Mom Your Ride

Check out the video clip to the left of my blog! It is a hoot! How to "Mom" your ride. There is a show on some station called How to Pimp Your Ride. They put on curb feelers and gaudy decorations. I've never really seen it, but I like the Mom Your Ride!

Another Power Shower Day

Well, the Princess is off to school, the Prince got up at 6:00AM just like his sister. The Knight was up by 7:00 again. It is an early start to the day - that means another power-shower for this MomOf3. Power Shower = jump in, wash your hair, soap up as much as you can, rinse, and try to be out before the Prince and the Knight break anything (max. 5 minutes). Yawn! Last night was kind of fun. We made a family trip to Costco. (Exciting, I know!) We needed some staple household items (diapers and milk) and we were also ready to get out of the house for a while. It is web-worm time outside, and because I am not partial to having little worms falling on my hair from the sky, I vetoed playing out in the back. This only lasts for a little while. So, off to Costco we went... The Prince and the Princess had some major energy to burn. They took turns spinning and dancing through the isles of Costco. I don't mind them doing this as long as there are not other people around. I don't care that people see my kids dance, but I do care when my little dancers run into other people and/or their carts. But we got in and out of Costco in roughly an hour without taking out any other shoppers or their carts. Not too bad for shopping with three kids. Costco has some neat stuff! It is where we got our playset for the back yard two years ago - right around this time. The Knight was still a newborn, the Prince was 1 1/2 and the Princess was 3 1/2. It took DadOf3 about a week to get the thing put up, but it has been well worth it. It is our own little back yard park. (See pictures in this post.) We have a park about 1/2 mile away from our house as well - variety is the spice of life! We arrived home from Costco, and DadOf3 brought in our haul while I got the kids through the potty, bathed the Princess for school the next day, and put them all to bed - all in 15 minutes! I was pretty proud of that! OK, it helped that the kids were tired and it was 1/2 hour past bedtime - sometimes that works against me though! More later!

The Prince and the Knight

After 2 hours, the laundry that should have been done yesterday is now done. I have to say that the Prince and the Knight helped me out with this little task. Even though the Prince got up at 6:00AM and the Knight got up at 7:00AM, they still entertained each other long enough for me to get something done. It always feels strange to have all of the laundry done. I may have to wash sheets or towels again to feel better! The Prince, the Knight, the Princess, and I are starting on our rewards chart I am implementing this summer. I admit it, I stole the idea from Princess's Kindergarten teacher. I think I talked about it before. The categories are SUPER STAR, STAR, OOPS, and CHILL OUT. At the Princess's suggestion, we added a SUPER DUPER STAR. For the remainder of the school year, I told Morgan that if she comes home from school as a SUPER STAR, she can jump up to SUPER STAR on our chart too. Everyone starts the day on STAR. I am going to do my best to be consistant with this. I am going to braindump some rules later. DadOf3 is going to be home any minute to relieve me so I can head to a doctor's appointment. Yea...

Another rainy day

It would sure be nice if the sun would come out. I am not really an outside kind of person but my kids are. I would like to get them outside to play. It is Tuesday and it has been raining since Sunday afternoon. We need the rain and it will come in handy later when it get so hot in the summer but for now, the Prince, the Knight and I are going a bit stir-crazy.

One errand that I am going to do today is to head to the mall to pick up some pictures that I had taken when my sister and her famly were in town. I added the picture to this posting. Cousin turned 5 years old in February. He and the Princess think that they are hot stuff because they are both 5 years old. The Princess is ready to remind Cousin that she is actually 5 1/2 years old. Cousin worships the ground that the Princess walks on. While this is nice for the Princess, it is a bit annoying to the Prince and the Knight. They can sometimes hold their own when it is just the Princess fending for herself, but when Cousin joins in on the Princess's side, they usually win either by winning the agrument or by stomping off to the Princess's room and slamming the door. Miss Attitude comes out when Cousin is here. But they love each other and they are getting to know each other better and better each and every time they visit here or we visit there. I keep hoping that the Prince and Cousin will bond. They are only 1 1/2 years apart in age so there is potential for them to become good friends. In any event, don't they all look cute in this picture? I picked up the Princess's dress at TuesdayMornings when DadOf3's mom and dad (Grandma and Papa) were in town. It is fun to buy dresses for my pretty little princess!

