Stay-At-Home-Mom Envy? Read This....

I know you are out there. People who look at my charmed life and wish they too could have it. My life of leisure. Not having to answer to a "boss", make deadlines, manage inept employees. Do what I want to do when I want to do it. Cook and clean, workout and spend quality days with my children. Raising them in the way I want them to be raised, not by caretakers. I don't mean this to be snotty...I mean it in that THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER.

Let me give you a run down of my day so far...and it is only 9:30am.

At 6:30am, my husband woke me up so I could let him out the sliding glass door, as to not wake up the beast that sleeps above the garage. This was an attempt at letting me get a few moments to myself for the day. Usually, I get up with him and then start my day, but today I don't have to really be anywhere until the afternoon, so I get to "sleep in." Yeah, not so much.

6:45am, one of the beasts got in bed with me, a few moments later another emerges out of her room, bright eyed and bushy tailed, bed made, asking a million questions in a matter of minutes. Groggily I tell her to get her DS. Other beast jumps on that band wagon and instantly there is bickering about who gets the first 8 minutes. Ahh, so much for that alone time.

7am-8am Bickering, yelling at the dog, a little bit of laughter sprinkled in. This is the best part of my day, as it is a rarity that I can watch any adult TV while the kids are awake. By adult, I mean The Today Show, the news, the weather.

8-9am Kids watching a show, eating breakfast, it's actually not so bad. Little arguing. I have no idea what I did in this hour. Perhaps I was checking my email, looking at the calendar, starting laundry, getting paper/toys out of the dog's mouth, fast forwarding through commercials, eating cold toast and lukewarm coffee, unloading dishwasher from night before, refilling cereal bowls, more milk. Yeah, I just laid around. It is a life of leisure.

9-9:15am. This is where it goes south. Because Jimmy wants to get a rise out of his sister, he grabs the remote and changes the channel. Screaming ensues from the dramatic one, fists are drawn and connected with flesh. AHh, the sweet sound of my lovely boy screaming. So, sweet...like nails on a chalkboard, oh wait, they don't have those anymore. I come in to break up fight from the laundry room, since I am TRYING to sort the massive pile of laundry, while the dog keeps running away with random socks and underwear. I turn off the TV, as punishment for fighting. Who's punishment? Mine obviously. Then beast goes into the garage, looking for a specific football. Not the brown one, the green one. Can't find it. SCREAMING....MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! WHERE IS MY FOOOOOOOOOTBALLLLLLLL? I don't know. I hear stuff falling in the garage. I am trying to sort laundry. MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! COSMO IS IN THE GARAGE! MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM, HE'S BY THE NOVA! MOOOOOOOOOOOM! Angel child then yells "TREAT" and he runs inside. He is rewarded with a bone, which he proceeds to chew up and spit out on the carpet and then eat it. The beast then thinks the green football must be outside. He opens the doorwall and walks outside. Dog sees this as his chance at freedom, because beast never shuts the doors behind him. I hear screams from both kids outside now. I come back from the laundry room to see the dog prancing around outside. Side note, we need invisible fence, since the dog is a bolter. I still have my uniform on (long sleeve T, PJ Pants and glasses). I have to run through the neighbor's yard with a ball that Julia tossed to me to get the dog to come back. It would be perfect timing to have people pull up to look at the house that is for sale behind us. But they don't. Dog is caught thanks to a ball and the angel yelling TREAT. I walk inside and notice that in the 10 minutes since the TV has been off and I have been trying to sort laundry, that the living room is now trashed with pillows and blankets in an effort to make a fort or just irritate me. I tell the kids to go to the basement or go upstairs, I just want one floor that is not trashed. Beast says I don't like him. Kids go downstairs. I continue to sort laundry. Then beast is screaming....MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! JUUUUUUUUUUUUUULIA wants MEEE to BEEEEE a Kid an I don't WANNNNA be a Kid. I calmly asked him if he wanted to be a baby instead, because that's what he sounded like. He said NOOO and then ran back downstairs. Whining instantly stopped. Then it's calm. I go back to sorting my laundry and wonder to myself....why does it take me so $%# long to get laundry going? Oh, I know. Because I am lucky enough to be a stay at home mom.

