This is Lucas getting an award today for being able to tie shoes!
Yes, this is the same child that will argue with me about things he has no knowledge of, but asks me a question, but when I answer it, the answer is not correct. That's him. I was very surprised to see the note from his teacher saying he would be recieving an award. I had asked him if he wanted me to teach him how to tie shoes, but he acted like he did not care if he could do it or not, so we didn't worry about it. My first reaction was to give him a shoe and make him prove he could do it. I gave him a shoe, and he did it. He did it a lot faster than I thought he would be able to. He got his award, and I am very proud of him. Just proves to me that he can be taught, just not by me!

Ever think about how we are all wishing our lives away? We are all guilty of this, especially right now with the heat.
I wish it was October, when the weather is pleasant.
We get October, then November, then December, then January.
It's cold in January. I wish is was April, when the weather is pleasant.

It's summertime, you know we wished for this back in April, when we were tired of getting up in the mornings and running the kids to school, we wished for our break.

Kids have been out of school long enough, we wish school was back in so we can have time alone.

Before you know it, it's a year later. Where did that year just go? Oh, that's right, I wished it away.

It's not only wishing away unpleasant weather, I am guilty of just wishing the past two years away. And, it's almost over. I have 10 weeks left to go until my wish is complete.

Now, what do I do with the rest of my life? What am I going to do with the countless hours I used to spend doing homework?

I am going to be free! I do not want to fill that void with anything else. I do not mean I won't fill that time with my other responsibilities, that are not going anywhere, I just mean, I am not going to give myself anything else to do that I do not absolutely have to do. The thing I am most excited about is having my weekends free again. I will not have to say, sorry, I have to leave, I have homework to do. I won't have to tell my kids we can't do something on the weekend because I have homework. The thought of just taking off, without responsibility is very exciting!

But, I will probably spend some of that time wishing away parts of my life!

Teenage girls!

What sort of world do we live in when teenage girls think it is appropriate to post pictures of themselves on the internet, for the world to see, of them with their tongues hanging out?
Or better yet, they will pose for a pic with their bestie, and they have their tongues in each others faces.

WHAT?

Number 1-it is gross.
Number 2-you look like a d-bag for doing it.
Number 3-have you ever thought of having an original idea? I mean really, every teenage girl in the world has the same pic. Well, maybe it is hard to have an original idea if you don't know how to keep your tongue inside your mouth?

What sort of parents allow this? My children will not have any social networking site membership that I cannot have the password to. Sorry, but that's some privacy they do not get. It isn't really private anyway, is it?
I am so glad that our future relies on how these wonderful young women turn out. Some of them may end up being important, but I believe most of them will not. If their parents do not care what they do, why would they care if they get an education and become responsible citizens?

Sorry for the rant, but if I had tried crap like this when I was that age, I would have been slapped, I would have had my computer privileges and phone privileges taken away, and probably grounded on top of that. I'm just saying.

Continued

Ok, so apparently last week wasn't enough! I have the pleasure of hosting Bunco this week, which is fine, I do not mind one bit, when I'm not sunburned. We took the kids to the lake on Saturday and camped that night, then played all day Sunday. The boys had a blast. Even Nicolas, who I thought was scared of the water a little. At first, he tried to stay in shallow water, but couldn't when we decided we wanted to swim in the middle of the lake. This turned in to me or Jason holding him. Not much fun. Finally late in the day, he decided he didn't want help any more and wanted to swim by himself (with life jacket of course). He of course decides this right as we are getting on the boat to head to the marina! We plan on taking them back this weekend, so we shall see what happens.
Back to the story. I have to back up. On Wednesday of last week, while I am still recovering from that sunburn, I decide to wash clothes. I forget they are in there until much later. I go to put them in the dryer and the washing machine is full of water. I think I accidentally hit the knob and turned it off so I pull the knob so it will start. It starts, and I forget about it again. I go back later, there is water in it still. Guess what? My washing machine is broke! UGH! Oh well, like I care I can't wash clothes. I will just wait for Jason to get home and fix it. Thursday rolls around and we aren't really doing anything. I went to the bank and dollar General. We get home and it feels a little warm in the house. At first I think it is because I am hot because I've been outside and the door was open for awhile because my kids cannot just come inside, they have to hold the door wide open. Later, I notice it isn't cooling down like it should. I check the thermostat. It says it is 80 degrees in the house. Why is that high? I keep it on 68. As it gets later, it keeps getting warmer. I check the vents, they are blowing, but the air is warm. I decide to just turn it off. I try to go to bed, I did not sleep well. I got up early and called Middleton, because they just installed that unit the day Nicolas was born. They tell me they cannot come out until Monday. MONDAY?!?!?!? I call Jason and tell him what they say, he calls them and they say they will have someone out that day. I wait forever for someone to come. They finally get here at 4:45, when the temperature in my house has reached 96 degrees. It takes this guy no more than 5 minutes to fix it. The part he replaced can go out without warning. GREAT! He also said they can go out due to power surges and since my washing machine ceased working also, a power surge probably got them both.
Back to hosting Bunco. Since I have had all of this wonderful luck lately, my house has been severely neglected. So, I have been trying to clean my entire house in 2 days. It has been so much fun! I plan on having a good time tomorrow though. My kids will be spending the night at my mother in laws house and my husband isn't home, so I will have no worries at all tomorrow night!

