Rat City

 Last Saturday I took Frank out on a date! I was SO excited for this!  We had toyed with doing the same old stand by of a dinner and a movie. I had a movie and a place to eat all picked out, then I saw a review for the movie we were gonna see and we decided to change things up.  Then I brainstormed an idea. An idea for the ages...lol kidding!  Anywho...I thought of going to see the Rat City Roller Girls.  They are Seattle's roller derby teams.  It was something new and different and it was in the 'big' city.  I was SO excited...it really was like having a first date and everything! 

I mean I had all intentions of shaving my legs and arm pits, doing my hair...getting as dolled up as you get at one of these events...yeah...that never happened.  This hairy beast went on a date...it was a sad state of affairs around here.

It all started the night before our date.  Eli got up in the middle of the night of course while I was on my way to bed. Now mind you this isn't huge news that he's up...however what was is that he was up shaking like a leaf. You know the kind of shaking you get when you have the flu...the uncontrollable shaking.  It was really all I could do to not just curl up and cry right there!  He was upset about how much he was coughing so I gave him some medicine and to bed he went.  He spent most of the day wavering over some imaginary threshold...I was waiting for him to go one way or the other.  He never did go one way or the other.  Dang kid!

Anyway, part of planning the date is finding child care so thankfully the grandparents said they would watch the kids AND have them overnight! That was an added bonus I wasn't planning on.  So Saturday came and we had them packed and we went to go and pack ourselves into the car.  The noise level went up like 10 octaves at the moment we said it was time to go. As we were getting in I put cough syrup and Tylenol in the car...welllll thanks to some little 'helping' hands someone had messed with the cough syrup bottle and it leaked all over my phone, the car and my gloves.  Lord knows 4 years from now I'm going to still be cleaning that stuff out of my console.  Super excited about that! That incident made us very late and we managed to get on the road late and as we were 3/4 of the way there I looked at Frank and asked if he had grabbed the tickets.  Yeah...if you are keeping score it's Kids 2, Parents 0.  So we had to drop the kids off and then drive all the way back to the house to get the tickets...we got to the derby much later than we planned.  Thank goodness we weren't on a time crunch or anything!

We finally get there and we sat down after getting dinner and watched the match.  We came in the middle of a match but none the less still very interesting.  It was fun seeing a new sport to us and then trying to figure out what they were doing and how they were scoring.  Now if you have seen the movie Whip It, with Drew Barrymore (I have no idea if I spelled her name right or not but you know who I mean, so go with it!) the whole thing looks really cool and the sport was super physical and fast paced! In the movie that is.  Now in real life it isn't nearly as physical and fast paced.  Now I know it's roller skating so it has a pace but it's all very interesting!  So we watched the last part of the first game and then because they play double header games we watched the first part of the second half.  I think by the time we left we had some of the game figured out.  How they were scoring and the point of the game.  It really was fun and I'd go again.  The seat prices were very reasonable in my opinion. I probably wouldn't bring my boys but that's mostly because I think they would lose interest quickly. 

So in this picture I took of them getting ready to start...they have blockers (have stripes on their helmets), Jammers((they have stars on their helmets) and the Jammers are the ones that are trying to lap everyone to get points.  Of course as you would guess the Blockers block the Jammers so that they can't lap and score points.  There was definitely a wide array of people that attend these events and the people watching was as much fun as the derby!

 Since we were there...AND I thought I needed a green shirt for Patty's day...I was NOT going to be pinched!  That and I was also promised at my MOPS meeting that someone would either bring green velvet cupcakes OR Irish Car Bomb cupcakes.  Irish Car Bombs were what was brought and can I just go off on a tangent here and tell you just how delish they were?? Let me wipe the drool off my face before we start.  OK, tangent: Irish Car Bomb cupcakes as I remember.  The cake part has 1 cup of Guinness, in the middle of the cupcake was Ganache' . In this ganache was Jameson Whiskey...yeah it's as good as it sounds...just trust me!  Then of course on the top, the frosting right?  Yeah...the frosting had Bailey's Irish cream...it was so worth the 1 whole one I ate AND the half of one I shared with Eli...there was no self control!  OK there was my tangent. 