Aren't you glad to be sitting at your desk, hanging out on the internet, reading blogs, getting paid, while your house is exactly as you left it? Just sayin'. Gotta move, still have laundry to sort.

Circumstancial Friends

I always find things strange this time of year, as the kid's classes and activities start to come to a close. All year long, I am busy taking the kids from this activity or to school or whatever. Along the way, you meet different people and some become friends of circumstance. It's funny, I see many of these people more than I see my own extended family and you chat for the hour while you are waiting for the kids to finish up skating or get out of class. The kids become friends and as a result the moms often do too. But as the activities and classes come to a close, often those mommy friendships do too. Not always, but more often than not. While I have kept in contact with a small group of these ladies, there are so many that I haven't. It isn't like I am depressed about it, but now that I have been in the mommy circuit for a few years....I know that it is inevitable. Although on the flip side, these moms always pop up somewhere down the road...or on Facebook and then you can pick right back up where you left off.

Mommy's Famous!

Well, maybe not F A M O U S, but probably as famous as a girl is gonna get in a normal lifetime. I will take it. But let's get down to the story, because frankly if I don't record it, i am going to forget how it all went down...now that I am getting older.

So, 5 years ago, my friend Betsy thought it would be fun to get all dressed up in old prom dresses, go to dinner at Buca di Bepo and go dancing afterwards. Considering I didn't have any of my old prom dresses, I was able to squeeze into a dress I wore in my friend's wedding 8 years prior. Not bad for being 4 months pregnant. Thanks to Spanx. Sorry for squishing you Jimmy. Anyway, here is our little "prom" photo. I bestowed the Queen title on myself to disguise my baby bump. Although Betsy was the actual "Queen."

Anyway, what followed were 4 more proms held at church, raising money for various charities and families in our parish. Fun times with a DJ, lots of friends and dancing. Did I mention that we also always went to dinner beforehand? Dressed up? We were having fun times. One year there was an article in the paper about our prom, a news station did a little video one year . Last year prior to the prom, a few of us dressed up on a Sunday morning and had us a little interview at Fox 2. It wasn't much, considering it was on at 8am. Then this year, Betsy contacted the AP. A few of us met with a reporter before the prom, thinking no big deal. Gretchen & I threw the kids in the nursery, putting the 6 year olds in charge and spoke with the reporter. He mostly wanted to chat with Betsy, we were just there since we have been to most of the proms and we were available. We all kind of laughed...It will be a slow news day if papers pick this up on a Tuesday. He said he'd come to the prom with a camera guy and take some pictures and video to go along with his article. Big deal. Gretchen & I didn't seem to be too wild about seeking him out to say "Hi" and get our pictures taken. Although plenty of other girls were all too happy to seek out the camera (if you know what I mean).

Kristen (looking fab), Kate (sporting Ebay fashions), Gretchen (wearing a dress from 1990), Monica (wearing a dress her sister wore in a wedding in the 90s) and Kirste (also looking fab but with giant disco hoops).

Kate posing with our NEW man, Antonio...don't I look like I could be his Spanish Lover?

We had a great time dancing and raising money. Clean up went quickly. On to 2012. Not so much. Remember that little interview we did? That following Tuesday, must have been a slow news day. Charlie Sheen and his Goddesses, the unrest in the Middle East/North Africa, gas prices, potholes weren't enough for the world. They needed MOM PROM. Early in the morning, I got a note from my cousin that I was in the NY Times. What the heck? It was picked up by pretty much every major newspaper in the US and all over the world. It was nuts. This article became more popular on Yahoo than Charlie Sheen for a little bit. Really? I was having fun with my fame and our friends and family were having fun giving me a hard time.

