Mom's Birthday

Last night the family and I went to my parents house for Birthday Dinner. Yesterday my mom turned 60..er uh...hmmm...22 again. We gave her a digital frame with seventy some pictures on it so that she wouldn't have to stare at a black screen. Then tonight we are going back over because my mom's dearest friend and my God Parents are in town visiting for the weekend! I am soo
excited!
'till later

Actions and re-actions...the lessons continue.

It seems that lately Ally has been doing a lot screaming and yelling when she doesn't get her way and back talking. I personally am getting really sick of it! I will ask Ally if she will please go clean her room. This leads to a lot of "I don't want to's" and "why" and "it will take too long". This usually goes on for about five min. and then she gets sent to her room where she starts this crying and screaming bit about how she's not special and something else that we can never understand. After going in several times asking her not to yell, telling her not to yell and about 10 min. later she finally has calmed down enough to come out and talk. There are about a bunch of steps there that shouldn't have to be there. So what do we do?

So... I have been thinking about it, watching some shows, "Nanny 911", "World's strictest parents". and have been thinking about what they are doing. Man! People thought I was strict...ha the last show is wow! That's about it. So I am trying a new approach.

What I am going to try to do is this, if she is doing something that is not okay, yelling in the house, running in the house or something that is not okay in general she is going to be asked to stop once. If she has to be asked again she is going into a warning zone. This means that the next step will be a time out or some privileges will be taken away, TV for example. If She has to be asked again she is put in time out for 6 min. (she is 6 after all), and when she comes out we are going to discuss what the consequences are for what has happened.

Yesterday, for example, while I was getting ready for work and getting stuff ready for everyone I asked her if she would get dressed and stated shorts and t-shirt today. She came out wearing a fancy dress and asked if she could wear that. When I stated that no she couldn't it would be too hot for that dress she started yelling and throwing a fit. Long story short I was 10 min. late leaving to get the kids to day care and 15 late to work. NOT COOL!
So last night she and I talked and I told her that she was loosing her TV privileges and that she was going to have to do some extra chores that mommy normally does. She had to pick up the living room, the entry way and vacuum along with going to bed early. She was awesome about this. She was supposed to pick up her room last night but I wanted her into bed early so I slid on that one. This morning she picked up her room and we had a great morning. When we got into the car she started to get a bit of a 'tude and when I asked her if she wanted to do some extra chores tonight she said no and that was the end of the 'tude. Eureka!!

Hopefully this will be the end of the screaming issue for a while.
Oh, by the way here is the picture with me a Larry the Cucumber off Veggie Tales. Enjoy!
'till later

Wow. A lot has happened!

So two weeks ago John and I a VERY busy weekend. We had a birthday party to go to, and helping my mom get her "laundry list" of to-do items done and we celebrated our 7 year anniversary!














Monday I took off so that we could spend the day together. I went and registered for school! Cool beans! I am so excited!! Then we took off and went to the beach! Matt hasn't been there before so it was a lot of fun.

We started out at the beach by Moe's in Lincoln City. The tide was out so we got a chance to go walk where we usually can't and go to see some interesting logs. We had a blast. Then we went to Depoe Bay to have lunch and walk around. While we were there we got to see a whale not far from shore and Ally got to see it spouting water! She thought that was sooo cool! Then we went to Yaquina Head and Ally and I spent some mommy and daughter time while Matt was sleeping and went for a walk to the cobblestone beach. Got some great pictures! THEN we went to Agate beach and everyone made sandcastles and played in the water.


























We left there and went to Newport to go see the sea lions. Ally got to see two get into a fight and she said they were playing. Matt thought they were the coolest . He kept looking over and straining to see them "talk". Afterwards we hit Mickey D's and went to Devils Punch Bowl to eat and I noticed that we had a flat tire.

We hustled back to Newport, to see if we could get to a better lite area since it wasn't completely flat yet, and changed the tire. We put the spare on, a donut, and it was flat too! We filled that one up and when John was in using the restroom I got that weird feeling in my stomach and checked the oil. Two quarts low! Sheesh, we need to get home!! So we put oil in, got home and went to bed.

Tuesday morning while I was sleeping I became very sick and ended up staying home because of vomiting. I was the only one sick so we think I got some food poisoning. Not too surprised with the way the day before had gone.

Last weekend we had a baby shower for my friend Jessie. She is due the 10Th of October, I told her she should hold out till the 15Th, but we'll see. It was really nice to see her and other friends that I haven't seen in a long time. Here is a picture of Jessie and I. Doesn't her tummy look cute?!











Ally starts First Grade! She is on a four day school week now. Three day weekends!! I start classes at the end of Sept. and still have a five day schedule. NO FAIR!!! WAAAHHH!
'till later

I need a weekend from my weekend!

What a great weekend! Saturday we had a birthday party to go to for my nephew. He turned seven! I know I will never forget his birthday, or age for that matter, because he was born 10 days before my wedding. He was the youngest one at the wedding! We stayed for a BBQ afterwards and fun in the pool. We didn't get home time 10 and it started at 2! Sunday I worked with Linda, a co-worker, at an event in Albany. We were photographing children with Larry the cucumber (Veggie Tales). It went pretty well. If we do it next year we definitely know what we need to bring! And YES I did get a picture with Larry, I should be getting my photo on Wednesday!
'till later