Crayon/Activity Bag

I found that as my boys grew from infants to toddlers to preschoolers that it was becoming increasingly harder to keep them occupied in places like Church, doctor's offices and restaurants.  It was not that they misbehaved at all of these places but with being active little boys they just seemed to have a hard time sitting still for longer periods of time.  I would try to remember to bring crayons and coloring books with me and I would just carry them in the diaper bag.  However, there were a lot of times that I did not need the diaper bag and I did not want to have to carry it around just for coloring books and crayons.  Well, one day when my Firefighter was home from the station, I took advantage of that time and I went to Joann Fabrics while he stayed home with the boys.

While I was at the fabric store I was looking through the pattern books and came across Simplicity pattern #2295 for a wonderful crayon/activity bag.

Fortunately, the Simplicity patterns were on sale that week and I was able to buy it for only a couple of dollars.  I bought the materials that I needed and headed home to start my project.  The materials list consisted of the following:

3/4 yd. of 45" fabric
1/2 yd. of 45" polyester batting
1 1/8 yd. of 1" wide webbing
one package of medium rick-rack
Thread to match

Fortunately, this is not a very expensive project, especially when you are able to use coupons to buy the fabric and the pattern is on sale.  Of course I had to buy everything in duplicate because I knew that both boys would want one.

I was able to cut out my pattern and fabric during the day.  The boys like to play by me while I am working on a sewing project.  They bring in their trucks and toys to play with but sometimes they ask for my scrap fabric so that they can pretend that they are sewing.  When I actually am able to start to sew G really likes to sit on the chair with me and push the reverse button on the sewing machine...when I tell him too.  Sometimes I just wait until they go to bed if it is a pattern that I really need to concentrate on.

I was very happy to find out as I was sewing that this was a very simple bag to make.  You start out by applying the batting to the front and back sections and then sewing the crayon pocket onto the front of the bag.  Then you stitch the bag front and back together at one side, add the rick-rack and then stitch up the other side and bottom of the bag.  The webbing for the handles are then basted onto the bag.  The bag front and back facing sections are stitched together (except for a small section for turning) and then attached to the outside of the bag.  Once all of the layers are stitched together you would just turn the bag right side out.  The bag facing will need to have the open edge slip-stitched and then the facing put back into the bag.  A top-stitch along the top edge of the bag finishes the project.

Looking back on this project, I wish that I would have taken a picture of each step to show you how it looked as I worked my way through this project.  I will make sure to do that for future projects.

 These are the bags when they are finished and filled with crayons and coloring books.

These are all of the items that I had in the bag in the previous picture.  As you can see, the bag really does hold a lot of items.  The bag was not stuffed so there was room for more items.  However, you just need to be careful so that the bag does not become to heavy for the child because then you end up carrying it...not that you do not end up carrying it anyhow sometimes!

This is a close-up picture of the crayon pocket on the front of the bag.

This is the inside of the bag.

This is a picture of the back of the bag.

In the end, we were all very happy with the way these bags turned out.  We use them every week for Church.  I keep the coloring books and crayons in the bag and hang them each on a plastic hook in the closet.  That way when we need the bags they are packed and ready to go.  Sometimes I will put a sealed snack bag in there, like Scooby Doo graham crackers, so we can just grab the bags and go.  It saves time if we are running late.  There is also room to fit a juice box or a sippy cup in the bag if you wanted to put that in there too.  Once again, just be careful of the weight of all of the items so that the child can comfortably carry  it.

The bags are also good in restaurants and doctor's offices.  It keeps the boys occupied when there is nothing in the waiting room to do but wait or while we are in a restaurant waiting for our food.  More often than not the bags do the trick and the boys are happy and content.  Sometimes I'll switch the coloring book or add stickers or something like that to change things up a bit.

Overall, this is a little bag that I would highly recommend.  It has worked out great for us!

Back to Bellydance

A number of years ago I was talking to a friend of mine about things that we would like to do someday.  She told me that she had always thought about taking a bellydance class.  We talked about it a bit but neither one of us ever did anything about it.  Over the years I would give it a thought or two but it always just remained in the back of my mind until last year.  I have been very unhappy with my body shape since I gave birth to my boys.  A lot of my problem is that I do not always make healthy choices and do not exercise.  At this point last year I was not exercising at all so it was no wonder that I was not losing any weight.  I thought about bellydancing again and decided that it was time to learn a bit more about it and give it a try.

