You can fill up a blog?

Evidently, there is only so much space out there and I have reached the max - well, the FREE max, that is.  So, I just printed my first year and a half of posts into a book through BLURB and it is AWESOME!  I'm so happy to have it printed.  I'm excited to do my next 2 books (in my freetime?!)!   And, now that I've spent some time deleting posts and photos, (I hated doing it - felt like I was erasing a part of myself) I hope to have more space to share some goodies from the past few weeks!

Is it a disease? Or a fashion statement?

St Patrick's Day

I'm bummed I didn't take a picture of Hunter's Leprechaun trap - but he did make one.   He covered it in tin-foil to make it shiny.  He also had the brilliant idea of painting a rock with gold paint - of course a huge chunk of gold would attract a little green guy - but not too big... he would know it was fake.  

Every year I resolve to do something "green" for next year's holiday - so this year I did a few things.  The kids asked for milk with breakfast and as I poured it in - it magically turned green!  (I was prepared with food coloring already in the cups and Hunter caught on quick)  I also made green pancakes for dinner.  Gotta love our "breakfast for dinner" night... everyone eats without complaining.  

 

 

Our day off

We didn't have school on Monday - due to a "Snow Make-Up Day" which is scheduled just-in-case.   This was how the day rolled:

SLEEP IN!  for everyone - since the clocks all jumped forward, it made us look really lazy.
Kids enjoyed video games for the morning and mommy enjoyed a slacker start for the day.
Afternoon - we saw TANGLED at the dollar theatre.  Why do I think that Danny can do movies?  He loves them - but about 1/2 way through, he decided to put his face up between the chairs in front of us (I don't think the boy and girl teenagers really appreciated that little face in the middle of their date).
Boys were fighting or crying the whole way home - an obvious sign that there's been a lack of physical activity for the day - so I stopped at a park.  What rain?  It's light..... you'll be fine.  (they were)
Noticed it was windy and I ran home to get the boys CHEAPO kites that we bought in Mexico.  Hunter asked if we could get a kite from somewhere besides Mexico as these were clearly not working.  They were ok - but VERY easy to create a massive tangled GLOB of string.  It was still fun.
Evening time - I decided to make dinner at 7 - all those lousy treats at the movie had kept us full till then.  I made Orange Chicken with veggies and rice and I was quite proud of my awesome meal... I really despise dinner time every night.  Hunter even liked it and Cole, well, he cried and cried and I decided he could go hungry.  I'm tired of that game.   I'm grateful for Shayne and his support in this matter.

It was nice to not have to be anywhere or do anything in particular and I thought it was a great day.  It ended with me reading more Percy Jackson to Hunter - we're almost to the end of the final book!!  And Shayne helped Cole fight Bowser on the Wii.  Whew.... now back to the routine.

Tragedy

Today was a tragic and sad, sad day for our family.  I can't tell you how much my boys have loved our newest pet, Chewy, always playing with him and loving him.  Well, Danny took him out of his cage today and handed him over to Maggie - of course she bit him and that was the end of Chewy.  Cole cried for an hour and half - and it wasn't just crying - it was a "wailing."  So sad for Cole.  Hunter was devastated too - he started to sob when he was told.  The sad thing is that Danny had no idea what went wrong - nor does the statement "Chewy died" mean anything to him.  It was hard to be angry with Maggie too, since she was handed the little guy.  I found myself going through all the emotions of grief: denial, anger, sadness, mourning, acceptance... I think there are 7 steps - but I'm still stuck on the mourning part.  It was really sad to see the lifeless little guy and to think about how fragile our little spirits are.  It was especially hard to see my boys' broken hearts.  Cole constantly reminds us and his friends who have stopped by that "at least Chewy's still alive in heaven."  Another tender moment during this ordeal was while I was hugging Cole and we just sobbed together.  He said, "he was my 2nd most favoritist thing in the whole world!" I asked him what was his first and I honestly thought he would say his blankie, but his quick and tear filled response was, "you guys" (meaning mom and dad).

::sigh::

Cole's Challenge

Every time I take the boys to the dentist, the dentist is very kind about the fact that Cole sucks his thumb.  He has said, don't worry about it yet - he'll stop when he is ready.  When he asked me about his thumb-sucking now that he's in Kindergarten, I mentioned he'll avoid it at school, but sucks like CRAZY at home.  It was driving us bonkers as it had INCREASED this school year.  The dentist recommended a "POSITIVE" method for quitting and I took it to heart.  He advised me to find a prize for Cole that would motivate him - and he should go 30 days without sucking his thumb, IN A ROW.  Honestly, this kid could not go even go 15 minutes.

So, we tried things such as "How about we take you to Lagoon?"  nah.

"We're goin to California this summer, do you want to go to LegoLand?"  nah...

Cole, what do you REALLY want?

C: A house

Me: You already live in a house.

C:  But I want my OWN house!

