Change

I know it has been about 2 years since I have posted on here. I am going to try to get moving and start using my blog again.

I purchased myself a tiny little book a few years ago. I seek it out on some of those days that I need a little boost. It has an affirmation per each calendar day. I am not really into "affirmations" but this was a tiny little 365 page book that I bumped into on the bargain table at the book store. I think you all know that I can't pass up a useful bargain. I really liked today's. Here it is. I might have to share some more that I really like.

"Today I will embrace change. I know that change is the only true constant in life and today I will not resist it. I will let change happen.

Everything in nature changes - the seasons, the water levels, grass, leaves, wind, fruits, and vegetables. Nature is in a constant state of flux and change without this, there would be no growth.

My child and I are part of nature too. We do not need to force change; it happens by itself. Ours is to allow it and in this way we grow.

I will allow change to happen."

All is flux, nothing stays still...Nothing endures but change. - Heraclitus

--Daily Affirmations for Parents, Tian Dayton.

Thing a Day: 6

I know I missed day 5, but I found myself sick yesterday. I was unable to do much of anything but lay down (somewhere near the bathroom).

Anyway...

My family and I have been trying to go snow shoeing since the beginning of December but there is always something that doesn't cooperate, whether it's the weather or my health.

Today, everything did cooperate. It almost didn't though. It was actually kind of funny.

Since my son has grown about 8" since the last time he wanted snow pants...we ran into a bit of a problem. It's a good thing that I'm short (5'3").

My 13 year old son ended up wearing the snow pants marked "womens medium". I wore the pair marked "14/16". They were a little shorter (in the crotch) than I would have liked...but I "sucked it up".

Then we went to a nearby park. walked around, ran around, made snow angels,

threw snowballs at each other, and watched a couple of dogs having a ball in the snow.

 I love watch animals play in the snow.

We all had a great time, followed by hot chocolate for the boys and tea for me.

Thing a Day: 4.5

Since it didn't work right earlier. I figured I would give it another try...

Today TAD has to do with helping my sons, who are both boy scouts.

First, I took the "Youth Protection Training".

Then I will be sewing on a total of 5 merit badges. Three for one kid. Two for the other kid. (Can you see the pins?)

(I thought my son did something to my camera. My pictures did not download this afternoon but a screen shot of his video game did, each time I tried it. I discovered it wasn't the camera...but it was still his fault. He left his game in the disc drive, that's what kept downloading into my photo software. How bizarre.)

Thing a Day: 4

Today TAD has to do with helping my sons, who are both boy scouts.

First, I took the "Youth Protection Training".

***imagine picture of certificate with my name and the date*************************************

Then I will be sewing on a total of 5 merit badges. Three for one kid. Two for the other kid.

***imagine a picture with 2 olive green sashes. One with 6 sewn on, 3 pinned on. The other with only 2 pinned on.*********************************

(My son did something to my camera. My pictures will not download but a screen shot of his video game does, each time I try it. I think he has forgotten that he has his own camera.)

Bad Evening (revised)

Pete left to go to the gym and all hell seemed to break loose! Why does this usually happen when he leaves the house? It's almost as if the children's personalities change when he walks out of the room.

For some reason, every thing I said led Danny to be "short" with me. Then of course, I got ticked at him. The whole evening went on like that. GAAH!!!

Then a little later, Alex handed me back the sheets I tried to take to sign earlier, but he took back from me. Now he was deciding to tell me that I "needed to fill them out now". I asked him if he "was kidding me"...he couldn't believe it. I then proceeded to tell him that "I would get it done in my own sweet time since he took it from me in the first place". Some nerve that kid's got! I wonder where he got that from? It couldn't have been from me could it? Nah!


Then when Pete gets home...he stays away from me. Now I feel totally alienated! He didn't even come and say "hi" to me when he walked in the door.

All in all it was a wonderful evening! (Can you hear the sarcasm?)

The only saving grace is that when Danny woke up this morning, first thing he said to me was "I'm sorry".

Now, that one put a big smile on my face...all is good with the world again.

Getting ready?

Does this look like getting ready to go?

I was trying to go buy the kid new Crocs...which he asked for (he's grown out of his old ones)...therefore, this shopping trip is for him.

...is he getting ready to go?

I don't think so!

Wow, he was a grump!

OK...Danny woke up...by himself...saying "I thought it was Saturday when I first woke up". Then he proceded to act like I was trying to get him to school on a Saturday...which of course, I was not.

I sure hope that I do NOT have to relive that one again tomorrow morning too. The worst part is that it is almost vacation for the boys. Only one more day of school (after today).

I tried everything to get him moving without being mean and then I finally lost it.

He's in 5th grade...When is this going to end?

Brother helping brother?

I forgot to finish this post up last week when it happened during the boys snow day last week...

