"Any fool knows men and women think differently at times, but the biggest difference is this. Men forget, but never forgive; women forgive, but never forget."— Robert Jordan
I realize that I've been kind of lacking in the posting department, but it's because whenever the kids say something funny or cute, I tend to post it on Facebook. I always mean to add it to my blog, because this is their "baby book" of sorts, it's just that time tends to get away from me...
Anyway, I decided this afternoon to go back through some of my Facebook statuses and copy and paste into one blog post the ones I want to remember when my kids are teenagers and I want to wring their little necks.
Said today: Jillian's choice of Trix Yogurt came with a free spoon/fork type thingy... she said, "it's not a spoon, but it's not a fork... it's both!" I told her that they're called "sporks" and she said, "I know. They're from France."
February 27: Jillian (holding Barbie and Ken): "Do you Ken Mike DeLuca, take this lady, Barbie Jewel Barbin to be your awful wife? Yes? You may kiss Barbie on the lips. *Kissing sounds*"
February 17: Children of the technology age: When they're playing with toys together, imagining Mario and Spiderman saving Cinderella from Bowser, for instance, and one of them has to go do something, they'll say, "Pause the game for a minute, okay?"
February 16: For some reason, we were talking about college this morning around the breakfast table. Matt started sobbing and when I asked why, he said because he didn't want to leave me... he wants to live with me forever. No matter how much I reassured him that I'm SURE he'll change his mind someday, he adamantly denied it. I'll have to remind him of this little moment when he's 18 and I'm dropping him off at his dorm.
February 11: Me: You know, Arie had her wedding video transferred to DVD at Ritz Camera in Salem. Mark DeLuca: We should definitely do that. Matt: Nooooo!!! Mark: Why not? Matt: Because I don't want to see you guys kissing! DUH!
January 22: Jillian: "Mumma, I know that you don't like to be fashionable, but you're still really pretty."
January 18: Was just reading the monthly school newsletter and came to the update that Jillian's teacher writes each month for her class: "We have spent some time talking about the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the children felt compelled to disclose some of their “dreams” for the world….." Jillian-My dream is for everyone to love the rainbow unicorn." Other children dream about having no more fighting, or to help the people in the hospital, or to love animals and friends. My daughter dreams of rainbow unicorns.
January 9: Matt: "Mumma, I love you more than Angry Birds... And God and Jesus and Mario. I even love you more than pancakes." Good to know where I stand. ;)
December 29, 2011: Jill: "Matthew, if you play with me, I'll give you hundreds and hundreds of dollars from my whole wallet." Apparently the girl has been holding out on me. And, for the record, Matt said he would play with her... but wants the money up front.
December 25, 2011: Jillian: "How did Santa know I wanted this??? I didn't even know I wanted this!!!"
There's nothing like an ultra-sensitive and compassionate 7 year old to make you feel like a crappy mom. I had promised to take the kids to Target after school today because I've had a couple of gifts they received from my parents that we needed to exchange, plus Matt has a gift card that's been burning a hole in his pocket. So Matt decided he wants a new video game that's all the rage in his class, and Jill wanted a new Barbie.
After school I sent the kids upstairs to change and then we'd go. Matt came down and said that Jill had done something inappropriate (nothing serious, just "potty related," so I won't go into details on my blog). I've been battling the whole potty talk/inappropriate talk thing for what seems like years now, and I know it's a stage that all kids their age go through, but it drives me nuts. Anyway, as punishment, I told Jill that she'd have to exchange her gift for a Barbie another day - her punishment for being inappropriate was that she couldn't get a toy today, and I'd take Matt tonight after Daddy got home.
Jill, of course, was very upset about this and, in pure Jillian fashion, histrionics and drama ensued. I sent her up to her room to cool off, and then went about my afternoon. Several minutes later Matt came up to me and asked me to give Jillian a second chance and let her get her Barbie, because seeing her sad was making him very sad. I explained to him that maybe next time she'd think a little harder before doing something inappropriate, and that's what punishment is all about. He burst into tears and said that if she was punished, then so was he, because he didn't like to see his sister so upset. He then sent himself to his room in silent protest.
