Making Memories & Being Under appreciated.

So today I decided to experience my city. Growing up, my parents would take me to many street fairs & festivals. I grew up loving them. Growing up in NYC there were like 100 every weekend. 

Besides soccer 3 times a week, the kids and I are usually stuck in the house (the disadvantage of having just one usable car). The hubby has been working 6-7 days a week and today was his first Sunday off in 2 weeks. Since he decided to play on his X-Box until 6:00 a.m.; it was just me and the kiddos at the Arts & Music Festival. Sometimes I wonder what's worst, having the hubby not bother to partake in family activities or seeing him with a sour-puss face because the activity is not his cup of tea. I decided it's better he doesn't come. That way I only need to focus to keeping 2 children happy instead of 3.  He'll still get the cold shoulder. "I don't want you to do the dishes! I want you to want to do the dishes!" Name that movie!

Let me introduce you to my lovely children. First there is my first born Jayden, age  7  8.  Jayden loves Lego Ninjago (which mommy has to build & then step on them when she gets out of bed) star wars (God forbid I delete any of the movies from the DVR) & having the TV on regardless on whether he is watching or not. He says he uses it as background music while he plays with his action figures. He is, what you can call...a smart-ass. He is the funniest kid I know. Lately he has enter the stage in which he cannot shut up!!! I cannot get 2 minutes of peace & quiet with this kid. He is lucky that most of the things he says are pretty hilarious. I actually have started keeping a record of the things he says. My favorite insult: "The only true Americans are Tristan and I because we were born here." He's apparently favoring republicans. He does say that he watches Fox News. Can anyone say positive correlation? He wants to be an artist. When you ask him what type he'll answer, "The type with talent". His favorite group is LMFAO & he thinks F.U.N. sounds like the Beatles.

Then we have Tristan, my two three year old. Tristan is my wild child. He is the Yang to Jayden's Yin. He doesn't seem to understand "No" when I say it but expects me to accept his "No". He is very clever. When he does something he was not suppose to do he'll tell you in his sweet voice, "I love you mommy". He'll also throw in some kisses and hugs in his repertoire. In short he's manipulative. Tristan loves everything Jayden loves. He'll hum you the Star Wars theme song  and Darth Vader's March. He loves to pretend everything is a hat. He'll wear pants as hats, baskets as hats , boxes as hats and breakfast bowls as hats. I bought him real hats...he hates those. I had to bribe him to wear the one in this picture. Discipline is very difficult with this little one. "Tristan back up from the T.V. sweety",  I say in my sweet mommy voice.  He ignores me. "Tristan... back up from the T.V!" I say in my stern voice. He ignores me again. "TRISTAN BACK UP FROM THE TV RIGHT NOW OR YOU ARE GOING ON TIME OUT!" I say in my evil exorcist voice. He backs up...for 2.5 seconds...and repeat.

My children are my life. I wanted to grow up to be a mommy. Check that off my bucket list. I am grateful I had them young because I do not know how much patience I would've had if I started a family at 30. 

So we go to the festival. Since the hubby showed no interest I figured it would be fun to go with my BFF. No luck there. Just me and the kiddos. I'll try to not have a panic attack. We were participating in the last activity of the festival, The Kids Fishing Competition. Mind you the minute we got there it was:

"When are we going to do the fishing?" 
"Are we going to do the fishing now?" 
"Don't forget the fishing competition." 

As I was sitting there telling Jayden that fishing is about being patient, I hear the mom next to me telling one of her three kids "I can't make you happy! You complain about everything, why should I try to make you happy?!" I said to myself, "Amen sister!" 

As parents we try keep our kids happy and busy with loads of activities and no matter how amazing we think it is,  they always have something to complain about! After all the hype of the fishing competition, Jayden gave up. He thought fishing meant drop the line and the fish will bite the bait immediately. Patience is a virtue he does not possess. Needless to say he didn't catch a fish. I decided to let Tristan give it a go. He just wanted to reel in the line. I started to get frustrated with him. I wanted to catch that fish for Jayden (yes that would be cheating! But was it really since Tristan was holding the rod?) Instead of focusing on catching a fish I let Tristan have his fun. I would release every time he finished reeling in the line. He had a blast. 

See the dad next to Jayden  helping his son fish?  ;)

I was devastated on the ride home from Jayden's disillusion of fishing. Since he was so looking forward to the fishing and it didn't work out,  I imagined Jayden didn't enjoy himself. I am obsessed with making sure my children enjoy themselves in my activities. Who has two thumbs and is as neurotic as can be? ...THIS GAL! 

On the drive home I asked Jayden if he truly enjoyed himself. He said yes, because he got to see storm troopers! Tristan on the other hand I was not worried about. Just getting in the car is an awesome trip to him. Ergo...successful family day...minus the hubby. Just to make sure they were happy we stopped for snow cones. I like to over impress. 

Tune the Fresh Beat Band....We had a Great Day!