I'm no Martha Stewart...

But dang I like to create in the kitchen!!

It's Easter time and in my house that means chocolate. (Well, not just chocolate. It also means the Resurrection of Christ but considering this post is about me being in the kitchen I didn't feel that was relevant. Anyhoo....)

Growing up my parents didn't have a lot of money. So, my mom made all our Easter candy. She bought large bags of candy melts and used molds to create some fun looking yummy chocolate treasures for our Easter baskets on Easter morning. Not only did she make molded chocolate, but also birds' nests. (Chocolate melted with coconut and then jelly beans pressed in for eggs. Let cool and harden and voila! Birds nests!)

There are some things I look back fondly on in my childhood. Homemade Easter candy is definitely one of them. And when I got older and realized that the Easter bunny was actually my mom....I started helping make the candy. And eventually when Mom opened her store, I made all the candy for our families.

So, when Zachary was a baby my mom handed the Easter molds down to me. It has now become my family's tradition as well. Chuck never really looks forward to this time because I tend to wait till the last moment and then get bitchy stressed, but I really do enjoy it. I enjoy creating something and being able to give that to my loved ones. And carry on the tradition from my childhood that I loved so much.

Last year was the first year in a long time that our molds weren't put to use. Being pregnant with Elizabeth and being ready to die uncomfortable, Chuck and I both felt it wouldn't be a good year to try to keep up with the tradition. But, no worries, I'm back to it this year!

I already have 3 big bunnies done, some candies, and all my birds nests. Tomorrow I'm running to the store for some peanut butter and mint candy melts to make more little candies and then add some jelly beans to their baskets and the kids are done. With candy anyway. The Easter bunny also brings little trinkets as well.

I've also got a little creative for a couple of my friends' birthdays and created a Strawberry and Chocolate tart. It turned out beautifully and I was so proud of my creation. Not only did it look cool, but it tasted fantastic!! "And that's a good thing."

Zachary and Dentists and Doctors, OH MY!

1Yesterday was a very full day. Remember back a month ago, when I spoke of being the world's worst mother because of my son's totally decayed tooth? Well, yesterday was our appointment to fix said tooth. We went in a month ago and found out that it needed work on it (no shit, Sherlock!) and the dentist at that appointment had the worst chairside manner of any dentist I've ever seen. But I won't get into that because what's past is past. This dentist we saw yesterday was wonderful. He doted on Elizabeth (who tagged along with us for the ride), he was super gentle and patient with Zachary, and explained things to me. What more to ask for!?

So, after the filling is done the dentist explains that he had to drill into the baby root as well. The infection had spread that far. Yes, my poor boy had a root canal at 5 1/2. They put medicine in his tooth and then some more on a cotton ball and made him bite down for about 15 minutes to help kill off that nasty infection before packing the root and then eventually filling the tooth. Zachary was a trooper through the whole thing and only jumped and kinda protested while he was getting the novacaine shots in his gums. He was quite enthralled with the small amount of blood on his dental bib though!

After the dentist, we waited for daddy to get home from work then headed off to the psych appointment. We need to find a new psych before I stab this one in the eyes with a dull spoon. He is patronizing to the nth degree. Last appointment he was generally the same way, but I thought "hey, let's give him a shot...maybe I"m having a bad day". Well 2 strikes and you're out with me; especially when it involves my children and their care. Dr. would only half listen to my answers before making little comments to Chuck about "eh, that's just a mom right?" Um, excuse me? Are you trying to pit my husband against me? Maybe not that extreme but I do feel he was completely belittling me because I'm a woman. And that does not fly with me in any way, shape or form.

Dr. Moron then espoused his general disgust for the fact that Chuck and I work seperate shifts. His take on the whole thing...and I'm not necessarily begrudging him this because I do feel it would be best...is for Chuck and I be home together every night. It would be the best for Zachary's well-being to have our family together daily. So, after about 5 minutes of that I was getting a little heated and asked "so, would it be better for the children to be in daycare for 9 or 10 hours a day, or at least have one parent at home with them?" He quickly said "oh, well, you never want the children out of the house for more than 8 hours. And definitely a parent is always better for the child than a secondary caregiver." Okay. So let's backtrack. We're bad because we're not home together. But we'd be bad if we used daycare, too. Hmmm, that adds up to me that I should be in the house at all times. Isn't that what that sounds like? And while that would be ideal, it's not reality. So why does the dr. harp on it?

