Semi-Hiatus

It’s been a whole lot of fun - the beach vacation. We spent 4 days and 3 nights by the beach and we have the tan to prove it. The Fisherman had a great time fishing whenever he felt like it. He was rewarded with 25 pieces of blue fish that are now comfortably encased in gallon ziploc bags, waiting to be devoured by the family.
We went with another family which made it more fun and cost effective. We brought pre-cooked meals that we can just microwave whenever needed. I baked enough cupcakes, bread and pastries enough to food an army. Soda, juice and milk and some wine and beer washed ‘em all down and we were content and happy. At least we didn’t have to think about what to cook for the next meal, nor did we spend time making them. Instead it was all a walk to the beach, the kids catching the waves and me and my Mommy friend soaking up the sun underneath a beach umbrella. The sand in our toes, me and my straw hat and a bottle of ice cold water. We took in the scene - young men and women parading in their bikinis and surf shorts, all tan and buff. My friend and I looked at them and reminisced about the days when we were just as fit and trim. Ahhh, youth.

Going back home, we were bombarded with the reality of life once again - SOLs, housework, office work and what-have-yous. We once again fell in the routine of our daily lives. And looked forward to another vacation in the distant future.

TheFisherman and I decided to forgo with our home improvement projects. We opted to build memories instead. And so yes, the money that would have gone to the projects will now go to vacations and spending time with the family. It’s a better investment that a beautiful patio or a flagstoned stoop.

School will be out for the Tweens in just a few days, June 12th to be exact. And they are counting down the days while I am still reeling from the fact that school lets out early this year.

The MIL’s visit has been postponed due to a health related cause. And now it looks like my BIL might come with her too.

Overall, it has been crazy in our household lately. I wish I can crunch more hours in a day. But for now I will survive. And brace myself for what is to come.

I might not be able to blog a lot, if at all, for a while. I will try my best. I miss “visiting” my blogger friends and reading about their lives and stories. I will do so one day once the craziness has died down. For now I will be on semi-hiatus. Hope y’all have a great summer!

Conversations with My 11 year old

Some snippets of our conversation:

On seeing me take my earrings off

Tween1: Why do girls wear earrings anyway?
Me: To make us look prettier
Tween1 (aghast): Why? That’s not right. That’s self-mutilation!
Me: Well, in tribes they even have those huge plates hanging from their mouth and rings on their necks.
Tween1: But still!

While driving on top of the hill and admiring the view:

Me: Oh look at that beautiful view?
Tween1: What’s beautiful about it? They cut down trees to build houses.
Me: Well the houses’ colors looks really nice.
Tween1: It would have been nicer if the only color is green - for all the trees.
Me: But still!

 

 

PB&J Elvis Style

I saw this at Paula Deen’s show. Since I had all ingredients on hand and anticipating the arrival of my hungry sons ready to pounce on whatever after-school snacks there are, I hurried and made these.

Apparently, The King himself, Elvis Presley loves these Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches with bananas. Now this is a good way for a Mom to sneak in some fruit in a snack. Covered with the gooey peanut butter and slathered with the jelly, the bananas are unrecognizable. The added effect of the bread toasted and covered in cinnamon sugar made it more appealing to the young eyes. It was a cinch to make but I had a slice myself and approved this recipe. Kid tested, mother approved indeed!

Recipe can be found here.

 

 

Some Things Never Change

It is comforting to know that despite all the ups and downs and the ever-changing tastes, some things remain the same. One of which is my older son C’s love for his teddy bear.

He’s had “Teddy” since he was 3 and has been inseparable ever since. Once, our dog (which was a puppy then) got ahold of Teddy and bit off his nose. My son was hysterical and crying like an injured animal when it happened. I had to sew Teddy’s nose back on and he bears the scar to this day. A ghastly reminder to his near-death experience.

