Santa

Tonight we purchased two gifts to donate to needy children. We chose ornaments off a local giving tree. When we explained to the boys what we were doing, Michael was perplexed. I explained that these children wouldn't be getting many presents from their parents because they don't have a lot of money. Michael replied , "That is what Santa is for. They will still get gifts from him won't they?" I said yes and quickly changed the subject. Any advice in case he brings it up again ? I am afraid my little smarty pants will be questioning me much too soon about Santa. 

More Firsts...

As the boys were infants, it seemed that we were endlessly watching for their firsts. When would they first sleep through the night, smile, roll over, sit up and the list goes on. Well once we enrolled Michael in Kindergarten, I figured our "firsts" milestones would end even though common sense tells me they never end! Many people focus so much on the first events of a child's first year that the rest seem forgotten.  Well last night we had a momentous first... the first girl calling the house! 

Michael pulled a kleenex out of his pocket with a phone number barely written on it. He said it was Miss A's number (name changed to protect her identity).  Now this was nothing new. Michael has brought home countless pieces of scratch paper and napkins with messages from his friends on them so this kleenex did not strike me as odd. As Michael was completing his homework, the phone rings. I answer it to hear a young girl's voice mention something about Judy. Judy? I ask if she has the wrong number to which she replies," I will call back from a quieter place." Okay, problem diverted. Joe asked what the caller ID said to which I read it aloud and Michael yells, "That's A's last name!" Joe and I immediately run upstairs and pull out the yearbook to look up Miss A to see if we have seen her before. What a cutie!! Michael definitely has good taste in the girls he picks out!

Well about 15 minutes later, the phone rings. I look at the caller ID to see that Miss A has called again. This time it is quieter and she politely states who she is and asks if Michael is home. I say that he is and hand off the phone.  Now the boys have not had extensive experience on the phone, the occasional call to their grandparents or the birthday phone calls from the family is about it. Michael anxiously takes the phone and says,"What do you want?" to which I am flabbergasted and loudly whisper "Michael, you don't talk to girls that way or anyone for that matter!" He and A talk for a bit trying to figure out when she can come over and play.  He tells her that he hasn't talked to me yet and will talk to her later. He hangs up and begins the hounding, "When can she come over? Can she ride the bus home? etc. I explain that he doesn't even ride the bus home,  so no she cannot ride the bus here. I ask where she lives. His reply, "Genoa City". I should have seen that one coming! Of course she lives in Genoa City!!UGH So we get out the school directory to look up her address and start trying to make plans the best we can without talking to her parents. I am in the process of explaining to Michael that I need to speak to her parents to finalize plans and the phone rings again. Miss A is very persistent. This time I give Michael the phone and tell him who is calling. He answers the phone better this time,"Hi A". I explain after the call that he should just say "Hi" in case it was her parents calling to talk to us. Anyway, Michael is then following me around the house with the phone constantly asking me about days and times that she can come over. He tells A to "hold on, don't go anywhere" as we keep walking about trying to organize this Wii play date while making lunches, cleaning up dinner, etc.  Finally I ask if she is going to the Kid's Night Out function at school thinking that if she is, then great, they can just meet up there and play together. No such luck. I suggest then December 10 before the Kid's Night Out function, Michael suggests, A accepts and we have a date. They hang up. I ask what time is she being dropped off. "I don't know." Great. So now we have a play date penciled in and are taking baby steps in order to have a social life. I begin to write a letter to Miss A's parents regarding the plans trying to finalize times, etc.

Fortunately, Jacob is a wise observer and wants to now call his friend C. I ask if he knows C's phone number and Jacob responds, "Yes, 527849653" or some random combination of numbers. I try to contain my laugh and suggest that he write a letter instead to C. So he does and inserts a dum dum sucker in the envelope for his dear friend. I am not so sure about this C kid. I think he and Jacob would be VERY troublesome! Joe and I have always said that Jacob will be our "trouble maker" in school and we will get calls from his teacher for his behavior.  Well since September, I have had the pleasure of his pre school teachers and director stopping me 2 times for his behavior! The first time was a rebel Jacob refusing to sit quietly on his cot and it took 4 teachers to work with him to calm down. I put a cabosh on that and told the teachers to call me if that happened again. Now the threat of a call to mom is all it takes!  The second incident was Jacob calling his friends "Assholes".  We asked him where he heard this and at first he said C but then he said that he heard it at home from daddy, which is very likely.  Evidently though C taught Jacob another word for his penis, "dick" because when Jacob got in the car last week he called Michael a "dick" for not moving over quick enough.  This is not a phrase daddy uses so I really think it is coming from C. I asked Jacob's teachers if he calls his teachers those bad word and they said no so that is a step in the right direction!

These are great memories and if this is the worst our kids do, Joe and I are doing a fabulous job of being parents!  To my brother and sister who have our beautiful nieces and nephew, celebrate those first rolling over and first teeth moments and buckle up for a wild ride!

I'm baaaaccckkkk!

Well after reading a couple nice comments and talking to some very supporting family members, I have decided that I will try this blog thing again.  Last night we attended the visitation of a distant family member that passed away. He was my dad's cousin's husband. I don't really know the last time I saw him but his wife has always been great about coming to family events and she even was the cake cutter at my wedding. So I figured I would go see her and maybe catch up with some other relatives I don't see very often.  I have a cousin that is a professor at a university in Minnesota. When my grandpa was alive he called her "teach" for a nickname. Well then I became a teacher and she became a professor so our nicknames were upgraded.  Every family event we chat about school, curriculum, how our careers are going and she is a great inspiration to me.  I wish we lived closer so that I would have such a great role model so close to me. Sure, I have email and facebook but these technology sources just don't cut it when you need to bounce ideas off someone that knows what you are talking about without having to give extensive history.