Ever have one of those days where everything goes wrong?
I had one of those weekends!
Well, it was actually a few days of things going wrong...
Last week we sold the Suburban so Jason could buy this old Bronco he wanted. I had to drive the thing home. I stopped by my in-laws house on the way home, and the battery cables came loose and I couldn't get the thing started. My father-in-law was there, so he fixed and everything was fine. A couple of days later, on Thursday, Jason found a boat he wanted to buy. We went to look at it Thursday night. He checked it over and thought every thing was fine. Friday, he took the boat to his dad's house, they were going to check it out and take it out on the water. They start to take it apart and see that the floor of the boat is rotten. UGH! Jason calls the person that sold us the boat, and he said he would take it back and give us our money back, but he couldn't until Saturday at 11. We were supposed to be on the road to go camping by then, we weren't! We finally got the boat taken back on Saturday, got everything loaded up and got the kids to their Granny's for the night. Jason and I go to Hot Springs to look at a boat. This takes forever! The boat we went to look at was not in good condition, but they had a party barge for sale also. We decide to look at it. The idiots at the dealership cannot figure out how to start the thing. Finally they get it started, and realize the battery is no good. We decide to buy the boat, so they send some guy to buy a battery for it. We get everything signed, insurance bought, and the guy isn't back with the battery. He finally gets there, but cannot figure out how to get the battery back in. I could have done it, it was 2 wires! We get the boat hooked up and see the pigtail is broken, and we know we will have to replace it before getting too far. When everything is hooked up and we think we are ready to go, Jason thinks the brakes on the boat trailer are locked up. We have to get out and see what's going on. It turned out that the emergency brake in the truck was on, we figured it out 20 minutes later. Finally on the road. We have to stop by Wal-Mart to get the stuff that has to be in the boat, and go to the parts store to get a new pig tail. We get all of that done, sitting in the parking lot to wire the pig tail, everything. One more stop though, the trailer tires need air! Finally on the road. It is around 6. Did I mention there is no air conditioner in the Bronco? I am dripping sweat the entire time. To make our ride better, there is a hole in the floor board letting exhaust in, making Jason and me sick! We were on our way to Lake Chicot, so there were many more stops since we had to buy gas a lot! Finally around 11 or 11:30 we make it there. I was so hot, I wanted to get on the boat immediately. After we got back to camp, Jason set up our tent and got stuff ready to go to bed. I did not sleep much since I was so hot. The next morning, we got up and started packing up all of our stuff so we could spend our day on the lake. There were 4 other people having to pack their stuff up too. Everyone finally got all of it done and we were ready to get on the lake. We get on the boat, Jason parks the Bronco. We pull up to get him, but have to keep letting him get off the boat to go get stuff out of the truck. First he needed tape, then it was Cd's, then he had to go get his wallet because it was sitting on the seat. Finally out on the lake! Everything is fine for awhile, everyone is having a good time. Well, almost everyone starts drinking. They were really drinking. Some guy, that I had just met, gets SUPER drunk. He starts throwing up over the edge of the boat. Everyone tries to make him eat so he will feel better, but he wont, and he finally just passes out. The rest of us decide to swim. After we all get back in the boat, I keep smelling some horrid smell. We cannot figure out what it is. I finally figure it out, the guy that passed out pooped his pants while passed out. It was all over him and in the boat. He acted like nothing happened when he finally woke up. We get the boat loaded up and get them all dropped off at their cars, and we start our journey home. First, we stop by McDonald's on the way. Jason likes plain burgers, so they made plain burgers, ALL of them were plain. My burger was plain! We didn't realize until after we were gone. We also had to stop at a gas station. Jason got gas and had to get me some cigarettes. We do not realize until later that they gave us the wrong ones. Oh well, we were going home. We had to stop a few times on our way because of the exhaust leak. Jason was really getting sick. We finally see the Woodson exit and the Bronco breaks down. We sit there for what seemed like forever, but he finally go t the thing started back up. Thank Goodness! We finally made it home. That was the longest weekend of my life. And, I forgot, my bathing suit cover blew off the boat somewhere in the lake.
It just seemed like anything that could go wrong the past few days was going to. It is a trip Jason and I will never forget! We are ready to take the kids out to the lake this weekend. They have never been on a big boat in the lake before, so this should be fun.

