Some new stuff.

Oh man, buckle down, this is a long one, not too wordy, but lots of pictures!

On Monday we went to the Petting Zoo.  The kids had an absolute ball!  Here is a wee little baby goat who was born 4 days earlier.

This petting zoo even had a Zebra!  It was cool to pet one.   Really, just like a horse, but I'm used to seeing them in a zoo.  :-)
Hay Rides (we went twice!)  the kids had a ball.  This was the whole gang, minus Leah.  Quite a group.  It was VERY fun!
After the pig race we got to watch the pigs roll around in their fresh mud.  Did you know that they shake like a wet dog when they get out?  Well they do, we learned that, so if you're ever in this situation.... stand back if you are wearing a white shirt like I was. :-)

Katie puckering up with a goat.  :-)  I just love the facial expressions on both of them.  :-)
Here are the pigs racing for the slop and fresh mud.  Liza got to hold the gate and ring the bell.
Tori and her new pal.  Aren't they sweet.
Giving milking a try.  See the little droplet of milk running down her arm?  She must have gotten something out.  She couldn't stop trying, she really liked this activity.
Eli concentrating on giving milking a try.....  (love the tongue)

Liza was IN LOVE with the horses.  She just adored spending time with them.  Can't you just see the love in her eyes?
Tori and Talia, best buddies, on a hay ride.

All lined up for chow time.  Our little group walked up to the feeding station and the goats lined up with in seconds.  Every goat in his respective hole in the fence.  They had a huge bucket of feed and an employee dishing it up for the kids, handful after handful.  Wow can these guys eat!
Tuesday was gym and swim.... fun was had, Alex and Liza had swim lessons.  It was a great day!

Wednesday we went Camping at Patapsco.  It was such fun.  Luke walked into this perfect light with this yummy drippy watermelon.
Tori and Mary had the time of their lives.  They rode bikes, and played games and climbed around in the tents.  They loved it!!!  Tori was so happy to have Mary right there.
Liza and Annabelle rode their bikes around and around the camp ground.  They thought they were so big and grown up.
Alex felt left out for most of the time, but he did have some good times on his bike.  Once he built up confidence in his ability to find his way home, he became a little adventurer.  The trip was quite fun, but let me tell you, it should have been a reality TV show.  We would have been some choice entertainment. Packing up was a crazy time, which is to be expected.  Of course, but what I didn't expect was to have Tori's bike wheel basically crumble in my hand moments before we were to leave.  What I also didn't plan on was the Dog.  I had forgotten until the night before that I couldn't leave him alone, so he would be joining us.  Anyway, back to the bike.  Picture my van if you will, it is a dodge caravan, not an extended and none of the seats fold down or anything fancy, but in that van i fit 4 kids, one adult, 3 bikes, a pushing toy, a dog crate and a dog, AND camping gear and food.   It was a tight squeeze.  A lot of the reason why I wanted to go camping was to give the kids the opportunity to ride freely on their bikes.  I was so sad when Tori's bike gave up the ghost.  What to do?  I was all ready to go, so off to Walmart with the 6 of us.  No puppies aloud in Walmart, no puppies aloud in hot cars, no kids aloud in running cars with air conditioning. I took all of them to Walmart, left Liza and Alex outside with the dog while Tori and Katie and I ran into Walmart to get a bike.  If you have ever looked for someone to help you at walmart, you will understand why I bought the beautiful princess bike that was down where we could reach it, as opposed to the cheeper version that was hanging up where I would need help to obtain it.  Lucky Tori, she hopped right on, and rode it straight out of the store.  We didn't even use a checker, we went through the self check out and headed out to get the other kids.  I dare say that it didn't take us even 5 minuets.  Tori was and still is very excited.  I will have to take a photo of her on her bike.  Upon our arrival I was told that we are not aloud to have "outside" wood, so I was told to burn all that I brought immediately!  So at 1pm in 90 degrees I built a bonfire!  I set up camp and then we were joined by Vanessa and her kiddies.  With in 4 hours 4 out of the 7 children had taken quite a spill, some more then one spill in that 4 hours (luke was trying to figure out the terrain), a set of keys were locked in the car, and AAA came to get them out.  We were quite the neighbors I'll tell you.  Between the screaming kids, the barking dog (grrr) and the car alarm going off for the 5 minutes that it took for the AAA guy to break into the Van, I am sure that people were wondering Why oh Why did they pick the spot next to us.  