I couldn't believe it...Alex offered to help Danny with his project on their snow day. I was amazed! Alex asked Danny if they could play the board game that Danny created as a book project. After they were done playing Danny was able to make some minor adjustments to his game (and rules) and finally finish his project. Alex had to make his own game 2 years ago himself, so he knew that it would make it easier to write the rules after playing.

Thanks Alex! That was a very nice "big brother" thing to do.

Many issues

There were many "issues" in my house this morning. Getting the kids ready for school today was...shall I say...less than enjoyable. To start off, today is picture day in school. So nobody got dressed until breakfast was eaten and teeth were brushed. Alex was a real pain about what he was going to eat. Then, we got a call this morning from Danny's friend saying that if Danny was walking to school with him, then he needed to be at his house in less than 10 minutes. He hadn't even eaten breakfast yet. I made him something for him to eat while walking...but of course, it got left on the kitchen counter. That is Danny's tortilla and cheese rolled up, sitting on the cutting board. Whose fault was that? Of course it was mine...who else's fault could it have possibly been? Not Danny's...I should have just said "you don't have time, NO". But he started to whine, he's been looking forward to this all week, and he whines at too much that I absolutely can not or will not let him have, so since I thought it would be possible...I tried it. Not again!

OMG! These are the mornings I hate being a mom...I thought that we were finally past having problems getting ready for school. I can tell you...I am not looking forward to when the boys need to get up an hour and a half earlier when they start high school...I'm just glad I have almost 2 years to wait for that one...

Moods...

I sure hope that Alex's mood has changed greatly from yesterday. He argued with my husband over the stupidest little thing...forever yesterday (after all of the arguing with me). I'm not sure what bug he got under his bonnet yesterday but...OMG! It was a horrible mood that I hope to not experience any time soon.

He has school today...as well as a new challenge to start. He is going to be taking his math class at a local college, he's 12. It's a special class for kids gifted in math. He has been looking forward to this class since he first heard about it back in January. He had to take an entrance exam, 3hrs long, to get in. And he made it in. I knew he could do it. We are all very proud of him. 350 kids take the test and 60 kids get into the class each year. If he focuses on the class instead of the minor little things that bother him he should be just fine. I think that maybe he was nervous about starting this class today and couldn't find the words to express himself...or didn't want to admit that it was a problem. He's 12, that one happens all of the time. Denial of feelings.

Good luck with your class this afternoon, Alex, and have fun with it! I know it seems weird but my son LOVES math, personally I'm not a fan, but hey...

Minor breakdown

I just had a minor break down and sceaming fit at Alex. We have "piles" in the house that need to be cleaned up. Pretty much they need to be cleaned up by me....

OK...I just had another screaming fit at Alex because he interupted me and still will not leave my "piles" alone. He thinks that going thru the pile of approximately 100 papers if he finds one sheet of his...it's good. In the mean time he (1) makes a mess and (2) he wastes time that he could actually help me. He keeps saying that he wants to "help" me but he is only making things worse, by not just doing what I ask of him. I don't know what to do anymore. It's past driving me nuts!

The long wait...

Somehow I forgot to write about my weekend with my sister and two nieces. It was Labor Day weekend. We all managed to keep busy, nobody complained they were bored, and the only fights between the kids were between the siblings...not the cousins. On Saturday we went to the zoo, the girls enjoyed visiting the rain forest. That is one of my favorite parts of the zoo these days. My 12 year old niece hates "serpents"...her word. She is a girl after my own heart...I don't usually look around the reptile house too long...I usually hang out near the lizards, so I don't have to see the snakes. Quite frequently my sons will try to trick me into looking at some legless animal...not usually my high point of any zoo.

Then on Sunday, the day before Labor Day, we went to Niagara Falls. Of course we find out that that is the second busiest day of the entire year. We walked around for an hour or so, eat our picnic lunch we had packed and then we decided to take a look at how long the line was for Maid of the Mist. We stood on line while Pete went to investigate the situation. When he came back, we found out that from that point, we should be on the boat in about an hour and a half. My guests had been looking forward to it for weeks...and we don't usually stand on lines (neither Peter or the kids have much patience)...But we decided to go for it. I think we actually stood on line for closer to 2 1/2 hours (maybe even 3), none of us had actually looked at our watches at the begining. The kids did pretty well. They all just goofed around, Danny started to get annoyed and kept saying "this better be good", then Danny had a bloody nose (good thing we had lots of tissues and some water), that didn't make the waiting any easier. But...when we finally got on the boat, I think we all agreed that the wait was worth it. It really is not something that you can experience a whole lot of places in this world, especially for not a whole lot of money. Everyone decided that it was really awesome.

Waiting in line is not always so bad!

All in all we really did have a great weekend. My nieces decided that maybe next summer they might come visit us for a week. Wahoo! I have been offering that on up to them for the past few years and the answer had always been "not a chance".