It seems that at each visitation/funeral people always make comments like "We should really keep in touch better" or "It is a shame bad events are what brings people together."  Well I agre, however, it dawned on me...maybe this is God's way of making sure we keep in touch with people we need in our lives?  In this case a family lost a husband, father, grandfather, brother and a patriarch.  With this loss though, they were able to see relatives that they hadn't seen in a while.  We all want to get together with friends and family, but "don't have the time."  With the death of a family member or friend, this is I guess God's way of making us take time out of our days for friends or family.

Well, it is 8:00 AM on a Saturday morning and I think that is enough deep thinking for now. Until later...

To blog, or not to blog, that is the question...

Trina here...
So I have heard of people making money off blogs due to ads. Joe and I started this blog for two reasons. First to share our experiences with the boys, and secondly, to make a few extra bucks. Well, Google deleted our ad sense account saying people weren't clicking on the ads correctly. This put a nasty taste in our mouths and we stopped blogging.

But...

then I thought about our original reason for the blog, to share our experiences. My question is, who reads my blog though? Is anyone out there? Is it worth blogging? I know a few people have commented on my stories, but I guess the real question is "should I start blogging again?"

Please share your thoughts...

Backpack, Backpack

Joe here . . .

Well, this morning we had an incident. Trina had to get to work a little earlier this morning so I was in charge of getting all the boys stuff together. No big deal. I've done it before. I got the boys out to the car and we were early heading out. We went to McDonalds for breakfast today instead of the usual homemade breakfast. They were very quick today and we got to the preschool at about 5:40. We have to wait until about 5:55 to get in since they don't open up for us until 6. So, the boys ate their breakfasts and I sat listening to the radio for the next fifteen minutes.

Time came to go in. The boys were done and everything was going smoothly. Until, I asked Michael where his backpack was. It was answered with the much expected "I don't know." My reaction, "WHAAAT! Are you kidding me!" Then it was followed by a punch to the top of the car. I mean, we sat there for 15 minutes doing nothing! We would've had plenty of time to go back home and get it. As angry as I was I felt bad for Michael as he was crying because he was so upset. He takes school seriously and he prides himself on being a model student so the anticipation of getting in trouble for not having his folder (which was in his backpack of course) was unthinkable to him. I did my best to control my anger (albeit that's not my strong point). I tried to console him, but he was still upset.

I immediately got on the phone to Trina and asked her how much trouble he'd be in. She informed me he'd get into a decent amount of trouble. It is first grade after all! So she came up with the idea of calling Grandma and Grandpa Madole to see if they could get his backpack and drop it off for him. I was able to calm Michael down with this information and he regained his composure (as did I). We went in to the preschool and went about our usual routine.

All's well that ends well. Grandma and Grandpa saved the day! They were able to drop off the backpack to Michael at the preschool so he had it before he even got to his school. The moral of the story (if there has to be one) is that no matter how smart, mature and responsible a 6-year-old may seem, he is still a 6-year-old. When going out to the car in the morning always make sure you, as the parent, go last so you can see the backpacks on the boys' backs. Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa. You came to our rescue once again.

Always Be Prepared

Joe here . . .

Tonight we are going to Michael's first cub scout meeting. I'm actually kind of nervous about this. I remember my time in cub scouts and all the things we did and how much I really didn't care for it. Yeah, I wasn't the cub scout type. Don't tell Michael this and I apologize to anyone who loves scouting, but I always kind of thought of cub/boy scouts as dorks. I just couldn't get into it. I felt like we were just pretending to be adventurers or something. It always just felt like a big game, not like we were learning any skills that we could use later in life. My views of scouting have changed though. My favorite shows to watch are all these survival shows like Dual Survival and Man, Woman, Wild. When I'm watching them, I keep thinking how useful scouting knowledge would be in these situations.

Anyway, I hope Michael likes it and really wants to be involved in it. It would be a welcome break from his video games. He gets so involved in his DS games. We just got him the "New Super Mario Brothers" game and every free moment he has he is spending playing that game. I guess he gets some of that from me. I remember spending many long hours playing video games when I was younger. I just don't want him to turn into a couch potato like I am. That's why I'm hoping he'll get interested in all the scouting stuff so that he'll get a little more activity in his life.

On a different topic, Michael received an invitation to another birthday party today. This will be his third party this year. This kid has more of a social life than I do. His party is on the same day as Jacob's party. So, it will be double duty for Trina and I. Trina will go with Jacob to his party (she will have to stay with him) and I will take Michael to his party. I don't have to stay with Michael. :) Yes, this means an afternoon of college football all by myself. Woohoo!

It's good to see the boys getting invited to these parties. It is good socialization for them. At the same time I fear it is a mere preview of things to come. I can see us chauffeuring the boys around to parties, practices, scout meetings, etc. for many years to come. Ugh. Oh well, I guess that's what being a parent is all about. I'll just have to get used to the fact that my kids get invited to more parties than I do.

Well, we have to get ready to go to the meeting, so until next time . . .

Jacob the Player

Joe here. . .

Well, less than a week after Michael wanted to have girls in his room, Jacob made his attraction to the female persuasion quite clear. Having dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Madole last night Jacob was asked if he still had a girlfriend. Last year at preschool he had become quite fond of one particular girl. Well, he announced to us that he has not just one but three girlfriends! He told us all that for his birthday party next year he is going to invite just these girls to his party. No boys, just girls. He figures he has a better chance with them if there's no competition. He ain't no dummy.

Oh, boy. What to do with two little boys who are already becoming interested in girls. I know the boys have no idea (for the most part) how male and female relationships work, but it is cute to think of these two little boys having girlfriends. Lord help us when they figure out what to do with the girls! I am definitely not looking forward to that.