The Princess Looses Tooth Number 5!

The Princess came home with a surprise on Friday! She lost one of her top front teeth! What a big girl! This MomOf3 had been trying to get this tooth out for the last several days. Whenever it started to bleed, the Princess was no longer interested in pulling on it anymore. She ended up pulling out the tooth herself at school. She talked with one of her little friends on the bus on the way home and her friend told her to walk down the stairs of bus with her lips closed and then when she saw me to smile as big as she could. She did just that! How exciting! The Tooth Fairy ended up coming that night and was quite good to her, so she thought. She received $1 in quarters and some stickers. I heard her talking to the Prince on the way downstairs the next morning. She told the Prince that she was not happy about how the Tooth Fairy had left her "boy" stickers. The stickers were of The Incredibles. I guess the Tooth Fairy better get things straight! She didn't make that comment to me though. It is pretty amazing how losing one of the big front teethe makes this MomOf3 realize how fast her little Princess is growing up! She is almost done with her first year of Kindergarten. Time does fly! Soon it will be the Prince and the Knight.

Weekend Update

We had an OK weekend. Saturday was spent vegging and catching up on some much needed rest. Sunday we skipped church with the vow to be better and attend the following two Sundays to celebrate Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. MomOf3 needs to get her act together and start planning for Easter here at home. Sunday was a bit more productive, DadOf3, MomOf3, the Princess, Prince, and the Knight all headed out to WalleyWorld after our traditional Sunday lunch of pizza. All three kids were so excited to go to Wal-mart. Exciting times for our household! The Princess and I took off from the boys to go visit the craft area of Wal-mart. We found a latch-hook, some plaster magnets to paint, and a little peg board game to decorate a little peg board shoe, a little peg-board horse, and a little peg board purse. They boys just rolled their eyes, but what do they know anyway? We gals have to have our fun. When we got home. DadOf3 became really crabby after looking at the lawn, so MomOf3 volunteered to help him do Spring lawn maintenance. This included raking, using the leaf blower (sucker) to bag the leaves, and mow. This does not sounds like 3 1/2 hours worth of work for two people but it was. I was pooped when all was said and done. DadOf3 felt better about the lawn though so it was for a good cause.

TGIF

Friday at last! Thank goodness! We are ready for a nice, long weekend around here. The Prince, the Knight, and I have MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers) this morning. It is a nice break for me since they get to play with their friends at Moppetts from about 9:00 until noon. I get some adult face time and they get to play. A win-win situation if I have ever seen one. The Prince has been up for almost 2 hours, but I need to go and wake up the Knight so I can feed him before we leave for MOPS. More later!

Missing the BreadWinner

This blog has been sorely lacking in stories about the BreadWinner, MomOf3's hubby of almost 7 years. We are missing him today because normally, he comes home for lunch and then is home for the night around 5:30. Today however, was oil change day for the van so DadOf3 (I like this name better) took the van into the show. With no transportion, he was not home for lunch. Since he has to pick up the van from way far away, he will not grace us with his presence until after 6:30. With the Princess's shift to Miss Attitude today this MomOf3 is looking forward to some reinforcements. That and MomOf3 misses DadOf3.

