Package Delivery

Like a fool, I brought in the package this morning instead of letting Patrick get it. As soon as he saw the box on the kitchen table he freaked out and had a total meltdown. So, I had to let him take it back out and bring it in again. He wasn't content to just put it back on the porch, no, had to run it out to the middle of the yard. No self respecting man in brown would have left a package in the yard, but minor detail. And yes, he was in his pajamas still, which is better than the usual... just a diaper. He is not a fan of clothes these days which saves on laundry at least.

Quick post before Monday morning chaos

On the subject of wine, I had all four kids in mass with me yesterday, while Sean was home getting some much needed sleep after a long shift. Patrick is now officially boycotting the nursery (thanks, coach) but he was the best behaved as long as he had his pinecone to hang on to. Yes, that's right, he took a pinecone to church and it apparently has magic powers because it kept him quiet and happy (I am going to sell these and make a fortune). Anna was the one who kept "accidentally" making Emily's giraffe squeak. She has definitely been the squeaky wheel lately, so much so that I decided not to take the wine at communion time for fear that I would just keep walking with the cup and finish it at my seat. There is always one of them being difficult it seems and any minute now I will find out whose turn it is today. The girls will be racing and stumbling up the stairs to escape the scary basement, complaining about not wanting to go to school. Oh but the sweet, sweet school bus will be here in 33 minutes. I should go find their filthy lunch boxes and fill them with non-smiling sandwiches.

Guess who doesn't start dreading Monday morning way back on Sunday afternoons? Stay home moms, that's who! Love you, Monday!

Pottery Barn Kids, you are killing me here

So I just pulled out the "late spring" edition of the Pottery Barn Kids catalog and I am wondering where it is "late spring"? I think we just got a taste of early spring, but late spring? Is this like putting out xmas decor in September? Anyway, I am paging through, looking at all the stuff that I won't buy my kids because it's just more junk for them to leave on the floor, when I see their lunchboxes. Not only is it time to replace the now dirty, nasty ones you bought last August, but it is time to step it up in the lunch packing department moms! This is what someone named "Abby" is getting in her lunch:

1 apple
1 orange
1 bunch of grapes
1 small container of peas
1 mystery beverage in a thermos (or perhaps a vegetable puree soup?)
and a sandwich cut into the shape of a circle with a face on top-- 2 eyes made out of carrot slices with peas balanced precariously on top and then a smile made out of, oh I don't know, a cantaloupe slice?

I am just glad that a product stylist put that together and that I don't need to go hunt down and smack Abby's mom (or her 2 gay dads?). Does Abby have an hour for lunch? Does Abby have a kind friend who shares a cookie or chip with her?

This is how the Keenans roll... juice box, fruit sauce, half a PBJ sandwich (now I do put effort into that as one child likes blueberry jelly and the other likes strawberry jelly... the one day I mixed those up I had hell to pay-- you'd think that since both girls will eat both fruits, that they would like both jellies-- you'd be mistaken), oh and then they get some sort of dessert so they have something to look forward to during their day of hard labor. They barely have time to eat this small amount of food and often bring part of it home, which Patrick greatly appreciates as he relieves them of their lunch bags as they walk in the door. He loves to torture me by putting their dirty fruit sauce spoons in his mouth, so nasty. Mmm, germs. Sometimes he also scores a juice box when Anna doesn't drink hers. That's when I find him hiding in the laundry room, sucking it down before I can take it away. Ah, sweet nectar for toddlers... gives them energy to party late.

Anyway, I need to go recycle this catalog before the girls find it and start circling everything they want (or notice the fantasy lunch box and demand smily face sandwiches). Of course nothing is as dangerous in the house as the American Girl catalog, I have to hide that down deep in the recycling....

Yoga! Yoga! Pizza!

As part of my be more involved and get the newspaper plan, I learned about a yoga studio opening up here in town so thought I would go check it out. I have gone to two gyms here for yoga classes (maybe 4 times total) and neither had the ambience I was hoping for (and that they show on the TV yoga I have done). I don't know, maybe it's that they use the same room as they use for spinning class and it smells like spinning class... and it's in a dark, dank basement? Anyway, I was thrilled to walk into a studio with hardwood floors, natural lighting, candles, great music, and an amazing instructor who taught us so much. Did I mention the military discount? And it's right next door to a great new coffee shop? You can get the schedule online. Please go try it so it will be a success and I can keep going!


www.orangeskyyoga.com

I tried to put the link in, not sure if it will work.