I also really liked my shirt and to top it off the price was right!

So that was our date and I'm so glad we stuck with it and didn't settle for a movie and dinner and didn't settle for just bagging the night and staying home and doing what it always seems to be what we do...fight the urge to just go home and nap. Although, I do think we should do that just once.  Just have the kids do an overnight and we come home and just go sleep for hours upon hours.  Kinda like going to a restaurant and just eat dessert.  It would be SO worth it

 

Nothing special here other than I can still pretty much rock a side-pony tail pretty well, at the young age of 35!  This was after a work out and I saw what I looked like and I had a good laugh.  All I needed to finish the work out outfit was leg warmers and some kind of spandex right?

I hope everyone had a good weekend and is having a good week thus far!

Box of Rocks

Yeah...I know a few of you thought I would be joking about a box of rocks as a picture...that I might have something cute and funny.  Not so much today. 

 

Have you ever noticed that at times (and for me more often than not lately) talking to your kids and trying to reach them, to get through to them...really IS like talking to a box of rocks!

 

Today was a horrible parenting day.  First, thankfully I got off my duff and got off the computer and got a work out in...Thank you Lord for that!  Second, minutes after I was done with said work out, the phone rang.  Which is fine until I see who it is and see it's Lee's teacher...

...

...

...

...

...again.

 

Sigh...I dread it when that man calls...I am sure he is already counting the days down until school is OUT for the summer...he just sounded exhausted when I talked to him.  Wonder what I sounded like to him?

 

Sigh...Lee is giving him problems again (shocked? Yeah I'm not either), this time it's with doing class work.  They are doing multiplication in class and he's struggling.  He gets it the math, he's a smart kid (I can't say too smart because that would just be silly to say that but, too smart!).  He just doesn't want to sit and take the time to DO his work! So when he goes to his teacher asking for help with the 9's and then is told to sit down and do it a certain way or with blocks to make it a visual way to learn, he says fine and does it for like a minute and then just out right refuses to do anymore.  He flat out told his teacher he wasn't going to and didn't want to!  Ugh! This kid is so damn embarrassing sometimes!

 

 

 

So not only is he just telling his teacher no and doing whatever the heck Lee feels like doing, he's not doing his homework and he's hiding his papers and saying he doesn't have homework.  Then to top it off, since he's telling his teacher he needs help and he gets sent down to get more help, he then makes fun in a way, of the group of kids down there who really do need the help.  What the heck is that kid thinking!?! At what point is this kid (and Ian for that matter) going to ENGAGE his brain!!!!  ENGAGE!!!

Of course that seriously chaps my hide! I was the kid all through school that struggled with math...and struggled just isn't an adequate enough of a word to really get the depth and meaning of what math is for me.  Even to this day...to be quite honest with you their math homework scares me! I'll be the one going to Sylvan Learning to be tutored so I can teach them! I don't remember any of this stuff and I know why I don't but man oh man! When a mind blocks stuff it really blocks stuff...goes above and beyond!

Well the teacher and I continued to talk and I said that whatever he decided to do (as long as it wasn't unreasonable...) we'd support him.  I also told him he'd be doing whatever assignments he missed and then he'd also be doing multiplication and division practice sheets since he just doesn't understand it.  He's gonna get it after we are done!

Trying to reason with Lee lately and Ian is like talking to a box of rocks!  Are they hearing me at all?  Will they ever?

On top of all the school stuff we then had to deal with another issue, which I discovered after school.  I found some tubes of chapstick that I didn't buy and I know Lee didn't buy in his dresser.  Back story...about a month back I found a chapstick in Lee's pants pocket and I didn't buy and I know he didn't, and I asked where it came from or where he got it and he said that he found it on the floor of a store we were in.  I didn't really believe him (which I want you guys to know that I hate, HATE not believing my kids...I hate, HATE being lied to also!) but couldn't figure out where it came from and outside of beating the info out of him (which I think he would have outlasted me on that one) I let it go.  Flash-forward to today and to the 3 tubes of chapstick.  We show Lee the evidence and again ask where he took it from.  He finally caved and told us where and I looked at him and said you know what happens next don't you?

