TV Challenge - Days 3 and 4

Yesterday was an easy "Challenge" day. We got up early to leave for Tulsa to meet Mom. Poor thing, she was up there with nothing to do but eat out and shop all day while Dad was in classes at his convention. Luckily, we came to save the day. We got there a bit after 10 AM and drove to the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks. It was a neat experience. We had taken Peanut about 3 years ago, but Junior was too little to come, so this was his first time. We liked all the exhibits. The shark tanks were a little bit of a disappointment. We had been there the first year it was open, and there were a lot of sharks and it was amazing. This time they had very few sharks, which takes some of the drama out of the whole thing.

After the aquarium, we ate a late lunch, then went swimming at the hotel. We ate pizza with Grandpa to end the day. We did not get back until past bedtime, so of course there was no time for TV that day.

Today was a bit different. Junior woke up and requested his usual breakfast routine of a TV show. That wasn't going to happen, so instead of whining for five minutes or so, he chose to whine for an hour. It did not get him anywhere, but finally I ended up getting out his marble set and putting it together. He had not played with that for a while, and he did marble races several times during the day. Watch it, though. He is quite a cheater on marble races. He tends to pick out "his" marble when it is halfway through the race and it is pretty sure which one will win. If he doesn't do that, he will start his marble ahead so that it has a better chance. He needs a bit of training on the race stuff. He does well with card games. When he first learned to play cards, we made a big deal of the end-of-game routine which consists of congratulating the other player whether you win or not. But this does not carry over to marble races, I suppose.

He also was able to show off his two-wheeler-riding skills to his Grandma and Grandpa.

Peanut worked on cleaning her room today. At the beginning, Grandma was here to help, so that was fun for her. When Grandma had to leave, she kept on going. We straightened another drawer, and then she cleaned up one of her infamous "corners." (I have those too, so I can't fault her too much.) I was proud of her that she stuck with it even after the fun person was gone, and the only one left was boring old Mama.

Tonight at about 4:30, we got an unexpected rain. It was nice and cooled things down quite a bit. It made the pavement slick and Junior took a little tumble on the bike. He scraped his knee, and it was not too bad a scrape, but he took it hard. He said he would just walk from now on and not ride his bike. Later he thought better of it and got back on, so that was good.

TV Challenge - Day 1

Today did not go too badly. We had already planned a morning at the park with some people from our homeschool group, so that helped. Junior woke up this morning asking for his "show" and when he did not get it, he was disappointed. But some of his Hot Wheels were still out from last night, so he started playing with those instead. No more complaints the rest of the day from him.

I spoke too soon when I said Peanut would not have as much of a problem with it. She really only expects to watch two half-hour shows in the afternoon, and a lot of times she misses half of the first one because she doesn't get her school stuff done. But she was really bored today. I think she expected me to entertain her 100% of that time, but I was behind on my work because we had been to the park. So I told her she would have to find something to do. She put on her pouty face and started to whine about everything she could think of. I tried the reasoning approach, which went completely over her head, so that was a waste of time.

So I started her on chores. She had to sweep the floor - with the electric broom. Which should be an easy job. Are you aware that when you make a child do work, it means that you don't love them? Well, I was made aware of this. Also, she had to wind the cord back up on the sweeper, which is clearly child abuse. I expect DHS to be by anytime.

Since the sweeping did not cheer her up, she had to wash all the dishes that I couldn't fit into the dishwasher. And what is more, she had to wash them until they were clean, which meant Mama would put them back into the dishwater instead of drying them and putting them away. Of course, this also means that I don't love her, and when I correct her like that it hurts her feelings.

But when that was over, suddenly life was a bit more pleasant. We got one of her dresser drawers out to sort out and put back in order. She said that she did not mind this job, since it was a fun job. I had Junior do one of his, and he didn't do half bad for his age. He liked folding T-shirts into squares like I showed him and he actually did two before running off to play with his cars. I made him come back and finish one minute later, and for some reason he had completely forgotten how to fold a shirt, and no amount of demonstrating and coaching could get him through it. It was like he had lost all use of his hands. Odd.

Now I have missed "Headlines" on Jay Leno, which is pretty much the only way of marking Monday nights for me. Oh well. It was probably a rerun.

TV Challenge

We are going to take the TV-free challenge that Nancy Leigh Demoss has been talking about on the radio. We're starting tomorrow, it should be pretty interesting.

It will be hardest for Junior, so you might be praying for him. He doesn't watch that much, but he is probably the most addicted to "his" time on the TV. Peanut likes a few shows, but if there is a fun alternative somewhere, she'll take it. I will miss my Brit-com on Sunday nights, but the next two weeks are "Festival", so it will get pre-empted anyway...for Doo-wop Senior Citizens or Old Lawrence Welk Stars.

