Sometimes I'm a girl you know

Last week on our way to dinosaur school the following conversation happened.

Caden: I don't want to go grandma's house for Thanksgiving.

Me: Why not?

Caden: Because I want to be a lady.  Sometimes I'm a girl you know.

I never did get to an understanding why this can't happen at grandma's house, but I did learn something new.  Caden frequently walks around the house with a small blanket or handkerchief under a baseball hat on his head.  He told me that was his "girl hair."

At this rate, he's really going to love the Disney world surprise because of all the princesses!

If you think this showcases his feminine side, wait until I share what he's asking Santa for Christmas!

The New Fish Tank

Remember when I told you about my husband getting a fish tank?  Remember then I showed you the basement room we finished for the fish tank?  Well, I'm finally posting pictures of the fish tank!

I took this photos awhile ago, and the fish tank has changed a lot since then.  There are more fish and other living growing things than you can see now.  It changes daily.

The boys have named the fish.  We have Nemo and Marvin, Santa, Princess, and Sally.  (We have multiple fish named Princess and Santa!)

Parenting Class: Week 8

This past week in class, we learned about following through with your directions. 

Each time you give a command, like we talked about last week, and don't insist the request be completed, your words loose their power.  Your children will learn that ever command doesn't need to be completed, then they will test the boundaries each time. 

The first step is to continue to give good commands.  The second it to always wait 5 to 10 seconds before compliance to the request begins.  They must have time to react to the request.  Finally, after the first request or possible the seconrd reminder, follow through and assist in making sure they complete your request.

2010 Halloween

We didn't go trick-or-treating this year.  I know, bad mommy.  I've never liked Halloween.  I don't mind dressing up and school parties and such assuming that the costumes are child appropriate and fun, not scary and evil.  Instead we did go to a Halloween party hosted by some family and friends.

That's my husband, the wiener in a bun.

Since I'm not a fan of Halloween, I wore the costume my husband decided on as little as possible.  (Trust me, that is NOT my Halloween costume.)

This, however, was my Halloween costume.  

We finished up the evening on a haunted hay ride through a neighborhood.

Just Thursday

Outside my window...it's raining.  It's rained most of today.

The time is...10:07 p.m.

Today I feel...thankful.

I am thinking...the fact that I'd intended to write a what I'm thankful for post...

At the moment, I am thankful...my handsome sleeping little boys.

I am going...finish eating this chocolate peanut butter no bake bar I made.

I am wearing...my favorite green sweatpants (again) and a gray Royal Caribbean t-shirt.

I wish...make a charitable donation in everyone's name for Christmas.

I am reading...blogs.

I am working on...eating.

I am hoping...that I'm not getting a cold.

I am hearing...hubby bringing the dog in from outside.

I bet you didn't know...I went to band camp in high school.

One of my favorite...flavors is mint.

Link up with Abby at Murdock's Mama's!

Oh, you saw it?

During dinner tonight, the following conversation transpired.

Daddy: Don't put that in your mouth!


Caleb: I didn't.

Daddy: Don't lie to me.

Caleb: Oh... you saw it?

Daddy: Yes, I did.  Don't lie to me again son.

Red Derby 10K

The first Saturday of November I ran in the Red Derby 10K with a friend/co-worker.  This was the first time we'd ran together, and I thought it was quite a success!

It was freezing that weekend.  I left my house to some snow flurries flying in the sky.  Most every rooftop I drove past had a coating of snow on it.

I had thought enough in advance to purchase new running pants a few days before, and was wearing them in the car on the way.  I was also thinking about hydration and was drinking an open glass of water in the car on the way too.  Too bad I turned a corner, our cup holders weren't sat up correctly, and the whole glass of water dumped on my leg and seat.  The thought of running a 10K in the cold was hard enough for me to wrap my mind around, but not with a soaking wet leg that was going to freeze, I was not looking forward to it!  Luckily I found a blanket in my trunk and dried myself off the best I could!

We arrived at the race, registered, and headed around the block to the Giant Eagle to pee.  It was much more pleasant and warm than the port-a-potties at the race site!

We did our best to stay warm prior to race start, and then we were off!  Somewhere around a 1/2 mile we were still getting adjusted to the weather and my partner was laughing as I asked "Where the F*** is mile 1!?"

Luckily after mile 1, things evened out and we kept an awesome 10 minute mile pace!  Mile 5 was a 9 minute mile, and was probably a bit too much as I fell slight behind toward the end of our 11 minute 6th mile.

