Spelling Lesson ( and a little rant)

Sissy: Mom I think I should take Princess, 10 and Little Diva, 5 (the girls Sissy babysits) to the High School talent show.

Me: I don't think you should.

Sissy: Why?!

Me: Because I have things to get done tonight and I 'd have to drive you. (Sissy lost driving privileges...again)

Sissy: You don't have anything to do tonight. You're just going to cook dinner and clean.

Me: (Dumbfounded silence followed by blood boiling.)

Really? Isn't cooking dinner and cleaning up and helping Bean re-organize his Lego display and pick up from Karate party and balancing the credit card statement and updating the checkbook enough?! I have to play taxi? I think this falls under the heading of "you don't work". Yes, she has said that to me too. That was my Friday night.

It's nights like this that make me wonder where I went wrong. My adorable, loving, talented, funny child is well...the center of the universe. I wonder if this is typical or is her thinking I'm her personal servant going a little past "normal"? (Hey Mom? Did you check on... No, I didn't). I love being a Mom, I love my kids, I wouldn't trade my life for anything. I would just like my kids to learn the correct spelling of MOM, right now they spell it M. A. I. D.

Hello...Kettle?

I've learned a lot from my kids, for example don't say "yes" to a child if you don't fully understand the question, toddlers like to color with lipstick, more about Polly Pockets and Clone Troopers than I ever wanted to know. I've learned about fashion, when Sissy says "that's kind of Mom-ish" I should put it down and walk away, she doesn't mean it as a compliment.

Yesterday I was listening to the loving sounds of my children interacting, oh no, wait that was Leave it to Beaver. I was listening to my kids argue on the way to church. Anyway, Sissy started to lisp when she wants to be cute. I find it less than adorable coming from a 16 year old. Bean likes to talk "baby talk" to the dog. Sissy finds this less than adorable coming from her brother. She told him to quit because it annoyed her. Strangely, I told her the same thing about her "lisp" just the other day.

Tonight, Sissy yelled at Bean because he didn't put his cup in the dishwasher. Her rant went something like "He's 8! He should be able to put the cup in the dishwasher! It's not that hard!" I told her "I know, I thought the same thing this morning when I asked you to put the cutting board in the dishwasher."

I was told once when you point a finger at others you have three fingers pointing back at yourself. I've learned that's true, the behaviors we dislike in others are often things we do ourselves. The next time I have the urge to complain about someone else I'm going to make sure I don't do the same thing. Then I'm going to keep my mouth shut.

Where Did Summer Go?

I can't believe my kids go back to school in one week! I'm wondering what happened to our summer? Apparently we have been very busy. I took Bean shopping to finish up his school supply shopping and was surprised at how few supplies were left. I don't know what I'm going to do about Sissy's. She doesn't find out what she needs for her classes until school starts. Yikes!

Summer has passed with a blur of activity! June was spent at karate, karate camp and play group for the Bean. Marching band practice for Sissy and a road trip to my nephew's High School Graduation. Whew!

We were home two week (more band and karate) and left the beginning of July for a vacation in Texas. We went to visit Honey's brother and his wife. Honey's mom flew down to join us. We went to the Johnson Space Center, the Gulf at Galveston and did a little shopping. Texas has a lot of outlet malls! Bean's favorite thing, his uncle's magnetic toy and cable tv. Sissy's favorite was shopping. (Pictured in front Bean, L to R Sis-in-law, Honey, me, Sissy, Bro-in-law and Mom-in-law)

We left Texas and drove around the Gulf to visit my friend and her family! We met them at the Gulf in Florida for breakfast. The kids got to try out a boogie board and we saw dolphins! We visited some more, had lunch, said our good-byes and headed home. Honey was on vacation the whole week after we got back from TX/FL. I had no idea what day it was for those two weeks. We didn't have a schedule, no band practice, no routine.

August started out with an impromptu trip "home" for the weekend to the fist annual Homecoming. Honey left Sunday, Bean and I stayed so my sister and I could help my dad with some organize/purge projects he'd been putting off. The "girls" also went to do a little shopping at a flea market/craft sale/Amish market. That was a lot of fun, HOT but fun! All my "finds" fit in my trunk. Woo hoo!

The first week of August was band camp for Sissy. Our brave band director loads the kids up on a bus and takes them to a college campus for a week. They come home hot and tired but they learn a lot and really become a cohesive unit. Honey went for part of the week to be a chaperon, he came home hot and tired too.

This is our last week of summer, Sissy is volunteering at the hospital, Bean is squeezing in a little more play time with his friends. I'm just hoping I can get them back in routine with as few melt downs next week as possible.

Money (Not) Saving Monday

I don't know how I could have forgotten this but I did. To save money Do Not Take BOTH Children shopping! It must have been the movie popcorn induced haze that lead me to take the kids (mistake #1) to the book store. Bean had a gift card from his birthday, Sissy didn't have any money, we know where this is going. Bean picked out his books, so did Sissy. Yes you guessed it mom was expected to pay for hers. I couldn't buy her a book without getting one for him. I know some moms can,k I'm not that good at turning off the mommy guilt. After that we went (mistake #2) to the shoe store, just to pick up a pair I saw last time we were there. While we're here we'll look at shoes to go with the (gulp) prom dress. Bean wanted to go look at the shoes in his size (mistake #3) I let him. A minute later he comes running back to me bare foot, saying "Mom you should see all the cool shoes in my size!" Twenty minutes later, 3 pairs of shoes and earrings to go with the prom dress we head home. Lesson learned.

Crafty Day 2.1

Sunday's weather (more snow, more cold) lent itself perfectly to extend crafty day! This time Sweet Pea wanted to do a project. After a quick trip to the craft store Sweet Pea got started on her projects: decorative pillows for her room. Music and Hello Kitty! Sweet Pea made a paper pattern, pinned, cut and (be still my heart) sewed them!

Just a mere 3 hours later she had 2 pillow shams and a stuffed pillow! Congratulations Sweet Pea! You worked hard on your pillows and it shows! They look great!

Back to School

It's that time again, backpacks, notebooks and tissues (for mom). Lauren started High School this year! School started 2 weeks ago, and so far she seems to be doing really well. We haven't had any drama, no calls from school and she only got lost going to English. Looks like we are off to a good start. This year Lauren is in marching band. She does seem to complain about it a little and she did say she misses her french horn, but I think she likes - just a little.

Caleb is in first grade! The first 2 days he wanted me to walk him into the gym where they wait for to be released to go to their classes. Wednesday he said he just wanted me to walk him to the outside door. on Thursday when we arrived on the campus the school had been evacuated and the police car with sirens was just arriving. One of us was a bit tramatized, but I'm better now. It was an "unscheduled" fire drill, a sensor went out. Whew!

He's loving 1st grade. He did have some concerns about only having 2 recesses but he is adjusting. Caleb's doing a great job with his reading, I worried he might have forgotten some of the sight words he learned in kindergarten have but that doesn't seem to have happened. I think he will have a good year.

Runnin' on Empty

Last night after Caleb's bath he climbed into the rocker with me. He snuggled up and sat with me for a few minutes. Then he said "Mommy, I think I'm almost out of love."

As he rubbed his chest and tummy he said "I imagine I have a love jar in here and it only has 2 or 3 loves left."

We can't have an empty love jar! There's only one way to fill a love jar, so I pulled him (all 60 pounds) onto my lap and loved on him. Then he decided he needed 10 kisses and 10 hugs, we counted out his kisses and hugs added a few extra just in case and finally his love jar was full again. Whew! Crisis averted! He now has love to share.