Today....

Today Im thankful for my kids. Im thankful that God ultimately chose for us to be their parents when they needed parents. Just the other day I went to an award ceremony at the middle school, where L recieved his membership into the honor roll. Not only that, but he was the ONLY kid in his grade that got a 4.0. How proud was I? Verrrrry proud. I guess there is no need to nag this particular kid about homework, I think hes got it down....unless, his grades start slipping, which I dont think they will. Seriously, Im just bursting over here.

Im thankful for the laughs that my little guy gives me. A lot of the time he is actually trying to be funny, and he's successful. Many times though, he's not trying to be funny, but he is anyway. Last night there was nothing on tv and we were all too lazy after a hectic week to do anything else, and since we love sharks, we watched  "I Shouldnt be Alive" about a shark attack in Australia. For some reason this particular shark tale creeped little boy out more than usual (He LOVES sharks, so likes to watch stuff on them, even stories about attacks normally). Knowing his uneasiness, when I said a prayer with him after tucking him in, I prayed for his feelings of safety and prayed that he would realize that God is in control, even of sharks. He promptly added:

"And zombies".

Me: "Yes, zombies too".

I am thankful for my daughter too. For really different reasons than her brothers. She is definitely a unique individual with a really caring heart. If there is anyone in any discomfort, anywhere near her, or in need of any help with anything, she is right there. All I have to say is my back hurts and she will try and rub it for me, or if I say I dont feel well, she scampers off down the hallway and comes back with a wet wash cloth to put on my head, and demands that I lay down, lol. Yesterday she was buttoning grandmas coat up for her, I guess because grandma looked like she was needing help. It would not surprise me if she grew up to be an RN or something.....if she can keep her mouth quiet in class long enough to graduate, that is:)

LMBO

Monday Mumbling....and a movie review

Well...it looks pretty certain the GICOE isnt coming back. I wont say too much about that though, because although he drove me insane, I dont wish bad health on him either. However, it is so much quieter around the office.

Had a good weekend despite the hub being gone. The hub is off on his way to hunt with his brothers..he wont be back until Thanksgiving night. I miss  him and the kids miss him. The dogs miss him too. Surprisingly I havent broken anything that I cant fix myself...so far so good.

Friday was L's birthday. He is 12 now. Yep, one year away from teenage hood...yippee. He is an awesome kid though, and hopefully when the aliens steal his brain (because they do you know, at age 13 and they wont return it until age 20) it wont be too bad. As good luck would have it, S and A got invited to friends houses to spend the night, so L had a friend over and they got the whole wii, living room, and cherry pie to themselves, all night long. I retreated to my bedroom with the dogs and I did some much needed cleaning and organizing and tossing out while watching the old mini series "Rich man, Poor man" on DVD. Does anyone remember that from the 70s, starring Nick Nolte, and Peter Straus?

Saturday morning the local theatre was showing a free movie for kids (and parents), "The Dispicable Me". Review and Rating by me to follow at the end of this post. They were asking for canned food donations for the holiday season. I think we could feed Ethiopia with what they must have received. Honestly....it was insane. They used all 8 screens for this event...which is a good thing, because that line for the first times alone, had to be a mile long. We waited in line for 45 minutes. I was in a party of 12. I had my three kids plus two other boys, and my friend had her two and one extra, plus her mom and my mom. We also got one free popcorn and small drink per person. We didnt stand in the crazy snack line first, we went and secured our seats. The six of us females in the second row and the six little boys in front of us (within reach:)). Normally, we wouldnt choose the front row, but it was the only two rows left that could accommodate our huge group. Then two adults and four of the boys went and got the popcorn and pop...and somehow we managed to get back to our seats with all 12 orders of popcorn and pop. We must have seen everyone we know at the theatre...it was insane. The kids were great; of course it helps that the movie didnt have one single dull moment in it.

Now the movie....for those of you who havent seen it....the only warning we read about was for adopted kids...at first, I was like "oh great"...but a little talk with the kids to warn them and talk about any feeling ahead of time was key. POSSIBLE SPOILER:  Before you see it, if you have adopted kids...be warned that after three little girls are adopted, they are "returned" by the  adoptive parent. Dont worry though, it has a happy ending (of course). I warned my kids about that part of the movie and we talked about it. My kids assured me that they werent worried about that happening to them.