Working Out

So me and a friend joined Imagine Fitness on January 12. Guess what, over a month of working out and I have not lost one pound! I decided about 2 weeks ago that I need to measure myself so I can see the changes that way, but I haven't seen changes yet. This is probably because I had to miss almost a week of going to the gym because of bad weather, etc. The gym is starting Zumba classes tonight, I want to go soooo bad! Since my husband is always gone, I have to be here with the kids and can't go to a night class. I did buy the Zumba DVD set about a year ago, so I am going to do them at night with my 3 days a week work out at the gym. Maybe then I will see some sort of results for all my hard work!

No title...

I have no title for this because it's going to start on one subject and end on another. Last week I went to parent teacher conferences for Jacob and Lucas. Lucas is doing surprisingly well. He is ready to read, and they are going to begin teaching him this week! I was amazed that they told me this. Sometimes, most of the time, I wonder if he understands anything that comes out of my mouth, and they have him ready to read? He also knew most of the other things he was questioned about.
Jacob's report was also perfect academically. The only thing his teacher has a 'problem' with is Jacob's shyness I guess. I can't remember exactly what she said, but basically she said since the beginning of the year he has come out of his shell, but isn't where she thinks he should be.
This brings me to the rant! I am saying this because I know someone else who got a talk about their child being shy. What is it with these teachers? What happened to the days when they wanted the kids to sit there and be quiet, now they want them talking non-stop? I am saying right now there is nothing wrong with a child that does not want to talk all the time, or is shy. I personally know the other child whose parents were basically told the same thing, and there is nothing wrong with that kid either! I went to this school, back when it was Kindergarten all the way up to sixth grade, and probably only spoke 10 words the entire time I was there. I am not saying that I am perfect, but I do not believe that I am not as normal as the person in the class that was the most outgoing. Let me say something else, I also do not want my children to be shy, I hope that they are outgoing, but I am not going to push it on them. They will be who they are.
These 'talks' made me feel like I should take an 8 year old to a psychiatrist to be evaluated. Like there is something terribly wrong with him. I know there isn't, but sometimes as a parent, you get questioned about what you are or are not doing. As a mother, I constantly question every choice I make concerning my children. When someone else says something, especially a teacher who is with your child more than you are, you question your choices. You may question them for a minute, a day, or a month, but you do it. So, I let this woman do this to me. I have since decided that there is nothing wrong with him or the way I am dealing with his self-confidence issues.
I just hate that I let this woman do this to me. I can semi-understand where they are coming from, but REALLY? Do they not have any thing else to do? Are there not more pressing issues at that place then a few kids that are shy? Maybe I'm just over reacting, but I do not think I am. I do not need someone questioning me. If I was doing drugs, or Jake was showing up at school without shoes or something, question my parenting abilities, but to question me because I have a shy child is ridiculous. What do you all think?