Candi

I found a good snack that is zero fat and only 5 calories for two small ones. I love pickles…. I had no idea they were no fat/low calories. (I know they have somewhat high sodium, but I don’t count sodium, lol)
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Anyone else divide up all the puzzle pieces and organize them by color? Or is Ken correct in saying I am crazy.
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What I will be doing this weekend since it is freezing here and the snow is falling like crazy. Not that I really do anything all that exciting in the winter anyways. Is it April yet?
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Tonight at dinner Ken and I did a little test to see how much we cater to our kids.

As I was preparing our plates for dinner when we came up with the idea to only make our own plates and sit down and start eating. We wondered what the kids would say or do? All four of them were already sitting at the snack bar waiting for their meal. Andrew had poured milk for everyone and that was all that they had in front of them. Ken and I had a hard time not smiling, so we sort of hid our faces as we started taking bites.

Within about 1 minute Andrew got up and started making his own plate. Blake was starring into space. Chase and Karli were giggling and carrying on about who knows what. Another one of their arguments about who is bigger, stronger, or smarter probably. Blake finally said, “What the?!” Which is another bad mark against our parenting skills. We have tried to break him of saying this, since clearly he is implying what the heck or worse.

Of course I got up and made the other plates of food. I mean, its not like I expected Chase and Karli to get up and make their own plates. They would have to drag a chair over to reach into the crock pot and other pans, which would probably result in a fight and more chaos that I don’t need. But Blake could be and should be more self sufficient. Ken will remind me constantly that I need to stop doing things like zipping his coat and making sure everything is in his back pack when he leaves for school in the morning.

I will be honest here and admit that I do way too much for my kids. I started to write out some examples and it was getting a bit too embarrassing. Just assume I do too much. Except for Andrew, he does most everything for himself. Is this really going to harm my kids someday? I mean will no one want to marry my sons because I cut up their meat before meals until they are teenagers? I doubt it. I can recall my husband still living at home when we first started dating. He was 22 years old and his mom would make his bed every morning, hang up his suit when he came home from work, and do his laundry every Friday. He has turned out to be a pretty great husband. He cooks dinner half the time and he helps out quite a bit around the house especially now that we are both working at home. I do more for the kids around the house, where as he is the one that does all the driving around to friend’s houses and handling their sports careers (LOL).

Point is, our kids wait for us to do everything for them. Our test proved exactly what we already knew. We are either ruining their lives or some day they will be awesome parents and spoil their kids rotten just as we are.

Cousins. Emma is in town! We are celebrating her birthday this weekend. I can’t believe she is 5!
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Sometimes it doesn’t pay to be the smart kid.

Andrew, who is in 7th grade, gets anywhere from 3 – 5 calls per day from his friends as school. I don’t even know if you can call them friends since he just met them this year and he doesn’t hang out with them outside of school. His cell phone rings like mad after school. It gets so annoying Ken and will scream, “Turn it on vibrate!” Every day these kids call Andrew to ask about homework. They either want to know what the homework assignment was, when it is due, how do you do the homework, or what the right answer is. It’s incredible. I told Andrew he needs to start charging these kids like $5 per phone call or something.

This has happened in prior years, but this year it has happened more than ever before. Andrew said a lot of kids are really struggling with not having the teachers catering to them anymore. The teachers don’t care whether or not you copied down the homework assignment or paid attention during class. Andrew has always been a good student and I am so proud of him that he is continuing with his good grades in junior high. I knew this year was going to be the true test of his intelligence. Unfortunately his intelligence is attracting a group of people who think he is the homework hotline.

Yesterday one of his regulars called him and I was shocked (but proud) to hear Andrew lie to him. I heard him say, “Sorry dude, I finished the math homework in class and I didn’t bring it home.” When he hung up he said that they kid wanted to compare his answers to Andrew’s because he kept getting bad grades on his homework assignments. Andrew said he seen the kid goofing off all during class with another kid. He said, “Its his problem that he didn’t pay attention, not mine.” I asked him, “So you really don’t have the homework at home?” He said, “I have it, but I am not telling him that.”

I think this was the first time that I was ever proud of my child for lying.