Chicken Pox

My kids will never get chicken pox. They shoot them full of a vaccine at 2 years old to prevent it. I'm not sure why. It was never really a dangerous disease, was it? Nobody died or became mentally or physically disabled from it. I've never done the research, maybe some people did. As far as I knew, you got some spots, they itched, your mom took care of you, you got a week off of school, the end.

I knew if I opted out of this particular vaccine, they probably wouldn't let my kids in preschool or elementary school. So, I'll never have to yell at them, "stop itching or you'll scar!" and I'll never need to bathe them in calamine lotion. Geez, I bet the makers of that lotion were mad when this vaccine came out.

In any case, my kids are fascinated by a book they found at the library about Arthur getting chicken pox.

While I was napping yesterday and David was on the computer, Emily gave Ben the chicken pox with an orange highlighter. Luckily, it was nothing a warm bath couldn't get rid of.

One Small Step For Ben

One giant leap for Mommy!

Our Fry's grocery store has a kids club babysitting service while you shop. They look after your little ones for free and you spend more money. It's a win win.

I've taken the kids and every time, they called me over the intercom after 5 minutes to get Ben. Emily does just fine and loves it. She even gets mad if I won't let her go in there to play because I only need 2 things. I usually drop her off at the kids club and Ben goes shopping with me. The trip is still easier with only one kid who sits in the shopping cart.

Today Ben said he wanted to go in the kids club with Emily. I'm encouraging this and telling him he'll have a great time. Under my breath, I tell the nice lady that she'll be calling me in 2.5 minutes.

I started my shopping expecting to hear, "Gina to the Kids Club" over the intercom at any given second. Nothing. I checked the monitors that they have displayed throughout the store and I could see him playing. He was just fine. My little boy was not crying for me.

After 30 minutes, I was checking out in complete shock.

I decide to get a special treat for each of them. A box of orange Tic Tacs.

Ben was excited to see me and I praised him for being such a big boy. This could be the beginning of a little freedom for myself. And dare I say it, David and I actually hiring a babysitter for a date night. Hopefully, I didn't just jinx myself.

Technology Free

On Oprah last week, they had two families that went technology free for 7 days. No phone, no TV, no DVD player, no computer, no video games, no cell phones. I thought there is no way I could do that. Absolutely, no way.

Then, we get to my Dad's for our mini vacation. My Stepmom and Dad go to their cabin on the river in Idaho usually for 3-4 months during the summer to escape the Phoenix heat. This summer they were going for 6 months due to some construction they are doing. Their house is shut down. We flip on the breakers and head inside. The TV automatically comes on and their Direct TV is booting up.

We are getting settled and I notice a blue screen with an error message radiating from their 50" high definition plasma. What's this? I call Direct TV. My Dad disconnected the service. What? What?? What????

I call my Dad. Who nonchalantly says, "Didn't I tell you that? I shut everything down since we are going to be gone for so long."

NO TV. NO INTERNET.
I can feel the blood draining from my body.

David and I are not big on cell phones. Mine usually only makes noise when the battery is almost dead and it's laying at the bottom of my purse with a half eaten sucker, used kleenex and a penny that's covered in fuzzy lint. Seriously, last month I used it for 6 minutes. We don't have a fancy blackberry or anything else that channels the web. I'm regretting this right about now.

The DVD player did work, so we weren't completely technology free. We watched a few kids movies, but they lost interest in about 10 seconds. And we did have our cell phones to make a few calls, but we aren't really phone people. Nor did we go on vacation to talk on the phone.

The kids amused themselves with what they had, but my Dad's house is not exactly kid friendly. I learned that the kids could play with a box of blocks for an hour because they had nothing else. Am I going to donate their 6,000 toys? Nah, but I am thinking of boxing some up and doing a one month rotation. It will be like all new toys every month and less clutter around the house.

This is what they did to pass some time.



David and I raided Suzy's books and we read. I check out books from the library often enough, but David only seems to read the Bible. It was a change to see him devouring a book, mind you it was about religion, but it was something different for him.

David slept with Emily each night and I slept with Ben. There is no fence around their pool and we just felt more comfortable with each kid next to us. It would be great if we could've put the kids to bed and then David and I could've stayed up and watched an adult movie (well not "adult", but something more adult than Curious George). The kids wouldn't go to sleep though in strange beds all by themselves. So, we all went to bed at the same time.

It was almost 9:00 and David and I were reading. The kids climbed up together in one of the recliners and they were looking at some of their library books together. Emily was "reading" to Ben and they were laughing and enjoying their quiet time together. I thought this will last 5 minutes and then we can all go to bed. Almost an hour later, I broke up our little book club so everyone could get some sleep. It was nice. Complete silence and in the background the kids laughing and reading Charlie Brown.

We were there for 48 hours and I have to say it was hard. But, I think I could've survived a week. I would've wanted a daily newspaper though.

Would I have been a happier person?
I don't know. I'm generally pretty happy as it is. Desperate Housewives and Lost make me happy. I need a little time to check-out from my daily responsibilities.

Would we be a happier family?
I doubt it. I think we are happy. Yes, my kids know the theme songs to about 10 different kid shows, but I don't think they would ever say that they wished their parents spent more time with them.

What I learned is that technology, in moderation, is a wonderful thing. When you let it dominate your life and you text your daughter in the next room to tell her dinner is ready, then it's time to reevaluate and reconnect with your family and your life.

When we met up with our friends Sunday for the barbecue, David was dying to know if the Diamondbacks won. Of course not sweetie, I could've told you that with no TV and no Internet.

When we returned home at 10:00 at night, David jumped on the computer for a few minutes. He said he'd be off soon so that I could get on. All I wanted to do was tuck my kids in and get ready for bed. The Internet could wait...

but only until the next morning.

