Star Wars Game

As many of you know, Justin loves toy guns! So I am sure you can imagine how excited he was to get a Star Wars shooting game for Christmas! Think Duck Hunt, Star Wars style! You just plug it into the TV and viola! You get to shoot all the alien robots you can!

Well, I don't let him play it as often as he'd like and Shawn made a comment to me yesterday about how wonderful of me it was to buy him a gift I won't let him play. Oops. That made me feel bad. And it's not that I don't want him to play it's that he won't do anything because he is playing.

So I made Justin a deal last night. If he did all of his chores, ate all of his dinner, and took a shower without complaining, he could play his Star Wars game! You should have seen that boy move! He did it all! And with very little complaint! There was a little whining while he was doing his chores ( I made him clean his room, make his bed, and clean the living room) but he was really good about it! And when he hopped in the shower and cleaned himself up, that was amazing! He hates getting clean and he usually insists on a bath (which pretty much soaks the entire bathroom!)

So I was very proud of him and he got a whole hour of game time! He was so happy! He even took turns with Katelynn after her chores were done! There was no fighting! It was great!! Even when it was time to turn it off, he did it without crying! WAY TO GO JUSTIN!!!

I think I have found another form of bribery to use on him! I hope it lasts!!

BTW- Speaking of bribery...the kids are still doing great staying out of my bed! I am so excited!!!

Katie's Hair

Since the start of first grade, Katie has been wanting to be more independent. Well, she's wanted it for a long time, but I just starting giving in at the start of first grade...let's put it that way. LOL

She showers and baths herself. She does her chores and keeps her room clean and bed made with little direction. She picks out her own clothes for school (I still struggle with that one, but she's actually doing a fantastic job!) and she wants to do her own hair.

That means that she either leaves it down all day or she pulls it into a pony tail herself (where it becomes a mess within a few minutes.)

It makes me so sad because I am so used to doing her hair everyday! I love it! I am not there in the mornings to help get her ready so I would do her hair in the evening after her shower. I think this was one of the reasons she wanted me to stop. It was cutting into her playing time. She always looked so neat and pretty! I love it when her hair is pulled off of her beautiful face so that I can see her eyes and her smile!!

I try not to whine too much but she knows how much I miss it. Last night I was combing Ciara's hair after her bath and Katie made a comment about how now I can do CC's hair and that I should be happy. I smiled at her and said that Ciara's hair isn't quite to that point yet but it will be soon and that I am excited to be able to do a little girls hair again.

Next thing I knew she had brought me a brush, comb, and hair ties to do her hair. She was so thrilled by the smile on my face as she asks me to do her hair for school tomorrow. She is such a sweet girl. She just wanted piggy braids. So I just pulled up half of her hair into the braids and flipped them. Really simple. It only took a few minutes and we both were happy. She then gave me a big hug and asked if I would do her hair everyday again because it gets in her face when she is playing at recess.

Now I am conflicted. I so badly want to take her up on that! But I am afraid she is just saying that to appease me. She is such a people pleaser. I want her to be happy too! It is odd to me that she worries so much about other people and their feelings. I want her to do things that make herself happy as well.

Writer's Block

I realize that I have been slacking off a bit on this blog. I think I am just having a bit of blog writing funk. I am certain there are several things I could talk about I just can't think of how to write about them.

For example, Katie was struggling with her spelling words this week. I test her on her spelling words every day. For every word she spells incorrectly she has to write it 5 times and every word she spelling right she only has to write it once. We continue like this until she spells each word correctly. Usually she does fantastic! Only having to repeat the test once or twice before she gets 100%. But this past week she would second guess herself a lot and change her spelling. I know she was getting frustrated but we were determined to get it right. She was so proud of herself when she brought me her 100% spelling test yesterday! I am so happy for her!

Justin is finally trying to write. I am proud of his efforts! He has really been stubborn about wanting to learn to write and draw. He prefers to scribble. But this week he is actually trying to do it correctly! I am so thrilled! He does get frustrated and wants to give up so I hope he sticks with it!

Ciara is as bitter sweet as ever! She has her precious little cutie moments quite often, but just as often does she turn into a terror! Her new favorite thing is to pretend to kick the little dogs! Poor things! She doesn't actually kick them she just lifts her leg up and down as if she was going to. After she got in trouble for that enough times she has now decided that jumping right next to them causes them the same stress! I don't know what I am going to do with her!!

House Guests

Shawn's parents are on their annual vacation to Arizona and Mexico to visit Karen's Dad, Grandpa Earl for two weeks. They are always so excited to go and get into the nice warm weather!

While they are away we are dog-sitting. They have two little dogs (and I mean little). They are both chihuahua mixes. Rascal is pretty old, I'm guessing at about 13-14. She doesn't really do a whole lot but hide and sleep. Infact, I am really worried about her. We've had her since Wednesday and she hasn't eaten for us at all! I would really hate it if something happened to her while she was on our watch!

And then there is Scooter! She's a chihuahua and wiener dog mix. And young. She's only about a year old so she is full of tons of energy! That dog is constantly going a hundred miles per hour! And the kids love it! They are having so much fun with her!

