Time is flying by, or so it seems

Today was a milestone for Derek. He finished Road Runner and can now get his license. I can't believe my son can drive. I have been in the car with him driving, and am just a little worried. He is still needing more practice, which we will do before he gets his license. He isn't doing bad, its just you can see his inexperience. Which makes me wonder why they don't make the kids have more hours in the car than 7 driving, and 7 observation. That's why nearly all of them have accidents. But I am proud of him, he has done pretty well with me yelling at him in the car. I really wish I had that brake thing when he is driving.

We got through the summer basically going to the pool, hanging out, and being lazy. When school started, I was ready. I was ready to get back into a routine. Except for the fact I can't seem to get myself organized. And now that we are into our 7th week of school, I still feel a little overwhelmed. I'm not really sure why. I seem to stay busy all the time, but if I were to tell you what I did, it wouldn't sound like much. The kids are doing pretty good in school. We get report cards this week, so I will really know for sure. Christopher is having a hard time being responsible and staying on top of his assignments. I have had the teachers call me 3 times this 6 weeks. He has ADD, or at least that is what the school diagnosed him with, and he really has a hard time staying focused. And when he is working, the slightest noise distracts him. I am glad that the teachers have called me so that I can be on top of this, its just very frustrating. Derek is your typical teenager. That should explain it. And Hanna is taking after me. She worries about little things, enough to make her get an upset stomach sometimes. But she is my easiest child even though she is emotional. It doesn't take her long to get over being mad, or hurt, and she just loves everybody.

Hanna's birthday is coming up on Sunday. I can't believe she is going to be 8. I guess because she is my last child, her birthdays are somewhat sad for me. She is another year older and another year closer to leaving the nest. She is very affectionate, more so than my boys, she usually wants to go every where with me and hang out with me, but she is starting to change a little. She doesn't always have to go with me to the store, and would rather play with friends if she has the chance, than watching a movie with me. She is showing more and more of her independence, which I am glad, but it still makes me sad just a little. I love all of my children so much, but watching your baby grow up is the hardest thing for me.

Parenting

Ok, I know its been a while since I posted. I was going to post sooner, but I had asked a friend to help me do a make over on my blog and teach me how to put pictures on it, but I never got over to her house for the help. And the post I want to write about needs pictures. So hopefully, I will get that done soon. But until then, I just have to talk about parenting. It seems things in our family go pretty normal, nothing too exciting to write about, then I get several things at once.

First, Christopher went to Duct Tape this Monday thru Wednesday. Its a mission trip for the younger kids in Amarillo. They stay at other people's homes and help out in some way. This year they "walked like Jesus" around a neighborhood and visited older people, they took smaller kids to the park, sang, and they also went to the Faith City Ministries where they met "cool" homeless people (that's Christopher's exact words) and talked to them. It was apparently one of those life changing things for Christopher. I had a hard time leaving him Monday morning because Chris is very shy and doesn't have a whole lot of friends yet at Southwest. When we got there, we looked for people he knew, and there wasn't any there yet. It broke my heart to leave him alone, but I knew in my heart he would be fine. Its just hard. Later that evening, one of my good friends found out how he was doing. Of course he was doing great and having a good time with his new friends. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, Christopher and I had a discussion about God. I learned that he was afraid of God, like He was a horrible being that was out to hurt you in some way. Now he knows better after this trip. He has told me several times that he had a good time, is glad that he went, and he feels different. And he has acted different. He is trying to get along with his sister, and is quick to respond when I ask him to do something. Not even a grip when I ask him to go to bed. I love to see God working in my kids life. I am so proud of Christopher. I call him my Crispy Critter.

One of the funny things that has happened this week was with Hanna. I spent half of the day registering my kids for school on Thursday and Derek was the last one. We had to go to the councilor to get one of his classes changed. We were on the way out of the building when I said to Derek I hope he gets that class changed or he could be in for a bumpy ride and Derek said yeah, that would suck butt. Then Hanna yells loudly, "That sucks butt". How do you punish your child when you are laughing so hard. Of course later I had to have that talk with Derek about not talking that way in front of his siblings. And tell Hanna not to say that again.

Parenting is very hard. I tell Sean alot, that I don't want to be the parent any more. There are just times you aren't sure what is the right way to handle things. I wish we were given a book at the very beginning that had all the answers in it. If your child does this, this is what you do and it would work. As your children get older, it just gets harder. Why can't I just put my 16 year old in the corner for a few minutes and then things are better. I know I made mistakes when I was younger, we all did, but when its actually your own child, you just wonder why do they have to make these same mistakes, why don't they just listen. It drives me crazy. I am sure my parents thought the same thing. How can you love someone so much, yet they can drive you so crazy.

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.

Summer

I have started my blog thinking I have lots to write about, but then the days start to go by and little things happen and I wonder if I should write about them or are they stupid. Like last night I was watching tv and one of my cats was playing with something. I thought it was a centipede, by the size of it and the way it was shaped (we had a couple at our old house). I yelled at Derek to bring his big skating shoe to kill it. Christopher comes running in to see it and starts laughing cause its actually string.

We really aren't doing much this summer. I take Derek to work, take the kids to the pool, take Hanna to Cheer Texas for tumbling, run around with friends having lunch or some shopping on occasion, sleeping in, trying to stay cool, and after about 4 weeks of having some different health issues going on and wondering if I am ever going to feel normal, that has been my life. I have read different friends blogs to see what I could be writing about. Still I come to a blank on what to write about other than the one thing I still feel I am missing in my life. I read a blog from another friends blog (Keri) and the person wrote about how she got to where she is with her relationship with God. I want more God. Now that may sound funny, but its true. It seems to be that the older I get, and the more stuff I see in the world going on, I find myself craving to have that kind of relationship with him. I guess I do keep him at arms length, so I won't feel let down by him, or not enough Faith. I know without a doubt I have been blessed. I have 3 kids that are great, I have a great husband who works hard to take care of us, we have a nice home that we were recently blessed with, we have cars, food, friends from our old church, slowly making new friendships at the new church, I'm sorry, didn't mean to rattle on, but you get the point. But I have kept him at arms length. Not quite knowing why I have done this. But we are a broken world and we are broken people. Including me. This world can be a scary place. I think that is why I am craving him more. I want that relationship with God that I see others having. They have a peace about them. Even though they have some of the most horrible things happen to them in this life, they get through it and can still be at peace and happy. I am now working on my new journey in this life and including God in all things. I no longer want him at arms length. I want him in my heart in everything.

The Big Texan Adventure

Derek works at the Big Texan, and during the summer its a big tourist attraction. He started working there two summers ago. He would come home and tell me about the people that came to eat there. There were some from different countries. And this year is no different. Yesterday, after I picked him up he started telling me about some Italian superheroes that came in. I was a little confused at first until he explained. These four people from Italy dressed in superhero costumes (Superman, Robin, Captain Planet, and Flash) came in to eat and also were filming the restaurant for a show in Italy. Two of the superheroes attempted to eat the 72 oz. steaks, but didn't make it in time. There were also two other men trying to eat the steak and one of the men finished with 4 seconds left and ran to the bathroom but didn't make it. Derek had to clean up his mess, and while he was doing this, he was interviewed by Captain Planet while Flash was filming it all. They also filmed the man in the bathroom throwing up. Then they went into the kitchen uninvited and tried to film in there but were kicked out. So my son will be a star in Italy and we won't even know it.