Category Archives: kids

They grow up fast

I remember way back when I was pregnant for the first time, lots of people would look at my growing belly and tell me to cherish every moment because she won’t stay little forever. Then when I laid my eyes on her, and held her in my arms, I knew she was going to do big things. The responsibility rushes at you with all the love and fears. I remember looking at that sweet little pink face, and thinking I had forever.

As it turns out, they DO grow up way too fast. Today I drove my daughter to the high school and dropped her off for freshman orientation. My baby girl! Where did the time go? Where are the carefree days of butterfly kisses and sun dresses, the Little Mermaid, and Barbies? I don’t think I took the time to cherish them then, in the midst of it all, but I remember them now. When she is 14 and starting high school. When she walked away from the car to meet up with her friends, and the little girl that she used to be flashed before my eyes.

Now she’s growing up and maturing daily. DAILY! The woman that she is becoming is amazing to me. She finds strength in God, happiness in dance, and joy in her friends. I’m enjoying this time of her life too. It just makes me emotional, and she told me I couldn’t be emotional. So I waited until she walked away from the car, and then I cried. For the child that she once was, the young woman that she is, and the woman that she will be.

So now I give the same advice to new moms, knowing that internally they are rolling their eyes! Cherish them, for they grow up way too fast.

Zach-ism

Funny, sweet, sincere, passionate, and thoughtful can be used to describe Zach. He’d been out of school for a few days and I kept hearing his alarm go off. After the third day, I told him to turn his alarm off because it was summer vacation. His reply was, “exactly, it’s summer vacation, and I don’t want to miss it.” After convincing him to turn it off, he begrudgingly went to bed. The next day when he woke up, I was reading in the chair. He came out of his room, looked at me and then looked at the clock on the wall behind me, and went on a rant. “That…that..that’s disgraceful! It’s 12:22! That’s disgraceful!!” When I finished laughing, I explained to him that he’d been up very late the past few nights and his body needed the sleep. Zach goes on to say, “I missed a meal! Now I’m going to have to eat breakfast and lunch!” He cracks me up. He missed a meal and probably a few video games, and he didn’t want to sleep away his summer.

Summer Vacation

Alas, the time is here, and it has been much awaited for. Last year I was more excited, but after going back to work, I’m not so looking forward to it. I want to be able to lounge in bed with them while watching TV on rainy days, and play in the pool with them when it’s sunny. They’re growing up so fast that I can almost feel them slipping through  my fingers. I want to chericsh every smile, giggle, and hug. My kids are amazing!

Dr. Phil

I don’t normally watch Dr Phil, but I turned on the tv and that’s what was on.  It’s all about Teens engaging in outragous trends.  The first thing I saw was a boy who had 48,000 text messages in a month.  My question is, when can he find this much time???  Whatever.

Now they’re interviewing the parents of a 12 year old girl who has been “sexting”.  Sending very inappropriate photos of herself, and lewd texts as well.  Now this exact thing has happened with one of the girls that I spoke of in my post crying and curfews.  My initial thought was to keep Brooke away from her, then I decided that I pray for Godly friends for Brooke, and maybe she is supposed to be the Godly influence for this girl.  After watching this, and what happened this weekend, I am deciding that my daughter is not going to be put at risk by me to provide a good girl experience for someone else.  I cannot allow it.  Brooke is not strong enough right now to stand up for herself. 

What is going on in this world???  satan, you will not win!  You may have reign over this earth right now, but you will not win.  Jesus will!

Conversation with Matthew

M- Why does Santa love Mrs. Claus?

Me-  Well, because they’re married like mommy and daddy, and they love each other.

M-hmph, well I just wish Zach would marry Mrs. Claus!

Parent Teacher conferences

Every year it goes like this.
Teacher-  She/He’s such a good student, but so very quiet.
Me- Are you sure you have the right kid?  My kid is quiet?  Would you like to come home with me?  Please…?

What do you get when two introverts have kids?  Introverted kids!  Brooke is 12 and she’s just now becoming the social butterfly, much to my dismay. 

