peelosophy

My sister Katie lives in Colorado with her husband Carl and two girls, Tootie and Brooke. Over the past few months, they’ve probably visited the ER every week with one of them being very sick and the fire department has had to come out a couple of times because of sickness or crazy kid mishaps.

This week it was the fire department, which they are now on a first name basis with them. Brooke (2-1/2) managed to get her finger caught in a Starbucks cup and they couldn’t get it out. I know right?!?! How does that happen and why couldn’t they get it out?!?!

I wasn’t a disposable cup, I tried to find a picture of it on the web but couldn’t. It was a reusable glass cup that had a glass domed lid and a hole for the straw. The hole is where Brooke’s finger got stuck. She put it over her knuckle, Katie and Carl tried several things but they couldn’t get it off.

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My friend, Erin, just started cutting hair and came over to give me and JJ a haircut yesterday.  JJ does not like getting his haircut, and actually last summer he acted like we were beating him when we tried to shave it.

JJ went first and a couple of minutes into it asked me quietly, “Mom. can you get me my glasses?”  I didn’t understand because he doesn’t wear prescription glasses, I clarified with him what he meant and he wanted his sunglasses. I found his sunglasses and he put them on and wore them through the entire haircut, I guess they helped him cope.  We all have our coping mechanisms I guess, Erin and I quietly giggled about it – she said it reminded her of the kid in Big Daddy with Adam Sandler.

Something fun though for all summer playgroupers over here…I asked Erin if she could come over like once a month and do kids haircuts inside during playgroup – and she loved the idea.  Now I just have to swindle a Starbucks barista, and esthetician and work on my kids cleaning machine and all my playgroup dreams will come true.…summer come quick!

For a background on how/why we do Tot School, click here.

It’s been a while since we have done any sort of Tot School!  Now we are slowly coming out of the Emma transition and have been enjoying trying to enjoy the snow and being cooped up inside.  Here’s a little peek at what we’ve been up too…

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For a background on our smoothie adventures you can click here, or search the site for “smoothies”.

I mentioned on my first smoothie post that I embarked our smoothie endeavors because I was given the Montel Healthmaster.

That is the reason for the name of this drink.  I had my most fearless smoothie/ juice testers with me, Henry and George.  They have seemed to be my best testers, I guess because they are younger and more trusting…

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Friends are always amazed when George talks because he doesn’t talk a lot in public.  At home however, he talks a TON.  There are two things he says a lot now which I love.

The first is when I am feeding Emma, he will hand me my breast pad and say, “Here’s your cap mommy, put your cap back on.”  I never thought of them as caps…maybe someone should contact the marketing department of Johnson and Johnson.

The second is when he wants to be held, he says, “Mommy, I want to hold you, I want to hold you.” This is way more refreshing than the demanding “Mommy hold me, hold me”  And I like it when he “does the holding” cause what mom doesn’t want to be held?

For a background on our smoothie adventures you can click here, or search the site for “smoothies”.

I don’t think I would call this one a smoothie, but a smooth drink maybe.  I tweeked the recipe a little so I included the original recipe as well as my revisions.

The kids loved it and said I needed to “keep bananas and peanut butter around all the time so we can always make this one”.

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John suggested I take JJ out to lunch when the other boys are at Kids Day Out on Wednesdays.  I don’t know if it’s because he is the oldest or because he has always been SO independent, but I feel like he never “needs” me as much as the other boys.  And he usually has a play date with Scott over here or over at his house on Wednesdays , so I didn’t know how hot he would be with the idea of hanging out with mom.

I told him a couple of days before and when i picked him up on Wednesday from school, he asked excitedly if today was the day for our “special lunch”.  I was glad he was excited.  I took him to Carl’s Drive-In, which he has never eaten at the restaurant but we have had take-out several times.  For those that don’t know, Carl’s is just a s”stool” restaurant, you walk in either door and there is just counter seating and you can watch them cook your food.

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My mom gave me a juicer for an early Christmas present. She called and asked if I would be interested in getting it first, which I really appreciated since it is another “small” appliance that I would have to find cabinet space to store it.

She wanted to get me Montel’s HealthMaster. Now, my parent’s are very smart people,  but they can also be suckers for infomercials. I think that it is a recessive gene actually, because I have succumb to infomercials or QVC more than once in my life.  Side note: Growing up we had every AS Seen on TV gadget imaginable…we went to school with rolling rulers, had so much food dehydrated that we needed a food “rehydrator”, ginsu knives, you name it – we had it.

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Transitions for the kids always make me nervous and then it turns out to be no big deal.  Transitions meaning from bottle to sippy cup, from two naps to one nap, potty-training, etc.

Right now, we are going cold turkey with George’s pacifier.  He only takes one for nap and bedtime but JJ and Henry never used one,  so I don’t really know how to master this transition. George only started to use one when he turned one-year-old, a little weird, but all his teeth came in at once and it seemed to help him in his state of misery.

So here we are 6 weeks before Emma is to be born and I am thinking the time is now for the pacifier to go.  Although, it may not be enough time before she is born to enter this transition with him, I’m calling it now. We are trying it for a week and if it’s a fluke, then we’ll try again in February.

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I received a coupon for a “free pumpkin pie” with purchase of $10 or more at Kirkwood Farmer’s Market. I was all about it because I needed to bring a dessert for house group that evening. Plus, they have little tractors for the kids to ride and a playground – so it could kill some time.  Kirkwood Farmer’s Market is overpriced in my opinion, you pay for the scenery and the idea you are going to a farmer’s market, but I rationalized this with the free pie and little field trip.

After we played for a bit, we headed into the market where I carefully picked 2 packs of Carmel Happy Apples (3.89/each!) and a 12 ounces of candy corn ($3.49!).  We made our way to the register where I told the sales lady I had my coupon for the “free pumpkin pie” and asked where I should get it.  She corrected me with, “Oh,  you mean the free pie pumpkin?, you can pick one from the pile out front.”  To make it seem like I was less of the dyslexic dope that I tend to be, I answered with, “Oh, that’s what I meant. ” Of course, right?  And what the heck is a pie pumpkin?

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