Belated Happy New Year!

I think this blog will be going away pretty soon. I feel that I don't devote as much time to it as I should. I have never been good at putting words on paper. I will still read yours though :) Thanks for the comments over the past year or so!

Happy Birthday Nicky!

Today is my sweet son Nick's birthday! He is 7 years old. He wants breakfast in bed, so I should get going and start making it instead of posting about his birthday. Especially since I don't have an updated photo of him where he looks happy. (Every photo I take of him lately has his mouth closed and looking quite stoic.) He has no front teeth right now and seems a bit embarrassed by that. And it is perfect for Christmas :)

Nicky is my cuddler. He was my Christmas gift 7 years ago. He is so funny. He is my artist. He is my story teller.

I Love you Nicky! Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Nancy Smith!

Today is my Sister-in-law's birthday. Happy Birthday Nancy! I hope you have a fabulous day!


I don't get to see Nancy very much because she lives on the other side of the world...OK, it's only Glendale...but it seems much further when you say it's the other side of the world.

Nancy is Rob's brother's wife. Hopefully we will get to see you this Christmas...Possibly hang out with you at Glendale Glitters?

The photo is of all the "Smith" sisters-in-law. Nancy is the one in Red, along with Jeri in Blue and Cindi in the blue and white sweater.

No more Turtle

2 weeks ago, my husband came home with a paper bag full of something...didn't know what it was. It ended up being a turtle. The boys named her Kirby. Well, she died today. No more turtle. Last week, I noticed that she doesn't sink anymore. If I put her in the water, she would float. I googled that and it said they either have a respiratory infection or pneumonia...Not good. Well, today I looked at her and she was swimming in the tank with her neck cocked really sharp to the side. She was swimming in a circle, looking like she was trying to catch her tail. She would then run into the walls. She looked like she was going insane. I saw this all before the incident in the post below.

When I got home from school, Turtle was gone. Very Sad.

Heartbreak

Today I had to observe at school. I have been doing it for about 2 weeks now and have actually been enjoying it, even though I was scared to death at first. I have taken advantage of my Mom, M-i-L and a new friend I have become quite close to in the neighborhood whose son is the same age as mine and they go to the same pre-school. I have been taking advantage of Candace way too often, I feel, and want to let her know how much I truly appreciate her generosity with her time. Here's the latest reason why...

Yesterday, I had called my mom to make sure she was OK with watching Nolan this morning. She said she would be over in the morning so I could get off on time to school. Then, later yesterday, she called and said she had a Dr. appt and that she would be sending my dad in her place to watch my son. She and I both had a little anxiety about my dad coming because my son has a bit of a temper and is not very easy to calm down if he doesn't get his way. He also is very slow to warm up to different people...You could say he is possibly spoiled. But anyway...

This morning, I was getting ready for "work". Nolan was in GREAT spirits and was all playful with me. He was being such a great kid. I wished I could have spent the day with him and hugged on him. I decided he would be OK with anything thrown at him, so I told him that Grandpa was coming over to watch him today...Bad news...He started crying and said he wanted me to stay home. My dad got to my house and wasn't in the best mood. He sat down at the table and started reading the paper...Not 1 word to Nolan yet...I gave instructions to my dad about Nolan and tried leaving. As soon as Nolan saw my dad, he started crying harder. My dad's first words to my son were, "IF YOU CRY, YOU'RE GOING TO YOUR ROOM." Nolan cried harder. My dad repeated it. Nolan was begging me to stay. My dad was done talking, turned off his hearing aids and went back to reading the paper... Hmm.

I was now late and HAD to leave. I started walking out the door, while my son was wailing. He was trying to go with me. Finally, I called to my dad to please come guard the door so I could leave...Dad? Dad! Dad!! I go into the kitchen. He is still at the kitchen table reading the newspaper...I am screaming "DAD" at the top of my lungs to get his attention. Finally he looks up. Oooh. What a great start to my day! He finally gets up and stands at the door like one of those British soldiers at Buckingham Palace with no emotion...nothing affectionate for my son. I drive away bawling. I cannot leave my son in that situation and expect him to be OK. I call my friend Candace, crying. She comes to my rescue, once again! As soon as he got to her house, he was happy.

Thanks Mom and M-I-L for all the times you have watched my kiddos. You have no idea how grateful I am!
Thanks Brenda for helping me out with taking him and/or picking him up from school!
Thanks Candace for becoming my friend recently and helping me out so often!

If I ever think that it might be OK for my dad to watch my kiddos, please remind me of this day! My dad...I love him so...but he has no patience with my son.

But you know what? Today is going to be OK!

Uh Oh, Swine Flu has hit us!

My middle son has Swine Flu! He tested positive at the DR's office today. He had a fever last week, felt fine toward the end of the week but then got a fever again yesterday, along with a bad cough. Bad news...Dr said he can't go out Trick-or-Treating! There is also a movie night after T-or-T in the green belt which he can't go to! What a horrible Halloween for poor Nicky! Now I have to go pull my oldest out of school because he had a fever this weekend and the Dr. said it was probably a mild case of the Swine Flu and they have to be quarantined for 7 days after onset of fever! Oops, didn't know...

