How Sweet MOST of the time

Delaney is so endearing most of the time. Many times throughout the day she will look at me and say,"Mommy I love you!" or "Mom, I love you THIS much"(demonstrating with her arms just how much she loves me. Her lastest one, "Mommy, you are the BEST"

What a sweetie pie!

Flashback two weeks ago. Delaney was telling me she didn't want to go to school anymore. She wants to stay home with me. She then asked "Mommy, why do we have to go to school?"

--"So you can learn things"
"I don't want to go to school"
--"Well you have to it is the law. If you don't go to school then mommy will be thrown in jail" (okay this is a stretch but adults do get in trouble for their kids truancy)
"okay!"
--"You want mommy to go to jail?"
"yes"
---"Oh, I would be sad that I would never get to see you ever again. You would be sad too"
"nope, I just need my dada"

Aww, wasn't that sweet??? ;) Good thing the sweet remarks mean SO much more than the not so sweet, huh!

Once a Cub, now a wolf.

Joshua had his Cub Scout graduation yesterday. He was a Tiger Cub now he is a Wolf.
We have a great Boy Scouts camp in our town. It has a large pond, Archery, Shooting, Zip Lines and lots of room to run and just be a boy.

Joshua saw his first beaver dam yesterday. He was pretty excited.

For the festivities, we had a fishing derby (one of our dads works for Zebco so we get lots of goodie :). We also had a cook out and then the graduation ceremony.

Delaney had a treat by staying home with one of her favorite sitters. She has been begging us to leave so her sitter could come over. Seriously, she loves it!

What a difference!

I was told that Joshua would change alot during 1st grade. He really has. He doesn't seem like a little boy anymore.

He can read well. He still loves Egypt but now he reads the books to himself for the most part.

He really cares about his appearance now. He is choosy about what he wears. He puts gel in his hair and styles it just so.

He has a big boy room. He doesn't want any "baby" toys in his room.

He will always be my little boy but it is cool to see him develop into his own unique person.

6 Weird things about me.

1. When I clean the house, it has to be all or nothing. If I don't have time to dust, clean, vaccuum, etc, the entire house then I won't just clean one room. So basically my house is all dusty or all clean.

2. I am a germ phobic. I think this comes from being a nurse. I have to take a shower once I come home from the hospital. My shoes are left outside. Depending on the type of illness, I may even immediately wash my clothes. I have to clean my stethoscope with alcohol before I put it in my bag after work. I can not eat directly off any surface in the hospital, even the break room table. There may have been a chart there that had been in a patients room. I wash my hands until they bleed at work. Hey, at least it is "clean" blood ;)

3. I have to call home several times a day to see if there are any messages. Even if I am on my way home, I call and check. I guess I think that if someone is wanting me to do something then it is better to hear it while driving than to get home and have to load the kids back in the van.

4. I check my favorite web sites and blogs several times a day to see if they have been updated. If you have a counter and can see who has visited your page, you can bet I am the weird one that has checked it a couple of times a day.

5. If I have to change the setting on my alarm clock, I will check it several times and once more prior to sleep to make sure that I actually changed it and that it is still correct.

6. If I wake during the night and am unable to go back to sleep immediately, I start to feel real hungry and must get up and eat a snack in order to get back to sleep. If I don't, I will lay there for hours knowing that I am too hungry to sleep


Okay, I stop at 6. That is some of my weirdness. Let me know in the comments if you add a weird list to your blog. Actually I will probably know anyway since I check it multiple times daily.

Hiring a parent??

I was watching the news this morning and once again saw a report on parents hiring others to do their "parenting" duties. I had seen this before and it disturbed me then as well.

These parents are hiring others to train their kids to ride a bike, potty train, etc. Maybe I am old fashioned but I think that it is a priviledge of a parent to teach and celebrate these milestones with their children. How exciting when your child takes off on their bike for the first time without training wheels. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

I can just see these children being asked by their future children, "Dad, did your Dad teach you to ride a bike?" "No, son. My Dad hired some stranger to teach me since he didn't have any time to spend with me. Other things were more important to him" How sad!

I say that if you don't have time to share experiences with your child then maybe you should have made the decision to not have children at all!

Happy Easter!!

Today was a beautiful day here for Easter. We went to church and then went to my Dad's house for lunch and egg hunting. My mom had to work :(.

The kids had a great time!! We were a little rushed since I had to go to work this evening. We managed to get everything in though

On the down side, my van's AC quit this morning. AHHH, I think the temperature reached over 90 today!

I hope everyone enjoyed a fun filled day.

Summer Time Fun!

The only thing predictable about Oklahoma weather is it is unpredictable. We had a beautiful day with the temperature climbing in the low 90s.

