What to do when your kid is sick and home from school....

First of all, none of us knew what hit us until it was too late. No fevers, no foreboding sick feeling, no allergies to blame. We were all fine. Then the 5yo got hit with the puke attack. He sleepwalked puked. THAT is a mess. His ENTIRE room fell victim. The next day he was fine, but I kept him home from school (Monday) just to be sure. Tuesday he puked in the last hour of school so I had to go get him. He has a fantastic puking ability. He can do so just by thinking about it. For the first few weeks of his little brother's life, just the sight of this drooly stinky blob that screamed would have him puking. So Wednesday I had to keep him home. Thursday (today), I decided I didn't want a repeat of Tuesday and kept him home and guess what, puke. Did I mention he feels fine?? He has no fever! Oh and while all this is going on 2yo was next in line, then came my turn, and finally daddy's turn. Daddy never gets sick. NEVER. So I was enjoying my guilty pleasure of watching him be sick and feel what we all go through for once. shhhh.

So today, after cleaning up 2yo's puke and putting him down for a (very unsuccessful) nap, 5yo wanted to do something. We brought out the canvas, painter's tape, acrylic paint, pencil, and glue pen and went to town. We literally just finished painting, so check back for photos once they're dry.

Run down of what we did....

Handmade Christmas gifts from the kiddos, 1 finished, 1 in process, several more to come...
I had 5yo set his hands on a canvas while I traced them with pencil, then I had him write his name and "2012" in the upper corners. Afterward I took the glue pen and traced over the pencil. It's drying now, we'll paint it this weekend.
Next up I took some painter's tape to another canvas and marked up a snowflake. I don't think it looks anything like a snowflake, but we'll see. He took some blue acrylic paint and went to town smothering the whole thing until it was covered. Once that dried, he was too bored to finish it so I took some glitter paint and put a coat over the blue. Tonight or tomorrow we'll remove the tape and hopefully be presented with a cute snowflake to give to one of the grandmas.

And now it's time to get 2yo out of his crib from quiet time and get dinner going.

PVC/Yard Bag Black Widow - DIY

Let me start by saying I felt like the world's worst mom on Thursday. I had planned to take the kiddos to The Apple Works and my nonexistent ability to follow directions led us far away from our destination. So far that instead of a half hour trip, we were driving for nearly 2 hours. We came home. The kids were cranky, pissed at mommy, and just wanting something fun to do.

In an attempt to save the day, I found an idea to make a PVC spider on Penny's 2 Cents. Without step by step directions we were left with a bit of needed creativity to get the job done. So hubs and I bundled up the kiddos and headed to Lowe's.

Supply List:

• 24 - 20" sections of 1/2" pvc
• 4 - 20" sections of 1/2" pvc 
• PVC pipe cutter (~$9 if you don't already have one)
• 8 - 90* angle connectors
• 8 - T connectors
• 12 - 45* angle connectors
• Black exterior use spray paint
• 1 39gal Black yard bag *we discovered this is very tight, so maybe larger is better....
• Plenty of black electrical tape
• Red duct tape
• Black duct tape
• That old large exercise ball you never use (quit kidding yourselves)
• One of the kids' old sports balls laying around that they won't miss (shhhhh...)

Directions:

1. Take your 4 20" sections, cut them into thirds. then take 4 of those buggers and cut them in half. This step was completely trial and error so I don't have any exact measurements on them. Sue me. Not really though 'cause that would suck.
2. Here's the order for your square spider butt frame - 90* - long third - T - short third - T - long third - 90* - repeat till you have a square.
3. Spider legs: 20" - 90* - 20" - 45* - 20" (do this four times); 20" - 45* - 20" - 45* - 20"
4. No glue needed, just use your trusty black electrical tape on the leg joints to secure them.
5. Attach the legs to the frame - we chose to do the 45* in the front, then alternated, twist your T connectors as needed.
6. Stick your old exercise ball in the black yard bag, then place the kids' old sports ball on top, tie the bag closed, tape the enclosure with black duct tape, use electrical tape between the balls to give separation between head and body.
7. Spray paint the frame
8. Plop the spider body on top and tape in place
9. If you want a black widow, use the red duct tape to create the hour glass, and maybe some eyes too
10. Done. High five!

This Crazy Ninja Mom

I'm a mom, so I must be crazy, right? I mean, who on Earth would voluntarily sign up for the disasters of child rearing? Don't get me wrong, I love my little hell raising munchkins and would go complete momma bear on anyone questionable within remote distance of them. But they are hell raisers. How is it that a kid can turn a clean, tidy, and organized living room into an episode of Hoarders in 10 seconds flat? Where in the world do these toys keep coming from!


And the smells... don't even get me started on the foul odors that have a habit of wafting from my 2yr old's rear as he grins and denies there is poop. I'm of the mindset he believes there is a magical poop fairy that dirties his diaper and he is completely without blame. Or a sense of smell.

I have two boys, this means a constant barrage of legos and little green army guys. Beware intruders, I have my own security system a la kid patrol. If it weren't bad enough that I have two boys, my husband makes number three. He. is. just. as. bad. He is also the answer to the above question of where all these toys keep coming from. He is absolutely 100% re-living his childhood through them. Every lego, every little green army guy, every toy weapon.

What exactly is it that makes me crazy then? I want more. Nature has a funny way of smoothing over the horrible experiences of pregnancy, the disastrous delivery room mishaps, and those miserable first few weeks of zombified parenting. Oh I remember everything clearly - how awful each of those experiences were for me, but also- now that I've been over those hurdles twice I see and remember the majority of good occasions. There would be a lot of only children if we didn't have this little memory numbing buff after childbirth.

And this concludes your brief introduction to this crazy ninja mom. Oh! Except the ninja part. But that's pretty much self explanatory. I'm a mom so I must be a ninja to do everything I need to do and still function. And I have boys, so we play ninja a lot.