Why?

Ariel has been starting to ask so many questions. You know, the ones that I don't have the answers to. All the "Why?" questions but these are the hard "Why's". Every kind of bird we see she wants to know what kind of bird it is. Pff I don't know a stinkin thing about birds!
Where is the earth? How high is Heaven? How big is Heaven? Are Dinosaurs real? How come they aren't alive still? Why did God make bugs if we always step on them and kill them? How did God make Whales? Why did he make Killer Whales? How did God make the earth? Why did God make the earth? How did God make people? Why don't all people look the same? Why do people get old? When will Jesus get here??
My favorite random question from this week was "Why does Superman have laser vision?" "Umm, Well because that's just one of his super powers" "But why in the world would someone make fire come out of his eyes!!!"

So today my mom and I took the kids to Hastings (haven't been there in ages!) and we found some books to help mommy answer some questions! So mommy has some studying to do that way maybe I won't be so caught off guard when the next random 'WHY' Question comes flying at me! Ariel is so smart its ridiculous! I don't know if I can keep up with her!! She is starting to ask about months and years. So I need to sit down with a calender and attempt to explain all of that. And she doesn't quite understand that we live here and her cousins live in Denver City and we can just 'go over' to their house anytime. And she always asks me if random people we see are in Texas like us. LOL So I also need a globe/map to explain cities, states, countries, and continents. I have no idea if she is going to really understand any of it but I have to start giving some answers some time. And if she does understand, which would not surprise me in the least considering how fast she has caught onto everything else, Holy Cow she is going to be so far ahead when she starts Kindergarten.

Besides the Superman quote of this week; my other favorite was while we were watching 'Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer'. A while after Grandma got run over, there was a scene that showed all the reindeer flying and pulling the sled. All of the sudden she got real serious and said "I GUARANTEE it was the two middle ones that did it!!" LOL

Loving the Holidays

It's been a while since I have posted anything. Probably because my hubby was home for a while! ;) I do have to say that things have gotten much better since my last few posts! What ever it was that was making the kids act like crazy little monsters is gone!! I have my kids back!! YAAAYYY!
We had Thanksgiving this year at my sisters. It was pretty small compared to what we are used to. All our family has moved and we are all too spread out. :( Mike did get to be here for Thanksgiving though! He has never missed a holiday yet. So far for the past 4 years he has just happened to be in between jobs on both Thanksgiving and Christmas. So he has not missed one as of yet. He did have to leave at 5AM the morning after Thanksgiving though. It was close but he made it! I am praying that the same happens for Christmas. Last year his job finished the day before Christmas Eve which put him getting home on Christmas Eve. I don't know how in the world I would be able to do Christmas morning with the kids and no Daddy!
Went shopping on Black Friday with my sister in Lubbock. I just have to say that I absolutely LOVE getting up super, extra early to go shopping ALL DAY!! This is probably the one day out of the year that my husband understands that I need to go shopping and spend money, and that I need to do it with out the kids. So I get a whole day to myself, shopping! What could be better; oh wait, I know! The fact that there are fantabulous sales!!! I LOVE to bargain shop! So this year Toys R Us opened at midnight, me and my sister stayed up all day Thanksgiving Day and left Denver City at like midnight to drive an hour to Lubbock and shop like crazy women!! It was great! I got pretty much everything that I wanted. I even bought myself a pink BB Gun! ;) Can't wait to use it. I guess I can sit at my back door and pop squirrels... LOL
I still don't have the tree or decorations up yet. I had to move stuff around in my living room because we got new furniture and didn't really have room for our tree. (We need a bigger house, we out grew this one 4 years ago!) But I think I got it figured out. Now I just have to get someone to help me get the tree down from the loft in the storage building... Hopefully I will get that done tomorrow.

I have been DVRing a bunch of Christmas movies for us to watch as a family. I can't wait till Mike gets home!!

A Good, Good Day

Today was a nice change for the past week and half or two weeks. The kids and I went out and did some Christmas shopping and then we went to Chick-fil-a. It was nice watching them play at Chick-fil-a with other kids and also nice to know that I'm not the only one with crazy kids! LOL Ariel was telling all the kids as they came in the door where to put their shoes and please put your socks in your shoes so they do not get lost. And please do not climb on the outside of the toys, Thank you. LOL She cracks me up. Preston found a little boy to run around and play karate with. It was too cute! I really need to get out to do things like that with them more. I believe another big part of the discipline problem I have with them is that they are soo sick of being at the house. And I have to agree! We started staying home more because it seemed like every time we went some where I ended up at Target spending about $100 on I don't even know what. That store has a really bad habit of making me spend money!! I guess I am just going to have to get some self control and be able to go out and actually window shop with out buying stuff!

