Ain't no foolin . . .

. . . it was a baaaaaaad stay at home mommy day, and I kept wondering when someone was going to jump out of the closet and yell "April Fools"!

The rain stopped me from doing my run in the morning, a strep throat false alarm hijacked my mid-morning and afternoon, and my poor coughing child hijacked my evening.

I did, of course, find time to f*&# with the children though!  I still haven't figured out why none of them get me back.  It must be fear of retribution.  Of course, the Superego (oldest) spent the better part of her strep throat false alarm trying to figure out ways to mess with her sisters and her dad.  That should have been my first clue that she was a big faker.  But, she came up with some clever tricks that I may have to use again.

Here's what I learned about messing with your kids on April Fool's Day:

Camp Runamuk and the Winter Wonderland

Some people are addicted to crack. . . my name is mommy and I’m addicted to planning ridiculous projects that make a complete disaster of my house and make me go bankrupt because I cuss when they don’t work out like I thought they would. 

As we were getting ready to leave for our trip today I had Camp Runamuk with six kids, two projects and a lunch with my 92 year old grandma.  All of which had to be accomplished before 2pm.  I think my mother truly didn’t believe I was going to get everything accomplished when she saw my kitchen at 11am that was full of glue and tissue paper.  It was at that moment that I realized I need to admit my problem . . . I actually like to create chaos in my life. 

Today’s projects involved making sugar cookies and also snowmen with glue, tissue paper and apple juice bottles.

Here’s what I learned when you try to recreate winter in your kitchen and rush through sugar cookies:

Family fun in 32 minutes or less

I am always on the search for family fun that will be great for the kids, but not take forever with set up and clean up.  Plus, today we were running around so much that I didn’t realize until we got home that I only had 45 minutes to do family fun and leave to our next appointment.  Today, I found TWO projects that accomplished this task – chocolate covered candy canes and joyful tea lights.  Oh, and I found a use for the 32 pie plates – holders for all the elements of my family fun projects.

Here’s what I learned about turning things into your pantry to family fun:

Feed the birds . . . and then feed the kids

We’re reviewing all our photos to prepare for the holiday cards, calendars and videos that we do and I was reminded about all the family fun we’ve had this year.  Fun we’ve been missing lately because I've been busy realizing I should have failed 4th grade, oh, and I’ve been working a lot.  Well, this week Camp Heather and family fun is back.  It’s that week that every mother wakes up with night terrors about . . . school vacation.  Oh, wait, is that just me?!

To kick off Camp Heather family fun we did . . . what else . . . a cranberry project!  We made a cranberry wreath to put outside to feed the birds.  Then, it was on to a Rice Krispy treat project to feed the other animals in my life . . . I mean, the kids.

Here’s what I learned about projects with toothpicks and frosting:

The show must go on!

"I barfed on my boots". . . make that my sister’s boots, and my daddy’s car and on my Christmas dress . . . Here’s a mommy lesson I learned – when your five year old tells you her tummy hurts, is laying in your lap all through dinner, goes to the bathroom twice and says to you “going to the bathroom made it all better”, GET HER HOME ASAP!  Tonight we were eating dinner and on our way to a holiday show when The Id (the baby) told me her tummy hurt.  Like any mommy in the running for mommy of the year I chalked this up to another child tummy ache and thought she’d get over it if plied with ice cream. . . and then she barfed on her sister’s boots in the middle of a restaurant.  In the infamous words of BFF Molly’s 13 year-old little brother – F#*@ING FANTASTIC!

This is a photo of how mommy was feeling after the barfing started!  Ok, it's actually The Id throwing a tantrum at the Grand Canyon, but it just seemed to fit.

On the bright side, I did take the Superego and the Ego to the show and it was absolutely fantastic!  And yes, Karma’s going to get back at me for leaving Husband from Heaven with the barfing baby.  

The show we saw was Christian Youth Theater (CYT)’s Holiday Traditions.  Very professional show with fantastic sets and costumes and an incredible living nativity scene at the end.  They even had a live camel and sheep.  There are still tickets and the show runs through December 22^nd.  You can check it out at www.cytsandiego.org.  I highly recommend it as a great holiday tradition to start with your family.  WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better than the Nutcracker!  J

And, following is a fantastic recipe for day 3 of cranberries:

Tiff’s Holiday Cranberry Salsa

Ingredients:

Serves 4

• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 minced jalapeno
• 1/4 cup red onion, chopped
• 2 ripe avocados, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
• 3/4 cup halved cranberries
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• Pita crisps or tortilla chips

Directions

1.   In a large bowl, whisk together 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, 2 tablespoons honey, 1 minced jalapeno (seeds removed for less heat, if desired), and 1/4 cup chopped red onion.

2.   Add 2 ripe avocados, cut into 1/4-inch pieces, 3/4 cup halved cranberries, drained well on paper towels, and 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro. Season with coarse salt and ground pepper; toss gently to combine. Serve with Pita Crisps or tortilla chips, as desired.

Who needs fruitcake . . .

. . . when you can have Fruity Pebbles!  Today’s family fun was decorating the Christmas Tree and then making our own tree out of Fruity Pebbles.

The Fruity Pebble Tree was a fun family project that although it didn’t turn out exactly how it was supposed to, it did turn out really cute.  The recipe is right below the lessons from today.

Here’s what I learned about decorating the tree and making one of your own:

The Great Pumpkin IS real

Halloween has come to a close and mommy is completely exhausted.  What began with a miniature pumpkin patch concluded with The Great Pumpkin.  The Ego . . . you know, the child who keeps writing “give me 20 bucs” notes to the tooth fairy . . . has now decided that she is Linus and needed to write to the Great Pumpkin.  Right down to the Nuh Nuh she now carries around (this is a name that she learned from BFF Molly’s son - it is how he refers to his blankie)! This kid is going to kill me with all her notes to fictional characters.  It means that I have to keep showing up and I have to take ½ an hour to write my left handed notes.  And, this one I could not screw up – there was no way I was going to be able to convince her that November 3^rd was still Halloween and the Great Pumpkin was on a spy mission.

So, last night, to round out our Halloween family fun mommy became the Great Pumpkin and transformed the kitchen for the girls.  Here’s what I learned about the Great Pumpkin and Halloween night family fun: