Rain, Rain, Go Away?

Posted on March 21, 2007 by carrievoris

I tried so hard yesterday to take the girls out for a really fun day, and, well….it really kinda turned into a disaster.

Monday night Denise called to switch her days to Wednesday and Thursday, which was fine – I’m still so grateful to get to work uninterrupted for 2 whole afternoons a week, but it still meant that our Tuesday was going to be a loooong day. So I decided I would take the girls to Kidspace, this children’s museum that is here in Pasadena. We have never been there because, well, there are always plenty of free (or cheaper!) things to do here. And I kept thinking, we’ll save the museum for a rainy day or a day when we just can’t be outside. Pretty logical thinking, right? And since we rarely have a rainy day here in southern California, we just haven’t gotten around to visiting it yet.

But this week has been a little chilly and rainy – so it was perfect! I psyched E. all up and told her I had a fun surprise for her and everything.

One major problem.

Kidspace is a kid’s museum, but probably 60-70% of the activities are actually at nature interpretive stations….OUTSIDE.

Ugh. And Addie had a rough night so she ended up sleeping in til late, so we got a late start. Got to Kidspace and found out it is $8…a person! So it was $24 for the three of us to slop around and try to “have fun” in the cold, wet outdoors.

And for some reason, (maybe they have become California-ized already?) neither girl likes wearing jackets or sweaters. So I spent most of the day fighting with them to keep their jackets and hats on. I didn’t even get any good photos to show for it.

I typically LOVE rainy days. I think we don’t get enough of them around here, but yesterday was an all-around bummer of a day. Although E. did say to me, “I think this place would be fun, if I didn’t have to keep my coat on!”

Maybe we’ll try it again on one of the 355 sunny days of the year.

Hooray for relaxing weekends.

Posted on March 18, 2007 by carrievoris

We just had a nice, relaxing weekend. I actually barely even cracked my laptop open or checked email.

J. took the girls to the aquarium and they were actually gone ALL day Saturday. I hung out with a friend and we went fabric shopping, something that would have been impossible with kids. I found an amazing little quilt and thought that it might be fun to try my hand at quilting and make something for Addie’s new room in the process. We also had a great leisurely lunch, also very enjoyable – sans kids.

After a nice sleep-in this morning, which ended a night where everyone slept all night in their own space, we had our special weekend treat of Noah’s bagels, did a little shopping and then while the girls napped, I grocery shopped and spent a LOT of money. It always amazes me how much I love to do a mundane task like grocery shopping when it is not a child-corralling marathon. Usually I am in the grocery store for the absolute minimum amount of time as possible. It is just very hard to shop with 2 active girls who want to “help”. Actually looking at what I was throwing into the cart and comparing prices, I must say, that was a really nice treat.

Actually, the whole weekend was a nice treat. Thanks to J. we all had some good “family” time and Mommy got some good “me time,” too.

Almost makes the fact that tomorrow is Monday….bearable.

A tiny piece of heaven.

Posted on March 14, 2007 by carrievoris

Well, we clearly are not making it to spin class today. It starts in 20 minutes and both girls are still sleeping.

What?! Still sleeping at nearly 9am, you say? Yeah, it would be a little piece of heaven if we were not UP. ALL. NIGHT.

Another one of those nights. E. is still congested and refuses to blow her nose, which led to a tantrum/screaming match this morning at a little before 4am. Thus, waking darling little A. up, who then assumed since she had been sleeping for over 8 hours – it must be time to get up, right?

J. dealt with E., I finally got A. back in bed around 6am this morning. And they are both sleeping peacefully.

Which brings me to what I really wanted to write about today. (Okay, I wanted to whine a little about the middle-of-the-night antics, too, but it wasn’t supposed to be that long of a whine…sorry!)

I feel like I do a lot of complaining lately. It’s okay, you can say it, “I DO!” So while I was wrestling with A. this morning I was thinking that I just need to realize this moment is fleeting and try to remember the good stuff, the stuff that makes me happy. (I was also thinking that maybe I’d just take them to the park and *forget* to bring them home this morning, but that is another story.)**

So here goes. Ten things that make me smile in the middle of the horribly, long, whiny days (or nights):

1. The way Emma wakes up, her voice all froggy, “Morning, Mama! I had a good sleep.” No matter how she really slept the night before.