Why is it that spending money makes women happy?? I can honestly say that I could be totally and completely depressed but if I go out and by stuff, even just stuff for the house not clothes or shoes, it really makes me happy. All the way to my core, it just makes me feel good! Why is that? Why do women need shopping as a therapy? Do men do that too? Err well OK never mind, I have 2 motorcycles, a gocart, a fifth wheel, and an enormous storage building in my backyard to answer that question.

New Moon premiers tonight!! I can't wait to see it! I didn't think that Mike was going to want to see it but he told me last night that I better not go see it with out him! So maybe we can make a date out of it! ;) I soo need that! I don't' think I would want to see that movie with out him anyway. I thought Twilight had an amazing love story and I hope New Moon doesn't disappoint. I haven't read the books so I have no idea what happens. I'm torn a little about this series though. I have always been interested in Vampires and Werewolves, why I have NO idea. Any other kind of fiction I can't really stand but those two always interested me. However, the stronger I become in my faith of The Lord it makes me look at things like Vampires and Werewolves differently. It makes me feel as if this is just one more thing the Devil is putting out there to reference back to evil and himself. I do not want to indulge in anything like that. At the same time though, its almost like really what can you watch now days that the Devil hasn't gotten to in some way. All TV shows and movies are so vulgar now and sex is everywhere. So as far as this series goes, I'm kind of in the middle. I feel like if my faith in The Lord is strong then I could be able to watch a great love story, even if it is about Vampires and Werewolves. I just know that above all I only want my relationship with God to strengthen and grow. I want to serve him and I want my children to be raised to serve him.

Miss My Little Ones

I really miss when my kids were babies. I'm reading all these new moms blogs and how happy and excited they are about everything their kids do and are learning. I used to be like that. I used to be so excited to go get them out of bed in the morning. I miss being that excited about my kids everyday. I am so blessed to have two beautiful healthy kids. I think I just spend entirely too much time with them and they spend entirely too much time with me. I know that sounds weird because all you new moms feel like you can't spend enough time with your kids. But I have been a stay at home mom for over 4 years now. My husband has had the same job for over 4 years also, he is gone all the time for work. There are times he has been gone for 30 days or more at one time and comes home for a day or two only to leave again for another job. So me and my kids are literally together ALL the time. I'm so jealous of all you moms who have babysitters and get to go do things like go out with the girls for drinks and a girls night, or date night with your hubby, or concerts, or weekend shopping trips out of town. We very rarely get to do any of that and usually if we do get a sitter we have to pay out the butt for it. My mother in law did keep the kids about a month ago for a weekend so I could go to Weatherford (where my husband was working) and look for houses because we were/are thinking about moving. But trying to look at as many houses as you can in a 3 day period is not relaxing at all. And Mike was still having to work so I was looking at houses by myself all day. It wasn't exactly a nice weekend get away. I really don't think I would feel near as stressed if I just had a little time to myself on a half assed regular basis. It would be nice to get a pedi and mani once a month or even once every 3 or 4 months. Or to go shopping for an entire day by myself. Or to have a date night with my hubby when I'm not so tense and stressed that I don't let myself relax!! I think Mike and I get a date night probably once or twice (if we are lucky) every six months.

I guess the moral of the story is; Ladies, enjoy every moment that you have to yourself to get to relax and have a good time because somewhere, someone (me) is incredibly jealous.

In Need of a Vacation!

I don't' know what it is about this time of year but for some reason its like my kids forget any and all rules and just run wild. They did this last year... right before Christmas when they are supposed to be on their best behavior.

Is it like a full moon or something crazy going on in the universe? People always say that kind of stuff makes people act crazy.

Maybe someone came and stole my kids and left these two here as replacements...

I want my kids back. The ones that behave and don't get into stuff or at least not every 5 seconds...

I know I grip on lot on here but this is my only release where I can really say whats on my mind. ;-P

Why do I feel so far behind?

