Then let me know what your thoughts are. I'll be blogging more on this soon. But for now I just had to share it. I think it might just be one of the most information packed 20 minutes I've experienced. If it inspires a blog from you come back and share the link. I'd love to read it.
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I swear I am this > < close to calling Super Nanny for help. If it wasn't for the fact of that whole TV thing, and opening your lives to the whole stinkin' world, and best of all that you will inevitably look like one of the worst parents with some of the worst kids, I'd be all over it.
I think people tend to either bitch and moan all the time or talk up the good points and leave out those not so good points here in Blogdom. I know I try to keep it positive. After all, I want you all to like me. (You do like me, don't you??) ;) Oh that and family reads this blog too. Hi family!
Those points aside, I swear some days my children are just monsters (I'll call you out if you say that yours never are/were). K-Girl is sassy, but what 4 year old isn't, right? But man that girl has a mouth on her. And when she gets mad she just loves to throw things and physically go after you. E-Man is even worse in that area. The boy is down right nasty when he doesn't get his way. He is a biter as most of our family and friends know. He's been that way since, well, since he could. And if he doesn't bite he claws or smacks. Oooh and pulls hair too. Tempers are not hard to find in the family lines and so I contribute some of it to that and then others I don't know...
You know it's going to be a good day when not even home from school she starts in. At K-Girl's school there is this big field that all the kids like to run around in for maybe 15 minutes after school ends. It was time to leave - K-Girl is running the opposite direction. When we all say good-bye to her she begins to throw a temper tantrum. On the way home she yells, because well, who knows why. And during lunch she melts down because I told her to finish her ABCs before opening her yogurt. I told her she was going to be taking a nap this afternoon as she's suffering from a lack of it from the other night. She was currently throwing a fit in the living room when I told her this and she immediately ran at me and put her teeth into my leg (though not a full bite) and then scratched my face (leaving a small place where it started to bleed). She's napping now (and E-Man too. Oh thank you dear Lord.
Here's the thing. I know it is to a very large point my problem. I know that I need to stage a complete 180 in parenting style. I need to make the rules and stick to them no matter how small or large the infraction is. I need to have the absolute same response no matter what and no matter if it is inconvenient at the time. And I need to watch myself that I don't break the rules either. A lot of people have told me especially with the biting that I should "bite him back" and that he'll learn. Ummm sorry but I really see a huge flaw in that thinking. It's ok for Mommy to do it but not for me? I will pop them in the heiny when they need it, but at the same time I see the same flaw. It's ok for Mommy to do it but not for me? And especially because they have the problem with violent outbursts.
The problem with this is when it comes to K-Girl she would rather sit in time out than have to do something that she doesn't like to do. So I'm not exactly sure what my course of action should be. For example, I tell her to clean up the toys or she sits in time out. She gladly sits and I end up cleaning them. Boy that was a good lesson. But then I swing too far the other way and tell her if she doesn't clean them up they are going in the trash. Well those toys cost money so when I get down to it I can't do that. (I know, then don't threaten it!) It's just hard. And I tell you that the temper can be found in the family and in the family includes myself. And I have the temper that once my buttons have been pushed my fuse is short for a while. Luckily my husband balances me out with the fact that he has a short temper (is that the right way to say it?). When he does loose his (although he has pretty decent amount of patience) he blows up and moves on which I think is probably the better of the two.
I just want good kids and I know that really does start with me. But I'm unsure of exactly how to get there and secondly because let's face it, change is hard. That and we are our parents (sorry Mom, sorry Dad) and I see both of them in myself (both good points and bad ones). It's hard to figure out how not to be who they were and step out and be your own person in this parenting gig. I just wish I could figure out how to get it all turning in the right direction, because there's been a lot of times recently where I've been really resenting this stay-at-home thing. That's sad because I know how much of a blessing it is and how many others out there would give anything to be able to do just that.
Any input? insight? advice? been there done that? anything? I'd love to hear from you. And if you don't feel comfortable commenting about something feel free to e-mail me gohncrazy at gmail dot com.
Now back to my slightly more upbeat, when the kids are cuter, lighter posts...
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Last Saturday we decided to do something fun and head over to the mall to take the kids to Build A Bear. K-Girl was too excited about it. When we got there The Husband and I made them both walk up and down the row of friends at least 3 or 4 times. K-Girl has this problem with picking something and then changing her mind (as most 4 year olds do). She finally settled on quite possibly the ugliest friend there. ;) But in the eyes of a 4 year old little girl that pink leopard was to die for. E-Man settled on a very soft and cuddly teddy bear.