I was so tempted to give in and give Jill her "second chance" just for the sole reason that it was killing me that Matt was being so sympathetic and protective of his little sister, and I like to encourage that behavior whenever I can... but in the end I had to stick to my guns.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of getting my beautiful daughter ready for her very first dance. As you can see, she was very excited.
We had a beautiful dress all ready for her as a hand-me-down from a good friend, so we were able to splurge a little on her hair.
We came home and had a manicure.
Applied some makeup.
Got dressed a full hour early, so had a photo shoot for fun.
Then her date "arrived" with a beautiful bouquet of roses, just for her. And of course Mom had to take a few pictures.
With a warning to her date to have her home at a reasonable hour, they were off. A magical night was had by our little princess.
There was dancing.
And snacks.
The Limbo.
She had a "feather" added to her hair by the resident stylist.
And even made time for a dance with her date.
I know she'll remember this "first" for the rest of her life, and Mark and I can't help but picture her at her wedding someday... and it brings tears to my eyes.
I got this idea from Pinterest and decided to modify it a bit. Instead of doing it on their birthdays, I'll ask them these 20 questions the day after Christmas every year from now on (my mom used to do this every New Year's Eve, but I can't wait that long. LOL). Here are their answers for 2011:
Jill (5 1/2):
What is your favorite color? Purple
What is your favorite toy? My American Girl Doll
What is your favorite fruit? Strawberries
What is your favorite tv show? Max & Ruby
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Macaroni & Cheese
What is your favorite outfit? My Hello Kitty dress
What is your favorite game? Uno
What is your favorite snack? Crackers
What is your favorite animal? Piggy!
What is your favorite song? Party in the U.S.A., Miley Cyrus
What is your favorite book? If You Give a Pig a Pancake, Laura Numeroff
Who is your best friend? Brooklyn
What is your favorite cereal? Rice Krispies
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Swing
What is your favorite drink? Water
What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Blankie
What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Pancakes
What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Roast Pork (??)
What do you want to be when you grow up? Work at McDonalds (Double ????)
Matt (Almost 7):
What is your favorite color? Green
What is your favorite toy? My 3DS
What is your favorite fruit? Grapes
What is your favorite tv show? Spiderman
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Pancakes
What is your favorite outfit? Mario clothes
What is your favorite game? Super Mario 3D Land
What is your favorite snack? Pretzels
What is your favorite animal? Elephant
What is your favorite song? Slam, Onyx (thanks Mark!)
What is your favorite book? "I like to make my own books."
Who is your best friend? Anthony
What is your favorite cereal? Chocolate Rice Krispies
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Swing
What is your favorite drink? Water
What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Angry Birds blanket
What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Pancakes
What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Pancakes (I sense a theme here...)
What do you want to be when you grow up? A Firefighter
The following is what happens when you take one little girl on an extreme sugar-high from an afternoon at a Christmas cookie decorating party and then send her to her gymnastics Christmas show:
I don't pretend to be an amazing mom. I'm far from what you'd call an "over-achiever." I do the best I can. I'm not very crafty, I don't like to cook and don't do extravagant projects with the kids, I probably should read to them more and they most likely watch too much TV and play too many video games. I'd qualify myself as distinctly average, in fact.
But I love my kids. I get so much enjoyment out of seeing them happy, seeing their faces light up and hearing them laugh. When I get moments like that with them, it's like a drug, I just want it to happen over and over again and I never want it to end. (And speaking of "drugs" - of the legal prescribed variety - for the record, In case you haven't guessed, I'm proudly medicated, I have a lack of mood swings to prove it - and my kids will thank me for it later.)
But anyway, especially at this time of year, I want childhood to be a magical time for them. I want to bottle up that sense of innocence. I want their imaginations to have free reign.
I don't think that makes me any different - or better - than most parents out there. After all, don't we all enjoy the same things as parents? Don't we all want, after all, to "do good by our kids?"
So when I read posts like this one, I have to admit, it raises my hackles. Yes, we have an "Elf on the Shelf," and yes, I have gone a little nuts with him this year. But it's all in good fun. I don't do it to make other parents feel less-than. I do it for the sole purpose of making my kids happy. Making them laugh. Seeing their eyes light up every morning when they find him up to one of his antics. Every night I try to come up with new ideas for our Elf. Again, because it's fun. It's good clean, innocent fun. And my kids love it. It's like taking the magic of Christmas and spreading it out over the entire month of December.
They're only going to be little once and they're not going to believe forever. I just want to soak up every bit of this time while I still have it.
The author of that blog above apparently has different ideas of what "fun" is. It seems that "fun" for the author is bashing someone else's ideas so much that the other poor woman actually took her blog down completely. It seems like "fun" for the author means taking the wind out of other people's well-meaning sails. They have a name for that kind of person - Bully. Plain and simple.
Lots of people posted on Facebook this morning about that blog post - saying that they found it funny. I disagree. I don't think it's funny in the least bit. And not just because I have been participating in the Elf craze this year. I don't think it's funny because it's humor with the intent of raising up the author and making others feel inferior. She took something positive and turned it into a negative. I never find it funny to pick on someone else. What kind of example are these people setting for their own kids after all?
Parents - mothers in particular - feel self-conscious about their abilities as parents enough to begin with. Why do people feel like they have to put other people down to raise themselves up? I'll never understand.
Okay, I've said what I needed to say. I got it out of my system. Now I'm going to get off my soapbox, go do homework with my son, read the kids a bedtime story (or two - as I said, I don't read to them enough), put them to bed, and then try to figure out a way to rig up Elfie so that he looks like he's parachuting from the ceiling from a pair of underpants.
In the meantime, if you feel like a giggle, do check out Elfie's Antics on my Facebook page. :)
Be forewarned... this is long but for my own benefit, I want to record everything about the trip. :)
This past week Mark and I took the kids on a surprise trip to Disney World. The idea started after Mark got home from a business trip about 6 months ago. He had gone to Orlando and stayed at the Hyatt in the airport. Overnight, the fire alarm went off and in the morning, the hotel gave him a free voucher for a one night's stay. The catch? He had to stay at THAT particular Hyatt within one year of the issue date. Of course that started the wheels turning for a short trip to Disney, because we just couldn't let that voucher go to waste and we couldn't very well go to Orlando without going to Disney World!
We decided on the week of November 7-11, because we figured that by leaving on Monday late afternoon, and because the kids had the 11th (Veteran's Day) off from school, they'd only miss 3 days of school. When we go to Disney, we typically stay at the Dolphin or the Swan, since they're both owned by Sheraton (even though they are on Disney property - near the Boardwalk) and Mark has Sheraton points from work travel, so we can stay for free (or nearly free) most times. So that was our first plan. Unfortunately, though, for whatever reason, there were no available rooms for the dates we wanted, so we had to look at other options. Since we wanted this trip to be as economical as possible, we chose one of the moderately priced resorts - the Caribbean Beach Resort - on Disney property.
We also decided that because we already had another trip in the works for October 2012 with Mark's parents, that we'd invest in an Annual Park Pass for admission to the parks. It's more expensive, obviously, than a regular 10 day pass, but since we were going twice in one year, it made sense to make the investment for the long run.
The decision to make the trip a surprise for the kids was an easy one. I think we've all seen those Disney commercials on TV with real video of parents surprising their kids with trips, and I know they've made me weepy, not to mention that we've had several friends and family members surprise their kids, so we knew it was something we wanted to try. However, those of you that know me know first hand how incredibly HARD it was to keep a secret! Thank God the kids are young enough that they were oblivious to the inevitable slipups that occurred!
Fast forward to the "reveal." The week before, I sent notes to school with the kids to tell the teachers that they'd be absent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with "strict" instructions to keep it a surprise. Luckily, Jillian can't read and I wrote Matt's in cursive, so I was able to get by with a little "white lie" to the kids as to why I was writing notes. I did all the packing while they were at school during the day and picked up little things like travel sized toiletries and stroller bags and clothes a little at a time.
