Summer Life

Ok, so I'm not so good at titles, but this is about some of the stuff that has been going on in my life right now and its summer. First, I just have to let you know how excited I am about the fact that Abba music is now popular again and there is a movie about it. I loved them when I was in junior high. And of course now I am getting Hanna to love them too. I am always listening to music in my car and me and my kids sing alot. Well, Hanna sings with me now, Derek's taste has changed and he listens to Christian metal (I guess that's what its called) and I can't even understand what the heck they are saying and Chris won't sing at all. Abba sings a song called "Gimme Gimme a Man after Midnight", which has a catchy tune. Well to hear a 7 year old sing "Gimme Gimme a man after midnight" is funny but not right. So I told Hanna she could only sing it in the car with me or in her room by herself. That's all I need is some mom asking me what am I exposing my child to. Hanna did ask me what it means "Gimme a man after midnight" and I told her that the girl singing the song is lonely and wants a husband to sleep with like me and daddy (I mean really sleep) so she won't be lonely any more. I thought I did well.

Derek is now working at Long John Silvers on Western. And likes it better than the Big Texan. There was an incident where one of the managers asked Derek to set up a 7 top, so he did. She got angry after he was done and pulled him by the hair to the table and told him this was not a 9 top and to fix it. She was written up, but I don't know if they did anything to her or not. We decided to let Derek finish the rest of his schedule for the week, and find something else. Sean and I discussed it whether he should give a two week notice, but decided they didn't deserve it. I'm not bad mouthing them, the food is great, but the management sucks. The first night he worked at Long John's was great. Derek said the manager didn't yell at him once. Apparently, he was yelled at on a regular basis at the other job.

We bought our house in September of last year. It is our first one, so we are getting used to all the maintenance stuff. And being summer, we have delegated chores for the kids. Christopher has gotten the chore of mowing the yard. We have done a lot of work to get our yard to look good. When I was growing up, we always had a great yard to play in and I loved to lay in the grass. So I am excited that we have that for them now, course they probably don't appreciate it right now. Any way, Christopher mowed one evening when Sean was working late and when I went to see the front yard, well, lets just say we called our lawn the Dr. Suess yard of the neighborhood. There were what looked like hills, in no rhyme or reason. Come to find out the mower wasn't level on both sides. So the next time Chris had to mow, Sean checked the mower to make sure it was even. But watching Christopher mow and Sean telling him how to watch where you are going, try to follow the lines and overlap so we don't have the Dr. Suess look, made me think about how hard it is to get your kids to put their best into everything they do. They seem to only put their best into what they want. Just like me sometimes. It says in the bible, do your best at all things all the time, (not in those words, but you know what I mean). So I wonder, does God want to spank us when we half way do something, like I do with my kids? I love that God gives me these moments in life to be able to step back and remember I am not perfect, that I need to try harder also, and not to be so hard on my kids, because I was once in their shoes.

Hanna

God blessed me with 2 sons and then a daughter. Its amazing how different they all are, and my relationship with each one. But girls are so different from boys. And there is just an amazing connection or bond between a mother and daughter. Hanna and I spend a lot of time together. We go shopping together, she comes with me to appointments, we hang out and watch tv together, play games together, color together, just all kinds of things. When we are at home, she will play in her room for a while, but she will come out and check to see where I am or what I am doing. If we are watching tv, she has some body part touching me or laying on me (she is very affectionate). If I leave her at home when I go somewhere, (with Sean or Derek, of course) she will call me several times to ask what I am doing, when I am coming home, or just to tell me she loves me. She is always drawing me pictures or writing me notes. When she gets into trouble, she may run to her room crying, but she will come out a little later and apologize. She is good at cleaning up after herself. She keeps her room picked up. If she gets stuff out to play, she puts it back up when she is done. If I ask her to do something, she usually does it right then. She seems to like to be around me alot. And right now as I am typing this in my bedroom, she has brought crayons and a coloring book in here to be near me. She tries to take care of me when I am sick, and sometimes she will just do things out of the blue. For instance the other night Hanna and I went to Walmart to buy groceries. She ended up having to push a cart too because I bought so much. We got home and unloaded it all, with the help of Sean and Christopher, and Derek called to be picked up from work. We got all of the refrigerator and freezer stuff put up and I told her to start getting ready for bed while I picked up Derek. When I got home she had put up all the rest of the groceries and got ready for bed. All by herself. Sean didn't help her. I was so proud.

I have a pretty good relationship with my boys, but not like I do with Hanna, and it isn't from a lack of trying. I love them all equally, but that bond between a mother and her daughter or daughters is something that cannot really be explained, its just there. I thank God everyday for my children. Being a parent is by far the most rewarding thing I have done in this life.

When did I become my parents

OK, this summer has started out with a trend. Most of my friends that read this have children younger than mine, but some around the same age. Mine are 16, 11, and 7. (Mom, I don't mean this as a bad thing) I have become my parents. This is a typical day for me with my kids: (me telling them) don't eat food in the living room or your bedroom, pick up your dirty socks and underwear from yesterday and put them in the hamper, (the boys) NO ONE WANTS TO SEE THAT, put your dirty dishes in the sink or dishwasher, not all over the kitchen, only use one to two glasses a day, not eight, clean up any mess that you make in the kitchen, (you guys are driving me crazy), short drive Sean says, Chris and Hanna, stop bugging the crap out of each other, don't touch or look at each other, don't even breath near each other, close that door, you don't have to pay the electric bill, no you can't have that, again, no you can't have that, money doesn't grow on trees, put the cats down, when they growl at you that means they aren't happy, flush the potty, again, NO ONE WANTS TO SEE THAT OR SMELL IT, wipe off the counter in the bathroom, there is water every where, wash the toothpaste down the drain, Derek, the trash is overflowing, take it out, Chris, take a bath and fix your hair, it looks like someone got the hand mixer stuck in your hair, Hanna, not so much perfume, when you guys carry things around the house try not to hit the walls again, put up your bikes, scooters, etc., feed the cats, that's why they keep running into the kitchen every time you get up, try to keep bathwater in the bathtub, hang your towels up, and so on. They aren't that bad everyday, but sometimes it feels like it. They really are good kids, and I love them to death, and do what I ask of them, most of the time, they are just in a lazy mode like I am since its summer and don't want to have to do a lot.