Last night Zach walked into my room a little dazed and confused because he was tired and wanted me to tuck him in. He looked so handsome with his hair "just so" and I pulled him over to my bed to grab a picture. I sure love this guy and love that he finds comfort in being tucked in by mom...
After reading last night and after Alissa brushed her teeth, we had some more picture fun. It was fun and I was laughing and she said...
"Mom, I've never heard you laugh"
Wow, for sure a "things that make you go hmm..." moment for me. I realized that I don't laugh a lot. Heck, I think the last time I really laughed was months ago when we had friends over for a game night! That's NOT ENOUGH! I need to a change in my life so my kids see me laugh and enjoy me more! I know I am a good mom, but I have never been the "get on the floor and play" type of person and in the recent months with some changes going on, I need to create more opportunity to laugh and have fun!
So our sweet Alissa doesn't really love to brush her teeth. She will go back into the bathroom and "say" she did it, but then I catch her with food in her teeth all the time and call her bluff. I think I may need to go back to WATCHING her do it and helping with flossing. I guess I just think that an 8 yr old should be responsible for brushing teeth, but I also know it's easier not to do it for an 8 yr old with "better stuff to do". Last night after she read to me, I noticed some nasty food in her teeth and asked if she brushed (which she should have done when we asked her to do it) and I told her that she HADN'T brushed or else there wouldn't be food stuck in her teeth and had to prove it to her by taking a before and after picture!
On another note...look at those big girl teeth! It wasn't that long ago that her little smile contained all baby teeth!
Zach learned a good lesson tonight! He came home from a dinner at scouts and bragged about all the food he "got to eat" and named a few like hot dogs, cheedos and candy. Apparently he ate like 4 hot dogs with "white bread" as he so wanted to point out and some other "crap". He was all sorts in a good mood and then 20 mins later her felt so sick and horrible. We used this as a good time to talk to him about why we have changed our eating. We told him that over the years we also have done the same thing (to which I pointed out the past 6 years of me being sick and not changing my diet). I asked him if he ever feels that horrible after eating at home (since we have made eating changes), to which he said "no" and went to bed feeling like he was going to throw up. He said he wanted to go back in time and not eat so much, which was also a good time to tell him that we all do things we want to take back, but we can't...all we can do is learn from what we did and make a better choice next time. I think he got the idea! I'm sure this isn't the only time he'll rebel against our choice to eliminate certain foods, but hopefully next time he eats just a tiny bit less and thinks just a tiny bit more about how it will make him feel if he chooses lots of junk food.
While Zach and I did our Lego challenge, Alissa and Alan played pictionary or "guess the drawing" in her bedroom. Because I was with Zach I didn't get pictures, but I did walk in after Zach and I were done to see and caught them in the act.
Yesterday we were all sitting around. The weekends for me are a bit annoying (when I'm in THAT mood) because our default is for everyone one to be off doing their own thing. Alan in the bedroom relaxing and recovering from a long work week, Zach on the computer playing Minecraft, Alissa watching TV and myself on the computer or phone. yes, we are THAT family and rather than do something about it, I let it be. But yesterday I decided that a relaxing TV and computer day would be okay IF we did some others things too (baby steps right?). So I told the kids to turn their stuff off and I asked Zach if he wanted to do a Lego Challenge with me. I found the idea on Pinterest of 51 challenges and had him choose a number from 1-51. He chose one and it was "A Christmas scene" and we got to work. We made our living room on Christmas morning with Santa flying away! It was pretty fun to get creative and break up the day from the electronics.
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I got a phone call from Aspen's mom the other day (which I didn't answer because I didn't recognize the number) and it was her inviting Zach to Aspen's birthday party. He was at the top of her list! I knew Zach would love to go and after they asked if they could continue to play together. Now Zach is going to love me for posting this, but Aspen is this sweet girl who had a crush on Zach when we lived in the PG house. They were good buds and hung out quite a bit playing together. She wanted to play Toy Story on the PS3 and lucky for some reason the game wasn't working and they actually spent a good hour having fun with Otto in the basement. It's good to have friends that will get you up and playing and I'm glad she got to spend some time over here! We are "preteen" here, so it's still "cute"....I can wait a long time for actual "dating"!!
