Celebrating My Mom

Well today would have been my Mom's 64th birthday, and I am almost positive she wouldn't enjoy me sharing that news! Mom has been gone for almost 9 years now and I miss her just as much today as I did the day she passed. I miss her laugh, which was a constant thing, and the short little shit's hugs. I was the same height as her by the time I was in 4th or 5th grade. She was lucky to be 5 foot tall but always told everyone that she was 5'1". What that extra inch did, no one will ever now! Anyway the boys and I made a trip to the cemetery today with flowers. Although I know I should do that more often I don't because I feel her with so much everyday that going to the cemetery just doesn't enter my mind. In my world she isn't there.

OK anywho, thanks for letting me get that off of my chest!

To make today more interesting for the boys, after we picked up the flowers we stopped at Mickey D's for lunch. They hardly touched their food but the played so hard the were both soaked in sweat. As I watched them play and scream and all of that other fun stuff, I wondered if Hunter is going to have to be on meds when he gets older. He seems so much like Alex in ways that it seems inevitable. I guess we will cross that bridge when we come to it. One good thing about summer is that we get to cut Alex's meds back. He does really well in the summer with just half of the regular dose. We keep his prescription at full so just in case he can take both pills instead of just one. I can't believe how well one has been working out when he doesn't have to do homework every night and sit still all day at school.

I've been home a week today with him and so far he is loving it. Hunter has been home with us since Friday and I thought my days were going to be nothing but them bickering, etc. But so as not to jinx myself I will say no more!

Tomorrow, we are going to clean. Everyone has their chores. Alex has to clean his room and Hunter does pretty well picking up his toys anyway. My house has never been this clean. I might just get used to this staying home...now we just need to figure out how I can stay home after un-employment runs out! Thank goodness I have awhile!

Well I guess that is all for now!

Oh Boy!

Well it has been a little while since I posted again, but my how things they are a changing!

I was laid off from the job I've had for the last 3 years. I loved that job, it was my dream job and I already miss it terribly. I was laid off last Wednesday along with 2 co-workers. I was so upset, I felt like I wasn't good enough. I have worked since I was in high school (which is a loooong time!) the most amount of time I have had off is 6 weeks maternity leave with each of the boys.

After talking with my aunt and 2 of my friends I've decided to look at it as a blessing. I am getting paid to spend the summer with my boys. Who could ask for anything else. The scary part is that with what I do there are NO job openings in our area. I think I might have to go to school to learn something else. I just don't know what I want to be when I grow up. When I first started working I went into graphic design because that is what my mom did and she got me my first job. I went to college while working and got my degree for daycare, after 25 or so years of doing graphic design, I'm not sure I want to do daycare anymore, I'm not sure I want to do design. So now what? I'm in my 40's, is it too late to change directions? I hope not.

Also, another scary thing, I am home with 2 rowdy boys all day every day. Looks like fun is on the horizon! I never got a chance to be a SAHM. Hopefully I don't screw them up too bad!

Wish me luck! Oh and any suggestions for keeping a 10 year old and 2 year old busy, let me know!

So obviously I'm not very good at this blog thing!

Holy cow, it has been 2 months since my last post! So I guess it is time for an update.
Alex passed 4th grade! Can I get a big Woot Woot! for that. We were so worried. At the end of the 3rd quarter we had turned in a bunch of missing homework assignments, but by the time we did, his regular teacher was on sick leave for surgery. The sub didn't realize what danger Alex was in and didn't grade the papers before the end of the nine weeks. So, we had lots of zero's, that report card had 4, yes count them 4 F's. You can pass with 2. That gave us the last quarter to get everything straightened out, boy did WE have to work our you know what's off. Alex finally got the picture and realized what not passing 4th grade meant and started working really hard for the last month. We were hoping it wasn't too late.
So come the last day of school, we chewed our fingernails waiting for Alex to come home with his report card to let us know if he had made it or not. You would think with as much trouble as we were having there would have been more communication from the school and we wouldn't have been waiting to the very end to find out. But alas, this was not the case, not for lack of trying on my part! Anyway, Alex came running in and said, "I passed, I passed!" Sure enough he did, only 1 F left. It wasn't great but I was pleased that he at least made it to 5th grade.
Now our summer will include homework to keep him current so we don't have to worry about being behind once 5th grade starts. We decided to at least give him a couple of weeks of no "homework" but starting Monday morning we are going to give him lessons, fun things, to do each week. We are going to give them to him on Monday morning and he has to "turn them in" to us by Friday night.
Now, for stories of Hunter, Oh My Goodness, can you ever tell he is learning things from big brother! That 8 year age gap is killer! We have a two-year old that calls things stupid and when we tell him we don't say that, he tell us to "Shut-up" with pouty lip and crossed arms! Many time-outs and swats (yep, I swat a diapered booty!) later, I think that issue might be resolved. **keeping fingers crossed** The other scary thing for me, is that like his big brother, the boy has no fear. He is doing things a two-year old shouldn't even think about. He is going to be a tough little booger!
I was a little jealous for a little while because "my" baby had turned into a daddy's boy big time. The only thing I was good for was cuddles after boo-boos. I was crushed, but it looks like the tide is turning and mommy is the shadizzle again! I am so happy!
Well I think this is a good point to stop! This is getting a little long! I promise to try and be better, I'll let you know about how the homework goes!