Anyway, the movie has a fantastic message to it about the value of family as opposed to any material thing you might gain (including the moon itself). I recommend it as a family film that adults (with a sense of humor) and kids will all enjoy. I loved this movie, and I plan on purchasing it. My husband, hater of most things animated, will even laugh at it...Im convinced.

SAD

REST IN PEACE ZAHRA...........

Yay and Grrrr....

So this was just going to be a nice little post about what Im thankful for today..but there is going to be something a little more that is very disturbing to me. So, I will start with the nice stuff first. Today, I am thankful for VETERANS, duh...right? No really, I am. I am a veteran myself, however I dont hold myself to the same standard as those who have fought and/or died for our country. I have done neither. I was in the Army during the Gulf War, but I did not go to the Gulf and fight. I stayed in Germany and were on standby incase there were any riots or protests that occured. I was an MP and this was what my unit was slated to do in the event that civil unrest in the area occured. It did not. That being said....Im thankful for those who did fight in our many wars. Truthfully, Im also thankful that I did not get sent to the Gulf, because I find the idea terrifying...being anywhere NEAR a battle, so for that I am thankful. So to those who did I am extremely  thankful.

Ok now the icky stuff......I just saw on Taste and See God's Goodness that Amazon.com is selling a book on there that I dont believe (regardless of our First Ammendment Rights) should be sold at all. AND it would be really nice if Amazon.com would take a stand against things that even suggest pedophilia as something "pleasureable" Yeah, Im not kidding. Go check out the blog and see what Im talking about and then maybe send Amazon.com a little email....like Im going to. Maybe tell them that you will not be shopping with them if they continue to promote and sell this book, if you buy from them (like I do). I believe in freedom of speech, I really do. However, I believe some things are just plain wrong, when it involves innocent children and fueling the fire of the countless pedophiles that roam our neighborhoods. Its not legal to engage in chilld pornography on the web (some would say that is a violation of our rights) nor is it legal to publish or manufactor images of children in a sexual manner...so WHY is OK for books like this to be sold? I dont get it......

UPDATE: This is what happens when you are a blog slacker like me who just now gets around to reading yesterdays blogs....apparently Amazon.com felt the pressure and stopped the nonsense. That gives me hope...however, I still feel that publishing such a thing should be illegal.......

Im a super slacker

I had good intentions for the thankful post a day thing....I really did. Life got in the way, I guess. I need to catch up on other blogs too, Im pretty behind.

Today I am thankful for good teachers. Last night was parent/teacher conferences and I am so impressed with A's teacher this year. Last year was a struggle. Hubs and I were sure the teacher had a screw list, as she tried to convince us to do the Connors test for ADHD for A. We were pretty certain he did not have this problem because the behaviors she was constantly complaining about, we never saw...or very seldom saw. So, because it was only in HER environment, we didnt have him tested. This is the teacher who refused to use any behavioral modification techniques to solve the problem...too lazy, I think. We kept telling her that he responds well to having privledges revoked. We would have done it at home, but she wouldnt tell us on a weekly basis how he was doing, like we requested. We were beyond frustrated. This year, new teacher and its a whole other story.

I LOVE this teacher. She communicates well with us. She sends a WEEKLY report about behavior home with him. She uses a behavior card system, where a child starts out on green every morning, which is no problems, and can go to yellow for warning, a orange for refocus, to brown, a call home, to black, a visit to the principals office. Alex has had an orange card ONCE, a yellow card a couple of times and the rest....he stays on green. We gave him the incentive of receiving a special treat every Friday if he stays on green, and it has worked. Drugs? He didnt need them obviously. What he needed was a teacher who has a clue. A teacher who clearly lays out her expectations to her students so they have no question about what she wants from them. The last teacher wouldnt even say anything to him, just complain to us at conference time. AND he made student of the month last month. Have I said I love this teacher. She too is amazed when comparing the kid he really is to the kid last years teacher made him out to be in her little notes in his file. Ugh. If I had another kid young enough to get her again (if she gets her job back...she was laid off in the cutbacks)...I would make it very clear that I dont want my child in her class. I mean she is the epitome of lazy to me. Am I being a little unfair, maybe...but Im irritated.

