This morning while in a meeting I got a call from Felesha, our babysitter. I could hear Sophie crying in the background and Felesha, in a very panicked voice, tell me that Sophie put a popcorn kernel up her nose and that they couldn’t get it out.

ARGH!

I called the pediatrician’s office and talked with a nurse. She said to definitely bring her in and if they can’t get it they’ll send us to an Ear/Nose/Throat doc. I rushed home and picked up  Felesha and Sophie. On the short drive to the doctor’s office Sophie cried “Owie! Owie!” I felt so bad for her.

And you know that a child is in pain when they want to rush into the exam room for the doctor to check them out.

The doc had her lay down on the exam table. I had to hold her hands down. And we could immediately see the popcorn kernel in her nose. He got his handy-dandy tool (I’m sure Joe knows the technical term for it) and removed the popcorn. YAY! He checked both nostrils just to make sure we were all clear.

Has Sophie learned her lesson? Have any of my kids? We will add the popcorn kernel to the list of beads, mini M&Ms and rocks that my children have stuffed up their noses.

BTW, there is a disturbing number of pictures on Google images of popcorn in the nose.

This afternoon Joe sat down to teach Sai how to play chess. Or “chest”, as Sai likes to call it. A few chess pieces were missing so Sai dug out some Lego guys to help.

As we were sitting around I snapped some pictures. Here’s Sophie and her long hair. I can’t believe how long it is getting!

Sai in action!

Jay showed off his Jack Be Nimble that he made in school.

Here’s Sophie being cheesy with me.

Joe patiently waiting for Sai.

And the silly faces.

It was a lot of fun…and a lot of work!

Joe, Sai and I have snow shoes. However, Jay and Sophie don’t. They got to ride in a sled that Joe pulled.

The scenery was beautiful!

We even saw some wild life.

We took a snack break.

Then the kids played in the snow.

We took off our snow shoes…

Then tried to walk through the snow. I ended up knee-deep in the snow. Joe ended up hip-deep in the snow. Those snow shoes really do work!

Before yesterday I thought Gwenyth Platrow was an amusing actress. I really liked her on Glee. Yesterday I heard about her website GOOP and an article written by her and two of her rich/famous working mom friends. It was basically a day in the life for them. Wow. My opinion of her has really shifted, and not in a good way.

It didn’t seem real.

So here’s a day in the life of an average working mom — me.

Tuesday 18 January 2011

6:00 am – Sophie wakes up and crawls into bed with me. Joe is already up and ready for work. He’s out of the house before 6:30.

6:40 am – Alarm on phone goes off. I hit snooze.

6:50 am – Alarm goes off again. Turn off alarm. Lay in bed and check email and Facebook on phone.

6:55 am – I drag myself out of bed to get ready. Sophie flops out of the bed onto the floor and watches me get ready. I do makeup and for some reason decide to curl my hair which takes longer. Then get dressed.

7:35 am – The boys slept well. I have to go wake them up. Jay gets up; Sai grumbles and stays in bed. I help Sophie and Jay get dressed.

7:50 am – I tell Sai he has to get out of bed now. I tell him that he has five minutes to eat and five minutes to get dressed.

7:55 am – Make breakfast for kids. Sai pours his cereal while I pour Jay’s. Sai puts milk in both of their bowls. Thank you Sai! Sophie insists on a PB&J for breakfast. Really Sophie? I make hot chocolate to take with me to work. Yum. Get text from Felesha. (babysitter extraordinaire! Life would be miserable without her.) She’s running late.

8:05 am – Start van. Get the kids in coats, shoes and backpacks.

8:10 am – Load kids in van, including Sophie. We’re running late! As I start pulling out of the driveway Felesha pulls up. I stop and hand Sophie over to her. Take the boys to school.

8:16 am – Arrive at school. Bell has already rung. Can’t get to the door, though, because some mom decided to park in the drop-off zone and block everyone else!

8:30 am – I finally make it to my desk, a few minutes later than usual. Time for work, work, work.

10:15 am – I text back and forth with Jay’s friend’s mom to finalize details for a play date on Wednesday. Text the details to Felesha so she knows what is going to happen as well.

12:35 pm – Lunch time. I spend my time multi-tasking by eating and reading a new book on my Nook color: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. I have it for free for two weeks from my local Overdrive library.

3:50 pm – I text back and forth with Joe after he gets off work. Joe says he is doing the dishes. He also gets Sai working on homework. Then Joe lays down on the couch to rest because he has a killer headache. He said Jay and Sophie walked on his back giving him a back massage – lucky Joe.

