Are we passing Elmo in the fast lane?

My boys turned three a few weeks ago.

They also finished potty training...well, let's say they are 95% which is good enough for me, granted I am hoping for a 100% in the next month or so.

As a reward for wearing underwear 24 hours a day, they would get a special gift. They would get their very own ATV racing helmet!

This was a big deal. We've been talking about it for several months. We pass by the motorcycle store Xtreme Machines almost every day.

The big day had come and we pulled into the lot. Not knowing what to expect, I took a big breath and carried my "babies" in.

The men were really nice and helped me locate some helmets quickly. The boys were more than anxious to try on these giant helmets. The looked so large, like my full face helmet for skydiving or my once used motorcycle helmet.

TheY chose colors. I waited for the sales guy to retrieve the new helmets.

The boys made themselves at home immediately locating a 70cc ATV and playing with the keys. They had not graduated past their 12v Fisher Price ATVs with max speed of 5 mph. These 70cc ATVs will go up to 20 mph and you can adjust the speed as they learn. I asked the sales guy about them. His 3 year old is already riding one. I know that these are inevitable and the boys will have them. I mean, am I ready for this? I still have the blankets the nurses wrapped around them when they were born!

They looked like such big boys sitting up straight on those little ATVs. When they put the helmets on, they looked a bit like...well, bobble heads. My sweet little boys. These helmets would replace the Elmo bike helmets we purchased a year ago. Were we coming to a new right of passage? Were they going to be decked in racing gear - head to toe - before we knew it?

I was excited for them and at the same time, just a wee bit melancholy for the speed that the last three years had come.

We drove home, the boys talking about their racing helmets the whole way. We went immediately to the back yard and pulled out their 4-wheelers. This was it. The beginning of the end. I am just one soccer game and a prom away from college.

And then I heard the words that reminded me that they are still just 3. Lovely, delightful, funny 3.

As I handed the new racing helmet to Nathan, he said "No Mom. I want the Elmo helmet".

~ Mama of racin' boys

Fitflops!

I am going to look F I N E fine this summer!

My manager recommended these combo flip-flop/sneaker shoes that give you a good work out when you wear them. They are called FitFlops and I purchased them at my favorite girlie online shopping site, Bliss.

I think my husband will be excited. He hates my Birkenstocks and I hate to wear sneakers so I have the best of both worlds now and will use them on our trip to California next week.

I love the fact that when you wear them, they help you work out your legs. That fits with my schedule, so I am going to wear them all day long while I work so they will be working my legs!!!


Wait...let me see the directions here...

Ooops...

You actually have to wear them while you are walking. Okay, so let me think about this....

So, let's see...I will wear them every time I walk outside. And to the store. And to the mailbox. Which, all of a sudden, doesn't sound like a whole lot of walking.

Oh well, my dreams of great gams are diminishing by the second.

At least they're cute sandals.

~ (Maybe) Lovely Leggy Mama

When I'm feeling blue...

All I have to do, is take a look at you...
Then I'm not so blue.



You have to admit that they bring smile to your face. I love Guido's Italian afro!

~ Call me Sally

The Versatility of Ramen Noodles

Here are the top 10 reasons I love ramen noodles:

1. You can fix them in less than 5 minutes.
2. They are about $.25 per package
3. My boys love them!
4. My husband loves them!
5. When you are sick, they are a nice comfort food.
6. The boys will put one end of the noodle in their mouth and put the opposite end in my mouth so that we can SLURP! Cute!
7. You can make them nutritious by adding steamed vegetables
8. You can make them gourmet by sautéing flavorful vegetables and unusual seasonings (like chili pepper and garlic)
9. After sitting for a few minutes, they can be a long term binding agent to be used throughout your household.
10. They can be swept up or wiped off easily once they harden (which is the next stage in their bonding cycle).

~ Foodie

New Year's Resolution

So maybe if I write it down, I will actually do it...

Number One
Stop reading gossip mags. Bad habit, like reading a trashy novel. I know more about Brittney Spears than the candidates for election. I will read more about world news.

Number Two
Be a little more patient with my three guys. When I am tired or stressed, I expect immediate and exact following of my instructions. Pretty unrealistic for my free-spirited men. It's me, believe me.

Number Three
Be open to constructive feedback. This happens mostly with my Miguel and business partners at work. Although I can be self deprecating at times, I almost expect that everything I do is perfect or that no one should notice errors. I need to get over myself.

Okay that's it for me...so far my health is good and I am pretty organized, so those aren't on my list...or should they be?

Keeping up with the Jetsons

Picture this:

Jane Jetson receives a call in the morning, before she has had time to shower and put on her make-up. She grabs for her special "mask" that makes it appear as though she as been perfectly coiffed and answers the phone. Since it is in the future, she has a video phone and her friend sees her looking perfect and is none the wiser. Do you remember that? I loved the Jetson's - here's the theme song:

Jetson's Theme




I don't claim to be one of those that keep up with the Jones' but these days, I am keeping up with the Jetson's.

We downloaded Skype to our computers and added a Webcam. Mike's sister and parents also have a webcam. We are able to call each other and talk and for anyone with the webcam, we are the Jetson's. The boys are so infatuated with it they YELL into the computer and wave. Just incredible. I am hoping to connect with family across the country so that I can see them and hear them too. It's hard to travel these days - as the boys get older, it will definitely get easier. Until then, we'll rely on our video phone.

