This weekend I.....

Ok....you would think that I was really busy this weekend......but it was pretty low key. This is what I did....

1. Went to Walmart....good times.....good times. Not my favorite place to go....but the prices are cheap.

2. Cleaned my floors.....on my hands and knees with a wet wash....followed by a dry towel to not have streaks.

3. Did my laundry.

4. Mowed the lawn....I skipped weed eating and kennel cleaning. I just didn't feel like it.

5. I started my homework again for a medical transcription program I am in....took a hiatus for awhile on it. Felt good to get it going again.

6. I skipped church. What can I say....I just didn't wanna go.

7. I made homemade ice cream and homemade hot fudge. A tradition on the fourth of July for my family.

8. Went and watched a fireworks display. My son didn't like it.....I am not sure why. Probably because it doesn't get dark here at nights until 10:30 pm and he was tired.

And...that is it. Not too productive.....but had a nice time with my little family.

This weekend I.....

My sister has been blogging for quite sometime and she does a weekly blog called, "This Weekend I...." at which point she lists the things she did over the last weekend. Its interesting and thought that I would give it a shot.

I weeded my flower beds.

I cleaned my dog kennel.

I mowed the yard.

I weed whacked the yard.

I sanded the woodwork in preparation of applying more polyeurathane.

I applied more polyeurathane.

I disassembled my sons bed.

I moved two beds.

I assembled a bunkbed.

I cleaned my basement and rearrange furniture.

I grocery shopped at Walmart.

I prepared my next weeks menu for daycare.

I paid the bills.

I went for a bikeride with my son.

I took my son swimming.

I drank two cups of coffee very slowly and just stared.....I love doing that.

My big change

I have no pictures to post. I haven't even blogged for quite some time....over two years, I think. I have heavy thoughts right now. Its about a big change I made, and my most precious being in my life....my son.

I opened a daycare to spend more time with Daniel. I could do the raising and not another daycare. Over the past five years, I have always received great reports about Daniel's behavior. Who he plays well with, etc.

I have been shocked at his behavior. More importantly, I have been shocked at mine. I have been approaching his behavior with a combative attitude. He must be testing me. Yadda, yadda, yadda. I called my mom tonight for some advise. This is what she pointed out to me and suggested to me.

I have a little boy that is an only child. He has only ever had to play with his things, in his house, and take his time for everything. He has never had to share things in his house. Nor, his toys. I have not given Daniel any space to claim as his own. I have taken all of that away in the matter of a day.

So.....this is what I am going to do. Tonight, I will seperate all of his birthday and Christmas toys and give my boy his bedroom back. Full of his toys that he likes the best. When the kids get to be too much for him.....Daniel can have a retreat. When he doesn't want to share, he can go to his room and play with his things. If he wants to chill and just watch a movie alone, he can go to his room.

Share your opinion, please. :)

Happy Valentine's Day

I had a lot of fun on Friday night with my little guy.

We made our Valentine's cards for daycare and preschool friends. They were just plain, ordinary, $2.99 a box cards....but what fun!

We attached the little 3D sticker,, Daniel folded them in half and put the little heart sticker on it to hold it shut, Mommy wrote the names, and Daniel signed them all and taped a lollipop to each friends card.

Do you see that tongue sticking out? That means he is not only enjoying himself, but really, really concentrating and focusing hard. :) What a cutie! He addressed and signed every single card. He had a great time!

So did I! As you can see by the calendar on his door, we have a lot of things coming up that will be fun for all!

Take care and hope to see you later!

Ice Fishing

When I first met my husband, I thought....hmmmm, I don't know about all of this outdoorsy stuff. He hunts, fishes, ice fishes. Our first year of marriage was like this. End of August, honeymoon. September, goose season. October, goose season....maybe dove and quail season and bow hunting season begins. November, deer season. I thought once I hit that I would be in the clear. No sir. Bow season continues. January, February and March....Ice fishing season. April, again I thought I would be in the clear....no, spring goose season. May...fishing. Its a vicious year round thing.

