It is hard being a mother of four these days. Yes, I said four and I am not including Heather in that count!
Last night I made some brownies. I told the little guys that they could not have any last night because it was too late (8:45) but that after breakfast and a shower the nest day (today) they could have one. Clark and Aaron came home after midnight and I had already gone to bed. This morning when I woke up, surprise, there were brownies missing! As I was making breakfast, Clark comes in and eats another one. Of course I hear, "That's not fair!!!! I had to yell at him and explain to the kids that Daddy was in trouble. GRRR! Why does he not think of these things! To say to them "I am a grownup" does not work for me. After he left and I had to calm Lauren and Alex down, they finally ate breakfast and took their showers. Then I was happy to give them their brownies. Clark, however, will not get any more brownies until after dinner! If he is going to act like a little guy, then he will have the same consequences.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
The Cool girl
Lauren has now found a fashion hero! Her favorite is Selena Gomez from the Disney Channel. Here is why I am o.k. with that. Selena wears ALL of her clothes!! She is also a tomboy!! (which is o.k. with Lauren) Here are Lauren's new shoes!! They are really cool, huh?! She even went
to the girl department at Kohl's to get new shirts!! I think that she is s l o w l y becoming a girl and doesn't even know it!!
to the girl department at Kohl's to get new shirts!! I think that she is s l o w l y becoming a girl and doesn't even know it!!
Fish Camp
Contrary to first impressions, this is NOT to learn about sea going creatures. This is for those students who are about to enter...gasp....groan.... freshman year in high school! This is really hard for me to type. I really remember Aaron just starting kindergarten with Mrs. Robertson and it doesn't seem that long ago. Of course it helps that Alex (mini-Aaron) was just there himself.
Aaron has his own phone now and has been getting around on his bike to his friends' houses. I am really trying to give him his own space, but I need more work. He has been to the convenience store down the street on his own with a friend. (I actually cheated on this one. I could look over the fence and watched him the whole way.)
He is too young to go to high school!! By the way, he is now officially 6ft tall and 14 years old. You know it is sad when the little guys are calling him for help with their fans and lights.
We went to register for the camp and I almost cried.. He is really growing up fast!
Aaron has his own phone now and has been getting around on his bike to his friends' houses. I am really trying to give him his own space, but I need more work. He has been to the convenience store down the street on his own with a friend. (I actually cheated on this one. I could look over the fence and watched him the whole way.)
He is too young to go to high school!! By the way, he is now officially 6ft tall and 14 years old. You know it is sad when the little guys are calling him for help with their fans and lights.
We went to register for the camp and I almost cried.. He is really growing up fast!
Girl Scout Camp
Lauren and I spent a week recently at the local Girl Scout camp. It was a twilight camp which means that you only came in the afternoon to early evening. We had a great time! Lauren actually was able to learn archery this year, which she LOVED! I was with a group of the younger ones and Lauren was in her group. Things tend to work better this way for us. We ate lunch together, though. This was really the only camp that she wanted to go to this year, so the rest of her Cookie Bucks will go towards a special something at the Girl Scout shop. Cookie bucks are received based on how many cookies the scout sold in January. This year, it was the only way she was able to go to camp. Camp can run from $20.00 up to hundreds depending on the duration and location.
We came home dirty, sweaty and smelling of bug spray. Just a bit of a hint....have someone else put on the spray. When you do it yourself you tend to leave areas uncovered. You find these areas later by the number of bites that show up. It seems that my upper calves are a great feeding ground if you are a mosquito or two or million.
The guys had guy nights and if I am not mistaken, they ate take out every night! Alex still got his shower, and read his book, so life did continue somewhat normally.
As soon as Lauren and I got home, we showered and scraped off the gunk. But it was a fabulous time!
We came home dirty, sweaty and smelling of bug spray. Just a bit of a hint....have someone else put on the spray. When you do it yourself you tend to leave areas uncovered. You find these areas later by the number of bites that show up. It seems that my upper calves are a great feeding ground if you are a mosquito or two or million.
The guys had guy nights and if I am not mistaken, they ate take out every night! Alex still got his shower, and read his book, so life did continue somewhat normally.
