A week of firsts…

It has been busy since I wrote last.  For one thing, Nicolas got his first ear infection.  The poor kid woke up crying Sunday night asking for a band aid for his ear.  So sad.  But he is on antibiotics now and on the mend, annoying his brothers as always.  It’s good to have him back. 

Speaking of the big brothers.  They received their first paychecks this past week.  They have been helping daddy put together new office chairs at Cyth and each earned $20 for all their hard work.  We are now trying to teach them about saving money and are debating whether or not now is a good time to open them savings accounts or not.  It seems that Dom will be our little pennysaver, mostly because he forgets about the money almost immediately.  Anthony, on the other hand, thinks about what he will buy, changes his mind, calculates how much money he has, and repeats this process over and over again.  So, we are trying. 

Another first, at least for me, was refinishing a piece of furniture.  We stained our kitchen table this past weekend and it turned out so great!  For those of you who don’t know, it was from Ikea and was that light, unfinished pine color before we stained it.  I am so happy with the way it turned out.  It was a lot of fun too, so I have plans to stain a few more things. 

Life is moving right along for us these days.  I was marveling yesterday at how great my kids are.  Of course they act up and throw fits, they are kids.  But Anthony has started apologizing for his fits shortly after they are over which still shocks me.  It just reminds me how grown up he is becoming.  It also gives me a glimpse into his heart, which has always been so sweet and soft.  Nicolas is still struggling with potty training.  Today, for some reason, he won’t go on the potty at all.  Not sure what is up, if it is because he is sick, or what.  So, I am almost ready to  give up and just put him in underpants all the time no matter what may happen.  Almost I said.

The big boys went to the dentist and neither had any cavities!  That makes three trips to the dentist so far and no cavities.  Thanks goodness!  At least now when they do get one they will have good memories to go on. 

Joe’s work continues to grow which is such a blessing.  He has built something so fantastic with Andy, his partner, and whenever I go to his office I get that twinge of pride in my stomach when I look at how far he has come from working out of our garage.  He is a picture of the American dream and what makes this country great.  I am so proud of him I could burst! 

So, we are good, ear infections and potty training problems aside.  Those things are just part of what keeps life interesting.  I am so blessed to have three amazing sons who always amaze me with their humor, smarts, and love.  I have a husband who works harder than anybody I know and rarely complains, and takes care of us like no one else could.  Life is good.

I just can’t keep up..

with all the kids are saying.  I am going to try to record a few of the newest things here, but it is getting harder and harder now that I have three little talkers to keep track of. 

My first story isn’t about talking, nope, it is about pooping, so if you are squeamish you might want to skip this paragraph and move on to the next one.  Ok, if you are still here it must mean you have potty trained someone before.  So, as you know Nico hasn’t pooped in the potty yet.  We have tried it all.  So today I finally had had enough and when he got undressed from his jammies to go potty I knew he had to go poop too, so I made him sit there.  I tried everything, yet again, to get him to poop.  Extra candy, ice cream, taking away his new favorite toy, etc.  Nothing.  So then I told him wasn’t going to get pants, not even underpants, until he pooped in the potty.  he could get down, but he wasn’t getting pants.  I figured this had to work since he kept asking me to put his diaper on him (so he could poop I assume.)  So, he gets down and stays pretty close to the bathroom, which I think is a good sign.  Well, I was wrong.  After about 10 minutes he comes creeping around the corner looking very guilty, just like a puppy who has had an accident.  Well, that is exactly what happened, he had an accident, all over the bathroom floor.  My only consolation is that at least it was in the bathroom, he is getting closer!  Ugh, I am pooped, pun very much intended. 

Now on to much cuter things the kids are doing and saying.  As usual Anthony is my little chatty Cathy.  He keeps a running monologue of the entire day as it is happening.  He has learned to at least do it quietly most of the time, but it is so cute.  He has so much to say he just can’t keep it inside.  Two of his new favorite works are “rarely” and “familiar”.  He uses them perfectly and it always surprises us when he does.  For instance, the other day he said “I’m not familiar with this show.”  He also told me yesterday that he wants to skip some grades and graduate from college early so he can be done with school for good.  I didn’t have the heart to tell him that after that is finished comes year and years of working for a living.  I figured this was his daydream for the day and let him have it.

Valentine’s Day was a huge success as our house.  Mommy got a brand new Magic Bullet blender, Daddy got a new video game, the boys got legos, and Nico got a monster truck.  Daddy snuck the boys out one night to go shopping for me and while they were shopping Joe asked Dom who his valentine was.  He wasn’t sure at first, but admitted it was Mackenzie from church.  So sweet.  Then daddy asked him who HIS valentine was, assuming at least Anthony and Dom would say “mommy” without pause.  Nope.  Apparently Dom things daddy’s valentine is or should be Taylor Swift.  Hey, at least it wasn’t Britney Spears! 

So, that’s where we are at the moment.  Trying to get the potty thing down, learning new words, and first valentines.  The future is looking bright.  Enjoy the pics.

