Facing the Facts

With money tight, we all have to make decisions and sacrifices that we'd rather not make. Eating dinner out... we barely do it anymore. Clothes and shoes? I look but I don't purchase. While those are definitely things we enjoy, they're not nearly as difficult to forgo as my facials. Spending an hour to myself with no kids, no phone and no Internet is not only a gift to my sanity, it's key in keeping my skin from looking like a road map.

Don't believe me?

This morning, as I volunteered in kindergarten, a little girl asked me about the unidentifiable object on my face.

"What's that on your chin?"
"Uh, let's keep reading the story."
"It's red. Right there. What IS it?"
"Ok then, we're moving on..."

60 minutes later, I was having a facial. If my skin problems are noticeable to the not-ready-for-full-day crowd, imagine how I look to the rest of the world.



Frankly, I could hug that little girl. She reminded me there are some things we just can't give up. I'm just thankful she couldn't see my chipped toe nails.

What's something you can't live without?

The Apple Dumpling Gang

If I could sum up my parenting fail in a word, it would have to be -- FOOD.

When Jacob was almost a year old, we thought it would be so cute to get him his very first "kid's meal." That Sunday afternoon move may have been one of my biggest mistakes -- ever. I have spent every day since bribing, threatening, begging and bargaining, hoping my five-year-old would just eat a meal that wasn't shaped like a dinosaur, covered in pepperoni or come in a color not found in nature. When I do get him to try something, it often ends up in a gag/vomit combo that leaves me on my hands and knees wiping up food that looks nothing like the treats meal I had prepared.

Clock Fight

How is it that turning the clocks one hour can turn perfectly reasonable people into whiny, weepy, irrational, button-pushing tiny people? And then there are my kids.

ONE HOUR.

60 minutes.

A mere 3600 seconds.

I'm no Father Time here but any change that makes kids get up at 4:30 AM, skip naps and melt down by 5 PM? I don't care the reason, it's just a bad decision. I've done articles in the past with experts who give tips on making it an easy transition. It's crap. I'm thinking I'll drag my kids over to the expert's house now and let them wreak a little havoc.



Actual photo sleeping on the stairs post-meltdown but before waking up in a weepy mess.

What's the time change doing to your house?

God Bless the Suburbs

This is what our basket looked like at the end of the night.



Love kids who can follow directions.

The Stranger Who Saved Halloween

I think I might have the only kids out there who hadn't realized they could choose a new Halloween costume every year. For the past month, whenever someone asked them what they were going to be, Jacob would exclaim "Spiderman," Brady would proudly say "Mr. Incredible," and Lucy would say "candy." Ok, Lucy was much less interested in talking attire and more about the sugar she'd be consuming.

Brady has actually been wearing last year's costume pretty regularly since then. He loves to wear it around the house, sleep in it, even beg to wear it to school (which is where I put the foot firmly down). Over the summer, when we were moving from our house to a hotel to an apartment (I never did show those kitchen before-and-afters did I?), Brady would take the costume wherever we went. It didn't matter that it was 105 degrees, he was Mr. Incredible in all kinds of weather.

Beating Up Baby Einstein

If you've purchased a Baby Einstein DVD lately, you may be eligible to get your money back. In a move that just proves that some people have way too much time on their hands, Susan Linn, director of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood says, “We see it as an acknowledgment by the leading baby video company that baby videos are not educational, and we hope other baby media companies will follow suit by offering refunds.”

Are you kidding me?

First of all, if you're running to the video store looking for something to turn your child into a genius, then you deserve to lose your money. That being said, can we PLEASE give parents a little credit that they buy the Baby Einstein products because frankly, kids LIKE them. And if it gives us 30 minutes to sit back and eat Bon Bons, so be it (because that's what we all do with a spare half hour, right?).

Thanks, Mean Jake!

We hopped out of the car, strapped his backpack on and sprinted. We had less than a minute before the bell -- which is really more like a buzzer --would ring, signaling the kindergartners to line up and begin the day.

As we got to the playground area, I quickly grabbed Jacob's head and planted a kiss on his messy haired-noggin. He jumped in line and started following his classmates in.

"WAIT," I heard him yell, with a panic in his voice that startled me. "I FORGOT SOMETHING!"

"No, honey. You have everything. What is it?"

He came running over to me and planted the sweetest kiss on me, catching me off guard with emotion.

As he ran back in line, catching up with his class, I stood there in silence. Tears streamed down my face. It was one of those moments that makes it all worthwhile. I felt like that little boy in the '70s Coke ad with Mean Joe Green. Except my hero, was my son.



How have your own kids stopped you in your tracks like that?

PS: Who chugs Coke like that?