We had a blast with smores and hot dogs, watermelon and pstachios.  It was such a fun trip.  We spent some time around the campfire playing games (Vanessa has quite a collection of games in her head).  We let the kids stay up until after dark so that they could use their glow sticks.  Then it was off to bed.  Well, it was off to your respective tents to be threatened with in an inch of your life.  :-)  Not Vanessas kids, just mine.  Katie missed her nap that day, and so I thought I would beat the system and keep her up, and then put her down before the rest of the kids.   DUHHH!!!  Yeah that didn't work.  She slept from 7pm to 8pm and then was up until midnight!  Of course Liza wouldn't sleep, cuz well that is just Liza for you, and Alex was right in it with her.  They also claimed that the one time Chinook barked that they WERE asleep, but Chinook woke them up.  ARG!!  SO my blissful images of children drifting off to sleep and mommies chatting by a crackling fire were dashed.  At midnight, We all gave up and mommies went to bed.  (I think Vanessa's kids were asleep long before mine).  Anyway we slept in a bit, considering that the sun was up early, so 7 am is a bit of a sleep in.  Then it was back up and off to the races again.  A few injuries later, we packed up camp and headed home.  It really was fun.  It wasn't easy, but it was fun.  I was very proud of my kids when we came home though.  Although they were tired they worked really hard to unpack the car, clean it out, and then put everything away and clean up their zones.  They really did a great job.  Everyone slept well that night.   Then on friday.......... 

We stayed home all day, taking it easy and getting ready for the evening.  It was our night to host CO OP, and we had lined up a TRIPLE SLEEP OVER.   The kids earned enough points last week to get a special privilege and they chose sleep over, so we got them all over with on the same night.  Liza had Maya, the two of them together, let me tell you.......  So they used my point and shoot and this is a small sampling of what was on the camera when i got it back...

This is my personal favorite.... If you can't tell, it is a cross dressing male Bratz doll, and a girl Bratz in his clothes.  I love how he is posed like a ballerina.  LOL, too funny.  It was a hoot looking though their pictures.

On Saturday, after all the sleepovers went home, we headed out to the Horse Rescue place for their "carnival".  These frogs were a big hit.  The kids spotted them on the ground, there must have been 5 or 6.  They were so cute!  I have a ton more pictures, but this one you can see the froggie really well.  ;-)

Alex is not a huge animal lover like my girls are.  He likes them well enough, but when given the choice to use his money to ride a pony or play some cheesy games to win ticket to buy CRAP, he chose the game to crap route.  He was a good sport waiting in line with the girls for their horse rides though, and he even had a little fun chasing around the sheep and making them bleat. 
Katie, was a gem all day.  Even though she was required to be in her stroller a lot, she was a good girl.  She didn't go on the horse.  I didn't know how well that would go over, she is a bit more skittish then the bigger girls when it comes to large animals.  
It was a little unnerving to think that I was putting my daughters on the backs of tired horses who have been abused in the past.  This being a rescue site meant that these horses all had a history of something bad.  
They had a lot of workers around them as they walked around their little yard.  The girls thought it was fun.  Liza however wants them to let her ride the horse off into the sunset.  :-)  Some time I'll have to take her riding.  The thought just scares me. :-)  Bad memories from when i was her age.  
In the petting zoo, (yes, two petting zoos in one week)  This poor little goat was given the handicap of having a collar on.  Poor thing was just begging for 4 year olds to pull him around the grounds.  Tori loved him though, she was sad when we had to leave him.

Liza fell for an old pony that was in the petting part.  I will share that photo another time.  She just stood there and talked to the pony and it's human guard the whole time.  We then went over and played games and earned tickets to buy crap, and crap it truly was.  Then the kids used their own money and bought a snow cone, and we headed home.  

