Got Quads?

I’m always amazed by the money put into Mother’s Day gifts. Oh moms are important and deserve every penny spent on them… but what I want doesn’t cost much. Sure, I would enjoy a nice bauble or two, but what I really want is a fun day with my family. Hubby works Monday through Friday, I work Thursday through Saturday. That leaves us just one day together and often times it’s spent doing chores. I know Hubby will let me sleep in, which is one of the best gifts ever. One day a week to sleep past 6am or 7am gives me the energy I need to get through the week. Every Sunday Hubby makes pancakes for our daughters, so I’ve requested strawberry pancakes for Mother’s Day. Other than that I just want to have fun, which likely means sidewalk chalk and tricycles, followed by a bubble bath (for our daughters, not me). Would a diamond bracelet be nice? Oh yeah… but I’m content hanging with my family instead. So all you moms: what do you want most for Mother’s Day?

When I work my part-time retail job, I notice more and more shoppers heading straight for the clearance racks. Can you blame them? I’m always scouring the racks for great bargains for my daughters. I refuse to pay full price, and most times I won’t even look at a rack if it’s marked less than 50% off. A note to the kind folks at Target: 15% is not clearance, it’s a sale. You may be trying to “clear” the merchandise out of your store, but I’m not fooled by the clearance signs. However, after Easter my mother-in-law found some great bargains on baskets for next year… 75% off, so I’m not completely knocking Target’s clearance racks. 

I began my clearance shopping for buying a year ahead. When stores marked down their winter clothes I tried to guess what size my daughters would be wearing next year. So far I’ve generally been on the mark. Then I started noticing as the economy changed stores seemed to be marking things down earlier than normal. For instance, this week at Kohl’s the clearance racks already have spring/summer clothes marked down at least 60%. 

Some of the deals I’ve found in the last few months: a convection toaster oven originally $80 marked down to $20, shirts for my daughters for $3, shirts for me for $2, work shirts for Hubby for $10.

Times are tight for many families. I’m not suggesting anyone has time to spend all afternoon searching the clearance racks, but when you do go into a store, take a minute to check them out. You never know what bargains you’ll find. 

MaryAnne at Thrifty Craft Mama tagged me for 10 Things You Were Dying To Know. Here are my answers to these all-important questions 1) What is your current obsession?American Idol. How cheesey is that? Every season I swear I’m done and every season I’m sucked back in.

2) Which item of clothing do you wear most often? Jeans

3) What’s for dinner? Hmmm. It’s Tuesday so that’s usually Hamburger Helper night. Tuesday afternoon one of my daughters has an appointment so it’s nice to have a simple fall-back for dinner.

4) What are you listening to? Four little girls giggling 

5) Say something about the one who tagged you: MaryAnne and I “met” when we both became members of a reader advisory panel for a parenting magazine. She has two little ones with a third on the way. She has some great, kid-friendly crafts on her website and is clearly more creative than I will ever be.

6) Favorite vacation spot? Maui, hands down.

7) What are you reading right now? Etta by Gerald Kolpan; It’s a fictional look at the life of Etta Place, who dodged the law with the Wild Bunch. I started the book last week and I’m about 3 pages in.

8 ) Four words to describe yourself? Wife, Mother, Determined, Loyal

9) Guilty pleasure? White chocolate

10) First Spring thing to do? I keep staring at the dust on the blinds so I guess I should say clean!

Rather than tag anyone, I’ll just open this up to anyone who wants to participate. Also, this week both Shannonf at Busy Working Mom and CheekySuze gave me the “Let’s Be Friends” award. Thanks ladies!

We’re getting to the point where my daughters can understand that when you play with toys or make a mess someone has to clean it up. Slowly but surely they’re starting to take on small responsibilities.

In the morning when I wake them up I ask them to “make their beds.” Usually they just pull the covers up, but it still counts for something. At night we’ve started asking them to put their toys away. There are still plenty of things for Hubby and I to put away after they go to bed, but I don’t expect them to do a perfect job. Heck, some nights I don’t put everything away.

Roo has taken an interest in the cats, so it has become her job to help feed them. One cat, Elwood, is on a special diet, so he has to eat in the laundry room. Roo will tell me if Elwood is standing at the door begging for food, then she’ll help put the bowl on the floor for him. 

Many mornings all four girls want to help unload the dishwasher. After I put the knives away I’ll let them hand me different things. In all this time we’ve only had one dropped (and broken) glass. 

Eventually they’ll need to take on more responsibilities, but for now I’m satisfied with the effort they make to help out.

I am a big fan of any meal which makes my life easier. That’s why I like slow-cooker meals.

You’ll need:

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup or cream of chicken soup

1/4 c. Italian dressing

1/4 c. dry white wine

1 1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces

1/2 lb. angel hair pasta, uncooked

2 Tbsp. parsley

Beat cream cheese, soup, dressing and wine with whisk until blended; pour over chicken in slow cooker; cover and cook on high 2-3 hours or low 4-5 hours; cook pasta as directed on package about 15 minutes before chicken is done; drain; serve topped with chicken mixture and parsley

Giving your children choices is a great way to develop speech. Instead of letting my daughters point at something I would encourage them to say what they wanted. It also is helping them with their colors. At mealtimes they get to pick what plate they want based on their arrival order at the table. If you’re the first one at the table you have four plates from which to choose, so you need to know your colors.

