Endless Pursuit for Mom of the Year

There is an interconnectedness among members  that bonds the family, much like mountain climbers  who rope themselves together when climbing  a mountain, so that if someone should slip or need support, he's held up by the others until he regains his footing.   ~ Phil McGraw ------------------------------------------ Spending the day after Thanksgiving in a hospital waiting room isn't quite the idea we had for myself or my siblings.  However, no matter where we are, there's one thing my family does better than anyone - bonding.  We've had lots of coffee, many trips to the vending machine (which family friend of the year has deemed the concession stand).  Football watching, crochet coaster making, college home working completing, Twitter educating and following, snack pack toting types of bonding.  For what some may deem a crisis, we've managed to make light of what may not be seen by all as a "light" situation. It's been ...

It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.   ~ Harry S Truman ---------------------------- I love that daughter of the year #2 is getting old enough to have school projects now.  Not those little projects like, make a poster of your family or create a collage.  I like those projects too, but I was excited for a big one.  This one involved research, reading books, internet searches, and, in the end, putting everything she learned into a final project of her choice.  The options were endless but she picked diorama.   I like to think I am not the only parent out there who did not know what a diorama was, and therefore, Google and I became good friends.  This simple search brought with it a great deal of information.  I learned a diorama is something I created many times in my childhood from empty Kleenex boxes.  I found a website that refers to dioramas as crafts and even has a place you can order little...

Dancing with the feet is one thing, but dancing with the heart is another. ~ Unknown --------------------------------------- Daughter of the year #1 has been begging us to take a dance class.  I sit back, proud that she may follow in some of my foot steps.  Dad of the year?  Well, he sits back wondering what this will cost him.  So, we started slow.  We enrolled her in a simple class, not at a dance studio, for Hip Hop.   Why Hip Hop?  Well, we've been down that ballet route.  Grace, extension, and good turnout are not words I would use to describe daughter of the year #1.  I love her with all my being but seriously folks, after one ballet class I knew this was not for her.  Hip Hop is different movement.  It's funky.  It's fun.  It's just like playing Just Dance on the Wii.  Right up her alley!  Her first class was this week.   To say she was excited would be an understatement. ...

You can learn many things from children.  How much patience you have, for instance.  ~ Franklin P. Jones ------------------------------- I am the mother of a two year old.  I've been through "terrible twos" before and I know the worst is yet to come...threes.  As a parent, I think this is possibly the cruelest joke.  You see, we get blessed with this nice, snugly, soft and sweet little infant.  An infant who needs you, emphatically.  They grow.  You smile.  You take photos.  You're blind to the fact that at some point, this human being will begin to talk, have their own thoughts, get defiant, and at times, not like you.  The girls had some money from grandpa that was just burning a hole in their non-existent pockets.  Therefore, we went shopping yesterday for a new toy.  I don't know about you, but when I go to Target, I can't NOT stop at the dollar spot.  So, on our excursion yesterday we found thes...

A family is a unit composed not only of children but of men, women, an occasional animal,  and the common cold.   ~ Ogden Nash ------------------------------------------ I recently had a weekend reunion of sorts with my mother's side of the family.  These were aunts and uncles I had not seen in some time, so it was good to get together with them and catch up.  Daughter of the year #2 had not met any of them, so that made it extra special.  I entered the weekend a bit preoccupied, but it sure didn't take this slew of crazies long to take my mind off things.  That's right, I said crazies.   Now, it's clear to me that many of these family members read my blog and for that I love you just a little bit more.  Come on now, you'd all admit we're a bit crazy.  Although I'm fairly sure this side of the family is where I got my ability to jump from two very vast and strangely different topics in a matter of seconds.  You ...

The problem with children is that you have to put up with their parents.    ~ Charles DeLint   ------------------------------------------------   Earlier this summer, I decided to try a new hairstyle.  Well, it wasn't so much a new hairstyle versus a new hair color.  It all started with Pinterest.  I was browsing through hairstyles and came upon one that was edgy, modern, sleek, sexy and completely not me.  I re-pinned it thinking someday I may have the courage to do this.    On my next visit to hairdresser of the year, I showed her the photo, rather embarrassed like I was some middle school girl showing her the latest movie star's photo, asking for the impossible feat of looking "just like them."  Come on, I was smart enough to know I could NEVER pull off the Rachel so I didn't even ask!  But, I love my hairdresser so much I have followed her to different salons for about 7 years. ...

As a child, my family's menu consisted of two choices:  take it or leave it.   ~Buddy Hackett --------------------------------- Living with a two year old makes life interesting nearly every day.  Living with another child who likes to draw every crucial incident that happens in your household makes it even more interesting.  Yes, I'm a little late in this post is daughter of the year #1 has so kindly posted it directly on the picture (she knows me well).  So, let's begin to recap what this summer has meant for my endless pursuit for mom of the year.   To sum it up in one sentence, daughter of the year #1 no longer likes her sister and has asked many times when she will be "good" again.  While a precise date is not something I can supply, I do share her pain.  At least we're in the terrible twos together.   I could go through what daughter of the year #1 has drawn above, but she captured the moment so precisely, it ...

The silence depressed me.   It wasn't the silence of silence. It was my own silence. ~ Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar ----------------------------------------- Well, hello everyone!  I'm sure many of you are wondering where I've gone.  Has my life gone free of funny stories?  Have my children been so well-behaved I've had no content?  Has dad of the year not screwed up so severely that I just had to write about it?  Well, no, this isn't the case.  However, what did happen to me is completely undramatic.  It just might make you laugh.  You may judge me more than you ever have before.  Yet what happened to me is something that has swept a nation of women - the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy.   Now, come on, I see on Facebook that MANY of you are reading these books too.  I really had no intention of reading it, but I kept seeing people talk about it.  I heard the jokes about a Fifty Shades baby boom.  I...