Last Fall I went to the local library and checked out a number of bellydance instructional DVDs.  I really enjoyed the DVDs and ended up buying a few to help me practice.  My favorites were by Neena and Veena Bidasha.  I used Bellydance Fitness For Beginners - Arms, Abs, Hips, Buns & Thighs and Bellydance Fitness For Beginners - Basic Moves & Fat Burning for exercising.  As for instructional use I used Discover Bellydance which consists of the three DVDs Basic Dance, Beyond Basic Dance and Mystic Dance.  While I enjoyed the DVDs very much I felt that I wanted to learn more and felt that a class would be better than just using the DVDs.  I did an online search and found Alanna Schultz.  She taught in the area and also on the college level.  I quickly enrolled in one of her classes and have been taking them ever since.

Bellydance has proven to be a fantastic outlet for me.  I got to class for one or two hours once a week and I am able to just focus on myself.  I know that sounds selfish but as a full-time mother I have neglected my body and my health and have chosen to just focus on the needs of my kids and my husband.  I have since learned that unless I take some time for myself I am not able to be the wife and mother that I want to be.  Bellydance has been the first thing that I have done for myself that takes me out of the house since G was born.  It is one to two hours a week of time just for mommy.  Of course, with my Firefighter's shift schedule he works at least every third week when I have class so I then arrange for either the babysitter or my parents to watch the boys.  When I come home from my bellydance class I feel re-engergized and rejuvinated.  I feel better about myself as a wife and a mother.  Bellydance has helped me to build my self-confidence back up and to appreciate the mom body shape that I now have.  It is also encouraging me to improve my body and to get back in shape.

Over the summer I signed up for Alanna's performance class.  I went to class once a week for eight weeks and learned an entire routine which the class will be peforming at an art festival.  Once the eight weeks were over I continued to practice the dance with some friends that I had made in class.  We practiced twice a week over the remainder of the summer.  One of the ladies who practiced with us had kids so everyone met at my house and all of the kids played together and the moms practiced our dancing.

Tonight our regular bellydance classes started up again.  This time I registered for the intermediate class and it is kicking my butt!  Alanna is teaching us how to layer our basic bellydance moves and we will be learning how to dance using a veil.  I am determined to continue practicing my dance routine and the new layering techniques that we are now learning in class.  By the time I left class tonight my abs, glutes and calves were burning they were so tired but it was a good tired.  I am looking forward to continuing to take the classes and practicing at home.  The boys like to help me practice.  G likes to turn the CD player on for me and M likes to run around us while we are practicing.  Sometimes I listen to my CD of the bellydance music in the car while we are driving.  Even the boys will ask to listen to it.  So, in the end, bellydance seems to be good for the entire family!!

Weekend at the Lake

This past weekend we were all able to spend some time up at the lake.  My parents have a small place on the lake and we love to go up there in the summer.  Our Firefighter nicknamed it "The Villa".  We decided to take the boys up there for a long weekend since school is starting this week.  Our Firefighter was going to be on duty at the fire station so I took the boys down a day early and he was able to join us for a couple of days inbetween his shifts.  We had a nice long weekend and enjoyed some great family time.

We took the boys for ice-cream at one of our favorite ice-cream places, The Patio, and the boys actually both stood for this picture for me.

I try to take their picture here each year but it does not always happen.  Last year G would stand there for me with my nieces but M would not.  This year both boys stood there for me!  The Patio also makes fantastic donuts so we had to buy a couple of those to share too.

M really likes the donuts and I have to admit that mommy really likes them too!  It is a little hard to see but M is holding a piece of donut in this picture.

After we finished with our ice-cream snack the boys wanted to go and play shuffleboard.  Now, while they do enjoy shuffleboard, we do not actually play it and follow the rules.  I have no idea how to play the game.  When my Mother is there with us we try to play a game with the boys because she knows how to keep score.  However, since she was not there at that moment we just checked out the equipment, went to our assigned court and practiced.  I have to admit that the boys are getting pretty good at this game.  G is able to push the puck all the way to the other side and keep it on the court.  I was helping M and by the time that we were done he was even doing real well too.

When we were done playing shuffleboard we headed to the park.  We still had a little bit of time before our Firefighter was going to be able to join us.

M was enjoying these new rockers that had just been added to the park.  G made a friend and really enjoyed playing on the jungle gym.  When we were done we headed back to The Villa to meet up with our Firefighter.

The next day the lake was pretty flat so our Firefighter took us out for a morning boat ride.

The boys really enjoyed the boat ride.  I enjoyed it because the lake was flat.  I really don't like bumpy boat rides.  Of course, a day at the lake would not be complete without a trip to the ice-cream store!  This time my Firefighter and I went out for an ice-cream date night and my parents stayed with the boys after we put them to bed.

Unfortunately, the next day was a shift day again so we had to bid our Firefighter good-bye while he headed back to the station.  That is always so hard to do because we miss him when he cannot be with us, especially when we are having fun at the lake.

I spent a relaxing day at The Villa with the boys and my parents before we all headed home.  The boys had to get in a little swimming in the pool before we left though.

The alligator float was way too big for the little pool but the boys did not care.  They just pretended to ride it around on the grass.  When it was time to clean up we took buckets and used the pool water to water the flowers.  When the pool was mostly emptied of the water I took one of the water squirters and started squirting the boys.  They got so excited when I did that they went and grabbed their squirters and I let them squirt me too.  Needless to say that we were all soaked by the time we were done.  We topped off the night with some dinner, baths for the boys and a car ride home where the boys promptly fell asleep in their car seats.  Once they were asleep I turned off their Bible School CD and put in one of  my CDs.  The Bible School CD is fun but it is not that long so it repeats a lot during the ride to the lake and they will listen to it for the entire car ride.  I think that I actually dream about those songs at night!  So, when they were asleep this mommy changed the CD to my music.

By the time we got home and got the car unloaded we were exhausted!  We had a great weekend and some great family time together too.  There were a few meltdowns which is to be expected with a 3 and 4 year old but the good times are what we remember!

Capturing the End of Summer

One of my favorite things about summer is the fresh fruit that it offers.  We really enjoy going to different farm markets, especially ones where we can pick our own berries or apples.  We were in a local farm market the other day and the peaches smelled so good I decided to buy some and make peach butter for canning.  The wonderful thing about canning fresh fruit is that you can enjoy that summer goodness all winter long.

When we brought the peaches home I dug out my recipe for peach butter and decided to give it a try.  Of course my little firefighters were right there helping me.  The first thing that we had to do was blanche the peaches.  I was clueless as to how to do this so I looked it up on the internet.  The instructions seemed simple enough.  We needed to put the peaches in boiling water for 5 minutes then move them into ice water and remove the skins and peels.  So we began our journey to make our peach butter.

 These are the fresh peaches that we bought at the farm market.  My little firefighters like to go to this farm market because they sell candy sticks for 10 cents.  We like to sit on the bench in the sitting area at the farm market and eat our snacks before we go home.  We also bought some frozen homemade apple cider but we drank it up as soon as it thawed.  I really had a taste for one of their homemade donuts but they did not have any left.  In the Fall they make a wonderful apple cider donut that I just cannot resist!  Anyhow, back to the peaches...

These are our peaches after we boiled them.  I moved them over into ice water and the skins slipped off very easily.  I was able to remove the skin with my fingers.  I then sliced the peaches, removed the pits and G put the sliced peaches into the crockpot.

When I was done slicing the peaches we had quite a few in the crockpot and the kitchen smelled so good!  I tend to cook my peach butter (and apple butter and applesauce too) in the crockpot.  It cooks it slowly and I do not have to be standing there stirring it all of the time.  This is the part that G does not like because he says that it takes too long.  He wants it to turn into butter right away so he asks me pretty often "is the peach butter done yet mommy?"

Once the peaches had been in the crockpot for a couple of hours I used a potato masher and mashed the peaches a bit.  I did that again about another hour later and by then the peaches had turned to a pulp.  I measured out my pulp and sugar and G mixed them up for me and it all went back into the crockpot for several hours.

