At the pumpkin patch

Texting Temptation

My children are no different than most.  They love modern technology and they would love to have their own cell phones-not to talk to friends, but to text.  Brendan is 10 and he has a couple of friends (all age 12 or 13) who have phones and love to text.  Friday night he got the phone number of a 12 year old female friend and begged me to allow him to text her on my phone.  I am not in any hurry to encourage this type of communication, but he was so excited about the idea that I let him send her a message.  He started Saturday with a message saying hi and wishing her a Merry Christmas.  She replied "you too".  Later she texted my phone with "hey".  I wasn't at home, so I texted her letting her know that Brendan wasn't around.  She texted back "lol Ok".  The flood gates had only been opened for about 24 hours and I had had enough.  Brendan compulsively asked me if he could see my phone to check for texts and/or to send a text.  The messages usually were only one or two words- nothing exciting.  Tonight at the Nutcracker I let him text her during intermission.  He let her know we were at the Nutcracker.  He could not leave me alone to enjoy the performance because he was so focused on whether he got a text in return.  He even tried to push the buttons on my phone while it was attached to my front pocket.  Immediately after the performance I told him that the texting experiment had failed and that there would be no more of it until further notice.  It is amazing how fast he got caught up in the text craze.  At this time we have a trac phone for the boys to take when we are not together- it does not have texting capabilities.  I know that it is the way many  most young people communicate but to me it is a way to be antisocial and tune out the world around you.  We'll see what the years to come bring- but for now...NO TEXTING!

No Coaching this Season...

I made a decision regarding coaching basketball this season...it's a no go. After weighing the pros and cons I was leaning toward coaching. The discussion with the boys was interesting. At first they were excited about me coaching them- but when I explained that we would not be on the same team as most of their football friends they changed their tune:). I wasn't bothered by this, in fact I expected it. After all we spent so many hours with our football friends and they all grew very close. My husband felt that they would make new friends in basketball, but with only one hour a week of practice- and then after a month the games start I just didn't see how the time would be there to cultivate many new friendships. In the end I based my decision on the possibility that I may be having surgery this winter. If I do need the surgery I could be out anywhere from 2-6 weeks, and I certainly won't be physically able to coach for several weeks. I would love to assist during practices this season while I can and I think that next season I will be sure to sign-up.

The boys have mentioned being nervous about starting basketball since it has been a long time since they played so I took them to an open gym this week. After a little bit of whining we really had fun, and they picked up the skills I taught them pretty quickly. I think the part they loved the most was playing defense on me as I dribbled around. In their eyes I am a wonderful ball-handler! I really enjoyed how impressed they were with my skill, and I surprised myself in that I wasn't terrible after many years of not playing. Let's be clear- I am not a good ball handler...when I played in college dribbling was almost always a sure way to get a turn-over for me...but in the eyes of my sweet 6, 8, and 10 year old boys I was awesome:).

Christmas

This year our Christmas will be a little different for our family.  We are living in a much smaller home, and most of our decorations are out in a small storage shed- buried under who-knows-what.  We don't have a lot of room for a grand tree- yet I still want to make it special for us all.  We have decided to get a live tree (in a container) and after Christmas we will find a nice spot to plant it.  We have always had artificial trees- but we sold ours before our move.  Our decorations are going to be home-made this year.  We are going to do the traditional popcorn string, paper chain garland, and maybe tissue paper flowers all over.  I'm sure the boys will have plenty of ideas of things to decorate the tree with.  I am sure we will miss seeing all the decorations that we have collected over the years, but I am hopeful that we will build lasting memories of the year we shook Christmas up a bit. 

The thing I am going to miss the most is having a fireplace to put the stockings.  I could probably hang them off of one of our cabinets, but it is just not the same.  I am going to try and get creative on a stocking substitute...I am open to suggestions!

I am excited about spending Christmas in our little cozy house and building some new traditions with my family.  I have a feeling that even when we do have access to all our ornaments and decorations we will carry on some of our new home-made adornments in the years to come.

Jinxed

I knew that posting about having 3 good days in row wasn't a good idea.  I jinxed the roll we were on.  Today was filled with bickering, whining, crying, and frustration.  The boys just could not get along with each other today.  I am thankful that tomorrow our friends are coming down for a visit so they will have buddies to play with and I will get to hang out with  my friend...adult time! 

I know the boys felt bad for their behavior today because after being sent to bed early for bickering they went into their room and worked together to clean the room...without my prompting.  No whining, fighting, or bickering.  I am thankful for the little things.

Good Days.

We have had 3 good days in a row.  When I say good I mean productive, focused, cooperative and enjoyable.  This goes for all 3 boys.  That is something to sing about!  Sure one or two of them can have a deccent day- but generally there is one (or more) whiner, procrastinator, stinker in the bunch.  We have completed every scheduled subject and had time for more.  I'm not sure if we have finally found our groove after 12 weeks of school, or if they just got tired of the drama, but whatever the cause I am enjoying it!