Now, if I could only find my Jane Jetson mask...

~ Another Jane

Disney's Magic

(apologies in advance for a consolidated blog of our trip to Disney)

Clearly I have lost brain matter since having the boys so the trip is somewhat of a blur. I actually started this on vacation but I never had time to keep it up. Any down time was spent healing my back and feet and curling into the fetal position until the boys came bounding in the next day saying "Hi Mom!HowYaDoin MOM?" (letters purposly run together to simulate Nathan turning a sentence into one word)

They were the best of times, they were the worst of times...such was the theme of the trip. My memory is more in sound bites so I will replay both good and chaotic memories - and not necessarily in order.

1. Mike went old school on me...doesn't believe in strollers.
When the boys were babies, Mike saw a toddler in a stroller in Target. He couldn't believe the kid wasn't walking around. Thought the parent needed to get him out of the stroller. (Huh?) Fast forward to Disney, millions of people, overtired kids...no stroller. If the boys weren't running around, I was carrying one of them. Ugh. There were three, half-days that I convinced him to use a stroller. Two out of three were a bad idea.
Upside? 5 - 6 miles a day carrying dead weight, easily a 30,000 calorie-a-day burn. I figured since I burned all those calories, I could eat lots of chocolate when I got home Aaahhh! The Magic of Disney!

2. Sleep? No sleep.
The boys were so overwhelmed that we couldn't get them to nap. We had to throw every technique out the window and think fast - we needed them to sleep more than 8 hours a day. We employed two techniques. The first is called the "Starbuck's Strategy". This is where you use the combination of your navigation system and laptop to find all of the Starbuck's within a 100 mile radius. Midway through the day, we plop the kids in their carseats and take off. They end up asleep in about 10 minutes and we get our coffee. The 2nd strategy was to lie in bed with them at night until they fell asleep. I loved doing that and wish it was easy to do at night at home but as Cassie always says, "don't do anything you don't want to do forever". It worked at Disney and they slept well after the 1st night.

Downside - Nathan teething so he would leave huge, soaking wet spots on my shirts when he fell asleep on me. (but I wouldn't trade it)

3. LaQueen and TOW Mater (a.k.a. Lightening McQueen and Mater)
They love the movie. They love the cars. They play with them, carry them around in pockets, lose them outside. They line them up, match them in pairs. Drive them around the floors but meet them in person? Not the reaction I expected.



4. "Jamie, meet Mickey, Mickey. Mickey meet Jamie"
We met Mickey. Jamie was fascinated meeting him. Even waiting for him, the boys were patient as they remained glued to a tv watching cartoons. Nothing short of a miracle.



5. Finally, a BEER!
On our last day at Disney, we visited EPCOT which turned out to be a real hit. You mostly think of it as a playground for older kids and adults. We played the first part of the day at Innoventions, World of Imagination, Turtle Talk with Crush and the Living Seas with Nemo. After lunch, we toured the World Showcase. About 1/3 through, the boys fell asleep IN THE STROLLER! Could it be? Asleep? You know what that means?!?! We hit the beer vendor and pay $15 for two beers. May sound crazy but I handed the cast member my money with glee! With the boys asleep, we could easily take pictures of them because they were sitting still. We went to one of the pavillions to add onto Mike's troll collection.



Hilarious? I thought so. Mike didn't see it as funny as I did.

6. Our first ride
One of my favorite memories will be riding the tram our first day to Disney MGM studios. It was warm, the boys were lovin' it. Their little faces turned toward the sun with the win blowing through their hair. It was magic.

7. Nathan hits on some girls.
The morning we went to EPCOT, we were parking our stoller in the stroller "parking lot". We turned away from Nathan and heard a young women giggling. When we turned around. He was holding hands with a miniature princess. She was all dressed up like Belle and Nathan was holding her hand. Good thing she had a twin sister ;)

8. Dude, Turtle Talk with Crush is Awesome!
Kids up front, adults in back. We took the kids with us because they were a little young. They were squealing and yelling and having the best time...and so were we. They have two cast members that can play that part. It's completely improvisational and I imagine him with little electrodes hooked to his face because "Crush" has facial expressions while he is talking - expressions that go to what he is saying! It was incredible! In a time when it is hard to amaze me, I was amazed.

9. GirWAFF!
Our room at the Animal Kingdom faced the Savannah. We had the giraffes outside of room every day. Spectacular. They were so close. The weirdest think was this bird that sounded like a cat. He would sit across the way and make sounds early in the morning. I kept hearing him around 6am and thinking someone brought their cat. I was so groggy and barely awake but I kept hearing that sound! Then I started to wonder if they brought a litter box and where they hid it and if they put him in the kennel and by then, I had completely over analyzed the situation and I was up...

There is more but I am sure Google will stop me soon. As a former cast member, I cannot think of Disney as anything other than a fantasy, pure magic. The first few days left me wondering if you could still find the magic in the rat race of kids and people. But I did. And it was. 15 years ago I found my way to a place that will always be in my heart. A place I hope to return someday, as a cast member once more. Although this time, they're paying me more than $5.25 an hour.

~ just another former cast member and MOM