Oh, but it ALL got better. Betsy was contacted by the Gayle King Show (Oprah's BFF). She did a Skype interview with her. Then the Early Show and Good Morning America contacted her. GMA wanted to do a pretty in depth piece on it and wanted to come to film us the following Saturday. So, we trudged on to church with our prom gowns in hand for our 15 minutes of fame. GMA sent anchorwoman, JuJu Chang to interview us. She couldn't have been more personable and genuine. Really. Not at all what I expected. She could have been one of us. Well, she was for 5 hours. They were taking shots of us in our "street clothes" spinning around and then once we were dressed in our dresses, we did the same thing (so we'd be like Wonder Woman, spinning into our dresses). Some of the girls had dresses that had a real story to them, which was cool. I was wearing the dress I paid $20 for on Ebay, but I was rocking a banana clip and jewelry from the 90s, paired with black lace fingerless gloves. They had us group together and say "We're the Moms from the Mom Prom...Good Morning America!" We also walked down the runway in our gowns for various shots. The HHT Foundation was in vast numbers too, lots of supporters and kids. It was fun. The producer and camera guy were great to work with. They made it fun for us and I think they had fun too. In fact, at one point, the producer told us that she was originally from the area and that she felt great about doing a piece on something good for a change.

Juju & Me

Betsy, Father Pat & Juju

Betsy strutting her stuff on the runway

I missed a birthday party for the kids of our dear friends for the taping, but it was worth it to do something like that. Really, when would I ever have the chance to be part of something like that. See how those things work. Later that night, Kurt and I were in bed watching SNL. After all of the hoopla of the week's events, I thought, they aren't going to do a sketch about it. It's not that big of a deal. Then Weekend Update came on. I about fell out of bed when I saw the bit about Mom Prom. In fact, I screamed and it woke up Jimmy. That Seth Meyers is a real funny guy. Really, Seth? The guy laying next to me doesn't seem to have a problem with it. REALLY?

On Monday, the Early Show filmed a small group of us at Betsy's making tissue flowers and talking about our plans for the 2012 prom. It wasn't as elaborate as the GMA piece, but it sounded like they were going to incorporate this interview in with Betsy's sister's prom they are planning in April. Afterwards we had a short phone interview with the GMA producer to wrap things up for Thursday's airing of the piece. While I wouldn't say that i have a problem communicating (I don't), I probably have more of a problem with polished speech. I get easily flustered trying to make a point when I am asked a question that I don't have a canned answer to. Now, I never had a real problem when I interviewed for jobs or when I need to chat to a group of people. But put a microphone in my face and I sound like a midwestern valley girl. Too many Likes and Ya Knows. I laughed afterward, thinking back to a time in 1991 after a cheerleading competition and the presenter asked me a question and I said something so idiotic that my girlfriends STILL pick on me about it 20 years later. Ask them about elemen-TARRY children. I am sure Cas has it on a tape somewhere along with me breaking my ankle. Anyway, I came home and felt sick to my stomach, praying that they didn't use the footage of what I said. Not only did I sound bad, I am sure that me pretending Gretchen was Juju Chang didn't help matters. Well, prayer works people...because they didn't use it. They did use what I said in an article on ABCs website. Unfortunately, Betsy was credited with my "Katy" speak of:

"You always need girlfriends in your life," Crapps said. "Kind of like in high school you depended on your friends, but I don't think you really realized in high school how much you would need really close girlfriends … as you age, you almost need them more."

Now if Betsy really said that, she would have said "as we get older" because it sounds better and she has great poise when she's on the spot. Nope. Not me. I need to say something un-eloquent. Sorry Betsy.