Unfortunately, we still have some work to do. A few days ago I took my daughters to the retail store where I work part-time. The store manager gave them each a bite-size Milky Way, which I told them they could have after lunch (no, I’m not above bribery. If you eat your lunch you receive a small piece of candy). When we came home I found out they each had a small lollipop in their backpack from school. After lunch they chose: lollipop vs. chocolate. They all chose lollipop (What????) Then Cakes and I had the following conversation.

Cakes: Mommy, can I have my chocolate now?

Me: No, honey, you had a lollipop. You’ll have to wait until tomorrow to have chocolate.

Cakes: Oh… I changed my mind. I don’t want my lollipop.

Now there’s a girl after my own heart… change your mind after you eat the candy.

When you’re outnumbered four toddlers to two parents, discipline is key. Hubby and I make every effort to be firm and consistent. Sometimes, though, it’s hard to discipline our daughters without laughing when they come up with gems like these:

Me: Why did you just bite your sister?

Cakes: I thought she might bite me so I bit her first.

(See, they’re already figuring out how to use self-defense)

Me: Sue-Sue you need to get out of the baby doll bed right now.

Sue-Sue: No, I’m using it as a boat.

Me: It’s not a boat. It’s for dolls. You’ll break it…. Sue-Sue, get out… Thank you. Now if you get back in there you lose your shoulder ride tonight and I won’t give you a warning.

Sue-Sue: I want a warning. Pleeeeeease. Pleeeeease give me a warning. Mommy can I have a warning?? Don’t take away my warning.

(We have a few silly routines at bedtime, such as a shoulder ride through the hallway. If you behave all day you’re allowed to participate in the various silliness. Apparently Sue-Sue thought “warning” was a name for one of our games.)

My all time favorite moment of toddler logic happened one day after school. The preschool teacher told me about an “incident” with Sue-Sue. At snack time all of my daughters were given water while the rest of the class had juice. I had asked the teachers not to give them apple juice because of the “consequences” later, but the teachers thought I asked them not to give my daughters any juice. Roo, Cakes and Tortilla drank their water. Sue-Sue chucked her cup across the room. When I had some alone time with her our conversation went like this:

Me: Did you throw your glass of water at school today?

Sue-Sue: Yes (What?? She didn’t blame Notme? What a breakthrough)

Me: Why?

Sue-Sue: I didn’t want water. I wanted juice. I said please.

Made sense to me. That’s not to say that we didn’t have a conversation about why you don’t throw your cup, but it’s hard to argue when they’re using the lessons you taught them (such as saying please). Sure we still have a lot to work on, but we’ll get there. In the meantime I’ll just have to turn my head so they don’t see me laughing.

Here’s how I think preschool was formed: A bunch of kindergarten teachers sat around complaining that they and their students were always sick. To solve the problem they decided to create preschool. That way our children build up their immune systems before entering kindergarten. Oh sure, they’ll still be sick on occasion, but not nearly as often as they would have been without being subjected to the germs in preschool. My daughters became sick within a week of their first day of preschool. They all had a nasty cold that just wouldn’t go away. Since then we’ve had one case of pink eye, two stomach bugs, numerous colds, various fevers, possibly a case of Fifth’s Disease… am I leaving anything out?

Don’t get me wrong… preschool has been a wonderful thing for my daughters. Their speech has improved, they’re making friends, they’re learning all sorts of new and great things. They had to build their immune systems at some point, but you’ll cut me some slack since I’m dealing with four young immune systems, right? School is almost over for the year… I just hope the germs aren’t as cruel to us next year. (Can you tell by this post that one of my daughters is sick today?)

Do you remember the first concert you went to? Mine was Richard Marx. Yep, the one and only. I take comfort in the fact that for many of my friends, their first concert was New Kids on the Block, so I’m not as embarrassed to admit I saw Richard Marx. I wonder how my daughters will feel in about 20 years when they tell their friends the first concert they went to was… drum roll please… THE WIGGLES!!!!!

That’s right… we have tickets to see The Wiggles live! It took me awhile to convince Hubby that he really does want to sit through a few hours of four men singing songs to and for preschoolers. The concert is still a few months away so I haven’t told the girls. I can only imagine how excited they’ll be when they figure out what’s going on.

If Hubby had it his way, we would eat some type of Mexican fare every day, so I’m always looking for easy ways to satisfy those cravings.

You’ll need:

1 roasted chicken or 2 lbs. shredded chicken breast

12 flour tortillas

2 c. reduced fat shredded Cheddar cheese

1 c. mild green chili salsa

1 c. mild red salsa

If using the roasted chicken, remove meat from bones and shred; lay 1 or 2 tortillas in bottom of baking dish, overlapping slightly; layer tortillas with chicken, cheese and salsas; repeat layers until bakin dish is full; finish with cheese and salsas; bake 25 minutes at 350 degrees; top with sour cream, chopped cilantro, sliced black olives, sliced green onions and sliced avacado.