We finished 5th and 6th in our female age division.  I finished with a time of 1:02:02.5!  I was certainly pleased with that, as I'd only been targeting 11-12 minute miles due to my lack of training!

We celebrated after by heading to Longhorn for lunch and margaritas and rounded out the afternoon by spending it shopping at T.J. Maxx!  It was a great first 10K race experience and a great day away from home with a new friend!

Our New Puppy

We've been talking about getting a puppy for awhile now.  We finally did it!  We went down to Amish country to look at a West Highland and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.  

We decided on the Spaneil!


The ride home we spent naming our new puppy.  The boys had some very unique suggestions for names. 
The list includes:

Treehair

Stopsign

Princess

Caden

Caleb

Teeth

Rudolph

Santa

Snowman

Carvan

Vampire Teeth

Beth

Smooshycakehead

Lily (My personal favorite.)

Beth

We settled on Belle.  

Baby Showers

Let's face it, can any of you actually say you enjoy going to baby showers?

Don't get me wrong, I think babies are a wonderful blessing and we should celebrate it, but showers are definitely not my thing. 

This past weekend hubby and I went to a baby shower.  My hubby's best friend and his girlfriend are expecting and at due in mid to late January.  I know my hubby's friend, but I've never met his girlfriend.  (Awkward point #1)

I also don't know anyone in attendance at the baby shower.  (Awkward point #2)  My mother-in-law had to come early and leave because they had a wedding to attend. 

There was one person there I'd met twice, once at her wedding (she married another of hubby's friends) and once at my wedding.  We made small talk, which in case you forgot from my Thursday post, I suck at.  During the chatting, she asked if I was pregnant.  (Awkward point #3)  I think she missed the memo on what happened earlier in our year.  I was very polite about it, as I know her and her hubby had just been through a miscarriage.

Until half way through the baby shower, I didn't even know which person there was the pregnant girl.  (Awkward point #4)  I've still not met her.  I slid out the back door after the presents were opened to join the men outside before making an early exit with hubby.

Speaking of, hubby got to hang out outside with his friends for the hour or so we were there.  I was rather jealous.

This isn't really deserving of a 5th awkward point, but I did find it somewhat distasteful to have pre-printed thank you notes to pass around the room from a basket after the shower.  Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I much prefer handwritten or those with a personal touch. 

Parenting Class: Week 7

This week's parenting class was all about giving commands.  Or more politely stated, how to make your directions more effective. 

The moral of the story this week was that when you repeat the same command 5, 6, 7 and more times, it is ineffective. 

The first steps to remedy this are giving less commands.  This is partically done by establishing routines, like we talked about last week.  If they know the routine and praise them every step of the way, we wouldn't have to give so many commands are parents. 

Another method is to give them choices.  For example, do you want to wash your face or do you want mommy/daddy to do it? 

Next week we'll be learning how to follow through on our commands.

Just Thursday

 

Outside my window...it's dark. It's late & past my bedtime.

The time is...10:38 p.m.

Today I feel...tired.

I am thinking...why I couldn't just go to sleep.

I am going...bed as soon as Private Practice is over.

 I am wearing...green sweat pants and my white and purple Relay for Life t-shirt.  (I think this is not the first time I've blogged this outfit. It's a favorite!)

I wish...more sleep.

I am reading...nothing currently. I gave up on the Five Love Languages, but I ordered a new book on Amazon last week, and I'm waiting for it to arrive.

I am working on...learning how to train a puppy!

I am hoping...for a fun girls night out tomorrow.  I can't remember the last time I had a girls night out!

I am hearing...commercials on during Private Practice.

I bet you didn't know...I am terrible at small talk.

One of my favorite...numbers is 2.

Weekend Plans:

[Thursday] We had a relaxing evening at home, and I am going to bed soon.
[Friday] Girls Night Out!!
[Saturday] Day with the kids while hubby spends another day out for fish tank stuff then we're going to take dinner to my in-laws.

[Sunday] Hubby is working all morning, so I'm hoping for a relaxing day at home.

Join the fun!
Copy, paste, and complete on your blog.
*Make sure to link up over at Murdock's Mama.

Wordless Wednesday

2010 Pumpkins

Don't let their smiles fool you.  They don't like the pumpkin guts.

In fact, they are actually smiling because their shaking the goo off into that trash can.

This part, on the other hand, they loved!

They're covering their pumpkins well, but you can see a bit of the pumpkin tattoos we used when we got tired of carving!

