Mums the Word

'I want a dog!' The one phrase most parents anticipate and dread all at once.  You know it's coming.  It's only a matter of time. However, maybe like me, you think lets get ahead of the game and try to satisfy these people with a low maintenance replacement pet. A fish.  Yes.  They don't take up much room or cost much.  They don't move or destroy things like every other living thing in your house.  The upkeep is minimal and if they die, oh well, you flush them down the toilet and have a cup of tea. Sadly, kids like fish for about a week.  That's the shelf life of excitement on a fish.  Then all the sudden you're scrubbing a bowl weekly, conditioning water and feeding a pet that doesn't have the ability to love.  Lame. After the fish, they will come at you with something else.  For us it was parakeets.  My oldest wanted a parakeet.  But then she said we should go ahead and get two because they do better in pairs.  Sure! Why not?!  Well long s

Every morning my kids ask for candy.  I'm not talking donuts or pastries, I'm talking straight up sugar.  There's probably no difference nutritionally but I'm setting principles for life.  If I let them eat candy in the morning what's next?  Crack?  I hear sugar is a gateway drug.  Just saying. It's not like they need a pick me up either.  They wake up between 5:45 and 6:30 like they've been robbed.  Like something amazing has been happening all night and they have just waisted the last 12 hours.  God help me!  While I avoid giving them sugar before noon, an arbitrary line i've drawn in the sand, I try to get as much caffeine into my system asap so I can ride that roller coaster the remainder of the day until bedtime.  Don't judge, these people shoot out of bed with the sun and immediately start interrogating me about our plans for the day.  I'm not even awake and have agreed to all sorts of things, in hindsight that may be why I have four kids.

In a house with four kids, to prevent chaos, there must be rules.  Some rules are a given such as:  No hitting, kicking or biting.  No name calling.  No throwing food at the table (when not at the table, anything is game of course).  However some rules you never foresaw having to make.  Here are some of our ridiculous house rules. 1.  No weapons before 9am!  In fact take all the weapons outside!  Nothing like getting shot in the face with a nerf gun while making your morning cup of tea.  NO!!!! 2.  Don't wipe your boogers or poop on the floor or wall.  If your hands come in contact with anything suspect, please wash them.  For the love of all that is good and decent, wash them. 3.  Don't put your butt in other peoples faces especially if it is naked, no exceptions...unless your married and then you won't have any interest. 4.  No shorts while there's still snow on the ground.  I will just go ahead and hide them as this rule is so difficult. 5.  No painting on anyth

There are so very few people in our lives that love us unconditionally.  They are the ones constantly wondering how they can make our lives better.  Usually it's the people who play a pivotal roll in our upbringing and journey through life.  The ones that teach us the difficult lessons and share the joy in our discoveries.  The ones that journey beside us and lead us through, and to, some of our greatest adventures. These people, with their 'what can I do for you' mentality are irreplaceable. For most adults out there, we've lost a few.  It's the people we think of in the hard times and wonder if they are watching.  Are they proud?... The more of these people we loose, the more we take on their roll.  However big their shoes were, we try to fill them because if they were important to us, then everything that they stood for and believed in was important.  While we will never be them, we will try to be like them. And it will be hard.  But then life is hard.

I used to run all the time.  Then I had kids....and if you've ever done that you know they can kind of mess up your schedule (and also ruin your body but its fine I'm not bitter).  Anyways, I went on a bit of a hiatus.  So after four kids I started running again.  Everything was going well but I was feeling really tight and sore.  While looking for something to counterbalance my running, I found yoga. Long story short, I tried it, loved it and would like to recommend it to all my mommy friends. If you are anything like this mom, you are gonna need at least three good reasons to add anything new to your schedule, and you will need that list to be concise because you are probably in between getting the kids a snack and picking up the next disaster, so here: 1.  It's a full on work out, wet t-shirt included, especially with a good teacher who kills it.    You can push yourself or pull back to get the kind work out you need.    Lots of people think that because it'

Note to readers:  I will use italics to illustrate sarcasm and ridiculous statements. I just read an outstanding article on why we should all have just one child! Just kidding.  It was crap and I'm not just saying that because I have four kids.   The case for having just one kid was crap because the reasoning was unsubstantial and horribly argued.   This article gives a top 10 reason list on why someone should only have one child which I would love to dispel right here: 1.   It's eco-friendly .  I would like to know how.  Are you raising your child to be more aware of our environment?  Do you recycle/reuse everything?  Do you grow your own produce?  Do you use less gas/petrol?  Do you buy second hand? Doubtful.  Very Doubtful.  I would love to write a separate article on this alone.  Thanks for the inspiration.  If you are raising eco-friendly children and environmentally conscious yourself, then you're doing your part, regardless of how many children you'r