Testing Boundaries

We've had a rough week.  I was in a sales course that required long hours at the same time Evan decided to show us that the threes can be just as terrible as the twos.

Nighttime routines around here have fallen into the "one more minute" trap.  There's always "one more minute of TV" or "one more minute of pbskids games" or "one more story" or "one more snuggle" or "one more drink" or or or or....ad nauseum!  Unfortunately, even if you gave him every last "one more...." he would fall apart when you finally made him go to bed.  It was hard for me to say "no" to his requests because, honestly, I felt a bit guilty for being so focused on other things.

If only this was the only problem.....because after every nighttime there is....

the Morning.......

Mornings are usually pretty mellow.  I go in a bit later so that I can hang with Evan a bit usually.  He pulls the "one more...." card in the morning too but usually not so often.  He is really clingy in the mornings, though, which means that I have to get his milk, snack, etc even though his nanny is sitting downstairs in the kitchen.  This is fine if I'm not running late but this morning Evan and I had a melt down b/c I was desperately trying to have a shower & he was insistent that I go get his milk.  The situation kept on the same track right up to the time when Evan was blocking the door and screaming "MOOOOMMMMMMYYYYY!  DON'T LEAVE ME!!!!!!!"  I could hear him screaming when I got in the car to leave.

It wasn't pretty!

In my head I know that he is just testing his boundaries with me & I also realize that I'm a good mom and that I give him what he needs.

But my heart breaks every time he cries when I go to work or when he throws himself on the floor because I am soooooo mean!

Why didn't they tell us that motherhood was so damn hard?

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Top 10 Tuesday - Activities for a "Mommy Weekend"

Evan and I love Mommy weekends.  We love to hit the town and do things that we don't normally get to do.  Here are my top 10 possibilities for such a weekend.

1. Hit the Mall - Evan's favorite food in the whole world is Pad Sew Noodles from the Thai place at the mall.  He lurvs them!  After dinner or lunch we hit the play area at the mall for some preschooler fun times.  
2. Bake - Evan LOVES to help me bake.  We make cookies, granola, granola bars....you name it we make it!
3. Go to the Zoo - Evan loves the Calgary Zoo. It is a great zoo....his favorite part is the dinosaurs.
4. Go to Butterfield Acres - It's like a petting zoo on steroids.  Love it!
5. Have a pajama day! Who doesn't love lounging around the house in their jammies?
6. Visit the Farmer's Market - Great people watching and yummy food for lunch.
7. Go for a walk -  If the weather is nice we love to have a walk around the neighborhood...especially if their are yard sales.  Evan has a few favorite playgrounds he loves to visit so we can kill a few hours that way.
8. Events - Depending on the weekend their are fall fairs, home shows, Christmas fairs, etc. Lots of them have kid content such as petting zoos, etc.
9. Crafts - A visit to Michaels leaves us with all kinds of craft ideas for whatever holiday is on the horizon.
10. Sleep In - HA!  Yeah right....he sleeps until 8:30 on days I have to work but I'm lucky to get to sleep until 7 on weekends.

What are your favorite Mommy activities?

Linked up for Top 10 Tuesday at Oh Amanda!

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Worst...Mother...Ever!!!

We headed out to Carseland Provincial Park for our last big camping hurrah this weekend.  We were camping with six other families and a boatload of kids so I thought 

"YES! This is the perfect opportunity to get rid of Elmo!"

You see....Elmo has been a thorn in my side for the last year.  I bought an Elmo pinata for Evan's 2nd birthday party but I was afraid to use it for anything other than a decoration because he would be traumatized.  So Elmo has graced our kitchen counter for the entire year (except for a brief stint in Evan's room before Elmo was deemed "too creepy" for a bedroom decoration).  You may have noticed him here, here...basically any picture that showed the kitchen.  I planned to get rid of him once and for all at Evan's birthday party this year but we forgot.

So.....

My new plan included taking Elmo camping so all the kids could pull the strings and get the candy (this is a string pinata instead of a "beat it with a bat" pinata).  Evan seemed okay with the plan.  

I should have known things were going to go badly when the older kids wanted to dismember Elmo....then it was decided that the pinata would go into the fire when we were done (as does most paper garbage).

Yeah so this scene sent Evan in hysterics screaming "I don't WANT Elmo to BURN!!!!!"

Yeah....

WORST

MOTHER

EVER!!!!!

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Happy Mother's Day!

First....Happy Mother's Day to my lovely Mom!  We didn't get to see her today because she is in Alabama.  I did send her a beautiful necklace from Etsy, though.  I saw it & IMMEDIATELY thought of her.  It is so awesome when you find a gift that is exactly right as opposed to buying something just b/c you think you have to.  I was going to put a pic of the necklace on here but the image is copyrighted so I won't.  You can see it here though.


Also...Happy Mother's Day to Nana!  She is an awesome Mother In Law, a great mom to Dewey and a great Nana to Will, Nicole & Evan.  I am very, very lucky!





