Grandma is here!

My mom arrived last night for a weekend visit. And we fully enjoyed her today!

We spent the morning walking around our favorite places in Hudson. We nabbed some cute clothes for the kiddos (just wait until you see Clive's dapper Easter get-up), ate yummy cupcakes, and had a memorable time at the local bookstore.

It was in the book shop that Clive encountered a golden retriever for the first time ever. And boy was he in love with that dog! Clive got SO excited about that friendly dog! He even let the dog lick his face and he followed the dog all around the book shop. Don't worry, Clive got a vvvvvvvvvvery thorough bath this evening to cleanse him from the doggie germs.

My mom and I played scrabble this afternoon (what a game - she beat me by a mere 2 points) and then we watched a movie and folded laundry. Tomorrow we head to the zoo for a family + gramma trip.

A lovely weekend to you all!

Cadbury conspiracy

Spring is such a lovely time of year. The anticipation of new flowers, the promise of warmer weather, and the air is atwitter with chirping birds. Ah. And then of course there's the arrival of cadbury creme eggs to the Easter candy aisle. :)

I certainly have my candy preferences (york peppermint patties and lindor hazelnut truffles in case you were wondering). But I'm not one that MUST have a particular candy as a treat or reward.

Not so with cadbury creme eggs. Maybe it's their limited availability or their unique, albeit weird, egg-like colors inside. I usually pick up a few around Easter and savor them when I need a special pick-me-up.

Imagine my consumer surprise when I searched the pastel Easter shelves at Drug Mart and couldn't find cadbury creme eggs! Mind you, there are lots of look-alike cadbury creme eggs on the market these days. Cadbury caramel eggs, reese's eggs, snickers' eggs . . . you name it, it's an egg. I couldn't believe the creme eggs would be missing so I kept searching.

Lo, and behold, as of this year, the greedy cadbury company no longer sells creme eggs individually. Now you have to buy them in a package of THREE and the package costs more than two dollars?!? C'mon! Our economy is in shambles here!

I feel like I'm on an episode of Seinfeld ranting about something so silly . . . but it's really gotten under my skin. So, I'm boycotting this spring. No money-grubbing candy company will get my loose change! :)

Maybe I'm just getting more opinionated as I age . . . I almost honked in disapproval at some jaywalking teenagers yesterday. I don't mind that they jaywalked but what seriously annoyed me was that they saw me driving and still they leisurely crossed the road. Hoodlums. :)

What's your favorite spring time candy?

New photos, new swing, a better attitude, and spring break

Hey, all! Hope you had a swell weekend and enjoyed some slightly warmer weather as we did here in Ohio. Even got some hyacinths planted this afternoon and Matt finished up a new swing for Chloe. Now both Chloe and Clive can swing in harmony from the limb of our front-yard tree. Let's hope it can hold them both!

After a restful low-key weekend God graciously lifted me from my mommy-doldrums. He truly is the lifter of my head!

I realize I'm horridly behind on posting new photos of the kiddos. Since they both protested naps this afternoon, they both were rewarded (I should say WE were rewarded) with uber-early bedtimes. So with the extra quiet time I finally posted a new photo album in facebook. For you non-facebookians, check it out here.

Matt's home on spring break this week and he's optimistic he could finish writing the LAST content chapter in his dissertation by Friday! He says it's flowing well and with the extra time this week he's aiming to finish. Hallelujah!

We're not going anywhere for spring break but we're having some extra-special company this week. My mom is popping in for a long-weekend visit! We are all incredibly excited about the arrival of the grand duchess (Chloe's princess-inspired name for grandma). Seems like the kids have both changed tremendously since grandma's last visit at Christmastime. We're hoping to do some shopping, swimming, and maybe even sneak in a date night.

What are your spring break plans?

Confessions of a slacker mom

My kitchen floor is dirty. And I don't plan on cleaning it anytime soon.

Clive donned pajamas and Chloe wore her princess dress the entire day. And I didn't even brush her hair once.

Today we did almost nothing. Though the sun was shining brilliantly the thermometer never got up past 40 degrees. Too chilly to play outside or take a walk. So, we hunkered down and bounced off the walls (correction: the kids bounced and I just sat and observed in envy) all day long.

By the end of the day, I was TIRED of being a mom. The kids didn't nap well (probably because they didn't run off enough energy) and my thyroiditis was sapping me. The golden napping overlap hour did not happen so mommy didn't get a break. Wah! Instead I sat on the kitchen floor with Clive and let him eat his weight in rice cakes.

As soon as Matt walked in the door I passed off the parenting baton and took a much-needed nap while he conducted dinnertime.

