NO TRESPASSING!

As noted in my previous post, Maysen "won" back his train table. This has brought mixed curiosity on the part of Maysen's arch enemy, Griffin, who (in Maysen's eyes) is only out to destroy him and his trusty train table. "I'll solve that!" he thought and up went his solution, on the door. A sign, written in Hebrew, stating "GRIFFIN STAY OUT!". You can see how well Fin obeys signs. Perhaps he couldn't read the language....

Yes, our son is a pirate. It wasn't until Maysen brought it to my attention that Griffin, in fact, had no feet any longer. Ahhh, he must be a pirate walking on peg legs. These certain pants have elastic along the bottom and slide over his heels and cover his whole foot. Cracks me up when he comes blazin' around the corner, no feet visible.

sidenote: You'll notice along the side that I have included a little "losing leslie" tracker. For the last 30 days, I have been on a road to losing my extra butt, neck, thighs, arms that I have had around WAYYYYY TOO LONG! It's been exciting so far but I keep this on here to remind me, keep me motivated, and accountable. Wish me luck!!

Same rock, New name

Good Boy Rocks. That is the new name for an old friend. These rocks were successful in getting Maysen potty trained and so far they're paying off in teaching him patience, savings, and reward! Whenever Maysen is "good" (ie: feeding the dog without being asked, putting his plate/bowl up on the counter when done, picking up his room, making his bed, etc) he earns a "good boy rock". When he has saved a certain amount (ie: 5 for minibag of M&Ms), then he gets to cash them in.

He also loses rocks for bad behavior. A couple of weeks ago, he went "surfing" on his train table. That broke the boards in the middle, so he got grounded from his table. Out it in went to the garage and we had on devastated little boy. However, when he was told if he saved 10 "good boy rocks" he could cash them in and Daddy would fix his table, the lightbulb went off. Well, tonight it was achieved! He has been cashing in his rocks for M&Ms until it clicked one day and he started saving them to get his table back. Tonight, he jumped up after dinner, put his plate on the counter and ran to get Bay's food. He came back and said, "I earned 2 more rocks, now I will have 10!" Earlier today we counted his rocks, and he came up with needing only 2 more (good Math lesson!) to get his table back. I currently hear "CHOO - CHOOoooooo" coming from a happy (good!) boy's room....

President Barack Obama is here.

History class was never my thing. I couldn’t have cared less. So to think I might actually be a part of history was never a consideration. Until yesterday. Yesterday I became a part of an era of Change. An era of New Beginnings. I believe to the center of my being that President Barack Obama is what we, as a country, need. We have let go of so many of the morals we used to stand behind, weakened ourselves as a nation, and lost our way as a whole. I believe that yesterday, that changed.

I remember in my (dreaded) history class, learning about Martin Luther King, Jr. and what Rosa Parks went through just to prove a point. I remember thinking, “All that because of the color of their skin?” Yet, even thinking that, I never considered there being a black president. I am still amazed and grateful that I have lived to see that change, to feel that change. I’m even more grateful to know that my children will be learning about this historic change and to see that no matter how high the wall is, it can always be overcome.

I know it will be a hard road. I don’t think anyone is fooled that overcoming the challenges set forth by past leadership will be easy. But I think we have just the man to do it. I thank him prematurely for changing this Nation….but I thank him even more for changing the course of my children’s lives.

Poor Birdie ...

UPDATE: Bird has borderline pneumonia but is now back at home and doing great! She was given IV fluids/meds and was glad to get home. Bailey the dog (I failed to mention) was taken in too (scheduled) to have a tumor removed from her armpit. I'm not sure who is in worse condition! Bailey walked in, eyes so droopy (beyond norma) she could barely see and slept the evening away last night. She didn't move when the kids welcomed her home. We have the circus back to complete ... now onto medicating animals, my 2nd passion in life. (insert sarcasm)

Please pray for our 10yr old kitty, Birdie. She's not doing real well right now. We'll see what the doctor says tomorrow.

I have a small confession ...

I have been known to have these little spiffs of “unhappiness” I guess you could call it with some of my decorating techniques. I wouldn’t say “unhappy” … I just feel unrested so I continue to look for something that might work better. We’ve been through 3 sets of living room furniture in 2 years. Some might think that’s stupid, but I actually sold each previous set for more than what I bought it for. So it worked out … and we’re settled in the living room furniture department.

And just when my mother-in-law thought the illness was over (she laughs at me), it continues. And that continues in my bedroom. I have yet to find an adequate replacement of our bedroom comforter that we had to retire last year. You’ll remember this one ….

But it was white. And when you have a 3-4yr old who eats popcorn on our bed while watching various Noggin shows.... Well, I didn’t like the $30 dry cleaning tab. So, I found this one, on a ridiculous sale, and I’ve always liked the cocoa brown/baby blue gig.

This picture stinks because the comforter seems white, but its really blue. A light baby blue but darker. Best part? I can wash it in my own washing machine ... no dry cleaning! And I won't even feel guilty for how cheap I got it. I also took the mirror off the wall and painted the gold frame to a cocoa brown, matching the browns. I even took those wall sconces next to the mirror off the wall, removed the glass and painted the backing that same brown instead of black. I got a little Martha itch in me I guess. I also took the time to play DOCTOR and stitch up Sam from Dr Suess for Maysen. I’ve had a busy day.

