Who Really Gets Punished?

I have to admit that when it comes to our children, I tend to lead. I suppose it makes a lot of sense because I have the experience, I read "the books" and well, I am good at it. The husband follows my lead. I have never really pushed; he has seen the fruits of our labor, so to speak, and continues to let me lead. Every now and again we come to a crossroads. This happened a few days ago. I heard him telling the boys, after seeing the destruction in the playroom, "If you mess up this room again like this, I'll close the door, put a lock on it, and you won't be able to play in here for a day!" I laughed. Out loud. He did not like this. Honestly, I really couldn't help it. It just came out and I couldn't stop it.

Today, after finding a broken toy bin amongst the carnage of toys and games in the playroom, I invoked the call of the husband and closed the playroom door. I announced, "The playroom is closed for the entire day...see you tomorrow!" The husband said, "See, that's MY idea!" and smiled. He nodded to himself as he walked on to get coffee.

Three hours later, he calls from the other room, "How's the 'no playroom' thing working out?" I shot him The Look.

I knew what would happen when idle hands are left to play. I knew this because I'm with them -All. Day. Long. I don't know if he thought they'd sit on the floor, sad and forlorn all day, lamenting about their actions and the dearly missed toys. I love my husband dearly. He is, however, a product of the old school "children should be seen and not heard" train of thought. He thought that "those kids will learn a lesson!" by having their toys unavailable. Mind you, this might, and I stress might, have worked with children who care about their toys. Our boys don't have a favorite anything. They don't really form connections to objects (besides their stuffed doggy's). Instead, our boys decided to make a nuisance of themselves. They climbed all over their daddy, wanting attention. They tantrumed and pouted and whined and cried when they didn't get the attention they wanted. They were underfoot at every possible step. I could see the tension building in the husband's face and I told him to go to work early if needed. In his mind, if children can destroy a playroom, they should be able to pick it up without any help or encouragement. Ha!

I called back to him, "It was YOUR idea!"...

Here's to another wonderful New Year!

Fat, fat, fat, fat, fat.

I cooked for days and now it's all over. The Breakfast Casserole from Alice at Savory Sweet Life turned out fabulous. So didn't the Blueberry Coffee Cake. And the Guinness Stout Ginger Cake, although my husband equated it with Boston Brown Bread -from a can. I also made a large spiral ham, roasted brussel sprouts and mashed 'taters with sour cream and garlic. My parents brought over a turkey, stuffing and butternut squash. Everything was delightful.

I ate all day. Literally. ALL. DAY.

The two-year-old decided that it was a candy-cane-free-for-all. He ate 1/2 the candy canes on the tree (his brother ate the rest). I'm not sure how many candy canes they actually ate because I found half-eaten canes littered all over the house...and on the bottom of my socks. Gross. In addition to candy canes, the delightfully aggressive two-year-old ate cranberry sauce and later on, some whipped cream. I'm pretty sure he might have eaten a brussel sprout or two, but that's it. Oh, Christmas!

The four-year-old ate sausage and candy canes. Not together, but like it would even matter.

I forgot about the Pez. They ate Pez. And the candy poop that came out of these musical animals that poop candy when you press on their heads. Seriously. Ice cream! I forgot about the dehydrated astronaut ice cream. I'm really surprised they didn't throw up. I wanted to...looking at their sticky hands and faces.

I didn't throw up. Instead, I loved their excitement and remembered eating a box of Life Savers (the kind in Christmas book format), candy canes and the like every Christmas. And the correlation made me smile.