I heard them talking and Aspen saying "you had a crush on me" to which Zach denied and they went back and forth for about 5 minutes LOL!
When her mom was on the way, they sat down so Zach could show her Minecraft. It's sweet to see the patient side of Zach while helping her figure it out and explaining the game to her. Being a gentleman is good!
Zach came in with Otto on his shoulders the other day and quickly snapped a picture before Otto hauled butt off his shoulders! I uploaded it to my computer and found another little "surprise" when I saw the picture Zach took of himself and Otto. I like fun little surprises like that!
Because I didn't want to send the kids to school with a candy Valentine I had to get crafty. Alissa was easy peasy, she likes just about anything, but Zach on the other hand isn't as easy. He's in 4th grade and doesn't like the personalized picture Valentine anymore (which is good because I dropped the ball on even making one for Alissa) and the typical "Be my Valentine" I think is a little cheesy for boys at the age of 10. SOO...
I spent some time on Google trying to find "Valentines for 10 year old boys" etc and wasn't finding much that wasn't candy related. It finally hit me...MINECRAFT! He loves the game right now and there has to be some cool idea out there! I did find ONE idea for Valentines day and so I customized it in Photoshop and was really excited to show it to him when he got home from school. He liked it and then mentioned BUTTER! Oy! I forgot that was his "thing" right now (and by "thing" I mean that Zach likes to have ONE random word that he just randomly says. a LOT. It was "cheese" and now it's "butter"). So today with out him knowing, I did 6 "Butter have a great day" Valentines for him to hand out to his close friends at school and am excited for him to get home and see it, he'll be happy!
I also decided that the kids could help with their own Valentines this year! I tend to just do it because I like to and I have nothing else to do, but I wanted them to help. After homework we all sat down and put together their Valentines and I think they turned out SO CUTE! Who says you can't say "I love you" with out candy?!
The night before Valentines day I got this urge to give our kitchen a "heart attack" so I cut out a bunch of cute hearts and did it! I set out the kids and Alan's Valentines and headed to bed. On Valentines day, I went to Alissa's class to help with her party and it was really fun. My craft was hand hearts with special messages to mom and dad (or who ever they live with that takes care of them). The kids loved it because they got to get their hands in icky paint and it was a big hit!
The kids got home from school with their stash and traded it all in! We talked with the kids the night before about the option to trade in their candy for something else. For Alissa, we came up with a small stuffed animal at the thrift store for 10 pieces and a BIG one for 25 pieces. For Zach, he got a texture pack for Minecraft for ever 10 he traded in. I've got to say that I'm proud of my kids for giving up their candy! They had no hesitation! They threw all their stuff on the floor, started counting it out and handed it right over! Alissa gave up 25 and kept 2 and Zach gave up 10 and kept 3. This was all their candy (although I'm not sure how much they ate at school, but still...). I also had to laugh because two girls in Zach's class gave him BUTTER!!
We also got cards from my Grammy and Alissa was really excited that her $5 bill left a mark the inside of the card...she ran over to Zach to show him and you can "kind of" see his mouth open. They thought it was so cool.
For dinner I made the kids mini heart pizza crust and Alissa helped put toppings on. I also made Alan and I chicken cordon bleu and asparagus. We had a nice little family dinner and a great low key Valentines day!
I think everyone in our family would agree that Otto is one great little cat. Besides peeing and pooping in random spots (ugh) he really is the perfect little thing. Sweet, playful and lets Alissa play with him like he is a doll! I also realized I have a lot of pictures of him on my phone, so I grabbed them today to add.
First we have Otto curled up in Alan's belt. He really likes to be close to things that are ours!
Second, he was sitting with Alissa and his legs were flared out while Alissa played with him.
Third he was snuggled up behind Alissa while Alissa and I were reading the other day. Some days you can't tell were her stuffed animals end and where he starts!
