Can We Have Some Discipline Please?

To the Mom at the Bus Stop:

Yes my son hit your son on the playground last month, but this was after your son hit mine multiple times and would not stop, even after being asked to. My son was punished, was yours? Did you even ask him if he hit first? Hmm, going to guess not since from our phone conversation I got the impression you did not believe me. I am kicking myself for not taking a picture of the multiple red spots on my son's back.

Today, I now understand you think my child is evil, but really he is a sweet little boy who only wants to protect himself and have fun at the PUBLIC playgroun.

Today your daughter picked up a stick and was swinging it at my son, so he made fists and put them up in front of his face to protect himself. He never once made actions to indicate he was going to punch your daughter (you know, the one with swinging the STICK).

It was unnecessary for you to keep telling your son to tell his friends not to make fists at his sister, over and over again, when no one was making fists!

Yes, my son was kicking mulch, he was clearing a spot on the ground and NO ONE was around him. Your daughter ran up to him as he was kicking, so dirt went towards her. She then ran back to you to have my son stop kicking dirt at her. He was NOT kicking dirt at her, he was kicking dirt, she got in the way. It was not appropriate for her to come over to me to have him stop and to indicate she wanted me to have him stop by screaming at the top of her lungs "STOOOOPPPPPP!!!!". She is old enough to speak with respect to an adult. She is also old enough to ascertain she should NOT run towards someone who is kicking dirt. She is also old enough to learn she doesn't always get her way, but I suspect this is something you are not teaching her.

My child is NOT perfect. But he is not the brutal bully you make him out to be on a daily bases. Spend some time watching your own children and stop blaming EVERYTHING that goes wrong on my child.

Thankful Thursday

I have noticed a trend with some of the blogs I read..."Thankful Thursday". This is something I should get into, taking a moment to think about the wonderful things of life.

So today, even though the North Koreans did some cyber sabotage and damaged Verizon FIOS and my internet has been sporadic at best. I am still thankful for the internet and the phone. More specifically, Webkinz.

I have been sitting here for quite awhile (I don't want to think about how long) watching and listening to my boys play with one of their best friends (also seen here, and here and many other places). The thing is, he is now in San Diego and we are in Northern Virginia. There has been lots of giggling, laughing, singing (and yes some whining) as they have been playing games such as Dogbeard Battles (Battleship), Bowling and Webkinz Supermodels while on the phone.

Thank you to unlimited long distance, Webkinz and the Internet for allowing my boys to stay connected with their friends, even when we live thousands of miles from each other!

My first baby is 8! :-)

Another year has come and gone in the life of ES. Last year I gave you a little background on his birthday and I sit here perplexed about what to write this year. :-)

In all honesty, we are very blessed with ES. 99.9% of the time he is a very good boy. Does what you ask; plays with his brother nicely; is calm and in control. Which of course makes those 0.1% outbreaks that much harder. But this post is not about ES being a bad kid, because he is not (but of course he has his moments).

ES is SMART. SMART and SMARTer! He devours knowledge and loves to talk about what he has read/learned about. According to him, his teacher says he is reading at a 5th or 6th grade level.

He thinks of the little details... A few Sundays ago in Sunday School his teacher was having the class act out a skit involving a chariot when ES pointed out to her that they did not have a horse for the chariot...so he graciously offered to play the part of the horse. Obviously the chariot did not have an engine. :-)

He has an imagination. He and YB are always making up games with their stuffed animals, army men, playmobile and/or legos.

He is kind, gracious and helpful to others. Just yesterday he set aside a spacial chair for our friend who recently had knee surgery and he made sure she had a foot rest. One of his favorite Sunday activitis is to help set up/clean up church.

He is coming out of his shell in little bits. This year he even tried out for a speaking part in the musical at school. I was disappointed for him for not receiving a speaking part because if you know ES; that was a huge deal for him to even want to do something like that, but maybe next year when he comes out even a little more and can be a bit dynamic.

ES is a blessing and we thank God for him everyday. He was born into a hard life of a Navy Brat, making his first of 5 cross country moves at a mere three weeks of age, but he adapts well and rolls with the punches.

