Life Around Here

It seems like life has sped up a little over the past week and will probably continue to do so until school is finally out. Here's what's been going on around here lately...in no particular order:



I have been going in to Tyler's school a couple times a week to make copies for next year's first grade teachers. So far I have made over 14000 copies and still have quite a bit yet to do! This is a prime example of why you should ask for specifics before you say yes. :)




Tyler got a new bike, which he is super proud of. Unbeknownst to him, Ron and I had been discussing getting Tyler a new bike since before Easter because he'd outgrown his old one. We also told Tyler that if he managed to get up to a fifth grade reading level (5.0) before the end of the year we would do something special for him. He did achieve that last week and has already passed 2 out of 5 tests to move up to the next level (5.5). So we bought him a new bike last week and told him it was to reward him for his reading achievement and for getting straight As all year. He really has worked hard and we are so proud of him. (Don't tell him he was going to get a new bike anyway.)




We had our annual Summer FUNd Raiser (aka garage sale) this Friday and Saturday. I use the money I make at our start of summer garage sale to fund our summer exploits. Last year I spent my final $5 the day before school started. It worked out great. This year we did really well. On Friday Danielle sold brownies and lemonade while Tyler was in school. She made $17. Tyler sold just lemonade on Saturday and made $15. I thought that was pretty good. They set money aside to pay tithe and then spent the rest at Walmart today. I don't think the people behind us in line appreciated us counting out all the quarters and dimes!




Tyler has 13 days of 1st grade left. Danielle will be done this week. Her graduation from preschool is Thursday evening. She's very excited. Her first tball game is this Saturday. She's pretty excited about that, too. Tyler has decided he doesn't want to play baseball any more. This was one of those difficult parenting situations. He needs to learn to stick to something he begins, even if it gets tough, but we don't want him to be miserable or a burden to the rest of his team. We discussed it with his coach, who is one of Ron's poker buddies, and decided to let him quit. If he doesn't want to be on the field playing, he probably won't be paying attention and could potentially get hurt. It's not worth it. I just wish he would have decided this before we paid for his registration and new mitt and new bat and baseball pants! Oh well. This will enable us to watch all of Danielle's games together as a family, which will be very nice.




As some of you have heard or figured out, Tyler learned a new vocabulary word this week. We were SO close to the end of the year. If we could only have made it another couple weeks. I guess the funny part is how he told us. We were eating dinner and he suddenly got very excited: "Have I got a story for you guys!" Then he told us that a girl on the playground called him a @#$%#@. And it wasn't just any swear word. It was the big one. We tried not to react when he told us, but explained that that is a bad word that nice people don't use and it is certainly not acceptable for our children (or us) to use. Of course, I was remembering Tyler's frequent misuse of the word "butt" this whole time and felt we were probably fighting an uphill battle.

Poor Danielle. She looked so confused and said, "But what does that mean, Mommy? What does it mean?" We did not explain what the phrase meant. We did have to explain to Tyler what "cuss" meant because a teacher told him not to cuss when he told on the girl for calling him a name. (A "teacher who doesn't like me because she always has a mad face when she talks to me.") We really tried to reinforce to them how serious we were about them never repeating the word, or even words that rhyme with it, again. Danielle said, "That's ok. I don't even remember it now." Tyler immediately piped up, "Oh, I do! It's @#$%$#@, Danielle!"

The next day the kids were outside playing and Danielle asked Tyler to tell her the worst word he knew. What a bratty little sister! She was completely setting him up. He told her this new word, and she immediately told on him. So, he got a spanking and lost the privilege of riding his new bike for one day. Danielle had to go to bed early. It was a good opportunity to remind Tyler that he's ultimately responsible for making good choices despite what others encourage him to do (our first lesson in peer pressure). And we reminded Danielle that we should encourage each other to do good, not evil. Thankfully he wasn't calling anyone that...yet.

Tyler's teacher and I exchanged emails about something else today and I mentioned his new vocabulary word. She told me that we have done a great job as parents in raising a wonderful, intelligent boy who has great morals and values. She was sure that even though he now knows this word, he wouldn't use it. I have to admit that she has more faith in him than I do, but it certainly was encouraging to read her kind words. It's always nice to hear someone who isn't genetically linked to your child say kind things about them. And hopefully this will be all I have to say about that.