November 7th
Mark worked a half-day, I did some last-minute packing, drove Bailey to the boarder's and we picked the kids up from school at around 2:00. They didn't even know they were being dismissed early, so even that was a surprise. We had all the bags packed and in the trunk of the minivan ready to go, so when we got to car, we told the kids that since Daddy had the afternoon off, we figured we'd do something special:
Matt was in complete shock, I think, and his reaction was kind of dazed. LOL Jill absolutely FREAKED. It was classic. From school, we stopped at home quickly to have the kids change out of their uniforms and left for the airport! Our flight left at 5:00. I had packed each kiddo a backpack full of activities, movies and games for the flight, and they were very excited.
We had a quick layover in Baltimore, where we ate at an "old-fashioned" diner in the airport with "real" jukeboxes on the tables. The kids got a big kick out of that. Then we boarded our second flight. The only notable thing about the flights was that on the second leg, the kid in front of us threw up. Lovely. Luckily our kids didn't even notice.
We arrived in Orlando at around 10:00 that night, and then it was just a quick walk across the airport to the Hyatt for our free stay. It worked out well because the kids were exhausted from the flight and all the excitement.
November 8th
The next morning (Tuesday) we woke up bright and early and headed down to the queue for the Magical Express (the free shuttle that takes you from the airport directly to your resort at Disney World). Since we were so early, we had the whole bus to ourselves! The kids were beyond excited and every so often over the course of the trip would shout out of nowhere, "We're at Disney World!!" The best part of the Magical Express and staying "on property" is that they take your bags and drop them off to your room for you, so after a quick check in and visit to our room (with a pirate theme that Matt was thrilled about), we were on our way to the Magic Kingdom!
Our first stop in MK was for a Mickey ice cream bar, and our first ride of the day was Pirates of the Caribbean, a family tradition. Jillian is tall enough this year (40" exactly), so she was able to ride most of the rides at the parks, so with a little bit of coaxing, we got her on Splash Mountain. She liked "everything except for the big hills," but refused to go back on for the rest of the trip. We had our traditional hotdogs from Casey's Corner on Main Street for lunch. And the nice thing about going to Disney the week we did was that they were in the process of transitioning from Halloween to Christmas, and the parks were not crowded at all. In fact, we got right in for a visit with Mickey and Minnie with not even a 5 minute wait!
After spending a few hours at Magic Kingdom, we headed to Epcot via the Monorail for our reservations in Canada's restaurant, Le Cellier. Before dinner we were able to get on a few rides like Finding Nemo and what Jill calls the "Golf ball ride" a.k.a. Spaceship Earth (which, for some strange reason, Jillian LOVES and for equally strange reasons, Matthew HATES). We stayed until the park closed that night to watch IllumiNations from a table in Great Britain (thanks to a really nice family, who offered us their table as they were leaving).
Scariest thing that happened on vacation? Tuesday night around 11:30 Matt got up, sleep-walking, in his underpants, and tried to open the hotel room door because he thought it was the bathroom. :-O Thank God the door was heavy and that Mark and I are fairly light sleepers, otherwise he would have been locked outside in the middle of the night. For the rest of the week we barricaded the door and dead-bolted it just in case.
November 9th
Wednesday morning we went to Animal Kingdom. Again, the crowds were low, the weather was perfect and we were able to get right on most of the rides! Mark took Matt on Expedition Everest, a roller coaster he loved last year, but this year for whatever reason, the yeti theme freaked him out and he refused to ride again with me. When Matt gets nervous about something, he obsesses about it, so for the rest of the day all he wanted to talk about was the yeti. We made up silly stories about the shy yeti on the mountain who just wanted to make friends by giving out snow cones to take his focus away from the scary aspects of the ride.
Also, we had promised Jill she could get her face painted (she chose a butterfly design), and Matt insisted on a yeti on his face, even though that wasn't listed on the board as an option. Luckily, the guy painting faces was really nice and said he could improvise... and improvise he did! The "yeti" he painted on Matt's face was spectacular!
The jungle safari was Jillian's favorite and we got lucky since most of the animals were out and about! I think that's the most animals I've ever seen on that ride by far!
