Niko's Big Week...

The past eight days have been a blast for our son. It started with Valentines weekend. After the Daddy's Day Pancake breakfast at school, Niko got to get signed out of school EARLY and then he and Daddy took the short flight to Phoenix (they went up, had their peanuts, and came down). My dad met them at the airport and within 10 minutes they were in the car and off to an NBA event at the Suns Center! Pop-pop doesn't like to have his picture taken but he sent Niko this really cool Suns jersey Niko wore on the plane, so I asked Juan to take one of Niko and his grandfather anyway. My dad cracks me up because he is laughing and joking all the time, but he absolutely will not smile for the camera. Fortunately, he knows I like to scrapbook, so this time he at least stood still long enough for this one picture. Thanks Dad!

Hightlights of the event: Getting to see Magic Johnson (he's in the picture here), Rick Foxx,

Dr. J, the New Harlem Globetrotters, and Niko says he's sure he saw Shaquille O'Neill walking out of the stadium! They had it set up so the kids had the opportunity to go down on the actual playing floor and shoot some hoops themselves too. They didn't get to see the NBA allstar game the next night (I got the timing wrong on that one) but Niko really enjoyed himself and when asked what the best part was, it wasn't getting to see some of the amazing athletes he admires and hopes to emulate. No, for our son it was, "Getting to do something cool with my Daddy and Pop-pop." :>

Then, this weekend, we set the alarm for 6am to be up and ready to drive the hour out to Norco so our 10 yr old amazing athlete, himself, could play his sport of choice at the moment, tennis. It was cold and the High school was having a marching band competion on the football field at the SAME time. It could have thrown all the players off their game, but not our Niko. Lauren cheered him on and Mommy told him to ignore the VERY LOUD drums and tried herself to ignore the butterflies in her stomach too. Dad, he was afraid of making Niko nervous just watching so he took a spot outside and watched the matches from afar. An hour later, our tennis player (who had a big blister on his hand by the way!) walked off the court with....2nd place! It has been a week of miles and smiles!

One Step Up...

It's Friday night and I am sleepy. Not tired but really sleepy. Juan and the kids are too.

We, like most families, are cramming so much into every day and our nights are getting later and later. The lack of sleep is catching up with all of us. Last night I had to instill a new rule: You have 1 hour to finish your homework-if it isn't completed by then (barring any true stumbling blocks), you take it to school incomplete. They both said, "What?!", and Lauren said, "But, I'm tired and I don't want to read this other chapter." I looked at her and said, "Okay, but you've been dawdling and if you don't do well tmrw on your test, there will be consequences." She looked at me and said, "Mrs. H said today, "A "B" with an "E" is a good grade, but if there wasn't any "E"ffort in that "B" than it isn't a good grade. Is that what you mean?" I said, "Exactly." She smiled and said, "Okay, I'll go read."

The thing is, this year, they CAN do this. One cool thing about having twins is, they can quiz each other for tests. They learn as students and then as teachers. It's very cool. It has literally lifted the memorization part of school completely off my shoulders. My time is important too, and they are beginning to get that. I really value the moments of connecting they share as brother and sister, and usually let them coast at their own pace. They go into each others room and have the nicest talks about friends, tests, funny things. But during homework I have been so hands on, I needed them to focus now, talk later, ya know? They are diligent students, especially Niko, and they are both now getting things in a One Step Up kinda way. I rarely have to worry either may have missed something or needs further instruction--

as long as the distractions don't take over.

This reminded me of a conversation I had about 7 years ago, where at the car wash, a nice woman inquired of my kids ages. I told her they were three and she said, "Twins. Wow! You look tired. Don't worry though, ten is the age you start to feel like your old self again." I laughed and said, "I look like a mom. As you know, Mom's work HARD. My kids have 7 years to go yet. Not sure if I'll make it!" She smiled and said, "Something tells me you will."

Yes, tonight, I am sleepy, but not tired like I get when I'm stressed. It's a good kind of sleepy, that makes one look forward to a snuggly night of sleep under a heavy comforter. Also, with this new "step up", with the kids taking on more of their studies in a responsible, productive way, theyhave achieved two very nice Presidents Awards displayed proudly on our kitchen wall! The truly nice thing is, they earned straight A's before, but this time it was with so few grumpys. Instead, there was a nice, relative ease, a confidence, that comes with them doing it themselves, and I know they are feeling it too. I hope it continues.

There is a great comfort knowing your children are growing and inching towards self-reliance. Who knows, if we keep getting the sleepy nights vs the tired, that nice lady at the car wash may be right after all. Of course, then I'll be feeling my young and vibrant self again and wish they were three year old once more!

Qute Quote...

We were running late a few days ago getting ready for school when Niko said, "It's Valentines Day this week Mom." Yes it is, I know,on Saturday. He smiled as he was zipping up his backpack and said, "I love Valentines Day. I love you." I smiled back as I was whizzing past him to collect Lauren, and I said, "I love you too, son. Lauren let's go, we're running late!" Then, totally oblivious to my stress of us being tardy he says with a calm sweetness, "Love, its the whole point." I stopped up quickly and turned to him as he finished with, "Not just for Valentines Day, but for everything." I took this boys' darling grinning face into my hands and said, "You are so right!" and I kissed him. What a gift that child is.

Everyday joys...

