2014 was an eventful year for us. It brought with it mostly good times, but a few challenges as well.
In January, we saw the groundbreaking of our new church and throughout the year we've watched it seemingly rise out of the ground. It's been an amazing thing to watch and I can hardly wait to celebrate Mass within its new walls in just a few weeks!
In February, we saw the Denver Broncos (my favorite team!) get brutally beaten by the Seahawks (my second favorite team!) in the Super Bowl. I felt fortunate enough to see my two favorite teams in the championship, but I do wish the outcome would have been a bit different.
April saw the disappearance of our family cat, Booka. Typically an indoor pet, he managed to get out on Good Friday and hasn't been seen since.
We also saw the initiation of our boys as they entered the Catholic church through Baptism, First Holy Communion, and Confirmation. What a blessing it was and what a blessing we have in the boys!
My oldest boy became an altar server at our church in July and I experienced a book that thoroughly frustrated me in "Gone Girl".
September brought a major hail storm from which our neighborhood is still recovering.
In October, my family spent a fun filled week in Orlando, FL visiting Disney World and Universal Studios. The boys were at the perfect ages for it. They were old enough to ride most of the rides, but they were still young enough to have magic in their eyes.
October also came with the best house guests we could have ever imagined!
Thanksgiving had my in-laws in town from Florida. The boys got a chance to spend some time and get to know their out-of-town grandparents.
My youngest boy injured his leg in December. The doctors were afraid it could have been fractured, so for three days he walked around on crutches that were too big for him. Fortunately, it was just a sprain and, after three weeks, we took off his brace today!
The year of 2014, for the most part, was kind to us. We experienced a lot of joy and spent a lot of time with friends and family. Here's to another year that I'm sure will be great!
Happy 2015!
Showing posts with label Family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Friday, October 24, 2014
Decorating for Halloween
My husband takes Halloween a bit seriously. He plans our decorating months in advance and has built a few of our best decorations. Our house has become the house of the neighborhood (and sometimes people drive in from outside of the neighborhood) each October 31st evening.
Now, I'm going to share a few pointers.
1. No cutesie decorations.
Okay, sure, "cutesie" isn't really a word, but you know what I mean. We've seen all the witches flying into trees and all those cute ghosts. No. Save the cute stuff for Christmas. Halloween is a time for scary and trick-or-treaters are much more impressed with a house that gives them the chills than one plastered with cute decorations.
2. Lighting is your friend and your enemy.
If you use lighting properly, it can cast an eerie glow on your decorations. Blue and purple lights can cast a moon-light like light. Just be careful not to flood your yard with too much light.
Those Christmas-wanna-be lights have to go. Just don't do it.
3. Don't rake up those leaves!
Leave the leaves in your yard until after Halloween. The dead leaves bring a bit of autumn to your decorations and keep your yard from looking clean and pristine. That's not a look we want for Halloween.
4. Jumpy is not scary.
My husband has become a master of giving a person the feeling that something is going to jump out at them when it won't. We find this much more affective than the pop-up scare tactics. We're looking for chills, not thrills.
5. Get into it.
No, I mean, literally, get into it. Be a decoration. Dress up as something creepy, preferably robed. If you stand still enough, people will think you're a prop ... until you move. Wahahahahaha!
6. Let there be sound!
Sound is a crucial sense to play on peoples nerves. Don't ramp up "Monster Mash" and think that will do it. Find a track with screams, wind, hooting owls, crashes, bangs, etc. This will drive people toward your house and set the proper mood.
7. Don't forget about the little ones.
When you've set up a scene that's a bit on the scary side, have an alternative for the little ones. They will probably be too scared to approach your doorstep, so pull down your hood and be ready to go down to them on the sidewalk so they can have some treats as well.
Now, I'm going to share a few pointers.
1. No cutesie decorations.
2. Lighting is your friend and your enemy.
Those Christmas-wanna-be lights have to go. Just don't do it.
3. Don't rake up those leaves!
4. Jumpy is not scary.
5. Get into it.
6. Let there be sound!
7. Don't forget about the little ones.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Happy Kids vs. Disciplined Kids - Is There a Difference?
Parenting isn't easy. We're not just mothers and fathers. We're teachers, preachers, taxi drivers, nurturers, providers, and disciplinarians. Well, that last one seems to be up for debate.
My children were placed in our home over two years ago and we adopted them last year. For the sake of their privacy, we'll call my nine year-old son (soon to be ten!) James and my eight year-old son Peter. My kids have been through a lot and have had some serious behavioral issues to overcome. We've worked very hard together to learn about making good choices. I am very proud of how much they've achieved.
With that said, when I see these kids running around, bossing their parents, and making demands, I shake my head and say a quick prayer for them.
A parent's main job is to safely raise a good adult. There are some parents who believe their job is to make their kids happy. To those parents, I say:
While your child asked twelve times if he could have that toy because he knew your answer would change to 'yes' eventually, my child was using the skills he's learned to calculate whether or not the toy was worth buying with his own money.
While your child demanded fifteen more minutes in the McDonald's play room when you said it was time to go, my child was learning respect and responsibility by helping me clean the table before we left.
While your child wouldn't stop jumping on the couch at a friend's birthday party and you couldn't be bothered to ask how your child did when you picked him up, my child was bowing his head in sincere apology for his misbehavior.
While your child's team wasn't keeping score to spare his/her feelings, my child was learning to persevere in the face of failure.
While your child was walking away from you as you were giving him/her instructions, my child was learning about active listening and using his eye contact to hear what I was saying.
Despite the discipline I dish out to teach my kids, or, more accurately, because of it, my kids are happy and they will know how to be happy when they become teenagers and adults.