It was a great weekend!

Chauffeuring...

Today was the day for chauffeuring the kids around...Bring Alex to a scout project, come home feed Danny lunch before gymnastics, bring Danny to gymnastics, can't go home 'cause it will take me as much time to go home and come back before getting Alex from his project...but...hey...I got to go shopping in between...3 separate places...things accomplished, while taking up time. All of this while Pete is at a college football game with his dad. This morning he was feeling guilty, I told him to not worry about it. The times weren't all crammed together...and I got in some shopping...Did I say that already? It wasn't such a bad day...and Pete was feeling bad. And it always helped that the weather ended up beautiful too...A good day...Now I have to go back to pick up Danny from gymnastics...

And then dinner...what's for dinner?

Both kids are now in middle school...

Wow..that was a weird feeling...both of my boys are now in middle school. I just went to the bus stop for the first day of school with both Danny and Alex are at the same stop, same bus this year. Both Alex and Danny kept checking their watches every minute or 2. I think that both of them were anxious. I hope that they do not end up too late that Danny rushes thru getting his stuff to his locker and ends up with trouble opening up his lock on the first day of school. You know...the first time it really counts if you can get it open easily. It doesn't help Danny that he can't even reach the top shelf in his locker, either, just one more thing for him (or me) to worry about. That's OK I guess 'cause he makes friends easily and can just ask anyone to reach anything for him. We tried to not put much up there. I can tell you though...I will be doing lots of locker checks on him. He is not the neatest individual.

This is gonna be an interesting year...I hope we can all survive it, and that I am able to not give in to yelling. The "sport" that I grew up with and hated and have appeared to inherite. Hopefully, I can change this...I really do HATE yelling. It just seems like it comes naturally to me. I guess you learn what you grow up with. That sucks and I'm determined to change it...

When does school start?

How many more days until school starts? I need to go and count...the boys (especially Danny) are driving me nuts...

6 more days...or 3 more days without Peter to keep "the calm". Danny believes that all day every day should be about fun. He is going to be in for a rude awakening when school starts. He will need to get all of his work done before any playing happens. The sooner he gets his work done the sooner he will get to play...so sit down and do your homework now and not later. I can see this is going to be a big problem. I'm trying to not let it get to me but the anticipation is already getting to me. His attitude today did not prove anything else to me but the impending doom...I wish I was a much more laid back person than I am, but with my genes, that was never gonna happen...

Alex just came in and asked what to do with something. All he did was argue with me.

I'm falling apart here...I can't hold it together without getting annoyed anymore. I need to have one of my children do something...anything...the FIRST time I say it. That is something that NEVER happens in my house and I am trying to figure out how to get it to happen, BEFORE I lose my mind.

It's a pity I don't like taking baths...or I would say"Calgon...take me away..."

Deadline...what's a deadline?

Alex, my 12 yr old, just left this morning for a week away at scout camp. Before he left he need to do 2 things...pack (obviously) and take care of prerequisites for his merit badges that he is going to earn this week. I have been telling him that he needs to work on the prereqs since school ended, almost 4 weeks ago. "I have plenty of time" and "I'm doing something else", were 2 statements I heard a lot of the past few weeks. When did he start to pack? Yesterday at about 5:30 pm. When did he finish his prereqs? He didn't. He was working on them furiously for the past 2 days, and getting totally stressed out and being a total brat about it.

My husband and I kept trying to tell him that he was probably doing 5 times the amount of work than any of the other scouts were for the same badge. He would not cut corners. He will see when he gets there and will hopefully learn from this experience and not leave everything for the last minute. All it ever does is stress him out and tick me off. I have a very short fuse (thanks, Dad), I keep trying to let things go but I guess that is where he gets it from...me. All day yesterday I kept telling him that it won't be that big of a deal if he doesn't finish it before he goes, he can always finish it later, and still earn his badge.

Being a perfectionist and a procrastinator at the same time does NOT work very well. He will need to learn where he can "cut corners" without loosing any points on his projects.

Is it dangerous?

We had a fun afternoon planned yesterday. Once again my husband was off (he has several vacation days to use up before the end of July), and we were planning to go to miniture golf (they call it putt-putt around here), and then play tennis later on the town courts. It was beautiful, but cool, outside. Then, as Danny, my 9 yr old, was waiting in the driveway for the rest of us, he decided to ride his scooter. The scooter that he has wanted for 2 yrs that I talked my husband into buying. Mind you...he bought a trampoline, with a surround, without even consulting me. Back to Danny. We had each walked back inside for a second to do something, to suddenly hear a blood curdling scream. My first thought... he broke something. He didn't. He just scraped up his left hand really bad. I'm glad (1) he's a righty, and (2) his gymnastics this week doesn't really include using the apparatus, like it usually does. Of course, as soon as my huband reaches Danny (I got there first), he says "I knew the scooter wasn't a good idea..." So now Danny falling and hurting himself is my fault...lovely...