Are you leaving Mommy? - YES!

This weekend, we arranged for the kids to spend the weekend with my parents.  They haven't spent a weekend with Grandma in quite some time.  They used to do it much more frequently. 

Friday evening after work, we decided we'd take the kids out to dinner to spend some time with them before they left for the weekend.  We invited grandpa and grandma to come with us too. 

On our way to Bob Evans, their restaurant of choice for the evening, they asked if we were going to leave after they got to grandma's house. 

I was hesitant because the last few times they had the opportunity to stay with grandma, they didn't want to.  I slowly said yes, we were going to leave them there.  The response, an excited YES! in stereo from the backseat!

Then Caden proceeded to tell me that that was great because grandma had Scooby-Doo and they could watch movies!

They had a great time at grandma's this weekend, and hubby and I had a wonderful weekend together doing our Christmas shopping and attending a baby shower.  (More on the baby shower later...)

2010 Ohio State Fair

Back in August we went to the state fair, and for several years I've been working with a couple friends of mine.  They have heard of dairy show cattle. 

Fair time is my favorite time of year.  I think for me, it is better than Christmas.  (Seeing as I'm not a huge Christmas fan and all!)

This year, we decided the boys were old enough to have some fun this year at state fair.  The plan was for one to come down with me on Friday to stay the night in the barn and help with chores and getting ready for the show.  Keith and the other would come down on Saturday for the day and swap kids.  Keith doesn't share my love for all things show cattle, so he just comes along for the ride sometimes.  And this gave me the opportunity to have both kids there, without having to have both kids there at the same time under my watch!  Great plan right?

Caleb and I arrived Friday evening after work.  John met us in the parking lot to to drive us in.  We park in the way back with the trailers to avoid getting towed over night when we don't have a rooftop pass.  So I parked next to the cattle trailer and their other truck, loaded up the truck and headed into the barn. 

By the time we got into the barn, Marla had diner made for us in the barn. We hung around and Caleb played, until we realized our air bed for the night was still out in the truck.  John headed out to get the bed for Caleb and I to sleep on.  Things continued as usual, scooping poop and such until John's daughter, stops over.  Their truck is gone.  Marla needs to head out the parking lot immediately. 

And there I sat.  I felt so helpless!  There was nothing I could do to help.  The truck was stolen, they were filling out the police reports at the state highway patrol post.  At least I kept the cows clean.  I was the best cow pooper scooper that night.  I don't like feeling like there's nothing I can do to help.

While I was waiting to hear from them, I took some time to put Caleb to sleep.  If you think normal bed time is difficult, try putting a 4 year old to sleep in a busy cow barn with cows, people, noise, the continuous hum of barn fans, and my personal favorite, the lights that never turn off. 

Around 11:30 or so they arrive back at the fairgrounds.  But there was still a lot to be done.  First was to go move the cattle trailer and my truck up closer to the fairgrounds, and closer to where there were more people and patrolling.  There had also been several cars broken into that evening to have things stolen from inside.  We moved my truck and the cattle trailer up to an open spot on the center isle, locked everything up and headed back in.

At first thought, it's just a car, it can be replaced, everyone is okay, but it really is an invasion of privacy it is.  More than likely, you keep your registration and proof of insurance in your car, probably in you glove box.  If your car is stolen, the criminal has access to that information, and any other information/items you may have in your car.  It's scary stuff.

Luckily sometimes around 2 or 3 that morning they had gotten a phone call that their truck was recovered in Columbus.  Everyone could breathe a little easier, and catch some shut eye for a brief few hours before we were up for chores and to prepare for the show that day!

As we worked our way through show prep, I felt continually worse.  I either had a terrible allergic reaction to something in the barn this year, or I caught a cold at a terrible time.  I suffered my way through the show amongst my nose literally dripping snot on the barn floor and looking like Rudolf since all we had in the barn were paper towels to wipe my nose on. No matter how bad I felt, I had a commitment to help them with the show and help I did!  I wiped cow butts, I brushed them, I walked them to and from the show rings, and I did my best to keep track of who was to be where when.

Once the show was finally over, we ate lunch in the barn before they headed to recover their truck from impound.  There was some damage done to it, but it was still drivable, with a screwdriver. 

Once they returned, I took a quick nap, then we packed up our kiddos and headed home.  I couldn't take anymore of the fun with the miserable cold symptoms.  Caden is still reminding me, 3 months later, that I owe him a night of sleeping in the barn.  We'll have to work on that for next year!