4:30-ish pm – I read an article about the Goop post. Then go read the actual post on Goop. Get riled up and the totally non-average working mom kind of things that are going on in the article.

5:05 pm – Leave desk. Going home. YAY!

5:25 pm – Arrive home. Figure out what to make for dinner. I check out a new recipe I want to try but it says that it takes at least 45 minutes to prepare. On to plan B. What’s plan B? Really need to go grocery shopping. Decide to make the good old standby of stroganoff. As I brown the meat and shallots and garlic I supervise Sai as he cuts the mushrooms. As stroganoff simmers and noodles cook make menu and shopping list for coming week. Plan on grocery shopping tomorrow.

6:00 pm – Dinner time! We all sit down together to eat. It’s a rare occurrence where all five of us aren’t together for dinner. We eat, we talk.

6:30 pm – We’re still sitting at the table having a good time drawing mustaches on our fingers and imitating mustachioed Joe. Then I discover just how loose Sai’s loose tooth is. I bribe him (YES! I said it, I bribe him). I say if he pulls his tooth before 6:45 then we’ll go get ice cream. Sai tries and then psychs himself out and asks me to help him. I pull out the tooth, Sai cries, I feel bad for making him cry. And we caught it all on video. Although I don’t know the quality of the video since Jay and Sophie helped film it.

6:55 pm – I put the leftovers in the fridge and stack the dishes in the sink to tackle when we get home. Sophie promptly falls asleep as soon as we start driving off. First we run to the craft store to buy a poster board for Joe for some Cub Scout project. Joe is the Bear Den guy (I don’t know all the scout terminology yet) and Sai is in the Wolf Den. We head to Baskin Robbins, finally manage to wake Sophie and everyone gets some good ice cream. Yes, I love ice cream even in January.

7:55 pm – Arrive back home. Joe works on the dishes. I head upstairs with the kids. I give Sophie a bath while Sai and Jay put on PJs, brush teeth and go potty.  I get Sophie out of the bath and get her dressed. I give the boys kisses goodnight.

8:10 pm – I put Sophie in bed. She doesn’t want to go to bed because she had a nap while we ran to the craft store. Joe rescues her. Joe, Sophie and I sit on the couch and start watching episode 1 of The Cape which we DVRed but hadn’t yet watched. Joe combs Sophie’s wet hair. I start making a list of what happened during my day. And I sit and think of what still needs to happen tonight before going to bed. *sigh*

9:35 pm – Put Sophie in bed.

9:40 pm – Shower time. It’s a hair washing night. I hate washing my hair because that means I have to dry it.

10:00 pm – I talk Joe into helping out the Tooth Fairy. Joe and I lay down in bed and talk and read.

10:40 pm – Lights out. Good night!

My day in the life is so different from that of a rich and famous working mom. I think they need a reality check. I’d like to see them spend a day like mine and see how they can handle it. And this wasn’t even a day spent paying bills, doing laundry, cleaning the house.

My sister Tracy and I have been working on these Halloween quilts.  I believe that the fabric line is Boo to You by Riley Blake. But I could be wrong. I pieced it all together. Tracy helped me figure out the back. And my sister Carrie did the quilting. I hurried and bound it so we can enjoy this month. I just may keep it on through November, too! My goal is to have seasonal quilts to put on my couch. It might take me a few years to get them all made, but this is a great start. Thanks to my awesome sisters for all of their help!

This is our front walkway. Nice and spooky!

I can’t believe October is almost over. This month has flown by.  I really couldn’t tell you much of what has happened. But here’s what has happened this weekend.

The kids had a Halloween party at their Grandma M’s yesterday. They love getting dressed up! I put Sophie’s hair in curlers and made up her face. She wiped some of it off before pictures, but she was still a beauty. The mask for Sai’s skeleton costume is super scary, so I painted his face instead. And Jay’s Ironman 2 costume is pretty sweet.

Here they are at Grandma’s party with their cousin Jared. Sophie refused to sit down and possibly get dirt on her princess dress. And can I say, it’s hard to fasten a five-point harness around a dress with a hoop in it.

And I love this picture of Sai and Jay. They are pretty fierce!

Earlier in the day I took Sophie to get her picture taken. The boys got school portraits but I didn’t have a new picture of Sophie. The pictures were all so cute but with the coupon I had I could only pick one pose. That was hard because she was such the little model and had tons of cute pictures. I chose this first one because it will go well with the pictures of the boys.