Last week, as I was tucking C to bed, I noticed that Teddy was a little flat, his nose pressed flat on his face. Looking more like a Pug than a teddy bear, you can see that he’s been squished and loved to death. I told C that I needed to stuff him. “What?! NO!” And I told him that stuffing Teddy would make him more huggable and more “pleasant looking”. He reluctantly agreed on the condition that I do it when he’s not watching. Somehow he feels like I am going to “hurt” Teddy by cutting him up and stuffing him. “It’s going to be a small cut” I said. “It doesn’t matter, I still don’t want to see it being done to him”. Now here is an 11 year old who refuses to show affection to me in public, trying to act all teenagerly and he doesn’t want a stuffed animal to get hurt? I assured him Teddy will be okay.

A pound or two of stuffing later and Teddy is muscular, softer and more loveable. My son won’t have it any other way.

Bits and Pieces

There was something about the way my son C was talking yesterday that made me realize that he’s 11 years old now. It wasn’t the content or the essence of what he was saying. It was the way he said it - his voice, his intonation, his expression, his gestures. He acted almost like a teenager. I didn’t know how to react - would i be sad because he’s growing up and has lost some of the “innocence” or should i be happy because he is becoming his own person, developing his sense of identity. In the end i decided on both. Motherhood is overwhelming at times. Not to mention how age is creeping up on me. I feel so old these days. I feel like i am sprouting up gray hairs every day. Wrinkles are making an appearance on my face. The bags under my eyes are getting puffier and the tummy pouch is getting harder and harder to get rid of by the minute. And so yeah, i feel old. And your son showing signs of aging kind of reminds you of that even more. My husband still insists on having another baby. “We produce good looking babies” as if it’s the latest product on the market - “newer! better packaging! new look!” I refuse to budge. The thought of bringing a baby in this world once again where i have to battle with strollers and car seats is very intimidating. Heck, I can’t even get my niece out of her car seat! Both my sons don’t want another baby brother or sister. “Too much work” they said. 

I am still going through life changes. It’s a long and winding road. But i have taken the time to pause and think otherwise it’ll drive me crazy. Still busy, but still blogging. I have a lot of plans - better looking blog, a cooking blog,regular contributions to the pmn ezine (sorry Raq and Dexie!), books to read. places to go. poems to write. stories to tell. I have a lot of them. There’s a lot of me wanting to go out and share. Until then, these are bits and pieces of me.

Bullying in School

My youngest son G just told me this morning on the way to school that he was bullied last year by a classmate of his. He was crying as he was telling me what transpired. He said a classmate of his was twisting his foot and as he was telling me that he was holding his foot. I got mad and told him: “and you’re telling me this now? why?” And he said: “because I forgot as soon as I got home”. He said he wasn’t able to tell the teacher because it was an assembly and they all had to remain quiet. After the anger came sympathy for him. My heart was breaking in pieces as I was looking at his tear-stricken face. Aren’t we supposed to shield our children from harm? Why can’t we be there for them when things like this happen? Why are there bad kids in this world? All of these things were going through my mind. Add to that the feeling of disdain and anger at the boy who did it to him. One can never explain nor put into words the emotions that a mother goes through every time her child gets hurt. Life can be tough sometimes and being a mother, you would think we’ve seen it all, experienced it all. But sometimes it gets to you. You try your best to provide a good and safe environment for your child but what’s out there - you can never guarantee. We try our best to arm our children with the necessary weapons - faith, hope, self-esteem, Taekwondo lessons and yet sometimes it’s just not enough. There will always be good and bad in everything, I know.

During times like this, mothers can’t help but feel like they failed in something. Did I forgot to tell them about bullying? Was he afraid of the kid more than he was afraid of me? Is he growing up with low self-esteem? Has he stopped believing in himself?

As soon as they get home from school we are having a talk again - about bullying, about believing in oneself, that telling doesn’t mean being wimpy and that the world is still okay. Even with the bad.

A Conversation with my Boys

On the way to TaeKwon Do class yesterday, my kids and I had this interesting conversation:

C: Did you know J (his best friend) has been breaking up with his girlfriend for a long time now but gets back together with her again and again?
Me: Why is that?
C: Well, he breaks up with her and then she cries and then he feels sorry for her so he gets back together with her.
G: So he’s the one who’s dumping her?
C: yeah, pretty much.
Me: That’s not nice. And that’s not fair to the girl for him to stay with her just because he feels sorry for her.
G: Yeah, tell him to find another girlfriend.
C: Well, he likes E but I dunno how that’s going to work.

