Not Me, Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
Last Thursday while my little girl practiced gymnastics for an hour, I did not take the laptop and work on blog posts for the whole hour. I would simply never take my child to a sports practice and not watch every single minute of it. Nope, not me!

After receiving a comment on my “Not Me Monday” post last week from Elizabeth at “Confessions from a Working Mom,” I did not join her Blog Carnival called “Truthful Tuesdays.” I did not do this because I am simply not getting obsessed with jumping from blog to blog reading the posts of all you other ladies out there! Nope, Not me!

I did not TOTALLY enjoy some holiday shopping with the Waffle for two hours yesterday afternoon sans children. I always feel completely at a loss when my children are not with me. If I had enjoyed my two hours of shopping sans children, I might want to say “Thank you” to Nick’s momma, who blogs on this page, for allowing Mallory to join Hayden at Nick's birthday party. But, since I didn’t enoy it, I won’t say "Thank you." Nope, Not Me!

Because I started my holiday planning an entire month ago, I am prepared, organized and at peace with all my holiday planning. I do not feel completely unprepared and disorganized, being unable to make up my mind what to buy for the children, much less anyone else. Nope, Not Me!

I am not overly eager and excited for our annual trip to Michigan to see my parents and sister for the holiday. I am also not ever-so-anxious to go shopping on Black Friday, even though I have no idea what to buy and no plan of attack whatsoever. Nope, Not Me!

Well, I suppose that’s enough Not Me for now. Tune in next week to hear what I didn’t do on our family trip and Black Friday shopping adventure!
Happy Monday everyone!

Believe it or not . . .

. . . this is not a posed picture!

Last Sunday afternoon, after a very busy weekend, I asked the kids to catch up on some of their reading. You see, both of them are supposed to read for at least 20 minutes every day. Most days, this isn’t a problem, but sometimes we do fail! And, it never seems to fail that if we miss one day during the week, we often miss more.

So, when we got home from church services, I asked the kids to read for a little bit while I fixed lunch. They ran off to the other room, and I started cooking. After a while, I noticed that it was quiet. Very, very quiet. “So what’s the problem?” you ask. Because if they are reading like I asked them to, it should be quiet, right? Right. Of course. But, as a mother, I still distrust the quiet.

When it’s quiet, most mothers trust their instinct and go check on their children. When I did, I found them both snugged up together, under the covers, reading up in Hayden’s bed. Complete with pj’s.

I love those kids. I really do.

Pasta on Parenting #3

How old were you when you first kissed a boy? (Or girl – don’t want to exclude the guys reading out there!)

I’m not talking about your first real kiss, or your first French kiss. Just your first kiss. Whether it was a peck on the check, or a lip smacker – how old were you?

I was 6. First grade. On the playground, behind the swings. Of course, someone else told on us, and we got in “trouble.” I don’t even remember his name! (Wonder if he remembers mine?)

Tonight we were eating dinner in front of the TV tonight (yes, we really do that), and I don’t recall exactly how we got on the subject, but the subject became kissing. The question was: Have you ever kissed a girl? This question was directed at our 9 year old. And he was WAY too embarrassed to answer. I’m not sure if he was embarrassed just to talk about it, or because he actually has kissed a girl and didn’t want us to know. I just know he was embarrassed. In a REALLY big way. Hmmmmm.

As a mom, I’m wondering if I missed something? The Waffle’s been telling me for some time that this day was coming. I think in my “please don’t grow up” mind, I must have been ignoring the fact that this day has finally arrived.

He never did answer “Yes” or “No” to the original question, but the real shocker came when I switched from asking him if he’d ever kissed a girl to who it was that he had kissed. His answer? “Guess!” No Way! I don’t know who was laughing the hardest: Hayden, me or the Waffle. As the boys were preparing to leave the house, I pulled the Waffle aside and gave him strict instructions: “You have to find out who he kissed!”

Oh dear. What have I gotten myself into with this parenting thing?

Birthday Fun

A few weeks ago, we were blessed to have spent the day with our dear friends, the Brewers. It was their younger daughter Vanessa’s 4^th birthday, and boy did we have fun! Vanessa’s daddy, like the Waffle, is a construction contractor for a living. He made the most awesome bunk bed for his girls! Check this out! Of course, they have 10 foot ceilings, so this bed is simply massive. It would NEVER fit in our house! But it is beautiful. Brad did a fantastic job.

Vanessa received many gifts. This one was a $5 bill in a card. The expression on her face just kills me. What was even more hilarious is that she had this expression EVERY TIME she opened a gift.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before, but Mallory is a very crafty and clever little girl. She is also a fan of tissue paper. This is what she decided to do with the leftovers from all of Vanessa’s packages. Do I see a fashion designer in my future?

Here are a few more pictures of the day. What a great time we had. Hope we get to do it again real soon.

Mallory and Emily

Brad and Titus

Vanessa, Hayden, Emily and Mallory

The Bear Den

The Bear Den of Pack 3310 has been busy this month! They are well on their way to completing all of their achievements right on schedule.

