I'm thankful that our family has had several days "off' together.... the house is decorated, both boys had a blast decorating the trees. Now, it feels a little more like the holidays.
, I'm grateful that as of now, both my husband and I are employed. We're very grateful for that.
and this post is how he looks by 5pm each day. 
I read everything and when I picked up the prescription it says ingredients include alcohol, some kind of acid...and the known side effects include burning, itching, stinging. Something about the ingredients and the known side effects really bug me. Why can't it be simple? UGH, his face is pitiful. Aquaphor and hydrocortizone may be our best friends for a WHILE....that's what the doctor initially told us to use. I can't stand the thought of putting something on his skin that will make it burn while it looks like this already. 
farquads
Of all the things I ask my kids to share..... this is the last one. It's almost unavoidable all together. We've been very fortunate with both boys, the little one has only had a sickness that required antibiotics once in just under 3 years, and our oldest has not had antibiotics in OVER three years (seems unreal now that I think of it). We've been VERY fortunate, considering our oldest does go to public school. I guess we're due our share of the cruds now! 
I USED to dress for business most days... this is before I took off my chino's and blouses and traded them in for worn out cozy jeans, sweat pants *gasp*, yoga pants, and leisure suits. 99.9% of all of my work (from home) is conducted in super casual mommy gear. When I go to school functions, I throw on some regular khaki's and a v-neck and that's about as dressy as it gets for me.
I USED to be a slimmer me and have plenty of that size in dress pants in my closet... this is before I managed to find nearly every pound of my pregnancy weight I lost. I'm not going to paint a faux picture here, I'm sporting a mini-muffin top, a bit of a jelly belly, a jiggly giggly mummy tummy, if you will. It's not a huge deal, I'm not *overweight* by my doctors standards in fact I'm within my average weight for my height. This is weird for me because I have never weighed the average except when pregnant. Family and friends know that this is a new chapter in my book.
So I rummaged through my business clothes from days of yore, and found that I had slim pickins, nothing winter worthy in blouses and tops, and it's COLD all of the sudden in our little part of the world! So tonight after dinner I ran out to hunt for something that would work. I managed to come across some great deals, thank goodness for holiday sales! How sad is it that it's come to this? My wardrobe consists of various styles of cotton tees in a rainbow of colors, a few casual dress shirts, and I actually had to wipe down my heels (gag - hate heels) because they've been collecting dust on the shoe rack since my brother's funeral.
All I have to say is that while I'm thankful for working from home, dressing super comfy and casual at my leisure, I do sometimes find myself missing those days in the office.... then things like today's running around getting clothes de-wrinkled and laid out for the next day and making sure the shoes match, reminds me why I used to get up so darn early just to get ready. Getting dressed up to look the part, which is somewhat redundant since I now do the exact same work from the comfort of my couch, bed, kitchen table, dining room, or kids rooms while they play. I am the same capable person either way. I have a high respect for all of my mom friends and family who go to an office each day, I know that someday I may return to the office myself. I'm thankful for where I am now in my life, I'm glad to be able to be at home and work, it seems to fit me for now... unlike most of my nicer clothes.
So what's the big deal??
Lying, and it's absolutely a big deal to us. I've written this post at least 10 times when frustrated, and deleted it - only to feel better after getting my words out. I've not posted it, because I've wondered if it was some sort of invasion of my child's privacy, am I a bad mom for being open about something like this? But if I only journal about the accomplishments, I'd create the scene that our parenting is without flaw and that it's a cakewalk. Do other parents have perfect kids, or are they just less inclined to talk about the less attractive part of parenting? I've ran across some blogs that I treasure that share intimate details of their journey in parenting. I blog mostly as a daily journal - so to be honest with myself would be to post the good, bad and the ugly. I post so that I can go back to a particular day and reflect, and doing so allows me to see what's changed. I've had my blogs from previous years printed and binded - it's nice to have a keepsake like this that shows growth!
Parenting 101 - the adolescent years
Even with our best efforts, our eldest has been lying to us occasionally about the obvious, things that we can easily check on and find the truth for ourselves. Most of the time, it's because he wants to avoid more work or avoid the hassle of what the outcome of the truth means. So what are we to do? We know all kids do it at one point or another, and to one extreme or another. We can't ignore it, because that isn't how we show our love, we'd be enablers. We can't make it the sole focus of our life, because that would not leave any positive to shine through. We can't spend day and night trying to make sure that everything he says is the truth, that would be exhausting and pointless. We are doing what we can to reinforce how important honesty is.