I can breath through both nostrils now. When you have spent the last 5 days only having the use of one nostril, it's the little things like the clearing of the other that can bring you a joy undefined. Got to thinking about that. I have a list here on the side of my blog that shares with you a whole bunch of things that come to mind instantly when I think of joy, but just this last week, I realized I kept running into surprise every day joys too. Here's my list:

1. WD-40 : Our bedroom door creaks, and there is nothing more annoying than waking up early on the weekend and trying to not wake them when you open your door, and then CREEEEK! That precious quiet time you thought you might be able to get away with is instantly snatched away. Not anymore though--I oiled the door hinges and VOILA!

2. Vicks Vapor Rub (or as Juan says in Spanish, "Beeks Bapo Roo") : My daughter couldn't breathe, I couldn't breathe, and nobody was going to sleep. Then, I remembered what my grandmother always did, she rubbed VVR on mychest and a little under my nose. I ran and got it, applied it like an old pro. Lauren thinks I'm so smart, and I get to say a thanks to my gram for the "instant" cure.

3. Erasers: Need to google whomever came up with the simple eraser on the end of a pencil. Brilliant! We were down to one this weekend and we had to SHARE (of all things!). Can you imagine doing homework without your own eraser? It's not as important as inventing the wheel, but when the eraser runs out a definate panic sets in. We made it through but whew! just barely!

4. Bottled water: How cool is that? You can take water with you ANYWHERE. No more looking for unsanitary fountains or kids crying because they are thirsty. We always have water on hand. Twice this week a different child has asked me for water-and i just reached back and handed it to them.

5. Bubble Bath: I love taking baths, especially in the cold wintertime. My sister-in-law gave me some almond/milk bath powder and some lavender bath gels. There is something very girly about filling up the tub with hot bubbly scented water that literally melts the stress of the day away. I think I've regained many months if not years this way.

6. Insta-flame: We have one of those instant flame things that light the fireplace, stove, and candles. I use ours, no kidding, every single day of the year. In the winter I use it to light the fireplace and my evening ambiance candles, and the summer, the bbq. I love it so much, i recently found a sale on them at Michaels so I bought a back up!

I have more of these problem solvers but these are the ones that stood out lately. Do you have any simple every day things that bring make your days easier or more pleasurable? Problem solvers are wonderful. We should all make a list and share the helpful hints!

Sick Day...

It's 11:40pm and I am just climbing into bed. Should be allowing myself to pass out right now, but my nose won't cooperate so until it clears a bit I wiil write. I have a bit of a head cold. Not bad, more like the old-fashioned colds we got when we were kids, you know, the kind when you could still function but just had to sniff a lot. Instead of going into work though like usual, and getting everyone else sick, for the first time in a very long time, I took a sick day. Called in sick. Yes, I did. Little uneasy about it at first because even days when I'm not there all day, I am still anxious about what I'm not getting done,. Today though, I gave myself the okay to leave work at work. Housework though, not so much.

Odd how, as the woman of the house, no matter how we are feeling, if we are home, then every single thing that needs to be done, seems to be shouting at us, "Take care of me!" What's worse is, we feel gulity if we don't do as commanded! It's a horrible place to find yourself. If you spend the time cleaning, you don't give yourself the rest you need, and the other way around. No winning. So, this morning, after my kids went off to school and juan to work, I made a deal with the dishes, laundry, broom, and vacuum; I would give some of them attention today but the others would have to wait till tmrw. I was worn down and didn't want this cold to get worse. They grumbled but in the end it was the laundry and me working out our differences.

While the white load was spinning, I lighted the fireplace, got my pillow and blankie, and then let the sound of the mind-numbing daytime tv lull me into a catnap of sleep. I woke to the washing machine telling me it had had enough of my laziness, "Get this laundry out me and into the dryer!". We had that conversation 4 times today in all. Never did get to the dishes. Yes, I have a sink full of dishes. According to every other commerical I heard this morning, there is someone out there willing to represent even my dishes so they can SUE me for renigging on our deal. Btwn those attorneys at law "fighting for you!" and all those diet plans just waiting to help me loose those unwanted pounds (I didn't know I had) but apparantly everyone must, I was having a great morning.

At 3pm my very nice friend, Laurie, dropped my kids home. It felt like they had just left. Where did the time go? Resting would have to wait. Homework, hungry kids, and real life don't care that my head is starting to pound. I ignore the beat in my head and get to it,. At 7pm Niko went to Scouts and I consented for Lauren to watch a movie (that way I could lay down). 9pm the boys get home and it is bed time ( i thought). Both kids suddenly remember they have math that needs to be checked (which really irks me because they assured me they were done hours ago), and now Lauren has a tooth that is hanging by one root. She starts to cry. I think I may cry too.

It is now 11pm. Juan walks past me getting ready for bed and Niko says, "Oh no. I have a math quiz tmrw and I'm not ready for it." Juan looks at me and the expression on my face and says to him, "What do you need to know? Let's do it." Thank goodness because I would NOT have been as helpful. Just then, I heard the last load of laundry buzz at me that it was ready to be folded. I looked over at Juan and the kids going over Roman numerals and thought, "I'm going to bed. Dryer, you can wait till tmrw. If you don't like it, SUE ME!" I climbed into bed, with tissues nearby, and was thinking my nose just may let me sleep afterall... and then I remembered, oh no, I still need to stay up to let the tooth fairy in!

Q'ute Quote...

Its been chilly in our home, especially in the mornings.
Yesterday morning, I got up and prepared breakfast
and filled lunchboxes and then I went back upstairs to
jumpstart my kids for the day. I got them up and then
thought, I need to sit down for a minute. Just then, I saw
Lauren come down the hall. She dropped herself down on the couch and layed right down in my lap. She said, "I need warmth--Mommy warmth!" I smiled and wrapped my mommy arms around this yummy child and pulled her close, and then, we were both filled with warmth.