Great Book

I'm in the middle of a great book about highly educated women who opt out of the work force to stay at home with their kids. Since it seems like I've got more friends working these days than not, it is a great reminder why I'm home...

"He's My Best Friend!"

Every so often, a sort of perfect parenting moment happens and I think I may not be totally screwing up my kids. Today in the midst of a tickle war, while I tickling her brother, Cassie shrieked "Mom! Stop! Stop tickling Chase! He's my brother! Stop tickling him! He's my BEST FRIEND!" I, of course, stopped immediately and asked her to repeat what she said. Cassie has never withheld affection from me, but she's often coy with her daddy and her brother. And yet, there she is calling her brother her BFF.

Last night I was relaying something else cute the kids did and said to my husband, "You know, I may not be so bad at this parenting thing after all." Jamie, in his infinate wisdom, replied, "Really Christi, it's HARD to screw them up too much. Look at me. I raised myself. Dad was at work all the time, and Mom was locked in the bathroom. I turned out fine." His assement is largely true. MIL is bi-polar and doesn't like her meds, so she did spend most of his childhood hiding from life in general.

My response was, "Well, you turned out alright, but I bet if you had a sibling, it would be a hot mess!" He agreed.

So I will soldier on. The house is clean, the family fed, laundry caught up, dog (and mom) walked. I've got a stack of library books to get to and a baby blanket to finish crocheting....

School Days!

Thursday was the kids' first day of school. I realize it is the middle of July, but that's when our district goes back. I'm really going to miss our mid-summer return next year when the district changes to a more "normal" schedule.

Chase started 3rd grade & Cassie had her first day of preschool. Both LOVED it! 2 mornings a week isn't enough for Cass, she wants to go EVERY DAY like her brother. She was thrilled to tag along to her IEP meeting this morning with me, just because it was in a preschool building! As for the IEP--she'll be receiving 30 minutes of speech per week. She's missing a few consonants, and while Chase and I easily translate for her, hopefully she won't need us translating for too much longer!

Chase's teacher is out on maternity leave, so he'll have a sub for the rest of the quarter. I hope he likes the sub as much as his classroom teacher! He is thrilled to have some of his friends in his class, and came home on the first day happy that he'd made a new friend!

Picture Post of our Weekend

It was Hayden's fifth birthday party this weekend at a gymnastics place in CoMo. My kids had a great time!


The kid remind you of someone?


I love this shot. I wish I'd had my camera with me at the pool yesterday, the kids were hugging and wrestling and just being generally adorable. I feel so blessed that they get along as well as they do.


This weekend we attempted round 2 of Operation Cassie's Big Girl bed. This time it was a success! She is sleeping beautifully in her toddler bed.


The Aces are currently tied for first place in their division. Coach has really worked with Chase on his hitting and he's doing GREAT now! So proud of my little slugger.

New Camera

A few of my favorite shots with my new camera. I <3 my family!

Today is Chase's first day of activities camp at our local rec-center. Today is swimming & ice skating (indoor, obviously), tomorrow he'll play games & do crafts, Wednesday is more swimming & ice skating, Thursday is more games, and Friday is a field trip. We've also got VBS at church all week (evenings), so it's going to be a busy week.

I'm trying to get the princess motivated to go shopping for a present for her cousin's bday party on Saturday, but she's pretty entranced by Max & Ruby right now. She just nabbed a go-gurt out of the fridge and I'm having a hard time believing my baby is old enough to help herself to snacks in the fridge. Of course, I was informed last night that she and Lulu (her lovey) are BIG GIRLS, not babies. We had a long talk about when she could get married and have babies. I told her not until she graduated from college and got married. She seems okay with that. She also wanted to know how babies get into their mommies' tummies. Like her brother before her, I told her that God puts them there. Which I believe is true. I mean, I'm not an idiot, I realize I'm leaving out a step. On the other hand, not every baby is conceived the old-fashioned way (she wasn't), so that's the answer she's getting for now. It worked for Chase. I do wonder what atheists tell their kids though...I mean, you can't say God puts them there if you don't believe in God...

Cass is currently obsessed with getting mare-weed. I'm going to chalk it up to her constant diet of Disney Princess stories, in which the Princess always nabs her man in the end, they get married, and live happily ever after. As traditional as I am, it is starting to grate on my nerves a bit. Why can't the Princess get a job or take over the kingdom and run it successfully (and run the wicked stepmonsters out of town)? Why does she need a man to swoop in and save her?

My life is very similar to that of a 1950s housewife. I love it. It works for me. But what if it doesn't work for my daughter? I want her to know she has choices, she has options--she can be whatever she wants to be. SHE can create her own destiny, she doesn't need a man to do it for her. Do I want her to get married and have children? Absolutely, if that's what SHE wants. I just don't want her to think that her "happily ever after" depends on it. I certainly don't want her to rush into a marriage b/c she thinks it will make her happily ever after. I've got too many divorced friends who made that mistake.

I'm pretty sure that rant might qualify me as a feminazi in Rush's eyes. So be it. I want that glass ceiling shattered once and for all before my daughter hits it.

Summertime and the living is easy...I think

We're in our first full week of summer cycle break. From all appearances, it is our last summer cycle break as it appears that after 41 years, our school district will be doing away with cycles next school year (2011-2012). While the board is saying "it's not a done deal," they could save the district 1 million dollars a year in transportation costs, so they're complete morons if they don't do it. As much as I've love love loved the cycle system for Chase, I know I'm going to love having the kids on the same schedule for the rest of Chase's school career even more! Plus, who doesn't want to save a million dollars in this economic climate? Sayonara cycles!

Quite honestly, this break is flying by already! I've seriously limited screen time for the kiddos which means I'm trying to keep them engaged doing what we did before DVR (and 24 hrs of the Backyardigans Robots) and Wii. The weather has been less than cooperative, so we haven't spent as much time at the pool as we usually do. We hit the library earlier this week on a stormy day and got the kids signed up for the summer reading program. For every 30 minutes of screen time, Chase has to play outside or read a book for 30 minutes. He balked at first, but he's reading a ton. He's also loving his new airsoft rifle. I think it is an AK-47.

 

We did the zoo yesterday. I renewed my membership (the highway is open again!) and we'll be more frequent visitors. Cassie refused a stroller and was quite a little trooper, tromping thru. We loved the stingray exhibit, it was definitely the highlight of the trip. I'm looking forward to heading back when it isn't quite so hot and crowded!

 


In the last few months we've done the STL Arch, Magic House & Zoo. Next up is a trip to Six Flags and perhaps the Science Center if we get a spectacularly crappy weather day...

That is not today. It is shaping up to be a beautiful pool day! I'm off to ready us for that!