Jenny On the Spot: Caffeinated mom, lover of dancing, glitter and glitter.

My Lucy.

This is not her birthday letter. I still have one more week before my baby turns 5 *gripping chest*.

As hard as it has been to to been the mother of  a baby, toddler and/or a preschooler over the past (nearly) 11 years… I am waving a reluctant goodbye. Lucy was born when Joel was 5 and Olivia was 2 (almost 3)…

The pregnancy of my sweet and spicy Lucy came as a great surprise. And as I sit here thinking back to the morning I peed on that damn stick… I can’t believe the twists and turns life has taken our family… all because of this one little girl.

And here I sit. With one week left of “4″. I am done having babies. I am sure I am fine with that… yet I feel pangs of sadness as I slowly wave goodbye to my identity as a mother of a preschooler. What day will be the last day I will carry her on my hip? When I set her down… will I know that was our last?

Can you hear me sobbing?
Continue reading ‘My Baby is Growing Up! Make Her Stop!’

Who knows if this is half as funny as it was to me. But you know how moms are… we all think OUR kid is the smartest, the funniest and cutest…

And really, what happened Sunday morning was probably more adorable and ushy-gushy precious than funny. Maybe. Naw. It was funny. 4 year olds have that effect on life…

Look at the picture. Do you see that little rainbow doo-bob spinny thing in my daughter’s hair? She found it Sunday morning. And she was ever-so deeeeelighted to have found her long-lost, and apparently beloved rainbow hair doo-bob. For when she found it she gasped and exclaimed,

I FOUND MY FING MAMA!!!!

*SMOOOOOOOOOOOCH-SMACK!!!*

MAMA! I JUST KISSED IT!

Oh and did she ever. I heard that *swak*.

Here’s the thing. I get it. I am also an emotional kisser. I too have kissed my beloveds…

After Lucy looked over her lost love… she asked,

MAMA!?

*I love that she calls me Mama, and I love that she speaks in all caps…

IS THIS TWISTY HAIR FING MADE OUT OF RAINBOW LICORICE??!!!

Oh how I long to think like a four year old! Like, how much fun is that?

As we all take on a new week… may you find your own rainbow licorice… be it the gift of 5 extra minutes, be it pre-shredded cheese, be it a chilled mug for your root beer… Delight in the small, but wonderful surprises that are hiding in your Monday. There has to be at least ONE in there somewhere! I’ll be looking to my Lucy. She’s sure to sniff one out for us both :)

***Meanwhile, at BlogHer… do you think we are living in anti-social bubbles? When the words :online and “family are used together… what thhoughts come to your mind? Visit my newest contribution there and join the conversation!

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Either I need to expose my kids to more things, or I need to continue harboring them from certifiable Awesome. I think I am going try to keep them from society as much as possible because, right now… they think I am THE SHIZZLE! I love this about me them.

For example, I was cutting a tag off a scarf. My Olivia (7) ooozed: Mom. You are SO creative!!!

Me: Why?

Olivia: Because you do things like cut off tags and stuff.

Joel (10): Yeah. You ARE creative, mom.

Me: Oh, and remember, you have also said I am really good at stirring. (my girls are so envious of my stirring skillz)

Olivia: Yeah. You are REALLY good at stirring.

I decided to let the kids have some of their own ego-build-time. I’m a giver. I asked, “How are you guys creative? I mean I know how you are creative, but in what ways do you think YOU are creative?”

Olivia (7): I can knit. You can’t knit. I can teach you!

Joel (10): Video games and technology. I helped my teacher with the computer yesterday. She wanted to put words on a picture… but it didn’t work.

Lucy (4): I am good at Lego building! I can build stairs and houses and people…

Dang it. I hate competition. I figure I won’t teach them how to stir. Then I will at least have something.

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The morning started early as my 7 year old climbed into bed, claiming she couldn’t sleep. I asked if she felt sick, she said, “No.” Heh. Read on….

Then my 4 year old, as she does most mornings.. popped-up her little head from the side of my bed and asked, “Can I snuggle you, Mama?” I can’t say no to that. She’s only 4 for another month. She is my youngest, so this is the last month of my life I get to snuggle a four-year-old in bed. Snuggle away, princess!