Kids can be both happy and disciplined, however, if you focus on the happiness and never on the discipline, in the long run, your child won't be happy. He/she will eventually be slapped with reality and won't know how to handle it.
My kids are not perfect nor am I the perfect parent, but I do hold them and/or myself accountable when needed. That is how we learn from our mistakes.
I didn't write this article to offend, but I think it's an important lesson. Many parents are just too lazy to discipline their children. It's so much easier to give them what they want when they want it than to have to stand your ground. Standing your ground, after all, is exhausting! Trust me, I know! However, it's worth all the hard work. My children are my joy and I love watching them grow both physically and maturely.
My children were placed in our home over two years ago and we adopted them last year. For the sake of their privacy, we'll call my nine year-old son (soon to be ten!) James and my eight year-old son Peter. My kids have been through a lot and have had some serious behavioral issues to overcome. We've worked very hard together to learn about making good choices. I am very proud of how much they've achieved.
With that said, when I see these kids running around, bossing their parents, and making demands, I shake my head and say a quick prayer for them.
A parent's main job is to safely raise a good adult. There are some parents who believe their job is to make their kids happy. To those parents, I say:
Despite the discipline I dish out to teach my kids, or, more accurately, because of it, my kids are happy and they will know how to be happy when they become teenagers and adults.
Kids can be both happy and disciplined, however, if you focus on the happiness and never on the discipline, in the long run, your child won't be happy. He/she will eventually be slapped with reality and won't know how to handle it.
My kids are not perfect nor am I the perfect parent, but I do hold them and/or myself accountable when needed. That is how we learn from our mistakes.
I didn't write this article to offend, but I think it's an important lesson. Many parents are just too lazy to discipline their children. It's so much easier to give them what they want when they want it than to have to stand your ground. Standing your ground, after all, is exhausting! Trust me, I know! However, it's worth all the hard work. My children are my joy and I love watching them grow both physically and maturely.
I am so grateful to my parents for raising me and my siblings using a combination of love and discipline. It has made me the God loving, happy person I am today.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Kumon Learning Centers - A Review
Both of my boys are adopted from the foster care system here in Colorado. They are wonderful boys and I love them dearly. They moved into our home at the ages of six and seven.
My seven-year-old, we'll call him James for the sake of his privacy, wasn't able to read. He was limited to words like "and", "the", and "is". He went from a sub-par school district to an excellent one and was behind the minute he started. He struggled with his self-esteem and was often frustrated.
By the end of second grade, my husband and I knew we had to do something. We decided to enroll him into the Kumon program. Our expectations were high after talking to the owner of the center near our home. She promised he'd be up to grade level in six months.
Nine months later, we really hadn't seen any progress. His reading was better, but progressing at the same rate as his peers, which meant he was still about a grade and a half behind.
I'll give you a little insight to why I think this might be. Kumon's program sends a child home with daily workbooks to complete with visits to their center twice a week. James would bring home these workbooks and fly through them as fast as he could, even if that meant skipping words or just answering the questions without reading at all. This meant I had to sit with him while he did his workbooks in order to make sure he did them correctly.
While at the center, I suspect James would do much the same as he tried to do at home, except in the center, there are on average about three tutors (mostly high school students) to around twenty students so he would get away with cheating much easier than he did at home. The tutors jobs were simply to mark the incorrect answers in the workbook and send the student back to make corrections.
To top it off, the people weren't very friendly, the waiting room for parents was too small, I was expected to do the grading for the homework without a key, and I often found grammatical errors in the reading workbooks.
Overall, if your child is doing fine in school, but needs a little extra practice, or maybe your intent is to give your child an advantage by being ahead of grade level, Kumon might be the answer. However, if your child has troubles getting motivated, needs to work on the basics, and your intent is to get your child caught up, I would not recommend this program.
My husband and I have made the decision to leave the Kumon program and try something new. I'm sure you'll be seeing a review about the new program in a few months.
My seven-year-old, we'll call him James for the sake of his privacy, wasn't able to read. He was limited to words like "and", "the", and "is". He went from a sub-par school district to an excellent one and was behind the minute he started. He struggled with his self-esteem and was often frustrated.
By the end of second grade, my husband and I knew we had to do something. We decided to enroll him into the Kumon program. Our expectations were high after talking to the owner of the center near our home. She promised he'd be up to grade level in six months.
Nine months later, we really hadn't seen any progress. His reading was better, but progressing at the same rate as his peers, which meant he was still about a grade and a half behind.
I'll give you a little insight to why I think this might be. Kumon's program sends a child home with daily workbooks to complete with visits to their center twice a week. James would bring home these workbooks and fly through them as fast as he could, even if that meant skipping words or just answering the questions without reading at all. This meant I had to sit with him while he did his workbooks in order to make sure he did them correctly.
While at the center, I suspect James would do much the same as he tried to do at home, except in the center, there are on average about three tutors (mostly high school students) to around twenty students so he would get away with cheating much easier than he did at home. The tutors jobs were simply to mark the incorrect answers in the workbook and send the student back to make corrections.
To top it off, the people weren't very friendly, the waiting room for parents was too small, I was expected to do the grading for the homework without a key, and I often found grammatical errors in the reading workbooks.
Overall, if your child is doing fine in school, but needs a little extra practice, or maybe your intent is to give your child an advantage by being ahead of grade level, Kumon might be the answer. However, if your child has troubles getting motivated, needs to work on the basics, and your intent is to get your child caught up, I would not recommend this program.
My husband and I have made the decision to leave the Kumon program and try something new. I'm sure you'll be seeing a review about the new program in a few months.
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