Walk on the Wild Side

On Sunday, we took a walk in an open space preserve a few minutes' drive from our house. I had been on this walk once before, with just me and the boys, but the numerous signs warning about possible mountain lions in the area made me a little nervous, especially when a sign said something like "If you have small children with you and you encounter a mountain lion, pick them up so you appear larger and more threatening". I can only pick up 2 of my 3 kids at once, so which one would end up being a mountain lion snack?!?. Also, I didn't like being reminded by the sign that "If you see a mountain lion, it has been watching you froma distance [i.e. stalking!!] for quite a while, so don't try to run or hide".

On Sunday's walk, David came with us, which made me feel lots safer in and of itself, but he also brought along a sturdy wooden bat, with which he assured me that he could crush any mountain lion's skull, if needbe :).

We had a lovely walk, and the boys enjoyed running ahead a little without worrying about cars. It really felt like we were out in the country somewhere. I snapped the photos above with my new camera, which I love!

This week has been busy, and it's only Tuesday. Jack got 3 shots today in preparation for Kindergarten enrollment, which I have do by this Thursday. The dr's office was jam-packed, and the nurses and receptionists were wearing those protective face masks -- I suppose to protect against possible swine flu exposure? Jack was a brave little guy and did just fine with the shots.

Afterward, we had to run by the dentist's office for more Kindergarten paperwork, and then to the library to return books, and by then it was just about lunch time. I thought it might be nice to treat the boys to Happy Meals, so I drove through and brought them home. Oddly enough, the only thing Jack and Thomas ended up eating were the buns off of their hamburgers! (which I ordered completely plain, figuring they wouldn't like pickles or onions). They didn't even touch their french fries, and they just took a few sips of chocolate milk! They said they didn't really care for the food. I suppose that's not necessarily bad, but I did find it kind of funny. Kids are supposed to like Happy Meals! And I felt a little bad that my idea of a treat ended up being not so exciting for them. Also, the Happy Meal toy quality has really gone downhill --- the boys each got music CDs with 5 songs of kids doing covers for pop music tunes. It was OK, but whatever happened to actual toys that they could take out of the Happy Meal box and play with immediately? I remember one time, I think I was in Kindergarten, Mom took us to McDonald's for lunch and our Happy Meal came inside a hollow, plastic submarine with two halves that snapped together. After lunch, you could play with it, and even use it as a bath toy!

Anyway, I'll leave you now with a couple of Jack and Thomas gems (it's hilarious to hear them talk to each other!):

• Jack -- "Thomas, you're making my brain hurt!"
• Thomas -- "Jack, sometimes when I was a little kid, I had seeds in my clementines, too." (said in a consoling tone to Jack, who was upset that his clementine had seeds in it. Thomas's tone also heavily suggested that he "was a little kid" a looong time ago :) )

Onward and upward

Peter has just learned to pull himself up to a kneeling position (which opens up quite a few new opportunities for him, like the boys' train table). He is pretty proud of himself! His lower legs are still jiggly and he really can't support his weight, but I'm sure it won't be too long before he's standing up. In so many ways, he's on the fast track to becoming a big baby / toddler, and I'm not sure how we got to this point so quickly!

Things haven't really slowed down around our household lately, and the rest of this month and next are going to be doozies. So, over Lent and now in Easter, I've been prayerfully considering ways that I can simplify life and make more room for the essentials.

I consistenly end up with way less time than I'd like, especially for things that I feel should be priorities, like catechesis for the boys, reading lessons, adventures to parks and museums, etc., and the constant feeling of trying to keep my head above water is wearing me out. I keep thinking "Something has to give", but I haven't been able to figure out what I can safely drop. Most of my time gets eaten up doing what I have considered "essentials" like cooking and cleaning, so I'm trying hard to take a harder look at my cooking and cleaning routines to simplify them even further, and hopefully end up with more free time for the true essentials.

Mind you, I don't think my cooking and cleaning routines are excessive as is (washing the bathrooms once a week, vacuuming once a week, etc. is about as infrequent as I can get without crumbs and grime taking over!). But, maybe I can use Chlorox disinfecting wipes in the bathrooms so I don't have to really deep clean them as often. Or vacuum the main traffic areas in the house every week, but do the other rooms less often. Honestly, I get the house totally sparkling and about 30 minutes later it's all starting to unravel anyway due to normal wear and tear by 3 boys. So I think lowering my standards is probably a good solution, and it will do wonders for my sanity.

I know I can also cut back on the amount of time I spend in the kitchen. I enjoy making lots of things from scratch, both for health reasons (so I can control exactly what goes into our food) and for economical reasons, but neither of these considerations is truly as important as my time and stress levels. I figure I can make more crock pot meals (I've been meaning to try out recipes from this site), buy bread, and some other convenience products that I generally avoid. I think it will also be good for my humility, since I take pride (maybe a little too much) in the fact that I can make something healthier/cheaper/better than a store can. Bottom line, what good is all that if the boys look back on their early childhood and think "Yeah, Mom was a great cook, but she was always too busy cooking and cleaning to have fun with us"?

Blast from the Past

I was looking through some of our old baby pictures yesterday, and I couldn't resist posting these for your enjoyment. :).

The boys seem to be feeling better today, although there's a lot of residual whining and fussing going on. By the grace of God, my patience levels have been pretty high and I'm handling it well. This morning we did some lessons with the Mass kit that Kim and Michael gave the boys for Christmas, and it went well!! Jack didn't feel like participating much, except for snuffing out candles (anything with fire = fun), but he was around and I think he absorbed some information involuntarily :). Thomas really enjoyed setting up the altar and making sure everything was placed just right. It was very cool to watch, and I look forward to pointing out all of the same items at Mass this Sunday!

In other news, Jack was accepted to the charter school for this fall!! I'm so excited! Even though he'll only be at school 1.5 days a week, I still feel like from now until September is our last hurrah with Jack as a "little" boy, with no set school schedule, no tests, etc. I'd like to take lots of trips to the park, the Zoo, museums, etc. and just enjoy these next 5 months together before he takes his first official steps off "into the world" without me or David.

There's more I'd like to write, but I'll have to save it for another post since "quiet time" here is quickly coming to an end!

Happy Easter!

Jack and Thomas came down with colds on Easter morning, so we tried to have an easy day at home for them. They were sad that they missed out on the Easter Egg Hunt at our friends' house from church, so we did a modified egg hunt in our backyard after both boys took naps (!).

The boys were in a fragile state, and the egg hunt set off some tears, but they did enjoy the spoils.

Last night was rough -- no one got much sleep from 10PM-2AM, but then they settled down and they seem a little better today.

The weather is beautiful, so hopefully they be well enough tomorrow or the next day to help me garden or maybe go to the park.