When we got home, Brent was home from his Fathers Day Flight.  He was a very happy guy.  He had mowed the lawn and taken the training wheels off of Alex's bike.  (the kid has only been asking since last fall.)  Brent took him up to the court, and ran and ran and ran behind him, and with in a few minutes Alex had it down, and is no officially the rider of a two wheeler!!  I need a picture of that too.  

In other news the kids and I have our tickets to Canada now, we'll be gone a good part of August, anybody want a dog?  :-)    I finally got my mouth guard for my clenching, and it seems to be helping, although it hurts pretty bad when i put it on.  It is really tight.  Well, it is once again 3 am.  Man I need to sleep more.

So next week:

Monday: Gunpowder Falls....  teach evening class

Tuesday:  Gym and swim

Wednesday:  Possibly a concert at Centennial park.  Berry louis Polisar (kid music) 7pm $3/ car.

I will have Christina's 2, so I don't know if we'll make it, if Brent is home and we can take two cars, we'll probably go.

Thursday :  Gym and then have Eli and Leah over for sleep over.

Friday: 4th of July Breakfast with Eli and Leah, and then Fireworks!!!!!!  Whoo hoo.  On Saturday Brent is working,  so the kids and I are on our own again.  I don't know what we will do other then clean the house.  We'll see what I can come up with to motivate them.  

Happy Summer ALL!!!  

Rest of the week & next week.

Our week wrapped up rather simply with another Gym and swim on Thursday. On Friday the kids did all their "saturday jobs" so the house was spick and span before we left for our little picnic to the "traveling Showmobile.

We met Vanessa and Kids out there, and had a great  old time.  Turns out that the "relay for life" was going on at the same time, so we got to participate in a bunch of those activities too, including the "kids walk" where they got to do a lap for relay for life.  
The band was a fun little group that had quite a variety of music from swing to honkey tonk.  Very interesting.  The kids loved dancing and they even got to dance with the Howard County Library mascot.  :-)  Too funny.
I am sure that the free ice cream was Alex's Favorite part.  They actually had enough that the kids each had 2 ice creams!  They also got to do some crafts and play games with a girl scout troop, and go to an enormous playground.  It was great fun.  We weren't home and in bed until after 10pm, so it was a long night, but I think it was worth it.  :-)
On Saturday morning the kids had a Primary Activity.  The theme was pioneers and the activity was so well organized and planned out.  They had such fun!  Below is pioneer stories, I don't  know what all the kids are looking at behind them, with such an animated story teller....  Maybe she pointe that way as she was talking and they were all so involved that they looked "over yonder".  
They also got to go to a bread making station,  a wagon pull, an old fashioned photo shoot, square dancing, laundry scrubbing , and  of course campfire sing a longs....

( i have NO IDEA what Alex is doing, but obviously Tori saw that I had my camera.  :-) )

Then at the end of the activity, Jeri brought Liza to me, Liza had asked her what this thing was that she could feel on her head.  Oh yes, my friends it was a tick.  This is not she, but it looks just like her.  It had a nice firm grip on Lizas scalp. YUCK!  Lucky for us Amy has some great experience in tick removal from her days living in Germany.   She took tweezers and made the thing uncomfortable enough to get it off her head.  It did however come out with a chunk of Lizas flesh in its mouth. (EWWW)  The thing lives on in a cup in a plastic ziplock on my counter.  Waiting (I guess) to see if we need it to check for lymes disease.  I guess Dog Ticks, are not known to give people lymes disease, but we'll watch anyway.  

The kids were all well tick checked and everyone else passed.  Despite the tick incident,  the kids had a ball.   Thank you to their teachers and leaders for putting so much time and love into their callings.  