 This is what the peaches and sugar looked like after the peaches had turned to pulp and we added the sugar.  After I felt that the peach butter was thick enough I prepared my canning jars and began to fill them.

 This was what the peach butter looked like when it was done cooking in the crockpot and I began the canning process.

Once the jars were filled I placed them in a hot water bath canner.  While the peach butter was being processed I managed to get my kitchen cleaned back up.  By this point my little firefighters were in bed.  I like to do the canning when they are in bed because otherwise they would want to help and I do not want them near all of that hot, boiling water.  It is simpler to do the canning while they are asleep.

Finally, here is our peach butter.  I kept some peach butter in another jar that I did not process because I know that my little firefighters will be asking for it first thing in the morning.  Now we can have a taste of summer all winter long!

Kool-Aid Dough

The other day our Firefighter was on shift and even though we missed him we were busy with things to do around the house and errands to finish.  After dinner I was cleaning up the kitchen and the boys were having some quiet time and watching a video.  It was getting closer to the start of our bedtime routine so I wanted to keep things a bit more low key.  By the end of the day when my Firefighter is on shift this mommy is usually pretty tired.  I decided that it was still too early in the evening to just sit around and watch television but yet I did not want the boys to get too wound up.  Then it hit me...Kool-Aid dough.

My little firefighters love to play with Kool-Aid dough.  I received a copy of the recipe for the play dough  last year from G's preschool teacher.  She uses it in her classroom so some of the moms take turns making it for the class when the older play dough starts to dry out a bit.  I followed her recipe and loved the play dough.  It has a light and airy feel to it and is very soft.  It smells good too from the Kool-Aid!  I also like that it really does not have that gritty feel to it like some other playdough recipes that I have tried.  The recipe uses standard ingredients that I usually keep in my pantry except for one and that is Alum.  The preschool teacher gave the moms some Alum so we did not have to buy it but I decided to make some for the boys to have at home so I went out to look for the Alum.  I was not able to find it at the superstores that sell merchandise and groceries but I was able to find it at the larger grocery store chains.  The bottle that I bought was made by McCormick.  I made two batches of the Kool-Aid dough and I ended up using about one-half of the bottle of Alum.  I believe that I could get about four batches of play dough out of one bottle of Alum.  Once you have all of the ingredients the recipe is very easy to follow.  Here is the recipe:

Kool-Aid dough

Ingredients:
2 1/2 - 3 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
1 package unsweetened Kool-Aid
1 tablespoon alum
2 cups boiling water
3 tablespoons corn oil
1 cup additional flour

Preparation:
Mix the first six ingredients into a dough.  After the dough cools, knead it - adding small amounts of additional flour as necessary - until it reaches the desired consistency.  Store the dough in an airtight container.

Here are some things that I learned while following this recipe:
1.  Use a spoon to mix the first 6 ingredients
2.  When the dough is cool on the outside that does not necessarily mean that the dough is cool on the inside also.  Please check it carefully to avoid burning your finger!
3.  Only add a little bit of the additional flour as needed becuase if you add the entire cup right away sometimes it is too much flour and it ends up making a big mess.
4.  I found that if the dough was still sticky, it still needed more flour.  Once the dough stopped sticking to the counter and my hands then it was done and I let it sit for a few minutes or so.  I then go back and check the consistency again to make sure that it is not sticky and that my boys could play with it without it sticking to everything.

 These are the dry ingredients, just before I put in the water.  I put the water in last so that I can start mixing the ingredients while the water is still hot.

This is the Kool-Aid dough mixture shortly after I added the water and began to mix it.

I made two batches of the recipe.  It is hard to see from this picture but the Kool-Aid dough on the left was made with Grape Kool-Aid and the Kool-aid dough on the right was made with Cherry Kool-Aid.

 When the Kool-Aid dough was finished I told the boys and they were so excited!  They ran to get their play dough toys and went right to work. They were occupied the rest of the evening and this mommy was able to sit down with them and just play with the dough and unwind a bit.

When G plays with any kind of play dough he loves to mix the colors up.  It looks pretty at first but, after using it that way for a few days, it usually ends up just being gray play dough.  The boys played with the Kool-Aid play dough for about 20 minutes before G began mixing colors.  My mother calls this "creative play".  I am sure she is right but it is just amazing how such pretty colors, when mixed together again and again and again, can turn into a color that is not pretty at all!