Have a Heart for Adoption? Please Read...and Share.

I just came across this post on blog I read...and thought it was definitely worthy of sharing. It is times like these I wish I had unlimited resources. Sigh.

Because We Are Free....

Today Im thankful for freedom. Im thankful that we are for the most part, a free country. I was able to read my Bible this morning, because we are free. I was able to choose what I wore today, and what I drove, and what I listened to today because we are free. I can own guns if I choose because we are free. I am able to post anything that I want to on this blog because we are free. I am able to read what you write on your blogs, which is whatever you want to, because we are free.

Inspired

I really didnt have anything profound to say (do I ever?) so I wasnt really planning on blogging anything. I have been reading blogs and trying to play catch up, and in doing so, I got inspired. More than a few blogs that I read today are doing a Thankful challenge where everyday they share what they are thankful for that day. So....Im going to do it to. Its always nice to count your blessings in the face of all the crap that this world can throw at you.

I also want to share a post from MiMi on her dislike of "religion" as a Christian. You know...I could not have said it better. Its like she was hanging out inside my head and took notes. I agree with her 110%, and so I want to share the link to her post because well, she makes sense...and she is always hilarious too. So go HERE and read....

Ok..so today I am thankful for my mother. I can count on her for all kinds of stuff. She doesnt care if I call her at midnight because at 6 am the next morning I really need her to come over and get the kids off to school. She wants me to do that if I need her...and quite frankly, Id be stuck if I didnt have her to help out with this...she is awesome.

Monday Mutterings...

Wow...what a nutty weekend. Saturday was A's football game, where lots of cheating from the other side commenced. Seriously, your are NOT allowed to rush and certainly are not allowed to tackle in 2nd grade flag football. For real....

Ok, then we had to rush home and set up for A's eighth birthday party (8!!! Already!). Can I just say, that Im surprised Im not locked in a room somewhere, babbling to my self? Now I understand what my husband meant when he said, "are you sure?" when I said I wanted to throw a party for A. It was mayhem. Of course hubby had to slip out to pick up L from an all day scouting event. He wasnt gone ten minutes when I called him and asked him what was taking sooo long. Lol....I flew through the activities because I was afraid of them getting bored...and they didnt really seem interested in anything but running through the house tackling and pushing each other. We had a "donut on a string" eating contest, that was HILARIOUS. I was going to post video of that, but Im using kids' real names in it, and so, I dont want to do that considering most of them arent mine.

My lovely mom was there to help me out and at one point we went downstairs to check on the dogs, as we had barricaded them safely away from the craziness of all those little boys. On our way back upstairs we heard THIS:

J: Hey, A..if your bleeding really bad, you should do this first.....

Yeah, so not what you want to hear as your entering a room of 7-11 year olds. Luckily it was just talk and no one was actually bleeding.

I did cupcakes instead of a cake, and this was more convenient for the boys to engage in a game of "pin the cupcake on A's head". A ended up with a couple of cupcakes on his head and on his face, which he thought was hysterical.

Oh, and no way did I EVER at any point in the party put a shot of vanilla vodka in my cup of punch. Nope, not me.

The next day was Sunday, and of course Halloween. I was taking a shower in the morning, and through the door I hear this:

A: Mom, L keeps...garble, garble, garble, garble....
Me: Tell him I said to stop...

Now, I have NO idea what L was doing really, because I couldnt hear because of the running shower. What ever it was, he must have stopped though. Raise your hand if youve ever answered a child in this fashion (without hearing the whole story)  because you were guessing what was going on, and because the tone of voice didnt seem to indicate emergency? I bet Im not alone......

Last night, whilst trick or treating we saw a neighbors house had about three police cars in front of it, and the police were up at the front door. Of course, things like this do not go unnoticed to 8 year old boys. Ever. He proceeded to announce in a very loud voice:

Oooh, who's getting arrested?

OY. I wish I had been wearing a mask.