Morning Ritual

Here is yet another post about mornings in the McMinn home. One of my favorite parts of the day is what happens after my crazy kids and Kev wake up at the crack of dawn. Sitting down and enjoying a delicious breakfast of cold cereals together. I love starting everyday off together (minus months 1-6 of Sophie's life when I was sleep deprived and refused to get out of bed until absolutely necessary).

But that's not all.

Kev's departure to school is always a big production.

It begins with hugs and kisses. Even Sophie has picked up on blowing kisses to dad as soon as he puts his messenger bag on. The farewell is then drawn out to the porch where Ry watches dad from the balcony and yells "I love you, have a good day" from the top of her lungs until Kev disappears into horizon...

Then all the lovey sweet sentiments are over and I battle with Ry for the next 2 hrs. to clean her room.

Of course there are those mornings when the girls are already falling apart that Kev just leaves to the sound of crying, and I think to myself...please, don't leave me (or just take me with you).

5 in the a.m.

So what is going on in your house at 5 in the morning? Hopefully sleeping. In our house I am the only one who does not believe 5a.m. is the proper time to wake up in the morning. At 5 we have a dad that is on the computer because of his inability to sleep to a decent hour, a baby sister waking up (but who is being trained to go back to sleep after a nice tall glass of formula), and a big sister who takes full advantage of her early morning alone time to do the things I would normally put a stop to.

The upside to an early morning...the three hours of MY alone time during the day when the kiddos are napping.

Here is what Ry was up to on Saturday morning. I'm working on channeling this energy into actual cleaning instead of pretend cleaning which ironically only makes the house dirtier (exhibit a: the pile of dishes by the sink Ry pulled out of the dishwasher and drawers. exhibit b: the little flood on the counter top.).

In case you're wondering...

Lately I have heard from several people how blogs always make people's lives look pretty spectacular, and it can be a tad depressing. So here is a glimpse of the other 90% (ok..maybe 50%) of my life that I omit from my blog.

I never knew I needed anger management until I had a two year old.

4 months until graduation and still no job...but let the student loan repayment begin!

It's hard to imagine all those pics. of that cute smiley face of Ry yelling "don't talk to me!", and "no, I won't do that!", but I hear that about every hour (except during naps).

A dirty house makes me so stressed and grumpy. You would think that would result in a clean house, but instead there's lots of stress and grumpiness.

Every day I come up with a new parenting plan to teach Ry to listen and not be so defiant, and everyday I fail.

Most days I think if my kids didn't wake up at 6 I would stay in bed until 10 and watch all the morning news shows and Rachael Ray.

If Ry doesn't have a melt down at least once in public that day then we probably never left our house.

There would be more but I hear Sophie splashing in the toilet (how do you teach your 3 yr. old to put the seat down and shut the door?).

The point. I don't take pics. of all that stuff, I don't really want to record and remember it because it will just repeat itself the next day. But I do not have it all together and luckily usually only Kev is privy to that. I hope that made someone feel better out there.

After I thought of doing this post, I literally had to wait 10 secs. until I snapped a pic. of this meltdown.

climber

So Sophie has been sneaking up the stairs to our bedroom (and her bedroom which is still in our closet...so sad). Under my vigilant parenting, I usually realize this when I hear her in the baby monitor down in our kitchen (how have my kids survived?).

However, this is one of her new stunts. She was so proud.

Ry didn't attempt anything this daring until she was about 2.

The Fourth

First camping trip of the year (have a cluster of mosquito bites on my ankle and foot to prove it).

We went to San Luis Lakes State Park. It was a barren wilderness, lots of sage brush and sand.

We were joined by great friends and of course there was yummy camp food.

The girls navigating the 4 hr. car ride.

Sand dunes in the middle of the mountains. It was crazy hot. Thank goodness there was a little water spot for the kids to splash around in and Sophie to eat the mud.

Sophie and her buddy eating breakfast. They were at the most awkward age to go camping. Can't walk yet and the smorgasbord of dirt and bugs on the ground would be a little much. I was pretty tired of holding her an hour into camping.

Ry and her buddies.

Hiking through a freezing stream to see an AMAZING waterfall.

Our camping trip was a success. Thanks to Sophie and Ry for cooperating.

I see another camp out in our future real soon.

Hey Ladies!

I have felt pretty spoiled lately with several girl's nights out. The latest was joining the millions of other moms hooting and hollering over Jacob and Edward at Eclipse. I swear the whole theater was giddy and giggling, not me of course...I'm way too mature for that.

Thanks for the pic. Margaret!