No Bummer Summer!

First, let me apologize for the mental breakdown this weekend. Combine stress with PMS and that's the result.

And when you combine kids that are misbehaving and extra hyper, that was basically my day today.

So, by this evening, I was reminded of some blogs that I love and their summer lists/projects/crafts. So, I took that and gave it a twist. And we created Isa's Summer Bucket List...which has been named the No Bummer Summer list.



Many of these items, as you can see have a price attached to them. These are the costs that Isa has to pay in, what she has acutely named, "Mom Bucks." We have a second document that has the process to earn (or lose) money.

There is always the addition that needs to be remembered that Mom and Dad can add payment or fines at any time. For example, I was running around crazy this evening and told her that she would earn a dollar if she helped me find something I needed to leave. She found it. And she earned a dollar.

The dollars are actual tangible slips of paper. The one dollar bill has a cartoon of her mama on it. The five dollar bill has a cartoon of her dad.

I fully intend to make her a "wallet" out of duct tape. Hehe. But until then, she has found a metal pencil holder that I used to have on a desk somewhere to hold her dollars. Today, since implementing this project, she has earned $14. She also lost $2 for being mouthy. Overall though, it shows great potential. She had better dinner behavior than we have seen in months. She helped clear the table and do dishes. She helped clean up the living room and throw laundry downstairs. It will also be a great way to keep her working on her math skills throughout the summer.

Do you have any type of system in place like this at your home? What have you found that works? What doesn't work? What do we need to be careful of?

Card Tricks or Treats?

Isa spent like an hour this morning, telling my why Teo isn't allowed to play with her cards. [She is this, like, card collector - playing cards, baseball cards, pieces of cardboard tags of new clothes, domino game pieces, etc. You name it, she has it.]

Her reasons included: "He will tear them up", "He will put them in his mouth", "Teo will chew on them", etc.
She even stressed to me that Mamaw Sue said that Teo's not allowed to play with cards.

Finally, I told her to give Teo another chance to show that he's a big boy and that he won't tear them up. That lasted about 20 minutes, which was a success in my book. Then, I took his card privledge away.

So, can someone please explain to me why, about a half hour after Isa went through this whole ordeal to keep Teo from tearing up her cards, I look across the room where both kids are sitting, watching Hey Arnold! and see Isa, with a half eaten card in her hand and the rest of the card in her mouth!

Oy vey!

Just MOVE!

The other day, we were living in walking through Menard's, like we often do.

We had just gone through the pool toy area, so we were standing in an aisle with the kids, trying to get them to put the things in the cart, stop hitting each other with the noodles, etc.

This man with his cart came towards us and I was trying to get Isa to move so he could get through while also trying to make sure that if he passed us, he wouldn't get assulted with any inflatable or foam items.

However, the 1.49 minutes that I was trying to get our family of four out of his way was obviously too long and too much of an inconvenience.

How do we know?

The foul words under his breath, the very audible shout of "Just MOVE!" and the crash of his cart being abused in his anger was the most obvious way.

Obviously, the five feet out of the way that we made him go, in addition to the nearly 2 minutes that he wasted, was painful for him. I guess we ruined his day, or something.

Either way, we have made non-stop jokes by yelling, "Just MOVE!" at each other whenever applicable.

And, we didn't even correct Isa at Menards after the fact when she twirled her finger around her ear and called him "loco"....

Reminders

Often, nearly daily in my job, I see something or discuss something that makes me grateful for what I have. Today was no exception.

There is this family that I have been blessed to get to know. And, while they are easy to work with, the case has been one of most emotionally draining cases that I have worked. Long story short, I am very grateful that I can come home and spend every evening with my family. That I have my husband to fight with my kids along side me. That I have two kids at home that can drive me nuts. And, despite the fact that I am often a self-proclaimed failure of a mom, I am so thankful to be able to experience our daily life.

Today, I came home and couldn't wait to wrap my arms around my kids, to tell them how much I love them. To bury my nose in the crick of their necks and hold their hands. To cover them with kisses.

While there are days that I question my life decisions, today was a day that I was very grateful for them. For my kids. For an intact marriage that allows me to have the support of a husband and to have my children home every day.

And, today also gave me a greater gratitude towards my mom. So, mommy, if you read this one, here's to you: Thank you for raising me, and raising me on your own. I do not know where you obtained the strength that you did to be my mom, but I am glad that you never gave up, that you never stopped, and that you loved me through it all. If you ever questioned your decisions, you never let on and I am so happy to have had you as a mom.

Dining Junkies

I will not profess to have amazing budgeting or financial knowledge. Truth be told, the lack of that is actually what has created this post. Let me explain...

You know that kids song: "A Pizza Hut, A Pizza Hut, A Long John Silvers and A Pizza Hut. A Wendys. A Wendys..." Yea. You get it. Well, that was the theme song of our life recently, especially with all the work on the house. You name it, we went there to eat recently. And when I balanced the checkbook the last time, it was screaming in agony that song...

So, we implemented something for Isa. Restaurants at home. We told her that she was in charge of the menu this week and could choose her restaurants of choice, only catch was, we were making it instead of ordering it at these places. And we were not actually going out to eat anymore. Part of it was to show her that there was nothing special about dining out. Part of it was to show US that there was nothing special about dining out.

Monday night: Bob Evans. We had sliced turkey in gravy, mashed potatoes and stuffing. Just like we order for take-out from Bob Evans.

Tuesday night: Qdobas. Jose and I had chicken nachos (and they were delish...possibly even better than Qdobas!) and the kids had quesadillas.

Wednesday night: McDonalds. French fries, chicken nuggets, and apple slices. And it was nice knowing they were baked, not fried. I felt slightly less guilty.

Isa's loving it. Jose and I are loving it. My bank account is loving it. And by the clean plates from Teo, I'm guessing that he loves it too.

So, this may become a regular game for us. But hopefully, if nothing else, it teaches us a lesson. Convenience comes at a price....a price that may seem small but that adds up very quickly...a price that I don't want to pay anymore.

What other fun ways do you save money (or just not waste money)? What are other "restaurant" meals that we can make? I'm thinking we'll have Chinese at least once this week, and maybe some real Mexican (burritos anyone?)...

Two Loves

In my life, there are many things that I love, but these two are by far the ones that I love the most.

Ant

Since she was little, Isa has been super afraid, often unnecessarily, of bugs. Any and all bugs would cause her into a fit of screams and panic. I remember once, a couple years ago, when the army of ants began (as it does every spring in our house), she was sitting on the toilet in the bathroom shortly after starting to use the toilet instead of the potty chair. We gave her the independence to "do it herself" for the most part, so while she was alone in the bathroom, we were doing other things in nearby rooms. Screams erupted. Panicked, terrified screams. And we rushed in to see what happened, assuming she fell into the bowl of the toilet or that she had somehow hurt herself. Instead, she was sitting, bare bottomed, on the toilet seat, hysterical about the ant crawling across the floor.

Teo, however, is the complete opposite. Bugs are things of interest. He loves to get nose to nose with them, down on his hands and knees, checking them out. Watching them. Over the weekend, we learned of a talent he has. As I watched him, giggling with glee, he crawled up to one of those pesky ants and *swoop* in an instant, pinched it between his fingers. I told him to throw it away and he did. Then, he got down on the floor and did it again. And again. He only became distressed once all the ants on the floor were squished in the trash and he spotted one on the ceiling. And the distress came from not being able to catch it.

From that point forward, we have encouraged him to catch and throw away all the ants (why not? It's a free ant-killing service) and he has joyfully obliged.

Then, on Monday morning, Isa was recalling the awesome way that Teo quickly caught the ants as she spotted one on the wall. Then, before I could respond, *swoop* Isa, my darling daughter who screamed like someone was cutting off her digits one by one when seeing a bug, had an ant pinched in her fingers. She threw it into the trash and a huge smile hijacked her face.

Now, think we can put them to work with the flies start to impose?

Tiptoed Running

This morning, before heading to church for Easter service, Isa and I watched Teo run across the living room. On his tip-toes.

Isa immediately shared me that there was a boy in her class, J, who ran like that, on his tip-toes. It just so happens that J is also African American.

She stated, "That means that Teo will be black when he grows up!"

Um, no sweetie. That's not quite how it works.

Hahaha!

You Have A Photo Message!

As a fun lil' diddy, here's some photos from my phone, for your entertainment purposes...enjoy!

When my hubby got his new phone and it's cool new case, he kept. taking. photos. of. me. So, I did it back. Here's Jose!

[Turn your head sideways.] One of the times we went to Chuck E. Cheese recently, I wandered around looking for Jose and Teo...and here's what I found. He is so cute!

Guess who learned to tie her shoes?! Finally!!! She's so proud!

Sometimes, I even surprise myself. This was so yummy that I sent Jose the photo to make him jealous while he ate crummy food at work for lunch. Hehe!

As I cleaned, this tote grew more and more full. This, my dear friends, is a tote full of fun glass pieces and other things to paint. Now, I just need to figure out what to paint on them.

My babies! I never guessed that I would be so excited to see these little sprouts pop up! Lettuce, peppers, and khlorabi, OH MY! Yay!!!

And, here's yours truely. :) Have a great day!

Super Duper Craptastic Day

I had a super duper craptastic day yesterday.

From crappy dreams right before waking up,
to feeling like I need to make things better but not knowing how,
to trying to make ammends and getting a virtual slap in the face,
to being tired,
to fighting to put a facebook badge on a website that wasn't cooperating,
to having juice spilled on the new rug,
to cleaning up said juice with two rags and having Jose sit and watch me,
to trying to help getting ready for dinner and having Jose be a real butt head,
to flipping out and showing him exactly how he comes across (which he didn't like),
to crying through dinner,
to Teo deciding that painting means swinging the brush around and getting puple everywhere in a 4 ft. vicinity,
to feeling like I just don't matter,
to starting to fall asleep last night and getting texts,
to waking up in the middle of the night because (I found out later) neighbor kids were shooting fireworks off in the middle of the street.

Yesterday was a super duper craptastic day.

I really hope today is better.

Six Chapters - Friday through Monday

Chapter 1: Land of the Living
Yes, yes, I am still alive! And, in all honesty, I'm doing well. We have seemingly gotten over the last bout of illness [knock on wood] with the exception of a couple coughs here and there. My head is much clearer, my throat is no longer on fire, my nose is no longer raw. The worst part, at this moment, may be my chapped lips. And I can deal with that just fine.

Chapter 2: April Fools
Did anyone have any fun pranks on Friday? I didn't really try hard, but I did "borrow" a photo from a preggo friend of her postitive tests and I (1) posted it on Facebook and (2) sent it to the hubs. Within moments, my facebook notifications exploded, as did my phone with texts from friends. I got chewed out by a couple for posting on facebook without telling them, and my husband's reaction was quite calm. Haha. He did call me a jerk once I shared the Aprils Fool part! However, I am officially not pregnant. At all. Praise God! As much as I love little ones, I am fairly certain that I would end up in a padded room. My sister even called me on Friday to ask if I was preggo, and when I said no, she said "Thank God"...lol.

Chapter 3: Mural Finally

While having April Fools fun, I also hung out with a good friend and her kiddos. We spend the day at her mom's house where I was hired to paint a mural on a cabinet that she had gotten. The cabinet was handmade by someone she knew, so what better than to have a painting added on, right? It was a paying job, which felt good. And she loved it, which made it even better. She sent me some photos of landscapes that she liked, so I combined some of the elements to create this:

Chapter 4: Weekend Madness

After finishing the mural, we took the kids to my mom who offered to watch them both from Friday night until Sunday afternoon! Whooo hoo! And, boy, did we have plans for the weekend. Friday night, we continued with our Lent project of "giving up" material possessions. We went into the playroom in the basement and piece by piece, decided if we were going to (1) keep, (2) garage sale, or (3) trash each item. I believe that by the time we were done, we had over 15 plastic grocery bags of stuff for the garage sale and three trash cans full of trash. Don't worry, there is still more than enough stuff in there for the kids to be entertained for a long long time. When we had the room entirely empty, we called it quits for the night and watched a movie.

On Saturday, we woke up fairly early, had a quick breakfast (I love that the hubs cooks) and got to work. Jose headed to Lowe's and bought a ton of lumber while I began to do some deep deep cleaning. He came home and built a shelf in the pantry for the canned food (the plastic shelves we had were sagging) while I kept cleaning.

Then, we removed the chairs from our living room (one went to our bedroom, one went to the garage sale) and threw the rug to the basement before going out for a relaxing lunch. We felt that we deserved a little treat, so Flat Top it was. Then, we went to buy a rug. Our goal was a cheap one from Big Lots. Instead, we spent about twice what I hoped for (my goal was less than $75), but still got a great bargain. We ended up getting a rug at Menards, that was on sale. They only had the display left and when the employee took it off display, the corner got snagged and became unraveled about a half inch. We ended up getting it for $120 instead of the price listed of$150, so I decided to just do it. And I'm glad we did. I love love love it! After adding the two chairs that we had in our basement (that we got a year or so ago from a yard sale for $10 each!), our living room has become new again! Jose has big plans soon to strip the trim, stain it to match the stain in the dining room, and we will be painting...probably a robin egg blue...but for now, here it is...

Jose worked on building a large shelf in our toy room to block the kids from this huge concrete and metal thing that's sticking up in back corner (we think it was once where the water heater was) and I had to "phone a friend" to help get a couple pieces of plywood for the project. We had a ton of giggles because the boards had to go on top of her car/SUV/station wagon vehicle and it was quite the exciting drive. Thank goodness we live less than a half mile from Lowes! Then, she was awesome and made pizza for us at our house while Jose finished the project and began the next. As the night continued, we got the shelf in place, a frame around the sump pump (which will soon have boards across it to protect the kids from the pump and the pump from the kids), and re-assembled the room.

Then, we finished a movie and went to bed.

Chapter 5: Hop on over to Sunday

Welp, we overslept and didn't go to church. Instead, we went straight to my mom's for lunch. Then, we drove about 20 minutes to the next town east and went to see Hop with the kids. Cute movie, but Teo was quite ornery during a good portion of it. He did end up falling asleep, just in time to wake up for the entire drive home. Then, dinner and I went to church for our Lenten series. I was special enough to even have the mic for about five minutes or so and explain my role with the Fort Wayne Fatherhood Coalition and Anchor Community Church.

Chapter 6: Hello Monday

Back to life. Real world. Work. Hoping to get this week pretty much done by Wednesday night so that I get to clean Thursday and Friday..we'll see. Oh, and I'm going to try to keep blogging through this insanity...



Report Cards, Play Areas, and Dirty Looks...Oh My!

Around four this afternoon, I had a parent-teacher conference for Isa. This time the conference was with her afternoon (English) teacher, instead of her morning (Spanish) teacher. Miss Smith said that Isa was doing really well. For the mid-year placement tests, she got scores well past what was needed to go to 1st grade. On the one, they need a score of 30, and she got a sixty- or seventy-something! Go Miss Isa! Of all her "grades", she got mostly pluses, but a couple of "carrots" meaning that she needs improvement. The teacher said it wasn't that she didn't know, but that she was a chatterbox and would often be talking instead of listening, so when it was time for work, she didn't know what to do.

To celebrate the overall greatness, we let Isa choose where to eat dinner. That's how we ended up at the mall foodcourt. After going to three restaurants and getting food, we ate.

At one point, I told Isa to eat or we wouldn't stay at the mall to play.

She responded, "You know how I feel about eating."

I couldn't help but laugh....and she still was forced to eat another chicken nugget.

After dinner, it was a ride on the carausel and a short walk to the play area that they have in the middle of the mall. It's one of those cushy play areas with a bouncy type floor and a bunch of objects, like a tree or a mushroom, made out of something soft and fun. They have it in the middle of the walkway, with stores all around it and people constantly walking past.

It was there that Jose confessed that he understood why I feel paranoid in public places, about things like seeing certain people that would be uncomfortable, such as the "other chick" or the people that we most recently pissed off.

As the discussion tapered off, Isa informed me that she needed to add the mall bathroom to her checklist of places that she has pooped. As we walked towards the bathroom, I looked over my shoulder at Jose and Teo, who were still in the play area. I had to do a double take, but there, walking behind him in the walkway, less than three feet from Jose, were the people we recently pissed off, who sent us hate texts, who threatened to kick certain body parts, etc.

And all I could do was chuckle at God's sense of humor.

The evening continued. We went to get ice cream at DQ and were joined by some friends. T and I went on a quest to find A&F's controversial swimsuit line (only to find out that the children's store at our mall shut down...darn), leaving her hubby and mine to take the kids back to the play area. The best part is that T is a germaphobe, so having her kids play there freaked her out! Awesome!

Through the night, there were a couple more crossings between us and the "haters," and we would be dead right now if looks could kill, but they never said a word to us, although Jose did wave once.

Interesting night for our family...how about you?