Brent was "post call" which means that he had to sleep most of the day, but we made him get up to play with us around 4:00.  We told the kids that we would take them out to dinner and a fun night because they had such great report cards and they passed their respective grades.  We were especially proud of how Lizas reading is coming a long.  she has really gotten better this year, so good.  Anyway, the kids asked for Chuck E Cheese, which was denied because it is Saturday and that is Suicide!!  So we asked for a second choice.  They chose I HOP.  We asked them if they were sure they wanted IHOP as we can make yummy pancakes right here at home, maybe they want to go have something that I don't make here at home.  They agreed that my Pancakes are just as good as IHOP.  After thinking for a few moments, they came up with the idea of eating Pancakes here at home and then taking the money that we would have spent on dinner and going to TOYS R US to pick out a toy.  (Smart thinking I thought).  Upon some calculations each child was given a limit, and pancakes were gobbled and off to Toys R Us.  We were there for 90 mins + and that wrapped up our Sat.

I got to substitute primary today CTR 9, they were good, and I have such luck.  I guess the class is normally HUGE, i only had 5.  :-) Lucky me!  

NEXT WEEK

Monday we are going to Green Meadows Petting Farm  it is only open for like 10 days during the summer, and we're headed to Fredrick to attend.  It should be fun!  The pictures look like there is a lot of animals there to touch and love.  My kids are SO excited about this one!

Tuesday is a Gym and Swim at LTF.  I am going to take a class and then go out swimming with the kids around 11.  pack a lunch and stay for a bit.  Tuesday night I am hosting an Arbonne party for Scarlett.  We're going to have stuff 1/2 price so you'd better come and join us at 7:00!

Wednesday is Camping!!!!  Vanessa and I are going to take our two groups of kiddos and head up to patapsco to camp.  Forecast is looking good.  I am hopeful that we will have quite the blast!!!

Thursday is post camping day.  Possibly a swim later in the afternoon, depending on the camp clean up situation.

Friday  we will likely stay in and swim in the yard, and then we will be hosting our babysitting co op, and Liza is asking to have Maia sleep over.  So that should be fun!!

Saturday, Brent has rescheduled (for the 3rd time) his flight from fathers day.  I asked him today what he plans to tell them when they try to get him to sign up for lessons.  He had no plans.  Oh I am so afraid to throw him out to those guys.....  Afraid for my check book that is!  :-)

Saturday from 10-4 Days End Farm Horse Rescue is having their summer carnival.  I thought we would try this out, as my girls are so interested in horses.  They offer free rides, so we'll see how it goes. This is also in Woodbine, about 20-25 mins away, kind of by the Howard County Fairgrounds.  

Well, it is almost 3 am, and I better get some ZZZZ's before trying to do this crazy week :-) 

Join us for any of these activities if you dare!  :-)

Art Festival/Manor

Saturday I took the kids to the Columbia Art Festival on the Lake front.  I forgot my camera, but it was a fun time.  The kids had their hands full of  free stuff with in about 20 minutes.  They got cute headbands and beach balls, tattoos, bottled water and a ballon animal of their choosing.  (Liza dog, Tori Kitty, Alex Sword) (Katie stayed home with Brent and took a nap)   We then 1/2 watched the boat races as we walked over to the face painting.  The kids stood in line and watched some magic, while listening to a guy sing children's tunes.  They got their face painted really fancy.  Tori was a princess (painted on a crown), Alex got a big Bat all across his face, and Liza got a beautiful purple butterfly.  The face painting was "free", feel free to tip though.  :-)  We then went to an Art Tent, where the kids made cute little animal coloring art.  Then we strolled around a little group of booths of artists selling their creations.  It was fun to see.  The kids wined until I paid $3 for a stupid bottle of water and then we headed home.  All in all, I think I will go back next year.  (pack water)