I also expressed some concern about Zachary's bed wetting. At 5 years old, he still bed wets almost nightly. Before the meds started in October, he was wetting nightly. He still wore overnights to bed. After he started the meds, that stopped and he was dry at night time for almost 2- 2 1/2 months. When we started seeing a downward trend in his behavior again, we also noticed the bed wetting coming back. I've been keeping a journal of all the days activities, how he behaves, what problems we have, and it seems that there is a connection between his bad days and his bed wetting. Dr. Moron states: "He's doing it intentionally. He should be able to not wet the bed at this age. You need to punish him". Eeek. PUNISH HIM? He said he can't seperate that it's a bad behavior if we don't punish him and make it known that it's not okay with us. Both Chuck and I were completely taken aback by this. Everything we've read says do not punish for potty accidents. So, Chuck asked if he was meaning something like changing his sheets. "yes! Changing his sheets is a good thing for him to do. It lets him know it's not okay. Or adding in extra chores."

Okay, this guy doesn't know us from Adam. But, I get that his assumption is that we allow Zachary to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants and isn't made to do anything. Um, no. Zachary does daily chores. He helps with laundry, he makes his bed, he changes his sheets, he cleans up his toys, he feeds the dog, he picks up the living room, takes out the trash. I'm sure I could go on. Is that an every day occurance? No, not neccessarily all of them, but he is asked and expected to do things around the house.

But, back on the topic of bed wetting. I bring up the fact that my younger brother wet the bed until 14 and so did 2 of my uncles and I had the understanding that it can also be genetic. He said "well, Zachary is just controlling you". Okay, at this point I was fuming and trying to talk myself out of gouging his eyes out with a spoon.

So, last night I did a little online research. Everything I read, from reputable sources like the American Academy of Physicians, says that children do not wet the bed intentionally or to anger their parents. Hmm. Wonder where this guy got his degree from.

He did bring up something interesting though. He asked if Zachary had been tested for Aspergers. This peaks my interest. It's always something I've been really curious about because from the reading I've done and the tests that I've been given, it seems a really likely diagnosis. But I don't know if the 1st dr. ever fully tested for that...if you can even. But then, Dr. Moron went on quickly to explain he doesn't change diagnoses anyways. Why bring it up if you're not willing to do something about it? Just one more strike in my book.

So, off to research new doctors. Again.

Camp has a part of my heart

Why?

Because there I met my husband. As well as a couple of the best friends that we have.

So it's no wonder I look back on camp with such fond memories.

I've been working on our scrapbook from the times when we were just dating (yes, I know...I'm a little late) and have been going through college and camp pics and feeling awful nostalgic. It was such a simpler time in my life. I lived to ride and have fun in all aspects. I was a lot skinnier, a lot (natural) blonder, a lot less burdened with responsibility.That place really did change my life. Not in that I turned around from a bad kid to a wonderful, caring person because I always was that way. Instead, I met my husband there and changed the course of my path from a career woman to a woman who was quite happy getting married and staying in the state. 3 kids later, I'm still here, sitting across the living room from that man who showed me love for the first time. So, while it's different than it was then, that's not necessarily bad either, is it? (this is a bad pic...it was stuck in my frame, so it's taken through glass)

Top Favorite Photo of Me

Gotta love that trip to Texas.

BlogHer...or BlogMe?

I've been thinking for a little while now about joining and actively working with the BlogHer community. One of my interesting daily (or often times bi-daily) reads is Angella who is part of the BlogHer community. I've read her blog for 2 years or so now and she's funny, smart, witty and just an all-around enjoyable writer to read. I feel like people can relate to her. I feel like people flock to her. And they do...she gets 20+ comments daily!!

How in the world could I be in a community like that? I started this blog to put my own feelings out there. To get them out of my head and onto a virtual piece of paper so that I could stop thinking about them, stop obsessing, or in some cases reflect and remember the good parts of being a mom, a wife, a daughter, a friend. But the blog has taken on so much more for me. It's taken on a creative license for me that I'm kinda missing in my life since becoming a mom. I don't have time to myself to do much of anything, nor do I have the space.

Did you know I used to paint watercolors? I loved it. Was never that great, but I loved it and it allowed me to be creative and accomplish something. But where do I have the space to set up all that? When do I have the time to haul it all out and put it all away, let alone paint?

I love to scrapbook. Again, same problem.

Sewing. Same thing. It takes me 25 minutes just to get the sewing machine set up and then it takes up my kitchen table until I'm finished with that project.

But this. This is something that I can have that takes me a short amount of time every day and requires virtually no space besides my laptop (btw, I love my laptop. I may never go back to a desktop again) This is something that IS me. It's from me. From my heart. I thrive on comments. I beam when someone leaves me one. Silly and immature? Probably. But hey I'm a mom to 3 who rarely spends a lot of time with her husband, sees her friends even less often, and works at a boring government job. Give me a break, m'kay?