2. The days Addie wakes up happy and calls “Mama” from her crib, patiently waiting for me to come get her.

3. How good they both feel curled up on my lap, smelling all lavender-y from the bath and asking for just one more book. A. doesn’t even really ask, she just goes and gets another one, brings it back and says “book!”

4. How A. says “HAND!” when she is trying to get to sleep and gently strokes your fingers until she drifts off.

5. The feel of their incredibly long eyelashes on my cheek, or arm. It is so tickly and sweet.

6. Just watching them play together. From the back you could never tell they are sisters, one with crazy curls, one stick-straight hair, but they have the same mannerisms and even stick their tongues out to the same side when they are trying to “work” on something.

7. Their “words” for things. Emma’s “nickles” for “nipples” and Addie’s “nakeee” for anybody showing any sort of skin at all.

8. A.’s sweet kisses. Enough said.

9. When E. just hugs me and says, “I love you, Mama.” (And no, she isn’t looking for anything – just because.)

10. Their sweet smiles, giggles and laughs. If seeing or hearing those can’t bring you out of a funk, I don’t think anything can.

Ahhhh. I feel much better. And they are stirring. Maybe I’ll go take them to the park and let them run!

**Okay, please know if you don’t know me very well, don’t call DFS I would never do this! I don’t need them looking over my shoulder to see the million of things I do wrong with the girls every day and possibly taking them away. Oh, and also, it would look pretty suspicious if I do in fact ever ACCIDENTALLY leave them somewhere. And the way my brain is going lately…it is quite plausible.

Fort o’ Boxes and Bubble-Wrap Blankets

Posted on March 13, 2007 by carrievoris

Did you see the Simpson’s on Sunday night? If you didn’t, Lisa and Bart devised a plan to get free shipping boxes sent to their house and then proceeded to build a fort out of them. I felt like I was living that Simpson’s episode today.

Moving boxes provide hours (hours!) of endless fascination and fun for a pre-schooler and a toddler, as I just found out. Our downstairs neighbor who moved out over the weekend is passing us her boxes as she unpacks. And the first load came over today. Why I didn’t take pictures, I do not know…but you have to trust me on this one, it was all-out creative euphoria around here.

We had forts, we had castles for my princesses, we even had make-shift strollers for the bears. And despite all of the fun, a little packing went on, with me mostly doing the packing. Although I did open one of the boxes and find both remotes and a phone.

Now if I could just get them to bubblewrap the stuff, maybe I wouldn’t have to hire expensive movers…he he hee.

Which brings us to bubblewrap. I’m positive it is not a very environmentally-friendly way to move. I usually use paper that I can at least recycle, but I figure that we are using it for the second time since it also came from our neighbor…and it, too, provides ENDLESS fun. Did you know that kids apparently never ever tire of popping the little bubbles.

And if you want to be really sneaky, tell them they missed one and they’ll spend another 20 minutes going through the whole sheet looking for the lost *pop*!

(On another note – today, even before I put this post, I had my best day ever stats-wise with the most hits, we are talking over 100 views a day, now. Thank you kind people for continuing to read my babble! 🙂 )

On the move again.

Posted on March 4, 2007 by carrievoris

Remember how I vowed we would never move again until we were moving into a house that we were going to stay in until the girls graduated and left home?

Well…I think I have “moving amnesia” (it is similar to “baby amnesia”) and we are moving again in a month. After spending a few weeks hunting for houses, we realized this isn’t the time to buy one. And since we still have our “dog dilemma” next door and Emma fastly approaching needing somewhere to go to school next year, I have been searching for a place to lease. I’ll admit it has been kind of half-heartedly because I really do love the place we live now, and really most everything that I have found doesn’t even begin to compare.

But…our great real estate lady’s best friend’s family (got all that?) has to move and so she arranged for us to go see the house yesterday and it is perfect! Ann (our real estate lady) then worked her magic and not only got the place for us (since there were other people wanting to rent it), she negotiated it for $500 less a month than they were asking AND got us a 6-month lease and then month-to-month! It really is perfect all around. I’m so excited.