After a visit to the petting zoo where Jill got to pat her favorite animal - the pig - and we took pictures of Grandpa's favorite animal - the cow - we went back to the hotel for an afternoon relaxing by the pool for me - I forgot my bathing suit! - and going for a swim for Mark and the kids. We then went back to the room to shower and get ready for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom. For an additional fee, you can buy tickets to the party and the park is open to just the people who have special wrist bands from 7:00 PM to midnight. They also have games for the kids, a special parade, fireworks and free hot chocolate and cookies.
But I think their favorite part of the night was having their pictures taken with Phineas and Ferb, their favorite Disney cartoon characters. Matt's grin was priceless.
Needless to say, they were absolutely exhausted by the end of the night. Jill was a little weepy because she had to do a lot of waiting around while we took Matt on the "big kid" rides like Splash Mountain, Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain, so we let her pick the last three rides - Small World, the Carousel and the Dumbo ride. Jill rode on Mark's shoulders for the walk back to the bus, while Matt passed out cold in the stroller.
On the bus, both Matt and Jill fell fast asleep. Mark was standing with the stroller, so when the bus stopped at our stop, he got off with the stroller while I tried - very unsuccessfully - to wake Matt since I couldn't carry him and Jill at the same time. I even resorted to shaking him and slapping his cheeks (gently, I promise) but the kid just wouldn't wake up! I moved a bit to pick Jill up and he feel over on the seat, right on his face and just kept sleeping. Everyone around us was very amused. LOL. Mark came back on the bus and picked Matt up and we carried two very sleepy kiddos back to the room.
November 10th
Thursday morning we let them sleep in and took a bus over to Hollywood Studios to have a leisurely walk to the Boardwalk area for breakfast at our favorite little pastry shop, called the Boardwalk Bakery. We then walked over to Epcot to catch the rides we didn't have a chance to do on Tuesday. Again, since Jillian is now 40", she was able to get on my personal favorite, Soarin, and Test Track. Jillian loved Test Track so much that we rode twice in a row. I'll never forget her fist pump while yelling, "TEST TRACK RULES!"
Oh, and we had Perry the Platypus with us that day because we were planning on going to Hollywood Studios that night, where Phineas and Ferb had a meet and greet, so Perry got to come on all of the rides with us that day as well. I don't know how many times over the course of the trip that someone came up to us asking where we got him (at home at the Disney Store a few months prior), or yelling "Perry!" as they walked by! It was hilarious!
Later that afternoon, we walked from Epcot, through the Boardwalk, to Hollywood Studios. Mark wanted to ride the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, so we headed over there to get a Fast Pass. Much to our surprise, Matt walked over to the measuring stick thingy and he was just tall enough to ride! He must have had a sudden growth spurt in the weeks leading up to the trip because he was definitely not tall enough when we measured him before! The cast member at the entrance of the line was amazing! She saw that Matt was so excited to be tall enough, and instead of making him and Mark wait in the 30 minute line, or wait until later to return with a regular Fast Pass, she gave Mark and I each a special Fast Pass to ride immediately, so that he could take Matt on right that minute - bypassing the lines completely - and then I could do the same with Matt as soon as they got off, if he really liked it.
When they came off the ride, though, Matt was in tears. The Rock 'n' Roller Coaster goes completely upside down - in the dark - in big spirals and loops. Mark said that Matt was terrified. Poor kid! We felt awful, even though we fully explained to him before he went on what to expect. Mark and I decided that I'd ride alone and I started walking towards the line with my Fast Pass. Matt - still with tears streaming down his face - ran up to me and said he wanted to go on again! I was shocked! I must have asked him 20 times if he was sure he still wanted to ride, but he insisted! Later he told me he went back on because he didn't want me to have to ride alone. I love that little boy!