Happy Belated birthday to Nolan

My baby turned 5 on Tuesday! It was a pretty uneventful day because Nicky was sick and I had to take care of him. Nolan got to be the center of attention at school, which he loved. He got to bring in cupcakes with spiders, because he loves Halloween. He got to pick out what he wanted for lunch AND dinner...I LOVE "Higley Hot Dogs" and Panda Express! Way to go Nolan! Do you think I had anything to do with his decisions???

We hadn't bought him a gift yet because I had absolutely no idea what to get him, although his 12" bike was getting a little small on him. Pretty soon, he was going to need a 16". Well, today we went and got him a big boy bike. As soon as he gets on it outside, I will take a photo and possibly post a Youtube video of him riding without training wheels, because he is very ready for that! It just gets more and more difficult for me to figure out what my boys want. When they were little, it was basically unisex stuff. But now, it's frustrating. I didn't grow up with boys. My brothers were all grown up when I remember anything about life. My boys can't play with Barbies and dolls! (Well, ok, they sometimes like to when they are given the opportunity, but we try not to go there). And my husband, as sweet as he is, doesn't think that they need anything for their birthday, which they probably don't. So he doesn't give me any ideas for gifts for them, nor for himself. Which brings me to my next paragraph...

His birthday is this Friday. We already celebrated it on Friday with a few close friends (I missed you AB). He played poker with his buddies. He was totally surprised and I was so happy it turned out as well as it did. He kept saying the next day that no one had ever done that for him and he felt so special. He loved everything about it and didn't want the night to end. As soon as I find my camera, I will post photos. It was fun to have it be such a surprise to him. I can't wait to do it again :)

Parenting vs. Teaching

I have been reading a lot of textbooks recently because I have midterms coming up this weekend/next week. I have been reading constantly about positive reinforcement and praise for the student. I don't know if I ever had a teacher who was really positive or showed a lot of praise for the students' efforts, so it is difficult to comprehend. As I am reading these books, I start wondering how I can change my parenting skills as well so my boys will be more effective listeners. Sometimes I wish I could share this information with my husband as well. Having 3 boys home under the age of 10 can be a bit frustrating. I felt as though I have been yelling for 7 years straight and now I have to go into calm mode while engaging my students. However, I don't think I can actually be that different from one set of kiddos (my family) to another (my students). This is really a burden on my heart.

I've been praying and reading a lot about this and I hope I can become calmer while still being authoritative. I want my family to have a renewed respect for my parenting skills. I feel that I have already done some damage to my oldest son because he sometimes has anger management issues. He gets really overwhelmed when he is not in control of a situation. My youngest has severe behavior issues when he doesn't get his way. He cries A LOT and most times, I will just give in to him because I cannot handle his crying. My middle son is always calm and gets along with everyone except possibly his younger brother because #3 is taunting him. He is generally in a great mood and I love him for it!

This past weekend, I really tried this new concept with the boys. I knew it would be a long week with them home for the break and I wanted them to enjoy themselves while I studied. So far, they have not really gotten into it too much. I did end up yelling at #3 today and sending him to his room for a time-out, but I was able to talk to him calmly and let him know that he can make choices and decide what is right. He came out of his room much calmer than when he went in. For the most part, I think God is watching over me and doing something to help me out this week...Despite the fact that I accidentally left #3 sitting on the toilet for a while as I was outside chatting with my friend.

Happy birthday Cindy and Nancy!

Sunday was my sister's and Sister's-in-law birthday.
I got to see my sister at Church, but that was about it. We were supposed to have small group for church later that evening and I was going to surprise her with a cake, but unfortunately, the group leader's daughter got Swine flu and wanted to quarantine her house. I always get a little bummed during my sister's birthday because she is always so busy and her family doesn't pamper her nearly as much as I would like to. She rarely takes time out for herself. So...Happy Birthday Cindy! I hope you had a fabulous birthday!


Nancy (Hubby's step-sister) had a birthday too. I'm sure she had a most excellent birthday because she was in Paris with her best friend. I still get to celebrate her birthday next weekend as she will be home for the first time in 6 months. We are looking forward to seeing her again. Happy Birthday!

New best Eater in the Family!

Ever since Nate was a baby, he would eat ANYTHING you put in front of him. He never had a favorite food (OK maybe McDonald's with Mom was a favorite food!) But he never complained about anything. Even if he didn't like the food, he would still eat it. He wouldn't say much, but he wouldn't really complain either...
Well, last night, I decided to try making Eggplant Parmesan. I have been really trying hard not to have as much red meat or pork, even though we are definitely NOT giving it up. I made it with pasta, fortunately. I gave the first plate to Nick, my Ultra picky eater. After 1 bite, he wanted to spit it out. Then I gave a plate to Nate, Nolan, hubby and myself. We all ate a bite around the same time. Nate looked at me, smiled and finished with his bite. I could tell he didn't really care for it. I thought it was awful, but I continued to try eating it. I asked hubby how he liked it..."OK" he says. But then there's Nolan. He ate it so fast, we thought it may fly away if he took a breath! After all of us were finished eating our pasta (and leaving the eggplant on the plate) he was asking for more! What do I do now? I can't just make a helping of it for the little guy and not for us! Should I try a different variation for the family to see if we like it better a different way or just file it in the ol' circular file and let Nolan order it when he is at the Italian restaurant?