It is a spanish-style house, which I always thought I was not very fond of, but I have definitely changed my mind. It is really beautiful inside, and it might just be because we are in a 2-bedroom place now, but man…this house seems HUGE! It has 4 bedrooms, 3 baths…which means the girlies will have their own room again and the other bedroom is conveniently located off of the foyer, living room, and kitchen – so it will be a perfect office/guest room/playroom. The kitchen is kind of old and probably the “least pretty” room of the house, but the rest of the house more than makes up for it. Oh! And it has a sweet little courtyard that you walk through to get to the front door with a cool outdoor fireplace. Emma and I are already making our list of what plants we are going to try to grow outside. I just love it and didn’t realize how much I missed having a “house” of our own with nobody below or next to us. Ahhh….I am praying for some nice, sleep-filled nights in our future.

We move in the first week in April, and now I have a ton of stuff to prepare and get ready. As much as I hate the chaos of moving, I love the purging that goes along with it. And now that we have not used stuff for the past 9 months or so, it will be even easier to get rid of that which we couldn’t “live without” before. And then proceed to fill up all the new space with new junk. Isn’t that how it goes?

What’s that?

Posted on February 28, 2007 by carrievoris

Did my alter-ego post yesterday? The very calm, coffee-riddled mom who has two wonderful, perfect angels with a normal happy home? Because I was told that she apparently slipped in here and proclaimed that all was calm and happy in our house. Ha. Double HA! And then she had a lovely evening of eating burritos and brownies, crafting and gossipping with her friends? Yep, she had to have snuck in her and written while I was not looking, because our house is the EXACT opposite of calm or happy today. (I do vaguely remember the fun night last night…but it seems so long ago now!)

Emma has been in 5 (make that 6!) time-outs, been yelled at more times than I have fingers (or toes) to count on, Addie has had an hour nap (if you want to call that a nap!) and cannot control her constant crying…you looked at her? That definitely calls for a full-blown crying jag. You handed her a pink cup instead of the purple? The horror!! Must commence more screaming and some fist-pounding to emphasize true unhappiness at this unjust world!

I had visions of getting so much done today, and have barely managed to get them dressed and fed. Thankfully it is time to get them undressed and in the bath – sweet, sweet bedtime is only an hour away. If I can just hang on…

In my short little hour to pay bills, I did manage to get our taxes sent in. We owe over a $1,400 to the lovely state of Illinois. How the heck does that happen? And why, of all days, did it have to happen today?

Your lady of leisure…

Posted on February 27, 2007 by carrievoris

I had intended on writing an account of our crazy, crazy chaos around the house lately. But as I sit at Starbucks sipping coffee and…wait….what?! Leisurely writing? I guess I’m not going to get too much sympathy right now. All is actually holding steady and there is a dull roar of normalcy settling on our house. We are back to a routine.

We spent all weekend deciding NOT to buy a house. I know, I know! We had clearly spent the whole week before deciding TO buy a house. But after spending 4 (straight!) hours on Sunday looking at houses, driving by houses, going to open houses…even Emma who loves going into new houses and “picking out” a new room for her…had had enough. I’m still not sure how we spent 4 hours…there really isn’t a lot out there right now. And as J. said, each house we kinda liked, there was some big “compromise” with it. Not the right school district, not really big enough, not a very nice yard, crazy price tag (you want what? for that??), and the list goes on and on….

So long story short, I am back to searching for a house to lease for a year or so, preferably in the good school district so we can just pop Em into kindergarten next year – no muss, no fuss, no extra $15K in private school fees. At least that is the plan.

We go on Thursday to register for the preschool we really like. Fingers crossed we will win the “preschool lottery” and get accepted. Okay, I’ll just say one thing…and then be done complaining. It is ridiculous to have to fight so hard to get a child into preschool! I know she will love it and it will be great for her – and I’m not even saying this because I know I’ll be weepy when she actually leaves on her first day…but, come on! It is PRESCHOOL! I have been wait-listed on 3 of the “top” preschools (apparently they teach a superior alphabet, the roman numerals and the difference between the color “moss” and just plain old “green”? I don’t know – why and how they get to be “top!”) and I was told that I really should have been on the list when I was pregnant (!) with Em. It is just plain ridiculous.

