I'm A Monster By My Crazies!

Goddess Sneaks Up On Handsome

Typical day in my house.

There Is Nothing More Frustrating Than Watching Your Child Suffer Through Allergies

My kids have suffered with allergies for years. Handsome gets it all over his skin with big welts, sneezing and wheezing. Goddess gets it all over her skin with itchy eyes, sneezing, and watery nose. She is just miserable.

We will try anything to combat the kids allergies and at this point have. This product Kid's relief manufactured by Homeolab USA was delivered and we were super ready to try it out. I took it to the kids Brownie and Scout meetings to pass out to my friends whose kids suffer too. They were so happy to try it.

The parents I spoke to were most interested in the fact that the remedy was homeopathic and full of natural ingredients. 9 out of 10 parents told me that their kids LOVE it and it worked for them. They stated that their kids take it without a problem. One stated that she can never get her 3 year old to take medication. He takes it whenever she offers it. 

I wish it worked for my kids but it didn't. Not sure if it is because they tend to need mega doses of meds from the doctor (we do about three doctor visits a season for hives and swollen eyes) because it worked for everyone else.

One of my favorite things about Kids Relief is that creator Michele Boisvert is a Pharmacist who decided there wasn't enough homeopathic products out there and went about creating, manufacturing and marketing them. She is the first woman to open a pharmacy in Quebec. NICE!

Goddess Goes To A Harry Potter Party

Goddess was invited to a Harry Potter Party this month. I knew it was going to be great because the invitation was awesome. Even the envelope had a wax seal on it. Her and her friends each had to pull a Potter house name from a hat. Goddess pulled Gryffindor. Harry Potter was playing in the background and the kids headed outside to play a game of Quidditch. It was quite interesting with goals made out of Hula Hoops. They even had a to find the Golden Snitch (an Easter egg painted gold with feathers glued to it.

Goddess asked me to draw a Potter lightening strike on her head. She was the only one with one which I thought would make her feel weird but everyone actually liked it.

I love the ties that everyone was given and at the end the birthday girl's dad had a box of wands. All the kids stood in a line while he searched for the perfect wand for them.

Every time I saw her she was smiling. I loved being able to watch the kids play and taking some photo while making new mommy friends.

Here is the card Goddess made to go with the birthday gift.

Toys That Are Fun, Entertaining and Interactive!

We love Uncle Milton Toys. 


All of these products can be seen on this video. Although I was showing off Puppy Stars Goddess ran out of the room to grab the other products. 

Oh yeah, that's a great face!

Personally I would love Torch In My Room for myself. It looks like a flickering torch that hangs from a wooden holder with a brass ring that I easily installed on Goddess' wall. We now use this as her night light. I turn it on after saying her prayers and it automatically goes off. 

At first turning the torch on was hard for me. It has gotten easier I guess because I now know how to do it but Goddess still can't get it. It's a simple twist of the torch but it is a light touch. No pun intended.

Puppy Stars which features adorable dogs which a child can decorate after applying them to the wall. This is the best part, they come right off. Almost like a window cling. Goddess likes to copy the photo on the box but you can put these up any way you want. 

After you put the clings up you add the FX Activator which mounts easily to the wall with included hardware but I used a 3M hook that I can remove anytime. LOVE THEM!

We believe that little ones under the age of 8 will love the Wild Wall products. They have many to choose from like:

Dolphin Voyage
Shark Encounter
Safari Adventure
Sofia the First
Amazing Web Attack (Spiderman) 
and more

Here is a photo of the torch hanging in Goddess room last night.

Come on! Isn't that cute??!!

I cannot stress enough how cool these products are. My kids and I truly look for them when we are out and about and we believe your kids will love them too!

Oh What A Wonderful Life & Kind Words Really Help

My life has had so many twists and turns that I sometimes forget where it started. Grandpa molesting me, losing Mom when I was 12 to cancer and dad leaving a year later along with many many heartbreaks along the way have made life one crazy ride.

