Why I walk

Almost every year, I walk in the March of Dimes annual fundraising event. This used to be called Walk America. When I first started walking it was just something to do. I did not know how important this cause really was .. until my first child was born. When Witchlet was rushed to the NICU, I was frightened. Thankfully, her stay was brief. From that point forward, I have been a faithful supporter of the March of Dimes. 10 years later, my youngest child, Butterfly was also rushed off to the NICU. Both of my girls are healthy now, but so many babies aren't. So again this year I will walk .. and next year too.

Goobie's Afterschool Snack

Real conversation between me and Goobie-kins:

Me: Goobie, what are you getting into.
Goobie: A snack.
Me: What snack?
Goobie: Tostidos scoopy thingies. (He gets that word from my husband)
Me: Don't eat a lot of that junk. (I don't normally buy this stuff .. it was for a party .. this is leftover)
Goobie: It's not junk, I am putting cheese on it.
Me: That doesn't make it not junk, that makes it junk with cheese on top!

The Forgotten Blog

I keep forgetting to blog! I really do not mean to forget. So what does a typical day for me look like?

I wake up and try to eat, but Butterfly always tries to take my food unless she is downstairs with her daddy. I do what I can online in the morning while also derailing all of Butterflies attempts to kill herself. What is it about toddlers that they will always find the most dangerous object in a situation? Seriously, you can put a toddler in a swimming pool full of foam cubes (Butterfly likes to play in one of these foam pits at gymnastics) drop a single vicodin in there and guarantee that said toddler will find it.

Anyway after lunch is naptime and I could probably blog then, but half the time I need a nap too and the other half I try to do things to work on my business or work towards getting Witchlet enrolled in virtual academy. Almost done with that last task ... and that will of course mean no more naps for me. I will need to be devoting 5-6 hours a day to teaching Witchlet. Goobie-kins will still go to school. I am only planning on this for the remainder of this school year. She is just on different levels for every subject and it is not working out well for her to be taught at the same level for each subject. It seems she will do better with this in Junior High and High School where she changes classes for each subject and we can sign her up for classes based on strengths and weaknesses. We are actually going to start her doing 5th grade math and 5th grade spelling words and try everything else at the 6th grade level. She must achieve an 80% on the test to go to the next subject so the system automatically ensures that she is learning something before moving on. It will be interesting that is for sure. I will try and keep everyone updated on how it goes.

Chaos caused by school

Each day Witchlet and Goobie-kins come home with homework .. for Witchlet it is a lot and for Goobie, he just has trouble sitting and focusing once his ADHD meds wear off, which is about the time he leaves school. This means I can be spending even as much as 5 or 6 hours helping kids with homework while trying to get dinner done and take care of Butterfly.

So today I did something that I am sure someone will say is irresponsible .. the kids came home and I asked to see the homework. Then ... I sent them outside to play!!! I decided we will work on homework later. Seriously kids NEED to play. This isn't just a want for them, but it is necessary for good health and in my opinion it makes them more able to learn. If they do not get finished, oh well. It makes very little sense for a child to go to school 6 hours and then do homework for 6 hours.

Week of chaos

This week is total chaos!!! Yesterday Witchlet had a game to cheer at. She really loves cheering, but some of the girls on her squad do not work well in a team. Yesterday however, those girls did not show up, so it was a great game for the 8 girls that did show up.
This evening I have a consultants meeting for my business, which is going rather well for the most part. Tomorrow I also have a training that I have decided to go to. In order to go I have to miss a meeting with my cloth diapering group, but that's ok. I still plan to take Butterfly swimming before the meeting. And after, Witchlet has cheer practice after I get home from the meeting. Somewhere in there I am also supposed to cook dinner! Which reminds me, I need to come up with something quick, easy, and not messy for my kids to eat at my mom's house tonight so the kids can eat there but not make a huge mess.
Wednesday isn't too bad .. just an appointment with my midwife ..but I really have to get my house spic and span clean and get some shopping done for my party on Saturday. Thursday is cheer practice again, more cleaning, more preparing .. same for Friday and early Saturday .. and then Saturday evening is my party! Oh this party, that is a business thing. Basically trying to show some of the fall product line and hopefully get some future bookings and some sales.

Behind again!