And…enough. I know most of you have already heard me rant on this subject. Just wanted one more. Now, I’m done.

But just in case you think that I am a coffee-sipping lady of leisure today, I’ll leave you with one picture that pretty aptly describes my mornings around here. Why I deserve my Starbucks today – or how I earned my Starbucks.

Yes, it is waffle – glued in with syrup.

Our day – as heard by the downstairs neighbors.

Posted on February 13, 2007 by carrievoris

I don’t know how much the downstairs neighbors really hear, but I have a feeling that this is what it may have sounded like down there for the first part of today…

5am
Waaaaaaahhhh! MaaaaMaaaa! (Addie’s wake-up call.)
Stomp, stomp, stomp. (Me – begrudgingly going in to figure out what the problem is.)
Milk? Miiilk? Miiilllkk! (Obviously, what the problem was.)

5:30am
Creak, creeeeak, creak. (Me – returning Addie to her crib for some more zzzz’s. There is a very creaky floorboard right in front of their room that I step on, no matter how I try to avoid it.)

5:40am
Scratch, scratch, scratch. Scratch…..scratch. (Apparently Tiger thought if she continued to scratch in the litterbox it would miraculously produce more litter and properly cover her poop. They really did need new litter, so that one is my fault.)

5:55am
Sigh. Creeping and a little more sighing. (After listening to Tiger for 15 minutes, I decided it really wasn’t even worth going back to sleep, and I went out to check email and finish our taxes.)

7:00am
Running water, pitter patter, “Good morning, Mama. I need juice, please.” (J. – shower, Em getting up and requiring her shot of morning juice – she is almost as bad as a coffee addict with her apple juice.)

7:01am
Whining….”but I need some!” (Was not able to replenish our juice supply yesterday, apple juice addict…NOT happy!)

7:30am
More crying. (Addie didn’t wake up very happy today.)
Tromp, tromp, tromp. (J. going downstairs to work.)
Tap, tap, TAP! (My happy dance – my project is finally completed!!)

8:00am
A little whining. (Nobody is happy with the slightly sparse breakfast options. Really, really need to grocery shop.)

8:10am
Crash! Thud. (Addie shows displeasure with breakfast option and “moves” it to the floor.)

8:15am
Vacuuuuummmm. (Breakfast leavings and cat hair – maybe a few dust bunnies, too.)

8:20-9:30am
Stomp, stomp, stomp….screech. Stomp, stomp, stomp. Then repeat. (Girls chasing each other, Me chasing girls trying to get them dressed. Girls chasing cats.)

9:45am
STOMP, stomp, stomp…also repeated – thirteen more times. (Moving the chaos down the stairs so we can run errands – YES, grocery shopping is one of them.)

10:00-11:30am
Blissful peace and quiet. (We were still gone on the errands.)

11:30am-12pm
STOMP, stomp, stomp…thirteen more times. And then times four. (We are back home, going back upstairs – and I did 4 trips to get all of the groceries – and cat litter! – up into the house.)
Running, shrieking. (More playing, more chasing them trying to get them fed and clothed and back out the door.)
Sizzling and boiling. (Also prepared lasagna to throw in oven for dinner.)
Vacuuming. (Again. Another dissatisfied customer. This time it was lunch.)

12:00pm
Stomping…yet again. (Back downstairs for dance class)

1:00pm
Stomping….(Weeee’re baaack!)

1:30pm
Ding dong. (Denise! Sweet, sweet Denise is here!)

1:45pm
Joyful fleeing. No stomping…only light steps on the staircase. (Me. Escaping for the afternoon. Really I shouldn’t feel this happy to go work, drop dry cleaning, house hunt, and go to the gym – right??)

Our poor neighbors. We keep plying them with cookies on every occasion. But I really don’t think it is enough.

And that was only the first half of the day. The afternoon and evenings are SO much more fun!

BarelyControlledChaos

Chaos Controlled.Barely.

Category Archives: Everyday Chaos