Valentine's

I got this idea from a photographers blog (www.teslaa.typepad.com) and loved it. I thought I would try it out this afternoon with the kids.

Dancing Queen--Abba Style!!

Why is it that my 4 year old (almost 5--she would be angry if I didn't add that in) is a far better dancer than I am at 31? I decided to turn off the TV this afternoon and crank the music. It's a dreary, very snowy day here in Michigan, so we needed a little pump to pump up our spirits. I put in an old 80's Abba CD Dean had already had in collage. I started out sitting them all on the couch and telling them that "mommy is going to show you guys some dance moves, and then you all can try them". First of all, my kids are the only ones I would ever dance alone in front of. I got my ooes and ahhhs that I was looking for !!! Their eyes got big and their mouths got a wonderful "our mommy is SO cool" smile on them. What came next, is NOT something I was expecting. Elli got off the couch and started dancing. I found myself copying HER moves. We were all in the living room dancing, and I was jealous of my 4 year old (almost 5) and her awesome dance moves. No formal training whatsoever. A true natural. A very depressing afternoon at its finest for me. I no longer have the "cool" moves I once thought (or still thought) I had. I am now one of those old people that kids laugh at at weddings. The ones who are out on the dance floor dancing like they "still got it", but all the while, oblivious to the fact that kids are sitting in their seats just laughing their hind ends off at them.

Love/ Hate Relationship

I have this love/hate relationship with Meijer. Catch me on a good, tolerable, no kids along day, and I love Meijer. Catch me on a bad, irritated, 4 kids along trip, and I HATE IT!! The other day happened to be the later of the two--hence the HATE relationship I feel at this moment. In honor of my friend, Dana,- www.citygrace.blogspot.com, I am going to use bullets for this post:
Reasons I hate Meijer:

• The ultimate--#1 reason--why the heck do they have to have ALL their bathroom stuff clear across the store from their groceries? I just don't get it. How often do you actually go to a store for just bathroom items, and not have to get grocery items as well? Enough said about that one--this one alone is getting my heart rate up.
• At any given time you go there, there are 1000 people in the grocery section, all out for themselves. At least the one I go to--everyone is focused on one thing alone, and I swear they have x-ray vision and just don't even see me or my kids standing in the middle of the isle. We go out of there with at least one skinned up heel every trip.
• Why are grocery carts made for either 1 child or 3 children (the ones with the HUGE red seats.)? What about us folk who have 4 kids? And 4 that need to be restrained, harnessed , and at times straight jacketed! I usually get the awesome tantrums about who gets to sit in what seat and for how long before its time to trade, or I get two children who want to stand on the sides of the cart and at any given moment one steps off and the whole cart about tips over from the weight of the other one on the other side, causing another tantrum from the one who about gets the weight of the entire cart plus Tessa (in the front seat) on top of them. My instinct to lash out is stopped by 15 eyes (30 times 2) all on ME--"what is she thinking bringing 4 kids to the grocery store", all the while the 4th child gets rear ended by my cart into the heel. (yes, another tantrum begins).
• The self check out NEVER goes as smooth as you think it is going to. I don't think I have ever had a time where I could scan all my items and not have the light go off and start beeping (and keep beeping) until the "attendee" stops helping the 3 other "self check-out" lanes and come over and help me. I think the employees must draw straws at the beginning of their shifts, and the short straw has to work the self check-out lanes.

There are a few things I LOVE about Meijer (hence the love part of the love/hate relationship).

• Meijer always has the newest International Delight coffee creamer on their shelves. I can guarantee that I can go to Meijer and get the new Coconut Cream, Carmel Delight, or Peppermint Mocha whenever I go there.
• Without kids along, I can spend hours roaming from department to department.
• Without kids along, I can spend plenty of time catching up on my smutty People Magazine, Star Magazine... and find out what all my celebrity friends have been seen doing around town, while I willingly let others go ahead of me in the checkout to allow myself more time to find out what adventures and adoptions Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are up to now.
• Without kids along (do we see a theme going on here) I can be guaranteed a good Carmel Macchioto from Starbucks.