Why is that I feel like I fall behind with my wifely/motherly duties so easily? Every wife and mother has the same duties that I do but why do I feel like I fall further behind than everyone else? If I have a lazy day and don't really do anything that day, it just seems like I never get caught up from that one day of laziness. Each day that goes by I keep getting further and further behind. The saying "A mothers work is never done" has never made more sense to me than it does now. I don't know if I feel like I lag further behind than everyone because Mike is gone all the time, maybe that's my disadvantage. If I was a single mom like some of my friends I would at least get a break every other weekend when the kids go to visit dad. However, with Mike's job I have my kids ALL the time. Especially since I have taken the kids out of CDO (it just kept getting more and more expensive). I don't like saying that I feel like I'm at a disadvantage because of Mike's job but it really is how I feel. Am I really that much further behind than everyone else? Do I really have a little more of a disadvantage than anything other wife/mother? Or is everyone else just better at hiding it than me?

Do other moms yell and get onto their kids as much as I do? Sometimes I wonder if I expect too much out of my kids. Ariel is so smart, too smart sometimes. She talks like a 16 year old, back talk, smart mouth and all. Preston just does what Ariel does. I know that they probably learn a lot of it from me as far as talk and attitude. But seriously, how many times do I have to spank their butts for turning on the water in the backyard before they realize that they probably shouldn't turn on the water anymore. Do other moms have to constantly do time out and or spank butts? Yesterday both of my kids were just on a tear. Ariel literally got probably 8-10 spankings before lunch. Yes, I did say before lunch. I know that sounds horrible, but seriously when I see her walking to the water spout with a cup and I tell her DO NOT TURN THE WATER ON OR YOU WILL GET IN TROUBLE. She lookes up at me with a dirty looked rolled her eyes and threw the cup down and then proceeded to stomp off. So she got one for that. Then literally no more than 10 min later I look out side and where is she? Standing at the water spout with the cup and her hand reaching up to turn the water on. So she got another one. Then a few minutes later I look out and she is sitting on her brother on the trampoline just wailing on him while he's screaming like she beating him to death. So then another one. Pretty much every time she did something to get a spanking she would then proceed to yell and back talk after the spanking which only led to another one. I felt like the worst mother EVER yesterday. I felt like all I did was yell and beat my kids! I do have to say though that I started using a wooden spoon rather than my hand yesterday and it actually seemed much more effective! So today I have just walked around with it in my back pocket. Apparently with my children intimidation is the key. I have given less spankings all day today than I did before lunch yesterday. But seriously, do anyone else's kids act like this?? What happened to my sweet babies? They are only 4 and 5, is this abnormal to have THIS much attitude at this young of age? I don't think I have been like one of those mom's you see in a store who lets her kids run around yelling and knocking stuff over. And I don't' think I have been too strict (obviously not strict enough or something). So why are they acting like this? How do other moms handle it? Do they yell and spank and/or use time out like I do? Do other moms feel hopeless sometimes like I do? Is every other mom just better at concealing it all than me??

If you would have talked to me a year or so ago and asked me about homeschooling, I would have said not only that I think its stupid but that its not good for the kids. I feel very strongly about kids needing interaction with other kids on a daily basis (so if anyone wants to come get my kids to interact with their kids feel free! LOL). I think that kids need to learn how to be around other kids of all kinds of backgrounds. You have to learn how to act socially acceptable in school because by the time you hit high school or college its too late! All of the sudden your in a classroom with 25+ other people of all different backgrounds and by gosh you better know how to behave around them all.

Anyways, my feelings about homeschooling have changed quite a bit due to the amount of information I have been finding out about how much schools have changed since I was in school. First of all several months ago I found out that kids are lucky if they get 10-15 minutes of recess!! WTH! As far as I can remember we got AT LEAST 30 minutes but I swear we even used to get up to 45 minutes. AND I found out that the schools are really even trying to do away with that measly 10-15 minutes that the kids get to be kids. This year they have started the school day earlier and now run it later. I understand they want to have a better academic rating but really do they have to take away a kids right to be a kid in the process. I had my 30 minutes of recess and I turned out pretty stinking good. I graduated high school and went on to do some of my basics in college. No, I don't have a degree but I also feel that it is not a necessity to have a degree in life. It helps tremendously, and the knowledge that you gain to get that degree is priceless but unless you are a doctor or lawyer or something like that a degree isn't that big of a deal. I worked at a staffing agency for a while when I was 19-20 and I can not even begin to tell you the amount of kids fresh out of college that came there looking for a job. They all walked in all super proud with their degree feeling like for sure they would be walking out with a job. In reality what they heard was "Wow that's a fantastic degree! Now what is your work experience? Did you have an internship with reference to your degree?" There were a few that did have an internship and that helped. But what people really look for is actual work experience. I wasn't a staffing agent but I did hear the staffing agents on the the phone when they were trying to get these kids interviews and all the employers were mainly worried about was whether or not they had work experience in that particular field. Sorry I got off on a tangent, but what I'm mainly trying to say is that yes it is important to use school time wisely for education but kids also need to be kids because academic education is NOT everything!

