Parenting Dilemma: need some input!

Scene:  Oldest kid is provoking middle child, one parent is outside hanging laundry (doesn't know what the arguing is about), other parent is upstairs trying to put youngest child to bed for nap. Upstairs parent tells the kids to stop yelling (twice), finally outside parent hears maniacle screaming and drops the laundry and runs in the house to break up the screaming fit.  One look at the face of the parent coming in the house is enough to get the kids (both of them) to stop screaming. 

So: screaming has stopped (by proximity and a really really scary looking face)

But what to do about teaching them how inappropriate it is to 1- instigate and 2- scream like maniacs

What are the consequences to said behaviour?  (ha ha... screaming at the kids might not be what I'm looking for, though it was my first instinct... so easy, yet so stupid in this situation)

Questions: 1) What is the logical consequence for screaming and instigating?
2) Was it caused by lack of parental supervision? (don't forget your reality check though, kids will be in many situations where a grown up just steps out or is out of sight but still hearing distance often.) 
3) What would you do? 

Fitness-Life Balance Part 1

I am so blessed to be able to call the folks that I worked collaboratively with on this project my friends.  They have had such a positive influence on my life.  I hope to be able to work with them again in the future.  Check out Part 1 of the article. 

http://maxineyvr.wordpress.com/2011/08/05/fitness-life-balance-part-i-the-people-and-our-fitness-life-balance-philosophies/

One Busy Day!

I personally can't stand being at home with my kids (unless it's friday night and we are watching the weekly movie while Mark works late).  They drive me batty, between the fighting, the eating, the messes... blah... I would much rather pack some snacks or in today's case lunch for the morning activity and diner for the evening activity and be out for as long as possible.  It keeps the house much cleaner and my mental sanity in check.  So here are some picture that captured the moments of today.  You might notice I have an extra kid in the morning and then lost one in the evening (I did).  I brought along Annaliese's friend for our trip to Frootogo farms and then she stayed over for the rest of the day at Lauren's house (GOD BLESS LAUREN'S MOM!!!).  I brought the boys to a wadding pool about 20 minute drive from our house, we had diner el fresco and then played at the park before picking Annaliese back up.  Then I had them tucked into bed within 30 minutes of walking into the house.  Fresh air is good!

Seriously toys as far as you can see, and fenced in! 

This place is prego mommy heaven!!!!  I had my feet up (on a chair) and sat back and relaxed while all the kids got to play to their hearts content.  The older ones, jumping off hay stacks, the little ones playing with the million toys available.

A duck and a Goose (apparently they co-mingle).

Lt to Rt: Patrick, Luke, Lauren and Annaliese (and a bunch of chickens behind the fence - thankfully)

This is what I get when I asked him to smile... ham!

About to show me how well they can blow bubbles.

The day is about to end very shortly, at this point Patrick only had energy to watch the birds. 

A Tornado????

I'm 500KM north of my home, enjoying myself after a killer workout (combat and pump), when I check my facebook and read that a tornado may have touched down 3 measly km from our house.  What is that???  We have been glued to the weather network but can't seem to get much information.  I can only imagine the worst scenarios (yes I know, never the optimist, always the pessimist).  I think our grapes vines will be completely trashed among other more costly items.  But in the same breath I am very thankful that our family is tucked up cozy and safe up here in Sudbury. 

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/maps/caon0100?ref=rlink_weather_satrad

Yoga at the Lake!

Here are the much anticipated almost 30 weeks pregnant yoga poses!  I had a blast posing and thank goodness the water and air were both relatively warm! 

Tree pose.  (ps. most difficult pose for me by far because everything was moving... water, trees...and the wind was pushing against me to boot. 

Airplane.

crow pose

And now the fun begins....

Canon Ball... weee!!!

Taking a breath before second round of yoga with my daughter.

Trees on the lake.

And for the finale... 

ps.  I am no longer in pain, I did body flow this morning and these fun poses this afternoon and I feel pretty good. 

I take it back...Ouch!

After a 5 hour drive up to my parents house with the kids, my back now hurts and I am waddling.  I did hot yoga yesterday with my super awesome friend Sherry, and I wish I could do it again tonight!  I felt so wonderful after class, managed a crow and wheel!  Not to mention a funny little tripod head stand and shoulder stand (with a belly in my face)! Anyway, I'm trying to think positive and figure out what I can do to help with my soreness from travel body.  Body flow at 10 AM tomorrow!  Well I did bring my yoga mat for a reason, it's not Baptist Power Yoga but it will have to do as a substitute.  And if the rain can hold off I will try to get some pictures of poses with the lake as background while we are here.  I hope that works out! 

I have a complaint...

This baby is already jamming her butt in my ribs, today more than once I was walking around pushing my left rib cage back in!   Oh boy am I going to be in for it in the upcoming months.  A little over 11 weeks to go, and at the rate my previous kids gained weight at the end, I''m going to explode by then.  I'm estimating about 1/2 Lb of baby growth per week now!  Yay!

ps. on a brighter note, my lower back hasn't been affected as bad as it was with my others..yet!  

