Things I Learn From My Kids
We have a rule that when the kids play in the yard, they have to pick up all the toys before they come in. Emma gets very frustrated because they usually get sent back up to finish the job. The other day she insisted that everything had been cleaned up. Everything. Yet there were stuffed animals in the yard.
Yesterday, Rick was standing in front of the kitchen window, and saw a stuffed animal fall from the sky.
RJ is the culprit. He stands on his bed, and throws toys out his window. They slide down the roof and land in the yard. The roof is covered with clothes and toys, and the gutter is full of toys. I am glad that we discovered what was happening before we saw RJ fall from the sky.
Conversation between Emma and Jamie In a Parking Lot.
Jamie: Look at that guy's shoes! They are all jacked up!
Emma: How about that kid up there in the clown suit? He is wearing clod-hoppers!
My kids are so easy to please. We decided to go on a trip Saturday. The kids didn't care where we went. They were just glad to be in a car with a cooler full of food. Twenty minutes from home Jamie says,"Can I have a sandwich? I'm hungry." It cracks me up that they just want to eat.
We ended up in Bastonge and had a good time. We did not make it to the actual battlefield, but I hear that the foxholes are still visable. Rick will be putting some pics and a longer story up on his
site.
Emma's class has been studying the environment and she had to do a project to shre with her class. She chose to make a game. We all have been working on this game for about a week, since she had to design the money and everything. Last night, we all played it, to make sure there were enough cards and money and all that jazz. It turned out to be a pretty fun game. I think her classmates will enjoy playing it.
Yesterday was the grand opening of our bowling alley, so we decided to take part in the ceremony. The bowling alley is very nice and they have a wide selection of food, which is a major asset to the community. We had a good time. Even RJ bowled. You can eat you lunch while you wait for his ball to make it down the lane though! Emma finally beat Jamie for I think the first time.
Sometimes having children forces you to find creative ways to solve problems. When Emma was small, around two years old, she would pick her nose until it bled. It was especially bad at bedtime, when there was nothing better to do than pick her nose. Finally we learned that if we put band-aids on her fingers, it made her fingers too big to fit in her nostrils. Then she was unable to pick.
The weather has been very nice lately, so we let the kids play outside as much as possible. The other day, the kids where all in the backyard. I stuck my head out the door to see what they were up to and noticed Rj had the lid to the lawnmower gas tank in one hand and a rock in the other. I ran over to him and pried the rock from his fingers before he could poke it into the mower. Then I looked in the mower gas tank and saw I was too late. It was full of rocks. I don't mean that he stuck a few rocks in the gas tank; I mean he couldn't have gotten that last one shoved in even if I didn't take it away.
He is such a funny little fellow. We bought a rug for the living room and he just loves to run cirlces on it because it feel sofr under his feet. When he is tired of running circles, he does summer-saults. What a funny little boy.
He messed his pants this afternoon, so we went him up to have a bath. After about 3 seconds in the tub, he comes down here wrapped in his towel saying,"piece, piece." I told him he only gets a "piece" if he goes in the potty. He doesn't get anything when he goes in his pants. I took him back up the stairs and put him on the floor. He ran over to the toilet to show me that he did use the potty. I was so proud of him, then I looked in the tub and immediately saw why he had such a short bath. I hate it when kids poop in the tub.
Things I learn from my kids. This should include the time-honored phrase "it doesn't matter if you win or lose, it is how you play the game." Sorry all, that is what losers say. I should know, since I am the losing-est coach in the world, and pretty irratated by it. Therefore, I am not going to discuss that here.
Our preist had some nice comments about Emma today, so I am quite pleased. I think all parents (at least good parents) wonder how their kids act when they are not around. So it was nice to hear the preist say that Emma is very good during her religion classes. She listens, sits still, pays attention and is respectful. That was nice to hear, and I will be sure to pass it along to her.
It is junkin' time in our town. I will have to take the girls out. They are embarrassing to take out because it is not good enough for them to just do a psycho drive by, then go back to the good piles of junk. They want to stop at every pile and paw through it. "Mom, you never know what is buried under that heap of wet, moldy carpet." During junkin' week, they always come home from school with a bunch of crap they dug out of a pile. Last fall, Emma found a brief case that she wanted to keep all her 'spy stuff' in, but unfortunately she found it on her way to school. She hid it in some bushes, thinking she could retrieve it on her way home, but someone else took it. She was devestated, but luckily we found another one for her to use. There is always tons of chairs. If you want any furniture, you have to be quick, because people rip off all the hardware to recycle it. It is pure craziness.
