My kids have taught me...

Having kids has taught me many things. Patience is still a lesson I'm working on  -some days are better than others. But one thing I have learned to do is pick my battles wisely.

Two of the many things I want for my children is for them to feel comfortable with who they are and for them to learn on their own from their mistakes. Like most things in life, we have rules, but we can't dictate every inch of their lives.

GG has been playing around with clothing trying to find what styles she likes and what colors suit her best. She knows that shorts no bigger than a pair of underwear are not allowed, but if I pick out her clothes every day, how is she going to figure out how to express herself?

Little Dude and his hair seem to be a big issue for most people, but not so much for me. His hair is now a few inches past his shoulder. He refuses to get it cut and with the husband having the longest hair in the house, how can I argue with the kid? Part of it, I'm sure, is due to the fact that this kid is more stubborn than any mule out there, but it's hair.

Do I get frustrated when people call him a girl even though most of his clothing consists of trucks, monsters and other boy things/colors? Of course. Sometimes I let it go, sometimes I speak up. We were recently at a carnival and an employee tried to get us "ladies" to play his game. I ignored him because I didn't want to waste money on games we would never win, but he called out to us ladies every time we walked past his booth. Finally I told him we weren't playing his game because he kept calling my son a girl. There is no handbook stating all boys have to have short hair and if you're not sure, don't assume.

Learning from mistakes - I am always there to help, but if I swoop in every time to try and fix a problem, my kids will never learn how to do it on their own. Sometimes I think people look at me as the mom who doesn't care or doesn't have rules. Do I get lazy? Of course I do. We all have those days. But spending who knows how long arguing with my son over his wanting to wear snow boots on a walk to a local yogurt place on a 80+ degree day is not worth my time. We would never get out the door! And I'm pretty sure by the time we got to the yogurt shop, Little Dude realize his choice of footwear was not a wise one.

I know I am not the perfect parent and I will never claim to be, but I hope my children learn that it's ok to express who they are, within reason of course, and that's it's also ok to fall down 7 times as long as they get back up 8.

Until next time...

Excited for what's to Come. At Least for Now.

It's June! How did that even happen?! I'm so glad it's behind us, but it feels like only yesterday we were shoveling snow.

Not only is it June, but the school year is almost over. It's always a little sad at the end of the school year. The kids don't see as many of their friends over the summer, I worry about the kids taking over not being able to keep the kids busy enough, and I don't always see as many of my friends.

The ending of this school is especially bittersweet. It is GG's last year in elementary school. I'm sure come August I'll be writing a post about how scary middle school will be, but for now, let's take this one small step at a time.

Our school has a 5th grade committee and every year they plan something awesome for the graduating fifth graders. this year was a little different as both schools couldn't have a combined picnic at the park due to the construction. But that doesn't mean our school didn't have a fantabulous time.

Different games were set up on the playground and we also had a DJ.

The plan was to only have so many students at each station, but due to the 90 degree weather, they all ended up gravitating towards the water games. It was too hot for any of the adults to care and the kids were having fun anyway.

After the picnic, everyone came inside for a special lunch and then we worked our way up to the middle/high school for a graduation ceremony. 

GG received her diploma along with the President's Award. This is awarded to students who maintain a 3.5 GPA in fourth grade and the first semester of fifth grade and also score in the advanced range in math and/or reading of the PSSA's. We are incredibly proud of GG!!

I wish I was able to get a better picture of her receiving her papers

but the kids seems to make getting to the stage and back to their seats a race!

I was able to catch her attention long enough to pose for this picture.

Still proud!!

After speaking to GG's teacher earlier in the day, we are both looking forward to middle school (again, this could change come August). GG was given a special math test a few weeks ago. She thought she failed and was surprised when I told her she did not. Passing this test means she gets to skip sixth grade math and take seventh grade math instead. Per her teacher's recommendation, we are also having her tested for the gifted program. As if graduating with the President's Award doesn't make us proud enough, this tidbit of news put us all over the moon.

We're sad to see the year end and look forward to the summer, but I can't wait to see what middle school brings. At least as far as academics go.


Until next time...

Make the Best with What You Have

It's no secret that I don't like our house. Since we're not quite in a position to up and move, we make the best of what we have. Our latest project is something that I have wanted to do for years.

Our mailbox stands in a 4 x 5 ft. space that was not attractive in the slightest.