When the boys are done we store the Kool-Aid dough in those large gallon Ziploc bags.  In Preschool, G's teacher stores it in a plastic container.

This mommy ended up have a relaxing, quiet evening with her little firefighters thanks to some creativity and Kool-Aid dough!

Touch A Truck

Well, we finally had a break in the fire schedule this weekend!  After another day of OT our Firefighter was able to spend the entire day with us today.  After Church we decided to take the boys to Touch A Truck in the Metroparks.  It was a free event where kids could come in and climb on the service trucks, learn about them and see how they work.  They had a food stand that was grilling hamburgers and hotdogs at reasonable prices.  They also brought in a lot of sand and dumped it in the center of the service garage for the kids to play in as well as providing sand toys too.

 G really liked the sandbox.

 I think that M liked the diggers the best.

Both boys were running from digger to digger and were just so excited to be able to crawl on all of the equipment.  At first it was a rough start because most of the vehicles had horns and most of the kids were blowing those horns!  It was pretty much non-stop the entire time but after awhile you blocked it out.  M did not like the noise at all but then all of a sudden he seemed fine with it so we were glad.

I think that Firefighter Dad had as much fun as the firefighter boys!

All in all, it was a great day.  It was so nice having Firefighter Dad home with us today.  Nice memories were created today to be cherished forever!

Simple Happiness

Yesterday was one of those unexpected days that did not turn out as planned.  My little firefighters and I were planning on spending the day with our Firefighter since he was going to be done with his shift that morning.  Well, he ended up having OT during the day so he would not be coming home at all until after our little firefighters were in bed

While we were disappointed we still made the best of it.  G and M were playing very nicely together in the morning so I was able to get a few chores done around the house.  Since it was such a beautiful day I told my little firefighters that we should go to the local farm market known in the area for its homegrown corn.  They also have a big tractor and wagon that the kids can climb on as well as glider swings.  I also enjoy the ride there as it goes through the parks and it is so beautiful.

When we got there my little firefighters were so excited to see the huge wagon full of corn.

They immediately wanted to help me start selecting corn.  We ended up buying a dozen ears of corn because they were having so much fun selecting good ears.

Once we were done selecting our corn we took a look around inside.  They had a slushy machine so we each had a slushy, bought some fruit and a couple of cookies.  Once we paid our bill we went back outside to enjoy the sunshine and eat our snack.

The boys really enjoyed the glider swing and I found it very relaxing too.  The weather was just perfect to sit outside and enjoy ourselves.  Of course, an outing would not be complete without a potty break.  Unfortunately, the farm market did not have public restrooms but the park's Visitor's Center across the parking lot had some so we walked over there.

Once G and M were done we decided to check out the park's Visitor's Center and the area around it.  We found a cute little bridge on the bike path so we walked over there to see the view.

While we were standing on the bridge there were a lot of bicycles riding by and G and M really enjoyed that.  Then we walked over to the Visitor's Center where we found a nice surprise.  There was a children's play area there so G and M were very excited.  They were able to each draw a picture and hang it up on the display clips and draw on the chalkboard.

G enjoyed making the puzzles.

M enjoyed the growth chart of frogs that had plastic tadpoles and frogs on it.

We ended up staying there over one-and-a-half hours.  I was playing with the boys but I also had some time to just sit there and watch them play.  They were having so much fun and they were playing so well together.  I felt such an incredible amount of happiness sitting there and watching them.  Everything about the day was just simple yet completely wonderful.  It is these days that I treasure so much as a mother. While we missed our Firefighter very much we ended up having a nice day anyhow.

With the fire schedule you have to take each day as it comes.  Some days are just typical days and other days are anything but typical.  There are schedule changes, OT, FIU, last minute squad or fire calls and continuing education.  We have learned to just go with the flow and make the best of it.  Sometimes things go the other way too where our Firefighter forgets to mark one of his days off on our home calendar so we then are able to have him home with us an extra day.  The crazy fire schedule is our life and we would not have it any other way.  We are a fire family and loving it!