Me, on the other hand, is getting a bit frustrated. The dog pees everywhere! Just an example, this morning I got up and let her outside to go potty. Let her back in and went downstairs to exercise. I came up and got in the shower and when I got back into my bedroom, she had peed on my bed!!! I was so mad!

I hope it gets better. In the meantime, at least the kids are enjoying her!

Bribery

Bribery may not always be the best policy but it's working!

As you may know, we have struggled with getting the older kids out of our bed! They love to sleep with me! And I am a bit guilty too because I love to cuddle with them as well! It is just so easy to let them crawl in bed and we watch a movie while we go to sleep.

Well, enough is enough. We told the kids that for every week they don't sleep in our bed they will get to pick out a new toy! And to really put the cherry on top, Daddy promised them a trampoline if they do it everyday until Spring!

I haven't had any problems at all getting them to bed! And they stay in their bed all night! That is the beauty of it! Every night I at least one of them has gotten up for one reason or another (thirsty, has to go to the bathroom, and my personal favorite...bloody nose) but they ALWAYS go back to their bed! I am so proud of them!

WAY TO GO KATIE AND JUSTIN!!!

Ciara's first time out

As you can tell from my previous post, Ciara is quite a tease. She loves to chase her sister around with boogers, steal Justin's darts and run from him so he can't get them back, and turn the TV off when everyone is watching a movie and stand over the switch so no one can turn it back on. Those are just a few of the little "tricks" CC has been learning.

Well last night she was just in a mood and was obviously craving attention. She was picking on everyone and almost at the same time! Finally, I had to put her in a time out. As you can see, she didn't like it too much. But she stayed there for her minute and then she calmed down and was the sweet little girl we all know and love.

PS- Ignore the bottle in her hand. hehehe

Boogie Monster!

Ciara discovered a few weeks ago that her finger fits perfectly in her nose! To her, that's just where it goes. She has since discovered that it can be a useful tool to remove unwanted boogers. And she has now found a way to use this information to torment her sister.

She loves to chase Katelynn around with a booger at the tip of her finger, threatening to wipe it on her. I know I shouldn't laugh. It's disgusting. But it is just too hilarious to watch.

Katie runs and hides, but Ciara always catches up! And she is laughing and smiling the entire time that poor Katie is whining and crying.

I have told Katie numerous times to just ignore her. The reason Ciara likes to do that to her is because for her, Katie has turned it into a game. So Katie tries to keep tissue with her so that when Ciara comes running toward her with her finger pointed Katie can just wipe the booger off.

I had to laugh

My Mom starts school today! I am very proud of her. I know this isn't going to be easy for her and is going to take a lot of determination and encouragement. So yesterday afternoon I dropped by her house to wish her luck! I brought her a small gift with some basic school supplies and a cake.

I picked out a plain cake from Smith's bakery and had asked them to write Back to School on it for me. The lady obliged with a smile and handed the cake back to me reading, "Back Too School!" I just had to laugh. I know that the to vs too is a common mistake, but it was just too ironic that the mistake happened when referring to going to school!

Farewell to RJ

RJ called me last night to tell me good-bye before his deployment today. I was already asleep so I was very confused when the phone rang and I couldn't focus my eyes enough to see the clock. My internal clock read about 3 in the morning so I was even more confused when he sounded surprised to hear I was in bed.

The conversation was pretty brief, mostly because I don't think I ever fully woke up, which I feel horrible about this morning. But I am still very glad I was able to talk to him before he took off. This deployment is scheduled to be 6 months. He has a feeling though that it will be extended, which he doesn't sound too happy about. He says the 6 months he can handle, but any more than really gets to him.

Mandy is going to see him off this morning and then hop on a plane herself. She is going to go home to her parents for this deployment. I am really happy for her. I can only imagine how hard the separation is for both of them and I think being around her family and friends will help her enormously! I know she is planning on getting her old job back for the 6 months too which will help keep her busy. She loves what she does and I hope that will be a good healthy distraction for her.

Well, I just wanted to send my love to the both of them. Good luck! I miss you!!!

PS - When I hung up the phone I was able to get a good look at the clock...it was only 10. LOL

Bubbles

Bath time is always a battle. My girls love to take baths or showers but Justin...::shakes head:: He is a completely different story. So last night was the bath battle with Justin. Luckily, I won without too many tears.

The kids all received bubble bath in their stockings and each of them wanted to use their bubble bath. So they ended up with a TON of bubbles in the bath. But it turned out great because they had such a fun time!

At one point I left the bathroom to straighten up the house. Next thing I knew, Ciara had climbed out of the tub and was coming toward me laughing. She was covered in bubbles! Literally from the top of her head to the tips of her toes! I was shocked that she wasn't' crying because of all of the bubbles in her face and eyes, but she thought it was funny.

I was able to take a picture before she ran back into the tub. This is her smiling. And I think she thought she was facing me, she just couldn't see well enough to tell.

Notice the bubbles on the walls! With great fun comes great cleaning.