Blog Frustration

I’m sorry I’ve neglected you lately.  I really appreciate everyone who makes regular trips into my little blog world. 

The problem is that the things that are on my mind are things I can’t share here on my blog.  It is hard for me to write about the funny things my kids are doing, things I love, or crazy things in the news when I am worried about a friend who is dying of terminal cancer, Leah’s upcoming tests at UNC, issues at work, etc. 

Lots of happy things are coming up in the next two weeks so hopefully that will help me to get back into my groove.  Leah turns 3 on Friday, Hailey has her first dance recital on Saturday, Leah’s party is Sunday, and mine and Ed’s anniversary is next Friday.

Happy Mother’s Day!

I hope all you moms out there had a special day today!

A special Happy Mother’s Day to my own mom…a mom who:

• would eat the burnt toast and “heels” of the loaf of bread that no one else wanted
• made us kool-aid Popsicles
• would stop what she was doing to watch my newest feat on the swing set
• took care of many pets over the years
• let me spend a small fortune on my junior prom dress (and I loved it so much that I wore it my senior year too so it really turned out to be not such a bad deal!)
• worked late at school so that she could drive me home after color guard practice
• helped me to sell and deliver cases upon cases of oranges
• supported my engagement to someone I had never dated
• was in the delivery room during the birth of both of my children
• has made very special treasures for all of her grandchildren (esp. the blankets and quilts)
• fills our pantries with homemade strawberry fig jam
• has always made whatever we wanted for our birthdays
• still makes me homemade chicken rice soup when I am sick
• has always supported me in so many ways

I could go on and on for days about all the things my mom has done for me over the years and all the reasons why I think she is the greatest.  I only hope that I can be as good of a mom to my girls as my mom has been to the three of her girls!

I’m a what?

Hailey’s school had a workday today so today became an unofficial “take your daughter to work day” for Ed.  Today was disposition day at the courthouse so she was able to go with him to take care of some of his cases.  Judge Murphy was very nice to her and even offered to let her sit in his chair.  (She was just fine where she was thank-you-very-much.)  Ed said she did a wonderful job in court and was very well behaved.  (As a side-note, we have started a new positive reinforcement reward system that so far is working out very well).

They picked me up from work for an early lunch and we decided to go to Joe’s.  Hailey made up a knock-knock joke on the way to Joe’s and when Brian came to take our order, I asked her if she wanted to tell him her joke.  She was being uncharacteristically shy and so Brian asked if she would tell him before she left.

As we were leaving, Hailey remembered that she wanted to tell him her joke.  We went to find him and she told him her joke:

Knock Knock

Who’s There?

Joe

Joe Who?

Sloppy Joe

Anyway, Brian and I have had a running joke for the past five years about whether or not the main character in “A Walk to Remember” dies or not (I say she does, he says I am a pessimist and she lived).  After she told her joke, Brian told her he had something he wanted her to tell me when we got in the car.  Of course, I knew he was telling her to tell me she lived.

Hailey giggled all the way to the car and couldn’t wait to get it.  As soon as we got in, she asked if I was ready.  Then she proceeded to tell me,

“You’re a llama!!!”

_________________________________________________

This reminds me of another funny moment from this past weekend.  My in-laws and our friends Billy, Jenn, and Kelly were gracious enough to join us for a Saladmaster dinner so that we could earn a free wok (worth several hundred dollars I might add).  Billy had work still to finish at the paper so he had to leave the dinner early.  He was trying to make Hailey think he was leaving because she hurt his feelings which made Jenn exclaim, “Billy Liggett!”

Hailey looked at them both with a very surprised look and questioningly said, “Silly Niggett???”

Anyone up for a game of telephone?

New Blogger

Those of you who read my blog have heard me mention my friend and co-worker, Lindsay.  She has started her own blog now so check her out at http://lindsayrose.wordpress.com/.