He started sobbing and said yes...that he was going to jail.  I didn't correct him on that and said well we'll see what they do when we get there.  He cried the whole way and kept repeating I'm going to jail.  I kept telling him it could happen, that I didn't know what would happen.  I also told him it's not OK to steal and when you make bad choices bad things happen...now or eventually.  Either way...it isn't good.  These are the consequences you are having to face for what you did.  There are always consequences to good things and bad things.  You made a choice, a very bad one, and now you have to face it. 

This is not the first time I've had to deal with this type of situation, we have had to do this with Ian and it wasn't pretty then.  As much as my kids cry during these things I want to cry and sob right along with them but I can't because I need them to understand the seriousness of what they have done and what the possible outcome could be.  I always wonder what people on the other side of these scenes are thinking.

We get to the business (thank goodness it was close by...we've had to do the lengthy drive before to nail a point home) and I tell Lee to wait in the car while I talk to the owner.  I get in the store and there are 2 guys there and I give them the run down.  I just say look I just discovered my kid stole from here and I'm making him come in and apologize for the stuff he took. He has 3 and we will pay for the 4th.  I know this isn't any fun for you guys either but if you wouldn't mind hearing him out I would appreciate it. I also told them that Lee thinks he's going to jail and I've not told him different...they just had a quite 'oh' as a response.  The guy in charge, I'm sure you can just imagine the look on his face, is newly 30 years old but no more than 32 yrs, and his face was priceless.  I saw a little fear in his face...no one wants to deal with this and then you panic cause what exactly do you say? You want to make your point too right?  Get this kid to understand!  He then said, yeah...we all have done stuff ...I remember doing this with my mom too... As I walked out I thought to myself...THAT'S what I saw pass over his face...the memory of when he had to do that...that was a little of the fear and empathy he was feeling for Lee.

They were game so I went to get Lee and he went in sounding like you do from some good, deep, gut wrenching sobs, trying to get his apology out.  Bless his heart the guy behind the counter did a good job.  He told Lee thank you for coming back and returning the merchandise and saying he was sorry.  He also told Lee that if he was caught stealing again he wouldn't be allowed in the store ever again.  THAT is what Lee will remember.  We paid for the chapstick and they said thank you to Lee with the reminder of being banned from their store if he was caught again.

I didn't stop there however, when we got back to the car I then made another phone call.  I called his grandparents and filled them in on the situation.  Here is why.  The business we were at helps in an outing that the grandparents pay for.  And it was while we were in this store on their dime that this situation happened, so I felt it warranted a phone call from Lee explaining what he did and what they said to him so that they were aware.  It was one more set of people he had to tell and be honest with.  The phone was handed to Lee and all he could do was sob...he couldn't get it out (and as I'm typing this I am tearing up at remembering his pain and the pain he caused himself and others...to us and the consequences that follow from this...as my friend put it...the 'breaks in character like this is SO SCARY'). Lee was finally able to get out to his Grandma what he had done and I also made him apologize to her about what he'd done. 

Because most Grandmas are good ones, she told him she loved him, asked if he was gonna do it again, and then said if you get banned from that store your Grandpa is going to be heart broken that he won't be able to do this thing with you...please don't do that to your Grandpa.  Then again told him that she loved him.

Lee made it out the other side but I pray he has learned something from this, that he takes away something from this...I need him to have learned something, that today was not for nothing.  That I wasn't talking to a box of rocks!


It has been so difficult here lately with the boys...parenting in general with them.  Teaching them respect, they don't talk to me the way they are, we do chores because it's what you do, you do what you are told to do, back talk is a NO-NO, swearing is not OK (even if all you want to do is laugh when your 4 yr appropriately uses the word and then uses his middle finger to point at something!), that we are kind to one another, love one another, respect people...even if they are your brother!  It feels like so many things are going in one ear and out the other.  We had such high hopes of doing something luxurious with the kids during the summer...at this point it's not going to happen. It makes me sad but my wise friend said sometimes you have to say no...this looks like one of those times.


 However Frank and I may still go but not as a family...


sigh....

Box of rocks.....










