Christmas 2011 was great.
Tyler got these Kre-o blocks (lego wannabe's) and Heidi ended up assembling most of the piece.
Scott got a huge lot of hot wheels track from craigslist and I showed him what my cousins and I used to do. We used to hang out at Grandpa McMillan's on conference Saturday and run the cars down the stairs. The best was the bus, because it could launch all the way to the fireplace.
Heidi and I got this dope brass piano lamp from craigslist. It's super heavy--probably from the 1960's, back when "Made in America" meant something.
I am happy to be able to walk on my own two feet without my cane. Today I didn't have much back pain and I was able to enjoy my day at work. My legs are getting stronger and I can maintain higher speeds on my bicycle. The kids were extra fussy today, though. Heidi had a doctor's appointment and I guess it was pretty stressful because of the kids' attitudes. So for FHE, we had a lesson on respect. I spoke to the kids in English (I thought of Ben Wiederhold and his lessons) and said, "I am not too stoked about your whining. We ask you to do things and you whine or cry. We are trying to raise you to be responsible people. When you're older and you have a job, if your boss asks you to do something and you whine, you'll get fired. I'm also not happy about how you have been treating Mommy. You need to be respectful of adults. I don't give you everything you want because everything you want is not always good for you. I don't let you drink soda all day because you'll rot your teeth.
Tyler said, "I want soda."
"No."
He persists: "Sodaaaaaaaaa."
"Tyler, I said no, and if you ask again, you're going right to bed."
Then Tyler says, a little more quietly, "soda."
So I took him to bed. Looks like he didn't learn anything from my spiel.
Back in the day, I thought I gave a pretty effective speech to the freshmen academy chem 105 class in college. They had done poorly on their test because they had stayed up until 3:00 most nights and were sleeping through my class. I said, "How many of you are less than happy about your grades?"
Most of the hands went up.
"Why do you think this is? Am I not teaching you the right material?"
One of the brighter students, but who also had a talking problem, said, "It's because we're not listening to you."
"Yes, that's right. Some of you think you're smarter than I am. Some of you probably are. That doesn't give you any reason to talk when I'm talking. It is disrespectful and prevents others from learning."
Then, during my speech, students were talking! Good grief! I started talking really loudly to drown them out. One of the students said, "Why are you yelling?"
Freshmen.
So here I am, trying to give my kids lessons on how to succeed, and they're not listening. I was a great parent until I had kids, and I was mostly prepared for kids pushing my buttons, but I was a little disheartened that my speech had no immediate effects.
Eh, whatever. Night night.
Kira accessorizing her dollies
Sometimes Scott is so endearing as an older brother. Here, he is showing Kira how to assemble her dollies.
The kiddos working on their Christmas projects. You can't tell, but E-maxx is on the table and I was replacing the chassis, skid plate, steering turnbuckles and posts.
I'm proud of Scott's piano progress.
Kira has been talking a lot lately. And we can understand her. Today, she asked for "leche." Yessss!
Tyler got a razor from Craigslist and he's stoked! Also, he's off the binky and his open bite is already beginning to close.
I am happy to be able to walk on my own two feet without my cane. Today I didn't have much back pain and I was able to enjoy my day at work. My legs are getting stronger and I can maintain higher speeds on my bicycle. The kids were extra fussy today, though. Heidi had a doctor's appointment and I guess it was pretty stressful because of the kids' attitudes. So for FHE, we had a lesson on respect. I spoke to the kids in English (I thought of Ben Wiederhold and his lessons) and said, "I am not too stoked about your whining. We ask you to do things and you whine or cry. We are trying to raise you to be responsible people. When you're older and you have a job, if your boss asks you to do something and you whine, you'll get fired. I'm also not happy about how you have been treating Mommy. You need to be respectful of adults. I don't give you everything you want because everything you want is not always good for you. I don't let you drink soda all day because you'll rot your teeth.
Tyler said, "I want soda."
"No."
He persists: "Sodaaaaaaaaa."
"Tyler, I said no, and if you ask again, you're going right to bed."
Then Tyler says, a little more quietly, "soda."
So I took him to bed. Looks like he didn't learn anything from my spiel.
Back in the day, I thought I gave a pretty effective speech to the freshmen academy chem 105 class in college. They had done poorly on their test because they had stayed up until 3:00 most nights and were sleeping through my class. I said, "How many of you are less than happy about your grades?"
Most of the hands went up.
"Why do you think this is? Am I not teaching you the right material?"
One of the brighter students, but who also had a talking problem, said, "It's because we're not listening to you."
"Yes, that's right. Some of you think you're smarter than I am. Some of you probably are. That doesn't give you any reason to talk when I'm talking. It is disrespectful and prevents others from learning."
Then, during my speech, students were talking! Good grief! I started talking really loudly to drown them out. One of the students said, "Why are you yelling?"
Freshmen.
So here I am, trying to give my kids lessons on how to succeed, and they're not listening. I was a great parent until I had kids, and I was mostly prepared for kids pushing my buttons, but I was a little disheartened that my speech had no immediate effects.
Eh, whatever. Night night.
Comments
As far as the camera goes, yes, it was the 50 mm lens that I used to take the pics that were up at dad and mom's house. Jared used different lenses (eg telephoto?) on some other pics. we looove it!!