It should be an interesting month. I will let you know how we are doing.

Funny things I found out

For about a year now, Junior has insisted on having the tags cut out of all his shirts. Most of the tags are out now, but once in a while he will come up to me and say, "Mom, why does this shirt still have a tag?" Like I am falling down on the job or something.

This weekend we went to Grandma's house. She showed me something interesting: most of her shirts and Cindy's shirts have the tags cut out of them. So there you go. That explains quite a lot.

Junior just walked in and informed me of something else. Easy Off BAM is much better than Lime-A-Way. This is because it cleans your kitchen much better, and also if you put a dirty penny in Easy Off BAM for just a second, it will come out all clean and shiny. I need to go turn off the TV!

S is for Sun

Junior's school lessons this week center around the letter S, and the topic is "The Sun." Today he was supposed to draw a picture of the sun. He didn't exactly follow directions, but if you see the picture in the encyclopedia that the kids have, it really is similar.
Junior's artwork

Picture like the one in the encyclopedia

Latest drawings

Here are a couple of the kids' latest drawings. I got Peanut a new drawing book from a garage sale last weekend, she loves books like that. This was her most colorful out of a few she drew Saturday.

Here is one that Junior brought to me today. I am glad that he is actually drawing, and this is a big improvement over his last one. That may not be saying much, the last time he really drew anything was probably 3 or 4 months ago. He is more of a writer, I think. He only wants to practice making letters.

He looks kind of wild, huh? He was just in that kind of mood today. He started real "school" this week, since Peanut is busy with camp. He is doing very well. I am very proud of him, he really likes it. I read to him and he pretends to not be listening, but he can repeat everything back to me. He is making a "Creation Book" this week, and we'll try to put some of it on here when he is done. It is more of a "crafty" project that I thought he would not do, but he is doing very well. It involves coloring and cutting out with scissors, two activities that he would rather not do, but he acts like he is having fun. Who knew?

Sports Camp

Peanut is going to VBS this week. Our church has been doing a sports camp with Uncharted Waters for the past five years. It is a pretty neat thing. Covenant (our church) is the kind of their summer training camp. It is a group of mostly college athletes who spend their summer traveling to different churches putting on sports-oriented programs that are similar to VBS. They work with kids on their sports skills and also incorporate character building, Bible teaching, and evangelism into the program. Peanut is really enjoying it. She picked cheerleading as her sport this year. She likes all the coaches that work with them. All of them that I have seen, seem to be really good with kids. One little girl at church on Sunday pointed to one of the coaches and told me that she met her that morning, and said, "I can't believe I already made a friend and camp hasn't even started yet!"

When they first started doing this I was a little disappointed, but it is not really that different than a normal VBS nowadays. They end up spending 3 hours there, instead of 2 hours, and that extra hour is mostly sports. They still have music and Bible stories, a Scripture to memorize, and even some homework. I can see why they are doing it. VBS around this area is getting to be just a fun thing for kids that already go to church. The idea of a sports camp really appeals to a lot of kids that would normally not come to a regular VBS. And they do bring them in. I think there are three churches in this area (counting ours) that are having sports camp this week.

I will try to get a few pictures this week. Junior is just hanging out with me, he will be old enough to go next year. He got to meet a couple of friends at the park today while Sissy was busy with camp. I'm not sure what we'll do tomorrow.

Happiness!!!

Yesterday was our big ultrasound. We have a little face picture, but it is not the best quality, so I won't put it here. It looks a little like a spook, and I'm not having a ghost-baby. We went to a specialist, he was very nice, and he assured us that this is a very healthy baby, right on target for everything, and weighing 8 oz. which is the perfect weight for 18 weeks. Praise God! He is so good to us! I'm glad that it is not already too big, but don't worry, it'll get there.

So you might be wondering if we were able to find out if we are going to have a girl baby or a boy baby. Alright, I'll tell you....






IT'S













A


















BOY!

Woohoo! A new brother!!!! And Peanut is very happy. She decided at the last minute that she didn't really care, after hoping for a girl for so long. I told her that makes her the one and only Princess, so that's a good thing.

We had a party for Junior on Saturday. He had a great time. Here is a picture of his cake. He had a "Cash Cab" cake in honor of his favorite show

Afterwards, Dad and the two grandpas worked on the backyard playhouse. It looks great.

Congratulations Todd!

Todd just got his Ham Radio License! Woo hoo! He studied hard, took the test, and made a 100% on it. That was a couple of weeks ago, and they just gave him his license last week. His station is KE5IRG.

Way to go, Todd!!