Happy Birthday To Our Sweet Charlie!!

Every mom believes that their babies are the cutest and the sweetest and the most precious and the best.  It's our privilege to love our little ones in this way, one of my favorite motherhood perks!

Charlie really is the cutest and the sweetest three year old little guy on the planet.
Honest to goodness, he really is.

Yesterday we celebrated his big leap into three year old territory.  Steve and I were up early, sipping coffee, catching NCAA basketball highlights, pressing wrinkled pants and cuffs and collars for Mass attire, when we heard the faintest little squeal from around the corner of the kitchen...

You were on your hands and knees peeking in on us, flashing your tiny teeth smile, rosy cheeked and bright-eyed.  You had no idea it was your birthday, I'm not sure you really understood the idea of birthday until your big brothers woke up and smothered you with hugs and big happy birthday cheers.  Then, you knew that March 23rd was special, it was your day.

Many moments throughout the day, I was really caught up in an emotion of gratitude, thankful that it truly was a day of joy, a celebration your life, of remembering the feelings of elation that we all had over your birth, and every moment since as you bless us all with such deep down goodness. I really needed the infusion of happiness into my heart, the kind of happiness that is strengthening.  With a little more than two months to go before your new sibling arrives, I'm beginning to struggle a bit to get through the days as the dreaded sciatic pain, leg aches and swelling has arrived earlier than usual. You, and the blessing of your life to our family, remind me to keep going, that the present pains - every little sacrifice, every little discomfort will be more than worth it when the day you become a big brother arrives.

We kept your birthday simple this year, a home cooked meal, family around the table, little gifts and lemon cupcakes for dessert.  You aren't much for television or movies, but if Little Bear is on, you are in heaven.  I love the way you sing along to the songs.  You like to tell anyone who will sit beside you the names of all of the characters: owl, duck, cat, mama, papa.  And, oh how you well up with excitement when you know just what will happen next!

{Lemon Cupcakes With Lemon Creme Frosting}

All afternoon, you climbed up and down from the table, at least a dozen times, just to point to the cupcakes and ask me, "Did you make those Lil' Bear cuppy-cakes just for me?" And, when I would affirm your question, with great enthusiasm your response was always, "Oh, fank you, Mommy!"

Everyone around the table wanted to see you take a huge bite.  We were convinced that you would try to conquer the cupcake in one big chomp, like you usually do when something tastes sooo good.  But, you didn't.  You took your time and asked us all between bites, "Is it good? Do you wike it?" nodding enthusiastically after each question in agreement.

Each one of your brothers bought you some small gift.  George was the most proud to give you his present.  He bought it weeks ago and miraculously kept it hidden in his room until your big day. He also insisted on wrapping it himself and helping you unwrap it, too.

Although the battery-powered bubble gun was a big hit, your favorite present, by far, was your new very own Hot Wheels case and a few shiny new cars.  

You've given your older brothers plenty of grief by sneaking into their Hot Wheel collections, accidentally losing a few of their favorites and scuffing up too many to count.  We could all see how proud you were to finally have your very own set.  

The one person whom you wanted to share the excitement over your new cars with the most was Benedict.  You two really are like peas and carrots, so similar in your temperament, your sweetness, you even look very much alike.  I remember how disappointed Benedict was that you weren't born on the same day as he was.  We missed honoring his requests by 12 hours.  I guess you and I just couldn't wait!

This morning I found you sound asleep with your little case resting securely right beside your pillow.  You give me so many reasons to smile.  

After breakfast, we found you perched up on a stool in the kitchen looking through the stack of cards you were given yesterday.  You sat for the longest time enjoying each one. I felt like you were savoring the memory of yesterday. 

I was savoring it too.

Our Flash Trip to Kansas City For Spring Break - So Much Fun!

It hit me this morning when I opened the door to the family wagon: lingering odors of beef jerky, Dr. Pepper bubble gum and stale coffee.  Remnant reminders of our super-fun, three day spring break getaway. (I know, yum-yum, right? The men tend to get a little Quick Shop crazy when we road trip it.)

When I say getaway, I don't mean long, faraway restful excursions to exotic places, you know the ones where your Christmas card friends without kids make a point to go on at least 3 times a year just so they can share their relaxing, romantic, care-free, stress-free, whine-free photos with you??? What I mean by getaway is anywhere within a 172 mile radius of our front porch.  We've tried 173. It's a no-go. Total failure. With five boys and another set of buns on the way, 172 is actually pushing it.  

Honestly, most days, when I really need a break, calculating the risk vs. reward efforts of taking the boys to Orange Leaf or the zoo is my vacation reality.  I know, you're veins are pulsing with envy right now. 

But, with the recent expansion of my abdominal area, the "in 12 weeks there will be no freedom to go anywhere without an 800 pound diaper bag and spit-up on your shoulder" clock is ticking loudly in my head, and therefore despite my toes being swollen together, I'm hungry for some travel time.  That and enchiladas. This week it's enchiladas.