A Trip to the Beach

 

We took a day trip to the beach yesterday (another reason why I love living in the center of NC!).  We went to Ft. Fisher so we could go to the aquarium, drive on the beach, and be close to public restrooms and changing rooms.  For a day trip to the beach, it is hard to beat Ft. Fisher. 

We have an annual zoo pass which let us get into the aquarium for free.  This was especially nice because we did not have to worry about “getting our money’s worth.”  We could leave as soon as the girls had had enough.  And with the promise of being on the beach, it wasn’t long before they were ready to go.

Leah was a little leery of how close we were to the alligators.  They were right at the glass wall.  Hailey enjoyed making an octopus out of a paper towel tube and yarn at the craft table.  I enjoyed the flowers on the pathway outside (hence my new header).

Driving/riding on the beach was a first for all of us.  It was like being on our own personal roller coaster.  I think my Escape enjoyed it as well.  It was awesome to be able to back right up to the water and not have to hike across a parking lot and lots of sand with toys, chairs, towels, etc.

The water was quite cold so we did not bother with bathing suits…as you can see, the cold water did not faze Hailey.  Luckily we had changes of clothes. 

I was excited to get to take pictures of the girls in their white dresses.  I would like to take then again in the early morning when the sun is in a better place and the wind is not so strong, but these are all very sweet.

If you click on the pictures below, it will allow you to see the picture a little larger.

Enjoy!

 

 

No wonder I’m tired

Here are some of my accomplishments for today:

1. Successfully wrestled homemade bread dough out of the mixing bowl and into the large bowl the dough rises in (it was like glue today for some reason)…I really wish I had a video of me trying to get that dough from one bowl to the next.  The last batch I made came out just as nice and neat as you please so I assumed this one would as well…yeah, I as late for work.

2. Made a Wal-Mart run for work (Among all the other little stuff I had to get, I purchased 40-something containers of yogurt, 17 water bottles with straps for our zoo trip and 10 glass candle holders for a mothers’ day project…l got some strange looks from people who got a glimpse of what was in my cart)

3. I did a lot of other stuff at work that you don’t care to hear about.

4. Put Leah in the car to go pick up Hailey, got Leah out of the car to go into Hailey’s school, put Leah back in the car to go to Hailey’s art class, got Leah out of the car at art class, put Leah back in the car to go home, got Leah out of the car at home.  Thankfully my wonderful husband picked Hailey up from art so that I did not have to do another round of in and out.

5. Made a loaf of bread and a bunt pan full of cinnamon bread.

6. Made a chocolate pie with meringue.

7. Ironed on a rhinestone crown for a “hospital survival kit” for a baby shower tomorrow.  Hot glued a beaded trim to the top of the bag.  Turned our office inside out looking for the “It’s a Girl!” iron-on I purchased months ago for this bag.

8. Hot glued fringe on another tote bag.

Now I have to go clean the kitchen…blech.

 

Movie Mystery Solved

Ed rented “The Water Horse” last week.  When it was time to turn in the movie, it was NOWHERE to be found.  We looked for that movie for days.  I knew Leah had to have hidden it because she was the last one I saw with it and she likes to hide things (remember the granola bar incident?).  I tried tricking her into telling me where it was.  I tried bribery.  I told them no one would be in trouble as long as they just found the thing. Nothing worked. 

We opened every drawer and cabinet.  Furniture was moved and cushions and pillows were tossed.  We looked places we thought there was NO WAY she could have gotten to.  We were truly at a loss and thought we were going to have to purchase the stupid thing.  Our main frustration was that if we had to buy a movie, why did it have to be that one?  That is probably my least favorite movie I have seen in a year.  I have no desire to watch it again and I did not want my kids watching it again.

Leah asked me on the way home yesterday if she could watch a movie.  I asked her if she wanted to watch “The Water Horse.”  Nope.  *Sigh*  It was worth a try.

This morning as I was getting ready, Leah came running into the bathroom and told me she found the movie.  To be honest, I did not believe her at first…so imagine my surprise when I turned around and she was holding the movie in her hand. 