I'm sure the family who lived here before had it looking all kind of spiffy. That black plastic sticking out was covered with dirt and rocks at one point. There were green border pieces left behind that just sat there for years.

One day I was scrolling through Pinterest and came across an ideas for making a garden. One pin in particular used cinder blocks as a border. Flowers were planted in the holes of the blocks and the height of the blocks meant more dirt could be added to the space between. I showed this pin to Little Dude, who loves yard work (he's an odd child). He wanted to run to the store that very minute. But we had some work to do first.

Little Dude and I spent an afternoon clearing out our little future garden. We raked out as many rocks as we could. I thought about pulling up that black plastic but ended up taking the lazy route. The dirt below is mostly clay, which I had no desire to dig into, and the plastic could help keep weeds at bay. We talked about what plants to get and what kind of border we wanted. Knowing my mom had a white fence border hiding in her shed, we decided against the cinder blocks.

Even though it was a bit chilly outside last weekend, it looked gorgeous. Little Dude and I took that opportunity to make our purchases and start digging in. When we returned from the store, GG was excited about our garden plans and decided to jump in and help.

I cut open each of the 5 bags of soil and the kids spread it out. Little Dude insisted on keeping the mysterious yellow volunteer flowers so I had to help them spread the dirt around those without burying them.

We each took a turn digging holes and plopping in tiny plants. While the kids made sure we did a good job with each plant, I tied our hanging basket pole to the porch (it's old and tends to lean from the weight of a plant). Little Dude decided which basket would go where - one for the back yard and one for our garden.

We stepped back and took a look at our new garden.

The kids are excited to hopefully have fresh tomatoes and green peppers this summer. As much as I am looking forward to that as well, I think I am more excited at how much better this little space in our yard looks.

Until next time....

The End is Near. Or is It?

Memorial Day means no school and if having the kids home all day is any indication of how summer vacation will go, I will definitely need earplugs. And maybe some Xanax. Bless you people who have more kids than I do. Your tolerance level must be much higher than mine.

Just because I was ready to pull my hair more than once during the kids' day off didn't mean we didn't have fun. Little Dude helped my trim some bushes in the front yard (fun for him, not so much for me!) and after the husband came home from work. I took the kids to the park. Our park was in desperate need of a mass overhaul and recently they finally broke ground on the construction. Checking the progress was our first order of business...

Wonder what this means for football season next year?

After that we headed over to the play equipment. The kids ran and climbed to their hearts content, but somehow did not manage to wear themselves out. I really need to find a way to bottle a fraction of that energy!

After a while I decided to play with my camera settings. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought the world was about to end.

It appears the "solarize" setting does not mean pictures will come out sunnier, but they do make things look like you're on the set of The Walking Dead.

Until next time...

A Crotchety Mother's Day

I love my kids to the moon and back. I can't imagine my life without them, but there are definitely those days where they drive me up a wall. They have such a strong bond, but sometimes they are so close that they butt heads more than anything else. Just as I am ready to blow my top, they pull one of the greatest Mother's Day ever.

Saturday night before going to bed Little Dude asked if I would be sleeping in on Mother's Day. That was my plan and I let him know that. I think he was plotting how his morning would go.

As soon as my alarm went off I heard their feet go. Naturally they were anything but quiet, but I let it slide. Fist up the stairs was GG with a cup of hot tea.  She was so worried she screwed it up and I wouldn't like it. I asked her how she made the tea.  Shed put a cup of water in the microwave. When it came out she put a tea bag in and dunked it a few times. It wasn't how I made tea (I add sugar) but it was the best cup of tea I have had in a long time.

She disappeared and a few minutes later Little Dude and GG were standing at my bedside with my breakfast in bed, served atop a cutting board. Obviously a cutting board is the most logical thing to use as a serving tray, right? My breakfast consisted of 2 waffles with butter and syrup, half a banana, and a cup of vanilla yogurt with blueberries and banana slices mixed in. Healthy and tasty - I was impressed. Of course serving me chocolate chip cookies for breakfast in bed would have impressed me as well.

After breakfast they delivered me my presents. Both had written poems and Little Dude had colored a "Best Mom" certificate. I'll have to thank their teachers for helping with all of that. Both poems were sweet and full of "I love mom", "she has the best hugs" and "she is fun", but I think Little Dude's poem had the best line ever.

I really hope he meant "crochet"!

Until next time...