{Pre-party Charlie, shakin' his vacation shamrock.}

Last weekend, I managed to talk my soul mate into chauffeuring his family to Kansas City for a couple of days.  Everyone voiced their itinerary desires, and we came up with a plan that included swimming at the hotel, eating out at a few of our old faves, taking in the St. Patrick's Day parade, visiting friends, and by mom's request, something educational, which ended up being the National WW1 Memorial Museum.

Here's our reel of stellar pictures, shot by mom, who can't understand why everyone raves about the i-phone's photo capabilities, because she has yet to capture a single moment in a snapshot that isn't extremely underwhelming. You can sympathize, right? I mean, just the thought of packing a baby in the belly and a Nikon on the bosom for three days can trigger contractions, so logically, I settled for underwhelming.

Here we go!...

Zee St. Patty's Day Parade...

Even though I packed green shirts for everyone, I didn't consider the fact that the weather was forecasted to be 45 degrees that day, given the joy that 60 degrees and sunny has been the dominant weather pattern here at home.  Sadly, our St. Pat's spirit is buried beneath those sweats.

To remedy the possibility of us getting pinched all day, dad went all out and bought some bling for everyone from one of the many vendors selling everything from beer mugs to leg-warmers.

I love him for that. And, for my earmuffs... 

...which kept my ears warm and also ever-so-slightly muffled the constant two hour annoyance of Andrew's "spirited" support of the parade:

That is, until my green silencers/warmers were robbed right off my head by Mr. McHenry: 

 ....who is also clearly annoyed by the green horn.  Either that or the glaring sun, which gave us all the squints.  He's clutching an empty coffee cup from the hotel, which he had high hopes of filling with candy, because every parade should have candy throwers, right? Negative. I'm still listening to the groaning saga of the empty cup.

I tried to convince Henry that seeing the Irish dancers, bagpipe corps, and historic Irish family floats would be sweeter than a cup full of candy.  He didn't believe me.  

Maybe that's because 90% of the parade was politicians riding in vintage autos (snore) and row after row of gangster cars fully decked out with shamrock rims, boosting a bass loud enough to drown out my beloved bag-pipes. Grrrr.....

This isn't the parade I remember from our good ol' days of living in Kansas City.  No one was more disappointed in the show than mom, the one who is deeply proud of her Czech-German sauerkraut and stout heritage but secretly wishes she was just a wee bit Irish. So, we took an emotional break from the procession, and went to noon mass at my favorite church, so I could pray for Irish dancers and more bagpipers to miraculously appear.

 After a beautiful feast day mass, we returned to the parade with renewed spirits....

....and made our official departure about 20 minutes later when the boys (and mom) decided that our pathetic little faces could no longer hide such supreme parade disappointment.  The last round of "boom-shaka-laka" dancers and motorcycle gangs sent us over the edge:

 National World War I Museum:

I didn't take many pictures of the boys inside of the museum, because keeping our entourage together in such a huge place took skill and speed.  My skill, Steve's speed.  But, despite the lack of photo ops as proof of what an amazing experience it was to be there, I really can't encourage you enough to visit the memorial if you have the opportunity.  The museum was designed by the same company who created the Holocaust museum in Washington D.C.  Our boys (except for Henry and of course Charlie) all said it was by far the best part of our getaway. 

The quote on the wall says:

The glory of America goes deeper than all the tinsel, goes deeper than the sound of guns and the clash of sabers.  It goes down to the very foundation of those things that have made the spirit of man free, happy and content. ~ Woodrow Wilson

Andrew is looking through a magnifying glass that can be moved vertically as well as horizontally along a sliding track so that patrons may view photos of some of the regiments that were sent overseas from the U.S.

Ben and Andrew were fascinated by the scale of global involvement.  We all kept saying how trying to conceptualize the number of people involved in the war was simply impossible.  This is part of a chart that captured the calculations of soldier deportation by state.  Kansas: 63,428 of the 4,743,826 total U.S. participants.

 

One could easily spend an entire day exploring the museum, but after 2.5 hours, our troops were in need of nourishment.

The unanimous choice: Oklahoma Joe's BBQ.  BBQ is a passionate topic of debate amongst Kansas Citians, and trust me, everyone has an opinion.

 

When KC was home to us, we sampled the fare at nearly every BBQ joint in town, but Oklahoma Joe's clearly won our tummies over.  Those people wrote the BBQ gospel.  Hallelujah, it is gooood!! So, good, we stood in line for 45 minutes anticipating the yumminess!  Your clothes and hair will smell like smoke and sauce afterwards, but it will be totally worth it!

There was but one event that did not get checked off of the itinerar: Legoland.  When we arrived at Crown Center to purchase tickets, the wait to enter was 2 hours.  Not good. The tops of my feet were already swelling over the sides of my ballet flats.  