We have a fun little tradition in our house that we celebrate Fathers day and Mothers  day on the Sat before so that mom/dad can actually go out and do something on their special day off.  So Sat was Fathers day for Brent.  He got Breakfast in bed, and lots of lovely cards.  For Fathers day, I scheduled a "demo flight" for him.  It is basically a preliminary flight where they take you up, show you all that you can learn then bring you down and try to sell you lessons.  (I told him to go in and be strong, we can't afford lessons.)   Well he then told me that he had already scheduled a "demo flight" for today, at a different airport.  We decided to go with the one that he scheduled and I called and canceled mine.  By the time he was to go to the airport for his flight, the storm rolled in and he didn't get to go.  They rescheduled him for Monday.  He didn't make it on Monday either.  Poor guy was so excited and STILL hasn't gotten to go up.  We took him out for dinner that night though.  We all went to Long Horn upon his request.  He loves a good stake, and boy can they make a stake in there.  YUM.  For kicks we ordered the "Chocolate Stampede" and made quick work of disposing of it amongst the 6 of us.  It was a very fun night.  I am so thankful for kids who are generally well behaved in restaurants.  (with the exception of some giant orange peel smiles, which was really funny when Katie did it.)

Monday I ended up teaching that morning, so we did gym, but no swim.  The kids and I did a Costco run that ended with lunch. Then for Family night we played Wii and set the  new job program in motion.  We began our "token economy" and set the house into zones and established routines... so far, so good.  :-)  Loving it, my house hasn't stayed this clean since I only had one kid.  

Tuesday was Gym and Swim.  I loved the Latin Fusion class.  It was dancey exercise, which I like.  We headed out to swim around 11:00 and met up with Aimee (who is teaching my kids swim lessons), Scarlett,  and Nicole.  It was fun, but a little chilly.  The wind was annoying and the water was cold,  so the kids were a bit winey.  Not my most favorite day at the pool, but they got some exercise and were worn out, so the goal was met.  I went to Recipe swap on Tuesday night and had some yummy summer foods.  I made Fruit Pizza, which I haven't had in years.  YUM it is so good.  It was a fun night out with the gals.  

Wednesday we made our trip out to Rose Hill Manor.  This place was a Historic Children's Museum.  It was sooooo cool.  We plan to return for their fall festival, or maybe their Christmas celebration.  Although it was an hour drive at $4/gallon.  I figure that gas + $18 admission was still cheaper then 3 kids in day camp, so we're still ahead of the game.  The kids were totally involved in the experience .

When we walked in the door, we met a lovely woman named Peggy.  We spent the next 2 hours with just us and "Miss Peggy".   (later after saying his prayers and being thankful for her,  Alex asked me why her name was Miss piggy. LOL!! All day, he thought her name was miss piggy!)  She took us around the whole Manor, gave us the tour at our pace and answered any questions that we may have had.  It was so cool to be there and have such personalized service.  I almost felt bad only paying $18 for it!   
In the first room of the house, they had a ton of "old fashioned" toys.  The kids were free to play with them,  there was a doll house, a rocking horse, some old cars and trucks, some cool wooden gadgets that really got Alex excited.  They even had an old piano that she opened up and let the kids tinkle on it for a while.  They had these old clothes that the kids could dress up in.  The light in the room was beautiful, I couldn't resist.  Peggy was so patient with my photography stops too.  :-)
We went upstairs and looked at the "bed chambers".  This was a "no touching"  and no photo zone.  Katie had a bit of a hard time up there, but the other kids were so involved and asking tons of questions.   It was a bit of a juggling act, but it all went well.  We then returned to a room where the kids could touch stuff again.  The kids got to card wool and then she showed them how to spin it.  Here is Liza Carding,
"Miss Peggy" Spinning,

And I could take pictures again, and couldn't resist the light on this spinning wheel. 

While the kids were so involved in this textiles lesson, Katie was still looking for some thing to do.  Then this other lovely lady who works there came along and offered some help.  She sat down with Katie, and these lacing toys and the two of them played on the floor for about 20 mins while the kids learned how to weave, and I got to take more pictures.  These women were so wonderful!  I can't even begin to tell you!!

Because this weeks emphasis is on Clothing in the 1800's the kids got to make a little craft.  The girls got to make a little thing called a pocket.  It was worn by the little girls, under their dresses, before they started putting pockets in dresses.  It is essentially a little purse that goes around their waist.   The boys got to make basically a "murse"  But they had a fancy name for it. If you look closely in the hoop pictures you can see how they turned out.
Both women worked together to help my children be successful at their little craft.  It was so fun!!  We got to have a look at their kitchen and a quick thought on making candles and soap, but the kids were excited to get outside because miss peggy had mentioned the hoops.