And sometimes the stars align...

Not every often, but perhaps more often than a blue moon, the starts align and my kids and I have a wonderful, accident free, yelling free, fighting free evening and the world is at peace.  They woke up from their nap and all decided on doing separate activities: Luke playing trains in the basement, Annaliese working on a craft (a colour your own umbrella) and Patrick was playing outside in the backyard with the dirt and water pool.  I was outside reading my book. 

Sooo uneventful and quiet... ahhhh. Then my daughter came outside in her bathing suit and wanted to play in the sprinkler.  I set it up, put my bathing suit on, put the boys in their suits, sat on a chair that did get a bit wet every now and then and watched all 3 kids play together in the sprinkler and play set.  My daughter was delighted that I set it up so the slide would get wet and that she could swing in and out of the spray of water!  Then I ducked into the house, got diner ready on the BBQ and we all sat down for diner outside.

  Amazingly they actually all sat and ate!  Everything!  Carrots and snap peas included.  Then I brought everything in the house, set up a netflix movie for them and while they watched I cleaned up from diner and made a batch of GF oatmeal raisin cookies (with chia seeds and flax) and we all sat down with milk and cookies and watched the movie.  Just before it was done I took Patrick (the youngest) upstairs and tucked him into bed... Without a fight!  Then the next two came up and I tucked them in, and they were both out within 20 minutes.  MY GOD!!!  It was 8:20!!!!  Ha ha ha... the night is mine....

Accchhhhoooo!

Bloody allergies, it's not the season right?  Didn't think so.  But at the moment I'm having a hard time keeping my eyes open because I had a couple of Benadril because my nose was running away from me (too many sneezes are not good for the belly either).  I guess it's my fault, I went and took out all the bins of old clothes from my closet so that I could sort through some of the stuff I could and would still wear nearing the end of my pregnancy.  Now I'm sitting on the back deck, listening to my neighbours music,  hearing crickets and frogs, my feet are up and I'm having way too much cheesy popcorn.  I'm totally enjoying myself because for one I'm not sneezing anymore, but second I feel pretty darn good about a newly sorted closet of clothes, and a dusted and vacuumed room. 

The camera is down!

My two year old is really really turning into a terrible two.  It's real, he's only been two for what 3 weeks and already he is getting into more trouble than he ever has.  This morning he grabbed the camera and while Mark was trying to get it back from him, he launched it and it broke, dead... no reviving my lovely canon.  Then tonight as well as last night he has decided that he doesn't want to sleep in the crib and so keeps climbing out, well unfortunately there is only one other bed in the room, Luke's toddler bed, which Patrick keeps trying to take over.  Poor Luke now gets relocated to the bottom bunk in Annaliese's room.  The other trick Patrick does since he can get out of bed, is wander around the upstairs in the middle of the night, twice last night: once at 11 and once at 1:30AM. He came to say "HI MAMAN" and "HUGGIES!!!!". Ugghhhh, I've decided that I don't have children in the middle of the night! The baby gate is going back on the hinges tonight!  The funny thing about that is that is will stop him from wandering in the middle of the night, but come morning, the two older kids will undoubtedly  show him how to drag the ottoman from the rocking chair close to the gate so he can climb over. 

I have to say that in the past I would have been worried about a 2 year old having free run of the house, however my daughter is very much the little mommy, so I have complete confidence that she will take on the roll of "bossy boots" and make sure the boys stay in line!  She's great :D  (and very much like me!) I'm sure this will eventually come back and bite me in the butt, however for now, it is working to my advantage

Sandcastles and Smores

Wow, it's amazing, I haven't been on the internet in exactly one week.  I had a lovely time camping with my family.  The weather mostly cooperated, the food was great, I totally lucked out with the air temperature being prefect for my prego state and I didn't get a single bug bite!  Honest!  I got to read more than 500 pages of a Diana Gabaldon book and was able to eat Southwestern salad every day!  Heaven!  I will mention very quickly the fact that next summer we will find a cabin that has a washroom.  It was more than a half km walk to the washroom every time, which you can imagine isn't so fun when you are almost 7 months pregnant or with children that are little.  Anyway, I'll post some of the pictures from our family vacation!

Breakfast with my Kids!

Since we will be in the wilderness for the next week I thought I would leave you with what my typical morning looks like around here.  This would be a breakfast that they beg for, so they get it often enough.  Oatmeal (Roger's Oats), chia seeds, berries and a drop of maple syrup.

My oatmeal is a bit more complicated, GF oats, some melted mixed berries, a big blob of almond butter, chia seeds and berries with a drizzle of maple syrup.

Yes, the 2 year old eats oatmeal naked!  It's for the best :D

Feeding Time at the Trough! They all line up on the bench to chow down.

How I Southwestern my Salad!