The thing that cracked me up, though, was that he ran up to the measuring stick again, took off his shoes (he was obviously too short without them on) and said, "oh well, I guess I can't ride, I'm too short," but the cast member (not the same one from before) told him that they measure with shoes on and he was fine to ride if he wanted to. He insisted he did want to and so we walked back onto the ride. He almost backed out again when we got to the front, and I totally would have walked off the ride with him, but after thinking about it for a minute, he changed his mind and got on. I held his hand the entire time and when it was over, he was grinning ear to ear. He loved it the second time around and if you ask him what his favorite ride is now, he'll tell you it's the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. So proud of my little man for being so brave and facing his fears!
The whole reason we decided on Hollywood Studios that night was to see The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights and to visit with Phineas and Ferb again. It started at 6:00 and continued every 20 minutes or so until park closing at 8:00, but since we got sidetracked with our little Rockin' Roller Coaster adventure, we missed the first show, so we went to see Muppet Vision 3D show first, were lucky enough to be the last ones allowed in line to visit with Phineas and Ferb, who, of course, loved that Matt brought Perry and got a bunch of hilarious pictures (PhotoPass link below), then headed over and caught the last light show. I really expected the kids to love it, but they were surprisingly underwhelmed. By that time, the park was about to close and the kids were hungry and tired, so we headed back to the hotel where we got a (very) late dinner and put the kids to bed.
November 11th
Friday we got up very early, since it was leaving day and the hotel staff was coming at 7:00 to pick up our luggage and take us to check out and say goodbye to our luggage (the Magical Express weighs and checks your luggage for you so that you don't have to do it at the airport! Very nice service when you have kids!). After the check-out process was complete, we headed to the Beach Club Resort for a character breakfast at the Cape May Cafe with Donald, Goofy and Minnie. The kids had a great time and got a kick out of it when Minnie "told" them that Mickey wasn't there because he was out playing golf.
After breakfast, we headed back to Magic Kingdom for one last visit. The first thing we did when we arrived was get in line to visit the princesses - Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, Belle from Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella. Jillian, of course, was beyond excited to see the princesses and have her picture taken, but Matt, not so much. He said he would absolutely NOT go and have his picture taken, but when the time came, he went "just for Jillian." I'm so glad he did because the pictures they took were hilarious ( PhotoPass link here). There was one picture (my favorite) of Belle kissing Matt on the cheek and Matt looks all embarrassed. He also bragged to Aurora all about how he went on the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster (twice!) and loved it.
We let Jill pick the last rides since she had to do a lot of waiting around for Matt the past week, and she chose Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. Then Mark and Matt went on Thunder Mountain one last time and we got some lunch and did some shopping. It was Veteran's Day and the park was MOBBED, so we decided to cut our losses and return to the hotel to get ready to leave.
It was a good thing we did, too, because after a quick snack at the hotel, we literally ran over to the Custom House, collected our carry-on bags and hopped on the Magical Express bus with minutes to spare. From there it was a quick 20 minute ride to the airport. Once there, Mark started to get a little concerned because he couldn't find our car keys in our carry-on bags. He couldn't remember what he did with them, and couldn't remember seeing them since we left Manchester. All we could do was hope that they were in our luggage, which we wouldn't see until we got back to New Hampshire at 10:00 that night.
The kids did great on the flight - Jill even slept through the landing - and we arrived on time back in Manchester at around 9:30. We immediately headed to the baggage claim and prayed that we'd find the keys. Well, guess what? After sorting through dirty laundry, souvenirs and toiletries - no keys. We still have no idea what happened to them. We called the both airports, both airlines and both hotels we stayed at and no one has found them. Mark called his dad, who stopped by our house and got our spare set, and drove up to the airport so we could get home. The poor kids were exhausted but were very patient and made the best of a bad situation by watching TV on our iPhones, playing I Spy and eating donuts from Dunkies. Finally, after an hour and half waiting at the airport, Mark's dad (our hero) arrived with our keys and we took two very tired kiddos home and tucked them into their own beds, then collapsed into ours.
It was an amazingly fun, crazy, eventful whirlwind of a trip and I loved every minute of it (with the exception of the lost keys, of course). If you ask both kids what their favorite part of the trip was, they'll tell you it was the surprise! :) That was my favorite part, too. If you've read this long, you're amazing!! Links to our pictures can be found below:
