There are so many little things that taken individually aren't a big deal. Put too many of them together and things start to slip and snowball. After awhile, you just try to keep afloat.
I made Big Sister cry on her birthday. I couldn't promise to come to her school to hand out her birthday snack. Yes, this is very first world problem and obviously something that many first world kids deal with daily. But, to me and my big girl, this is something special that shows her I would move heaven and earth for her.
Thank goodness I will be able to surprise her and her friends with brownies.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Sunday, April 21, 2013
JDRF Walk for the Cure
We joined Maddie and Her Daddy's Team in the Walk for the Cure with JDRF. The team is aptly named as both Maddie and her daddy are Type 1 Insulin Dependent Diabetics. Big Sister walked the whole way and never complained about walking. Little Brother wasn't quite as disciplined, but he did pretty good for a 3-mile walk. His peers all had the opportunity to ride in a stroller the whole way. He was walked about 2 out of 3-miles and was carried or placed on shoulders intermittently for the other mile.
We are happy to support a friend and classmate's family with this daily struggle. Maddie's Mom has a great attitude and helps her lead a full, typical child's life.
We are happy to support a friend and classmate's family with this daily struggle. Maddie's Mom has a great attitude and helps her lead a full, typical child's life.
Big Sister's Birthday party
Big Sister celebrated her birthday at the County Gymnastics Gymnasium. After months and months of agonizing over who the 8 partygoers would be, she had a great time with her friends. Thankfully everyone was able to attend the party, but sadly one friend went home after the gymnastics portion because she didn't feel well. We were sad to miss you.
Ms. Deb let her choose the activities: floor, trampoline and foam pit. At the end when the kids received their participation stamp, one girl commented, "You can't blow out these candles." This is quite funny considering what happened at Little Brother's party last weekend.
Big Sister was so happy that all here friends were able to join us. It meant a lot to her the she was able to enjoy her celebration with her friends. We appreciate such great friends and know that we are lucky to have you all in our lives.
Ms. Deb let her choose the activities: floor, trampoline and foam pit. At the end when the kids received their participation stamp, one girl commented, "You can't blow out these candles." This is quite funny considering what happened at Little Brother's party last weekend.
Big Sister was presented with gymnastics medal for being the Guest of Honor.
The girls had a chance to have a little fun before they left the floor.
Big Sister was so happy that all here friends were able to join us. It meant a lot to her the she was able to enjoy her celebration with her friends. We appreciate such great friends and know that we are lucky to have you all in our lives.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
You are the meanest mom in the whole world!
Who would ever think being called the meanest mom in the whole world would be a compliment? Today is the day I finally let Big Sister flounder and completely, utterly, and miserably fail knowing the anguish she would feel. That's not to say I haven't let her fail before, but never quite to this extreme.
Laying on the floor of her room in front of her closet, I told her she could do what was best for her. At 7 o'clock, she was in the same place wearing the same pajamas. I then informed her that she had a choice to make. Her two choices were: go downstairs in her pajamas and go to school OR stay in bed for the remainder of the day since she was so tired and couldn't get dressed. She cried and carried on how I was the meanest mother in the whole world. My reply? "That is a compliment."
After sneaking into a regular pair of pants, she chose to get in her bed rather than subject herself to the social embarrassment wearing pajamas to school would cause. I did overhear, "I know what I'm not going to do. I'm never going to do this again!" I didn't feel it was fair to Nanny or Little Brother to be subjected to her bad attitude and moody, screaming outbursts. She went to school under much duress; crying most of the way to the bus stop. I could feel her agony and embarrassment with every word any step. I felt the pain of learning the lesson the hard way, both hers and mine.
I am lucky that I had a mom who showed me the same "mean" love. Here's the full poem, from which she gave an excerpt hanging on my wall, reminding me how to be a "Mean Mother".
My Mean Mother...
Someday when my children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates a parent, I will tell them, as my Mean Mom told me: I loved you enough to ask where you were going, with whom, and what time you would be home.
I loved you enough to be silent and let you discover that your new best friend was a creep.
I loved you enough to make you go pay for the bubble gum you had taken and tell the clerk, "I stole this yesterday and want to pay for it."
I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your room, a job that should have taken 15 minutes.
I loved you enough to let you see anger, disappointment, and tears in my eyes. Children must learn that their parents aren't perfect.
I loved you enough to let you assume the responsibility for your actions even when the penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart.
But most of all, I loved you enough...to say NO when I knew you would hate me for it.
Those were the most difficult battles of all. I'm glad I won them, because in the end you won, too. And someday when your children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates parents, you will tell them.
Was your Mom mean? I know mine was. We had the meanest mother in the while world! While other kids ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal, eggs, and toast. When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for lunch, we had to eat sandwiches. And you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was different from what other kids had, too.
Mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times. You'd think we were convicts in a prison. She had to know who our friends were, and what we were doing with them. She insisted that if we said we would be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an hour or less...
We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve to break the Child Labor Laws by making us work. We had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the trash, and all sorts of cruel jobs. I think she would lie awake at night thinking of more things for us to do.
She always insisted on us telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the time we were teenagers, she could read our minds and had eyes in the back of her head. Then, life was really tough!
Mother wouldn't let our friends just honk the horn when they drove up. The had to come up to the door so she could meet them. While everyone else could date when they were 12 or 13, we had to wait until we were 16.
Because of our mother, we missed out on lots of things other kids experienced. None of us have ever been caught shoplifting, vandalizing other's property, or ever arrested for any crime. It was all her fault!
Now that we have left home, we are all educated, honest adults. We are doing our best to be mean parents just like Mom was.
I think that is what's wrong with the world today. It just doesn't have enough mean moms!
Laying on the floor of her room in front of her closet, I told her she could do what was best for her. At 7 o'clock, she was in the same place wearing the same pajamas. I then informed her that she had a choice to make. Her two choices were: go downstairs in her pajamas and go to school OR stay in bed for the remainder of the day since she was so tired and couldn't get dressed. She cried and carried on how I was the meanest mother in the whole world. My reply? "That is a compliment."
After sneaking into a regular pair of pants, she chose to get in her bed rather than subject herself to the social embarrassment wearing pajamas to school would cause. I did overhear, "I know what I'm not going to do. I'm never going to do this again!" I didn't feel it was fair to Nanny or Little Brother to be subjected to her bad attitude and moody, screaming outbursts. She went to school under much duress; crying most of the way to the bus stop. I could feel her agony and embarrassment with every word any step. I felt the pain of learning the lesson the hard way, both hers and mine.
I am lucky that I had a mom who showed me the same "mean" love. Here's the full poem, from which she gave an excerpt hanging on my wall, reminding me how to be a "Mean Mother".
My Mean Mother...
Someday when my children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates a parent, I will tell them, as my Mean Mom told me: I loved you enough to ask where you were going, with whom, and what time you would be home.
I loved you enough to be silent and let you discover that your new best friend was a creep.
I loved you enough to make you go pay for the bubble gum you had taken and tell the clerk, "I stole this yesterday and want to pay for it."
I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your room, a job that should have taken 15 minutes.
I loved you enough to let you see anger, disappointment, and tears in my eyes. Children must learn that their parents aren't perfect.
I loved you enough to let you assume the responsibility for your actions even when the penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart.
But most of all, I loved you enough...to say NO when I knew you would hate me for it.
Those were the most difficult battles of all. I'm glad I won them, because in the end you won, too. And someday when your children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates parents, you will tell them.
Was your Mom mean? I know mine was. We had the meanest mother in the while world! While other kids ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal, eggs, and toast. When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for lunch, we had to eat sandwiches. And you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was different from what other kids had, too.
Mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times. You'd think we were convicts in a prison. She had to know who our friends were, and what we were doing with them. She insisted that if we said we would be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an hour or less...
We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve to break the Child Labor Laws by making us work. We had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the trash, and all sorts of cruel jobs. I think she would lie awake at night thinking of more things for us to do.
She always insisted on us telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the time we were teenagers, she could read our minds and had eyes in the back of her head. Then, life was really tough!
Mother wouldn't let our friends just honk the horn when they drove up. The had to come up to the door so she could meet them. While everyone else could date when they were 12 or 13, we had to wait until we were 16.
Because of our mother, we missed out on lots of things other kids experienced. None of us have ever been caught shoplifting, vandalizing other's property, or ever arrested for any crime. It was all her fault!
Now that we have left home, we are all educated, honest adults. We are doing our best to be mean parents just like Mom was.
I think that is what's wrong with the world today. It just doesn't have enough mean moms!
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Welcome to the family
Little Brother decided he REALLY wanted to be a member of our multi-generation family tradition: knock out a tooth. He's a really tough boy and hasn't really been upset by it too much. He even talks about it as if it was a positive experience. Having Ice Cream, a popsicle, and a Slurpee over the coarse of two hours probably might have helped the bad memories fade away.
GO TOUGHY!
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
F1 Race in Bahrain!
Saturday, April 13, 2013
We all broke wood
Today we held Little Brother's birthday party at a local Tae Kwon Do College. Unfortunately, it wasn't so local that we could avoid the interstate. This made for a terrible travel for most of the guests. All but one made it to some portion of the party. We had a special "after party" with just him.
Several games were played and one even had the parents race. There were many great pairings: mommies, classmates, siblings, and child vs adult.
Little Brother was so excited about the cake, he bowed to the door instead of the flags behind him.
Every party goer got to break a board with their hand or fist. I even got to break not one, but two boards. Why? Because Moms ROCK!!!
We'd like to thank all of our party goers and the parents who brought their kids to the party. We had a great time and I know Little Brother enjoyed having his friends and their older siblings which he also considers his friends.
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