Raising my hand - I have questions...
What drives someone to lie? Will we ever know WHY? Even the most Christian of Christians have lied. I have alot of questions, and I know they'll never be answered. What's changed? Why this all of the sudden? Medical professionals will tell me that this is "normal" what in the H&$# is NORMAL about lying?? for his age, my parents tell me that while I went through it for a little while, the boys seemed more inclined to do it. Maybe it was because I saw their consequences and didn't really want them for myself. I get no real answers to my pondering. I get anything from scientific to biblical reasons for lying, but I will never know what goes on in his head that drives him to lie. I could ask, but would I get the truth?
Being Grounded
We grounded him, and at the same time we've got ourselves better grounded. It's important to us that our boys know that they can come to us and be honest about things and we're not going to judge them. I guess his being grounded is more of a motivational tool for him, and our getting ourselves better grounded is an important part of stepping up our game. We are raising each boy to be an individual, to be original, and to understand that we all make mistakes. It's not always easy to enforce this in kids, the big picture isn't as clear to a 10 year old child as it is for his parents. The big picture for us is that the price our children pay for dishonesty NOW is much less then it will be later, and we really want them to learn from mistakes.
From Elephants to Horses
It’s a new week and we’re done beating that dead horse. Our expectations are clear, we’ve put it out on the table that this nasty habit is unwelcome and we’re not going to stand for it. So far, for this week, we’ve had a great start! There’s no sense in going on and on. We’ve wiped the slate clean. We have two terrific boys, both who are growing up and going through huge developmental changes at the same time! We have no words for how proud we are to be these boys parents, even when it means they do the wrong thing…. After all, that’s what we’re here for, to guide them in the right direction. Sometimes when things like this come along, it makes me realize how large our responsibility really is - and we must keep our sights on the bigger picture. I'm thankful for the horse, even though it's dead... It's made us feel like better parents, because we didn't ignore it and we're dealing with it head on.
I’m wondering… what do you do when your boy/girl lies to you??
Above: The RED ZONE is located just north of her.... you can see the city of BREA where she lives is under the RED ZONE in this photo that I snagged from the LA Fires update site. Last updated early morning.
Above and below -photos taken by my friend at her home.
I'm thankful that my family and friends are safe. Up to 5 tornados tore through where my niece, nephew, brother, step-siblings and their children, and many dear friends still live. These storms happened in Wilson and Johnston counties, neighboring counties to where I was born and raised. I remember a similar outbreak of tornados from my childhood and we were so fortunately spared, and so vividly I remember seeing houses that had been blown apart and they looked like toothpicks lying everywhere. The storms from Friday night were EF2 and EF3 tornados that happened around 3am, when most people had no warning.“Memories are the treasures that we keep locked deep within the storehouse of our souls, to keep our hearts warm when we are lonely.” ~Becky Aligada
Day 14 - I'm thankful for photographs.
Day 13- I'm thankful for simple moments like the one in the picture above... two boys, reading.
The boys had a blast playing on the slides together.
I thought this was such a sweet photo, big brother helping little brother with his shoe.... so sweet.
After some downtime at home for us all, we had planned to see this event and have a visual history lesson with the kids while enjoying a great show.
What a difference a day made... all of our leaves fell off the tree in the front yard. The little one loved jumping into the pile! Our camera battery went dead just as he started to cut loose in the leaves, so we'll have to take more today.
Big E stopped for a quick photo..... he's a silly kid.
I'm thankful for crunchy leaves to play in.
After each song, the audience of K5, 1st graders, and parents/family clapped. Little J was so proud of his big brother that he yelled "good job EZA!!!" I think that everyone in the room could feel the pride that little J had for big E!! The K5 students were sitting on the floor in front of the group doing the presentation, and little J went to sit and join them for each song. He loved watching his big brother sing just as much as we did!
I'm thankful that the elections are over. I'm interested to see where this will take us.
“Memories are the treasures that we keep locked deep within the storehouse of our souls, to keep our hearts warm when we are lonely.” ~Becky Aligada