Thanks for being you ES, even if sometimes you make me crazy. :-) Happy 8th Birthday!!!

Bike Helmets: Do you know the laws?

There is this blog that I sometimes read and have recently been horrified as she has posted pictures of her small children careening down the street on bikes without helmets. I was under the impression there was a helmet law. Well today she came out and basically said "don't tell me how to raise my kids"... which in general she is right. But like I said, I thought there was a law. So I googled... umm... where she is, there is no law! Check and see if your state has one, chances are it doesn't!
http://www.iihs.org/laws/mapbicyclehelmets.aspx
Who started this evil bike helmet law anyway?

My kids will still wear their helmets just because we already started down that line and we do move so much you never know what the next state is going to require. I also know people that have suffered some serious head trauma riding their scooters without helmets. So my kids will wear their helmets. :-)

The Power of Ketchup!

What is it with Ketchup? I often think that YB got my taste buds but then I see what he does with ketchup and say "nope, no way, he didn't get that from me!"

YB is a super picky eater (like me) and lately he has been expanding his repertoire of what he eats by dipping it in ketchup. Yup ketchup. Everything is going into the ketchup.

Tonight I made a Salsa Chicken that had melted cheese on top of it. Usually the boys don't like melted cheese on their food (yes WEIRD) so I made a piece without cheese on it and put the bag of cheese on the table for them. Each of them wanted a little pile of shredded cheese on their plate. YB of course was not eating his chicken and asked for ketchup.

Ok, does anyone see where this is going? First the tortilla chips went into the ketchup..."Mmmm, yummy", me thinks not. Then he declares, "I am going to try the cheese with ketchup!". UGH! This combination also got the two thumbs up. At this point, I excused myself from the table. :-)
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In case you are wondering, I am also on the No High Fructose Corn Syrup Bandwagon and this is the ketchup we are now using.

Advice I Never Took

I have children who are very picky eaters. I know shocking... they are in fact related to me. :-)

But YB has always boggled my mind. The boy won't eat pasta, not any kind of pasta. What kid doesn't eat pasta?! One of ES's favorite meals is home made macaroni and cheese and YB won't eat it. It is one of those things I serve a hot dog with so he eats the hot dog but not the mac&cheese.

Have you ever heard people say "if you want your kid to eat something, have them help make it"? I always scoffed at that advice. Maybe because I have the patience of a gnat and did not want my children helping me cook dinner, but I have never had them help me.

ES is deep into Cub Scouts and one of the requirements for completing his Wolf Badge is to help make a meal, set the table and clean up from the meal. Last night Blunoz was on a later bus and we were hemming and hawing about eating out or staying home. ES said he wanted Macaroni and Cheese so I decided, what the heck and asked if he wanted to help me make it. He did, and of course YB wanted to help too.

They were both great helpers and did not get in my way at all. Dinner might have actually gotten on the table sooner since I did not have to do everything myself. Yes, this was an eye opener to me. I may be getting them to help me out more in the kitchen.

While we were stirring the cheese sauce I asked YB if he was going to try what he made and he said yes. So when we sat down at the table I put some mac and cheese on his plate like I aways do. This was the first night he didn't scream that it even dared to touch his plate. He gobbled up his hot dog and wanted more hot dog, so I reminded him that he was going to try his macaroni and cheese. He actually tried it. Are you all ready for his reaction? Did he hate it? Did he like it? Did he love it? He said it was "yummy!" and ate more. He probably only ate about a tablespoon of it, but certainly more than he ever has in the past.

So yes, having your kids help you make dinner encourages them to try new things because they do want to taste what they made! Who knew?! :-)

Too Smart for Me

So, I often joke that ES is smarter than me. But in all seriousness, he might very well be! Granted part of the problem is his interests vary from mine, he is most definitely Blunoz's son. They have long detailed conversations about things that bore me to death!

In Blunoz's post about the Pinewood Derby he was horrified that ES picked out complimentary colors for his car. I am sure he blames this on me, that is something I know about. But it was not me! I never taught him that! Of course knowing ES, his favorite colors are orange and yellow so he probably just wanted a yellow car and picked the purple because it is the complimentary color to yellow.