I have some trips planned coming up. Starting with a train ride to Seattle for the weekend with my sister in law. I've never been except when we boarded our ship to Alaska, so it's not like we toured the city. We'll stay the weekend, take a ferry to Victoria Island and play around without kids or men. Should be fun! Then we are coming with Jessica and Josh for Memorial Day .. and then having a Condo-girl time in July when our men go on a hiking trip, hopefully taking Jonas and Maysen with them. This weekend should be nice as we'll be minus one boy for a might. Mom has asked to take Maysen and have him spend the night Friday and then they're going to go watch my other nephew play basketball. Hopefully getting to watch DeShawn play on a team will show Maysen how big boys act on a team. He's going to love it!

Tomorrow night we're having dinner with some new friends - I met D at Bunco a few months ago and she and I have a lot in common. We've had coffee once and chatted but tomorrow night R is fixing us ribs! (I'm a rib-virgin .. never had them). The boys will meet and do their boy talk. So I'm excited about that, so I'd better get to bed. I'm such a night owl...(or should I read a few more pages of Twilight? .. Jessica??..hehe).

gotta love cardboard

Everyone who knows me well knows of what a sentimental person I am. Sometimes I forget that not everyone is like me and I have to, and do, respect that. However, I was surprised to how open Maysen was to us getting rid of our play area. Maysen was 1yr old when we moved into our new home. Every summer that is spent in our backyard has been spent playing around our play area. However, last summer it became filled with bees and wasps, Maysen getting stung twice. Spiders make their huge webs in there, catching all kinds of scary bugs. So we decided that not only was it taking up a huge part of our lawn, it was getting unsafe for him to be playing on. So we sold it … sold his “tree house”, his playful castle-like fort.

On Monday Bailey got her new basket in the mail. She sleeps in a blanket-filled basket which Griffin found a weak twig in the 7yr old basket, and started pulling it apart stick by stick. It, too, became too unsafe for us to have around. Her new basket was delivered in a huge box. When Mase saw that, his eyes lit up and I jumped up to get the markers. When I was small, my dad would get us refrigerator boxes. These hummers are huge! We turned them into our own homes. I was immediately took me back to the summers we slept outside in our new little cardboard apartments.

I helped Maysen draw his name on it, cut out windows in it, and he has informed me that this is his NEW playhouse. So, this will remain his inside playhouse (which he’s been sleeping in) and when summer comes (seems so long away) we’ll replace his play set that was taken away with a newer, smaller, safer version. And I'll have a lot more grass to my backyard getting all the mulch chips up and getting new grass put down in the missing area.

Karate

Karate started back up recently after taking a 4-week break. It was a baaaad night. He didn't listen to the instructors at all, ran a MUCK, and thought it was a joke. I had recently talked with them about his behavior and I was told that a) they don't "sit them out" because they want the experience positive and not negative b) he was the youngest in his class, but he's actually very good for age c) Maysen is very smart, and he's getting what is going on and manipulating it. They told me to just relax and they'll work with him. They will not let us intervene (as in, remove him from karate when he's not listening) and therefore he's taught how he can act there, and man does he lay into it. He would even look back at Nate and smile while goofing off knowing they wouldn't let Nate intervene. So, we are removing him from karate for a bit - maybe wait until fall when he's learned a bit more self-discipline. This karate outfit doesn't provide the type of structure that he needs.

Maysen does very well at school - he listens, he obeys, he's put in time-out if he's out of line, or he's removed from the project if he's messing around. And he does great there! He can sit on the church pew and wait his turn, will stand on stage and sing while behaved. It's not my son....it's how they've allowed him to get away with horse play ... and it's blatant that he's not 100% interested right now. So, onto another activity!

Welcome 2009

Reflecting back to this very time last year, I wouldn't have fathomed all that would occur over the next 365 days. Today I sit and ponder the same thing. If you take in the thought that literally anything is possible, it's mindblowing. Last year here are just a few things that happened that swayed our life in one way or another:

1. Griffin got seriously ill.
2. Then he got better, and through the year has proven to have beaten and surpassed the illness and any of it's potentially harmful effects.
3. Nathan got very ill same time as Griffin - trying everyone's faith, hope, and patience.
4. Nathan, too, recovered fully with amazing speed. God is good!
5. Nate got hired full-time at Weyerhaeuser in February and is in love and at "home" with his new job.
6. We put our house on the market so that we could obtain a bigger home ... and that plan flopped. Must not be the right time.
7. Maysen became POTTY TRAINED!
8. We historically elected the first black president into office.
9. Our country is suffering a major economic recession. It certainly has taught me how to budget more effectively, as just affording gas (at almost $5/gallon) became a challenge.
10. Last but not least, this year I was a mommy to two little boys - two brothers, one in which I have to keep from killing the other. Being a mommy to two is a whole lot different than being a mommy to one!

So, what now? I just hold on for the ride and pray that I will make it through whatever comes our way within the next year. I pray that our economy starts to get repaired. I pray that our new president brings the new and complicated changes that our country desperately needs (and I pray for his sanity!). I pray for health, wellness, and prosperity for all of my family. Lastly ... not matter what happens, I continue to pray for strength and happiness.

Here's to all of you on your journey through 2009. Thanks for being with me during the last 365 days ... and I hope you'll pop in on my next 365. Although the road could get bumpy, sometimes the bumps are more important than the good, smooth parts.