As soon as Lauren and I got home, we showered and scraped off the gunk. But it was a fabulous time!
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Summer Fun
Summer here has been sooo much fun! It is HOT, HOT, HOT, just like a lot of places. However, ask my children it does not mean that you cannot go outside. I mean, really, just because it is 104 and an orange ozone alert day. Here's where my title of meanest mommy comes in. So I decided to let them go out. Alex never made it, he couldn't find his shoes (you don't love me! They are not my shoes, Alex. They should be in the shoe closet. You don't even care about me.....) Lauren was out for about 10 minutes (Why aren't you outside? Its too hot...). Aaron stayed out the longest, but even he was in several times for a drink. But you can't wimp out when your friends are down and you are playing a wiffleball game.
I have invested in Dixie cups. My new favorite. I even have names on them for the guys in the neighborhood. At one point I had to run the dishwasher with JUST cups! I had none!! Just because your cup had koolaid in it before does not mean that you cannot rinse it out to put water in it!
I just know I have earned the meanest mommy title so many times, Leslie. Last night was the latest when I made Alex clean his room. I actually had two trash bags full of toys that he refused to clean up. Lauren even got in on it and told me that she was going to help him clean up. It finally got done around 7:30. I decided that I was too worn out to cook and we had pizza. Oh I still had the title because I made them go to bed around 9:30 (Mommy, its summer, we get to stay up late! Honey, this is late.) Imagine, if you will, all the people in China looking up at the loud stompings as they headed to their room. I am surprised that it did not register on the Richter scale. We tried to make cookies as well, but when you don't have chocolate chips, you just have cookie dough. ( No, you cannot just eat the dough.) The ensuing fit is what prompted the 9:30 bedtime... and the sky quake in China. I am about to earn another notch in my crown by making them clean up the mess they made this morning in that room. I saw the floor for only one night!
Aaron has a friend spending the night tonight, maybe. It's hard, he has such a social calender. NEWSFLASH!!! We have begun to notice girls with a vengence. We went to a Fourth of July pool party, and there were two girls there and they were all trhee getting along VERY well. I found out the the girls were 16 and going to be juniors. One was valedictorian, they were both in art and honors classes. One was blond and one was brunette and they were both in bikinis. When I asked if Aaron had asked for their numbers, he said that they were older and he didn't know if he should. The girls were really responding to him. There was a lot of mutual splashing and teasing going on. I am so trying to be enlightened and allow him to walk free in the world without blinders. I think that locking him in his room for the next 10 years would be great, but for some reason, Clark has an issue with that...go figure!
We were thinking about have Lauren test out of third grade, but have rethought it due to the pressure it seems to be putting on her. We are looking for new schools for her or just homeschooling her. Her options at her school are not good at all! We are looking into evaluating her for a sensory issue to see if perhaps that is why she has breakdowns so easily. They are getting better now that summer is here and she does not have school throwing stuff at her. Its not the education, it seems to be the social and administration expectations. She is far and away above her peers academically and has been bored to tears for most of the year, hence the misbehaviors.
Alex has had a friend over several times this summer. At the end of the year, we handed out him number to all of his friends. He has had two call him. That is okay with him. As long as someone comes over to play. We are practising walking this summer. You would not think that would be a problem, as he started walking at a normal age. However, he has skipped walking and gone to running everywhere. He has been rewalking his running paths three times each. For example, he runs from the living room to the kitchen (I know they are next to each other, but he still runs). He then has to walk back and forth three times. He has not been happy. (mean mommy crown) .
We have been doing the library, park, sprinkle pad, backyard sprinkler, etc. Lauren has girl Scout camp next week (in the evening), Alex has reading camp(in the mornings), and Aaron has sleeping late.
Aaron turned 14 on the 7th and family and friends got together and we had a baseball game at the local major league's youth ballpark. He was so surprised! It was great. We had an announcer and concession stand and everything. Afterwards, we had a tailgate party. Thank you to everyone who pitched in. We could not have done it without you!