Fourth, Otto loves to play fetch! Yep, FETCH! He has a few little toys (he also love Q-tips) that he will fetch and bring back to Alan and I. Depending on his mood, he'll do this 10/15 times before he's done. I added a video and I guess my video camera is officially broken...wish I would have caught this 3 videos ago!
Fifth Otto is chilling between Alan's legs.
Sixth & Eighth lol, Otto is a sweet baby boy. He likes to give "kisses" of sorts and will come up to those he loves and push his face into your face. It's adorable!
Seventh and Ninth is Otto after he hurt his leg. We noticed he was limping one night and it was bad. We thought maybe he broke it or something because it was swollen twice the size it should have been. It turns out it was a cat bite from one of the mean nasty (not really) cats in the neighborhood. Otto is kind of wimp, poor thing. He had to get surgery on his leg and was (what seemed to be) in more pain then after they chopped off his balls. Poor guy!
Tenth we have Otto yet again being a wonderful example of a wonderful cat! I walked into Alissa's room and Otto was dressed in one of Alissa's baby doll outfits and just laying on the bed. He didn't look too thrilled, but he tends to "freeze" when he isn't comfortable (probably why he got bitten). He's just a silly little thing!
Eleventh, when I'm printing things in my office he rushes over, jumps up and watches. He isn't sure what is going on!
And last but not least Otto loves laying in weird places. This time it was a box.
So ya, we love our cats! Alan and I mention a lot that it's just weird that we have these little animals living with us and they love us too.
I have been reading with the kids nearly every night for 10 minutes since the new year and we have been answering the questions in the kids version of the journal I have. It's a three year journal for kids and I got it for them to fill out. I was happy when Zach read the back saying that parents could write the answers for them and asked me if I would do that. So I get to ask them a question at night and write it down for them! They get those 15 minutes of one on one personal time with me and I know they love it because on the few times I've missed, Zach is really disappointed.
Anyways, during our time the other night Alissa and I some how both ended up in black head to toe (minus my scarf) and I decided to grab some pictures and she decided to grab her crown! I love this little girl!
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I asked Alissa to clean her room and we have a rule that the kids don't get computers in their bedrooms. We have caught her sneaking in the ipad a few times, so when I walked by her room about 20 mins ago to check on her cleaning her room, I was surprised to see her in her sleeping bag "hiding" something. My first thought was that she had snuck the ipad in there and I was going to be upset. Turns out she is in there hiding one of Zach's Dairy of a Wimpy Kid books and was just reading away. She has now been reading about 50 mins! Love that girl!
Update: she is now past page 80 and half way through the book in one day. I hope her love of reading continues through the years!
I gave Zach a dinky little digital camera a long time ago and he came waltzing into my room taking pictures of me, so I thought I'd take pictures of him taking pictures of me! He's such a handsome little buddy.
When we first got Otto, Tiss did NOT like him and she struggled to have him around. After a week or so she warmed up to the idea of him and they have been buds ever since. It's kind of refreshing to have a pair of cats who get a long and are sweet to each other and we kept saying that we were going to get a bow tie and put Tiss in a veil and "marry them" some day. I had forgotten I had the bow tie from the Halloween costume and when Alissa found it and put it on Otto, we were good to go. She was so excited, she stayed up practicing what she would say and I later went into our bedroom to see she had hung outfits for Alan and I to wear. I wore my dress and Alan didn't wear his...we should have gotten a family photo of the day HA HA!!
We had a little ceremony conducted by Alissa (which for some reason the sound didn't work) that went something like this:
"Otto, do you take Tiss to be your bride? and Tiss do you take Otto to be your husband?" - nod heads and say "yes" for the kitties and then "You may kiss the bride".
Tiss is a unique little thing. She is quiet and just kind of "watches". I walked by the bathroom while Alissa was brushing her teeth and Tiss was on the other side right next to Alissa just watching her put the tooth paste on the brush. I didn't get my camera out in time to catch her watching, but she's cute anyways, so I wanted to share.
Yes, yes, another cat post! Otto was very comfortably sleeping on the couch next to Alan and slowly started sinking onto Alan. I was in the bedroom watching a show and Alan called me to come look at Otto!