And look how cute she is in a few of the others!

When we went back to Joe’s parent’s to pick up the kids the clouds were so low on the mountains. It looked pretty awesome. I took so many pictures but we were driving and they didn’t turn out so well. These two were the best. (And yes, that is S-N-O-W on the mountains!! I’m not ready for snow, I’m really enjoying this cool rainy weather.)

The kids fed the ducks. There was this crazy goose who kept trying to get a little too close to Sophie and me. It kind of scared me a little.

The boys did a little fishing.

Then there was a lot of playing in the mud…

…While wearing new pants. *sigh*

But they sure had a good time!

A few weeks ago we went to Salem Pond. I took a few pictures but this was my favorite. Maybe when I’ve got more time I can edit and post the rest.

Jay also made a car to race. After the official competition was over they had open races for anyone so Jay got to race. We also took Sai’s best bud, Angelo, to scouts and he raced the car that Joe made (Angelo’s mom didn’t know far enough in advance about the derby to make a car).

Here are pictures from the races.

Sai in lane 3.

Angelo and Sai.

Lane 1: Angelo, Lane 2: Jay, Lane 3: Sai

Look at my Jay! This was Wednesday morning right before we left for his first day of kindergarten. I can’t believe he’s a school boy now.

We didn’t have the best morning. Jay had a little case of the nerves. As soon as he woke up he said that he didn’t want to school. When I vetoed that he said that he was too tired. I told him that means that he will just have to go to bed earlier. Then he said that his tummy hurt. I had to gently lay down the law. Once he realized there was no getting out of it he was actually quite happy. Then Sai and Jay started playing, instead of eating breakfast, while I finished getting ready and we got behind schedule. We ended up with a big rush and almost being late! Which fortunately didn’t leave me time to get emotional about sending Jay off to school.

I pulled up to the school and dropped Sai off on his side of the school. Then drove around to Jay’s side of the school. The bell had already rung and kids were heading in to class. I asked Jay if he wanted me to walk him in and he said no. So he took off to school all by himself. And he went in the wrong door! I parked the van and ran into the door he went in. Jay was standing in one of the other kindergarten rooms looking bewildered. I got his attention and helped him through the hall to his class. Silly kid.

Jay said he made some friends but he couldn’t remember their names. I think he enjoyed school. However, he’s not quite so sure about going every day. We had to explain that every day Sai goes to school he goes also.

Day two is always better. We weren’t as rushed. So I had time to be emotional. Here’s the text I sent Joe once I got to work, it sums it up best:

So I cried a little dropping Jay off today. Maybe I’m just having a hard time watching our little man grow up. He gave me a kiss and a comforting hug before he got out…and went in the wrong door again.

I just love how Jay always knows when his mama needs some love. He’s such an awesome boy and I love him so much.

Today was another milestone. We let Sai walk home from school. We’ve always lived too far away for him to walk. It was so hard to let him be a big kid! We talked with our next door neighbor and made arrangements for Sai to walk home with her kids. We also laid down the rules to help him be safe. This morning while he ate breakfast I grilled him on the rules. Then asked Felesha, our babysitter, to text me as soon as he got home. I sat anxiously at my desk waiting for the text. I got it 25 minutes after school was out. She told me that Sai said it was a long walk (half a mile). But I think he really enjoyed it. He is excited to walk home every day. Wow! He’s such a big kid!

And with the boys both in school that leaves Sophie home alone with Felesha. And Sophie is loving her alone time with Felesha.

I’m so glad that this week is nearly over. I’ve been over emotional and anxious about a lot of things. So I’m really ready for a three-day weekend!

Sai had a double-header on Saturday. When we got to the field the sprinklers were going. And the sprinklers changed to our side of the field and we all got wet! Poor Sophie was strapped in her stroller and I think it freaked her out.

They were able to play the second game. Here’s some video for it. Sai’s not as aggressive as Jay. He kind of just skips along after the ball but doesn’t really go after it. Funny kid.

And we’d like to thank all the family that came to watch. Sorry that there wasn’t a game right at 9. Thanks for coming and supporting Sai, we really appreciate it!

***

This morning Jay work up and started telling me in great detail about Nemo 2. He’s so sure that a sequel to Finding Nemo is coming. I’m thinking he just had a really vivid dream. He was telling me all about the sharks in the movie and how excited he was to see it. I checked it out on IMDB and as far as I can tell, no sequel. Sorry Jay!

