Don't Try This at Home!

Not a Garage Sale...

... not a Yard Sale, but a:



I saw this sign while driving around recently. I have to say, this may be my favorite sign yet.

Which Superhero are You?

Your results:
You are Wonder Woman

You are a beautiful princess
with great strength of character.

Wonder Woman		68%
Spider-Man		65%
Hulk		60%
Catwoman		60%
Iron Man		60%
Batman		60%
Robin		55%
Supergirl		53%
Superman		50%
The Flash		35%
Green Lantern		25%

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

Gratitude List

I've decided I need to develop a little more gratitude in my life. I've been such a grouch lately, I can't even stand to be around me.

1. I'm grateful for Spence. He's in the other room painting a wood airplane and singing to himself. It puts a smile on my face when he sings to himself.

2. Medical Insurance. I got a bill yesterday for $1600+. I'm so glad they are billing the insurance for that first!

3. My ipod. I mainly use it to listen to books while I'm driving, or doing some mundane task. It sure helps the time go by faster AND I get to do one of my favorite things! Read!

4. Having The Office on DVR. I missed the first couple of seasons, but the ones I have seen have been a lot of fun to watch. (The last episode was especially funny, btw.)

5. Matt. He took my child shopping for Mother's Day. I have to say, I think that's pretty cool.

I'm not sure how often I'll do this, but I've seen a few of my blogger friends doing this and it seems to be a pretty good tradition to start. Thanks for the example!

My mom: (by Spencer)

Spencer's class filled in these little worksheets last week. It was fun to see what his answers were. I have it hanging up at work so it's taken me a bit to remember to copy these down.

My mom reminds me to say: I love you.
My mom likes clean: theings.
My mom wants me the wash: the dishis.
My mom tells me every morning to: git drest.
My mom tells me that it's important to: de safe.
My mom tells me not to play: with gans.
My mom tells me not the waste: fud.
My mom wants me to be kind to: frends.
My mom loves to have me: ther.
My mom asks me: to be safe.
My mom says yes when: I be gud.
My mom says no when: I am bad.
My mom tells me that she will always: Love me.

As you can tell, he got his spelling skills from his mother! ;-)

Happy Mother's Day!

I know it was a couple of days ago but better late then never, right?

I do want to wish all of my woman friends and family a Happy Belated Mother's Day! I know so many fine mothers and future mothers. I hope each of you enjoyed your day.

I know I did! Friday I went to Spencer's school for the 1st Grade Program. They did awesome! It was so sweet to be there when Spencer walked in and immediately started grinning from ear-to-ear once he saw me. They sang 3 songs and recited a little poem. Most of the moms teared up, of course. After their program, they invited the mothers back to classrooms for cookies and punch. When we walked in the kids had flowers for their mothers. Spencer was so proud to give me a flower all on his own:



Later that evening Matt took Spencer to the mall and helped him find a gift for me. Spencer is usually very good at keeping a secret; not this time! Within 30 minutes Spence inadvertently let me know that I was getting earrings. Once he realized it, I pretended that I hadn't heard what he said. The next day Spence was visiting with me while I was making breakfast. He talked to me about what they almost got me... and then told me that they decided on earrings instead. About 2 seconds later he caught himself. Again. :-D

Saturday, Matt watched Spencer for me while I took my mother out to lunch. We went to Mimi's Cafe and had a very nice visit. She gave me a bag of rice for my food storage! I wouldn't say I'm excited about it, but at least we've got something more then the food in the 72 hour kits to eat in the event of an emergency!

Sunday was a nice relaxing day for me. Spencer gave me the earrings in time for church. I love them! He, (with a little help from Matt), did an awesome job.



I love being a mother to my son. This past month or so has been very difficult, but it's certainly helped me to recognize the sweetness of my son when he chooses to show it. He was so happy to spend the day with me and to shower me with kisses. I remember when he was born and the dr. handed my new born son to me. I looked at my own mother who was standing next to me and choked out, "I'm a mommy now." Since that moment I have loved like I never thought possible. I have been blessed not only to watch, but more importantly, to participate in the life of this amazing little boy. When I think of the last seven years it is amazing to me that it's really been that long. It seems like just last week when I was bringing him home from the hospital, or that he was getting his first tooth, taking his first step, saying "mama" for the first time. There have been difficult times trying to raise a little boy while being a single mother, but the good times have more then outweighed the bad. I thank Heavenly Father for the gift of my sweet little boy and for helping me to remember how blessed I am to have him in my life.

Baseball + Glass = Broken Window

This is what my front window looks like right now:



It's been broken for 12 days. The boy who lives across the lawn from us hit a baseball into my window. We weren't home, but the kid and his dad came over once we got home and said they would get it fixed within the week. It's been nearly 2 weeks now. Grrr...

Fight Update

I meant to post about this last week... and never got around to it. Obviously.

When I picked up Spencer from the babysitter, I was grateful for the time I had had to calm down. It's so much easier to dish out a punishment when you can think clearly. It also gave me the chance to call Spencer's dad and get him to agree with me on carrying over the punishment at his house. *sigh* (that's a whole other story right there!)

I had Spencer do his homework first and then sat him down for THE TALK. He told me what had happened. Their class was at gym and they were playing tag. Spencer thought he was on the base and Michael thought Spencer wasn't. Michael tagged Spencer, Spencer got mad, Michael got in Spencer's face and Spencer pushed him. It went from there with Spencer hitting Michael and Michael biting Spencer. Here is a picture of his bite mark: (Yes, I know it's a crappy photo, but it's all I've got.)



I asked Spencer how he felt and he said, "Sad, because I get in trouble everyday." I asked him how he felt about what had happened that day. He said, "Even worser. It's the worstest thing I've ever done to anyone." And then he burst into tears, which actually made me very happy as his mother. I wanted to him feel remorse and to understand that it's not okay to hurt another person because they tag you out of a game of tag. However, I don't think of this as Spencer being a bully, but more that he got upset over the game and lost control. I told him that his punishment was to be grounded from everything for a week: no tv, no computer or video games, no playing with friends and no violent toys for an indefinite period of time. He, of course, got very upset went to his room to calm down. A few minutes later I checked on him. I explained him that I wasn't trying to be mean; I was trying to help him understand how serious it was that he not start fights. He then got up and started gathering together his toy weapons for me. All in all, I felt pretty good about it. Until the next day.

His friend came to the door to see if Spencer could play. I let Spencer answer it and tell his friend that he was grounded. He did that, and then boasted that he had beat up Michael. I could have smacked him! I was so mad! Did he not learn ANYTHING?? I yelled instead.

The next day the same boy came back to the door. I was sick with the flu and told Spencer that he could not answer the door. Let the kid stand there all day, I was too sick to care. A few minutes later I could hear the kid and Spencer talking through the window. I yelled again, since that what I do so well. Talking to your friends through the window is a violation of being grounded! So... he did it again. Talk about having a thick skull, (I blame his father). So I added another day to his week long grounding.

Over the last week, he's been a brat through and through. From sassing me and telling me he doesn't like me, to conveniently forgetting that he's grounded. Having a child who's grounded is like being grounded yourself and being grounded as a grown-up totally sucks. Just so you know.

Today, however, he was awesome. He emptied the dishwasher. Cleaned some spilled milk from the fridge and floor. Restocked the water bottles. Washed the bathroom mirror. And even let me pick a game for us to play! And then he beat me at Trouble.

Some days, or weeks, I feel like a complete failure as a mother. And then there are the days where everything is perfect, or nearly so, and I think I just might be able to do this.