My other favorite local establishment is The Palace. They have some pretty fabulous thin crust pizzas, I recommend the Emerald with pesto sauce and a balsamic glaze. Daily specials are often the best though (props to Kevin) and the fajita pizza is my favorite of those. Oh, they are getting their liquor license soon but the fine state of Kansas will not allow them to sell these really cool individual wine boxes (like a juice box) that are popular in Europe. Not sure if those have straws, also not sure you should drink wine with a straw now that I think about it. My point being, they will have little bottles of wine soon. Of course The Palace also sells a lot of cool items for gifts (or yourself if you are me and having a long week). Patrick often finds a little something for himself too and one time he found a big something... some bouncy cow thing that you ride on. He literally carried it out of the store so I had to buy it. And now all the kids abuse it at home.

For the record, these are not paid advertisements but I wouldn't say no to a free pizza. Or access to the special parking in Aggieville....

So Sly

So last month Sean asks if I would mind if he did a quick trip to Vegas with his moonlighting pals. It's a cheap trip as one of them owns a place there and he usually wins enough to at least pay for the fun. How can I say no, the guy works two jobs and barely gets to sleep. So he books that. Then he mentions the moonlighting meeting that is in San Antonio in April, well he has to go to that and he says I can come along, just bring the baby. Oh, that sounds great! I would love to get back there, haven't been since we moved 4 years ago. Sign me up! Oh wait, we don't have a sitter who can handle the other 3 kids, nevermind. Too much hassle to take them all just for a weekend. So now we have 2 long weekends when I am home alone with all 4 kids. Don't worry, it gets better...

THEN, Sean "remembers" that he needs to get his CME credits for the year and oh look, the perfect conference is in Vegas in April also. Fan-freaking-tastic. Army is sometimes a little fussy about giving permission to go to those things, oh but not this time. Approved, soldier! Oh and then Army says we aren't going to let you decide your own career path, we are going to send you to a leadership course in San Antonio for 2 weeks, after 70 hours of online training. Are you (swear word-ing) me? If Sean is going to spend 70 hours working on the computer, I expect a nice deposit into the college funds. There is no possible promotion in Army that justifies any of this for him. Army spent NINE years training him to sit in the dark and interpret radiology studies. He doesn't want to talk to anyone, let alone LEAD them. There are people who want to be leaders, go find them.

Sean did say we could tag along and go to San Antonio for 2 weeks in July then. Awesome. I spent 4 summers in San Antonio with 2 children in our own home. I learned enough to know that two weeks with 4 kids in a hotel in the summer in Texas is a recipe for insanity. Oh, but there's a pool. Really, because I think maybe the water all evaporated overnight when the temps didn't even dip into the 90s. Better double check that one.

Sean is a rule follower so he will go. And I will remember that it could always be worse. It could be 6 months of deployment. So we will continue to hope he never goes and can instead take care of the wounded warriors back here, while hanging with his family each night (and taking the occasional weekend trip to Vegas).

Irish Up

I'm not sure how it happened but somehow I ended up making corned beef for dinner tonight. At some point the 25% Irish part of me took over the grocery cart and grabbed a hunk of fatty meat in red juice and then boiled it per the instructions. Blah. Everyone ate it, everyone got really really thirsty, our arteries started closing up and we threw the rest away. Sean said he had his fill of corn beef for a few months. A few months?! Umm, I think we're good from here on out. We can do potatoes (except Anna who thinks she doesn't like them) and I can keep beer in the house for guests, but that's the limit, folks. No, not even a Shamrock shake, not after the Shamrock shake hurling incident of spring break 1990 in Charlie Lux's van. In fact, I bet the other 5 people in that van have never had one again either. My apologies.

Toddler Routines

Toddlers are supposed to be a little OCD when it comes to their little routines, so I try to laugh at them, instead of worry. Anyway, Patrick has a number of things that he has to do every day and some of them are helpful, like shutting doors and closing drawers and taking out the diaper garbage. But then there is how he has to mess up my bed every time I make it or empty the pantry whenever I get on the computer (and then ask me every time what each item is- UGH, it's still tomato paste, okay??). There is a lot of yelling if I interfere or try to deviate from the routine so I usually just give in. Fine, fine, take the garbage out and then play in the cold dirty garage in just your diaper. I mean, how hard can a 2 year old throw a golf ball anyway? Could he break a car window? I'll let you know. Some things will come back to haunt him later, like how he has to get out my red high heels and wear them whenever he sees my closet open. Of course there are photos.




I do keep hoping his routines will inspire other family members. Like, if someone has to STEP OVER a garbage bag to get to their car, maybe it will trigger their routine to THROW IT IN THE TRASH CAN. Just saying. When I am trying to quickly get trash out of the kitchen before the children see their junk in it, I don't have time to get it all the way to the trash can without Patrick dashing to garage party time. Plus, it is cold out there and I am usually in my pajamas (or daytime pajamas) and they aren't very warm.