*please excuse the poor blurry picture(s)*
After decisions the fun could begin. K-Girl went first and started to fill her friend. She was not quite sure what to make of the whole thing. It was kind of loud and the machine popped quite a few times.
Next she needed to pick a heart...
To those of you who might not know how it all goes down at Build A Bear, after you pick the heart you have to do a bunch of things to make it extra special. They ask you to give the heart a kiss and jump up and down with it and then she told K-Girl to rub it on her nose so it "knows" who it belongs to. It totally went over her head and she was rubbing her hand on her nose rather than the heart, but it gave The Husband and I a giggle. Then, in the back it went and she got stitched close.
Perfect!
Next it was E-Man's turn. He needed a little assistance from Daddy to get the pedal to work.
And a little lift to reach the hearts...
But he did it all and kissed that heart and got his teddy.
K-Girl gave her friend a fluff before making her way over to pick out clothes.
Hello Kitty shirt, panties, and slippers but of course!
And I assisted E-Man in this pair of camo boxers and a little 'green' t-shirt.
The last part before paying for their new friends was picking a name. K-Girl quickly picked "Pinki" for her friend and we decided "Ted" was short and easy to now refer to E-man's new friend.
It was a lot of fun, but rather expensive. Definitely only something that we do maybe once a year (if that).
And the next day I thought it might be fun to make Pinki some pants. Because you know it isn't always proper to run around in just panties. ;) I had a bunch of the Hannah Montana fleece that I used to make K-girl's pants and the pattern was easy to follow that I could adapt it to the measurements of the stuffy instead. So now K-girl and Pinki can both be comfy and trendy in their pants. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the pants. Perhaps I'll have to charge up my battery and get them both together for one. K-girl even took Pinki to school for show and tell this past week and insisted that they both dress in their matching pants.
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Yesterday, my friend Amy and I met at the park to enjoy a beautiful fall day. Amy's daughter, Hope, and K-Girl have been friends since before they both could walk. They love to get together to play (and we enjoy getting together to chat). This was actually the first park trip since E-Man has been walking well. I took my camera but had a hard time getting to pull it out much. The steps on this play set were large and there were sides that he could fall off so I was more hands on him than hands on the camera. I am thankful to Amy for having her camera and taking amazing pictures of our park day. But since this is Photostory Friday I can't just send you off to see her pictures, here are the pictures that I did manage to get.
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Oh and I just wanted to add -
I'm so excited. I finally broke down and shelled out cash for Photoshop Elements. I'm so happy I did. I can finally edit pictures again the way I want to edit them. I believe when I am actually organized this will make me a much happier blogger again. I've been really not liking blogging as much since I had gotten my Mac. Loved it in all other aspects but just not blogging (and that, my friends, has been sad). But I believe now my MacBook and I will live happily ever after. Yay!
That was all.
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It's official the Gohn's are cleaning up their act. I cringe at the thought of how much garbage that our one family has been putting out for trash day. When we lived at our old house we had a TEN BAG max TWICE A WEEK!! And you know what? With much embarrassment, I tell you that more often than not we nearly reached maximum for both pick ups. Then we moved into this house. We met our toter. This toter was all the garbage that we were allowed to put out ONCE each week. I now see that this huge thing is more than enough. It holds a lot of garbage, but yet we used to fill this puppy each and every week and more often than not the lid would not even close. With our family finding our greener ways we have much improved in this area. I decided to click a picture the other morning as I was leaving thinking about just this and see what our typical weekly output is now...
I believe there's one large trash bag in there, the empty bird seed bag, and perhaps a smaller bag of litter and whatnot. It's not even half full. Now we are still hooked on our toter, but I think it's time we broke up with it. It does cost more than if we go to the 2 (or is it 3) bag per week limit. I think it's time to not only reduce our output but also reduce our bill. The only reason we hold onto it is for the convenience of wheeling it out and back. But that's a poor reason to pay extra.
It really has been a lot of little changes over quite some time that has one day just made me go "WOW!" we really have improved, haven't we?!
And while I'm on the subject I just want to take a moment to share a little something that will help you see just how crazy I can be...
