To Braving Wet and Cold

If you're looking for a little family bonding time in this busy, buzzy electronic world, you have to be brave enough to turn off everything to get it. Turn the computer, cell phone, television, ipods, digital cameras...ad infinitum off. That's exactly what I did today. It's amazing what different creative activity kids can come up with without electronic distraction.

Of course, my house was in chaos, but it's all in the name of fun.

That's my DS3 on the above, with his new hair-cut, self-administered. Pay close attention to the hairline. :) Hover over the pictures to see the caption.

I am sure it's been discovered before. In my household, I have such intelligent and precocious kids, they somehow get around me. I have rules for how long they have to be on the computer, and only when they've read and practiced their piano lessons. If you're too young for a piano lessons, then only if you've read as long as you want to be on the computer.

DS1 flashes his dimples at me, and before I know it, he's vegging in front of the screen. He does earn it, but his little brothers take advantage of the computer being "open" and jump aboard.


DS2 at five years old can remember key-strokes for password up to 8 digits. I kid you not. He sees you logging in your password, and he's interested in doing the same, he'll remember it. I find it amazing as he doesn't read it. So off he goes and play when my attention is engage somewhere. Like when I was so caught up reading my sexy book for example. That's good for at least an hour before I would take a breather.

My daughter is not much into computer. She likes it, but she's just as happy with books as with computer. If she wanted to play she usually asks me for permission. Once she's on, her internal chronometer goes awry.

Today, or should I say, 5 hours ago, I had enough. D and I went out and went skating with all the kids. Actually, the kids skated, while we walked. It wasn't so cold, but it was drizzling hard enough to get the trails wet.

DS2 was having a hard time controlling his skates, we finally put him in the stroller. He can't walk, no shoes. It was funny when they were slipping around the little wooden bridge. Think spreadeagled legs, arms akimbo. Even the older kids went splat on the ground. They got their balance not long after that and we're skating like pros after.

My baby was getting cold in his stroller, so I put him in a sling and zipped him inside my jacket. He loved it so much, he fell asleep right away and stayed asleep until we're done. It was like being pregnant again, except I am more worried about waking him up. His allergic hives have gone away, his skin's clear today.

DS2 was walking, keeping abreast of his big brother on skates. Between keeping an eye on the kids and issuing an occasional grunt for the kids, D and I have wonderful time talking.

We must have walked and meandered over 4 miles following a river trail. We'll probably get runny noses from the being drizzled, but it was worth it!

SPECIAL NOTE:
I want to wish my Lil Bro and Momsquared a happy anniversary. Actually, they're married four years two days ago. D and I played matchmaker. Now, they have three wonderful kids, and one on the way, probably mid next year.

Happy Anniversary!

Feels Deja Vu All Over Again

Around noon today, the kids were all quiet and content to either read, play some computer games, or just playing with a toy. I feel great because my floors are clean.

It's specially great because it's like a personal accomplishment. I. Did. It. Myself. I could have hired my usual cleaning lady to do it for me, but the last one did me in so bad, I haven't recovered yet. I felt like my personal space and privacy has been thoroughly raped violated.

My darling husband took the three older kids with him this morning. They're all dressed up and looking beautiful. I, on the other hand, felt like an absolute crap. My baby had marathon cough last night, stuffy nose, and was generally cranky. Not to mentioned I was wearing eu-de-barf-n-snot. Not mine, the baby.

Did I also mentioned that my baby took an Anti-Histamine and end up with hives? Yep. Lovely!

So, I have my two younger kids at home all; morning. DS3 was in fine form. He's singing and was literally skipping around the house with a song under his breath. That was perfectly fine with me. Since I can't really do much of anything, I decided to veg out on my couch with a book and a baby. I am currently reading THE SHERBROOKE BRIDE by Catherine Coulter aka, the book that I can find on the spot I was stuck in. Great book. Great sex scenes. Who knows they can be so playful care-free in 1803? Take for example:

...Douglas went mad. His hands were all over her, everywhere he could reach, and he was pleased she was small and that his hands spanned her belly and at the same time his fingers were delving through the dark red hair that covered her woman's mound and she was wet ...His tongue was hot and wet and all she could think of was "Oh my God, something is going to happen to me!"...and she shuddered and she cried out...

Well, it does make for a nice reading between drying barfs and wiping runny nose.

When my baby finally slept, I was a whirling dervish with the laundry, the floors and the beds. Ninety minutes later, I had washed two floors, and had a nice shower. So when my DH and kids came home, I was all nice and pleasant. It's not so much that I am unpleasant when my floors gets sticky (and they're bound to get sticky with 5 kids in the house, all juice-addict!). I just get bent out of shape. It's my inner OCD. Not that I have OCD, but if I have, it will be manifesting on my floors. I come from a long line of women who washed their floors regularly.

The only problem with this lineage is that those other women in my family had household help galore to do their bidding. Or more like Household staff.

When DH suggest movie, I was out of the house and into the car before he could finish the sentence. Yeah, I have my baby with me. He's young enough to sleep through action films.

At the movie, DH and I get to hold hands and enjoy just being together. I had to stand and dance my baby five times before he went to sleep. DH would have done it, but DS4 prefers me. The movie date was great! Denzel Washington was fantastic to watch in Deja Vu.

Later on, DH was explaining concepts of time travel which I never got. I'd have to ask him to post it. It was neat except I get bogged down on one detail and can't get past it.

MY PHOTO HUNT VOL. 9 - RED

I would like to start this photo hunt with a poem my daughter wrote when she was in 1st grade. This picture below is from this summer's piano recital. I like red, red sleeps on my bed. He's sleepy, he's dreepy, and he's not going to get off. When it is my bedtime red pushes me off. So red, red it's all I can see. Red nose, red eyes, and also red feet. "Red, Red" is all he can say. I'd like to include DS3's stripy-red shirt. The hair's all improved now. He gave himself a hair-cut. I really like his hair.