At their first den meeting this month, they had a special visitor. Iron the dog came to the meeting and introduced himself! The boys had an eventful evening learning about crime prevention and how the police dog helps the police officer do his job.

In addition to meeting Iron, the boys also fingerprinted themselves, just like real criminals!

At their next den meeting, they went to Arni’s Pizza to make their own pizzas! They toured the kitchen and learned how a pizza is made from scratch. Then, of course, they got to eat their own creations! The boys also listened to some folk tales at this meeting.

Hayden and the Waffle attended a pro basketball game as part of the “Circuit of Fun” scout program that is organized by the council in Indianapolis. The Scouts get to do lots of really neat things with Circuit of Fun such as Monster Jam, the Indians Overnight, Indianapolis Ice Hockey game, events at the Indianapolis 500, and many more. Hayden had never been to Conseco Field House before, so this was a real treat.

Everything was big - big basketball . . .

. . . big shoes . . .

. . . big arena . . .

(OK, so maybe the seats could have been a little better!)

Scouting keeps us all pretty busy, but I am so glad that we’ve decided to stick with it. I can tell a difference in his maturity and confidence. He believes in himself, and he isn’t afraid to try new things. He offers to do chores. He’s respectful, helpful and kind. Of course, I’d be lying if I told you that he was like this 24/7. So, I won’t. Lie, that is. We still have our moments. And I’m sure we always will!

Truthful Tuesdays - a Blog Hop

Ok, so I must admit, I'm getting into this blog thing! It's as much fun to jump around and read what other ladies are posting as it is to post about my own family.

And, I've found another one. Truthful Tuesdays. I am posting for the first time today. If you'd like, you can go over to Confessions from a Working Mom's blog and join us with McLinky (which I signed up for with MckMama's "Not Me Monday").

This week's Truthful Tuesdays question is...

What is your spouse's most annoying habit? And how do you cope with it?

I would like to start the answer to the question with a disclaimer: In our marriage, I am probably the one with more annoying habits than he is.

OK, now that we've taken care of the legal stuff. My spouse's most annoying habit is his general inability to pick up after himself. Dirty socks by the bedside - but, only a week's worth. Magazines on every table in the house - and on the back of the toilet, and on the steps going up to our room, and, and, and. Piles of paper that don't have a home - everything from receipts to junk mail to very important papers that he asks about later (as in "Where is the order form for the Cub Scout event that I laid here on the table last week?"). I really believe that in the genes the Waffle passed on to our children, that the "Leaves things lying around" gene must be a dominant trait, much to my dismay. I would have preferred they got my "Everything has it's place" gene.

So, how do I handle his most annoying habit, you ask? Well, I do what every loving wife would do: I just do it myself. You see, after twelve years of marriage I have learned that it doesn't benefit us for me to nag the Waffle. He does, on occasion, realize that he is being slobbish and pick up after himself. But, in those not-so-rare moments when he doesn't? I just remember that I have just as many horribly annoying habits as he does. And he still loves me. And he rarely points out my annoying habits to me (or anyone else, thankfully!).

A "Pasta on Parenting" Not Me, Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

The kids are growing up right before my very eyes. Quickly, so quickly, they change and grow. I find myself having thoughts that contradict each other (Spaghetti). “Oh, look at her dressed up so cute and trendy,” I think as I hear myself say, “Here, honey, wear the dangly earrings with that outfit.” Me, encourage my little girl to grow up too fast? Never. Ever. Nope, Not Me!

Then, not 48 hours later, getting her out of her bed this morning, I hear myself say, “Bring your blanky and mom will snuggle with you in the chair while you wake up,” as I cuddle, snuggle and rock her, like she was 7 months old, rather than 7 years old. Me, try to keep my baby little forever? No way. Never. Not Me!

And as our eldest gets older, and we notice his growing interest in more things “guy,” we have tried to encourage some of those man-ish tendencies. Here’s the list just from this weekend. Learn to build a fire in the fireplace, then, later, after the fire is going, add a log. Take out the trash. Go to a pro basketball game with Dad and our buddy Josh. Watch football on Sunday afternoon. See – guy stuff. He’s growing up. So, when the Waffle and I discussed the idea of letting him walk from school to the YMCA, I didn’t feel a little sadness in my gut, thinking about the fact that he really isn’t so little anymore, thinking that, yes, I DO have to let him learn how to do these grown up type things. Nope, Not Me.

And, on Sunday evening, when he started to melt down from being over-tired from all the guy stuff, I did not allow him to curl up on the pew next to me at church service, put his coat over his head and take a little nap - like he was 9 months old, rather than 9 years old. Nope, Not Me!

I also did not feel a rush of love and gratitude when the Waffle leaned over to tell me, “You’re a good Mom.” Because I was not feeling just a tinge of guilt about letting a 9 year old sleep during church, rather than pay attention to the lesson. Nope, Not Me!

We all have “Not Me” moments when parenting our children. Thank you for letting me share mine with you today.

Happy Monday everyone!