 

Amused?

 

 

 

 

 

Soooo...Lee's having fun, Eli is uninterested, and Dru looks happy.  However the bear looks completely unamused by Lee.  Like an annoyed parent...

Am I the only one that sees that? I want you to know how hard I'm laughing here...

Catching Up

There has been SO much going around here this last week! I'm glad it's over and we are starting a new week because I'm ready!

It was just yesterday I was in the gym filling out Kindergarten paperwork and crying! Now all the sudden they expect me to fill out paperwork for Middle School! I didn't cry while filling it out but there is still time because they have a day where you sign up for classes or walk around for middle school...it's like Middle school round-up! HA!

Ian is really excited and I am really, really nervous! He can't hardly get his act together to be organized and get his homework in spelling/English done correctly! It is honestly stressing me out the whole spelling/English bit! Another rant for another day I suppose.

I really just can't comprehend the fact that my oldest is on his way to Middle School...

 

Eli is incognito!  You can't see him! Trust. Me.

 You know I do more outings with Eli than I ever did with any of my kids! If you tell the big boys I'll deny it all the way to the funny farm! This kid is spoiled rotten...I have a sneaking suspicion he is aware of that also! Frank had had the weekend off, which included Friday so we went to get ice cream/frozen yogurt with toppings while the big  boys were at school. Honestly though he is really cute it's hard to not spoil him! Anyone else run into that problem with their last child...swore up and down they'd never do stuff like that and then find themselves spoiling the kid rotten, only to wonder years later just where the hell it all went wrong??

I know you might be thinking to yourself what the heck is that, like I do every time I see it.  Well let me tell you...Pokémon make for strange bedfellows!  Back story...Pokémon is a brand of toy that was really big when I was young and it's now come full circle (as a form of torture I believe). Unfortunately for me, all of my boys have cards and other related paraphernalia related to this phenomenon ALL over my house.  As you can tell Eli's stuffed animal (don't ask the name) made it's way into my bed (please ignore the drool stains on my pillow...THAT'S a new scenario for me with braces...and really disturbing that it makes me more like Frank than I'd like to admit out loud Ssshhh!!). I tossed this guy aside for the night only to wake up with him staring eye to eye with me bright and early the next morning! GAH!

Hope everyone had a good week last week!

Animals!

 

 

There are animals at the zoo!  Ok well human animals that is!  We went to the Pt. Defiance Zoo today, on our last day of break (Mid-Winter that is) as a last hurrah!  Today I had my nephews and we met a cousin and her kiddos there for a day filled with fun!

 

However, when we planned this day little did we know what the weather was going to be like...wow!  We picked like the worst day of the week to go...rainy, windy (gusts to like 50mph, power outage's in a few places)...typical Washington weather!  Oh! On top of that there was now in the forecast in our area...things could have gotten dicey! We both decided however that we would go anyway, and I am so glad we did! I think we all had so much fun. We spent a lot of time in the aquarium, in the enclosure that the tiger cubs are in (they are not little anymore...about as big as Dru is...wow!), and really enjoyed having the place pretty much to ourselves. It really wasn't all that bad weather wise until the last half hour or so we were there and then the kids had so much fun just playing in the rain.

As you can see the kids are having a good time, and why not take a picture like this right? I hope they remember this day, cousins hanging out with cousins...AND the adults got to chit chat!  We definitely need to do more of these things that's for sure! 

Today was a GREAT day! Glad we kept our week of school off busy but still fun...made me way less crazy!

A Moment In Time

 

 

 

Let's take a moments of silence....


A few years ago a Black Hawk chopper crashed on the side of Mt. Peak a few years ago.  I don't remember it but Frank says he does. I guess we were out Christmas shopping and when we came back into town is when we heard about the incident.  He says they were doing an exercise and it all went bad...obviously.  As you hike up Mt. Peak on the back side of the mountain, you will see this memorial to the men and/or women that died. I'm not sure if you can hike to the actual site.  I wonder too if anyone comes to visit other than hikers. 

This is beautiful and sad at the same time...

Red

I just wanted to share my view of Valentine's Day through pictures

 

Enjoy