REALLY. . . 30 minutes earlier?!

I just read a post from a blog I enjoy entitled The Better Mom and WOW!! I am not sure if I can do it, but if it eases some of my personal stress, it might be worth it. . . You will have to read the post, A Tip for More Productive Mornings, to see just what exactly I am talking about and I hope that it makes you think just like it did me!

The Strike

 A few days ago on Facebook I declared this:

{Advance warning and apology to my spouse and children} . . .

I AM OFFICIALLY ON A DISH WASHING STRIKE. This will probably end soon, but for now, if you want a clean dish, wash the darn thing yourself!

{That felt good!} 

This is all that was in our sink - a few dishes and Daddy's coffee cup, not bad?!?!

Well, there was A LOT of commentary on my side about this - all of it was support from my fellow female friends and it was quite funny and made for a very entertaining night!

As soon as Big Robert saw it, he had to add his own strike and this is what he announced:

In response to my wife's dish washing strike, I hereby proclaim I am officially on strike, too. From sleeping in the same bed, and any other fun stuff that happens there. You want me... too bad. That's right, Mary Pauling Riker, I will end my strike when you end yours.

We had fun and there was A LOT of back and forth on both of our statuses late into the evening - about 80 comments total! Some, who do not know us at all, thought that we were not joking and had a few negative comments, but, those that had common sense, knew that we were just being silly and their comments made up for the rude ones. Throughout it all, we both had some great laughs and enjoyed staying up VERY LATE! 

After watching the back and forth enough, I decided to shower and get ready for bed. After all of that was done, I walked in to the kitchen to find this:

We both laughed SO hard after I took this picture!

HE WAS CLEANING THE DISHES - but only to help me and respect me! A few minutes later, he called me into the kitchen where I found this:

Not only had he washed the dishes, but he also dried and put them away!

Of course, we had to the take one more picture before we both crawled into bed together. . . 

me solo in bed - just to keep the joke going!

The next day, I continued my strike, but not because I was truly on strike, mostly because I had NO time to get dishes done as we had been going ALL day. . . So, I was incredibly surprised when Daddy came home and immediately washed the few dishes that were in the sink! Because of this, we continued the joke on facebook that I was still on strike and, subsequently, so was Daddy. And, to be honest, it was a lot of fun! All of the things that people had to say were quite funny and made for good laughs between the two of us!


However, finally yesterday morning, I posted this:

I am very sad to say, but guilt is kicking in and the strike is ending :-( {I must say however, just how very grateful I am for all that the hubs did to help! I truly am one heck of a lucky lady!}

To which he responds:

36 hours. That is all she can go without me in the bed. She has ended the strike... Gonna be sleeping with the dishwasher!

Later on, he adds this to one of the posts which made me realize, all over again, just how much I love him - he is always giving of himself and helping me even when I do not ask for it. . . 

This has been playful jest all along. The love, admiration and respect I have for my love would preclude me from posting our seldom dissimilarity. Mary, I love you. Glad the strike is over. I will remain in charge of the dishes.

 

Last night, to celebrate the end of the strike, we had Chinese and wine - it was delicious and the only dishes were our forks!

Bodyology with Mr, Slim Goodbody

What better time to study the human body then during Halloween?!?! When we were made aware of Mr. Slim Goodbody coming to town with his Bodyology tour, I knew that we had to go. . . And I am SO grateful that we did! The kiddos had SO much fun learning about how our body works through songs, pictures, and dancing!

I looked at the schedule the night prior and saw "9:00am" with the words "do not be late" in the email. So, since I am so incredibly smart, I read no further and made a mental note that we needed to leave the house by 8am so that we could be at the University of North Florida by 8:30. Since I can never leave on time, we did not, AND we had to make a stop to get some cash. Even with that, we arrived on campus by 8:30 - I was ecstatic, until I realized just how early we were! It turns out, that the show did not even begin until 10, so we had 90 minutes to kill on a college campus with 4 kiddos. . .

The stairs were a hit - and we even practiced out math!

4 kiddos (Robert, Hannah, Aahliya, and Wesley) - 1 kiddo (Wesley) = ???

4 kiddos (Robert, Hannah, Aahliya, and Wesley) - 2 kiddos (Aahliya and Wesley) = ???

This guy was swinging something that the kiddos thought was pretty cool!

Hannah was just taking it all in. . . she especially liked the lady with HOT PINK hair!

Wesley was a bit timid!

These raised square/platforms were a huge hit - Robert and Aahliya like to sit on the and just observe everything!

Finally, after waiting for over an hour, our group had gathered and we were ready to go in. My crew was SO excited - we had been talking about him for a while and watched some of it on the internet, but they were still quite timid! Aside from the circus that we went to with daddy, this was the only indoor theater/arena we had been to and they were scared!

Robert and his buddy Emily - she kept her arm around him and comforted him when he would get scared!

After they all calmed down and became somewhat comfy in their seats, I was able to get a few photos before the show began. Wesley is such a little squirt that he could not hold the chair down and that made for a great laugh!

And of course, since we are VERY early for the show, the show has to start late - Murphy's law, right?!

Finally, about 25 minutes after it was supposed to begin, Slim Goodbody made his appearance onto the stage and the kiddos went nuts! They were so excited. He sang. He danced. He taught us about our bodies. He invited kiddos (and teachers) onto the stage to help him. It was a great time had be all - my kiddos are still singing the digestion song!

By the time we left there, I had some hungry, cranky, tired, and fussy kiddos, but they all said that they had fun and as anyone knows, whether you are a parent or not, those few, simple words, make everything worth it! I am grateful that I had the privilege of enjoying this outing with my wee ones yesterday - without my fabulous husband, it would not have been possible, so thank you, my love for allowing us these opportunities!

Halloween Flashback

Halloween 2005 ~ Little Robert (6 months)

Halloween 2006 ~ Little Robert (18 months) & Hannah cooking

Halloween 2007 ~ Little Robert 2 1/2 and Hannah 6 months

Halloween 2008 ~ Little Robert 3 1/2 and Hannah 18 months

Halloween 2009 ~ Little Robert 4 1/2, Hannah 2 1/2, and Wesley 7 months

Halloween 2010 ~ Little Robert 5 1/2, Hannah 3 1/2, and Wesley 19 months

Halloween 2011 ~Little Robert 6 1/2, Hannah 4 1/2, and Wesley 2 1/2

Spooktakular ~ October 27

Little Robert, Our Chef / Hannah, Our Waitress / Wesley, Our Bus Boy / Mommy and Daddy, The Restaurant Patron

About a week ago, Daddy and I decided to take the kiddos to Spooktakular at the Zoo. He really wanted to go as we had not done any other festivity with the kiddos this year. I however did not, as the idea of going to the zoo, at night, with lots of other people was just not appealing. Being the wonderful husband that he is, he said that I could stay home, but then the mommy guilt would be too great. After some back and forth about which night would be better, we settled on Thursday night as we thought that out of all the nights, that one would be the best and while we can not say whether our choice was a good one or not, I am glad that we went. . . We all had a great time and I am sure that it will be something that will be a regular occurrence from here on out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I hope that the pictures allowed you to have a glimpse into all of the fun that we had last night. The kiddos can not decide if they enjoyed being inside the zoo, getting candy, etc OR talking with the police officers, turning on the cruiser lights, playing with the handcuffs. However, they are sure that we all had an incredible time. . . just the 5 of us :-)