I may just have to stay with the local Dicks Market here in Dorr. There, I can walk in the door with all 4 kids and yes, I get the occasional "oh no, she is here again with ALL FOUR--hold down the shelves before the spaghetti cans fall again", but at least they only have 5 aisles that the kids can get lost in (not 20), they have day old warmed up coffee, but its better than nothing, the only smutty magazine they have is People, but who needs anything else, and I only have the choice between French Vanilla or Hazelnut creamer, but good thing I like both. The cashiers are friendly (all are 60 years old or above!!) and think my kids are adorable (who wouldn't be flattered by that), the choices are limited--but that helps with my indecisiveness. There are no self check-out lanes ( they only have 3 lanes in the whole store). I think I am becoming a country girl!!! Or just a tired old mommy who treasures the empty stores where no one cares or hears my kids fighting about who gets to sit where and when.

Help Me!!!

I knew that I just should leave things alone, but I obviously didn't. I need your help, whoever you are. I was trying to make a new custom header on my blog. I had designed something in Photoshop, and I was trying to get it to be my new header. And waaalaa. I have NO CLUE what I did to this blog. I obviously screwed it up somehow, and now I don't even know how to get it back to the original!! I have googled everything out there about adding a custom header, and I thought I had it figured out. So, does anyone have any idea how to help me? I would be endebted to you forever!! Thanks

Monsters Inc.

I am finding myself allowing the kids to do things that I normally would not. I think a bit of it is being cooped in the house and not wanting to listen to whining and what not. Another part of it is---they are so quiet and busy if I allow them to do things they think are naughty!! Tessa is into surfing the kitchen table lately. I used to (2 weeks ago) tell her "no", and take her off everytime she climbed onto the chair and then onto the table. Then I realized, that if I allowed her to "surf" she would stay occupied for 20 minutes or so and I would not hear a whine, cry, or peep from her. My definition of serenity= quiet in a household with 4 kids, 4 and under!! All those rules of consistency---down the drain. I have this feeling that I may be creating monsters though! I hope others out there do the same thing. As long as I don't find them surfing the restaurant tables. Lesson for tomorrow= what happens in the Vink house, Stays in the Vink house!! 

 

Toys, Toys, Toys...

I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with the toys scattered on every square inch of our floor at this moment. As I started to unpack our suitcases, and realized ALL the toys that our kids got for Christmas, I felt this sudden urge to totally purge out the old, and in with the new. I sat the kids down, and told them that there are kids "out there" that don't even have ONE toy to play with all day long. Wouldn't it be neat if we could pack up some of our toys that we no longer play with, and give those to them? The response that I got was picture worthy. I saw 6 little eyes get extremely big, 3 mouths drop open, and 3 bodies starting to go into panick mode. I believe 3 tantrums were also going to begin if I hadn't offered a reward of candy for their efforts. (rewards of candy--ahhh, the secret to an obediant child!!) So down the stairs we went, with a BIG bag to stuff. As I was helping them sort through their toys, I found if harder for me to part with these toys than they were. What is wrong with me? I WAS THE ONE WHO INITIATED THIS!!! I kept remembering when they recieved these toys--birthdays, Chrismas'... finally, I bit the bullet and alas our bag was full. So why does our basement still look like a total mess?

Christmas 2006

WE'RE HOME!!! We spent Christmas this year in California, visiting Dean's family. It was a very uneventful plane ride there and back, which knowing our stories of the plane rides 2 years ago, one would say that is GOOD thing. Let's just say that 2 years ago, United Airlines was not begging us to "fly the friendly skies" anytime soon!! We had lots of fun with family and cousins. We also became rather addicted to Scrabble, (as you see in the 3rd pictures). We took a 3 day three day trip to the coast for some little R & R, and even celebrated my birthday out there. (31--sounds so old!!). All in all, we had a great time and am now trying to get loads and loads of laundry done before the kids run out of underwear to wear.
 

Playing with cousins is always a treat. The kids loved following them around like puppy dogs all week long.

 

Being at the beach in December was such a treat for us. The weather was beautiful, and walking barefoot in the sand was even more beautiful!!