Kids still need to be kids. They still need to have a good recess to let them burn off some of all that energy they always have (you know that energy that we always say we wish we still had). I just feel like the schools and school districts are trying to make kids grow up even faster. Everyone complains that the media is making kids grow up faster (which is true) but why doesn't anyone look at what the schools are doing to our elementary students? I mean really all the tests and what not, is that really necessary??? My 6th grade nephew had to take a 6 weeks test on a scantron and he also had to write the answers on the hard copy as well. The teacher graded both, on the hard copy he made a 94 but on the scantron he made a 52. So she did him a "favor" by giving him 1/2 credit. WTH!? Obviously he missed a line on the scantron, seriously who hasn't done that?? I have done it more than once but to the best of my memory my teachers let me correct it! I know what teachers say about this kind of thing, "We are trying to teach them responsibility and to slow down and pay attention to what they are doing. We are trying to get them ready for high school because in high school they aren't going to be near as lenient as we are here in junior high. We are trying to get them ready for college because in college you only get one chance, they don't let you have a second chance." just take your pick it will always be something relevant to one of the above. My problem with these is... Yes kids do need to learn responsibility but obviously he knew the answers to the work considering he got a 94 on the hard copy!!And this was his first test with a scantron! As far as high school and college not being as lenient about that kind of thing. Well that's just CRAP! Unless of course your at like Harvard or Yale or some other fabulously academic school like that. I was allowed to correct my scantrons because I missed a line in BOTH high school AND college!!! I honestly don't think teachers should be allowed to use scantrons anymore. They are the most unreliable source of testing out there. The scantron machine can count right answers wrong and wrong answers right even if they are bubbled in correctly. Those things are just plain stupid. And its more work on the teacher because they have to check it twice!! I wish that teachers were more worried about actually TEACHING the students rather than testing them just to show the kid that the teacher holds the power of pass or fail. I remember my teachers always being more than willing to help me if I was having trouble. I remember staying after school and actually getting help from my teachers until I understood the problem. It just seems like teachers now days don't care at all. It's like 'Oh yeah well you shouldn't have missed a line on your scantron. I'm too lazy to actually grade your work so you better get used to using these scantrons!!" Uggh

And kids get punished for the smallest things now a days! My niece got in trouble at school yesterday because 3 girls were picking on her friend Ashley and had her pinned up against a wall. Mallory (my niece) has 3 brothers and she doesn't take crap from any of them, so she steps in between the girls to break it up and just pushes one girl off of her friend, whom was getting beat up. One of the girls then proceeds to punch Mallory while another scratched her face. Mallory never threw a punch back (bless her heart she was afraid she would get into trouble) all she did was push the girl off of her friend to break it up and then her and the girl walked away after Mallory got punched. The school has threatened to put Mallory and Ashley in ISS for 3 days with the other 3 girls that were doing the actual fighting. Now tell me how the hell that is right that Mallory and Ashley get the same punishment as the 3 girls who picked the fight and were actually throwing punches!?!? Now, I'm not saying that I don't think Mallory should get any kind of punishment for pushing the girl; but why should it be the same as the girls who caused it all? Mallory is a straight A student and has NEVER been in any kind of trouble before. Not everything is black and white, there are plenty of grey areas in the world. But everyone now days wants everything to be 'equal', well they take all that and shove it where the sun don't shine because there is and always will be grey areas in the world. I'll be damned if my daughter get a punishment like that for a situation like this. I mean what was she supposed to do just stand there and let her friend get beat up while she's waiting for the teachers to pay attention long enough to figure out there is fight going on!? Actually if it were my daughter she probably would have thrown a punch, LOL she's too ornery for her own good!