She was SO excited.  She jumped up and down, danced, and giggled.  She was VERY proud of herself.  I asked her to show me where she found it.  She pointed to one of the shelves in the office.  In our search, I sat down and looked at every single book on those shelves so it had to be behind the books.  The little stinker.

I looked at Leah and said “Now Leah, who put that movie on the shelf?”  Leah very excitedly grinned and raised her hand…and then thought better of it and quickly dropped her hand and said (with wide eyes), “I don’t know!”

When you are not having to pay a fortune to buy a movie you really did not like and absolutely did not want to own…you can actually laugh at that.

Was it something I said?

Today was a curious day.  I had a record high of 150 hits.  I usually have about 30-40 hits on the weekends and 50-95 hits on the weekdays.  If you don’t write a blog, you may not know that the search terms people use to reach your site are tracked as well as the referring websites (if someone clicked a link to your blog from another site).  I actually had LESS referring sites (less than 10) and LESS search terms (about 10) than normal…so where did all of the extra visitors come from?? 

I LOVE to see my numbers go up and I wish I could write more.  I am always thinking of things I want to write about, but I have a hard time finding the time to sit down and write.  I would like to hear from the people who visit this site.  What brings you here?  What brings you back?  What would you like to hear more about?  If you don’t like to comment on blogs, you can email me at emilypage@alltel.net.

Cops and Robbers 2008

Conversation Lindsay had with one of our preschoolers who was pretending to rob a bank:

L: You know what happens when you rob a bank don’t you?

Child: Yeah, you get rich!!

L: You can’t spend the money or you’ll get caught and you will have to spend a long time in jail

Child: Not if you do it right!!

Wow.

 

Heartbroken

Hailey’s week did not start off well last week.  We traded notes with her teacher and spent a lot of time talking to her about her behavior.  She ended the week on a much better note and with her teacher starting to challenge her more, we were daring to hope that she would start listening more and talking less.

We had a good weekend.  We went to Paint in the Park on Saturday and Hailey painted her granddaddy a picture for his birthday.  She was on her best behavior at my parents’ house and even ate her dinner without complaints.  Last night she did a great job of helping me clean and practiced her reading and second grade words without a problem. 

When I arrived at the Y today, I found Hailey sitting in the office.  Not a good sign.  I asked her why she was there and Megan told me she had been hitting.  I asked Hailey about this and she would not say a word to me.  A lot of parents were coming in at this time and needed to get to the sign-out sheet where I was standing so I told her to go get her stuff and I stepped over to talk to Brenda.

Brenda informed me that Hailey was not the same Hailey that started at the Y.  She said she was not listening to the counselors at all.  They would tell her to do something and she would do the complete opposite.  Not only did she hit a child on Friday, but she punched a child in the stomach multiple times in the bathroom today.  WHAT??!!!

I told Brenda that Hailey had been getting in trouble in the classroom and that maybe she was trying so hard to follow the rules in class that by the time she made it to the Y, she was done with listening and following directions (please understand that I am not making excuses or saying this behavior is okay…just trying to understand where it is coming from).  I promised Brenda that we would talk to Hailey and asked that she please tell the counselors to keep me informed about Hailey’s behavior.

It was all I could do to hold myself together in the car on the way to dance class.  This is not how I have raised my child to behave and in no way do I find this behavior acceptable. I am at a point where I really don’t know what to do.  Talking to her does not help. No punishment really seems to faze her.

I had a real struggle as to whether or not to let her go to dance.  However, dance does require that she be quiet and follow directions and she obviously needs all the help she can get.  Besides, her recital is in a few weeks and her teacher has worked hard.  I did not feel it was fair to her teacher and the other children to have Hailey ill prepared for her part in the recital.

I am going to call our EAP and see if they have any resources in this area.  I need to talk to a professional and I would like for Hailey to talk to a professional.  Our family cannot continue to live with this roller coaster of behavior.  Hailey can be the sweetest, most helpful, loving, caring, creative, and fun child…and then she can be defiant and mean. 

If any of you have words of wisdom, I would love to hear them!