Laughing yesterday Correcting today

Driving home today, Kassi and I started laughing about childhood and how things I hated being yelled at or told not to do as a kid I said I wouldn’t yell about when my kids did them.  Ironically, today I was yelling.  Okay, ‘yelling’ is a strong word because I wasn’t ‘yelling,’ I was telling her to not do something. Have I confused you yet?

Okay – a few months ago we were at my in-laws’ house for my nephew’s two year old birthday party.  After a while, he had been joined by my three-year old niece and nephew, and his two year old cousin and they were all running around in a circle from the kitchen through the dining room through the living room and up the foyer back to the kitchen.  ALL the adults were sitting around encouraging them to play and have fun – not one of us was telling them to stop running in the house.  That was when I turned to Kassi and said, “You know everything you get in trouble for as you get older are the things we thought were fun/funny and allowed you to do as infants and toddlers.”   She laughed and asked if she could get up and play with the little ones. lol  We thought it might be interesting to see the adult reaction, but I did not allow her to experiment.

Today we were driving home and the windows were fogging up.  So I’m sure you can figure out what Kassi did . . . she drew on the window (front passenger side).  Of course, my gut reaction was to tell her to not do that, but why????  What is it really going to hurt?  You know they did it when they were little and we didn’t tell them not to.  So, why now is it such a big deal?  IT’S NOT!!

The other night Zack and Mackenzie were playing an outside game – of course adjusted to play inside, make shift basketball – in the living room.  When they were littler and probably couldn’t have done much damage it would have been acceptable, but now they are huge and they are much stronger, so they were strongly encouraged to STOP!!!

I’m not really sure what my point is.  But I really wonder why, as parents, we allow our little ones to do one thing, but then expect something completely different later in life.  Shouldn’t or wouldn’t it be more beneficial to our offspring if we were consistent in our rearing from birth.  Now, don’t get me wrong none of this is going to hinder our children from succeeding in life, but it just might make our life a little more relaxed as they get older.

Celebrating her success

We are so proud of Mackenzie!!  She set her goal for cookie selling at 400 boxes.  She worked hard and when she turned in her initial order she had sold 366 boxes.  We have slowed down on our trips out, but she is at 387 boxes, so only 13 more to reach her goal.  I am hoping she can earn those working the booths in March.

Anyway, I wanted to treat her to something unexpected.  So, when I received an email about the latest Girl Scout things for sale I had to splurge.  I selected this adorable shirt that reads:

       Every cookie has a mission

       to help girls do great things.

And then those earrings – they are dangling thin mints that are scented and they came with a button set of Samoas that are scented too.

hangin’ out

You know finding your place in high school is hard enough, but throw in the mix that you are homeschooled.  Don’t get me wrong – we enjoy homeschooling, but as the kids get older it is so important that they are a part of something, have peers to hang with, peers to grow with, peers to agree to disagree with – you know, friends to develop lifelong relationships with.  These experiences and friendships will help them in the real world as adults. 

Kassi has started taking classes at another co-op that is geared more to high school – there are so many kids!!  It’s a little intimidating, especially when you only know a handful of people.  A couple of the kids we have known over the years as they were piano students of my mil and a couple take classes at another co-op we are members of, but that’s it. 

How do you get to know more people?  Well, you invite the ones you know to come over and have them bring a few friends. 

The other night Kassi had several home school high schoolers – some from co-ops & others she knows - to come and hang out – play Wii games, board games, guitars.  They played Twister, the Wii, and their guitars (there were at least four guitars).  At one point there was singing coming from the basement.  How cool is that!!

At one point the girls made it upstairs because M wanted to see the ‘pony’ as she called our precious Chloe Bear.  So, we had her feed her a treat & she was tickled to . . .

. . . she even got down on the floor with her. 

Jenna, A, and Alyssa were having a good time playing Just Dance 2. 

I’m glad Kassi was able to have some friends over – reconnect with some old & meet some new. 

Stitching away . . .

After learning how to cross-stitch in her sewing class, Mackenzie has really enjoyed doing it.  She has made several little things.  So, I thought I would take her to the local cross-stitch shop – my hubby cringes every time I go because of the cost.  I love to cross-stitch, but I get upset at how much it costs to do something I like to do.  I find it very relaxing AFTER I have forked out the bundle to purchase the latest project. 

Anyway,  I was so excited to see how excited she was with her kit. The kit came with the piece of fabric, the pattern, the needed floss, a needle, and the frame – all for $21.

She spent hours and worked very diligently to get it done.

It only took her a couple of days and she had it done.  Well, she will have to wait a while before she gets her next project.  So, in the mean time we picked up some fabric at the thrift store and she made a couple of little things for her Girl Scout leaders for Valentine’s Day.

We’re still here . . .

Well, it’s been a long time!!  I can’t believe it has been almost a month since my last post. 

All I have to say is .  .  .  my camera broke.  My lifeline to our family’s memories has failed me!! Yes, it broke shortly before Christmas so I took it to Cord Camera to find out that it would cost a whopping $175 + tax to fix or I could by the brand new most current version for only $199 +tax.  Major problem . . . neither amount is in our family budget!!!  So, I have been using the kids’ here and there.  But it is just not the same as having my own!!  Half the time when I want to snap that shot I can’t because I have NO idea where one of their cameras is.

I have compiled a few posts with the few pictures I have been able to snap over the last month and now I will play catch up.  Hopefully, in the near future I will be able to purchase a new camera so we can preserve our family memories!!