Life is complicated, scary, uncertain, devastating, interesting, exciting, beautiful and a blessing. Thankfully I have always felt that I maintain a positive outlook and find beauty and joy around me all the time.

This week while speaking with three different people at work I was reminded of how positive I can be even though I had forgotten.

Do you believe in divine intervention? I do and always have. When I am feeling my worst, something or someone will remind me how life is a blessing.

This week I heard:

"You are always the same. Sometimes I come in and I never know what personality or day someone is showing or having but you are always joyful and smiling."

"I can always count on you smiling."

"You love everyone and it shows. You are consistently in a good mood!"

It's true I always try to smile. I am always me so having a bad day and taking it out on someone who has nothing to do with my bad day blues is not sometimes I will ever do.

AND...I do love everyone. I really do.

It's true! I have many faces

 but usually, I am just smiling

 I hope you are having a great day.

The Park Babysitter Assister & My Allergy Sufferer

On Monday we had a playdate/babysitting gig so we headed to the park. With four kids it truly is the best place to be.

Whether they were sliding, swinging, skipping, singing or shouting, they all appeared to be having a good time.

Handsome hangs out with the little guy I am babysitting for. He is a sweetie and in Goddess class so they all get along for the most part.  It was nice to see these guys chatting on the swings instead of fighting over a video game.

While it wasn't a great day weatherwise, it was cool enough to keep the Mayflies away.

Goddess and her bestie have been together since they were 3 in preschool. So far they have had every class together. I think next year may be the year they are separated. I hope they both do OK.
 

I love how matchy matchy the girls are. They didn't plan wearing the same blue but it looks so cute. It's what besties do.

AND...to keep the S's going. Here is my allergy sufferer who has had a terrible few weeks. Calls from the school nurse, a raging rash, trips to the doctor and steroid meds have been on the list of things we have to do to combat her horrific allergy season.

Here was the start of one night. There were loads of tears because she was so itchy and her eyes were hurting.

You can see the beginning of the fun rash that sent us to the doctor's office. Here it is on her face but it was pretty much all over her.

At one point she was so miserable she couldn't even ask for drops but was able to draw a pic.

After some Benedryl and the ice pack she was finally laughing at my jokes.

AND eventually feel asleep on me. She had a nice soft boob cushion so really who could blame her?

She woke up the next day and I took one look at her and knew this meant a doctor visit.

We waited, and waited, and waited....

Thankfully we had The Webkinz Chihuahua to keep us company.

She is so itchy she is leaving deep scratches all over her neck and back.

 You can really only be enthusiastic at the doctor's office for so long.

I love this one even though it is blurry. She looks so little!

She has no rash thanks to the 3 days of steroids but the eyes are still the same.  Waiting for pharmacy to get doctor prescribed eye drops.

Me In A Convertible With Friends

Monday I headed out for Dirty Chai Tea Latte with two girl friends. Had planned on it being a gym day but when they ask if I want to go for Dirty Chai, I don't hesitate. We met up and all jumped in Mad's super cool, black Mustang. It was cold! Really cold, I eventually ended up putting my hoodie up and I am sure the girls in the front had the heat on full blast. As cold as it was about 38 with the sun, it was beautiful. I felt completely free and relaxed.

Sitting in the parking lot of CVS waiting for the girls to get in, see how relaxed I am?

The car is just getting onto a road and we are only going about 15 miles an hour. Still smiling.

Moving along at 35 but man it was starting to get cold. I couldn't see anything. My hair was whipping my face pretty good.

Super cold, hoodie up, afraid to bring camera up because we are doing a calm 45 and I pictured it flying out the back so I snapped my girlfriends. Holding onto the phone for dear life, you can see my finger because I wasn't even paying attention to placement, just holding and freezing but best time in over a month.

Just In Case You Don't Know How To Read In Red?

 Ummm....I wonder what this big button that says Push For Help means.

Goddess was invited to a Harry Potter themed birthday party. Here is the card she made which I think is pretty cute.