Anyway, Thursday morning rolled around and I really had kind of a big pit in my stomach. Not only anticipating me saying something dumb, but what was I thinking? I strutted my stuff in a super ugly dress (that even in 1990 I would not have worn, I was much more classy) with my hair piled on the side in a banana clip and black fingerless gloves. Seriously, this is national TV. I have no shame when it comes to being silly in front of my girlfriends and their friends, but this is GMA! People will be judging. People will see this and think we are wackos. How will they spin the piece? At one point, it sounded like they were taking it in the direction that we moms wanted to feel pretty and dress up for a night out. Which, sort of yes, but do you really feel pretty prancing around in a dress that is 25 years old and doesn't fit right with hair and makeup that is not from this century? It was more about the charity of it all and "putting our gowns to good use." But what was done was done. I had to just go with it. When the segment came on, the kids got so excited. When they saw me for the first time, they both shrieked. Jimmy jumped up and down and said, "You are famous, Mommy! There you are!" as he was hanging on to me. So sweet. He really thought that it was a big deal. For the past week and a half, I had been going to Mom Prom interviews, decorating, the actual prom, the taping and the other interview. They both probably think that Mom Prom is normal. They both think that prom is MOM PROM not for high school kids. That is the best. Anyway, the piece was great, they really captured the story so well. Betsy asked me to bring pictures of our past proms, so I gave them about 80 pictures, along with a few from my actual proms. I saw MY pictures pop up on screen from proms past. It was great! But then I saw my little 17 year old self popping up around the map of the US marking spots where Mom Proms are being planned for 2011. I about choked. That periwinkle mermaid style was the bomb....19 years ago. They photoshopped out my date, but there I was in my prom pose. The segment was great! I hope that people watched it and really thought of this as a great way to raise money for causes that mean alot to them. I hope that this becomes something moms do for fun, because it IS fun! I felt proud to fly my freaky flag in the name of charity.

So it has been a crazy 2 weeks. Who would have thought that we'd get all this publicity? I have had fun with it, making sure to mention here and there to Kurt, that I am famous. Or when I can't do something around the house, that i haven't had time, because I am famous. When the dog barks, is it the paparazzi? It's all in fun. I know that I am still just a mom & wife like everyone else. I really DO NOT think i am famous. I don't expect people to stop me in Meijer. But I am sure that many saw the story and enjoyed the lightheartedness of it and goodness that it represented. There is so many sad and heavy things going on in our world...this lightened things up a bit for 3 minutes. It is great to see something positive in the media about the Catholic Church for a change. Betsy really has done a lot to make this event great and she works hard to get the word out on this. She is the one that deserves all the kudos, i am just a worker bee. But I have had fun going along the ride with her. I am kind of glad that it all has died down though. If i felt like it was starting to get to be too much, i can only imagine how she was feeling. We have worked our 15 minutes like no other. I think I can safely take my cotton candy pink and black lace dress to the dry cleaner now. Maybe I should list it on EBAY...as seen on TV!

Summer...Hello...Goodbye!

Ahh, Summer, you loom so far away as we anticipate your arrival all those cold, dreary winter months. Then you are here. The first few weeks we can't believe it. Unsure of what to do with all of our free time. No school, no real activities, no true schedule. Then swimming starts, then Vacation Bible School Starts. There are Tball games, Kurt's softball games, Tiger Baseball. Day camp at Jimmy's new pre-school and a few random playdates. Trips to Jackson, Lake Michigan, Aunt Fran's Cottage in Canada, visit from Christina & Meghan (and the news that they are MOVING BACK NEXT SUMMER). Summer Reading program at the library, splash park trips, time at KidsKorner at the gym while mom works out and then swimming in the pool with the huge groups that are bussed in from the day camps (thank you lifeguards for a relaxing few hours). Jimmy's new bunk bed and Julia sleeping on the top bunk for a "sleepover." Playing in the backyard and garage for hours with Clay and Kyle using lots of imagination. Malibu Barbie/Ken style tans (even though SPF30 and 50 were used) on our olive skinned babies. Days so hot that going outside was too much effort. Hours spent playing in the basement only to have to spend hours cleaning it up from the unconfirmed tornado that clearly took place. Picking up our crate of vegetables/fruit from the farm CSA on Mondays, never sure what we're going to get. Grocery shopping with 2 kids and managing only to forget a few things each trip. Taking a break from facebook and incessant computer use, remember what it was like before the laptop and social networking took my life over. Reading more than 10 books and countless magazines. Then the nights start to get cooler and we are reminded that it is coming to an end. Excitement for the school year. Kindergarten & Preschool for both babies. Where has the time gone? Not only the summer, but the past 5 years? No time to cry, no time to think. Onward to Fall 2010. Ballet/Tap, Daisy Scouts, Children's Liturgy, Ice Skating Lessons, Library Storytime. New friends to be made. New things to be learned.