So that brings me back to how could I be in that community? I'm not all that funny or witty (although I think I am...which is a sure sign I'm not.) I don't feel like I have all that much to say to contribute to a woman's blogging community. If I give it a shot and I fail (and in failing I'm referring to the commenter-ship that some of the other blogs have attained), what have I lost? Nothing, right? Except I don't fail well. Hell, most of the time I don't succeed well (ask Matt or Chuck. I'm always complaining about how my AFEL team should be performing better even though I'm undefeated!)

So that brings me around to should I keep my blog to myself as my creative outlet or try to open it up to the world and get more and more of that giddy "I got a new comment" feeling. Hmmm, the decisions for an incredibly indecisive person.

ETA: I know that the world can see this now. However, how many people really go out searching to read my blog? Not many, I can be pretty certain of that. But getting involved in a community would be opening myself up for potentially a lot more readers. That's all. :)

Spring is coming!!

There are finally signs that Spring is coming!

On Friday, the boys and I watched as 2 Chickadees started their nest building in our bird house. It was neat that we could watch this and I explained how even in the bird world, the mommy and daddy birds work together to build a home and protect and care for their babies. Speaking of birds, I saw a beautiful Blue Jay ths morning. Sure, he was hopping around on ice but it was still a Blue Jay. I'm sure we'll be seeing a Robin soon. See, in Michigan, anyway, seeing a Robin is supposedly the first sign of Spring.

It's raining today as well. While I'm not usually that excited for rain at least it's not snow. However, there is still a lot of snow and packed down snow on the ground which means it's icy. The boys and I basically skated all the way to the van this morning.

This weekend it was warm and sunny and just perfect for shoving encouraging the boys to play outside. On Saturday, they ended up playing in the back yard almost all day long, only coming in long enough to eat lunch and take bathroom breaks. When they finally did come in they were soaked to the bone since everything was melting but they were tired and happy. It was a very welcome change to the bitter cold weather we've had and was wonderful to have some quiet time and space in the house.

As I was sitting at the table eating lunch, I saw a shot I just had to get and of course that started a photo shoot of all the kids. As Spring approaches, my camera comes out more and more often.

Elizabeth checking out the sunshine and snow out the kitchen window.

Zachary working on his snow angels.

I turned around to come back into the house and this is the view awaiting me. I think Frodo and Elizabeth are going to grow up being best of friends.

I made a big pot of hot cocoa for everyone after coming in from the cold. Lucas loves his hot cocoa!

So, I'm off to open up some windows. Sure, it's not *that* warm yet but it'll do my heart good to get some fresh air in the house. Enjoy your spring day!

New Readers!!

Last weekend, I went to a party and met several other bloggers. I also met 2 people who stated that they read my blog consistently but never comment. So, score! 2 readers I never knew I had.

I cannot explain in words the delight I feel when learning I not only have a new reader, but, *gasp* a new commenter!! As I also found a new "friend" through Angella whose name is Ashley at Our Family Stone. It's a super cute blog and she's an awesome mommy writer! Ashley recently tagged me to do a "meme" in order to get newer readers to know me a little bit better. Wellll, by all means!

This meme is to do a post about old posts. I have to go through old posts and put a link to different posts I've done that are about the following.

1. A post about my family
2. A post about my friends
3. A post about myself
4. A post about something I love
5. A post about anything I want

Then I have to tag 5 other people, 2 of whom are new acquaintances so that we can get to know each other better.

Hmm, this could be interesting.

1. I would say about 75% of my posts are about my family. So, I've thought about what best defines me and my family. Zachary is my oldest child and here is some of the issues we have with him...that kind of run the family unit sometimes. Lucas is my middle child and he's quite the little boy with a lot of charisma. And he loves chocolate! Elizabeth is my baby girl and our very last child. This is when she turned 2 months old. Should I include my husband in links? Absolutely! (Yes, I know it said ONE but I have 4 people in my family!)

2. I actually have a post named Friends.

3. A post about myself. This one is really pretty recent but I feel it's one of my best written pieces about myself and about my feelings about being a mom. (and my husband's comment is the best!)

4. Something I love-I'm assuming it means something besides my friends and family! I had a hard time finding something for this one (I swear I'm not a wholly negative person!) but here's one.

5. Anything I want. Well, there are a few things I'm kinda passionate about and surprisingly enough they tend to revolve around children. This one is about breastfeeding and my response to Bill Maher's idiotic position on nursing in public.

So, there you are. A spattering of me in 5 (or a few more) posts. Enjoy the reading! Now, to tag others! I'd love to have Diana, MLA, and Theresa (at Quack This) take on this challenge. As for new acquaintances, if you are new to reading my blog and have one of your own, take this challenge and link back to me so I can read it!!!