Parenting Failure

I failed my kids... I was always singing the Davy Crockett song and was so disappointed my kids didn't know it, or even begin to get excited over a coon-skin cap.  I decided it was high time they was educated!  We read a book about Davy Crockett, got em excited, taught them about the battle at the Alamo, and then went to one of the their reenactments!  What fun!  It was really  neat to walk into the complex and have Quinn shout, 'that's Santa Ana!'  He knew who he was, what he did, and what kind of uniform he wore.  Then we got to meet 'Colonel Travis' who taught us about the cannons used during the battle, and then we got to go eat and lets face it, that may have even been cooler than a coon skin cap. (if you can't tell - they were melting at that point)

Great Trip to Colorado

 We were able to drive over the Mesa and see all the beautiful leaves changing!

 Showed the kids where Craig popped the question... He was nervous then, I think I was just as nervous this time because Kaid and tall cliffs are a dangerous mix.

 Grandpa gave driving lessons on the lawn mower.... Anna very cautious (of course) never exceeded the speed limit.

 A little Father/Son bonding.  Love IT!

 Kaid's parting comment when given control of the mower, "see ya sucker!"

 It became obvious that Quinn's one time driving experience of my suburban at age 2, was not sufficient for him to be alone on the mower at age 5.

And of course Lexsie patiently waiting her turn, but don't mess with her turn or she would let you have it!

Thanks Gramps and Cass for hosting our little vacation!

A Quinn story

After Quinn's fifth birthday in January he came home from school and announced that he was done with preschool and ready for kindergarten. While we all know this is true, he has mastered everything that is to be mastered in preschool (as well as kindergarten and much of 1st grade) the school year wasn't over. Tho he truely doesn't understand why he cant move on when he has learned what is to be learned. So I tried to explain to him that he had to finish preschool until may. He was not happy with this turn of events and so started getting a little onry. He had several bad days at school (it didn't help that his allergies were causing him to have constant breathing and steroid treatments). As a result the teacher had to reprimand him several times. During this process Quinn would ask 'why.'. Quinn is very inquisitive and I'm sure he truly wanted to know why - he wasn't being obstinate. But as we talked about what he did, what he did wrong, how he could do it next time better, etc. I asked him, 'what did you learn from all of this?' and he looked me straight in the eye, shrugged his shoulders and said very seriously, 'don't ask 'why' at school!'. Quinn has a brilliant mind and it is so much fun to see how it works and thinks. For these reasons and others I'm homeschooling him next year. I'm pretty sure if we sent him to school we would end up with one of the most notorious and brilliant criminals in the history of the world because if he has to 'practice his letters and sounds one more time' he will be driven to a life of engenious mischievousness.

Brown noser...

Well if kaid has learned nothing else being home-schooled he has learned when he is in trouble to quickly say, 'I'm sorry, mother. You really are looking skinnier!'

LIttle Trip to Houston

Anna's Soy Sauce

Anna drinks this nasty stuff! I always teased Anna that if I ever found Soy Sauce by the gallon I was gonna get it for her... well Kaid spotted this little gem. We had to have it! And this will probably only last a month.

Kaid is the hit of the morning playground

Most mornings after I drop Anna and Quinn off at school a few moms and their kids stay to play for a bit on the playground. How those little ones look up to Kaid! He is so kind and shows them the bugs, and tricks on the equipment. They come running up to Kaid and give him hugs and consider him a best friend. Kaid doesn't mind the attention either! I can just imagine what a great father Kaid is going to be someday!

Lexsie and her Boyfriend

Yes, Lexsie has a boyfriend and his name is Pierce. Pierce lives just one house away and they really have a lot of fun together! They are very, very sweet with each other and it brings many smiles to mine and Pierces mom's face.

Unfortunately, the fun usually looks something like...

Peirces' mom and I have gotten to the point where we will realize its quiet, jump up and scream 'wait have you seen them in the last 5 minutes?' and then we run around frantically hoping that they are not doing anything too naughty and that their clothes are on. Then we laugh and make some comment about not living next door to each other when they are teenagers.

I'm Amazed

This is what Lexsie has learned while hanging out during Kaid's homeschooling. And she is only 3!

One smart cookie

Prologue: a few weeks ago Lexsie picked out the grouchy ladybug for me to read to her and I told her to pick out a different one, I hated that one and it was too long.

So Lexsie was over tired tonight and with that came a little attitude. I warned her that if she didn't listen she would miss the movie tonight, so not only did she not listen but she stuck her tongue out at me too. So off to bed she went. The next thing she was to loose was her book and then her song ( I know I drive a hard bargain). But she took my threat seriously and went up to find her book. As she was going from one bookshelf to another I finally asked her what she was looking for. She said, ' a long book!' and then to add insult to the injury towards me she said, 'the grouchy lady bug!'

Lexsie's take on life

At preschool the kids where talking about what they want to be when they grow up. So for sharing time they were to bring a picture of what they want to be when grown up. All week lexsie and I have talked about different career fields, about being a mom when she grows up. She never would commit to anything. Finally I got, ' I don't want to be anything when I grow up! I just want to be little still!'. So I guess I will put those college applications away for awhile too.

Hot Flashes

I like my house warm. I do. I always have. It's just what I like. Apparently, it's too hot for Bekah because she had to strap frozen dinners to her body to keep from over-heating.

Gymnastics

Kaid, Quinn, and Lex are all doing gymnastics. Kaid is really pretty good. Lexsie is really good and has a lot of potential. Quinn does it so he can hang with a bunch of girls! Kaid is to the left red shorts doing hand stands. Quinn is in the center back with a red shirt, getting tackled by the girl.

