TV STARS!!!!

Ever since these boys were babies, they've been exposed to TV. Both boys were less than a day old when they were filmed the first time to be shown on the News. (Yes, it's shameless bragging, but a job perk to show off your beautiful offspring on tv for all to see! We even had some people so inspired by the beauty of our babies, that they actually sent GIFTS to the TV Station for the baby! The downside, when Logan was born at 10:01pm (1 minute into the nightly news...) they wanted to come film me and the baby RIGHT THEN to use THAT NIGHT! Breaking news...you know! Well, I basically said there was no way in HELL that was gonna happen!!!! And believe me, you don't mess with a new mom who's been in labor on pitocin (the devil's drug!) for 12+ hours. You just don't. (if your smart, anyway....)


Anyway, I digress.....


So, there have been times while we were in Topeka that they have called on my kids to do certain things for the news. (offspring of the business tend to understand a bit better.....) So, anyway, they were doing a feature called "Kid Cast" to help with the weather forecast. They wanted kids from 7-13 to come tape the Weather Almanac.


These are the highlights.....


The computer monitor with the video marker before the teleprompter starts rolling...


Stand By..... Logan in front of the green screen. (in case you didn't know, almost all
weather is shot in front of a green screen, so they can use a
"Chromo-key" to super impose the weather graphics.)

Big Daddy giving the close-up approval. (see you can see the graphics now!)


Now, Jensen's turn....I LOVE this photo! I think it's so cool showing the teleprompter that he had to read and him in front of the green screen! Very cool! And a shot of Jensen's Full-Screen with the graphics. I love how Big Daddy is watching in the background. He looks "unconcerned." Meaning, he wasn't worried about the boys performance, at all. (even though reading on the teleprompter was a real challenge for Jensen, since reading is harder for him. And to do it out loud AND on camera.....HE DID GREAT.
They both did!

And here are the links where you can see what actually aired on the News.

Jensen

Logan

I'm so proud!

Anniversary....

So, Ike and I celebrated our 16th anniversary on May 23rd.

(yes...I know I'm way behind...thanks for reminding me! HA HA!!)

Anyway, I think I've mentioned I've been teaching Logan to cook and he has great interest in it. Well, Logan made this special dessert for his dad and I for our anniversary and it was DELICIOUS!!!

Thanks, sweetie.....for the sweets! You're a doll! (and a great baker!)

School's OUT, School's OUT!! Teachers let the bulls OUT!!!!!!

HOLY MOLY!!!!

Here's the picture of Logan's 6th grade class. Poor guy wasn't even there on picture day due to a fever of 103. But, my point of this picture is....6th grade is over and my eldest child is in JUNIOR HIGH!!!!!!!
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!?!?

Here's Logan and a couple of friends at the "yearbook signing" party on the last day of school. (it cracks me up the variation of their sizes!!) And here's Logan with his homeroom teacher. He actually has had 4 teachers this year. They each specialize in certain subjects. He really loved them all, but Ms. Fairchild was a very special teacher to him.


While at the signing party, I had Griffin and Marinne with me. After they ate a cookie each, they were sorta bored. But, just then the sweetest little 6th grader named Courtney came and asked Marinne to sign her book. (Now Courtney has Down Syndrome and she was sweet as a peach!) Marinne was overjoyed and I snapped this one of the 2 girls together.
(thanks Courtney, it meant so much to Marinne to get to do it, too!) After about 30 minutes with Logan at his party, we were off to Jensen's classroom to see Mrs. Bush and give her the calendar.

Mrs. Bush and Jensen had gotten very close this year and she's been a great advocate for him. We appreciate her so much! So, after we left school for the year, I played the role of "Best Mom in the World" and took them to Cold Stone Creamery for the best ice cream ever! (even though, they had already had a ton of sugar at school!!)(this picture cracks me up.....Griffin giving himself the "bunny ears" and Jensen ignoring me completely! It's so hard to get a picture of 4 kids that is decent!!!)

How do I have a 7th grader, a 4th grader and a boy going into Kindergarten? Doesn't hardly seem possible....

But, at least we get a Summer Break for now!

Logan's Cast....

Poor guy....
but he's taking it all in stride!

Poor Logan....

I'll have to add the picture later
(after he gets home from school and I take it...shut up...
I can't be perfect all the time....after all I drug Logan a 2 yr. old and a 4 yr. old with me to the ortho doctor yesterday. Talk about fun!!!
I forgot the camera.....but at least I didn't forget a kid!)


Anyway, the deal is.....Logan got his cast.
He has what is called a "greenstick" fracture.
It's not a clean break, more like a bone boo-boo.

It's got a 6% curve on it and the casting will help straighten that up.
They had to really work on getting the cast the "direction" they wanted it, which was quite painful for Logan. (read: mash on the cast and Logan's arm under it to get the cast to mold in the direction to straighten the bone up.)

I felt really bad for him....
....but wait until he finds out they are gonna saw that sucker off
and he's really gonna freak!

Anyway, his cast is "North Carolina" Tar Heel blue.(what the heck is a tar heel, anyway.....)
(I didn't even know what he was talking about, but obviously a sports injury
specialist....and everything in the office is about sports... But we got
along just great....his son just graduated from University of Georgia!)

Anyway, it's a pretty nice shade of blue....
And it better be cause it cost enough....
And we have to look at it for a whole month!


So, we'll had back to the doctor in 4 weeks, when they will remove the cast and x-ray
it again to determine if he gets re-casted or if he's good as new!

First Crush....

This is Logan and Loghan.
Loghan used to live next door until 3 weeks ago.
Loghan is Mike's (Logan's best friend) cousin.

Logan had never shown much interest in girls...until Loghan. He's had a little crush on her. And she has a little crush on Logan.

Mike told Logan that Loghan wrote " I love Logan" in her diary. (so sweet!) They are really just friends. They like to swim together. They like to "chat" on the computer. They don't talk on the phone or anything. Since she moved, they haven't seen each other for about 2 weeks.

She's a sweet girl. She goes to a private Catholic school and she's one grade behind Logan in school. I'm sure it will be for short-lived.

But for now....it's very sweet.

Logan + Loghan =
ACCKKKKK!!!! I HAVE A PRE-TEEN!!!!!

What's Been Up around here!!!

Logan requested his birthday dinner be at Texas Roadhouse. Man, that's some good eating!!!!And naturally, they embarrassed him by throwing him up on a saddle and making everyone say Happy B-day "cowboy" style....
YEE-HAW!!!!!!!

Meanwhile...we had swim lessons on Monday-Thursday for the past 2 weeks.

When I scheduled the lessons, I had no idea the place was a 25 minute drive from our house!!!



I was very concerned about Griffin, after all, he hadn't even successfully gotten into the pool at home before lessons started. Every single time....he would change his mind about getting in the pool...saying, "but Mom, I don't know how to swim!" I kept telling him that's what swim lessons are for.

When it came right down to it...he did great! He worked really hard and never showed any signs of fear. (of course the water is like 2 feet deep)



He made some new friends, learned how to float and is now much more relaxed about water getting on his face, even though he still doesn't really like it.

Here's the Red Cross, Level One swim lesson graduate...

...how adorable is he?!

Here's Logan taking his exam for Level 3.... you had to do the front crawl for 30 yards.

<-----------------

Then, tread water for 3o seconds...

--------->
Then, finish up with swimming the backstroke for 30 yards back to the starting point.

Dang....that's hard!!!!

Here's Jensen at the pool.....

Now, it's Jensen's turn....

...30 yards of front crawl,

<------

30 seconds of treading water.......

------->
And 30 yards of backstroke
back to the starting point....

Just typing that makes me tired!

Both boys successfully did it! Yay!!!
Then they celebrated by doing this........

Jensen!

Logan!!


Then, they did this.........

Jensen!

Logan!!

Now, we just have Marinne's private lessons. (and the big boys now want to take more lessons, so they'll do private lessons as well. Thank goodness that it's only a mile from our house!!)

-------------------------------------------------------

BIRTHDAY PARTY TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!

Logan wanted a luau, so that's what we did! I think it turned out pretty cute!!! The towels on the left were the goody bags! No cheesy crap toys and candy from this mom!!!!!

With me behind the camera....Big Daddy was forced to be the hostess and cut and serve the cake!!! Nice hat, Big Daddy!!!!

Funny thing about this cake......Walmart screwed it up!!! My MIL picked it up for us...so she didn't know. They gave her a plate that the cake was supposed to match and after seeing that it matched and that it said, "Happy 11th Birthday, Logan!" she paid for the cake and left. So, when I saw the plate....I knew what had happened before I even saw the cake....I knew it WAS WRONG!!!!! (why does this crap always happen to me?!) I was determined to try not to freak out, though. So, frightened, I peeked into the cake box. Thank Goodness......at least it wasn't girly and that the colors were at least similar to all our Hawaiian stuff!!!!!!!! But, I bet there was a really PO'd mom when she picked up a Hawaiian cake that was supposed to be polka dotted!!!! I bet she seriously had a cow in the Walmart!!

Here's the gang: Logan, Mike (his best friend), Loghan (the crush....more on this to follow), Jensen, Griffin, Olivia (Griffin's crush), and Chase! Aren't they a great looking group?!?!?!

Logan had a great time and the weather was definately hot and perfect for a pool party!!!! I was so happy to see him so happy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOGAN!!!!

I can't believe this kid is ELEVEN!!!!!!!!And I love the stuffin' out of him!!!!!!!!

How to Tame the Beast.....

See this child.....I love him. I love him with my whole heart and soul. I love him so much that I don't even think I could put it into words. He's my firstborn. He was my first gift from God. I wanted him so much. With him, everything was new. I didn't know about pregnancy. I didn't know what was normal and what wasn't. I was obsessive about everything during this pregnancy. Just ask Ike how many times I made him take me to labor and delivery during this pregnancy!!




I went thru a hell pregnancy with him, spending 4 1/2 months on 85% bedrest, throwing up every single day from 2 weeks after I conceived him until I delivered him on June 13th at 10:01pm, after over 14 hours of labor!



With him, I worried about every little thing. If he was growing ok. If I didn't feel him move, I'd drink orange juice and eat sugar, to see if he would move, even though I knew I would throw it up. All I cared about was that he was ok. Little did I know then, but that was the easy part.....the hard part is now.




Nothing has changed, really. Except than instead of growing under my heart, he grows in it. I still worry every single day that he's ok. I still worry that something could happen to him. But now, I worry about so much more than just is he healthy, is he ok? I worry every single day that I (we) are screwing him up. That maybe we don't know what the heck we are doing in raising him. I'm worried that he hates me. And my fear is that my worries about this are justified.




The thing is....we are all just learning. We are learning how to parent an older child. And it's hard. And he's learning, well, to grow up. Some days I wonder if we are failing him. I mean, how do you really know HOW to parent a pre-pre-preteen? We live in a world that is go, go, go and do, do, do. But this world can be a dangerous place for a 10 year old boy with a often-moody disposition. He thinks he's much bigger, much older, much wiser than he is. So, he resents us for trying "to control" him and for being too strict. He doesn't understand that our rules are to protect him because we love him. We are trying to teach him to have self-control. And when he doesn't seem to be in control of himself and his behavior, we discipline him. Right now, he's grounded from the computer and all electronics. (because you gotta get 'em where it hurts) He's mad. Really mad. He thinks it's unfair and dumb. He's punishing us for our decision. And, we are trying to make a point.



Yes, we are strict parents. We have high expectations of our children. We know they are capable and we expect them to raise up to a high level. Is that wrong? Is it too much pressure? I don't know anymore.



What I do know is people are amazed that I can take this family of 4 children to any restaurant in town and people are hardly aware that 4 children, 10 and under, are sitting at the table next to them. My children have learned what appropriate behavior is in a restaurant. We very often receive compliments from people dining around us about the good behavior of our children, and quite often these comments come from older adults. I am proud of this. I feel this is a result of our parenting. So, we can't be doing everything wrong, can we? Or can we?



Do any of you have older children?
How did you transition from parenting a younger child to a pre-teen?
What works? What doesn't?
Do you think I'm screwing him up?
Do you have advice for me?