Soon after Joel – my 10 year old climbed up on the end of the bed and announced, “HERE MOM AND DAD! I have a card for you!”

He gave us a Valentine card from his heart – he drew a battle scene from Halo.

This is not a battle scene from Halo. It’s me in my Valentine colors. No one got to see my festivus-ness… read on…

Here is a picture of the flowers my husband gave me:

I LOVE tulips!

Here’s a picture of our “puppy” Kevin… wondering where his Valentine bone is:

Not unlike my 4 year-old, Kevin pops his head up at the side of my bed and wants to snuggle. Uh, not so much. He thinks he’s human. He loves to hold “hands”. Not kidding.

Here’s a picture of the chocolate chip Valentine pancakes I made with luuuurve:

Here is not a picture of the vomit poor Livi puked onto the side of the road and floor of the mini-van on our way to church Valentine’s Day morning:

[picture of puke unavailable due to not a taking picture of said puke *gag*]

*Digression! Could you please scroll back up to the first picture? Of me. No one got to see my cute, pink, Valtenitne-y colored top and sparkly heart necklace! Livi’s puke-itude happened about a half mile from church. I even had on make-up AND curled my hair. But due to the power of the interwebz… my efforts were not wasted.

Back to business….

Olivia’s tummy ache was short lived, because by the evening she was ready for sundaes. You’d never know she still had a fever in this picture. Sundaes make everything better, and here is a picture of the kids making their Valentine sundaes:

As usual, Valentine’s Day was a bit like everyday in the Ingram household… a little adventure. Maybe Forest Gumps said it best, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.” If there was money in those words, we’d all be rich. And looking back on the day… I think I am.

If Valetines-ness ain’t your thing (or even if it is)… would you mind clicking on over to my reveiw blog to read about how Electrolux and Kelly Ripa are working together to help raise money for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. I post pictures of CAKES!!!

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He just can’t catch a break.

Not even from my 4 year old. In her defense, it’s not that her heart has turned black just yet. It’s her older brother and the schoolyard jokes he brings home… Like mean songs about poor Barney.

Not that I am a huge fan of Barney, but… he’s just tryin’ to get by like the rest of us.

I decided to capture Lucy’s song on video. Partly because she is so cute and partly because SHEISSOCUTE!!. I am really confused how we are not living on her income. She could totally be paying our mortgage with her child star paycheck. If she was a child star…. That’s Lucy. Always thinking about herself first. *psht* 4 year olds.

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After an hour of, “GO TO SLEEP. GET IN YOUR BED. QUIT PLAYING. GETINBED. QUIT. BED. QUIT. SLEEP. SILENCE!!!!”

It did grow quiet. I have written before about the fact that silence is not, in fact…. golden.

You see it was silent not because Lucy had fallen asleep. N-to-the-O-T.

Instead, she was quietly making herself pretty. She is VERY MUCH into making herself pretty. And for a four year old girl, color is pretty… no matter the source. In this case… it was marker as lipstick. And apparently a bit of “rouge” for her forehead:

She came downstairs… she said she was “Firsty.” I with my laptop and my husband with his… all snuggled into our onlinez. Both Paul and I groaned and each half-barked… “Lucy! You NEED to go to bed!”

And then we saw her pretty red lips.

Paul said, “My. You sure look pretty. Is that Mommy’s lipstick?”

Lucy said, “It’s not yipstick Daddy, it’s just marker.”

Just marker.

Being the stellar parent that I am… I busted-up laughing. Being the even stellarer parent that he is, my husband said, “Lucy. I need to take a picture.”

Good move daddy… I took a picture back in July when I discovered her sitting on the counter… after a play date with actual lipstick.

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I almost made it.

I was *this* close.

I almost made it through my entire mother-of-preschoolers career (an almost 11 year stint), without having one of my offspring pee, poop or vomit inside any one of the quite possibly, MILLIONS of play tubes their young knees have crawled in.

The Germ Tubes.

