Now You're All Caught Up!

It's like I fell off the face of the planet in blog world!  What actually happened is I was feeling kind of proud of myself for getting back into the blogging routine.  That's what happens when you puff yourself up.  You deflate.

Here's where our family has been, and what we've been up to:

1. The Little Man was Student of the Week.  He had to fill out a poster about himself and take care of Freddy the Frog for the week.  Freddy got hung up in his backpack and slept all week.  Ooops.  We did get him out and take him to basketball practice.  After all that sleeping, he was ready to get his game on.

The night before it was due, The Little Man hammered out his poster.  For not getting any help, I thought he did a great job:

We did eventually get a pic on the poster. 

Basically, I won a mom award for teaching my child the importance of taking school work seriously, and not procrastinating. 

2.  The Girl saved up enough money to buy her own DSi.  She hasn't been the same since.  Her favorite game is Nintendogs.   Apparently, her caring and nurturing spirit knows no bounds, and can extend even into the video game world.  In this game she cares for, nurtures, and trains dogs.  As she continues to do a good job she can earn money to buy supplies, food, and even more dogs.  If the house is all quiet, and all of a sudden there is a shrill, some giggles, and then a squeal, it's possible she has just won a dog show, and now has enough money to buy a new dog.  Either that or dog food has just gone on sale and she has bought in bulk.  At least she now knows how I feel when I get a good coupon or find a great deal at Costco.

3.  I was reminded of our somewhat plain, simple, and somewhat boring life when, on a recent Friday night,  The Little Man broke the silence of the evening by letting us know that he had just farted for 30 straight seconds.  The Hubs didn't even crack a smile.  He just asked, "Well, do you think you need to check your shorts now?"  I laughed about this for days. 

Seriously, that's all it takes, folks.

4.  The Little Man has been hooping it up at basketball for the last month and a half.  Saturdays, are spent watching him play in games, trying not to keep score (since at this age they don't keep score, officially), and trying to keep myself from "coaching" him.  It. Is. Hard.  I am very pleased with the amount of improvement in him and the team's understanding of the game since last year.  His desire to practice and learn more and more has also increased.  It's amazing what a year will do! 

5.  The kids both had their last Parent/Teacher conferences of the year.  For the first time ever, I was nervous about these.  The Girl has been struggling with school since November.  The struggle isn't academic, per say, but it has effected her academically for sure.  I was happy that I came away from the conference with a better understanding of what is going on at school as well as the fact that I shed not one tear. 

Because I'm a big time crier.  A bawl baby, really.

6.  The kids and I got a chance to see my sister who lives about an hour away.  It was a fun little get away, and really, it had been too long.  The kids played together wonderfully, and I was able to catch up with my sister face to face.  On the way there, the kids got to use the DVD player that is built into the SUV I got in November.  It's only been used one other time.  We let them turn it on on the way home from where we bought it.  Since then, it's been a rule that there will be no DVD player unless we are on a car trip of an hour or more.  I don't know what the kids where more excited for: to see their cousins, or to watch a movie in the car. 

On the way there, I was getting all these texts, and I was feeling proud and like I was such a good fellow driver and example for the kids because I was ignoring them while driving.  I was all, "See this kids!  These texts can wait until we get where we are going.  Texting and driving don't go together."  They were like, "Mom!  Are you talking to us?  Because we are watching a movie here." 

That's when I noticed that God had placed in front of me the most gorgeous view of Pikes Peak that I have seen in a while.  Well, I can't let that kind of beauty go undocumented.  So I whipped out my camera phone and attempted to drive and take a picture at the same time.  Technically, I wasn't breaking the law.  The law says nothing about using your camera phone and driving at the same time. 

I did come to my senses, though, when I realized that if I really wanted to get the mountain in all her glory, then I would need to get a little zoom out of the lens.  That's where I draw the line.  You shouldn't try to figure out how to zoom in on something, take it's picture, and drive at the same time.  Like I said, I was trying to be a good example for the kids in the back seat.

