Monday, March 14, 2011

Manic Monday

Let me start by saying that this Daylight Savings/spring forward crap kicked my a** this year. Losing an hour of sleep on top of the already lost hours of sleep getting up with dear Katelyn(why don't you sleep through the night yet?)completely wiped me out.

It started at 6:45 with the hubby coming upstairs to wake me up (meaning I completely slept through my Y alarm that went off 2 hours earlier). "Crap!". I stumble down the stairs to find my programmable coffee maker (that I set EVERY night to go off when I need it to) was NOT set. "CRAP!". How can I start my day a cup of coffee behind? I fire it up, jump in the shower, (seeing my lonely running clothes all ready to be worn), look at my watch, 7 a.m., the bewitching hour in our house. I send up a quick prayer and go in to the boys' room to wake(the normally already awake by now) boys up.

Jake: I don't want to get up yet, I don't want to go to school, I want to stay home!
Me: I don't want to be up yet either, and I don't want to go to work today.
Jake: That's always your answer.

And then my time as a short-order cook starts. What do you guys want for breakfast? Milk or juice?

Anna: I'll have what Katelyn's having to eat.
Me: Katelyn isn't eating yet.
Anna: Well, I'm not either then.
Me: Fine, Katelyn will eat early.
Beano: I'm not hungry yet.

Finish breakfast, get dressed, crap-to-the-triple-crap!! I forgot to set their clothes out last night, which means I also didn't pack their backpacks, find matching shoes, matching mittens, gloves, hats. Brush teeth, brush (very snarly) hair, no time for ribbons or braids today, wash face.

Beano: Can I have a brownie for breakfast?
Me: No, you can have a brownie AFTER breakfast.
Beano: But you didn't make me breakfast yet.
Jake: That's not fair, can I have a brownie?
Anna: Me too?
Me: Only if you can eat it in one minute.

Everyone is bundled up, shoes tied, grab lunch boxes out of the fridge(the one thing I did have ready-thanks dear hubby for helping me make sandwiches), walk outside C*R*A*P!!! I have to scrape the FROST off the windows.

Yes, we made it to school with 3 minutes to spare.

Thank you dear hubby for letting me go to the Y instead of you today after work, for when all else fails, start running.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

A Tribute to my Dad

My dad with my son
In celebration of my dad's 60th birthday, I'm dedicating this post to him. Sure I could get him a nice Hallmark card with just the right amount of mush and sappyness, but that would be far too easy, and wouldn't do justice to the awesomeness that is my dad.

My dad's "recipe" is this: an overabundance of generosity and warmth, overflowing amounts of patience and tolerance, (thanks for seeing me through the adolescent years), and a super supply of kindness.  When you ask anyone about my dad, they always say how NICE he is.  I've never heard anyone say anything bad about my dad.  That is pretty amazing. 

My dad taught me how to play basketball, playing HORSE and 21, and other games I can't remember the names to.  He took me out for my first Happy Meal (and led me to my lifelong addiction to McDonalds french fries).  He got me my first bike and taught me to ride it (no thanks to my older sister who pushed me down my grandparent's driveway).  He introduced me to his favorite music and to this day I still love the harmonies of Simon and Garfunkel, Herman's Hermits, and Billy Joel, just to name a few.  He contributed to my love of shoes, buying me not one, but two pairs of Converse, (one black pair, one peach) that I wore until I could wear them no more.  He traveled across state lines, through snow and rain, to come and pick me up for my weekends with him, always stopping to get us a treat for the trip (what's a road trip without a bottle of pop and a candy bar, right?).  For every amazing thing he is as a dad, he's all that and more as a grandpa, playing countless games of random who-knows-what with my kids, throwing toys down the laundry chute and scurrying up 3 flights of stairs to do it all over again, pretending to be a grizzly bear, and just holding the babies and rocking with them, instilling in them his calmness and relaxing nature.

So thank you dad for being the awesome dad and grandpa that you are!  I hope to be half the parent you were and still are to me.  <3