Laugh With Moms

Happy Earth Day to everyone.  As part of the festivities, my son’s school declared today “Walk to School Day”.  So in honor of the day, I packed up the three kiddos for the mile walk to school in somewhat cool and foggy conditions.  It was really invigorating for us all to be up and out that early, but we all truly enjoyed the walk.  As we were walking to school, I vowed to do it more often as the weather gets warmer.  Since we don’t live that far, it is definitely an option and allows some nice additional time with my little guy before he heads off to school for the day.  A few other parents also partook in the Walk to School day and the PTO was outside serving coffee.  So today I did my part in helping preserve our Earth for generations to come and just wanted to say Happy Earth Day to us all.  What a great place to live.

At about 8 pm on the Saturday before Easter, I got an important phone call.  Good thing he called (dripping with sarcasm).  My hubby’s business is very busy on all holidays which totally sucks for his family, most importantly me!  He is MIA for the days before the holiday and is usually closed for the actual holiday.  This year though, one of his employees offered to open on Easter for him, so now even holidays are not free of work stress.  Anyhow back to the phone call.  I answered the phone and it was my wonderful hubby calling to say goodnight to the kiddos, one of which was already heading on into REM (sleep not band).  So the other two said their goodnights with one eye on the movie they were watching.  After they were done, my hubby got on the phone with me and said “Are we all set with everything for Easter?”  I just smiled to myself thinking, boy am I glad he thought ahead!!!  Seriously 8pm on the night before Easter??  Now he is worried that we might not have everything we need for Easter?  I marvel at how his mind works…slow and last minute.  This is why my Christmas present is always cold hard cash and why I get a dozen red roses for Valentines’ Day picked up on his way home from work from the same flower shop every year.  He has no time for advanced commitment.  I wonder how he ever planned ahead enough to ask me to marry him and then even to help me plan a wedding a year in advance.  His mind doesn’t naturally work like that.  I understand it, but it still never fails to amaze me.  On the other side of that, thank goodness for those of us who do think ahead even just a little.  Because Easter Baskets would be filled with whatever is available at 11pm at CVS on the night before.  Which by the way, would totally be fine with the kiddos but there are just some things that take some advance planning.  For example, like what is for dinner/lunch on Easter and is the house clean??  As moms (and some dads) it is just part of our make up to think at least a little bit ahead, because you have to, there is so much to do that you have to at least mark some of it off your list.  Everyone has their own schedule for thinking ahead.  My schedule drives my own mother crazy.  I think ahead, but not nearly as much as she does.  So it drives her crazy if I haven’t made my flight reservations 6 months ahead.  Anyway just wanted to give a high five to all those who make those special holidays happen and make them fun and magical for those cute little cherubs.

Yesterday was one of the few nice weather days we have had in a while.  My husband and I packed up the kids and we went down to the water and flew a kite with the sun shining bright. It was a little chilly but the kids were just so happy to be outside.

At the turn of a dime the kids started to get cranky.  So we started to head towards our house and my 4 year old fell asleep.  I had what I thought was a good idea so we stopped off and walked around an outside shopping area on the water.  Once we got there we woke up my 4 year old and walked around to some of the shops.  I needed to get both of the boys new shoes and since my husband was with me, I thought it would be easier to get them both fitted at once.  They both have wide feet and I have had problems finding shoes that fit properly so we went to this one store that had a great selection of wide shoes.

The salesperson measured their feet and started to bring out shoes in their sizes.  The first pair she had my son try on were these bright orange canvas sneakers with a frog on it.  As she was putting it on his foot she tells both myself and my son that her son loves these shoes and that orange is his favorite color.  I was just trying to chase around my 1 year old and didn’t realize that while she was telling the story, my son had a huge smile on his face. We kept trying on more shoes and my son had put it in his mind that we were buying these hideous bright orange shoes.  Once I told him that we were not getting those shoes the meltdown began.  First he tried to convince me that orange was his new favorite color and then that a frog is his favorite animal and then said how they were the most comfortable shoes he ever tried on….the drama went on from there.  I had to pick him up kicking and screaming and leave the store.

After I left the store and calmed him down I thought about what harm would there be in letting him have these bright orange shoes? I then thought of the ridiculous price tag for the hideous bright orange shoes and reminded myself of why I’m the parent and he’s the child.

1)  Do not choose your dinner restaurant based on the amount of open tables on the outdoor veranda because that said restaurant may be the most expensive and finest french restaurant in Sarasota.

2) Do not expect fast and courteous service at the above mentioned restaurant just because you have three kids who are starving and must eat off the adult menu because they don’t believe in having a seperate kids menu.

3) If weight loss is what you are looking for, go on vacation with your three kids.  This may be attributed to the above mentioned restaurant (as well as all dinners during the week) when by the time your food arrives, the kids have scarfed down their hot dogs or chicken tenders (or at the above mentioned restaurant, a nice filet mignon) and have resorted to playing music with their utensils and breakable plates.

4) Just because you live in a beach town, don’t expect your kids to love the beach.  Thus requiring you to carry said children on your hip the entire time you are at the beach and thus attributing to weight loss in #3.  The feel of wet, sandy children against your body is so endearing especially when they are continually crying, rubbing their eyes increasing the amount of sunscreen getting into said eyes which is why the crying commenced in the first place.

5)  Just leave the book at home as there won’t be one single second that you can crack that open and is just added weight to your carry on.  Or should I say my children’s carry ons since there was nothing in those bags that was meant for my benefit (except to keep them thoroughly entertained for the entire flight).

6)  Just get the mini van as the money saved on the mid-size is not worth the aggravation of trying to fit  and buckle three car seats/booster seats everytime you get in and out of said car.

7)  Disney sounds great in theory and is for the most part for the morning hours of the day, but by mid afternoon you are seriously questioning your sanity and wondering if they sell mickey mouse margaritas by the gallon.  Also when you pay the $74 per ticket and you vow to stay until the fireworks, know that you will most likely leave before dinner so you can just go through the drive-thru at McDonalds to avoid one more over-priced meal while the kids are melting down.

8)  Bring your child’s birth certificate or passport when you fly so that you can prove at 5:30 am that your unticketed child is under 2 and is legal to sit on your lap for three hours in a cramped airplane.  Thus avoiding a 5:30 am phone call to your sleeping mother in law to verify your child’s birthdate for the “helpful” ticket agent.

9)  Don’t expect to pick up Twilight on DVD the first day it comes out in the retirement community you decided would be great for a family vacation.  The one “video” store within 20 miles of your condo had a great selection of new releases, from 1975.

10)  When you plan your family vacation, immediately book a long weekend with just you and your hubby to recover from that family vacation.