On trash day in our neighborhood I have a very tough time making it out without wanting to go educate at least one of my neighbors. It just kills me when I pass houses now that have their toters completely overflowing and seeing recyclables in it. I just want to pull over, stop the car, and take out that huge cardboard box and put it in their recycling instead. I just don't understand in this day why people still aren't recycling every single bit that they can. How hard is it really? I know we're lazy, but suck up and do it.
The other night we were watching one of my favorite shows on Planet Green called Wa$ted (who's host -Annabelle Gurwitch totally reminds me of the past MTV VJ Kennedy but that's a little off subject) and there was this family on that was just blowing me away (and not in a good way). The man/husband/father actually said something like "we are people and people make trash". Now I don't think that is a direct quote but it is very close. I was floored. How can people have this mentality?? How can people still not care? I mean seriously, how? ~sigh~ But if you haven't seen Wa$ted go check out when it comes on in your area and watch it. Great show. Very eye opening and if it doesn't piss you off then you need to evaluate yourself.
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Mornings around here are usually pretty cookie cutter. Nothing out of the ordinary usually happens especially when it comes to school days. This morning was much the same until we loaded up the car to leave. I had everyone buckled in their seats and got in and turned the key and nothing but clicks.
Oh no!
Try again...
Same!
Hmmm.
So I called The Husband and asked him what to do. He told me where the jumper cables were and suggested I call our friends down the road and if that didn't help to call him back. Oh did I mention that these are our friends that I asked for prayers for yesterday? Her mother was down watching her oldest daughter and I had offered to get her to and from preschool. Here I was calling on her for help! So she came down and tried to give me a jump but nothing was happening. We decided to load up both girls in her car and she would take them to school and I would call The Husband to get him to help me out so I could pick them up.
After calling the school and letting them know what was going on The Husband got home to save the day. ;) He tried jumping it again but nothing happened. He got the idea to change cables and what do you know it worked! His cables were much newer than my own so maybe that was the problem?
Once he got me started he instructed me not to turn it off so I decided to go pick up K-Girl's extra car seat and then go to Dunkin Donuts and get a coffee and go from there. It just so happened that I was also VERY low on gas so I made it to DD and then went and got it. I was so nervous turning off the car at the gas station but thank goodness it started back up.
When I got to the school and it was my turn to pick up, K-Girl looked at me and said "How did you get here!?" Haha
And you know, it was my fault anyway. Last night when we got back from picking my car up at the garage (yeah go figure right?!) from getting the wheel barring fixed I had turned the interior lights on to put the extra car seat in for this morning and clean out the extra stuff. When I had gotten out I completely forgot to turn the lights off. Duh!
You know, I've been having such luck with my poor car. I joked to The Husband this morning that perhaps I need a new car (don't worry I am SO joking - I love my car) because my record is just getting worse and worse with this one. There's always something.
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I would like to ask all of you to please keep Irelyn in your prayers (if you are the praying type) and if not good thoughts, or whatever you do. The Verno family has been through so much already but today their daughter, Irelyn, is getting surgery. She has Osteogenesis Imperfecta (aka Brittle Bone Disease) in which her bones break very easily. After many breaks in the same two bones they are now rodding her leg. I believe she is in recovery right now, but they have a long road ahead and I'm sure they would appreciate all the extra prayers they can get. Follow their story at CasaDeVerno.
Thanks!
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When K-Girl was just over a year old we decided that we would get her a kitty. At this point we already had our dog and two other cats, so what was one more? K-Girl just loved the cats, but they did not reciprocate her feelings. We decided to make a trek over to the Humane Society and see what they had. They had a bunch of cats but we ended up settling on this little orange boy kitten named Marshmallow. Marshmallow liked K-Girl despite the fact that she didn't entirely understand "gentle". He was a keeper, but his name? Not so much. We decided to pick a name that was easier for a little one to learn and something that we thought suited him a bit better. Here is one of the first pictures I took of K-Girl and our Jack (Jacker, Jackers, Jacks, Jack Cat).
Over three years later Jack still puts up with her, and if I may be so bold as to say so he loves her right back for it. And the other two cats still want nothing to do with her. Jack is a love bug. His favorite place to sleep when he was a kitten was wrapped around my head. He still usually sleeps in bed with us and if he had his way he'd probably sleep in bed with K-Girl but she doesn't like sharing her bed with anyone.
In April (and I only know that because the picture is dated) K-Girl fell and twisted her ankle. Jack went right over and helped make it all better for her.
No ice pack could complete with a little lovin' on her Jack.