Thankfully, we encountered another mom who was more than happy to inform us that Legoland just isn't worth the ticket price.  There are no exciting exhibits, interactive games or building competitions. So what do you do there? Build. (Or, buy more Legos - no thank you.) Well, they can build all day in my basement for free.

I was, however, thankful for the Lego statues that entertained Charlie just long enough for me to prop up my puffy peds while the others made 47 trips up and down the escalators.  Charlie was just so cute with this Lego guy, he really couldn't get enough of him...  

 "So nice to meet you, Mr. Lego guy!"

 "Forget the handshake, let's just bring it in for a hug."

"You're so awesome, Lego Guy."

"No, Chuck you're awesome."

"My mom - the one over there with the fat feet - is also awesome."

(Okay, maybe my mind-reading is a little fuzzy, kind of like these pics.)

THE END.

The Perfect Workout for Busy Moms! Motivate Me Monday, Vol. 6

{Printable Version}

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! And, welcome to another week of Motivate Me Monday! Before our family heads out to Kansas City's St. Patty's parade, I wanted to share with you another fantastic Busy Mom Workout that my friend and trainer, Leah, created just for me to share with you!

I've been writing a lot lately about the many positive benefits of exercise for moms. The most common feedback that I get from all of you is how difficult it is to find time to squeeze a workout into an already crazy day.  I definitely understand where you're coming from!  That is why I love the workouts that Leah creates for us!

The busy mom workouts are perfect for busy moms, because they are designed to be efficient and effective.  You can do them with little or no equipment (hand weights and a mat) right at home in about 30 minutes.  I used Leah's first workout to get back in shape after our son Charlie was born, and loved it!

If you're taking up exercise as a sacrifice this Lent, or just feeling energized by the spring weather to begin working out again, I hope the BMW's (see workout #1) can help you with your fitness goals!

Leah's Busy Mama Workout #2

{Printable Version}

For this workout, you don’t need any equipment.  You can use small weights or even your small child if you would like to add weight and resistance.  This workout takes approx. 25-30 minutes.  It is a mix of cardio bursts and resistance training, so you will work your whole body.  You can add your favorite cardio to the end if you wish, but if you don’t have time, there is no guilt!  

Complete each circuit twice through.  Then go to the next circuit.  If everyone in the house is still asleep, and you have time to go through it again, go for it!  

Make sure you stretch your body good before you get started.  Use your favorite stretches, or use the stretches at the end of this workout for both beginning and end.

WARM UP:

1 minute jog in place

1 minute jumping jacks

1 minute jump rope (you don’t have to have a jump rope, just pretend)

30 seconds butt kicks

30 seconds high knees

1 minute slower jog in place

CIRCUIT 1:

- Knee Press:  (20 Reps on each leg)

*While on your back, put your feet against the wall with legs bent and butt up against the wall.  Raise your butt and back off the floor while keeping the opposite leg over the working knee.  Pulse.  

- Push Ups With Leg Lifts: (10 each side)

*As you go down into your push-up, lift your left leg.  Repeat on the right leg

- Toe Reaches:  (12 Reps on each side) 

*Back on the floor and heels pressed against the wall.  This time, your legs are straight  Reach with your right hand toward your left leg.  Make sure your shoulder raises of the floor and you feel your abs crunching.  Repeat with opposite hand.  Really engage your abs.  

- Cardio Burst:  30 seconds of skiers

                       30 seconds of skaters:

CIRCUIT 2:

- Side Squat:

*On step stool or just on the floor with leg lift (12 Reps on each side)

- Tricep Dips: 20 Reps

- Plank: 

1 minute (If you need to rest half-way through, take a 10 second rest and do 30 seconds more.)

- Cardio Burst:   
10 split jumps

30 jumping jacks

10 split jumps:

                        

CIRCUIT 3:
- Lunge: with overhead press (12 reps each leg)

- Side Shoulder Raises:

*You can just lift your arms to shoulder-level, or grab a soup can or anything for a little extra weight, even a light pair of hand-weights.  It doesn't have to me much!

- Super Man: 

* 30 second hold rest down 30 second hold

- Russian Twists -15 reps

COOL DOWN & STRETCH:

- Breathe 2 large breaths.  Inhale big and exhale big.  

- Pigeon Hold on each leg for 10-15 seconds:

- Warrior Pose on each side for 10-15 seconds:

- Cross each arm across opposite side of the body for 10-15 seconds.

- Downward Dog - 30 seconds

BONUS: SWEET REWARDS!!

I drink ice water in a wine glass, so that I can feel fancy But, here is something else you can put in your wine glass for a job well done, before your busy day begins: 

Chocolate Cherry Bomb

1 Frozen banana

½ cup frozen dark cherries

1 scoop chocolate whey

1/3 cup almond milk

1 tbsp. chia seeds

1 tbsp. cocoa powder

Dash of cinnamon

Put all ingredients in a blender.  Blend until chia seeds begin to thicken and the consistency is thick.  Enjoy!

Thanks, Leah!!