24 hours

In the last 24 (ok maybe it's been 36 hours) I have been to the pediatricians, urgent care, consulted 3 other times with the neighborhood doc, consulted with my husband another 4 times, given countless nebulizer treatments, watched a poor boy hive up from head to toe every 6 hours from allergies, had a flat tire, put the roof back on Craig's jeep, just about lost a finger doing so, redo the top on Craigs jeep, cause I didn't pay close enough attention to the tutorial he gave me before he left, repaired a flat tire, been to the pharmacy 3 times, made 3 trips to the target for 'school valentine needs,' made 8 trips to/from school, had to pick Quinn up twice (once for punching some poor unsuspecting peer and once for turning blue and being unable to breath), had a follow up call from the school nurse, home-schooled Kaid 2 days worth of learning, returned 27 overdue library books, got a citation for having our boat parked in the garage (seriously?), driven to the other side of town for gymnastics, rushed to fulfill my calling in Young Women's and to top it all off... got a speeding ticket from a police officer I now know has a birthday of Dec 12, 1975. I'm done.

(Homeschool)

This one is just for kicks... yes, I was out in the cul-de-sac and walked in to find a spare tire sitting in my entry... and the military housing office is worried about our boat? in our garage? where it is bugging no one?

(the hives - the picture doesn't begin to do justice to how awful they have been!)

School is Exhausting

Everyday at 4 this is the battle I face... 'Lexsie just stay up till dinner, Lexsie, here have a snack, Lexsie come play with me, Lexsie PLEASE don't fall asleep' And far too often I turn my back and this is what happens... She sleeps from 4-7 and wants to play from 7 till midnight.

Not racist

Tonight Anna was telling me about her new research assingment. 'Since this is that month were they learn about people who do amazing things... you know and they all have brown skin,'

'Black history month?'

'yes.' (So she had no idea there was such a thing as racism until she went to school and learned about it...) By the way she is learning about Queen Lahtaeeefa.

'Is she a famous Queen from the olden days?'

'No dear, she is a singer and actress, and it's Queen Latifa.'

Questioning my parenting... Yet again

Picked Quinn up from school and the teacher commented that he was having A very hard day. Very uncharacteristic of the boy. Of course I stepped into immediate action and suggested a little one on one date to the gas station. How could he refuse such an offer? He negotiated for a trip to the movies or bowling but alas the gas station won out (I was running on fumes). I was asking him about his day (which he told me to stop badgering him about) and offered up a treat as a bonding moment. Back in the car I asked him if I could have a bite of his churro (it looked really good!) He says, "hmmmm, let me think about that." his thinking took place outside of his head. He continued, "your my mooooom.... But you don't let me do everything I waaaaaant..... So No! You can't have a bite! Kapeesh?". This boy!

Dinner Conversation...

By the way, love the classic novels Target is currently selling in the $1 section! They are just right for very young readers who are getting the gist of all the classics... OK in all honesty, it's the first time I've ever read these books myself. But I'm trying to step it up as a parent.

Follow Through...

So being the totally committed, and consistent parent I am... OK whatever! Quinn was melting down tonight. Honestly, I can't even remember why, but I sent him to bed early (like 10 whole minutes earlier than all the other kids) but to him it might as well have been HOURS! Anyway, he kept getting out of bed and trying to sneak down to catch the last 10 of the cartoon everyone else was watching and I kept stopping him and putting him back in bed. Well, the last time he was trying to sneak past - I mean on tip toes, with his hands up like little paws - I put my hand out to stop him, but without looking at him, and I could just feel the decision making in the air... you know him trying to decide if he could get on past me or if he should give up and go back to bed. To my surprise the spontaneous decision was made to throw his blanket over my head and run like hell! I'm sorry but that evasive maneuver stopped me in my parenting tracks. I was taken down by laughter.

Santa's mean streak

Well as I posted in an earlier entry, Santa told Anna he would just bring her boys underwear if she didn't tell him what she wanted. Guess what Anna got! BOYS UNDERWEAR! At the time she was trying to play it down. Now she can totally laugh about it! I mean she is 9 - it's not too young for Santa to start having a little fun with the Christmas deliveries. And by the way, santa left her plenty of great gifts behind the tree.

'I'm not a very good parent!'

This adorable little boy pulls me aside as we were walking down the street and says, 'mom, your not a very good parent.' Of course I laugh (as any awesome parent would do), but I also inquire as to why this not so subtle put down... he says, 'well, you told us to go (we were crossing a busy downtown street) when the sign clearly said (and he adamantly puts his arm out in the stop position) stop.'

For Craig

Despite my best efforts to get Craig on Skype before I let the kids in... we were having connection problems and he missed the initial excitement, so this is for Craig.

The BIG Day...

Since we had church at 8:30 am we decided we wouldn't let the kids come down stairs until after we went to church. You would have thought this was major torture, and in a way it was, but all the kids slept until 7:45 and then I told them the last one to the car was going to be the last one to open presents - so it worked out fabulously well! Went to church and enjoyed a beautiful Christmas program before returning home.

Since I was in a torturing mood, why on earth didn't I make them all sit nicely for a picture in their pretty church clothes?

This may be my favorite Christmas photo! When we got home I wouldn't let anybody back in the house until I was able to connect on skype with Craig. This truly was a sad and pathetic scene. Craig was able to see all the excitement on his web cam, which I know doesn't compare to being there in person... but we are grateful for skype!

Saturday...

We tracked the path Santa took across the globe on our big map and left him a 'delicious yet healthy snack' of water, cocoa, and of course the yummy gingerbread cookies.

And of course we made magic reindeer food and walked outside comfortably in our bare feet and no coats to sprinkle it on the grass. (I'm loving the San Antonio winter!)

Friday

Gingerbread men - lets just say the process was much better than the outcome! We had fun!

Thursday

Bowling...