Staycation

We couldn't afford a vacation this year. But with David's furlough days, he ended up with 5 days off over this Memorial Day weekend. We decided to do a staycation, but only at my Dad's house in Phoenix. He's up in Idaho, so we'd have the place to ourselves.

On the way into Phoenix, we decided to stop at a new park that was over by our first home. A storm had just come through the valley, so the temperature was in the 80's in comparison to the 105 they had the week before. We took advantage of the gorgeous day.

The kids played on the huge playground.



They also had a splash park, so we put on their suits and they played in the water for awhile. We were the only ones at the splash park, so that was nice.





We ate dinner at some of our favorite restaurants and swam in my Dad's pool.





Some of our good friends were having a barbecue, so we headed over there Sunday evening. It was so great to visit with all of our friends.

They had a Wii Guitar Hero. Emily was hooked. I have a feeling Santa might be bringing a Wii this year.


The kids enjoyed swimming some more in their awesome pool.




We headed home after the party. We were only there for 2 days, but David and I both felt like it was longer. It was just what we needed.

Still Needed

Did I fix the outfit for him?

Heck no!

I did take off the Spiderman pajama top as I didn't want him to be hot, but other than that, he stayed backwards for the rest of the day. Well, until we got home from picking up Emily. Then, he goes to the bathroom and stays naked from the waist down the rest of the day. He's my little nudist.

Letting Go, Growing Up

Last week, Emily and I got into a huge fight.

Over a shirt.

She picked out an orange shirt from Old Navy a few months ago. She's worn it several times since then. I was getting her ready for school and she had an absolute fit about wearing this shirt. The more stubborn she became, the more stubborn I became. We are alike in that aspect. I couldn't understand why wearing this shirt was such a big deal. She expressed later that it was because it had a V-neck and she didn't want to wear that to school.

I vowed to never pick out her clothes again. I don't care if she goes to school in a plaid skirt and flower top with various colors of the rainbow. I will only help her if she asks.

The next morning she got herself dressed and proudly came walking out wearing her V-neck orange shirt! What!? I don't know if it was to spite me or apologize. I think the latter. In any case, I'm letting go and realizing that my little girl is growing up and can make up her own mind.

She graduated from preschool the other night. Today is her last day of school. A little over two months from now, I'll be walking her into her Kindergarten class, sobbing. Just another reminder that time is going by too quickly.

She looked adorable in her cap and gown.
Where did she get those amazing cheekbones?


The lighting was really poor in the church, so the pictures didn't turn out.
Here she is waiting to be called up for her diploma.


Here she is getting her diploma. Well, you can barely see her in the background. It's really just a shot of some lady who decided to walk around and ruin everyones photos.


They sang some songs and did a slide show of photos of the year. It was a nice presentation.

I got a little weepy when they came walking in to pomp and circumstance. I know it will feel like a blink of an eye and she will be 18, graduating from high school and ready to leave our family and our home for college.


And I'll look back and fondly remember the huge fight about the orange shirt and my little girl growing up right before my eyes.

I've Learned...

I've learned that sometimes I just don't feel like blogging. Sure, the kids give me material almost daily, but it seems about once a month I just don't write for a week. Writer's block? Nah, I'm not a writer. I would say it boils down to simply being tired. 1:30 to 3:00 has turned into my resting time. The kids get hypnotized by the TV and I get to relax on the sofa. It's a win win, or maybe a lose win, but I win, so that's all that matters.

There are a lot of changes with my pregnancy lately:

The first being that I need my relax time everyday just to make it to 9:00 at night.

I've learned I can no longer sleep on my stomach due to my 5 month prego belly. I go from side to side and wake up with sore shoulders and back. The kids drive their Hot Wheels on my back in an attempt to make me feel better. It actually does a little.

I've learned that if I eat watermelon as a snack before bedtime, I will get up to pee 9 times instead of the normal 5 or 6.

I've learned that between the dogs, kids and bathroom breaks, it takes me 10 hours at night to actually get 8 hours of sleep.

David got to feel the baby move the other night. He asked what it felt like. You know when the kids kick you in the stomach, like that but on the inside. I love feeling the baby move and it's one of the high moments that will get me through the next 4 + months as we all know my babies don't come even a day early.

I also learned a few things about my kids and going to the zoo which we did a few weeks ago. This was a zoo about 45 minutes from us that we've never been too.

I've learned no matter how much you promise to take your kids to the zoo, don't do it if it's one of the windiest days of the year. The kids had fun, but it only lasted a few hours.

I've learned that Emily has an adventurous spirit...


Until she encounters a giraffe. She immediately ran to my side.

Ben, however, is not afraid of the giraffe that his Dad is feeding. Surprising, as Ben is usually afraid of just about anything, his shadow, a fly...


I've learned he was not afraid of the Ibex either.


Maybe it's the fence for added protection, but Emily was into the camel.


Then came the snake show...my favorite (pick up on my sarcasm here).


I've learned that Emily is not afraid of snakes and had to touch both of them.



Meanwhile, Ben was trying to escape and wanted nothing to do with the snakes. Although, he did want to see them, just from outside their enclosure.


They also had some other cool animals like:
Tigers...


and Zebras...


and Bears...

Oh my!

I've learned that even though it cost us $54 to get into this zoo, they liked the playground the best. Seriously? We could've done this for free.



Perhaps the most disturbing thing that I've learned lately is that Survivor (the TV show) has been on for 9 years and 18 seasons. I think I've watched all but 2 seasons. Assuming most seasons have about 15 hour long episodes, that makes 240 hours of Survivor that I have watched. The sad thing is, I usually can't even remember who these people are 3 months after the show.

I've learned that I DO have time to exercise. I just found 240 hours.