Then the other day, I picked up ES at school and we started talking about what he did in music that day. He seems to really like playing the percussion instruments such as the xylophone. He said they played an instrument similar to the xylophone but it was called something else that he couldn't remember, I think he was talking about the Marimba, but I am not sure. Anyway, I commented that I noticed he really liked playing percussion instruments and that lead me into talking about wood winds and brass, etc... you know what I got from the backseat? "I know... I know... I know...".... Okay, sorry kid! I won't try to teach you anything ever again! :-)

I am so glad to be back in Loudoun County where ES is getting a great education. Even at private school in Hawaii he was lacking in the extra stuff. He had PE 2xs a week and music once a week for the first half of the year and then they switched to art for the second half and of course library once a week. Here he is getting PE 3xs a week, art once, music twice and of course library.

Happy 5th Birthday YB

I feel sad... today is YB's birthday and we are all sad and/or sick. Not much celebrating is going on here. I am just thankful for the two days of fun we at at Great Wolf Lodge over the weekend before we learned of a tragic family loss.

As down as we all are, I did not want to let the day go by without saying Happy Birthday YB! Five years ago today we were at the Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego having our scheduled c-section. Blunoz had been back from deployment for a mere month. Though Blunoz was not around for much of my pregnancy with YB, YB was instantly a Daddy's boy. A genetic bond I suppose, versus recognizing the familiarity of his voice from hearing it in for 9 months in the womb.

My mother had come out to San Diego to look after ES while we were at the hospital but we thought it was important that Blunoz be home at night to put ES to bed. While Blunoz was hanging out in the hospital room with YB and I, YB would sleep and sleep. As soon as his Daddy left he would be wide awake. I just figured that this was some sort of phenomenon related to the hospital. No such luck. We got home and YB quickly got on a good sleeping schedule but Blunoz was called back to the boat for an underway. Suffice it to say, I did not get a lot of sleep. (Thanks Mom for staying and helping out for longer than you had planned!) This continued for many months. YB would sleep well at night, Blunoz would go back to sea and YB would not sleep. Isn't it amazing what a little baby can pick up on? Thankfully the sea stint was near its end and that summer we moved to Virginia.

YB continued with his Daddy's boy mentality. If he would get hurt right before Blunoz was due home from work he would take me as a consolation but as soon as Blunoz walked through the door it was Daddy he wanted. Maybe he was just trying to tell me it was time to go make dinner. :-)

Of course as life normally does. Things do change. He isn't so much a Daddy's Boy as he used to be. Probably something to do with 10+ months of geo-bacherloring/deployment that ensued two plus years ago and growing up of course. I am proud of YB for adapting so well to what life has thrown at him. My mom and I were really worried about how YB would handle things when Blunoz left for 3 months of school, never having any idea that Daddy would be gone as long as he was.

Today we celebrate the blessing God gave us 5 years ago. A blessing I know we will never take for granted! It is hard to be sad when you have a face like this in your life!

Go hug your kids today and thank God for the joys and blessing they bring to your life!

Happy Birthday YB!!!!
We love you!!!

Not Fair!

I hate the drop off line at ES's school!!!! When we were purchasing this house, I had thought we were far enough from the school that ES would take the bus to school. I was sadly mistaken! We are approximately 0.7 miles from the school. This is not a bad walk but at 7:30 in the morning with YB in tow, it is not a quick walk, so we opt to drive. Especially when it is COLD outside (we did just move from Hawaii, so give us a break here).

The line moves like molasses! Even when we were in Hawaii and the ENTIRE school was being dropped off, it moved a lot faster than the line here. At ES's Hawaii school they had a group of older kids that stood there an opened the doors for the kids and helped get them out of the car quickly. Here is it all up to the kid in the car to open the door, get his/her backpack out and shut the door. Sometimes they are NOT quick and efficient resulting in a long line. We usually wait over 10 minutes in line.