Do not negotiate with Terrorists

So much for my peaceful afternoon. The mystery is solved, the Princess and the Prince were being quiet because they were being naughty. I am partly to blame because I did not get their Princess and Buzz Lightyear suitcases put up after our last trip home to Iowa. They commandeered said suitcases and filled them up with toys. Now, we have a known rule in this house that the suitcases are not toys. I know this, the kids know this, and that should be the end of the story. Not today. They came down the stairs with sheepish grins lugging their luggage behind them. I stopped them at the bottom of the stairs, reminded them of the "suitcases are not toys" rule and asked them to go upstairs. Again, in a perfect world, this should have been the end of the story, but my Princess turned into Miss Attitude and promptly started listing the reasons why she was not going to listen to me. "I know more than you because Ms. Teacher taught me lots of stuff. I am smarter than you Mommy and know everything and you know nothing." and on and on and on. Finally, I stepped over the gate at the bottom of the stairs and took her suitcase upstairs. It was filled with toys, so I unzipped it and dumped then on the bed. Then she HIT me. She hit me. She hit me. ... I didn't raise my children to hit me or talk to me the way that she talked to me. She is currently on the stairs telling me that she will not take her time out and I am trying the SuperNanny technique of just taking her back to her room without talking to her. She is throwing a major fit. Miss Attitude indeed.

Wow - it is quiet in here!

Wow! The Princess returned home from school around 3:00. The Prince and the Knight promptly woke up from their respective naps when we opened the front door. And yet, it is still quiet in here. Is this some sort of alternate universe? Where are my loud kids who like to scream and beg for candy and whine when I say no? Where is my two year old who has a constant need to cuddle....with me....in the rocking chair....with Bubba...NOW? To answer my own questions, the Princess and the Prince are quietly playing upstairs. I should probably be a bit concerned about this, but I know the hidden truth that Kindergarteners are also big tattle tales. If anything strange is going on upstairs, I will hear about it momentarily. The Knight is watching, what else?, Chicken Little. Hey! If it keeps him happy for a little while, sign me up. Some days my sanity gets sorely tested. If I get a little respite courtesy of a Little Chicken, I am going to take it.

The depths of dispair

There are few more traumatic days in our house than when it is Bubba washing day. All three of my kids are blanket babies. They each have a special blanket, they each love their special blanket, and they each need to know where their special blanket is at all times. Even if the blankets' locations are known, to make my kids happy, these blankets must also be easily accessable to them. Enter Blanket (Bubba) Washing Day. My kids are pretty rough on their Bubbas. The Knight especially likes to chew on his Bubba. This is fine I guess, but it sure makes for a stinky blanket after a few days. So today after catching a whiff of the Kinght's bubba, I distracted him and kidnapped the Bubba. It was not until Bubba was 1/2 way through the wash cycle that the Knight remembered Bubba and wanted him - NOW. The Prince apparently was not on my side today because he happily volunteered the Knight's Bubba's location. Well, the Knight threw a fit. He cried, he begged, he pleaded, and in the end he started hitting me to get his Bubba back. Well, after placating him with a Dora the Explorer, The Knight and his Bubba were reunited. I wish I could say that the Prince handles his Bubba getting washed better than the Knight, but that is just not the case. Sigh. At least the Bubbas are clean for now.

The Knight

My 2 year old, the Knight, is a funny kid. His newest thing is to do something naughty and then run away and slap his hands over his eyes. His logic is if he cannot see me, I cannot see him. What a riot. I kind of play into this and only pick him up after he uncovers his eyes. The Knight has also developed preferences in the last month or so. He loves Dora and especially "Chicken Wittle". That just cracks me up! The Princess decided a long time ago that she loved Ariel, and she was in fact Ariel this year for Halloween. The Prince decidedly loves Cars. Mator used to be his favorite, but now Lightning McQueen is the bomb. It is funny how three kids born of the same parents can be so very unique.