Children are unpredictable.  You never know what inconsistency they're going to catch you in next.  ~ Franklin P. Jones -------------------------- Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!  We spent the day relaxing and making sure dad of the year got to do all of his favorite things.  That is, aside from a little shopping trip. Imagine my surprise when daughter of the year #1 sprung on me that she wanted to go shopping for bras.  I mean, I shouldn't be, but I guess that part of me that doesn't want her to grow up wishes she'd slow down just a little.  But I know I can't stop that speeding freight train!  She shares everything with her dad.  Not yet at that age where she is embarrassed by his jokes or how he dresses or how uncool he is because he won't let her go out with her friends to do things we know would only result in trouble.  So, he was fully aware she wanted to go shopping.  Now, I love this man with al...

When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses. ~ Joyce Brothers -------------------------------------- This weekend, our family celebrated the wedding of nephew of the year #1.  We are so happy to have welcomed niece-in-law of the year to our family.  She fits right in amongst our crazy, loud, emotional, loving family.  All I can say is this sappy mom of the year had one heck of a time keeping a dry eye at this wedding.  Oy!  Dad of the year and I entered the weekend with a bit of bad news - learning our beloved family dog has cancer.  While this post is not going to be about the sadness we've gone back and forth with this weekend, it is about how this coming together with family could remind me that these bonds are ones I truly treasure.  They are the heart and soul of what is important to me.  For this family and this family only could make me laugh, cry, scream and love in a way that takes ...

There is no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one. ~ Jill Churchill ------------------------------------- Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there.  I know, I'm late.  However, I am typing this in leopard print and my sandals with heels, so does that at least make me fashionably late?  Ugh, bad joke.   Last year, I wrote about lessons learned from my mom.  I love my mom with all of my being, however I know that I'm not much like her.  I look like her and I do have some of her mannerisms, but I definitely took after dad mostly.  So, there was a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor with that post.  This year, I'm going to go a bit of a different direction, so hang with me here.  The recent cover of Time magazine showing the mom with what appears to be a grown child on a stool so he can breast feed has blown up all over the blogosphere, particularly the ...

When I shop, the world gets better,  and the world is better, but then it's not,  and I need to do it again. (Confessions of a Shopaholic-the movie) ~ Sophie Kinsella --------------------------------------------- I love to shop.   I mean, I  love to shop.  I'm not sure I remember a time when I didn't love shopping.  No matter what place, what time, or what item, I wish I could shop every day.  It's probably better that I don't have that type of freedom or my bank account would be non-existent.   However, it's pretty tough to be the mom of two girls who don't so much like to shop.  I know, daughters of the year aren't that old yet, so you're probably thinking, give it time.  I would hope in time they would come out of it or I see lots of shopping by myself in my future.   This weekend, dad of the year decided to take me to one of my most favorite places to shop - Coach!  No, I do not have a closet fu...

He didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.  ~ Clarence Budington Kelland ------------------- Daughter of the year #1 is an incredibly picky eater.  It drives me nuts!  I know this is really some sort of sick revenge from my mother as I, too, was a horribly picky eater.  I also accept full responsibility for her picky eating by not always forcing her to eat what we eat.  Most nights, I end up feeling like a short order cook.  I make our dinner and then determine if daughters of the year will eat that and sometimes, mostly when I'm really tired and not up for a fight, I will make something else for the girls.  Hey, I said I accept full responsibility, so don't bust my chops, OK? You would think with the way I dread dinnertime, I'd be much thinner than I am.  However, night after night I give in more than I should and make more than one meal.  Frankly, it's exhausting.  I also see how I am no...

Lent, which seems so long, is short at other men's tables.   ~ Italian Proverb ----------------------------------- I was raised Catholic.  Therefore, that meant church not only on Sundays but also holy days.  Easter was always the toughest and involved marathon church goings.  And that brings me to  Lent.  I hadn't really given up anything in a while.  Aside from that year I gave up swearing.  We can all guess how far I got in that sacrifice.  This year, I felt inspired through a co-worker to actually give something up, truly sacrifice, and stick to it.  After all, she not only gives up something new but also everything she has given up in the past.  Wow!  Seriously, I couldn't give up one little thing?  Eee-gads, what was I teaching my children?!?! So, I pondered.  I contemplated.  I decided.  I stuck to it.  I gave up something I felt would be a challenge for me - food!  Specifically, Panda E...

Today, watching television often means fighting,  violence and foul language -  and that's just deciding who gets to   hold the remote control. ~ Donna Gephart ------------------------------------------ I'm a reality TV junkie.  There!  I said it!  Now, you may commence with judging me.   As many of you may have heard, dad of the year is out of town.  You may also know I've been rather outspoken about what his absence means to me - ruling the remote.  In order to get you to fully understand, this means one week of no shows about alligator hunting, mining for gold, grown men converting mini-vans into rafts, or Larry the Cable guy.  Ok, that sentence may get me into a bit of trouble.  Sorry, honey!  Perhaps you're into gold, fish or other shows involving accents so thick subtitles are needed.  I happen to be into housewives, ballerinas, and wedding dresses - and yes, sometimes those shows need subtitles too.   To ea...