So, after I patched him up and gave him some tylenol (by the way we weren't yet positive that he didn't break something), he sat and vegged in front of the tv for a while. Then next thing we know Danny was having a fun noodle fight (you know those foam things you use in the pool). I guess nothing's broken. Then we finally got a chance to play tennis. We skipped the putt-putt, we figured that the club would be tough to hold. At least we got a chance to have fun...And Pete didn't mention the dangers of the scooter to me later. Personally, I don't think a scooter is any worse than roller blades. But I guess that's just me.

I wish he would listen the first time...

Yesterday was quite trying. My husband was camping. Both Danny and Alex had things I needed them to do. Alex was supposed to put away his laundry that has been sitting for the last 3 days. Danny was supposed to write a summary of the last book he finished. He did agree to write it, 2 days ago. Neither one happened. I was waiting and reminding but so far only half of a summary was written and there was lots of yelling in the house this afternoon. I was guessing it's never gonna happen. I'm just going to let Pete deal with the summary himself. It was his idea in the first place. We ended up going to walk to the local grocery store instead. We always try to walk if we do not have tons to buy. Since it had finally stopped raining, we would give it a try.
I'm giving up on making them do these types of things, the stress is not worth it. None of it is required, for now. I'll just dump Alex's clothes on his bed and he can just deal with it. And with Danny...I'll let Pete tell him what to do when he gets home. He'll probably do it the first time he asks. Thats what gets me soooo mad.

We love a hike...

Keeping the kids busy (cheaply) was very easy today. My husband had the day off so we went to the Niagara (Falls) Gorge. It's nice living really close to Niagara Falls. We get to visit without a long hawl (approx 25 mins). We packed up a lunch and set off. We were planning on exploring a section of the gorge that we hadn't been to before but they were repairing the stairs and taking the other stairs would have added another 2 miles to the hike. D would not have made it up. There are some 200 or so steps (never actually counted). I just know that everyone stops at least twice to rest on their way up. The path we ended up taking had caution tape on it so D thought we were gonna get in trouble for crossing the tape. Then we saw a few other parties of people who had also crossed over. He felt much better about not getting into trouble. After a while we bumped into a great spot near the water (off the path) that looked safe to go to. Again D thought we were going to get in trouble, there were signs everywhere that said that if you went off the path you would be prosecuted, so he was nervous. We decided to "cop a squat", Pete's words, (and A had never heard them before and was quite confused) and have our lunch there. It was beautiful. We got to watch both a loon and a gull go fishing for their lunch, while we ate ours.

While we were hiking my husband, Pete, came up with and idea about D and his reading. Since he is reading these great books during the summer, why doesn't he write a summary of each one now. He can use some of these if the genre is right, for his next school year. I know it is cheating a little but hey...he did read the book... and I think he will run out of time next school year to do all the reading they want from him. D is going to be going to gymnastics for 4 days a week (12 hrs). He will probably need to rewrite it to make it appropriate for the project anyway, his summary will just be a reminder for him. Is this cheating too much?

It was a pretty tiring day. After we got home we just vegged for a few hours. Vegging is good when you've been outside all day, even if it involves a screen. But actually the kids barely played video games when they came home, They mostly read. Tomorrow I believe it will be a long bike ride for the four of us ending in a trip to the ice cream shop. Yum!

No sewing today yet...maybe a little later...but I did finish another bag last night.

I am cheap!

I am cheap! I don't go to the movies too often, 'cause it's just too expensive. I normally pick and choose which ones would be better seen on the "big screen". If my husband and I don't feel it will make a difference...we typically wait for it to head to DVD. And when finally on DVD we don't usually go to Block buster (we only go there if we happen to have a gift card someone gave us), like I said I am cheap. Have you ever seen a "red box"? Only $1 for a movie for 1 night. Works for me! If we don't get it there then we usually borrow it fom the library (like I said, cheap). Today, however we will be heading to the theater itsself...

Do any of you have a Regal Cinema near you and have kids? They have what they call free family film festival all summer long (running when your local schools consider summer, so dates are slightly different). In my town, it is running every tues, wed and thurs morning at 10 am. They will play a G and a PG movie each week. They vary slightly from town to town. You should go to http://www.regmovies.com/ to check out what it's like in your town.

Last night A had a boy scout meeting and D had his last baseball game of the season, so they were both up late last night. Since the boys are tired today and it is gray and gloomy, we will be heading there this morning. This week they will be playing "Alvin and the Chipmunks" by us. Surprise, surprise...they both agreed that they want to see it. My 12 yr old wants to see a G rated movie! Will wonders never cease? I can tell you that I was shocked when I heard that one!

That should take care of half the day...