But my kids have left their own spittum and snot, I am sure of it. But keepin’ them juices from a Germ Tube is like keeping a poet from waxing cheesy, or Hitler from Evil…

Now, I HAVE been at a Germ Tube during select unfortunate situations:
Continue reading ‘Make Me Laugh Monday – Cuz If You Can’t Laugh… The McDonald’s Germ Tube’

JD, may I use that phrase? I know you own the whole, “I *insert action here* so you don’t have to” concept. And it’s true! She does it ALL so we don’t have to. She’s a giver like that. She even ate sardines! I would NEVER do that for you… but mostly because my tummy is so full of Oreos and coffee all the time.

Aaaanywho. I digress.

I want to re-post my story about a cleanse I did a little over a year ago, in case you missed it. We are embarking on a season of resolutions. A time when we feel motivated to eat our veggies or purge our inboxes… or colons. Depends on the individual.

Here’s a picture. Totally unrelated. I’m getting too wordy. *eyes cross* Lucy got “polka bot” jammies for Christamas this year… I got my own last year. She made us wear them together the night she got hers. We took pics. I love how she puts on her best face for pictures:

Continue reading ‘In Which I Save Your 2010: I Did A Cleanse So You Don’t Have To’

May your day be full of the delight and wonder of a child. There is a reason Jesus came as a child.

OR…

May it be full of the delight and wonder of the most adorable Christmas Eve organist that has ever played the pipes…

From my heart to yours…

Jenny

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The Husband… his eyes burning with condemnation… as he stared at me through the innocent stair rails… He said, and I DO believe he seethed these words in ALL CAPS:

AND YOU KNOW THIS ALLLLLLLL HAPPENS BECAUSE YOU BLOG.

Whu? Who? Me???

Here’s what happened. It was a long weekend. A full weekend. A long a full weekend. To the tune of 3 children in 5 plays (the same one, but 5 shows), one gymnastics show, 4 or 5 meals out, one Jingle Bell Run

I made the local news for that… but they edited out my best line. You know the one…

Wait for it…

MADE OUT OF AWESOME.

Edited. Out. That was NOT made out of awesome.

I digress…

My friend Patti took pictures… Here’s me and something about spirits before the run:

Here’s a picture of me after the run… all bleary eyed, and missing one cute red ribbon from my hair…

Andalsosomuch, though the color of my skin might suggest otherwise… I do not have a case of the jaundiced. That was just bad lighting. I’m serious.

Oh yeah… with narry a 15 minutes to spare at any point on Sunday… we all made it home around 9 p.m. with my sis, bro, and mama -in-law and nephew… so we could celebrate our Christmas together. We are just way to busy for each other to make it happen ON Christmas, ya know? Aaaanywho…

9 p.m. on Sunday night…

Once the paninis were grilled and coffee drank and banana cream pie consumed… the kids opened presents and then ate their caramel apples…

And in the blink of an eye (a couple-a hours) … the in-laws drove away so as not to miss the next ferry and the children headed up to brush their teeth and the dog peed on my bedroom floor and my husband cleaned it up and I put a towel on the wet spot and I headed downstairs to curse our fool dog out of the children’s ear-range and then the 4 year old peed on the towel that covered the cleaned-up dog pee mess.

ON. THE. TOWEL.

True story.

It was at that point my husband looked at me between my fair stair railings and said,

AND YOU KNOW THIS ALLLLLLLL HAPPENS BECAUSE YOOOOOU BLOG.

Crack smoker.

The nerve. And I totally know what he means.

Mah bloggahs… I KNOW y’alls know what he means.

And then this morning I was all “You wanna know what ELSE happens because I blog? Wanna know, huh, huh??? I just won AWESOME ITSELF for doing a meme *neenerneener crack smoker*. My post Wishy, Wishy won the random draw at the Todays Mama’s Holiday Wishlist Giveaway. All kidding aside… this news made me cry great-big happy tears. That bike. Be still. My. Heart.

And also BECAUSE I BLOG…. YOU, my friends have a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card! My kids tried out the new Tom’s of Maine Silly Strawberry toothpaste…. we even made a video! But you’ll need to head over there to enter for your chance! Good luck!

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