adventures in babysitting...

I am constantly amazed and appalled by my children. They are such amazing little beings but they have the uncanny ability to go from 0-brat in 1.5 seconds. This summer has entailed an interesting change in my kiddos’ dynamic due to addition of CiCi. She is 6 and a kindergarten classmate to EmBea. The three of them get on pretty well but there are the inevitable personality/emotional/I’m 6 & your 4/we’re both 6 and moody clashes.

I often times wonder if I am too straight forward in my parenting tactics. If I am it is too late to turn back now. I am that mom who simply tells it like it is. Both of my kids are used to this. EmBea is on the gifted track and it is best not to sugar coat anything with her since she’ll just bug you until she gets it. The she says, matter-of-factly, “I get that.” CB is 4 and he can take things one of two ways; screaming crying fit mode or the classic sad sack “okay mom”. CiCi has been known to look at me cross eyed and sideways.

These are the things I can’t and won’t tolerate;

• Rudeness in any form or fashion. This includes face making and snarky remarks. 4 & 6 year olds have a surprisingly wide array of snarky remarks.
• Hitting is NEVER EVER ok.
• Whining. Okay so I tolerate it somewhat but I really wish I didn’t have to.
• Lying. I have a built in lie detector, which always amazes the child telling the lie, which I utilize often.
• Refusing to eat something “because I don’t like it”. The rule in this house is that you try it & if you still don’t like it then at least you tried it. This one works surprisingly well with picky CiCi and CB. (One bite often times leads to eating the whole meal before they realize they have eaten it.)

Those are the basics. There will always be that unexpected mediation that you play off the cuff but those are few and far between. Being in charge of a child who is not my own definitely gives me more patience. I am learning when to let something go and when to step in.

One of the other issues that I deal with is Brain Food. I am blessed with two wonderfully articulate and bright children. EmBea, as stated above, is gifted, so I have to make sure I am keeping her challenged while matching the learning level of the other two. Stimulation via arts and crafts is excellent. One of my favorite things to do is grab the laptop and pick a documentary on Netflix. Then I will coordinate an art project around the theme of the documentary. It works surprisingly well and the kids love it.

We also have plenty of outings. Kids go stir crazy too. Stir crazy kids + stir crazy mami = one bad day. I try to mix it up with the zoo, aquarium, library, parks. This is the usual rigmarole and they are always pleasantly surprised. I think the key thing to remember is that kids just want to have fun. They don’t want to be in trouble. I have to remind myself of that pretty much daily, but when I do the results are splendiferous.

Lest you think this post makes me sound like a saint…I have my bad days too. Yesterday I let forth a string of expletives that no child ears should hear. In my defense that fucking asshole driver in the big truck ran the stop sign and I had kids in the car!! I already let CiCi’s mom know, you know just in case. I have days were the “mommy voice” sounds more like a mommy yell and days when I just plain stick them in front of a movie with a bowl of popcorn. That’s okay too. I think I am doing a darn fine job raising interesting little kids and solidifying a childhood babysitter memory for another. I had an amazing babysitter when I was 6 so if I am in any way emulating her then I am on the right track.

PLGC- babysitters and the kids they care for

Family Picture...rare

because somebody has to hold the camera...

us at the Metamusings Art Opening Reception to
See the artwork Of RS at The Talking Fountain in the "Burque!

PLGC- ((Peace, Love and Green Chile))- Art Lovers, Artists and Dred-locked Peeps in NM.

a day in the life...

So far, despite the previous posted finger mishap, the week has gone surprisingly well. I even managed to plan five meals out and shop within 10 bucks of my allotted budget, hooray me! So what are we having for this weeks nosh?

Last night was... Pork Chops (pan fried), duchess potatoes and broccoli & cauliflower florets in butter. The duchess potatoes (recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook) turned out delish!

Tonight I am trying a crock pot recipe called 3 beans & Sausage. It has red kidney beans, black beans and great northern beans with smoked sausage. This will be served over wild grain rice with corn cakes.

the rest of the week will play it by ear with these dishes;

• Pulled BBQ Chicken sandwiches with pomme frites (ok just french fries).
  
• Spaghetti Pie, a family fave, but I am substituting whole grain whole wheat noodles. This will be served with garlic toast.
• What week would be complete without Pizza? It is a must in the Novus house. Italian Sausage & Pineapple (the grown ups are throwing on some green chile too).

Can't wait for leftover night :)

I even managed to sqeeze in some crafting with the kids. They each made grandma a fimo picture fram with a pic of themselves. See the completed project below. I think it is starting to sink in that we won't be seeing grandma everyday come September. I really want them to enjoy this time with family because the adventure is just around the corner. If you have any moving tips to lessen the stress on the kiddos feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email.

CB's soccer '09 pic in his handmade fimo frame.


EmBea's soccer '09 pic in her handmade fimo frame.

Tonight is looking promising. We are going to an art opening reception to see a friends work. Any outing with art and friends is sure to be a winner. We also have friends in town from Sacremento. I can't wait to meet their scrumdidlyumptious daughter! Life seems to be moving right along and quite nicely I must add. For added kicks I have thrown in the picture of my kids dancing crazily to the JoJo's Circus theme song. Yes it's supposed to be blurry they were really rocking it out.

"hey hey it's JoJo's Circus" (p.s. this link is in Italian)

PLGC- pizza lovers

it's Bad and I don't mean MJ folks...

"It's bad, like bad badbadbadbadbad, might need stitches but think I cut it off so stitches won't work bad." that is pretty much an exact quote.

It started as a nice quiet marinated sesame crusted roast. I decided to add carrots and didn't even get to the potatoes. The knife was a new addition, very sharp. I looked away, being reckless and carrot slipped... There goes the tip of my left index finger and above said quote is born.

Luckily my mom is trained for this sort of thing and I went around with the I'm #1 finger for a few hours. (say it with me, I'm #1 I'm #1 I'm #1) here is the milder version which held its own turmoil that culminated in my mom telling me to "sit your ass down". I am 34 years old and that shit still works.

I'm #1 and I sliced the tip of my finger off.

...needless to say there was a lot of blood and I am officially a wuss. On a lighter note check out this hand puppet my daughter (the progeny of two creative entrepreneurs, aka artists) made.

hangin' wit my dawg...

PLGC- fellow dumb asses of the world

the popo post...

Well hello there, did you miss me? It was nice to take a small hiatus from the blogosphere but I did miss you internet. Turns out that I have a slight addiction to this whole writing thing. I suffered some sleep related anxiety because I kept thinking I was forgetting to do something. So here I am at the usual hour typing away.

It has been an uneventful few days with some cold beer and fireworks thrown in for good measure. I hope that you and yours had a dazzling 4th. I was a bit cheap on the firework front but the neighbor spent a bundle and made up for my lack. It was kind of funny watching how nervous they got whenever a car turned onto our street. I believe his exact quote was "Oh shit is that the popo?" Nice!

The stand that I got our works from was run by this really nice MMA fighter who was helping his dad survive the struggling WY economy. He comes to the Burque every year to support his fighting with the cash he makes from fireworks sales. Ahh, the American dream. He did ask me if I lived in the city. This made me wonder if he would have sold me something that had me saying "Oh shit is that the popo?" Sorry folks couldn't resist using the word popo as many times as possible in this post. All in all it was a nice 4th and I got to educate the kiddos on the declaration of independence by reading them an essay I found on Kaboose.

Just finished watching Hitchcock's To Catch a Theif, loved it! I can't resist Cary Grant though, ever. Mix in Grace Kelly and the French Riviera, ooh la la. I love that CS enjoys a classic movie as much as I do. The witty dialogue had us both cracking up and the clothes were amazing! If you enjoy Hitchcock and haven't had the opportunity to see it you should definitley check it out. Seriously made me want to watch The Trouble with Harry again. Hitchcock has a delightfully dark sense of humor.

Other occurrences of merit this week... My son's appropriate use of the words dumbass and fuckers. (I swear I try to watch my mouth but it is already too late) Besides he tells me he's old enough to listen to grown up words. It's the ease at which he uses them that has me slightly troubled. I hope that he can refrain at my husband's grandfather's 90th this summer. EB has finished over 200+ hours of patching since she was first diagnosed with Amblyopia. I am expecting good news at her next Opthamologist visit on the 20th. I am so proud of my little patching princess.

Well it has been real dear internet, photos soon.

PLGC (Peace, Love & Green Chile) -internet