 

I bet you thought I forgot

It is almost the end of the week and I haven’t posted yet, so I assume you all thought I wouldn’t remember to post this week, but you were wrong!  I actually just ran to the computer to jot down a couple things the kids have said in the last 10 minutes that had me laughing out loud. 

At the moment they are playing together with these plastic math links I got them a while back.  They are little plastic rings that link together so you can do patterning and stuff.  Anyway, they have a huge snake and are chasing each other all around playing some sort of game.  I had to get on their case about jumping on the couches and Anthony’s response was “you can’t put us in time out for being cute.”  My response was “oh yes I can!”  His response “oh, ok, we’ll stop, but you can’t put us in time out for having fun, right?”  My response “what do you think?”  They haven’t touched the couch since, not even to sit. 

Nicolas’ new favorite song is the wheels on the bus.  We sing it in the car all day long and I try to add funny verses whenever I can.  His newest favorite verse was actually created in an attempt to draw attention to his ornery attitude in the car the other day.  It goes something like this (sung to the tune you all know and love) “the Nicolas in the car says, NO NO NO, NO NO NO, NO NO NO, the Nicolas in the car says NO NO NO all through the town.”  He sings it to himself all day long and of course adds his own take such as “The Nicolas in the potty goes poop poop poop, etc.”  Yes, that one surprised me since he hasn’t actually done that yet, but at least he is thinking about it. 

Oh, it is like a sitcom around here sometimes and in the midst of losing my mind sometimes, just sometimes, I can step back and see the humor in the fact that all three kids are running around in their underwear with Fun Dip stain all over their hands and faces. 

I am finding that while I enjoy having three fairly self sufficient children I sometimes miss the predictability of infants and toddlers.  I don’t miss the sleepless nights and innumerable diapers, but I do miss being able to put them down somewhere and they can’t move from that spot, or putting them in a bouncy while I made dinner or cleaned the house, or put them in (are you sensing a pattern here, I miss having control of where they go and what they do).  But at the same time I love seeing their imaginations and creativity blossom and I especially love watching and listening to all three play together as buddies.  Nicolas is finally part of the melee and he is loving every minute of it! 

So, there, I didn’t forget to post this week and feel like I have a million more stories I could tell but can’t recall at the moment.  But I am blessed, I know that, with three healthy and vibrant, oh so vibrant, children.  It often feels like too much, but in a good way. 

As promised..

Pictures of my latest culinary creations for the kids.  I made homemade cheese crackers ( goldfish) and nutrigrain bars.  I am not sure I will make either of these recipes again.  The crackers were a bit spicy for the kids, so next time I will just keep those flavors out, and the bars were a little too sweet, if that is possible.  They ended up more like a dessert than a snack bar.  I found another recipe for those that I will try once these are gone.  They are yummy (yes, I tried even though they aren’t on my diet).  The last picture is of my first attempt at knitting a cable pattern.  I had to start small, it is really complicated. 

one more thing…

I just wanted to post a few pics of our trip to Julian this weekend.  It was just for a few hours but we had a good time.  It is always nice to get away from the city and see a simpler side of life.

 

What the kids are eating

I am a woman on a mission; to feed my children the healthiest food I can on a budget and without losing my mind.  So, yes, we still eat honey nut cheerios, but I have started making my own fruit leathers and goldfish crackers.  Since I love baking, I am also making bread too.  The funny thing is, a lot of this desire started when Joe and I started our diet.  I had to learn some new recipes and get creative in order for us to stick to our guns and achieve our goals.  In the process I have learned a lot about cooking, where food comes from, and what I want and don’t want to put in my body or my children’s bodies.  It is overwhelming to put it mildly, but important enough that I am determined to make as many things from scratch as possible. 

So, my first snack was fruit leather, pretty easy.  I used apples, again, really easy.  The kids LOVE it, and i feel so much better about it being just apples and a little sugar rather than some apples and who knows what else. 

My next thing wasn’t new, but it was a new recipe.  Wheat bread for sandwiches.  I have tried this before and been really disappointed so I wasn’t expecting much, but this bread turned out great!  Even better is that it is so full of nutrients that the kids eat one sandwich and are DONE rather than asking me for two, which usually happens with store bought bread.  So, I finally found a recipe I really like and that doesn’t have a lot of sugar in it either.  (The loaf is almost gone!)  I am also learning a lot about low carb cooking and how to create similar tastes and textures from different foods.  Our new fave is fake mashed potatoes.  You use cauliflower instead and add some cream cheese, mozz cheese and parm cheese and process it in the food processor.  Then you bake it until it is turns a little brown on top.  So yummy in fact that we ate it too fast for me to take pics of it!  You can also make a rice substitute from cauliflower as well.  I haven’t tried it yet, but you better believe I will.  So, our little family is learning how to eat and snack healthy and I think it is paying off.  I feel like the kids aren’t asking me for snack as often because the snacks they are eating are full of protein and nutrients rather than empty calories (and I considered myself a pretty strict mommy for the most part, no chips or soda or sugary things.)  So, 2010 will be the year of eating well for the Spinozzi family. 

My next attempt is homemade cheerios and graham crackers.  Pictures to come later.