I know it's not Thanksgiving, but right now I feel like I should express my thankfulness for all that is good in my life. And I have a lot to be thankful for.
I am thankful that another year has gone by that I can truly say that my boys are amazing! My day may come when I have sleepless nights over the trouble they might get into, but that day is not today. My boys do well in school, are well liked, have terrific senses of humor and are a joy to be around. They are not embarrassed to be seen with me... yet! I may not always take the most conventional methods in raising Clayton and Koby, but so far they are growing into two amazing boys.
I am thankful to all of the moms that are still willing to sit next to me at my kids sporting events, despite the fact that I am "that" crazy mom in the stands. They have probably learned the necessity in wearing extra layers of clothing to avoid bruising from my flying arms and even legs in stressful games. I may have to consider taking some sort of anxiety medicine to keep from fully making a fool out of myself and embarrassing my kids. Either that or set up some sort of pre-funk in the parking lot before their games that includes alcohol to settle my nerves. This option has been mentioned by other parents as a bit of a joke, but in all reality I am considering this as a realistic solution!
I am thankful for that girl in town who bears a strong resemblance to me, so much so that on a weekly basis I am mistaken for her. You may wonder why this is a blessing, well, it's simple, she's 10 years younger than me and after doing some research/facebook stalking, I have come to the conclusion that she is prettier than me. Hence the compliment. Although she may not find it a compliment if she ever gets mistaken for me, I still get to put it on my list of things to be thankful for. The other day when I was purchasing a gift at the mall, the cashier looked at me and said, "I know you, what's your name again?" After telling the man my name he responded, "No, that's not it. Don't you live in Lynden?" Thought going through my head... um yeah, that is my name I'm pretty sure I wouldn't mess up on that... words that actually came out... "Yeah, I have a look alike running around, but there's no relation." He looked at me like he wasn't sure if I was pulling his leg or being serious. These can be kinda awkward situations, however I still like to put them in my list of blessings to be thankful for.
I am thankful to all of you who have read this blog and been so complimentary on my postings. I was hesitant in starting to blog and putting my thoughts and life "out there". When I was going to college I was never able to let anyone read my papers because I was afraid that people would judge me or criticize my thoughts. Silly, I know, but that's just the way my brain works. So I am thankful for all who have encouraged me and pushed me to share my life and stories.
So many things to be thankful for this year. My husband is a terrific dad, my boys are healthy and smart, I have a job that I am good at, my body hasn't fallen apart yet despite the strain I have put on it through my running endeavours etc. Thank you to all my friends and family that are in my life and make each day a true blessing! Here's to another year of being grateful and loving life!
Friday, December 24, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Lessons Learned
My boys can be extremely forgetful. Whenever I visit their school to help out I make a stop at the lost and found to check for any lost possessions. I'm pretty much guaranteed to find at least one article of clothing per visit. The constant reminders don't seem to work for my precious duo so I have had to take creative measures to get them to be mindful of their property.
The first situation that comes to mind was from last school year. Every day when the boys come home from school I go through their school folders to see if there is anything that pertains to me. Quite often when I would open up Clayton's folder, his homework would still be there unchecked because he forgot to turn it in when he arrived in class. After this happened numerous times I became pretty annoyed. Every night I would come home from work, they'd be fast asleep and I would take the time to check their homework and make notes on a separate paper of what needed to be fixed. Upon waking in the morning and getting through breakfast we would then tackle making corrections to the homework. I was tired of putting in the time with Clayton just to have him forget to turn it in! One afternoon I had finally had it. Reminding him as he walked out the door was not working, so I told him the next time he forgot to turn in his homework I was going to put a big dot on his forehead. This way his friends would ask him what the dot was for on his head and he would have to admit his forgetfulness. No, I do not consider this public humiliation, more like "tough love". Later that week he came home from school and I discovered his unchecked homework in his folder. I didn't say a thing. The following morning as he was about to walk out the door for school I called him back into the house. I told him he had something on his face and to let me check what it was. His mistake here was that he trusted me... in one swift movement I dabbed his forehead with a red permanent marker. I'll admit I felt a little guilty and cruel when the waterworks came on and he didn't want to go to school after examining his "dot". However, it worked! For the rest of the school year he no longer forgot to turn in his homework.
The most recent situation came this last week when I went to make the Clayton's lunch. We couldn't find his lunch bag, but since Koby was having hot lunch we borrowed his lunch bag. Parting words before heading for the bus included a reminder about bringing home his lunch bag from school. The next morning when I went to make both the boys their lunch Clayton confessed that he forgot Koby's lunch bag at school and never looked for his. Instead of putting the lunches in a plastic grocery bag I decided it was once again time to show a little "tough love". I found an old gift bag to put Koby's lunch in but for Clayton I decided he needed a little extra reminder of caring for his possessions. So for my eldest I decided a Victoria's Secret bag was appropriate. He protested, but I told him once he got to school he could switch it over to his lunch bag. He came home from school proudly holding Koby's lunch bag but complaining he didn't know what happened to his bag. Funny thing is, it was under the couch the whole time, I found it that night when I went to vacuum. Oops. But lesson learned, right? The VS bag sits on top of the fridge awaiting the next time one of the boys forgets to bring their lunch bag home. Time will tell on this one, but it was fun coming up with creative way of teaching them responsibility. Again, not public humiliation, it's called tough love.