Joshua had received a water sprinkler for his birthday and has been asking to play with it. I told him that as soon as it was in the 90s that he could. I didn't realize it would be so soon.

They had a blast even if the water was a little cold.

Puzzle Fun

Joshua received an Egyptian puzzle for Christmas. We finally got around to working on it. Paul did the majority of the work. I helped some. Today, I worked on it until there were about 8 pieces left and let Joshua complete it. It is a pretty cool puzzle. Joshua wanted every one to know that it had 1000 pieces.

Dixie Chicks Return

I always enjoyed the Dixie Chicks music. I have several of their CDs. As many know, Natalie Maines made a derogatory remark about President Bush during a concert in London. This remark not only caused boycotts, loss of money but also death threats to their families.

I was one that really wanted to buy their album "Home" at that time but could not bring myself to do so after that slanderous incident.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Yes, America is the land of the FREE and the home of the brave.

Do individuals have rights to use the public forum to express their opinions? I know I don't like it. I don't like the fact that Kanye "gag me" West uses it, and the Sarandon/ Robbins duo abuse it. Ms. Barbra Streisand and Mr. Alec Baldwin have still not moved out of country as they had promised if Bush was re-elected. What is up with that?

I really am torn. There is a very fine line sometimes between Freedom of Speech and slander. Where should the line be drawn if any line is to be drawn?

Am I not doing the same thing by writing this entry? No, I don't have stardom to increase the spread of my opinions (and believe me I have many and share them often), but I am still stating them on a public forum.

So, I sit here torn. How far does the Freedom of speech carry us?

As far as the Dixie Chicks, I may or may not buy their new album. I dislike their views because they are not the same as mine. I know it is not right to do so but I am merely human. The video .Dixie Chicks Video is their reply song to the incident. Not a bad song and it definitely got me thinking.

Guilt Trips!

Since I have been working while Delaney is in pre-school and on weekends, I have found it difficult to find time for housework.

The last several times that I have tried to clean the house, Delaney has been home.

She follows me around and incessantly asks me to play with her. Not only that, I hear,"Mommy you don't like playing with me?" Oh my, break my heart.

If only the house would clean itself!!

Easter Egg Hunt

We had our annual potluck / Easter egg hunt at church yesterday. The kids always enjoy it. The food is great and they love to hunt for those eggs.

Joshua had a friend spend the night so he was able to enjoy sharing the experience with him as well.

Birthday Party

Joshua had his birthday party with his friends last night. We had it at Playhouse for Kidz. It is a place that has a lot of fun tube systems to climb through.

Our party was interrupted for a short period by the Tornado sirens. Oh yes, the joys of living in Tornado alley in the spring time.

We gathered the kids up and were thinking about taking them to the storm shelter at the hospital a mile away. Once they all had their shoes on, the siren quit sounding.

They all had a great time once the scare of tornado was over.

Joshua was very pleased with all his friends that showed up and he said he had a great time!

Party Paradise

We went to Party Paradise to play last night with some of our friends. The kids hadn't seen each other for quite awhile. They had an absolute blast!

Sadly, our friends are moving back to New York next month. We will be so sad to see them leave. We enjoy visiting with them. Unfortunately we haven't been able to get together as often as we would have liked. Our busy schedules seemed to interfere.

Maybe people are just TOO busy nowadays. I know we need to try and cut back on some of our activities. We have very little family time, let alone time to just visit with friends.

We will hate to see them move but wish them the very best!

Happy Birthday Son!

Today was Joshua's 7th birthday. It is so hard to believe that my baby boy is already seven. He has changed so much this year and also grown so much this year.

My Dad and Mom bought him glasses for his birthday. They also gave him my mother's old guitar. He has been asking for one. He received it last night after a special night out with them. This morning I woke up to him on his karoake saying, "Joshua Gottes! and then he played his guitar into the microphone. He has really been studying the sounds that he can make with the guitar. It would not surprise me one bit if he comes up with a song by himself. He has been very intense with playing it.

We took him to El Chico after church today. He enjoyed that. When we got home he opened his gift from us, the King Tut clock. He has been wanting for a couple of years now.

We had also agreed to paint his room for him. He was wanting murals of Egyptian scenes. Paul came up with a better plan. Offer Joshua the choice of a sarcophagus he has been wanting or get his room painted. As you can see, Joshua chose the sarcophagus. I guess we got out of the chore of painting :).

I know, not typical presents for a 7 year old, but then again Joshua doesn't seem to be the typical kid.

He gets to take cupcakes to school tomorrow for a mini party.

He gets his "kid" party with friends on Thursday. Lots of celebrating!