My kids have all seen Pollyanna and all thought that they boy hitting the hoop all around town was really cool.  So today they got to give it a whirl themselves.  They found out that it isn't that easy.  They sure had fun trying to get it to go.  
We then went to a Log Cabin.  A one room home where a man, his wife, and 6 kids lived.  WOW!!  Talk about sleeping on top of each other.  Can you imagine?  Tori adored this part of the trip, as the cabin was like a big play house, with everything open to touch and try out.  she played with the dolls, pretended to tighten the bed with a bed key.  This girl even climbed right in between the covers of a straw bed (something that I've never experienced)  She said it was hard.  Alex and Liza got to learn what a Yoke is.. and try it on for size.  
We had to pry Tori out of this room as it also had a little kitchen that she wanted to play making dinner in.  :-)  Again, Peggy was SO SO patient.  We quickly went through the Carriages (another no touch, no photography zone).  Tori fell in LOVE with this 200 year old buggy for a real baby.  She has a true love of strollers.  Really, it is kind of odd how much this little girl LOVES strollers.  She asked Miss Peggy if she could have that stroller.  Miss Peggy told her that the stroller didn't belong to her, so she couldn't give it to Tori.  In the Carriage room, Tori basically stood in awe of the beautiful stroller (which really wasn't refurbished, and looked like it was 200 years old)  the whole time, while we looked around at the different stlyes.  

One last pop into the "ice house" to learn about how they kept things cold through the warm summer months, and then we were done.  We Thanked our lovely guide and she directed us to a place to eat our lunch.  We spread out and ate, and watched the clouds go over.  We spotted a horse, and cinderella's pumpkin coach, Barbie riding Pegasus, and an explosion.  It made me think of that book "It looked like spilt milk."
I took a few more pictures before leaving, but Katie was super tired as we had been here for about 3 hours and it was well past nap time for her.

A good time was had by all though.
The kids came home and talked about the day for most of the evening.  Although I got lost going there and coming home and wished more then once for a GPS. I survived the drive and so did the kids.  (They usually get really anxious when they know that I am lost, Alex catches on first and usually asks why we're turning around.. then the worry sets in... but today, they were cool.)  

Also, as a total side note.  I can't even tell you how many times today Alex was adding up numbers, or figuring out time.  This boy LOVES math and will apply his math knowledge at any time.  It is so odd.  He can find a way to incorporate math into virtually any situation.  

Tonight was Daddy Daughter night at the church.  As you can see it was a Mexican theme.  They too pictures of the girls with their Daddy. It was cute to see a picture from the night.  Apparently it was a good time too. 

For Erna

My sweet friend Erin asked for a photo of Brent and I.  This is the most recent picture.  I don't really like it, as I have a million wrinkly chins on one side, but oh well.  :-)  Also I want to take this time to remind my friends that I have gone public, so add me to your google reader, or what ever system you use.  :-)

Week One of Summer Break

Since Sunday is Fathers day, we will be spoiling Brent on Saturday.  Which basically means that I need to entertain the troops most of the day with out him, so I am planning to take the kiddos to the Columbia Arts Festival

Starts at Noon, lots of free stuff to do, and we are going to try to hit the boat float at 1pm.  :-)

We'll probably take Brent for dinner tonight.

Brent is on call on sunday, So he won't be having much of an actual fathers day.

Monday:  Be lazy, love the fact that it is summer.  Break out the work books and start talking about everyones focus project for the summer.  Liza and Tori want to study horses, and Alex wants to study the ocean.  We'll see how we do.  I teach in the PM, Brent has warned me that he will likely be late every monday this whole year, so I guess i am taking the kids to the gym.

Tuesday:  Gym and Swim.  I take Latin Fusion class at the gym while kids play in the child care, then pick them up and take them out to the pool for swim and lunch.  

Wednesday: Rose Hill Manor Park (In Frederick, about 1 hour away)  This week they are talking about clothing and the way it has changed over time.  10am -4pm.$4 adults $3 for kids.

