I have to admit....

......I love vacation week as much as the kids! It wasn't so easy to get up this AM to go to school.....I love waking up at our leisure and having no commitments! The kids do too, but, I also have to admit, it was nice having some quiet this morning. Is that bad to say? I guess we all need to have some time to ourselves. But I still love to be able to say, "Let's go to the aquarium today!" or "Let's go to the movies today!" That is the best! I am really looking forward to the summer. It is the last summer before my daughter starts kindergarten. I feel like it is the end of a stage of my kids wanting to be with me! I plan on once a week beach day, play dates, movies, parks, zoos, amusement parks, etc! I hope that we have better weather!

They are each....

....individuals, aren't they? It is so much fun to see our children become unique. I love watching them make up their own minds, as much I as I try to persuade them one way, nope, they want it their way! For example, my son, my daughter and I were in the Lakeshore Learning store the other day. They each had $25 of their own money to spend. My son could not decide between a target game with nerf balls, or a laptop that would teach him about Astronomy, Geology, Oceanography, etc, well, of course, my vote was for the laptop. His mind was not made up. I tried to convince him to pick the laptop, which was $35, I told him that I would pay the difference. I was really trying to convince him to get the laptop. I told him that he already had a bunch of nerf guns, he replied that he already had a laptop learning game. So, of course, he went with the nerf target game. I let him make up his own mind. He earned his own money, and was set on that. So, I guess it is time to let go a bit and let them make up their own minds, unless, of course, it is illegal.....hopefully I won't ever have to deal with that ;)

I am....

....taking the day off...OK? I know that I have had the week of the kids being off from school, but, with them home, it is 24/7. Well, today, I am taking the day off, well, at least the morning until hubster has to go to work. Hubster made breakfast for the kids, did the dishes, and let me stay in bed! He made a nice pot of coffee, and I LOVE it freshly brewed. I am tired, I don't feel well, as I am fighting a little cold, and I am grumpy, OK? I love bed, and just need to stop, and take a break.....the imperfect Mommy is checking out. And, I am going to be OK with that.

Am I....

....a broken record? Am I a broken record? Am I a broken record?......Today, I was trying to have some quiet time for an hour before I was going to take the kids to the movies, and not once, not twice, not three times, but four times in an hour, I had to ask my kids to just play in their room, or the living room so that I could have some down time. You would have thought I was torturing them.....it just was an impossible task for them. I was so frustrated, that I almost cancelled our plans. However, we were meeting friends, and there was no rain check because they are leaving tomorrow for a little road trip. So, instead, my punishment for not listening is to bed a half an hour early which they both do not like at all....especially my eight year old son. Especially since we are on vacation this week. So, I am hoping the next time I ask for a little peace they will listen.....but probably not.....

The cutestest things....

....that kids say! There are times that I wish the video camera was running, so I try hard to "record things" in my brain! Some of my favorite memories of things that my kids have said still make me smile. When my daughter was about 18 months old, she would ride in her car seat, I would give her a snack with a drink and I would ask her to please make sure to put her drink in the cupholder so that she would not spill. She would reply, "Look, Mommy, my drink is in the 'hold-cupper'!" HOLD CUPPER! LOL.....love it! We still call it that. When my son was learning to count, he would count as follows, "....ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, FIVETEEN, sixteen, seventeen..." Well, it does make sense doesn't it? FIVETEEN!!! LOL.....love that one too! Recently, I was talking with my daughter about her learning to walk. She never really crawled, she went from sitting to cruising to walking. She was wondering what cruising was, I explained to her that cruising was when she would hold onto something such as the coffee table and just walk circles around it. About two or so days later, she brought up her cruising and asked, "Mommy, was it cute when I was cruising and making cir..., I mean, rectangles around the table?" LOL! So clever since our coffee table is a rectangle.... Lastly, one of the more recent things my son has done was at his flag football pizza party. The coach had given a little speech about each of the boys, and my son wanted to give a toast to everyone, he stood up in front of everyone, held his trophy high over his head and said, "Thank you everyone for playing football with me, even though we didn't win any games, we hung in there, and we will win next year, let's have a great season next time and I hope to play with you again!" LOL....I REALLY wish I had recorded that one.....I would love to hear your cute stories! Share with me on FB, comment here or email me @ jennijenmackenzie@gmail.com

Why is it....

....that we must always keep our kids so busy? I feel guilty if I am not taking my kids to the park, or on a playdate, or have them in activities all of the time, or entertaining them somehow, etc....(you get the gist)! Whatever happened to doing puzzles, or reading a book, or playing hopscotch, or riding your bike? It was so much more simple when we were kids (now I sound like my parents....ugh....oh yeah, I AM a parent....). With all of the technology today, it feels like everything is so fast pace! I don't think that I want to subscribe to an iPhone or a Smartphone or whatever because I don't always need to get a text immediately, or want to be in touch immediately, or respond right away. If someone wants to talk to me, they can CALL me, or come visit me. Besides, I am too busy trying to get to basketball or ballet, or the park, or....etc.....lol. I just like to stop, sit and be sometimes....

Never say....

...."What if...?" That is one of my mottos of life! That is what brought me to California! I was going through a rough time in my life, I was in a rut. I had just been laid off, my boyfriend dumped me, and it was RIGHT NOW 16 years ago.....I had two friends that were begging me to move out here. I said, well, hey, I have nothing better to do than go for a visit at least, and have an open mind. So, I came out here, it rained everyday I was here, so I didn't even really get to see the true beauty of the weather, but I found a temporary job, a cute little studio apartment, and picked up and moved out here two weeks later! I would not want to look back and say, "What if I never just took a chance....?" Well, I will tell you what if....I never would have met "this" hubster, had "these" children, lived in "this" house, and had all of "these" friends! It was the BEST move I have ever made. Yes, sometimes you say, I wish that I had never done that, I have one of those too (well, maybe more than one....), however, you have to at least try! I am so thankful that I took the chance!!!