Anyone who knows me well, knows of my disdain for aquatic life.....all aquatic life. I have an intense fear of fish. Its the reason I will not swim in a dam, a lake or a river. But, my husband got me to go ice fishing with him. I loved it. Its so quiet and serene and peaceful. Its good time to just let your mind free for awhile. I don't have to think about anything in particular. I am not thinking about what I didn't buy at the store, I am not thinking about if I have enough frappuccino base to get me to Tuesday, I am just watching a bobber and waiting for it to bounce and anything that wants to enter my mind will at its own pace.

We took our son for a little outing today to start to introduce him to the sport.

For those of you that aren't sure what this entails....here is the view. This is on the ice. People pull little ice houses onto the dam or lake....you can drive on it, the ice is over 2 1/2 feet thick.

Once you find a spot you auger the ice. Here is my husband doing just that. You can see how thick the ice is.

Our little guy doesn't like the sound of the auger. We didn't stay too long. We got cold. But here he is ice fishing.

It was really nice today...about 20 degrees. But the wind made it tough, as it always does. Our guy liked to scoop the ice out of the hole and be helpful.

We had a nice time. Sorry you couldn't be there with us. Maybe next time!

SNOW DAZE

I have very fond memories of snow. I remember "tunneling" with my brother Jeff. We would dig and dig, always fearful of the tunnel caving in, we could suffocate you know! It was fun to live on the edge back then in the 70's!

I remember that my brother built me a SNOW CASTLE with the K-TEL snow block maker! It had an upstairs and a downstairs, a turret, and even a pile of snowballs in the turret to throw at our enemies! I am not making this up! I remember that once the snow fort was finished, just sitting inside of it and looking around, so proud of our acheivement. There was always some snotty boy from down the street that wanted to ruin it though. But that was a part of the fun!

This photo was taken in the town I grew up in....its my boys turn to grow and create these memories in this town. Look at the snow! This is just the beginning of our season. Record snow fall so far. Look at my bird bath! Puts a perspective on what we have.

My husband did a great and fun thing the other day. He operates a front end loader and dumped piles and piles of snow into our back yard over the fence.

Even our dogs loves our snow hill! Daniel gets to sled in our back yard! Do you think he likes it? I do!

I hope that he can have some of the happy and fun memories that I have of the snow and the fun that goes a long with it!

The Calm after the storm!

Wow! Christmas got here quick this year and went by just as quickly! There was so much preparation, shopping, baking, hype, Christmas plays, Christmas play rehearsal....I could go on! But, I won't.

This year, Christmas felt different. I am unable to say what it was exactly, but it was different. Not bad, by any means! Actually, different in a good way. Maybe this had something to do with it.

My little guy is only 3 years old. He is just starting to understand the very basics. He knows about baby Jesus and Mary and Josephs stay in the stable. He knows that Christmas trees are great and pretty. He knows that this is a birthday. He gets confused on who's birthday it is and probably is confused on why the guest of honor is not attending his party.

I worked on Tuesday night and got home and in bed around 11:45pm and had to get up at 3:45am to go to work. Not much sleep. I got home at 2:30 and decided to keep my idea of starting a new tradition. To bake a batch of Christmas cookies with my little guy to put out for Santa Claus. Here is our special plate for Santa....isn't it cute?

Here are the cookies that we made. My son proudly made the cookie on the left. Santa ate it all gone. :)

Grandma and Grandpa came over and ate with us and opened gifts with us.

My little Stinker made a nice haul. He is having fun playing all day today. He has been quiet and busy. Peace! I love it!

Every year my sisters and mom and some neices get together and do a cookie exchange. I have envied this tradition, because I cannot be a part of it. I received a package in the mail the other day and assumed it was a Christmas gift and didn't open it right away. I waited until Christmas eve. When I opened it this is what I saw.

How thoughtful! I cried. My husband asked me why I was crying....I said, "they included me." It felt really good! They sent me a box of their cookies. They did this for all of us who live away. How nice. It caught me off guard. It was the best suprise of all!

Merry Christmas! and thank you!