See what I mean?  I totally needed a zoom.  In real life, that mountain was so much closer and way more impressive.

7.  I've been substitute teaching here and there.  It's been nice.  I like the freedom I have in it.  I get to teach when I want to, I don't have to take on the responsibility of report cards or parent teacher conferences, and if they are a naughty group, I don't have to face them again the next day.   Thankfully, I haven't had any super nasty classes. 

This week, my mom watched The Little Man while I did a full day of teaching.  Since The Little Man has just 1/2 day kindergarten in the afternoon, she came over in the morning, and took him into school after lunch.  When I left, I told The Little Man to make sure he helped his grandma with the schedule, getting himself dressed, getting his snack packed, and getting to school on time.  Well, my boy took what I said, and decided to take charge.  When my mom got there, this is what he gave her:

I'm not sure what he had to remind her of at 10:00, but according to the check, he got it done.  Also, my mom did tell me that he kept a tight grip on the schedule.  There was no wiggle room on the times.  He made sure he did each thing at the right time. 

I love that kid.

8.  Lastly, we have been anxiously awaiting the birth of my newest niece or nephew.  I think not knowing the sex has made the wait just that much more intense.  One thing is for certain, girl or boy, the kids and I Can. Not. Wait. to get our hands on this newest family member.  I am loving that both of my kids love babies, and want to care for and love on them.  While this has always been true of The Girl, The Little Man is a whole different story.  For a long time babies were not his thing.  To some extent I think they still may not be, but he admires his sister so much, he always wants to love the things she loves.  The Girl? She LOVES babies.  I have no doubt she'll have a bunch of her own, one day.  I love what The Little Man said about his newest cousin coming:

p: Mom, I can hardly wait for Aunt Lala to have her baby.  I hope it's a girl.
me: Oh, me too, buddy! 
p: Yea, Sister really wants a girl cousin, and since I already have boy cousins, I want her to have a girl cousin.
me: Me too.
p: Plus, if it's a girl cousin, then she can have the baby all to herself, and I can play with B!

Yup, he might be unsure about babies still.

Now you're all caught up!

Snow Days

 

RIP Midnight

If you ever had a goldfish for a pet as a child, you know first hand how long they live. 

It's a short life.

When The Girl first asked for a goldfish almost two years ago, the first scenario that came to my mind was that we would buy all this stuff for a fish, it would only live for a few weeks, and then I would have a devastated child who mourned the life of said fish for longer than the fish actually lived.  Scenario two was we would have this fish, she would keep it in her room, and each month I would come in and clean out the nasty aquarium cursing the day I agreed to the whole idea.

Scenario two was the path we took.  Except, I only cursed once in a while. 

And it was all inside my head. 

Unless, The Hubs was around, and then I let him know how I felt.

I was SHOCKED that our fish made it as long as it did.  Who knew goldfish could live for almost two years?  The Girl was a fantastic goldfish momma.  She always remembered to feed it, she decorated the aquarium, and paid close enough attention to the fish to know when he/she was not doing well, or needed the water refreshed (AKA needed her mom to clean the tank).

Unfortunately, Midnight got a bad case of swim bladder disease, and never recovered.  Interestingly enough, or not, this is the same way Calico died just a few months earlier.  I guess it's a common thing, and after reading that article, it is treatable and preventable.  Ooops.  I guess we are a day late and a dollar short.

I was very proud of The Girl.  She handled everything very maturely.  When it became clear that Midnight was not going to make it, she told me that she would much rather Midnight be in fish heaven where she would not be suffering any longer than to keep her here.  We all said our good-byes,  took some last minute pictures, and cried a bit.  The Little Man was very tender towards his sister saying, "I know just what it feels like to lose your favorite fish."  He's sweeter than sugar.

Rest in peace, Midnight.  Thanks for hanging out as long as you did.