Ok so I cheat and use a package,however, I do make it healthier by adding more lean protein, and take out 1/2 the sodium and most of the fat content.  I also add a couple handfuls of baby spinach and a tomato.  (Avocado would be a great addition too)

The ingredients I don't use: sour cream, 1/2 the dressing and cheese (today I did add about a tsp, because it was left over in the fridge from the omlette I made yesterday)

The ingredients I add: Greek yogourt (lots of lean protein) and pressed cottage cheese (it crumbles like feta, has 11 gr of protein per 55g serving - no salt added, 0.5% Fat content)

I know it's not as pretty as the first picture, but I wanted to show you that even though I only use half the package of dressing, the salad is fully covered because of the greek yogourt.  And it tastes DELICIOUS!!!

Better with Friends

The best meal is one you don't have to cook or clean up, and even better when shared with family and friends.  Tonight was perfect.  I raided my freezer, fridge and made a stop a the grocery store, packed the kids in the van and headed to a good friends house.  It was great to get out of my home with the kids.  Mark was working a long shift, second of three before our camping trip.  So it was just me and the kids. 

We got to my friends house and my kids met the newest addition to their family, a 4 month old puppy of unknown breed (who cares right? he's cute). I handed over the bag of food and let me tell you, did I ever enjoy myself.  Adam cooked, Jen prepared, the kids played.  Then we sat down and had a lovely meal, all the kids actually sitting in chairs (for the whole meal), that in itself is amazing, considering two of them are only still 2 years old.  Let me add this up for you, 5 kids, 3 adults, 1 dog, 10 hamburgers, a giant salad, 8 cobs of corn, 2 jugs of water and a chocolate ice cream cake....  =  FUN! 

Parenting Poetry....

I Should Wonder...

about the rock I found under the kitchen table
about the bite marks on the toilet paper roll
about the many horizontal little lines near the bedroom doorway
about the pencil with the leaf wrapped around it
about the yellow crayon all over the bathroom walls
about the giant pile of pillows piled up at the bottom of the bunk bed
about the stickers, so many, stuck all over the laminate floors
about my missing flip flop
.
.
.
But I don't... I'm a mom

I'm hungry... All the TIME!!! ugghh

This is ridiculous, I realize I'm pregnant, but I could be eating literally every 20 minutes of the day.  I can't blame it on boredom because this morning we went swimming and didn't get home till late, we all napped, work up and had diner, then I was at the gym to do combat and body flow.  But I have been wanting to eat all day long.  I have two new cravings that have planted themselves in my brain, they aren't as gross as last weeks cravings at least.  The first is cheddar kettle corn from the farmer's market and the second a package of southwestern salad mix (that I add pressed cottage cheese, greek yogourt and spinach).  I'll have to wait till tomorrow to restock both of these!  I also think I need to start drinking more water, that might help with the hunger!  I hope...

10 Reasons to be Happy when it's a Grey Day!

In no particular order...

1) It finally cooled off enough to be comfortable for me. 
2) No need to slather sun screen on everyone (including myself)

3) Absolutely NO LINES at Ontario place! 
4) Snacking on Farmer's market Kettle corn throughout the day.
5) MINI PUT!!!! 

HOLE IN 1!!!  woot woot

6) Sucking in my belly long enough to get on the Ontario 4-D ride with my daughter.  (Mark can't see 3D) AND it was soooo cool.  Moving seats, blasts of air, mist, bubbles, snow and even ribbons moving by our feet...  I wanted to go again!  I will next time we go!
7) Hearing the kids squeal with delight on the many other rides.

8) Driving back home with a quiet van of tuckered out kids.
9) A 1 hour nap.
10) Motivation to get out of the house to workout (Body Attack) because the family wasn't sitting outside having a BBQ (that I would miss out on).  It's so much easier to workout when it's raining!

I'm back and exhausted again! (and some pictures of our dip in Lake Ontario)

So I haven't posted in a few days, mostly because I've been on kid detail for the last couple of days while Mark is working 10 hour shifts.  By the end of the day I'm completely exhausted.  Thank goodness for today's rest day!  Mark took the kids to the school to water the garden and collect some loot for my juicer and I got to sleep in (sort of 8:30), then run some errands kid free.  I'm home now, the kids are napping and I've folded 2 baskets of laundry and emptied the dishwasher, time for a break!

I thought I would post some pictures of us from yesterday when we brought the kids to Coronation park, in Oakville, and took a dip in Lake Ontario.  Let me tell you it was FREEZING!!!  What is that? I could have floated ice cubes beside me and they wouldn't have melted, is that normal?  Well needless to say, my rule of only going out if I can park myself in some type of cool water was met, but I think it was more like freezing water.  I was barely in the water and even though it was something like 37 Celcius, I was frozen! 

The rest of the beach didn't have this green slime, but we figured it was smart to park under a tree.  The shade was awesome

Yup that was about it, I'm sitting in 2 inches (not even) of Lake Ontario water and I'm cold.  Not a feat easily accomplished in such crazy hot weather.

His hair isn't normally like that, I couldn't help but spike it!

The kids were fascinated by all the flat rocks, a very different beach compared to the one near us in Burlington.

In the background, my cold blooded daughter (do kids not feel the cold??) going up to her waist in the freezing water.