Almost Time for School

I can hardly believe that both of my little firefighters will be going to school this year!  G will be in 4 year old preschool and M will be going into 3 year old preschool.  I can hardly believe that M will be going to school too.  I know that they will only be gone a couple of days a week for a couple of hours but it is amazing how fast that time has come upon us.  I remember the day that I brought each boy home from the hospital.  They both seemed so tiny in my arms and now they are leaving my arms to go to school like big boys.  I cried on my way out to the car last year when G started 3 year old preschool and I am sure I will cry when M starts this year.

While I may not be excited about them growing up so fast, they are sure excited.  M has been asking to go to preschool since last year when he was able to go with me for snack day.  Every couple of months the school lets the parents and siblings attend snack time with the students.  M loved it and G loved showing him what to do and where to sit.  Some days he would even cry when G was able to go to preschool but he could not go.  He kept asking when the next snack day would be.  I know that they are both looking forward to it.

I was one of the room moms for G's class last year and I hope to be a room mom for both of their classes this year.  It was a lot of work but so much fun planning the parties and the crafts for the kids.  It is great to watch how excited they get with their projects and the party.  Both boys would help me get our project together and help me bake whatever it was we needed to bring in.  It was nice how it became a family effort instead of me doing it all alone.

I pray that this will be a good school year for both of my boys and all of the children.  Now I just need to get them some school clothes and their book bags...and a box of tissues for Mom.  As always, I will have my camera in hand to take their First Day of School pictures.

A New Day to Excel

"A new day to excel."  This is what our Parish priest told us that he says each day and I found that I liked that saying.  He says that we can learn from our mistakes and start fresh each day...a new day to excel.

Last night I began to think about this phrase.  I am in the process of knitting myself a sleeveless sweater jacket.  I started it in the Fall of 2010 and am really hoping to have it completed by this Fall.  Being the mother of two preschoolers and working around my Firefighter's shift schedule I have been finding it hard to find the time to knit my sweater.  Well, last night I had a big issue with my sweater.  I saw that the cabling section in the waistband that I had just completed was not done correctly.  I held it up to examine my work and saw that the second cabled row in each pattern repeat was done incorrectly.  I had to rip out 5 inches that took me weeks to find the time to knit.  In about 45 seconds of time my weeks of knitting were gone.

The picture above is what the left front side of my sweater now looks like after I ripped out 5 inches.

This picture is the back of the sweater which, thankfully, is finished.  The cabled waistband in this picture is what the front piece should have looked like but, unfortunately, it was not even close.

While I was ripping out my cabled waistband section I remembered the priest's saying, "a new day to excel".  I decided that he was right and tomorrow would be a new day to excel and that I was not only going to attempt that section of my sweater again but I was going to get it right and get it done!

I also started to think how this phrase could not only inspire me in my knitting but also in my weight loss journey as well.  Growing up I was always rail thin and never had to worry about my weight until I was in my early thirties.  I noticed then that staying in shape with my current eating and exercise was becoming more difficult.  Then I gave birth to my first little firefighter, G, when I was 38 and my littlest firefighter, M, when I was 39.  After that, forget the weight loss.  I tried Weightwatchers and it worked great for the first 11 pounds but then I let my eating habits slide back and I eventually put the weight back on.  I have tried Weightwatchers again, at home, and I had a problem sticking to the food journal..  I have a million excuses about it being too hard, too time consuming and that I'm too busy with the kids.  Well, I know that Weightwatchers works but it takes discipline.

Starting in the morning I am going to take out my food journal and tomorrow is going to be a new day to excel.  I have lost, and kept off, 5 pounds so far and I have 20 more to go to get to my ideal weight.  I know that I can do this.  If I am not eating as healthy as I should than I am not setting a good example to my children and I am not respecting my body.  Some days it is so hard though because it is so easy to grab that cookie or eat a quick hotdog.  I really need to sit down and actually do meal plans and stick to them as much as possible, not only for dinner but lunches and breakfasts too.  I need to take care of myself, my body and my health in order to be the best firewife and mom that I can be.  Saturday will be a new day to excel !!  With a lot of hard work, discipline, prayer and the support of my family I plan on sticking with it this time.