The entrance to ES's school is a 4 way intersection, the one directly across is a dead end road. So most cars have to turn left or right into the school. We turn right. Most parents alternate cars turning left or right and this sometimes irritates me just in the fact that the line of cars turning left is usually shorter so you KNOW they have not been waiting in line as long as you. But then you get the one or two random cars that need to drive straight across. You watch them pull up so you know they just hopped into their car and voila they are there, no line to wait in. Everyone gives them a turn just as if they had been waiting in line for over 10 minutes too. How is this fair? I have to drag my kids out the door early just to ensure that ES is not tardy, but these people don't have to. Where is the justice in that?! :-)

Ahh, I miss the old house here where we backed up to the school and I just booted ES off the deck to run in the back door of the school. :-)

Thank you for listening to my lament. Oh woe is me! What a hard life I lead. ;-)

Where is Blunoz?

If you are wondering why posting on Blunoz' blog has been lite, it is because he has been busy playing Zelda on the DS. :-)

As you all know ES lost his 3rd tooth last weekend. His previous two losses occurred after the adult tooth had already started growing in, so this is his first REAL gaping hole as nothing is visible yet! But rest assured we went to the dentist for the regular cleaning/check and we got to see all the big teeth under the gum line. The other good news was that we have at least another two years before we have to start shelling out for stage 1 orthodontics.

The weather here has also been mild as a Virginia Winter should be, but it has been annoying in that we have had a lot of precipitation and we hover just above freezing.

But this does not stop the birds from coming out...

Or the squirrels of course! :-)

For those of you wondering, WW went REALLY well last week. I managed to lose 3lbs and not feel like I was depriving myself. It is all in the choices! Unfortunately due to a social obligation Saturday night, I managed to gain back a pound. I did my best to eat right but our hosts were from a foreign country and I did not want to be rude and refuse too much food. But I know I can get back on track and lose that pound again and hopefully another one! :-)

Wildlife Habitat being Recreated

We are working on recreating our Backyard Wildlife Habitat.

The previous owners left some nice trees, bushes and a bird house for shelter.

Another requirement is food.
I think we have had great success! We have attracted cardinals, turtle doves, finches and some others that I have not identified and of course a squirrel or two which I believe are YB's favorite.

Man Time

One thing Blunoz likes to do with the boys is Geocache. Yes, he likes me to go along too, but I don't like the ones just stashed around our neighborhood I would much rather one that took us someplace new, like a waterfall or scenic overlook. I also think by not tagging along I give the boys some much deserved "MAN TIME". Yesterday I snuck out behind Blunoz and ES as Blunoz knocked the one closest to home off of his list...

GG and Papa

I am very lucky, my grandparents came for Christmas! They celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary this past summer and are both in their mid-90s. I was sad that we were in Hawaii and were unable to make it to the family celebration of such a momentous occasion, but I am glad we are back on the East Coast so we can see more of them.

I wanted to share some pictures of them and YB taking a walk out to the dock behind our neighbors house.

Still arm in arm after all these years!

I have so many great memories (way too many to list) of both sets of my grandparents growing up. It thrills me that my children have the opportunity to create some memories with at least one set of my grandparents! As they all know, at our house we have an open door policy to any grandparents or great-grandparents that want to visit us (that goes for Aunts and Uncles too)! I want my kids to have the great memories that Blunoz and I have of spending time with our own grandparents and I am grateful for the ones they already have.

On a side note, here are a couple of nature shots I took that day too.

Be warned, there will be more nature to come in the days ahead.

Reject Paint

June Cleaver reminded me of a recent trip to Home Depot with ES. Our house is very beige, and I am not beige, so I want to paint the boys rooms to start. So ES and I were standing at the paint chips for at least a half hour "discussing" different color options. Let's just say we had two VERY different ideas of colors for his room. He wanted NEON orange, I wanted a nice blue that would actually match his quilt. Finally in exasperation I said, we will take these paint chips home with us and hang them on the wall to see what we think of them.