Heather has a pretty serious boyfriend and is doing great on her own! She has been around a few times to play with the little guys and to visit. She is still working and has taken the summer off from school.
Clark is still looking for a job and has had a couple of promising interviews. Please keep us in your prayers as things are getting really serious around here. I am going to try to get a full time job myself to get some money in. When school starts, I will be working at the school, maybe. If we are not homeschooling Lauren.
I think that is it. Is this enough, Leslie?
I have invested in Dixie cups. My new favorite. I even have names on them for the guys in the neighborhood. At one point I had to run the dishwasher with JUST cups! I had none!! Just because your cup had koolaid in it before does not mean that you cannot rinse it out to put water in it!
I just know I have earned the meanest mommy title so many times, Leslie. Last night was the latest when I made Alex clean his room. I actually had two trash bags full of toys that he refused to clean up. Lauren even got in on it and told me that she was going to help him clean up. It finally got done around 7:30. I decided that I was too worn out to cook and we had pizza. Oh I still had the title because I made them go to bed around 9:30 (Mommy, its summer, we get to stay up late! Honey, this is late.) Imagine, if you will, all the people in China looking up at the loud stompings as they headed to their room. I am surprised that it did not register on the Richter scale. We tried to make cookies as well, but when you don't have chocolate chips, you just have cookie dough. ( No, you cannot just eat the dough.) The ensuing fit is what prompted the 9:30 bedtime... and the sky quake in China. I am about to earn another notch in my crown by making them clean up the mess they made this morning in that room. I saw the floor for only one night!
Aaron has a friend spending the night tonight, maybe. It's hard, he has such a social calender. NEWSFLASH!!! We have begun to notice girls with a vengence. We went to a Fourth of July pool party, and there were two girls there and they were all trhee getting along VERY well. I found out the the girls were 16 and going to be juniors. One was valedictorian, they were both in art and honors classes. One was blond and one was brunette and they were both in bikinis. When I asked if Aaron had asked for their numbers, he said that they were older and he didn't know if he should. The girls were really responding to him. There was a lot of mutual splashing and teasing going on. I am so trying to be enlightened and allow him to walk free in the world without blinders. I think that locking him in his room for the next 10 years would be great, but for some reason, Clark has an issue with that...go figure!
We were thinking about have Lauren test out of third grade, but have rethought it due to the pressure it seems to be putting on her. We are looking for new schools for her or just homeschooling her. Her options at her school are not good at all! We are looking into evaluating her for a sensory issue to see if perhaps that is why she has breakdowns so easily. They are getting better now that summer is here and she does not have school throwing stuff at her. Its not the education, it seems to be the social and administration expectations. She is far and away above her peers academically and has been bored to tears for most of the year, hence the misbehaviors.
Alex has had a friend over several times this summer. At the end of the year, we handed out him number to all of his friends. He has had two call him. That is okay with him. As long as someone comes over to play. We are practising walking this summer. You would not think that would be a problem, as he started walking at a normal age. However, he has skipped walking and gone to running everywhere. He has been rewalking his running paths three times each. For example, he runs from the living room to the kitchen (I know they are next to each other, but he still runs). He then has to walk back and forth three times. He has not been happy. (mean mommy crown) .
We have been doing the library, park, sprinkle pad, backyard sprinkler, etc. Lauren has girl Scout camp next week (in the evening), Alex has reading camp(in the mornings), and Aaron has sleeping late.
Aaron turned 14 on the 7th and family and friends got together and we had a baseball game at the local major league's youth ballpark. He was so surprised! It was great. We had an announcer and concession stand and everything. Afterwards, we had a tailgate party. Thank you to everyone who pitched in. We could not have done it without you!
Heather has a pretty serious boyfriend and is doing great on her own! She has been around a few times to play with the little guys and to visit. She is still working and has taken the summer off from school.
Clark is still looking for a job and has had a couple of promising interviews. Please keep us in your prayers as things are getting really serious around here. I am going to try to get a full time job myself to get some money in. When school starts, I will be working at the school, maybe. If we are not homeschooling Lauren.
I think that is it. Is this enough, Leslie?
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