So yesterday it was Zach’s teacher.  She had only two concerns.  The first was that Zach’s best friend L is out of town this week, and she wasn’t sure how Zach would do.  Surprisingly, she said he’s made the effort to choose other partners and has done well!  Secondly, she wanted to know if he was scared or intimidated of her.  I told her that he’s never mentioned anything like that.  Again, she just talked about how quiet and shy he was, and gave the example of him coming up to her desk to ask a question.  She said he would stand there quietly, not interrupting if she was doing something, and wait for her to look up.  Then he would ask the question very quietly and walk away quickly.  Now I think he’s just being respectful with that one, and am proud of him for not just jumping in with his question.  Miss D. went on to say that he’s very bright, and a couple of times she’s seen his sense of humor.  (He is a very funny kid!) 

I always get a kick out of these things, and then I come home and relay to the kids what I heard.  Zach just gets a big grin on his face, he’s so cute!  What can I say about being shy?

Pre-teen angst

So my daughter is 12, and in the 7th grade.  She has a May birthday, so she’s one of the youngest in her class.  This can sometimes lead to drama, because she’s not really old enough to make mature and responsible decisions.  Lately, she’s exercised her ability to showcase that deficit to me.  She’s made some really poor decisions when it concerns a couple of her friends.  I try to understand that peer pressure has a lot to do with it, but on the other hand, had hoped that I had raised her with enough backbone to stand up for what she thinks is right. 

Luckily she did come to me and divulge some of the incidents that happened.  Now, I want us to be able to talk about anything, so I was glad that she decided to share the info with me, but I was trying not to freak out!  I didn’t want to scare her off from ever confiding in me again, but I also wanted to let her know that I disapproved of her behavior.  It was a tough situation to be in!

The next conundrum, if you will, was whether I should tell my friend, and Brooke’s friends mom.  I felt like if it were the other way around, I would want to know.  I really struggled with that, and in the end waited too long and something else happened.  Now, nobody got hurt, but someone could have.  I shared with my friend, and she had a discussion with her daughter.  We both learned a few things that had been lied about, and then we talked to the girls again.  It’s an ongoing process where I am learning, and praying.  Praying for good, Godly friends, and the courage to stand up for what is right.

Randomness

Brooke went back to school today and I’m scared to see the amount of makeup work she’ll have for missing 2 days.  I kept her isolated from the rest of the family and I think it worked.  So far no complaints from anyone else.  She auditions tonight for the Circle of Lights, so keep your fingers crossed. 

Matthew has enjoyed the past two days that we’ve stayed in.  In fact, he hasn’t even put clothes on! 

Tuesday when Zach came home from school and I asked him how his day was.  He said “nice”.  I was in shock.  He always says “good”.  When I tried to press further to see what the difference was, he retreated outside to ride his bike.  He’s a man of few words, just like his daddy. 

He did come out of his 10 year old shell a couple of weeks ago.  My son asked a girl to go out with him, and he told me about it!  She said no, but it’s OK because all of his friends think he’s so cool for asking her.

I guess that’s about it, except for trying to house break a thirty pound puppy.  Any suggestions there would be great.  Oh, and if you’re gonna say just rip the carpet out, I already did that last week.  I put hardwood flooring down in the hallway all by myself!

School and Germs

The two go hand in hand.  It never fails that when school starts, so do all the infections.  They run rampant through the halls of education, seeking a warm body to inhabit.  This time they’ve found my Boo Bear!  Brooke is sick, and the doctor said it’s just viral, but did give us a prescription for eardrops.  Thank you God for our health insurance, because the tiny little bottle of ear drops only cost us $15.  The paper on the outside of the bag says our insurance saved us $184!  What!?  That just seems like highway robbery, or price gouging, or just completely ridiculous!!!!!  Is it liquid gold? 

It had better make her feel like dancin’ soon!

Oops

I forgot to mention that I had to pick Zach up from school because he threw up.  So, Yeah!  Lucky me!