Engineer, drummer or Maybe Cake Decorating?

My baby turns 12 tomorrow. It is hard to believe that 12 years has gone by. Our 4 pound 12 oz baby boy is becoming a young man with many talents. He is a wonderfully talented drummer, he is getting better everyday on the guitar, he soaks in everything he hears and sees and doesn't forget things he has learned. He is a straight A student and we are very proud of him. Today we learned he can design and decorate cakes.

This year he made his snare drum birthday cake. Great job buddy.

Happy Birthday.

First Official Family Meeting

We had our first official family meeting last night. We have been having some problems with disrespect, getting jobs done on the day assigned, arguing and yelling. I had an agenda with guidelines...no interrupting, listen, etc. I went through what we as parents expect when it comes to homework, getting jobs done, practicing instruments, and how we should start communicating with each other. After each expectation, we talked about the consequence. Everyone had a chance to discuss the expectation and the consequence and make comments about it. Some things were tweaked a bit. We had a great discussion. I think the kids felt like they were able to help with the decision making. It opened up a lot of discussion. As my Dad said..."you do have a couple of thinkers". Yes we do.

I hope this meeting helps. Their Dad and I are going to have to enforce the consequences when they are tested. I hope we are ready for that.

We also agreed that we need to try at the very least once a week to have dinner at the table all together. With our busy schedules we do a lot of eating and running. We are going to make a point of sitting at the table so we can talk, reconnect and evaluate "The Family Plan". Say a prayer for us that things go well. I'm hoping for a lot less yelling and arguing.

This May Be The Last...

Today was probably our last trip to see Santa. Our son told us today he is getting too old. He has not confirmed that he no longer believes but I think he is holding out in fear that the presents will go away if he doesn't believe. Our little girl already knows. She figured it out at Easter. I thought I would be sad when they found out about Santa but actually Mags and I have been having fun. She gets to be Santa for her brother. Even though she knows about Santa, I am still looking forward to doing the "Santa" stuff. Our family loves Christmas and we know the "reason for the season" but we also enjoy the fun and mystery of Santa. Maybe I can get them to go next year if I promise not to show the picture to their friends. :)

We usually go see Santa later in the season but this year is already packed with so many activities. I will not, however, put up any Christmas decorations until Thanksgiving is over. I feel like people forget about Thanksgiving. It didn't feel right going to see Santa before Thanksgiving but we have a special Santa we see each year and between his schedule and our schedule, this was a good day to go.

So, Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I am blessed to have such wonderful friends and a terrific family. Enjoy Turkey Day!

:)

Yes we can and Yes we did!! Change has begun. Can you feel it? I do.

Emotional Day

It's only 11am and it has been an emotional day. We went through our normal morning routine. As I was dropping the kids off at school they reminded me several times... "don't forget to vote". They get to vote in school today and were both very excited about it. That makes me proud.
After I dropped them off I went straight to my polling place. It was 8:14am and there was already quite a line. I have never seen this in my small town. I waited about 25 min. not bad. As I began to color in the circle next to Obamas name, I felt a sense of relief. I left and headed to Target. During my drive to Target I began to feel emotional about my right to vote and what that means. I began to think about all the women that paved the way for my right to vote. I decided that from this moment on I will never take that for granted again. It was an emotional morning.
Later today I will pick up my kids from school, find out who the school voted for and head to the dentist. Then we will go to the visitation of a close family friend who passed away on Sunday. He was a close friend to my parents and a huge part of my life. He was also a big part of our church family. We will miss you "Bucky". It will be an emotional evening.