I meant to come home from Sweden and post about the last couple days and the flight home .. but it just didn't happen.
I came home and immediately got involved in training myself as an Independent Consultant selling cookware. I am having a lot of fun with that I admit .. plus it gives me the ability to have an income without giving up my days with Butterfly and the activities that Witchlet and Goobie-kins are involved in. Plus the risk getting involved was pretty non existent. I wanted the cookware anyway and this way I got it at a lower cost and have already recovered all I have spent. Also the parties are fun!

Royal Castle

This is the Royal Castle (Kungliga Slottet) in "Old Town" (Gamla Stan) Stockholm located on City Island (Stadsholmen).

When you first enter the Castle you are in the church. Here are a couple pictures of that entrance. Unfortunately, this is the only indoor location that we were permitted to take pictures.

The Swedish flag flies high above the Castle as can be seen from this Courtyard picture.

The castle is guarded by the Royal Guards (Högvakten). We missed the Changing of the Guard ceremony, but hope to go back on Friday to see that. Despite that we did get to see this performance by the guards at the top of the hour.

Despite this not being the official Changing of the Guard, these guards did infact change.

Swedish Traditions - Kräftskiva and Fika

These pictures were taken at Kräftskiva. That is a party that takes place in August in Sweden where people eat crayfish that has been soaked in brine and cooked in dill. Traditionally there is a lot of alcohol involved too but we did not have much at this party. Butterfly is up for any custom that includes her eating! She also likes to hang out with her cousins. Witchlet and Goobie-kins had some fun in the playroom as well.

Here is Butterfly all ready for Fika. Per Wikipedia: Fika is a social institution in Sweden, it means having a coffee with one's colleagues, friends, date, or family. We went to Fika to celebrate Butterfly's great-grandmother's 87th birthday. Butterfly really enjoyed this because there was food!

Butterfly also really liked this nifty seat I bought for her to use whenever high chairs were not available.

Skansen

The ferry ride to Skansen. Finding parking can be very difficult so it is often better to use busses, subways, and ferries.

These lemurs were very cute, especially the baby lemur.

Goobie-kins had fun pretending to be an ambulance driver, while Witchlet took a turn at the swings in the little ride area of Skansen.

What would a trip to the zoo be if you didn't pet a few animals?

And see a reindeer? There were actually lots of reindeer. We think this must be Comet.

Butterfly with her uncle, Niko. She is asking him to take her back to the binky tree!

And here is this binky tree!!! There were thousands of pacifiers strung up on trees in Lil Skansen. Butterfly loves her bink-a-binks!!

Well if uncle Niko wont take me back to the binks, then Maybe I should ask aunt Mona!

Since no one took me to get a new bink, maybe I can convince mommy to give me some ice cream by giving her a kiss!

Some vacation fun!

The last few days have been pretty good. Butterfly is finally sleeping at night, which means I am sleeping at night.

Friday we took Witchlet and Goobie-kins to a Museum where they do science experiments. It was pretty fun and there was some yummy food there. There are even a couple rides there and we rode one that reminded me of a smaller version of Power Tower at Cedar Point.

Saturday we took the kids to a place called Skansen which is partially a zoo and partially a historical place. They have a lot of the historical buildings of Sweden there and then there are a lot of animals. The interesting thing about Skansen is the number of animals that you are free to touch if you choose. A lot of them will come right up to you and some of them roam pretty freely. My kids especially liked seeing the reindeer. Butterfly spent about 5 hours that day in our Ergo Baby carrier. That thing was probably one of the best investments I have made. After that we went to a Kräftskiva. This is a crayfish party. I love shellfish, but I could not have any of them because they were first soaked in brine, but I was able to eat some of the shrimp. After the party we went to my sister-in-laws for a little while, which was really nice for the kids since they could play.

Sunday we went to a Fika for my husband’s grandmother’s birthday. This seems pretty similar to a tea party, though maybe more casual, not that I have attended many tea parties. I saw a couple people I had not seen since my wedding and met some new people. Butterfly was in fact very much a social butterfly there and Goobie-kins had a really good time. Witchlet did well in the beginning though after awhile it became a bit overwhelming to her and she sat on my lap for a bit.

Today we are registering Butterfly as a Swedish citizen (she will have dual citizenship) and then going to the Royal Castle to see the changing of the guard and then visit a couple museums. Hopefully this evening I can get some pictures of what we have done and post for everyone to see.