The first situation that comes to mind was from last school year. Every day when the boys come home from school I go through their school folders to see if there is anything that pertains to me. Quite often when I would open up Clayton's folder, his homework would still be there unchecked because he forgot to turn it in when he arrived in class. After this happened numerous times I became pretty annoyed. Every night I would come home from work, they'd be fast asleep and I would take the time to check their homework and make notes on a separate paper of what needed to be fixed. Upon waking in the morning and getting through breakfast we would then tackle making corrections to the homework. I was tired of putting in the time with Clayton just to have him forget to turn it in! One afternoon I had finally had it. Reminding him as he walked out the door was not working, so I told him the next time he forgot to turn in his homework I was going to put a big dot on his forehead. This way his friends would ask him what the dot was for on his head and he would have to admit his forgetfulness. No, I do not consider this public humiliation, more like "tough love". Later that week he came home from school and I discovered his unchecked homework in his folder. I didn't say a thing. The following morning as he was about to walk out the door for school I called him back into the house. I told him he had something on his face and to let me check what it was. His mistake here was that he trusted me... in one swift movement I dabbed his forehead with a red permanent marker. I'll admit I felt a little guilty and cruel when the waterworks came on and he didn't want to go to school after examining his "dot". However, it worked! For the rest of the school year he no longer forgot to turn in his homework.
The most recent situation came this last week when I went to make the Clayton's lunch. We couldn't find his lunch bag, but since Koby was having hot lunch we borrowed his lunch bag. Parting words before heading for the bus included a reminder about bringing home his lunch bag from school. The next morning when I went to make both the boys their lunch Clayton confessed that he forgot Koby's lunch bag at school and never looked for his. Instead of putting the lunches in a plastic grocery bag I decided it was once again time to show a little "tough love". I found an old gift bag to put Koby's lunch in but for Clayton I decided he needed a little extra reminder of caring for his possessions. So for my eldest I decided a Victoria's Secret bag was appropriate. He protested, but I told him once he got to school he could switch it over to his lunch bag. He came home from school proudly holding Koby's lunch bag but complaining he didn't know what happened to his bag. Funny thing is, it was under the couch the whole time, I found it that night when I went to vacuum. Oops. But lesson learned, right? The VS bag sits on top of the fridge awaiting the next time one of the boys forgets to bring their lunch bag home. Time will tell on this one, but it was fun coming up with creative way of teaching them responsibility. Again, not public humiliation, it's called tough love.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Clayton's idea of dessert... scary
Last night Marty told Clayton he was in charge of figuring out dessert. After checking out the contents of the cupboards and fridge, he came up with the following:
Poke a hole in a large marshmallow, fill it with frosting and put that on top of a chocolate chunk cookie. YUM! Actually I didn't let him make one, he had to settle for just the cookie.
Poke a hole in a large marshmallow, fill it with frosting and put that on top of a chocolate chunk cookie. YUM! Actually I didn't let him make one, he had to settle for just the cookie.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Christmas Card time...
One of the main reason's I love Christmas is because I love receiving Christmas cards. The part that I'm not so much in love with is getting all the Christmas cards out. First of all, I should be more organized with my address list but I'm not. Instead, I have some addresses on little scraps of paper, some in e-mails, some in facebook messages and "oddly", some in an address book that hasn't been updated for 5 years. Despite this amazing organization on my part, I find myself with a small stack at the end of the Christmas season that are ready to go, but missing current addresses. Here's to being more organized next year! Anyhow, last night I sat down to put stamps on all the cards that do have addresses on them. I had stopped in at the post office on my way home from work and felt like I hit the jackpot when I didn't have to wait in a line at all! Woo hoo! Small victory for this lady right here. I bought 60 stamps which was an estimate but I figured it would at least get me started. Once in front of the cards I counted them and realized I was just short by 3 stamps! Not bad! Koby wanted to help me out and I didn't argue since I was multi-tasking by talking to Marty's mom on the phone at the same time. I soon used up my sheet of stamps and Koby was insistant on doing the remainder. While trying not to lose a step in my conversation with my mom-in-law, Koby held up his sheets and said he was all done... the problem was I noticed there were still way too many cards left to be stamped. I grabbed his pile and started going through them and checking the backs to figure out where the missing stamps had gone. I looked up at Koby as he's shrugging his shoulders trying to figure out what I'm looking for. He then picks up his stamp sheets and begins to tear them into little pieces. I am still amazed that I was able to hold my conversation considering while watching Koby tear up the sheets, I noticed he had only used up the stamps on one side! He was tearing up the stamps that were still on the other side. Lovely! I was able to salvage the torn stamps, I think. Hopefully the post office is cool with my puzzle-piece-like stamps. Tis' the season!
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