And I think he was happy to help. Tell me you don't see him smiling?!
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Isn't it about time that I had another lull in my blogging? I can't tell you exactly why but I just haven't been feeling it. I haven't really had much to share and pretty much the only things online that I've been checking have been MySpace and Facebook. Good stuff. I'm so exciting. But I thought I would check in just incase anyone has been missing me.
Last night I finally rented An Inconvenient Truth (the Al Gore movie). Wow. What an amazing movie. At the same time that it makes me want to go cry in a corner I also find it extremely inspiring. It has recharged my green batteries.
It also has started my mind turning again about the question forever with me on what I want to do when I grow up...or well when the kids are in school. I don't see myself as a homemaker forever. I think once the kids went to school I would go kind of stir crazy, but at the same time I can't think of what I want to be doing. I've had many ideas and they all fall along the same consistent theme of improving the environment. It may be by getting more people to leave disposables on the shelves and using cloth diapers, but on the bigger picture something better for our Earth. I've also been hung up for quite some time on the fact that I do want a career and not just a job at some point, but the same point keeps coming back up...college. I went to college after I graduated high school. The problem was that the timing couldn't have been worse and I didn't complete the first semester. And I didn't fill out the paperwork soon enough to formally withdrawal before I got a lovely bunch of incompletes and fails on the first report card which definitely hurts the ego of a former honors student. I've come to terms with the fact that through it all I wouldn't change a thing for the lessons I learned were far more than I probably could have got during college at that point in my life. And here I am with an amazing husband and two beautiful children, so all in all I believe it was the right path for me. At the same time though there has always been the desire to some day go back and succeed excel. So watching this movie last night started it all in motion again.
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K-Girl loved the fact that I made myself pants and went on and on about making her a pair. We happened upon some Hannah Montana fleece and I thought it was the perfect thing to make a pair for her. She loved it and had to hold it as soon as the piece was cut. The next day I worked out the pattern from tips I got here and came up with a pair of custom pants for her. I needed to put a tuck in the waist, but other than that they came out great. She's more than thrilled. I'm excited to make her a few more for winter jammies and work up a pattern for E-Man as well.
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It's not the first time I have said this, but kids are sometimes like dogs. They do something cute one time and then you have them perform their trick over and over.
A few months ago, E-Man started putting his hands out whenever there was a question asked. Often it is asking where Cheeky (his monkey buddy) is. Other times it's asking where'd it go (squirrel, bird, toy, etc). It can be you muttering to yourself, "Where did I put those keys?" Any time E-Man hears a question being asked he puts his hands up, and it is starting to sound like he's working on saying "I don't know".
But like a dog we are all (including K-Girl) constantly asking him questions so that he will do his trick. It's just so cute. In this series of pictures we were outside looking for the ice cream truck. I heard it when I was hanging wash out so I quickly ran inside the round up the troops. We went out to the corner and waited. We could hear it but it never got closer and then it just disappeared. It was rather disappointing. The ice cream truck has been around here two other times. The first time they went down the main road and came and left faster than we could get there. Then the second time we were sitting at the dinner table eating ice cream (but that's beside the point) as he quickly drove down our street. There was no way we could have caught it anyway. I personally never grew up in a place that had ice cream trucks and so I was anticipating the arrival of that truck just as much as the kids.
"Hey E-Man, where did the ice cream truck go???"
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Preschool started yesterday for K-Girl. This is her last year before kindergarten. May I first say just how much she has grown over the past year. When you see them every day you kind of forget at times. I was uploading these pictures and I found the pictures from last year's first day and, wow.
K-Girl's first day of 3 year preschool:
And her first day of 4 year:
And a few more...
Silly kids...
She loves her Hannah Montana shirt. ;)
Cheesin'...
Momma & K-Girl in the van waiting for the line to form at preschool (notice E-Man in between us?)
She had a great first day. All summer all she could talk about is how she didn't like "the curly hair lady" (the teacher's aide). I thought for sure we were going to have problems there. The lady is older and looks like your typical grandma. I had no clue why K-Girl was having hang ups with her. Tuesday night I told her that I bet she's a grandma and grandmas are super cool and do lots of fun things with you so I bet she's going to be really fun. At drop off she was a bit leery of her but ran off to play. I actually went after her for my hug. ;) But at pickup she ran up and gave "the curly hair lady" a huge hug! Walking down the hall she told me she had a great time at school and loves her teachers. Yay.
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