But for like 2 weeks more, I am going to soak up every little last part of this snapshot in my life. Summer 2010. Thankful for everything I have. Thankful for my husband working hard, so I can work hard here and be with the kids.

T-Ball

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This summer, the kids played T-ball with the church's league. One of the benefits to having a large parish is that they are able to offer stuff like this for kids. There are 4 teams from our church and bright and early on Saturday mornings at 9am, we all gather to watch the kids learn the game. It's perfect for 5-7 year olds. They play 3 innings, only advance one base and there are no outs. It gives them a feel for the game. The last inning, is coach pitch and I have to say that some of the kids as 5 year olds were ready to say goodbye to the Tee. Kurt was one of the coaches (much better than his soccer coach experience) along with a few other dads. The kids loved seeing each other and the kids from the others teams were often friends made at VBS and at Kurt's softball games. I loved seeing the smiles on the kids faces when they were running to a base. I am pretty certain that if our kids didn't show any interest in Tball, Kurt's heart may have broken just a little. Not to disappoint, both kids showed intensity (fitting of a 3 and 5 year old) and skill that made us proud. Thank God they have Aunt Lib's genes and not mine when it comes to the game.

Goodbye Long Hair!

Out of the blue a week or 2 ago, Julia said that she wanted her hair cut to her shoulders. I thought that it was kind of odd, because she always has wanted her hair "to her butt." But she kept talking about it for a few days and I kept asking her if she really wanted to get it cut shorter. She didn't waiver. She actually told me at one point that "If I don't like it, it will grow back." Such a grown up, right? So, last Tuesday she had enough hair cut off (7-8inches) that she was able to donate it too. She felt pretty good about it and I was proud of her for taking the plunge with a new hairstyle. And the kicker....THERE WERE NO TEARS. I have to say that often when I change my hairstyle drastically, there ARE tears at some point, and I'm an adult. To those who remember my super short hairstyle of 1999....what the heck? It was cute for like a minute. Anyway, she's loving wearing her hair down and not in braids for a change. What gets me is how much it changes her face and makes her look like a big girl. She definitely isn't a pre-schooler anymore, for sure ready for kindergarten!

The Writing is on the Wall

Jimmy has been giving us a run for our money lately. The addage that boys are different than girls could not be more true. I actually threw up my hands yesterday and kind of gave up. Discipline tactics that have worked with Julia and that work with many other kids haven't really worked with him lately. Our biggest struggle is dinner. Quite frankly, Kurt and I think it really is the worst time of the day. Kurt's perfect day is coming home at 6:30 to kids who have already ate and he can eat his dinner in peace. Last night was a particularly heated battle of me trying to get Jimmy to eat his green beans. The night before we had these really good Snap Peas that were in our CSA box. I knew that the kids would balk at them, since they haven't ever ate them before. But they both like peas alone and they both like to dip stuff in ranch. Anyway, Julia ate them after turning up her nose at first, but figured if she stacked them with her chicken, they were okay. Whatever method it takes. Jimmy on the other hand refused and yelled and stopped eating. He said he wanted green beans instead. Well, last night was your lucky day, because I made green beans. Do you think he wanted to eat them? No way! Even with butter and salt and pepper? No way! Battle Royale ensued for the proceeding 45 minutes. Which is the normal length of time for a meal at our home when the kids are involved. I seriously couldn't take it anymore. The threats of "nothing else for the rest of the night" and "you will get to watch your sister eat her dessert" (which is what happened the night before) did not work. He decided that he'd rather starve. I knew he was still hungry. The solution of reserving the same green beans the next meal sounds like a great idea, but someone has to sit there and implement it and right now I don't have the patience. AHHH...

So, getting back to the the point of my little blog this morning...

I took the kids to the basement to play this morning and I saw a little pencil drawing on the wall.

Me: Jimmy, did you do this?
Jimmy: Yes! It says "Don't feed me vegetables!"

Only 6 more long months until the magical age of 4. 3 is not the best. Next time someone tells me how happy and good natured he is, I will refer him to this blog post.