Christmas, Christmas

This year we are having my family and my husband's family over for Christmas breakfast. Since having three children trekking to the relatives on Christmas morning is more of a hassle than I like. This is the first year my in-laws will be coming over. Alice over at Savory Sweet Life posted a couple of delicious sounding items that I will be trying out. The breakfast casserole will be prepared the night before - such a load off preparing breakfast for 6 additional people on Christmas morning! I'm also going to be making the blueberry coffee cake. Luckily, both the casserole and the coffee cake need be baked at 350 degrees for one hour. I can pop them both in the oven at the same time. I'll throw some bacon and sausage on the griddle and walah! A lovely breakfast for all. Of course, I'll have fresh fruit. Hmmm. Maybe some cantaloupe, blueberries, honeydew...and strawberries - if I can find some good ones.
And can I just say that I paid 2.99lb for grapes the other day. I did not pay attention to the price and just let my kid plop them into the cart. Last time that happens! Sorry for the non sequitur...talking about fruit made me think of that.

Here is a picture of our breakfast buffet. Not a super flattering picture, but it works. Well, sort of.

Masculine Aprons

We do a lot of cooking together, my boys and I. We end up washing a whole lot of batter and egg covered clothing each week. I decided aprons would be a good way to go. I didn't want to put my boys in floral aprons, so I decided to make my own. I let Eli pick out the pattern...skulls with swords in their mouths. I added a pocket...not that they'll be really keeping anything in there, but who knows... These aprons also triple as capes and nifty headwear... um, really joking about the headwear, but if they are pretending to be pirates, bandanas can be worn a la Jack Sparrow. We haven't done this, but I am thinking about attaching these to the chairs, like at the right, and putting their napkins in them. I made the boys Clone Trooper cloth napkins, a few months ago, out of a set of curtains we never used. The pocket in the apron is also big enough to keep some of their personal drawing supplies. Maybe I'll make some chair covers or attachments separate from the aprons specifically for keeping their stuff in...

TodaysMama Giveaway

There are some great blogs and sites out there with a ton of giveaway chances. I found this one today and I am absolutely blown away...$3800 worth of stuff. I didn't know that I wanted a bike until I saw this one. Oh my. I can see myself biking to the grocery store in the spring, and not feeling like I'm being judged..."she's riding a bike, she must have lost her license...DUI probably". No one around this little central Massachusetts town rides a bike unless they are in full bike gear or because they do not have the means to drive.

Mama’s Holiday Wish List MemeTodaysMama and Provo Craft are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What 5 items are on your holiday wish list this year? Kindle, Peacoat, boots, kitchen cabinets and moccassins...yes. You heard me right...moccassins. *sigh*

2. What is your favorite handmade gift you have received? A sweater and hat set when i was 7.

3. What handmade gift have you always wanted to tackle? Knitting anything. I can't knit.

4. What was the best Christmas gift you received as a child? I honestly can't remember...

5. What items are on your kid’s wish list this year? Bakugan, microphone, Pokemon, Digimon. Thank you, Japan.

6. What is your favorite holiday food? Pumpkin pie, cranberry tart and homemade cranberry sauce.

7. What will you be hand-crafting for the holidays? Christmas cards, Our new Christmas stockings, a baby jingle bell toy, felt books for the boys and Dinner!

8. What is your favorite holiday movie? A Christmas Story, hands down.

9. Favorite holiday song? Silent Night and Little Drummer Boy tie it.

10. Favorite holiday pastime? Driving around and looking at Christmas lights.

We might wash our hands a little more...

There's nothing like a smack in the face to get you back into a groove. Or a science experiment.

We did the old moldy bread experiment. I wanted to show my kids how gross our hands are and the importance of handwashing.

I told Eli to grab a slice of bread and rub his grubby little hands all over it. He had been playing outside with other kids. He also used the bathroom and did not wash afterwards.

I got the other slice of bread out of the bag with tongs and placed it into a plastic bag. Eli put the grubby bread into another bag.

We squirted a little bit of water into the bags, then sealed them. This is what appeared a week later...


The green mold I've seen before. What in the world is the yellow mold?! In person, it looks similar to a fried egg - white around it with yellow in the middle. And the yellow is raised. Gross. We wash our hands almost obsessively now. My kids weren't grossed out. I doubt they had any idea, even after I explained it. I, on the other hand, wanted to take a shower.