I have read a few books that have also helped me and I will be referring to these books along with following Weightwatchers on this journey.  The books that I have read on my Kindle are Your Last Diet!: The Sugar Addict's Weight Loss Plan by Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D., Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God, Not Food by Lysa Terkeurst, enLIGHTened by Jessica Berger Gross and, finally, Jump Off the Hormone Swing by Lorraine Pintus.  Each of these books affected me in a different way.  I have been able to take things from each of these books and incorporate them into my daily life and, combined with Weightwatchers and God's help, I really believe that this time I will succeed!  I will keep you posted each week on how I am doing on my weight loss journey.

Looking back on things, having to rip those 5 inches out of my sweater was really a blessing.  It shaped up my attitude by reminding me of our Parish priest's phrase "a new day to excel" which I am now also applying to my weight loss journey.

A Day at the Zoo

We finally had a break in the humidity today so the boys and I took advantage of it and spent the day at the zoo.  We wish our Firefighter could have gone with us but he was on shift.  On the days that he is on shift I try to do something fun with the boys that gets us out of the house for a little while otherwise shift days can get very long with two preschoolers.

We met some friends at the zoo around lunchtime.  Once everyone got together we ate our lunches outside.  Fortunately, the bees that seem to always be at the Zoo in August were not bad today.  During lunch we did have to take two potty breaks because we are still potty training our littlest firefighter.  He is doing so well with the potty training but this was our first adventure out of the house for the day and he didn't do too bad.  After lunch and some potty training we headed off to see the animals.

The boys love to feed the nectar to the birds at the zoo so we did that first.  I take a lot of pictures so that my Firefighter can see what we did and feel involved.  I usually text him pictures too so that he feels more in touch with us when he is on his shift.  After we fed the birds we met up with our friends again and road the train around the zoo and went to the animal petting area.  The boys just love being at the zoo and seeing the animals and exploring the different areas of the zoo.

As the day progressed, so did potty training.  Our littlest firefighter had a couple of accidents and ended up going through both sets of extra clothes that I brought for him and ended the day wearing his big brother's extra clothes.  I think that part of the potty training issue at the zoo was the fact that they have very loud hand dryers in the bathrooms.  Both of my little firefighters dislike the loud noise and cover up their ears.  I brought the potty seat with us so that my littlest firefighter would feel more comfortable but I think that he was afraid of the hand dryers.  Finally, towards the end of the day, we found a bathroom that was very quiet, was empty and had no hand dryers.  Then he went potty with no problem.  Looking back on it, maybe I should have put him in a diaper for the day but he has been doing so well with the potty training that I really did not want to take the chance that he would regress during the day so we tried it.  Overall, he did very well and I am very proud of my little guy.

I find that we go to the zoo a lot when our Firefighter is on shift.  Sometimes we will go for a couple of hours or sometimes for the whole day.  It gives us a chance to go somewhere that will not cost a lot of money but gets us out of the house, is educational and totally fun.  We usually pack our lunch and then get a snack at the zoo before we leave.  The boys were totally worn out at bedtime today so they should sleep real well tonight!

Date with a Firefighter

As most firewives could tell you, the firefighing schedule has its ups and downs. Today was an up day.  This morning was one of those rushed mornings where we just could not seem to get out of the house fast enough.  The boys had Vacation Bible School (VBS) and I had a date with my Firefighter for breakfast!  We managed to get the boys dressed and out the door and to VBS on time.  Then we were off to our breakfast date.  Having a breakfast date may seem odd to some people but on a firefighter's schedule it is perfectly normal.  My firefighter can sometimes work long hours on his shifts so it is so nice when he is home and we actually get to spend some quality time together.  Sometimes this happens in the evening, at lunch and even, some days, at breakfast.  Once we dropped the boys off at VBS we went out to a restaurant for our breakfast date.  It was very nice to be able to talk about things without interruptions from the kids, the phone and the radio pagers.  After a nice breakfast we were able to run a couple of errands and then go pick up our boys.

We love the days when our Firefighter is home.  It is nice to be able to spend an entire day with him.  The boys get some quality "Dad Time" and mom gets a chance to get some things done around the house.  We eat dinner as a family and do family things together.  We are very used to the firefighter schedule and we know that the schedule can change at any time.  That is why we appreciate the days when our Firefighter is home.  It can be a crazy life but such is the life of a fire family!