Thursday, January 15, 2009

Wow--has it really been that long????

Well, I can't believe it's been that long since I was here. But, life just goes by too quickly! I'm fairly certain that I have wasted countless hours online reading celebrity gossip, when I could have been pouring my heart out here instead, but ask me the names of all of Brangelina's kids and I can name them in a second!

That's so sad. Just one of the many things in my life that I am GOING to change. The list is so long.

So my kids are growing up so fast. My 15-yr old is really FINALLY starting to mature. I'm very proud of him for so many things. He's motivated enough to get up in the morning, get himself ready, eat breakfast, and make it to the bus on time. Beyond that, I really don't have a clue what happens. You think in this age when you can log on to your child's school and see all of their assignments, what they eat for lunch, how many times they went to the bathroom, and everything they got in trouble for, you'd think that you would feel confident that you know what is going on in their life. NOT SO!! The best way to get information is to let them have their friends over often and spy on their conversations. And get their cell phone when they don't have it attached to their thumb and read their text messages. I found out many things that my son knows that way. I also find out things about his friends that way--not so pretty. A few weeks ago, I was sitting in church (of all places) and he was playing the trombone in the orchestra, and this cute little blonde thing in my row says "THAT KID IS HOT!" and I later found out she was talking about my son. Well, that was a bit too much information for me. This year, he started running and lost about 20 pounds (all that baby fat), got taller, got contacts instead of glasses, and his voice is pretty much done squeaking. So, if I don't say so myself, he is a pretty handsome young man. Unfortunately, he still loves video games and being lazy. I am actually glad that he has all the Guitar Hero games---it's quite amusing to see how well he can play that without even thinking about it, but put an algebra test in front of him and he's lost!!! He is spending a fair amount of time in God's word, both at church and at home, and this is my greatest wish for him now--to stay on this path and keep away from all the dangers involved with high school!

Then we have my 8 yr old princess. Demon princess, that is. She has gotten to be somewhat of a firecracker lately. She's very smart, and she knows it and doesn't refrain from reminding me of that daily. And she definitely has my temper. I see her sometimes talking to her little brother in this mean voice, but low so that I don't hear her, and I remember doing that same thing to my brother and sister back in the day. Ah, memories. She and I don't get to spend so much time alone, and it bothers me and I know it affects her. I need to work on that this year. I also need to read the book "Have a New Kid by Friday" by Dr. Lehman. I think that's the correct title. He must have written that book for me, knowing that I would need it. As you can see from my picture, she does competitive cheerleading. I'm hoping that this eventually helps with her coordination (or lack of it). She's a tiny little thing, but not the most sturdy. She does love it, though, and I'm so happy to spend 3/4 of my time outside of work driving her to practice, or a competition, or burying her face in makeup, or spending money on something new they just have to have, or hearing my house rattle while she's doing her cartwheels or backbends. Why didn't someone warn me about this?

Now we get to Nathan. He's such a sweetie. He'll be 5 in May, and he is a momma's boy. Everyday he tells me "mom, you're SO sweet!" And he means it!!! He is so huggy and loveable, and he is really a good boy. He has been in all-day preschool now since August, and it's going well. I think. His teacher is the nicest lady ever, and I don't know if she'd tell me if he was horrible. He has had to sit in the "sad chair" a few times, but that's nowhere near the trouble I thought we'd have when he started school. He should start kindergarten next year, we'll have testing in March to see if he is where he needs to be. I can't imagine putting my sweet little baby boy on that big mean bus, so I'm trying to decide how my work is going to interfere with being one of those moms who must drop her child off and pick him up everyday to keep him safe. You may think "but his sister will be on the same bus, she can take care of him". HA!! She's already told me that he better not even talk to her and he can't tell anyone that she's his sister. Ah, the love of siblings!!!

Mike and I are doing great. He really is the best father I could have chosen for our kids. He loves me, and he loves them, and he is very involved with them. I didn't expect this from him, since his dad was more of a tyrant than a loving father. I like his dad, but could never have married him or let him parent my children. Mike is working on bringing his life more in line with what a Christian man should be. I am so proud of him! And he doesn't even do anything bad--no drinking, no smoking, no gambling, he doesn't hit us, he rarely yells, but he still knows that we all have work to do. He's started going to 2 Bible studies, one on Sunday nights when the rest of us are at AWANA, and then another one that meets a couple of times each month. We are doing a financial class (Crown Ministries) together, and that is going to be so good for us. I never knew that the Bible had so much information on finances in it!

And me, well I am busy supporting all of the above in all of their endeavors. I don't have much time for me, but this is the way I like it. I have lost about 34 pounds since September 15th, and I'm very happy to say that I only have 15 more. I hope it doesn't take me a year to lose them!!! I have mostly given up sugar, and just yesterday I decided to give up Diet Coke. That's why in a few minutes I'm going to drink a Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi--doesn't go against my rule!!! Really, I've been getting up early everyday and exercising for 30 minutes, and just generally try to be more healthy. I think MIke appreciates it more than I do, maybe a little too much.

I know this is long, and if you are still awake, I hope to have some exciting things happen for me to blog about. I just thought that since I hadn't posted in over 2 years, I should give an update!!!

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