Waiting for the Princess

It is now 2:41 and I am waiting for the Princess to come home on the school bus. I am counting the days until I get her home all day long again. Summer will be fun. The Princess is an amazing girl. She has more than her share of attitude but I don't think that is all that bad. I actually wish I had more of her attitude some days. She puts up with NOTHING. It would be fun to be 5 again and to be able to be able to drop to the floor in full tantrum mode when someone didn't do something the way I told him too. My but she can be LOUD! The Prince is usually to cuprit who is guilty of not listening to her, but the Knight is coming into his own. The Knight usually is just happy to get some of the Princess's attention. The Princess should be in a good mood this afternoon. She only had one more sticker to earn for her behavior sticker sheet, so she should come home with a new little trinket from Teacher's treasure chest. Teacher has a neat system. The kids all start the day on STAR. If they are really good or really helpful, they move to SUPER STAR. If they are kind of naughty, they are moved to OOPS. If they are really naughty (this includes hitting, kicking, etc.) they move to CHILL OUT. I love it and hope to implement it this summer. Having three kids alone all day every day is going to be crazy. Luckily the BreadWinner will be home for the weekend. We love that Daddy!

Rainy Day

The Prince and the Knight are both upstairs. It is 1:00 and time for naps. The Princess is at school. It will be interesting to see how things change once the Princess is home for the summer. She and the Knight are my big sleepers. The Prince is a good napper but up at the butt crack of dawn, as the BreadWinner likes to say. The Princess will be 6 years old this summer though so the days for my mid-day break are numbered. I need to plan some fun activities for the Princess and the Prince who will be 4 years old this summer. It gets so god-awful hot down here that if we do not get outside in the wee hours of the morning (before 10:00) we don't get outside all day. It will be good to not have an infant to watch this year. The Knight is two years old now and he will actually sit in one place and play for a while as opposed to his one year old self who was here, there, and everywhere and wore his poor mother out! The BreadWinner is still at work. He called and said that some folks had brought chili in for their annualy chili cookoff. While pondering what bowl of Texas chili to try so as to not explode in the hours following, a security guard pointed out the chili he made. A little too late, he shared some of the secret ingredients. You should have come home for lunch, honey! But then when do you get a chance to eat caribou chili? This MomOfThree is happy with her toast and coffee for lunch.

My morning was filled with writing the Princess class newsletter. When I volunteered to be a room parent for the Princess's Kindergarten teacher, I had no idea that I was actually becoming a person assistant! It is a lot of work but it is also a lot of fun. Princess's teacher is going in for surgery next Monday. She is going to tell her class on Friday so I am going to try to prepare myself for some questions. Ever since traveling back home to Iowa in early March for my grandfather's funeral, the Princess has been obsessed with dying. Her comment yesterday was "When you are 91 you will die." Would't things be easier to explaine if that were true? Everyone would get a fair shot out of life and then have time to make plans for the end. I tried to put a positive twist on this and told her that some people actually make it past 100 years old and that the oldest person in the world is something like 125. That seemed to make her happy. I love my smart children but I wonder if I have all of the right answers for them. I guess we just make it up as we go along, huh?

Busy day

This was a very busy day for us, as is the norm when we pick the Princess up from school. We left the house around 2:15, a tad too early for a 5 minute drive when she gets out at 2:45. The boys and I waited inside the school. We picked her up so she could go to a Daisey Girl Scout meeting after school. That was about an hour more waiting for me and the boys. They did pretty well. The Prince likes to sit behind the wheel of our Honda Oddessey, affectionately named Otis. The Knight had fun sitting in the big kids' seats and talking up a storm. In about 6 more months I will have another little monkey who will be talking my leg off. Can I handle it?

Put To Shame

I have been put to shame by a stay at home dad who has been blogging for two years. Oh the stories I could tell if I could remember them! Now is the time to remember them, or at least to write them down. As the title says, I am a stay at home mom of not one, not two, but three beautiful, smart, frustrating, kind, trying, and altogether fun children. My oldest, Princess, is 5 1/2. My oldest son, the Prince, is 3 1/2. My youngest son, the Knight, is 2 years old. Yes, people have made varying comments about having kids so close in age. It is what we wanted. Although it has been trying at times, I think it will be well worth it when they are older. On to the stories....

This morning, March 19, 2007, was a crazy day, as they all are. I took the Prince and the Knight to the grocery store. I am not proud that I resorted to bribery but it worked. The the mere price of $5, I was able to bribe the Prince into being well behaved through the course of our shopping experience. He is a good boy but he does like to tease his brother.