Procrastination.

If there was a way to sing an ode to this word, I would. It is a great plague of doom around my house. My spouse is the leader of The Procrastinators. There are 2 wee minion followers that obligingly follow his postponement teachings to a T. Oddly, C complains they "never listen to what he says", but they sure mimic his less desirable procrastination techniques. My personal favorite is the: I'll do it here in a little bit. A little bit NEVER COMES.(Or comes with a giant fit, sobbing, screaming, crying, kicking, biting, etc.) So.... We we are in Boot Camp of Time Management. I must admit that this first week has been an epic failure, but the misery that poor time management has brought may have made my point for me. No video games, no movies, no actual really *fun* stuff until the mandatory items (IE school and chores) were completed. I have each a detailed list on Monday morning of what had to be completed before Sunday at bedtime.

Neither started until Friday morning. They had to cram their entire weeks worth of school into 3 days (and I planned enough for each for 5 reasonable days), their laundry, errands, and other mandatory items into Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (today).  I think they wanted to see if I was *actually* going to make them do it. Hahhaahaha Yep. Sure did. Gonna do it next week too (and the week after that, and that.. and that..). I am happy and very proud of them that they managed to get it ALL DONE by noonish. I DID add in an extra bribe if they managed to get it all done before late today. Especially since T2 had a new concept with his math that he found very hard at first. But, once they gave up procrastination and set a timer (Ok, well T1 did anyhow) she got it done remarkably quickly. If an ice cream bribe teaches them the correct way to NOT procrastinate, ice cream it is. I think they actually got a lot more done with their school with this list method than they had been previously as well. I know there are some with the "What? School, in the summer?" But, realistically, it does work better for us. There is no refresher time with restarting, no re-gearing time, no resettling into schedules and routines. I want them to enjoy the summer, but I don't want to have to strangle them either. Plus, if we decide to go somewhere or someone gets sick, we can just push it back a few days without a concern. And there are several times in the summer the weather just is too hot to do anything. But, in the spring this year, there have been several days the weather was gorgeous and we just felt like playing - so it all works out eventually. Well, mostly. They end up ahead on the mandatory 180 days per year, but too many is better than not enough.

Here, lately, 1 & 2 have been into dress up a lot. This is one of my recent favorites.

Occupational Therapy and Ear Surgery

T1 is officially being phased off of occupational therapy! She has 2 sessions left - assuming all goes well. We've been going to see Mrs. Chan for over 2 years. Every Monday at 11 for over 2 years and we won't be there any more. We will continue to do listening therapy, brushing, her visual schedule and all of the other things we've learned there, we just won't be physically going to see the therapist every week. Our insurance company will be extremely happy. The next phase will be getting her set up with educational delay tested and in get that set up. We've been waiting for our insurance to change and that should happen within a month or so.

Tomorrow is another surgery for T2. This time he is getting a hole in his ear patched. I've convinced him that all they are going to do is sedate him and look at it. But. Well. They aren't. Ahh well.

Love For Big Kids

There are a lot of people having babies around here. Ok, women having babies, but sometimes I need to remember why having bigger kids are SO much better than babies. There really are a quite a few reasons they a super cool. Babies are cute, cuddly, have that just hatched smell, stay where you put them, don't sass talk, and are basically blank slates to be taught. But, the slightly older kid has some true advantages.

1. They can ASK for what they want instead of screaming like a banshee (most of the time anyhow).
2. They can pour their own drinks and *mostly* not spill.
3. They can drink from real cups, eat from real plates, and use real utensils.
4. Nap time is gone and you don't have to rush home at 1 to get them in bed just to be thwarted when they dose off in the car and will never fall back asleep once you get home. (No nap is also a con, BTW.)
5. They come up with some of the most bizarre stories which is more amusing that most shows on T.V. now.
6. They aren't a drowning risk in the bathtub any more. (Unless they get rowdy and need to be clubbed like baby goats.)
7. Logic starts to work as a reason why things must or must not be done. 
8. Each kid is developing their own personality and it is fun to figure out each new person as they grown.
9. Free Slave Labor!
10. They can swallow pills! You no longer have to try to get Motrin in them like they are a feral cat.
11. No more formula. That stuff is expensive and stinks!
12. They remember things from day to day, week to week, holiday to holiday. While for *cough* some of us this is a detriment, it's kinda fun to have traditions and habits with them.
13. They can amuse themselves outside in the fenced in yard by themselves. Not having to sit outside when it's 103 in the summer or -3 in the winter when they want to go out to play is HUGE.
14. They can dress, undress, and go to the bathroom by themselves (mostly).
15. They can buckle their own seat belts.


There's more. I'll make more of a list when I can think of them all!

T2 Is 6!

My little boy is 6!! (Ok, technically he will be on Wed., but this is close enough because I have a few minutes now.)  We had a cute little party for him on Sunday and while it was smaller than usual, it went very well. The kids all got along. There were no giant fits, fights, squabbles, yelling.. It was actually pleasant! We missed a few dear friends, but hopefully we can get together with them in a few days for a play date and see them to say hi (HI!).  I can't believe how big my wee boy has gotten. He was SO tiny and now is reading, writing, adding 2 digit numbers.. He's turned into a whole little person.

This year T2 went for a "Zelda" theme at his party. I must admit this made the cake a little *special*. I was aiming for a Triforce cake. It was a little lopsided and lumpy, but it tasted SO good! It was humid the day I was making it and the cake was just too moist it couldn't stay together.

Mostly, the kids just ran around outside and played together. But they did SO well. They really are just the best kids. They have a fantastic bunch of parents.

Just a few of our friends that came, I wasn't able to get everyone - kids tend to run at the slightest thing you know!!

And of course T1 was the Most Fantastic Sister Helper. She even made T2 one of his favorite breakfasts of blueberry muffins all by herself (except the oven part of course). They were absolutely delicious! So proud of that wee girl of mine too!

Born On Date

So I've been a little delayed posting, but eh I'd say it's because I'm busy, but mostly I've become slightly absorbed with my new Ipad and it's hard to type long things on it. You know, new toys and all. But, T2 was working on his school work this am and one of his questions was "When were you born?" He comes up and asks me. I KNOW he knows his birthday so I ask him what his birthday is and he says "April 25th". We go back and forth for about 3 rounds because apparently "born on" and "birthday" are NOT the same.  I then had to spend about 5 minutes explaining that BIRTH meant BORN hence BIRTHday. Apparently both 1 and 2 never made that connection before.

This is Bear now at 11-ish weeks sitting with T1 about 3 days ago. He's gonna be a big boy!

I'm also going to be posting pictures of the newly painted bathroom. It was hideous. I'm not sure why we hadn't painted before now. It's been 7 years of hideousness. But a day and a half of effort and it looks SO much better. We are planning, at some point, to do something with the pink-ness of the tile, but that's a much bigger project - and expense than just some paint. But we fixed the plumbing for the shower (which has apparently been broken the entire time we've lived here) and that left a giant hole in the wall. So I fixed that and then it needed to be painted. Sad, I know, that the plumber duct taping part of the wall together is what it takes to get something in my house painted. But I got enough paint to get the back bathroom done too.

Knee Surgery

Just avoid it. Knee surgery is evil - a necessary evil in some cases - but evil none the less. I had surgery on my left knee last Friday. Today the thing is still swollen and looks like someone took a bat to it.

And this it looking *better*.  And yes, it DOES look like it has chicken pox. Those are hives. I have hives all over the front and back of that leg. Just THAT leg. The kids have been remarkably good about letting me rest it. They've stayed on task, for the most part, with school. They've not watched excessive amounts of T.V.  They've helped out a ton with puppies by letting them outside and feeding them and the kittens. They can get their own smaller snacks and drinks with only minor spillage which they attempted to clean up by themselves.