We met back up with Blunoz and YB and headed to the key center where Blunoz was having some locks keyed to match our main house key. I left the boys and wandered off and found the reject paint section. Hmm... this blue is nice. So I grabbed it and took it over to ES just waiting for the NOOOOO to come out of his mouth. Instead I received his dog panting impersonation. This means he loves it. Really? Dog panting continues... You want THIS color (this BLUE that is VERY similar to the ones I was just showing you and you said "No No and No" to)? OK, there you have it. Paint selected and for the bargain price of $5!

Now to get around to actually painting. :-)

The Dilema

Well, I could sit here and blog about our move from Hawaii and the drive across country but most of you read Blunoz' blog so that would just be redundant. Suffice it to say, I never want to make an overseas move again! :-) I think I am getting too old for this moving around stuff.

So we are happily settling into our new home and loving being back in NoVa. We were all excited to hear that there was another 2nd grade boy on the street. ES eagerly awaited for him to come home from school on our first day in the house. I was quite impressed that ES wanted me to take him over to the boy's house to introduce himself. They did not end up playing that day, but did play later and all seemed well. When ES was enrolled in school we were exited to see that they were in the same class, a familiar face.

Well, ES no longer likes this boy, lets call him SP (I will explain later). When we are walking home and SP is walking home as well, ES runs ahead to avoid him. He even ignores SP's calls of "ES ES ES"!

Grammy is visiting and picked up ES at school yesterday and was able to get out of him that SP hit him in school during an assembly and has called him names such as "Scardy Pants" (thus we will call him SP... maybe he is the Scardy Pants". :-) I asked ES if he told SP to stop hitting him and he of course said no. Hello! Of course SP is not going to stop. I told ES next time tell SP to stop it or he is going to tell the teacher. ES was surprised that I said to only give SP one chance. I told him the number of chances was up to him but he needed to be sure to tell SP or anyone to stop doing something that he did not like. SP also apparently gets into trouble a lot at school. ES is quite the straight and narrow goody two shoes at school so I am sure he does not appreciate SP's shenanigans!

Well, now here is the problem. SP lives across the street? What is the correct thing to do here? Obviously I want to convince ES to be polite to SP but I also don't want SP to take advantage of ES and I don't want ES to be forced to play with someone he does not like, just because they live on the same street. How do you handle this relationship without creating a soap opera on the street?

Any advice?

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day Blunoz!

Thanks for always being a dad who is willing to play and be goofy with our boys. Their hearts and minds will always be filled with wonderful memories of their childhoods, and I am sure that relationship will continue into adulthood!

Happy Birthday Dear ES!

Today I am the mom of a 7 year old.

True to ES' personality, he was stubborn and did not want to experience the change of location. He was due on the 16th of May, after waiting a week the doctor decided to induce me so we went into the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula (CHOMP) on May 24th and started the Petosen and had my water broken around 11am that day.

ES still did not want to come out. By 6am (PST) ES was still not coming out, hadn't even progressed anywhere. Dr. Keith said well you can keep laboring for another 6 hours or we can do a C-Section. I opted for the C-Section. Turned out that the c-section was the right way to go. ES's head was OFF the charts, there is no way he would have fit through my hips.

As I sit here remembering the official day that I became a mother, I wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR ES!!!!

See his head was (is) so big we couldn't even keep the little hospital beanie on it! :-)

ES you are loved so much and we are so blessed that God gave us you! Happy Birthday to you!!

On another happy note, the same day God blessed us with ES he also blessed Blunoz' cousin (and our dear friends to boot) with E.

Happy Birthday E!!!

Garanimals are Back

I know that being a military wife I have often wished that they made Garanimals for my husband. He has gotten so used to just throwing on his uniform, it seems he sometimes forgets how to match things. :-)

Well they are back, but not in DH's size. Wal-Mart is now carrying Garanimals for Kids. But... do I really want my kids wearing ALL one color? If you are seriously matching the animals to each other in order to coordinate than you will find your children wearing ALL one color. The bright yellow shorts are supposed to be matched with the bright yellow shirt and the navy blue shorts are to be matched with the navy blue shirts. Really do they think kids can't figure out that the same colors go together? Aren't we supposed to be teaching them how to coordinate, not look like a big blueberry?

So, in summary, I am a rebel. I bought a tiger to go with a monkey!