave. I'm sure most of the parents wished I
had taken him home and left my section of the final song to fend for
themselves. Thankfully my friend stepped in towards the end with an iPad
to keep him quiet.
