Everyday Things

It is amazing how little every day things can make us so happy. Obviously I could be talking about stolen moments with your children or husband (which do make me very happy) , but actually I’m talking about things.  That probably makes me sound materialistic, but I mostly mean those little things. Like new socks. How awesome are new socks?! That can make my morning!  Or a blanket warm out of the dryer. There are so many little things that can really make our day, we all have them, and I bet a few of ours overlap. But how many of us sit down at our desk and think, “this is SO AWESOME!”?

This kid.

We had been searching for awhile for the perfect desk for his room and found it yesterday. We put it in his room, wiped it down and he spent the next hour “setting it up”. My Little Moo is a quirky kid, and I love that about him. He often gets excited about things that most of us overlook or take for granted.

And guess what, the desk came with extra prizes!

A used folder and half used legal pad that appears to have been bent. He didn’t care, he immediately ask for a pencil so he could write on his new pad of paper at his desk.

It  is even better  when those little things lead to memorable moments with our loved ones. So pay attention to those little things, let them make you happy and enjoy your day!

Some Days…

Some days just don’t start off right. What should have been a slow and relaxing start to the morning just didn’t start off slow or relaxed. Nothing major, just aggravating. Thank goodness Little Moo only has two more weeks of school left! I should know on such mornings there is no such thing as just doing something “real quick” successfully. I should know this, but do I listen to myself?

Ab-so-lutely not!

At a slow point in the morning I went out to move the sprinklers “real quick” and came back to this

Littlest Moo found the cupcakes left over from last night’s BBQ. And, you know, helped himself. I’d had enough this morning, but instead of yelling or getting angry I took a breath and said screw it, and went for my camera.

 

The damage had been done, so I let him eat his cupcake. How terrible would it be to yell, throw them out and no one got to enjoy a cupcake? Some days it is just not worth it, and it is best to just go with the flow. Our morning included an extra cupcake snack!

Enjoy your Monday like a delicious cupcake, attack it with excitement and have no regrets!

One for the Books

I waited a couple days to write this post. You know, so that I can look back and laugh. It took a couple days.

This post is about Mothers Day.

Since I always have to work on Sunday we celebrate Mothers and Fathers Day on the Saturday before.

I can go into the gory details. But I’ll give you an overview.  Mine started with Little Moo waking me sometime before 7am. Way before. He shoved a handmade gift in my face and said “Happy Mothers Day!” then asked to watch TV. Sadly we had been having a week long room cleaning standoff and he wasn’t allowed television until his room was cleaned. Any guesses on what this will mean for the day? Here’s a hint, he wasn’t happy about this consequence. And he let me know. All. Day. I was lucky enough to drop him and Littlest Moo off with Grammy for a few hours only to drag a zombie Zippercow around to local nurseries. Then have the kids shout at me some more, fight, not listen. Little Moo shouted at one point “Mothers Day is when moms are supposed to be nice to their kids!” At one point he threw a tantrum and slammed our slider door and managed to shatter the glass. Then yelled at me some more about his consequences. I cried (a couple times) that day. Sunday after work wasn’t much better. I can safely say the most pleasant time of the weekend was being at work.

It’s my own fault really. I thought that since things have been rough and I’ve had a lot  to deal with since Zippercow has been not well that maybe it might just be a little more special. But duh, he’s still not well so he didn’t really have the energy to pull off his usual magic (he’s usually really good at this sort of thing) let alone add that little something extra. I tried not to get my hopes up, but let’s be honest, I did.

Fortunately for my husband and boys, I know they love me. I know they appreciate me. And we can laugh about it now, the terrible mothers day. The post is not meant to make my husband or boys feel bad. The idea was to share that no matter what, I still love them. Even on the bad days.

Always.

Oh and next year, feel free to make it extra special!

How My Husband Got Me to Stop Asking for a Baby

 

Should we? Shouldn’t we? We’re pretty sure, we’re done having babies. Nothing is 100% but at this point we are pretty close. But now that most of the women I know are having babies I started to panic. Are we missing out on something? Is there something magic that happens after baby number two? I mean other than being outnumbered?  I’m pretty sure Zippercow is tired of me asking. To be honest I’m pretty sure we’re done too, I’m just getting swept up in baby hormones. But I feel we are ready for something new…

A dog?

This was purely a suggestion for a few years from now, you know,  when I’m tearful about Littlest Moo going off to school, but something I said recently flipped a switch for the hubs and he’s game on. I’m not sure if it was the argument that boys should have a dog, that it may help Little Moo with his anxiety and give Littlest Moo an active playmate in the back yard or that he too sensed we were ready for something new,  but now he is beyond antsy to get a dog. We are pretty specific in what we want and apparently dogs don’t grow on trees (who knew?) which  means instant gratification is not in the cards.

He’s worse than a kid sometimes, but his excitement is contagious for sure! Who knew that  a Golden Retriever or Golden Mix would be so hard to find? So for now we will prepare for a dog and wait until the right one comes along, I’m sure it will happen sooner than the nine months you wait for a baby!

The Sometimes Useful Useless Stuff We Know

A couple weeks ago a coworker of mine started to recite Dr. Seuss’s The Pale Green Pants to wrangle and quiet a group of unruly 4, 5, and 6 year olds. She told it all from memory and the kids were quite entranced and some of my other coworkers were in awe. But I knew. My first question when she finished was “Was that your son’s favorite?” She laughed and said “yeah”. The coworkers in awe don’t have children so they don’t know all the useless things that fill your brain as a parent. Useless unless of course you have to wrangle a bunch of unruly children, which fortunately worked like a charm.

Today I was reading to a little guy and though the book was missing a page, it didn’t phase me, I know it word for word and probably always will.

This book is the best! I make sure every little one I get gifts for has a copy of this book! Not only do I know it, but both my kids do by heart. It was the first thing Little Moo recited, before any nursery song even.

These are a few of the other random books that will always rattle around my brain.

 

 

 

How about you? Are there any books that you could recite from memory while half asleep rocking a two year old?

The Vows I Forgot?

 

There have been some late night as it gets closer to Christmas because…well I procrastinate, but mostly because a lot of the things I need to do either need to be done with no children awake or (like most things) it is just plain easier without the kids bugging me. Last night as we were getting to bed Zippercow was grumbling about how late it was. The conversation goes a little like this:

Me: “You know dear, you can go to bed even if I’m not ready to.”

Zippercow: “No I can’t.”

Me: “Yes you can, you just go to bed.”

Zippercow: “Nope, same bedtime. It says right in our marriage vows, in sickness and health we go to bed at the same time.”

Thanks dear, I clearly forgot that vow??? Reason #2,136 why I love my husband, he can’t go to sleep without me. Not a bad place to be.

Anyone else have a shared bedtime?

Fencing in the Herd: Part 2

And onward it goes!

Part 2: As the Fence Post Turns

Last week Zippercow took the entire week off to help get the fence started. We hired our handyman (we’ve used him a couple times and will use him again!) to help get the fence posts in. Thank goodness, because I think a lot of damage could have been done to our bank account and our yard if Zippercow had done this all himself.

The materials were so heavy Ziggy’s almost needed to send it on two trucks. The kids got a kick out of the fork lift driving around the back yard. Oh, and this…

Little Moo was sad he wasn’t allowed any closer. He watched for hours!

And what do you do after you dig a bunch of big holes?

Fill it with your children and husband!

After a week of hard work, well…there is still a lot to do, but at least the fence posts are in!

So many more stories to unravel, so stay tune for more riveting tales from Fencing in the Herd! [insert eye roll here]

*Thanks to my super hubby we have saved a lot of money and are going to have a completed fence soon!