My Parents Are Made of Gold

My parents are made of gold. And you know how precious gold is these days, right? So you can imagine how precious the two of them are, seeing as how they are well over a valuable few ounces in weight.

They are in town this weekend and are allowing me to completely take advantage of them. One of the special joys in my life is when they come for a visit so that I can completely abrogate my parental responsibilities and make them raise my kids. At least for the weekend.

And what am I doing while they feed, clean up, and entertains my kids?

Nothing.

Seriously, nothing. I might be sitting on the couch while my mom reads to them. One of my girls has to go potty. Instead of getting up and helping them I just call out to my mom from my cozy little spot on the couch, "Maaaa? Can you help herrrr?" And she totally does.

Or maybe I want to go run errands. "Mom, I'll be right back I have to run some errands. It'll take me an hour, max." And I breeze out the door for the next three hours.

And the best part about it is that my mom and dad don't seem to mind at all, not in the slightest. They actually enjoy it. My dad will play with them for hours on end, telling them the same jokes over and over again which they never get tired of hearing.

Sometimes if I become concerned that I am taking too much advantage of them, I check in with a concerned, "Oh, sorry, would you mind? Is it ok?" And my mom will sarcastically respond, "Its suuuuuch dreadful sacrifice, arghhh...." And then she'll give me an impish smile.

Even though it isn't Mother's Day, Father's Day, or Grandparent's Day (wait, is there such a thing?), I have to point out how awesome moms and dads are, especially when they are also grandparents who will spend their entire weekend doing nice things for me so I can get a break.

We may no longer be a moocher in our late teens, but yet when it comes to our parents we all find ways to rediscover the mooch in us. How do you still take advantage of your parents? Don't leave me hanging, because if you say I am the only one taking advantage of my parents then I will know you lie and it will be awkward between us.

Chore Chart Drawings - The Next Set

Here is the next set of my chore chart drawings. Here is the first set. Today's set includes mostly mommy and daddy chores.

Here is daddy taking out the trash - it's my fave one so far.

He likes to relax in this outfit when he gets home from work.

And here is a sheet for the rest of them. For the mom/dad chores they are more obvious and plus I know how to read, so the depictions for us are minimal and some have words. The chores are: Menu planning, sweep kitchen, do laundry, wash dishes, set the table (kid chore), and the upper right picture is "pick up after yourself when you get home from work" (dad chore).

If you are making your own chore chart like me, I suggest printing them on a pretty color, laminating them and using velcro to stick them to your poster board chart. Since my kids cannot read yet, I am putting a picture of each family member at the top of the poster board, and the pertaining chores go under the picture of each child or family member. When the kids are done they can take off the cards and put them in a wall-mounted envelope or basket or wherever is easiest for them to reach. I hope these will be as useful to you as they are to me!

Because I Love You

I have been looking online for some free clip art depicting girls doing chores so that I could make my own chore chart. Part of starting the homeschooling next week also involves other really ambitious things like starting the girls on a set of specific chores and running our days on a schedule (ha!).

But I could not find any clip art that I liked, so I decided just to draw my own stuff and hope for the best. And because I love you all I am going to post it on here so you can download it for free. I am not done yet, I still have other chores to draw, like setting the table and things like that. If I get favorable comments (or any comments at all for that matter, since I think mostly everyone has given up on me by now because of my lack of posting) then I will also post the rest when I am done. These are all princess themed because I have 2 girls and one on the way, so why even pretend to be neutral!

Here is a princess for the task of making your bed:

And here she is picking up the toys:

If you want these as well as the rest which include cleaning your room, brushing teeth, praying (you decide if that's morning or nighttime prayers), and dusting, here they are. Just right click and save as to your desktop - you can print them on an 8.5 x 11 paper. They are each 3.5 x 3.5 inches.

Fetch Me My Fainting Couch

Do you hear that sputtering sound? That is the sound of my engine running out of energy and fizzling out. I am not talking about my car. I am talking about my body. And how it is not yet 10am and I am already done.

Last night I woke up at 5am to use the bathroom for the 4th time, and when I got back to bed I simply could not fall back asleep. My brain got to thinking (stupid brain, of all the nerve!) about the things I have to get done this week. For those of you who only know me for pretends on this blog and not for reals, I should tell you that I am going to be homeschooling Ivy starting on August 29th.

So I have been busily putting together all my supplies and writing a basic Spanish and a basic Music curriculum to supplement the Catholic Heritage curriculum I already bought. I am sure there must be something out there for young kids in those topics, but since she already understands Spanish and is really flighty about Music, I figured I would just start her off where she needs to be and then find a curriculum along the way that fits her level.

The point is, 5am. Brain. Thinking. About homeschool. By the time I fell asleep again, Violet came to pinch me awake. She likes that, the pinching. She was a lobster in her past life. Or a pair of really stunning designer shoes. One of the two.

And now even though it is still early and I have a VERY full day ahead of me, I would very much enjoy a good fainting. Except there is no one here to provide smelling salts and to fan me and give me sips of water while putting a cool compress on my forehead. I want a T-shirt that says "Fetch me my fainting couch"... I saw that online while looking for this image here. Actually, I have always wanted a fainting couch. Make a note of it, family and friends.

How do you get past the energy dips in your life when you really have no choice but to press on? Caffeine is not an answer, that is cheating. Someone please help me. 

New Pizza at Chuck E. Cheese

I received an invitation to review Chuck E. Cheese's new pizza... they completely revamped it for the first time in like 30 years. When was the last time you went to Chuck E. Cheese? Before this year, the last time I had been to one was when I was a kid. And that was a long, long time ago.

What do you remember of this place when you were a kid? I remember a dark, dirty interior with creepy animatronic animals(?) or puppets whose eyes went CLICK CLICK when they blinked loudly during their song performances. Even as a kid I was not much of a fan of the place. So when I had kids, I stayed away. Finally, a friend invited me to a play date there and I decided to just go for it since it had literally been decades since I had been to one.

I was so pleasantly surprised to find that they were bright, clean, and the animatronics had been replaced with movie screens and only one animatronic Chuck, who didn't seem to click quite as loudly as he used to.

The games and rides were lots of fun for my kids, the staff was friendly, and the whole experience was far better than what I recalled. And now, there was a brand new pizza to try.

So what is the verdict on this brand new pizza?

DELISH.

It's as good as any restaurant quality pizza, and definitely better than take out pizza - less salt and grease,  and much more flavor. In fact, it was so good that we ended up ordering another one, which we also devoured very shortly.

The bottom line is this - you could go to a sit down restaurant and have a pizza while your kids squirm and try to sneak out of their seats, or you can go to Chuck E. Cheese for fantastic pizza while your kids have a blast and you sit back and relax. It's kind of a no brainer.

The Carousel at Green Valley Ranch

I thought you would all appreciate knowing that the Carousel at the District in Green Valley Ranch is FREE for the rest of the summer (probably until Labor Day)! It used to be $2 per ride.

Also, on movie nights there is free popcorn. Woot!