Thursday: Gym and Swim.  I teach while they play in child care, and then take the kids out to play at the pool and have lunch.

Friday: Kids do weekend jobs during day,

 Traveling Showmobile@ western regional park. (about a 20 min drive away) 7pm Free

Saturday: Kids have a primary activity, then probably Children's Day at the Taney House  in Frederick.  10 am - 4pm  $3 for adults, kids are free.  Stay in Frederick for Summer Fest Family theater at 6 pm (magic show and entertainment)  (Free, food donations for food bank plse.)

Punishments and Rewards

So I thought I would update on some happenings around here this week.  

Tori Story:

Quite a while back, while walking around Target, Tori saw a "princess" car seat.  She was so excited.  I thought that the fascination with the seat would pass, but it didn't.  She brought up this car seat repeatedly.  I kept telling her that she has a car seat and that I wouldn't buy another car seat that we don't need right now, just because it is pink and has crowns.  Weeks went by, and then we went on a little trip with Natalia, and wouldn't you know, Natalia has the car seat.  Tori was so thrilled when she saw it, and her sweet friend even let Tori sit in the car seat for the whole trip. (wasn't that nice?)  Then when we got home, Tori got out of the seat and went and sat on our front stoop and cried and cried and cried.  I could tell that her little heart was broken.   It was different then a fit throwing cry, she was truly devastated.  "What is wrong Tori?"  " Mom, how come 'talia got that car seat?  She said she didn't even have to ask for it, her mom just gived it to her?"  "well Tori, her mom said that she needed a new car seat, and so she bought that one."  "Yes, but I wanted that seat, not 'talia, she didn't even know about that seat, and now, she has the only one, now it is gone, I can't even earn it, or get it for my birthday."  (Big huge sobs....)  

So we had a little chat about how Target has lots and lots of car seats, just like Toys R Us has lots of the same barbie.  That there is more then just one.   Oh she cheered up so fast!  

"mommy, What jobs can I do to earn money for that seat?"

Well as the next week went on, she jumped at every opportunity to earn a buck.  Lucky for her we had 2 MAJOR storms that knocked piles and piles and piles of sticks out of our trees.  She spent all together over 4 hours out in the yard with me picking up sticks and putting them in piles.  It was a big job.  She also picked up dog poop twice, and once in the neighbors yard too.  She cleared the yard of toys so that daddy could mow, and 'cleaned' mirrors and windows.  She worked really hard.  Here she is after her labors this morning.

This picture was taken at like 10:00 this am.  They were both out helping pick up sticks for over an hour.  It was so hot and humid that they were dripping with sweat and yuck.  They both looked like they'd been forced to run a mile.  Tori even did all this with out eating Breakfast this morning because she had to get it done before Daddy went out and mowed.  

"Do I have enough money daddy?"

After Breakfast, she received her payment and began to count her money.  She was so excited.

"Let's see Tori,"

"YEAH!!! Thank you!  Oh, It's so pretty, daddy can you put it together?"

So lesson learned.....  If you want it bad enough, and you sweat hard enough, you'll get it.  It was funny to watch her today be SO careful with it.  making sure to not touch it with dirty hands etc...  What a funny girl.  I am very proud of her work.  

Liza Story:

Liza has been doing a lot of complaining and arguing lately.  It is really starting to cause some  problems.  On Monday night Brent was on call, so I was on my own for the  day and evening.  I find that these times are best dealt with when I have a plan, and hopefully a fun plan.   We went swimming for the first time since the outdoor pools opened.  The kids were thrilled.  We took off as soon after school as possible (see Alex Story) and had a great time.  (now this is relevant to the story)  Before we went to the pool, I cut up 4 apples.  I am pretty sure that Liza ate a lions share of those apples.  Probably darn near 3 of them.  We weren't at the pool an hour and she started up the whining for food.  After putting it off for a bit, I broke out a bag of Crasins.  She once again ate a lions share of that whole bag of craisins.    We swam a bit longer and then went inside to get showers and get in PJ's.  Since we had played through dinner hour I told the kids that we could drive through somewhere for dinner.  They chose Wendys, so after having the kid at the drive though argue with me about ordering a coke at the very beginning of my order, and then having the "manager" at the window try to communicate to me through broken english that they didn't have yogurt, I was a little frustrated.  When he told me that they didn't have yogurt, I said that's fine, we'll have the oranges then.  Well........ that is when the world began to crumble..... the sky fell inward, the earth stopped dead in it's tracks, for Liza (yes, she is almost 10, not 2) began the fit of the year.  "I don't want oranges, I want fries. "  "well, you're getting oranges (btw, she hates wendys fries and ALWAYS orders either oranges or yogurt)"  "MOM!!  Just ask the guy to get me fries instead!"  (man hands me bags through the window, not one of them has a prize in it.  So now I have to communicate that to him through cave man like movements)  "MOM!  I DON'T want oranges!"   "Liza, I am not going to try to change this, so just stop."

"Mouhm!!!"

Long story short, warnings, led to, "Okay, now you have nothing, you can't have your oranges, because you are not grateful for what you have."

More fits over the oranges, but this time because she wants them..  :-)  LOL!!! Yeah 10, not 2.

Then a warning, stop, or you'll go to bed.  Long enough pause in fit to finish her cheese burger, then kicks back up. 

Sent to bed (it was 8:00 anyway, but the other kids were still up)

Wouldn't brush teeth, wouldn't pray, wouldn't tell me good night.... still crying about how HUNGRY she was!

Left her yelling comments at me while I got the other kids fed and teeth brushed.  I ignored all comments, until she threw out this one...... I couldn't resist, it was too funny to resist having the conversation.  LOL!!!  (Keep in mind that she is yelling most of this though a closed bedroom door,)

"mom, I'm going to pass out, I am so hungry.  (pause)   MOM!!  MOM!!!................  Mom, seriously, I don't want you to got to jail."

 

"Liza, why would I go to jail?"

"If I pass out from being so hungry, people are going to know that you wouldn't feed me, and then you are going to go to jail for starving your kids."

I laughed out loud!!!  "No one is going to put me in jail for feeing you a cheese burger and putting you to bed, now go to sleep you nut!"

She woke up in a much better mood today and has been rather good today.  She bawled for a long long time last night, and she made sure it was nice and loud.  :-)

Alex Story:

So in an earlier post I mentioned something about a kids foot in a toilet.  Well that was Alex's story.  Almost 3 weeks ago, Alex decided to climb on the toilet at school and mess around in the bathroom.  (this messing around in the bathroom at school has been a bad habit of his since the first month of Kindergarten, it actually really set him off on a bad foot with his teacher for the whole kindergarten year.  We even dealt with it a touch in the beginning of  first grade)  He has lost privileges for this, he has been spanked for this, he has been in trouble so many times over it, i just am at a loss for what is going to convince this boy that he shouldn't do this anymore. 

So when I received the Email about this at 1 am, I had no idea that it had happened that day.  She sent him home with no sock on one foot, and a soggy shoe.   I didn't even notice.  I did notice however that he was acting weird, and kind of sleeked around, but Alex does that sometimes for no really good reason.  I had some time between finding out and his waking to really think about what his punishment should be.  So he was assigned a 30 minute potty time out every day, after school until school let out.  Yup, that is 30 minutes a day,  for 3 weeks.  7 and 1/2 hours sitting in my tiny little 1/2 bath off my kitchen.  Every day when he comes out, he has to come out and tell me that he will never play in the bathrooms again.  I think that it is working... I will be sure to let you know if it didn't.  He does seem to be remorseful everyday when he comes out.

( and on the positive side, I think that that 1/2 hour has helped his regularity, cuz i usually hear the toilet flush at some point during his sentence.)

Today at dinner, we all had a really good laugh, when we could hear Chinook playing with a box from dinner that was set to go out to recycling and when we looked at him, this is what we saw!  

The funniest part is that although his head was suck in the box, he was still trying to lick the side.  LOL!  what a silly puppy!