I admit my enthusiasm for all-things-mommy waxes and wanes but today it was at a rare low. I got tired of meeting everyone's needs and exerting much energy to maintain a level of expected tidiness. Anyone else been there?

After a nap and some buttery popcorn I'm feeling much better. Thank you Jesus for my dear capable husband and for the grace to get out of a mommy slump!

(attractive picture courtesy of Chloe Horn)

Moisturizing question

This weekend I hit CVS and picked up some marked down moisturizer. I was pumped! It was marked down to $1.37 and I had a $1 off coupon. Woo-hoo!

Of course, it wasn't until after I got home and showed off all my purchases to Matt (my ritual after CVS so I can bask in pride at all my incredible deals) that I realized the moisturizer is actually a self-tanning lotion. How in the world could I have missed that?!? Sticker daze I guess. Thankfully I only wasted 37 measly cents.

Which leads me to my question . . . what moisturizing lotion/product do you use? I've tried several different lotions. I usually pick up something cheap from the drug store and it lasts me forever because I only moisturize my eye and neck area right before bed. I KNOW I need to moisturize daily and apply something with sunscreen.

What do you use? And how often do you apply it?

The Promise of the Weekend

It's almost the end of the work-week and as usual the weekend possibilities seem endless to me.

About this time every week I start day-dreaming about the weekend potentiality. Ooh, I think to myself, I could put in some extra hours working online or maybe I can finally start sewing that dress I cut out for Chloe. Maybe the weather will be warm enough for a quick zoo trip or a walk to a nearby park. The possibilities are endless! :)

Since Sundays are full of church-type activity, we generally keep our Saturdays free and open schedule-wise. We often start with an extra special Saturday morning breakfast of some sort. Then we either do a family activity or I take the kiddos to do something out-of-the-ordinary and give Matt some quiet at-home writing time.

Whatever you end up doing, I hope you and your family have a super enjoyable weekend!

Mommy Mush Brain

Anyone else suffer from mommy mush brain?

I'm convinced that my regular habits of multi-tasking are affecting my overall neuron fire-power.

But that doesn't mean I'm about to stop multi-tasking. Besides making me feel efficient and goal-oriented, multi-tasking enables me to start several tasks during the precious golden moments of overlapping naptime. This time is too precious to waste doing just one task!

In fact, right now I'm not only updating my blog, I'm posting an online test, cooking a ginormous pot of rice, monitoring two email accounts, making a list of questions to ask an instructor, editing my google tasks list, and drinking coffee. Don't ask me how many tabs and windows I currently have open! :) What are you doing right now?

More and more studies are confirming my hunch about the dangers of multi-tasking. If you've got some time, here are a few interesting articles on the subject of multi-tasking (NY Times and NPR). Turns out though I think I'm being more productive the more tasks I juggle, I'm not. The human brain can only fully focus on 1-3 things at a time. Instead I'm causing my brain to just switch rapidly between tasks and losing focus each time I switch. Oopsies. No wonder my natural flow of conversation topics jumps around like an espresso guzzling jackrabbit.

I should amend my multi-tasking ways but even after skimming these articles I'm not sure I'm prepared to make any huge changes. About the only thing I've done thus far is to eliminate listening to music while I work on the computer. Way too distracting.

Have any tips for this unfocused brain of mine?

Winter insanity

Between runny noses, energetic kiddos, and frigid outdoor temperatures in our household we have come to a consensus . . . WINTER SHOULD BE OVER BY NOW!

Am I the only mom who comes dangerously close to insanity during these waning winter months?

Chloe and Clive have both had on-off colds the last 10 days and it's kept us at home more than usual. Lately I've been noticing how desperately my kids need to expend their energy and how easily they can become bored with the same old sights and sounds of home.

Yesterday I made concerted efforts to do some creative and fun activities to fend off the impending insanity factor. We did bubbles twice (giant bubble wands are magical! The big huge ones that look like sheathed swords, know which ones I mean?), made winter suncatchers, played elefun several times (boy, did Clive dig that game!), colored with chalk on our basement floor, and generally destroyed every room we played in.

Still, 5:00 p.m. did not come soon enough! (And Matt came home later than usual so it was more like 5:40 p.m.) Part of that is because on these "at home" days Chloe just doesn't get tired enough for a nap so I don't get a child-free break time. And I need a child-free break. Even from my precious and adorable little Chloe.

Chloe's tummy is now a bit uneasy and she got sick this afternoon. I feel for her, she's a pitiful whiny little sickie right now. But it means another day of quarantine at home tomorrow. The forecast looks to be a promising 36 so we might brave the elements and take a walk. That always helps the day go by faster. (Especially if we make a stop at Dairy Queen . . . Ice cream is comforting to me regardless of the weather.)

Anyone have any creative suggestions for fending off the winter crazies?