For my Mother's Day celebration, Dewey suggested that we go to Chez Francois in Canmore for breakfast.  Chez Francois is my FAVORITE breakfast place ever.  They serve the best Eggs Benedict I have ever tasted.  They also have amazing crepes.  I would imagine they also have great dinner food but we've never been there for anything but breakfast.  We called & made reservations (thankfully) because when we arrived there was a note on the door that said "We are completely full! Please come again on another day".  Dewey had his usual Eggs Benedict, I had the "Ladies Combo" which had one egg benedict and 2 raspberry crepes and Evan had the kid's cinnamon sugar crepes.  Everyone was completely happy with their food.  Evan even ate all of his! This is high praise from our little non-eater!

Since we didn't have anything planned today, we decided to take a drive into Kananaskis Country on the Spray Lakes Trail.  It was a beautiful drive.  I had hoped to see a moose or a bear but it was not to be.  We did end up seeing some deer & two different sets of sheep.

The only semi-downer of the trip was that Evan is still very early in the potty training game so we stopped A LOT.  Thankfully Dewey remembered to pack Evan's potty so we could just stop on the side of the road.  We made it home without any accidents though we did have to stop to let him pee in a heavy snowstorm and on the side of a major highway.  Good times!

Yep....that's Evan on the potty in the back of the truck!

Last but not least for my Mother's Day spoiling is this beautiful Pandora bracelet from Dewey, Evan, Will & Nicole!

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Good Mommy or Bad Mommy?

Things have been crazy busy around here the last couple of weeks. Dewey and I are able to roll with the punches but often Evan is the one that gets the short end of the stick. I'm trying to get better about making sure that we do things especially for him sometimes instead of just "around" him. For example...tonight I thought I would take Evan to the mall b/c he likes to eat out occasionally and I could take the purse I got for Christmas back b/c it's falling apart. 2 minutes up the road I thought "Am I really doing this for him or am I doing this to take back my purse?". I turned off at the next exit and went to McDonald's. He LOVES McDonald's. He says "Buggers and Fwyes are my favrit!"

So the good mommy/bad mommy comes in when I think...."Am I teaching him the right thing by taking him to McDonald's as a treat?". I tend to subscribe to the thought that as long as he doesn't eat it all the time it is fine.

Oh...and did I mention that this McDonald's has a PlayPlace? One that is in a separate part that has the WORST ACOUSTICS EVAH???? Ugh. There were big kids running amok & screaming everywhere. I told Evan "I don't think you should play b/c those kids are really big." He was hearing nothing of it. He stood on the edge of the playground for a while before he ventured forward. Then next thing you know he was climbing up into the play structure.



THEN......he got stuck. He stuck his face to the plexiglass and said "Mommy come help me!" So, I had to take off my boots and climb in to help him down. Once we got out I said it was time to go home. The little monkey was already climbing up the other part of the playground. I stopped him before he got too far & off we went.

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Wordless Wednesday - Evan's a Kitty!

Well, yet another week with no What's Cooking Wednesday. I'm sorry & I hope that next week I will be back at it. It's been crazy around here with work stuff so know that it's not that I don't WANT to post!

Here are some pics from our trip to Kimberly. I gave Evan some dry Cheerios in a bowl. He decided they were cat food & here's the result. Crazy kid!

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Not Too "Matchy, Matchy"

We're getting our family pictures taken on Sunday and we scheduled it sort of last minute. So tonight I got to go shopping. Now normally, I love to go shopping. Especially when I can go to the mall without Evan. Tonight, though, not so much. "Why?" you might ask....well, I was shopping with a purpose.....and a deadline. I needed to find shirts for all of us that "go" together but aren't too "matchy, matchy". We thought about the whole jeans with white shirts thing but we have to do the pics indoors b/c of the weather & we will most likely use a white background. Doh!

It would be much easier if I knew what all Will and Nicole have for clothes but I don't. And trying to explain what I'm looking for when even I DON"T KNOW is not a conversation I really want to have with their mother!!!! Thankfully, a trip to our new mega-mall, Cross Iron Mills, did the trick (or at least I hope it did). I have sweaters for Will (brown) and Nicole (dark purple). Dewey (dark green) and I (purple) have sweaters that will work. Now I just have to figure out if Evan has something for us to be done.

Yay!

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H1N1 Vaccination?

So, are you going to get the shot? This is the question on everyone's mind these days and everyone has an opinion. Some people say "Sign me up!" and some people say "Never". I find that most people are in the "I think I should...but I'm not sure....wasn't it approved kinda fast.....this is a bit scary.......not sure what to do.....Ack!" camp. I'm kind of in two camps. I will get the shot for myself but I'm not convinced that I'll get it for Evan.

I always get the flu shot for myself. It's a habit that started in Austin. The company I worked for had free shots in our cafeteria every year. It was free & easy so I couldn't come up with a good reason not too. Plus I HATE being sick (I get VERY whiney...ask Dewey!). Now I get one because I know that it helps keep Evan well b/c I don't bring the flu home to him. Dewey refuses to get the shot so I'm not sure my argument holds water, though. This year with everyone saying that H1N1 is WAY more contagious than the normal flu & talking to people who have had it....I'm contemplating getting the shot for Evan too. Either way, I don't know what I will do if the decision I make ends up harming Evan. That's the hard part of being a parent, right. You make the best decision with the info you have & then you deal with the consequences. Darn this parenting job is tough!!!!

So....are you getting the shot? Are you getting it for your kids?

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