There are so many other stories and things I have heard about that make me think about homeschooling more and more. But I'm still at a cross roads; I want my kids to have the experience of going to school with other kids. I want my kids go through the same things as I did in school, good and bad (as crazy as that may sound). I want my kids to experience the bullies and the nerdy kids that everyone makes fun of. Those are the kinds of things that made me the person I am today. Not everyone may like me but I like me. And one thing I did learn from being in public school and graduating in a class of almost 600 is that if you don't like me I will smile and wave, just not with all my fingers! ;-P


Now just to end with a funny little thing. My son has been sooo funny this week. The day before last they were playing in the back yard. I looked out there and saw him playing with his tractors so I finished whatever it was I was doing. About 2 minutes later I look out there again and he's jumping on the trampoline in his underwear!LOL So I holler at him and tell him to put his clothes back on. He gets off the trampoline and walks over to the house were the back of the fireplace is and opens the little door where you can sweep the ashes out into the backyard and pulls out his shirt, looks at it (all covered with ashes) and says "Look mom its dirty". He then proceeds to turn around and open the BBQ pit and reaches under the grill to get his shoes! I'm like what the crap were you doing son! You girls with little boys just wait! They are the crazy!!

Tonight there is a Goober Goob (I have no idea) in his room that he wants Duke (our 2 year old Lab) to eat so that it won't get him while he sleeps... So I'm off to put my crazy, crazy life on pause until morning but I must make sure the Goober Goob hasn't eaten my son before I do.

Good Night!

It's been a really long day today. I have been trying to make time to sit down and write my first blog all day today. Now here it is 12:12 AM and I am just now starting.

Mike left for work this morning. We have been so busy while he has been here for the past 2 weeks that I have fell down on a lot of my household duties. There is so much paper clutter on my desk it isn't funny. I had a little over 400 emails in my main email account, that doesn't even count the email account that I use for business! There were laundry piles all over the living room floor. Every floor in this house needs to be mopped and vaccuumed. I had so much to do today that I really didn't know where to start this morning. So I sat and drank a cup of coffee and watch a Desperate Houswives re-run, thats my favorite way to start the day. ; )

I did almost get done cleaning out my main email account and cleaned up a little bit of the paper clutter on my desk (we won't talk about the inside of my desk). Most of the laundry is done, except for the bed linens. Didn't get any floors done today. I did however make a to do list for tomorrow! Tomorrow is going to be just as long as today if not longer but at least I have a list to keep me on track (yes I am list maker).

It's so hard with Mike's job; sometimes he's home for 3 days and every now and again he's home for something like 2 weeks like this last time. Those of you who are mommies and wives have to know how much easier it is to do your chores when your husband is nowhere in sight. It's pretty difficult to tell your husband, whom you are lucky to have at home one week out of the month (and if its one week all at once, whoa!) to leave you alone and let you do your chores! It's always bitter sweet when he's home. I want to spend every minute that I can with him but if I don't stay on top of my chores the house ends up looking like it did this morning, or like it does right now. This first day of him being gone is always the worst. I'm kinda tired from all the running around we did while he was here but I have soo much to do around the house. I'm always grouchy with the kids and they are grouchy with me.

It might even be a little bit worse today because we have been remodeling the hall bathroom and the kids have been having to use my bathroom. I'm sure I don't have to go into a whole lot of detail about why I don't like my 4 and 5 year old having access not only to my bathroom but my whole room!! Normally they don't really go into my room because, well they just know better. But right now apparrently they feel that they have full reign over my bathroom and bedroom. Apparently they feel the need to go through my jewelry box and get out ALL of my expensive jewelry (they leave the cheap stuff alone) including my grandmothers gold rings and bring them to me just to tell me that they are pretty. I know it sounds kinda sweet that your kids think your things are pretty. But really, do you want your 4 and 5 year old messing with your expensive jewelry?? And it doesn't matter where I hide it, they will find it! I just want their bathroom to be done so that I don't have to give them access to mine anymore! You would think that I would pretty much always know where they are, I mean its not like our house is big but goodness they are sneaky little things!

I've been super stressed today and I have definately taken it out on them. It makes me feel like a terrible mother to say that I have taken my troubles out on my children who are innocent bystanders. I have been much more grouchy than I should have been. I got a good portion of my chores done today though so hopefully I won't be so stressed tomorrow when we are out running errands. But I don't know, I do need to go to Walmart tomrrow and that can definately be a challenge with my two...

I think my biggest challenge as a mother and wife is telling myself that its ok to be stressed and grouchy sometimes, it happens to everyone. I just need to work on being able to go to bed leave my troubles and stresses with The Lord so that I may wake up in the morning rested and refreshed. Tomrrow is a new day...