Parenting Class: Week 6

Last Tuesday we attended another session of our classes.  This week we learned about rules and chores. 

We're a little bit ahead in this week as a few months ago we established household rules. It is important to establish rules for which the household follows.

Our kids are great at helping out around the house when asked, but they didn't have a specific chore that they were responsible for.  This was a recommendation made this week  We're starting in our house with making your bed.  This will be the kids chore for them to be responsible for.  Then we'll add setting the table.

The final thing we touched on this week was routines.  Establishing morning and bedtime routines, and any other times of the day as needed.  This can be done with lists, preferably in pictures since our children aren't old enough to read yet!  So the same things happen every morning and evening in the same order. 

We'll see what next week brings in week 7!

Hershey, PA

I know it's been awhile, but you might remember a few pieces from awhile ago about our summer vacation.

Well, it's about time I put together another installment!

The last day of our trip we had a long drive planned back to Ohio from New Jersey, so we decided to break it up a bit with a stop in Hershey, PA!

 Upon our arrival at Chocolate word, we took the tour around to see how chocolate is made.

We saw how it started with the cows and ended with chocolate.

We also thought it'd be a good idea to take the kids on the trolley tour around the town of Hershey to learn some of it's history.

They had mixed feelings about waiting for the trolley.

But if offered a wonderful few of the amusement park.

We also saw buildings in the history of Hershey.

In the short 2.5 hours we spent at Hershey, my kids were given 6 candy bars.

Just what we needed for the 5-6 hour car ride home!

Annual Employee Craft Show

The company I work for has started an annual employee craft show.  It consists of employees and employee family members showcasing their work for the employees.  It's a neat opportunity held just before the holiday season one afternoon and early evening at the end of the work day.

I attended this year with some of the other ladies from our department.  I found some wonderful things!

I have a Halloween pin, I usually wear on my coat, and the same for Christmas.  The boys love it, so I thought I'd add to me collection for the holidays and complete it with the adorable hand made turkey! 

This picture is pretty poor, but it's a navy blue flower made out of a zipper!  Such a cute and clever idea!

Just Thursday

Outside my window...is the front yard.

The time is...7:29 p.m.

Today I feel...tired.

I am thinking...about how I've been neglecting my blog lately.

At the moment, I am thankful...tomorrow is Friday.

I am going...watch some tv and hopefully get to bed early.

I am wearing...red shorts, gray sweatpants, brown slippers, and the gray turtleneck I wore to work. I've only half changed my clothes since work!

I wish...people would remember Thanksgiving and hold off on the Christmas stuff.

I am reading...blogs.

I am working on...finding my workout motivation.  Still.

I am hoping...it doesn't snow this weekend.

I am hearing...my husband's very loud movie from downstairs and traffic outside.

I bet you didn't know...my husband started a new job on Monday!

One of my favorite...workouts is running.

Weekend Plans.. 

[Thursday] relaxing

[Friday] Work & a fundraiser basketball game

[Saturday] 10K & the boys might have a visit with their mother at our house this weekend

[Sunday] Church & relaxing, maybe some baking.

Be sure to visit Abby and link-up!

Parenting Class: Week 5

Due to my crazy travel schedule for work, I missed Parenting Class: Week 3 & 4.  Although I was enjoying learning more about parts of my territory and traveling to Minnesota and Colorado, it's good to be back home and getting back into a routine!

This week we wrapped up some of the items covered the past two weeks, mainly praise.  Children needs lots of good praise in words that they can understand, the prior week's homework was to practice this.

This week incentives were introduced.  Incentives are different than bribes in that they come after the desired behavior is completed.  Incentives need to be introduced and shared, then practiced.  When they're practiced, especially the first time they need to be achievable, so the child can feel the success.  They need opportunities to reach the incentives.  Our instruction also said that they should be for a specific desired behavior.

In our house, we've been doing the incentive thing for a few months now, but we'll continue as that is our homework for the week!

Our boys sat down with me and they came up with a long list of house rules.  I turned the long list into a short list that hangs on our dinning room wall.  Next to the rule page is a sheet of paper for each of the kids where they keep track of how many stickers they've earned!  The stickers can never be taken away, which was stressed in our learning about incentives tonight.  When they fill their sheet; we're going to Chuck E. Cheese.  They are terribly excited about this; I, on the other hand, dread it.  Next time, we're going to work toward something we can all enjoy!