Tissue Box Easter Basket

Last month my not so artistic son told me he needed to make an Easter basket for a class project. His teacher was going to have all the kids bring in snacks to fill each others baskets. Such a cute idea but he was super stressed because he finds art very difficult and always has. This year his teacher has been great because she believes that a lot of fun has been taken out of the day to day schooling and taught her entire class to sew. They sow something every month. I will have to take a photo of the back of his door to post.

I gave him a tissue box that I had put wire through as a handle. Here is how he decorated it.

This was the tape to make sure my wire handles held up.

He was very proud of it and it is still hanging up in his room!

Trying To Smile Through The Pain #selfie

There is so much going on in my life lately. I have been suffering alone because well at this point I see no reason to share. Nothing good will come of it. Everyone needs to deal in their own time. I may never be able to deal with this but I have high hopes for myself that I will one day be able to put it all behind me and be stronger then ever before. I guess what I am trying to say I have good days and bad and sometimes struggling to be strong every day takes a physical and mental toll. I run out of strength reserve and need to crash, cry, sob and regroup every once in a while.

These were taken on a good day.

I am amazed that I have these days knowing what I am going through but happy to know this is the face my kids see 90% of the time. I save my crying for after they are sleeping. No reason to cause them any pain. Protect! Protect! Protect! This is what parents do.

I hope you are all smiling today!

Oh Common Core You Are Killing Me!!!!

OK let's start by saying I am not smart. I was a below average student but man this Common Core stuff is killing me.

My daughter is learning in 3rd grade what I learned in 6th.

She started September learning multiplication and division simultaneously. When in second grade she was learning 5 + 18. There was no slow increase with long addition or subtraction. It was all thrown at her at once. She is like me a below average student and was completely lost.

Here we are in May and they have covered multiplication, division, decimals, measurements, finding the area, place value, number lines, fractions, operations and algebraic thinking and and now they are on geometry. AND because it was Common Core there were new terms for us to research like arrays and number bonds,  In 8 months! Nothing is fully learned. The continues flow of worksheets are ridiculous and I have to research everything. Needless to say we are exhausted and frustrated.

Math is the hardest subject for me. I truly never understood it. Helping my kids has definitely helped me. I wish I knew then what I know now.

Last week I was subbing in a self contained 6th grade class. I loved this chart the teacher had on the board. Makes it look so easy that I just have to share.

My Heart Hurts All The Time

I sit looking out the window hoping that I will feel a glimmer of happiness and hope that things in my life will change.

Sometimes looking at the positives even though there are tons is very hard and you feel the need to self preserve and fold in on yourself not allowing anyone in until you are ready, until you are strong enough to hear differences in opinions or words from sometimes wise, caring, good intentioned others.

Sometimes their words are harder than before they spoke and sometimes they shed a little light on your situation but only you know what you are truly going through.

Sometimes even trying to explain why you feel a certain way is too exhausting to do.

Sometime you have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and remember that life is full of blessings. They may not always be the ones you are hoping for but if you don't stop and see the little things, you will miss out.

Today the little things are:

A fun text from my husband
My son smiling and walking confidently into school
My computer working well and efficiently
My daughter's allergies decreasing this morning thanks to her medicine
A beautiful day outside my window with green trees, pink flowers and birds chirping
A brilliant cup of coffee
Some good stretching before breakfast

Sometimes all you should do is focus on the little things and remember that this too shall pass.

Some Photos From Last Week - It's All In The Eyes

 This is Goddess' eye! We did it with a mirror effect on my iPhone. We think it looks like a bowling pin.

 She asked me to send this photo to her Daddy! Just hanging around!

While doing homework with Handsome I notice the flag through these branches. Our colors never go unnoticed!

 Just about gave me a heart attack when she tells me she does this everyday during recess.

Handsome loves getting his homework done before Goddess gets home. He can't concentrate when the mouth is going.

It was too beautiful this weekend to be inside! Taking a break from the scooter to listen to music and chat.