I’ve made some doll clothes for Sophie’s doll. I totally want to make more. And do you think it’s wrong for me to want to buy her a Barbie just so I can make clothes for it? Just wondering. Because I really want to! I’ve got lots of scraps that I can use.

Sai is playing soccer, too. I wasn’t able to take any video at his last game. Joe is the coach–he volunteered about 30 minutes before the game because the team was coachless. So I spent the game talking to parents, handing out picture forms and discussing the treat schedule. I even missed Sai’s goal. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some video on Saturday, especially since he has a double-header.

I’ve finally got all the photos up from vacation. I’m going to post a few highlights and let you check out the rest here.

The first day we drove as far as Mesquite, NV. We had Joe’s cousin Ada with us. She spent the summer with Joe’s mom and we were taking her back home to her family. The kids were so AWESOME in the van. It helped that we bought a dual screen DVD player to help keep them entertained.

Mesquite was so H*O*T! We went bowling while we waited for it to cool down enough for us to go swimming. Joe had his best bowling game ever. I think he had at least one turkey, tons of strikes and spares. I did pretty well considering that Sophie insisted on holding my hand while I bowled. She was having a slight meltdown, poor girl. If she would have slept in the van…

The next morning we drove to Joe’s Grandparents. Ada lives next door so that was her stop, too. While we spent time with Joe’s grandparents and his aunt and uncle the kids played hard. Sai and Jay played dress up with Sale. Ada dressed Sophie up as well.

We spent one night with them and then it was time for us to head on down to San Diego. We took some pictures with Joe’s grandparents before saying good-bye.

(This picture cracks me up because Joe is sitting in Grandpa’s Jazzy and the boys are making crazy faces.)

The next day we hit the beach. I think the specific one we visited was Mission Beach. We met up with some of Joe’s family on his dad’s side. The kids liked the sand. But the water was super cold and seaweedy.

(This is the only picture of me at the beach you’ll see. Just my feet.)

The kids all had to get buried in the sand. The extra kid in these pictures is Bubba. He’s the son of one of Joe’s cousins. At the end Jay had so much sand in his shorts I’m sure he was quite chaffed and exfoliated!

After the beach we went back to our motel to shower. Joe and I were lobster red! I sunscreened Sophie, no burn there. I couldn’t get the boys to sit still to get sunscreened up so luckily they were just slightly pink on the shoulders. After freshening up we went to Joe’s aunt Angela’s house for a family barbecue. And it was YUMMY! There were burgers. But most importantly good homemade Mexican food: carne asada, beans and rice. One of my most favorite meals. I didn’t get any pictures of Angela but I got this one of Joe and his aunt Erma.

The next day was Sea World day! There are so many pictures here so you’ll just have to go check them all out (link at the top). And yes, we totally forgot our stroller and had to rent on for Sophie. $17 dollars!! But worth it.

The boys had to see the sharks first thing. They loved them.

All of us, except Sophie, touched the rays.

Joe, Sai and Jay sat in the soak zone for the Shamu show. Sophie and I were smarter than that. Here are the guys getting soaked!

The last time we went to Sea World, about six years ago when Sai was the age Sophie is now, it seemed small. We spent most of the day there and didn’t see everything. But by the time we left everyone was exhausted!

Then we woke the kids up early and started the long trek home.

And we left the backpack/diaper bag/camera bag in the breakfast area of the hotel. We didn’t realize it until we were three hours away! Luckily I had stashed our pre-purchased Sea World tickets, which had our names on them, in the backpack so they knew it was ours. It arrived safely the other day with all items accounted for.

I think that this was one of the best vacations ever. We had a lot of fun. The kids were awesome! And everyone was happy.

We’re all ready talking about what we can do next year for vacation. We’re thinking some place different. Northern California or maybe Colorado. We have lots of time to figure that out!

It’s Grandma M’s turn to perpetuate Sophie’s princessness. Grandma bought Sophie this princess dress.

Sophie L-O-V-E-S to wear this dress. I ask her if she is Belle or Cinderella and she says that she is ‘Ella. She likes to match this outfit with her Ariel velcro light up athletic shoes that we bought for cooler weather. Yes, it’s a stunning little outfit. And I think we are set for Halloween, too!

***

In other news our backpack was delivered today. Camera included. YAY! Vacation pictures will be forthcoming after a bit of editing.