Lesson 1

Well last night I went through lesson 1 of Total Transformation. It was a very eye opening experience. I am excited and depressed at the same time. I am excited because we a trying something new and depressed because it seems like a very daunting task. Just about every characteristic he talked about, my son has. Not to a major degree, but it is still there. Tonight we need to discuss what characteristics we are going to work on. Dr. L said not to try and fix everything at once.

On a better note I had no problems getting A ready for school this morning. That is a major accomplishment. He woke up this morning and got his own clothes out and got dressed without me nagging him for 20 minutes. He ate his breakfast, took his pills...all without a fuss! Of course H had a 20 minute meltdown because I wouldn't put kool-aid in his cup instead of milk. He eventually mellowed out in time to leave. So I guess what I am saying is all in all it was a good morning. Now if we can make it through homework as easily as the morning went! I let you know!

Lots Happening This Weekend

Well we have had a busy weekend. We have torn down and burned my mom's old house. This has been especially bittersweet for me as this is the house that I lived in forever, plus it is the last house my mom ever lived in. I have spent the last few months going through all of her stuff in preparation for this. It has been a difficult journey to finally saying "see you later". I will never say goodbye to her, because I hope one day to see her again. It has been 8 years and 4 months since she passed and I still miss her every day. I know that just because her house is gone that she is not gone from my heart and my memories but it has still been a very hard weekend.

On a brighter note, we have started The Total Transformation Program in hopes of helping my 10 year old better cope with life and in particular school!

We have just watched the Jump Start DVD and my husband and I have filled out the Pre-Evaluation and Pre-Test for Lesson 1. I am pretty excited to start this and hope that we can get the results out of this we desire. I have found out that I have let my child train me, instead of me training him. Which I hate to admit is true. Instead of arguing non-stop with him, I have caved at times and by doing this I have taught him that the more he argues, he will eventually get what he wants.

I know it sounds crazy to rely on a program to help us with this, but anything we can get from it, we will take. It helps by making us actually set down and take a look at ourselves. So, heres to lesson 1 and what we can get from it. If it is anything mind-blowing I will let you know!

Why I've Started This Blog

I have decided to start a blog because our family is going through a lot of changes and I feel that blogging about them is going to help me with my sanity.

For those of you that know me, you already know all of this. This is to update friends and family that are farther away! So we are going to start with a little background.

I have been married for 13 years and we have two wonderful boys. The oldest one is 10 and the youngest one is 2.

The oldest one (A) is a "difficult" "strong-willed", what ever you want to call if child. He makes us want to tear our hair out at times. The major problem at the moment with him is we don't think he is going to pass 4th grade this year because he refuses to bring his homework home! If he does bring it home, he hides it and then lies and said he doesn't have any. Anyway, he is already on meds for ADHD. Believe me, we have tried everything and meds work the best for him and us. I just bought The Total Transformation and we are going to start this along with Total Focus to see if it helps and believe me right now any help is greatly appreciated!

The youngest one (H) is your typical tantrum throwing toddler at the moment. He is basically a happy go lucky boy. Although right now he has a different attitude than his brother, he wants to be just like him. He always shadows A around and I do believe that H thinks he is 10 also. It is amazing how much earlier he does things because he wants to be like A! It is kind of scary!

Along with these two wonderful boys we have added a fat cat, a lazy rabbit and a hyper malamute pup!

My husband and I both work full time. He works third and I work first. Stinks, but hey it's a living. We are doing much better than a lot of people and for that I am grateful. We both still have our jobs even though N went from working 60 hours a week to 38!

Well enough for now! Talk to you all soon!