Me: Like a play house?

C: No, a big house.

Me: Sorry, it won't happen.

C: Then I want a car.

Me: I can't afford a car either.

C: Then I'll never stop sucking my thumb.

Me: Ok.

A week later -

C: Ok, Mommy, I want a play house, but it has to be a BIG ONE.

Me: Let's see what the playhouses look like

I pull up the Toys R Us website and we look at the houses that are UNDER $100.  I had to run out of the room for a second and when I return to the computer, Cole has scrolled down to the bottom of the list and exclaimed...

C: I found the one I wanted!  THAT ONE!!

Me: Sorry hon, but that's $2500 for a playhouse and I don't have that much money.

C: Then, I'll never stop.

Me: Ok.

A week later...

Cole comes home from a friend's house and exclaims that Layton's big sister is giving hamsters away for FREE!

C: Can I have one?

Me: They cost money to take care of.  Sorry.

C: But it's For FREE!

Me: Well, the hamster is free but, you'll need a cage, a water bottle, and an exercise wheel.

C: I'll do jobs!

Me: Ok!!

Cole did jobs for the next hour and a half - really it was impressive.  He came up with the jobs and worked really hard.  He earned $1.75.

C: Do I have enough?

Me: Let's look and see how much a cage costs.

We look online and see that the supplies are well above Cole's savings and then the lightbulb comes on over my head....

Me: Cole, I would be happy to buy you all these things if you stop sucking your thumb for 30 days.

C: Then I can get a hamster?!?!

Me: Yup.  30 days, IN A ROW.

C: Oh! I really want a hamster!

We made the following chart:  (notice his little hamster picture)

It took him a couple of days to get that "FIRST DAY", but once he started, he never missed a day.

Meet Cole's new pet:

His name is "Chewy"

We also stopped by the dentist's office and he gave him this bear - wow, I didn't expect that!

Maggie isn't so sure about the new addition...  but she hasn't attacked him or even barked at him.  We have such a good dog.  I hope this little guy is as great a pet as Maggie!  So far, the boys are LOVING him.  we'll see how much love they have after cleaning the cage!  One complaint though, the boys' room now stinks like Hamster.  Any advice fellow rodent owners?

My indulgence

When I was a missionary in Argentina I fell in love with a candy that looks like a gum drop, but tastes SOOOO MUCH BETTER!  Very fruity and sweet.  When we went on our Caribbean cruise a few years ago, I found the candy at one port.  I bought a handful of candy packets thinking that I might see the candy at other ports too.  Well, that was not the case and I was so sad that I hadn't BOUGHT EVERYTHING!

When we got to Mexico, we walked by a grocery store on the first day and I went inside, hoping to find "gomitas."  HALLELUJIA - they had some!  They look a little different than the Argentine version, but taste just as yummy (maybe because it's been so many years since I had them?)  So, I bought out the supply at the store - about 6 or 7 packages.  At the next port, I found more packages, and bought out the supply (another 6 or so packages).... do you see the pattern?  Shayne let me indulge in the candy hunt and we searched at every port.  By the 4th port, I didn't need to buy it ALL, but I did buy at least 6 packages every time I did see them!  Now I'm hopeful that one of the Mexican shops in this area will carry this type of candy... oh that would be heavenly!  So, behold my treasures from the cruise  (and did I mention it was hard to take a picture of these and NOT OPEN A PACK?!?  I'm trying to conserve and be wise... it's impossible to open a bag without eating ALL OF THEM).

Ensenada

Too bad I don't know how to the Spanish "n" to spell that name correctly.   The final port (#5) was Ensenada - which is just south of San Diego.   The highlight was visiting the "largest blow hole"... where water spits up into the air hundreds of feet.  We saw one (a blow hole) in Hawaii a few years back - evidently this is the largest one.  It was tough to get a photo of it - not a very good photo op being above it.

A father with his sons playing a marimba.  The marimba was beautiful.  It looked homemade when compared to marimbas I had in my classroom, but it was a very beautiful instrument.  I didn't mind making a donation to this trio's "donation" cup.  There were lots of beggers everywhere - but I like to see TALENT and hard work in action!

This proved to be the cheapest port as far as cheap, junkie souvenirs go.  We should have done all our shopping here - oh well.  We didn't bring home much - like I said, it was all the same junk at every port and honestly, we didn't like any of it.   

A view of the shopping street - hundreds of shops all filled with the same stuff.

We got the boys "Nacho Libre" masks.  They LOVE them.  I'm glad we got these!  Cole and Danny's have little attached capes.  I had to convince Hunter to take his mask off when we went to the Dino museum - I thought it was a little creepy to wear in public!  They are also wearing their new shirts - Hunter got a German Soccer Jersey (German while in Mexico? whatever...) and silly shirts for Cole and Danny - the mouths lift up and you can see the animals' teeth.  Danny LOVES his monkey shirt.