Christmas 2014

They all had a good Christmas.  Jaemin got a little more out of sorts as the days went on, but I think it was just too much stimulation for his system.  It was definitely not like him.  Today will be a settling day for him for sure.  The kids got pretty much everything on their lists, plus some since most of the kids ask for very little.  Cole got the stuff for his truck, or some of it, that he wanted.  Chase has pretty much gotten a full camo outfit for hunting; from head to toe.  Kaelin got her volleyball shoes, but we do have to take them back since they were too small and her volleyball and some other small items.  Chelsi got a tablet; which she didn't ask for because she said it was too much.  Lucky her  momma is a really thrifty shopper and got one for hardly anything.  She also got Frozen dolls which she didn't ask for was really excited to see Anna and Elsa as every other little girl was over the week.  Jaemin got a ninja turtle doll to sleep with and a tablet which he really wanted....same as Chelsi's.

Brian and I had already spent the money we got from grandma and my dad on a toolbox for him (which he really needed) a splurge of shoes I would never have bought myself and a tv because the one in the bedroom was so small I was starting to have trouble reading the menu.  Yes, I'm getting old.

The food was awesome, everywhere we went, as usual.  That's my favorite part.  Sitting around, talking to family, laughing and snacking on some great food!

  

Easy to joke

When our kids are little, it's so easy to joke about how are kids will be as teenagers.  I think most of us are guilty of saying things like "until they're a teenager and don't listen to me at all".  The brutal truth is; those teenage years do come.  All of the little things we previously joked about are suddenly coming true, and more, for most of us.  However, it's not funny.  It's so easy to get hurt by your teenager.  It's all to easy to cry at the actions of your teenager; your once sweet baby that you swore was destined for greatness. 

To hear moms of young children complain about not sleeping because of a baby or terrible twos becomes the new joke to the parents of teenagers except down deep we're actually envious of the lost, simple, years we didn't enjoy enough.  We wonder if we're simply repeating that mistake with our big kids (young adults).  The problem with teenagers is the worries are so much bigger.   The mistakes they make are consequential to the rest of their lives unlike toddler grievances.  Little kids can make you feel bad, but no one can make you feel like a more of a failure of a parent than your young, very independent, adult.

Our jobs now, and its a tough one, is to try really hard not to let it get to you.  That's my biggest failure or weakness.  Your call.

Getting out.

I stayed home with a sick little boy yesterday.  Monday night Chelsi had come home and said her stomach and head hurt....or at least I think it was Monday.  It may have been last week.  I'm losing track of everything anymore.  That evening, she tossed her supper and felt better and was ready for school the next day.  Jaemin came home Thursday from school and Chelsi said he, very quickly, fell asleep on the bus that afternoon, so we suspected.  He said he wasn't sick, but he really, really wanted to go to wrestling practice.  We told him that if he was sick he wouldn't want to get his teammates sick.  He decided he needed to stay home because he had a headache and as the night went on the fever set in.  It was just low grade, but his head was hurting.  By morning, it was inching to 103-104.  We just kept giving him some tylenol.  He was eating a little, so that was good.  He stayed in my room all day and we watched tv, held him and he drank a ton of water.  He was really good, but definitely a momma's boy when he's not feeling well.  I decided I needed to get out today.  Kaelin ended up feeling bad last night, so Chelsi and I went grocery shopping and ran errands today.  I took her to Chik Fil A for her character award she'd earned.  She got the award for being Polite in October.  She enjoyed her first trip there.  We went to the mall to pick up an order.  Only her second time being in a mall in her life (9 years).  Crazy, I know, but we don't mall shop.

She and I were working on teacher's gifts.  I don't have much in my budget, Christmas just isn't a big budget, so we have to be super creative.  She was great.  We went to the $1 store and found buckets, some pretty filling, topped cups, their teacher's favorite candies, gum and pens.  We filled up the green bins with the filling, tissue paper, green/white (school colors) topped cups, gum, pens and candy and they looked so nice when we were done.  Luckily, Chelsi is a very detailed girl and knew her teacher's favorite candy, so we got it.  One got laffy taffy and the other got some Russell Stover chocolates and they both got snickers.  We had to put the buckets in the car for the weekend and they're giving them to them early because we're afraid someone will eat the candy if we put it under the tree.  :)  We got home after all of our trips and Jaemin was feeling quite a bit better.  Not eating as much as he was before, but definitely energetic now.

All I have left of Christmas shopping is one thing for Cole that I don't want to order until the last minute and something that needs to get to Walmart for Chase for his grandma to give to him.  All is wrapped and under the tree.  Cards are written out and ready to mail.  We're doing good with it and ready to relax for Christmas, hopefully.

Artist

Chase is a budding artist.  I think he has actually budded already.....is that a word?  Anyways, someone gave us a used saw blade to see what he could do with it.  WOW!  And his lures are amazing.  Totally designed and tested by him.  He carves them, makes their eyes, makes their spoons and builds everything himself before he artistically paints each one of them.

He's amazing!

Here he is

The video of Jaemin's lines.  He really did great!

Kindergarten Christmas Program

This is my last of 5 kindergarten programs.  I'm a bad mom.  I've never been overly excited to go to these.  They're packed, hard to see, etc., etc.  But, Jaemin had lines that they drew his name out of a hat for.  The kid with speech delays had lines.  I was so worried.  Within a couple of days of us finding out and going over the lines, just a couple of times, with him he had them down.  He's been practicing for 2 weeks.  Tonight was great.  He was great.  He was excited to put on his big  boy belt, and his ribbon (his words for necktie).  He was handsome as ever.

My sweet, sweet 6 year old has sensory integration, speech delays and suspected language disorders (we're still working on).  He usually flaps pretty bad, but he held it in the entire program.  He struggled with the word 'eagerly' as that's really hard to say with a delay, but he did AWESOME!  We walked straight from the program to the high school where his dad was at a wrestling parent meeting because little J has begged to wrestle after going to camp.  He put on his singlet and headgear at home and wanted to sleep in it.  He's SO excited!  I just absolutely adore this boy.  He is truly our unexpected blessing and a real gift.  Seeing the way he sees life is so different from anyone I've ever known.  He's delightful with everything and sees life as an adventure and something of happiness.  He looks forward to every new day and is excited when we turn the calendar to a new month.  He makes me love life.

Halloween 2014!

It was pretty cool on Halloween, but awesome since it was a Friday!  Chase had a football game, so that's where Brian went and Cole hung out with friends....actually, I came home to him and a couple of them hanging out watching movies.  My boss had mentioned he gave out full-sized candy bars.  When I realized he lived in our town, I told them kids we would go there as well.  We drove around for 2 hours....well part of that was stopping at their grandparents and walking the neighborhood.  We went down a street that K has always wanted to since there are about 30 houses.  We ended up with 3 oversized bowls of candy.  It was a LOT of candy.  Jaemin was tired of doing it just a few houses in and after doing the trunk or treat.  By the time we got to the big neighborhood and he was able to just run in the yards from house-to-house he was ready for more.  He was really, really getting into it about the time we were done.  His poor little nose was red and a little snotty from the cool weather.  y the way, the picture below is of them and K is a zombie football player.  She wasn't going to dress up, but then we told her if she wanted to, she could and since Chase's practice uniform was home she grabbed it.  She was going to dress up like Chase, but we couldn't find his beloved Bass Pro hat.  Likely he had it with him at school.  So, yeah the look she's giving in the picture is a zombie.  My little Pocahontas, zombie football player and teenage mutant ninja turtles.