So for the most part the kids are doing fantastic with it. *I* am exhausted from it hurting constantly. And I admit I've been impatient and probably doing more than I should with the darn thing since it still won't bend well because of swelling. Buuuuuut you know there are certain things around the house that won't do themselves and after a week I get a little antsy. I have read 6 books. Seriously. 6. I stole C's nook that I got him for Christmas because I kept running out of library books and started downloading free ones. Today, I borrowed some from my friend N because she had the last book in a serious I've been reading and well.. I wanted it like Gollum wants that darned ring. So I sit with some Lipton Diet Iced Green Tea and some Caramel Rice Cakes and a giant ice pack on my knee and some painkillers and read. I've done this for 7 days straight now.

The one positive thing from this is both kids curl up near me (although they do have a healthy respect for *away from the leg*) and read chapter books too. T1 has gone through 2 Babysitters Club books and T2 has gone through almost every single boy book we have in the house. We need to get him some harder Boy books. I just didn't expect my 5 year old to be on a 2-3rd grade reading level so I figured we'd have more time. Guess I was wrong. Although of all the horrible, tragic things to be wrong about, I'll take it.

OKC

A couple of weeks ago we took a short weekend trip to Oklahoma City. It was mostly a "let's do something fun before the suckfest of knee surgery" trip. Now that we are fully in the Suckfest that IS knee surgery recovery and I don't have a lot of things better to do than sit here on my behind and elevate the knee that won't stop swelling, I figured I'd go ahead and share the pictures from OKC.

We stayed at a fairly cute little hotel with a nice little pool for little kids. Unfortunately, several of the other guests thought this meant that they could just let their kids do whatever they wanted. It drove me absolutely insane. C was nice and took 1 & 2 to the pool and let me go to the fitness center instead after that first time. The pool wasn't very deep either, since it was targeted for littler kids. The kids liked it though - I think *I* may have been the only one not in love with the pool. But they had LOTS of amply sized towels, a little slide, little water falls. It was very well maintained, I just have a thing with pools. And being cold and wet.

The first day we went to G.W. Exotic Animal Memorial Park. It's about 45 minutes out of OKC, but very much worth the drive AND price. We took their tour and got to pet and play with a baby tiger, a baby bear, a snake, a giant tortoise, camels, goats, baby alligator and 2 hour informative tour where they fed the big cats and bears and stuff. VERY, VERY much recommend it. The guy who runs and owns the place is apparently getting ready to have his own nationally run show about building zoos or something like that.

This is a mean monkey BTW..

And for as much as everyone *Hates* Walmart, they donate all of their meat they can't sell. Which apparently is A LOT.

Anyhow. Go there if you can. It's cool. There is nothing to seperate you from the animals but a thin chain link fence. Literally. Soooo. Hold on to your meandering kids. .. Like T2 who actually leaned against the tiger cage and shoved a hand in and leaned just absent mindedly because he does that and gave the keepers a coronary as a jerked him 10 feet back so that the tiger didn't eat him.  (They train them to take meat from the keepers from between the chain link slats. It's a big bad no no to touch the cages.. Tigers will eat you..)

 We also went to the Museum of Osteology on our way back to the hotel that day. It was really pretty cool and presented MUCH nicer than I had anticipated. 1 and 2 both thought it was really neat!

Because if there's something to stick his head into, he's gonna do it.

Anything he can do, she can do better..

We headed back to the hotel after that, we all got tired. Well, not too tired to swim of course. They went and swam, I did not. It was cold. We ended up having cheetos and chocolate milk to go with the traditional Family Movie Night for dinner that night because we couldn't figure out what else to have and we were all tired after swimming. 

The next morning (Sunday) we all got up, had breakfast, they went swimming and we loaded the car and went to the Science Museum a.k.a the Omniplex. I don't have pictures of that because we've been there a couple of times and I was feeling lazy. We stayed a few hours there and headed home to play with the puppies and kittens that were played with all weekend by my mom.