Okay, lest you think I am making a big deal about this, let me just say I did not expect this type of conversation with my kids. I’m all for being open with your kids about most everything that is age-appropriate. And being in this day and age - the YouTube generation where everything can be seen and heard, where everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame. In the age of TMI - too much information, I cannot, of course be on a 24/7 watch (especially in school where there are other kids who are exposed to questionable behavior and language ) as to what my kids see and hear. As parents, we try to do the best that we can. But still, there are times when we are caught unawares by some of the things our kids say and do. In this case, although I have heard that most of C’s classmates have boyfriends and girlfriends, I did not realize that these things are taken “seriously” (for lack of a better word) by 6th graders. And G? I did not know that “dumping (a girlfriend)” was in his vocabulary. He is, after all, 9 years old.

It was an amusing conversation and yet a mild nudge on my part that hey, kids grow up. Whether we like it or not. And the best thing that we can do is to be there for them. To take the opportunity to find the lesson in each life’s events. To teach them the value of love, understanding and an open mind.

And that’s what kept me from freaking out.

First Day of School

First day of school - pretty hectic. The kids had to adjust sleeping and waking up early once again. They groaned and grumbled the night before and finally succumbed to sleep at 11:00 pm- way late, I know. They did manage to wake up at 6:30 am the next day and we had a nice breakfast-all of us. DH (who I will refer to from now on as FishermanHubs) was working late that day so he was able to sit down with us. We then scrambled to the front door and got ready to go to school. The school parking lot was jampacked with cars! Parents with video and digital cameras trying their best to catch their child’s first day in school. New backpacks, new clothes, new shoes. The kids were off! And as I saw the boys to the school, I was grinning from ear to ear. I am so ready!!! When we got home, FishermanHubs said: “I miss the kids, it’s way too quiet here.” I looked at him and said: “are you freaking kidding me? I love the quiet!”

picture of a small country church in St. Mary, MD

Away and Out of Love

It’s been less than a week but already, DH and I logged on more clock hours than a regular workweek. Talking on the phone, that is. Thank God for free mobile-to-mobile minutes, we can talk on the phone anytime we want.

The kids are missing him terribly. And so am I. This is the first time ever that we’ve been apart this long and it’s been lonely. Sure the babies are keeping us occupied and we love spending quality time with my sister and her family but we miss DH a lot! It just isn’t the same without him.

My oldest son, who’s the more sensitive one told me while we were waiting at the airport: “I miss Dad already”. To which I said: “but it hasn’t been 10 minutes since he dropped us off”. He just gave me a sad face. I turned away because I was getting choked up. No use trying to be emotional in front of the kids or it’ll be a crying fest right there and then.
And then today, my youngest son was eating Hershey’s kisses and one of the paper things had an “I miss you” written on it to which he exclaimed: “we should send this to Daddy”. My older son then gave his to his brother. It read: “cheer up”.

Life Lessons Courtesy of A Camping Trip

picture taken of a barn on the way to the campsite

1. You can never have too many bottles of Off insect/mosquito repellent
2. Bring a jacket, the weather gets crazy sometimes. The sunny horizon does not necessarily mean sun. It just might be the polluted air from the nearby city.
3. Exposing your legs to get a tan works better in beaches, not camping trips. You run the risk of getting mosquito bites the size of Texas or as plentiful as the 7100 islands of the Philippines.
4. Load up on water. For brushing your teeth, drinking, washing, you name it.
5. Check if your tent really is waterproof. Just because it came from Sears doesn’t mean it is.
6. Kids will run around and behave like kids running amok. Even the most well behaved ones turn into cavemen when they’re in nature.
7. The mere sight of a body of water inspires kids to soak up all their body parts. Make sure you bring lots of change in clothes.
8. You will discover certain species of insects and animals you never encountered before in your life.
9. That small black piece of something might not be charcoal.  
10. Despite all the mosquito bites, dirty kids, long drive and yucky insects they caught, the sight of your kids happy and content makes it all worthwhile.