Siri scares me...

Alright it is not just Siri but the idea of a new phone in general really frightens me for a number of reasons.

1- I am so far from tech savvy that I am so clueless. Why yes H has learned to use my phone faster than I.

2- I feel your phone should not be smarter than yourself, pretty sure this phone wins hands down.

3- Now that I have an iPhone I may have to help and assist the old man with his, that could be a disaster, one must remember to breathe during those sessions.

4- My identity with the boy as mother is being even more diminished by the fact that he "talks" to Siri more than me now.

Something I am proud of at this point though, I did figure out how to blog from it. I failed miserably at that on the blackberry. I also figured out how to post on fb and place a photo with that post, there may be some hope for me yet so watch out you may hear more from me. SCARY I know.

Lucky as can be...

As a parent but even more so in my case as a single parent I must remember to control my temper more. I know I don't get upset when it comes to some things but I may lose my temper over others. I tend to take more of my stress out on the boy and he really doesn't deserve that.

We fight tooth and nail at times but I must take advantage of the time I have with him. If I push him too hard as he gets older is will only keep him further away.

Today I did and said somethings that I regret in a fight we were having, why did I do it? Because I knew it would make him cry and I wanted to see an emotion other than the dislike and hate I see coming from his eyes at me at times when we fight. I must remind myself he lives with me full time, even though it may be all fun and games when he gets to see his dad I know by the end of the time he thankful to come home and be an only child again. I get jealous and I let it get the best of me at times. As he gets older he will realize that the rules and stipulations he has at home are there for good reasons.

As a parent I must remember the good times more than the bad and show him the love that he deserves.

As a parent I must remember that I am as lucky as I can be when it comes to him because he is a wonderful person to be around and I am learning as much from him as he is from me.

As a parent I must remember to love the sweet innocent face more than the mean face that we get even if we know the rules we set forth are for good reasons and not what is deemed as "just being mean"...

I must remember this face, well maybe not the face exactly because that one kind of scares me ;) but the memories behind the face that show me I am loved.

Christmas treats, yum, yum...

I am really bummed I won't get to eat any tonight and the boy can't wait himself. I need to make a few packages to send out to som of my employees out of the state, I want to make sure it gets to them in time and before they take time off for the holidays.

I love these chocolate haystacks that we had as growing up, I remember helping my mom make them and they would really only be made over the Christmas holiday. As I was making them tonight H yelled out "I know what you're making, they are sooooo good, you're making extra for us right?". And I also made some chocolate covered pretzels.

I am excited to have some tomorrow, hopefully we are able to package some up before we eat them all.

Megamind Mega Fun Night...

Code can Dreamworks make a bad movie? Code I don't think so. Even what you would call their worst (other's opinion not my own) it was Cars and really I think that was a great movie too. H wants to see a few movies before his upcoming trip, tonight was Megamind. It was in 3D and the boy loves the 3D, I have come to like it. They have come a very long way since I went to the theatres for 3D with the red and green plastic film glasses. I even got a kiss from the boy at the end when Megamind and the girl are together *love it*. We even got pictures of us in our "gansta hats and glass" as it was put. We had fun, it was a great movie and if you haven't seen it the code go out and see the movie, you won't regret it.

No punch reward...

I always feel like I have to explain the whole punch comment to everyone because I don't want them to think I am like hitting the boy or not, they have a punch card at school we are treated like a demerit so the teacher will paper punch their sheet. My wonderful young boy finally go 0, which really is more of an accomplishment for me because I finally signed all of the 100 papers that are sent home for me to go through and sign then return (I don't think I have signed so much in the k - 3 as I have this first month in 4th).

Knowing that he wanted to go to the fair and honestly not going with my family I was really not wanting to go there this year without them, I gave the boy the option of going to Boondocks or to the fair. He excitedly wanted Boondocks.

We went to Costco and got discounted passes and made our way there (I know me at Costco on a Saturday, yikes, but I survived).

It started off really fun, he wanted to do miniature golf first. Of course he got all annoyed because I was beating him so then I had to pull the "oops guess some how I have lost my skills at playing mini golf just so my son is happy today" trick and quickly he started liking the game again.

He got to go to the smaller track to race, he wanted to do the bigger one but he is still about 8 inches too small. While standing in line there were two boys that were being very obnoxious and then they started to beat each other up, I had to step in to break them up because I guess their parents were no where to be found to stop them from fighting. When it was finally their turn to race H was with them, the reason why this story is significant is because H finally passed them after he got on stuck on the course and there was a small part of me that was really rooting him on.
We then went to the arcade, of course, it is like his favorite part of going to places like this is playing whatever he can. The problem with him being an only child and having me as a single parent is I don't necessarily just let him win, I just get to the point where I really don't care to win so I let him win frequently. This is bad, very bad. Why is it bad???? Well because when he does start to lose he gets extremely upset and frustrated and "the game totally cheats" attitude comes out. He was so upset that I almost made us leave at this point but I decided I wanted to drive one of the go carts first so I would give him the chance to chill out before then.

As we get in line for the go carts where I would drive he would ride, if did everything I could to get him to cheer up... guess what it worked. I was rather proud of myself because I don't normally succeed, picture below for proof.
We got to ride and I chicken out of letting step on the gas from the get go but I think we did pretty good of catching up to everyone and we even passed quite a few. He enjoyed every minute of it.


Last time we were at Boondocks my experience on the bumper boats was less than desirable, I was ready to scream at one kid and I actually think I did, but I had the boy convince me to get on this time. He was so ready to take me down.

He was so happy I got so wet, he tried to hide back his smile. I enjoyed it this time, even if I still got soaking wet from other punk kids, including my own this time.

But I think I did pretty good getting him wet too.

And don't forget prizes, he was so happy to get this inflatable hammer and yes it squeaks (oh joy for me)...

And of course the LARGEST smarties I have ever seen, the are like a quarter size around! Seriously freakishly large.

When all is said and done I am proud of my son, it is not easy being my kid but he does a pretty good job most of the time. I love him and am really glad we could spend the day together having so much fun.

The Devil's Slide... (nothing bad just another memory)

We would drive all the time to Pennsylvania and Ohio to visit our grandparents, New Mexico sometimes. Even though we would drive straight through (me usually topless in the very back with no seats and yes I was young enough to be topless still), our only stops were for gas, restroom and if we were lucky enough to eat at a restaurant it only meant that my dad was too tired and needed to sleep so we would get to go in and eat while he slept in the car.

I remember first learning about the Devil's Slide in Weber Canyon from my dad. He had decided to pull off and look at the slide from the viewing area (honestly I don't remember the other kids being there so this may have been just us but I think we all were there because I seem to recall my mom being there too). I googled this landmark and there is not much on it really but the story he told stuck with me because I remember trying to call him out on his bluff. He told me that the devil slides down on it every February 30th.

I remember thinking about it and then looking at him telling him that there were only 28 days in February. I don't think he realized that I was the smart one in the family *wink, wink, nod, nod* so then his reply back was, exactly, that's because he is the devil.

Late night memories...

So one of my first memories of staying up late is when I was sick and I got to go downstairs and watch tv with my mom and dad when I was a young child. I remember that being one of the coolest things ever because I got to be alone with my parents and I got to watch their tv shows.

I remember that they were watching of the many "Nightmare on Elm Street" movies and I feel in love with them. I don't remember being scared of them and I know my love for all things scary grew from there.

I think horror movies are great, most of them have no effect on me really. Every once in a while I do have one that spooks me just enough that I have this feeling in the pit of my stomach but it has never stopped me from watching them. Usually it is the more real ones that get me (sorry you are running as fast as you can from a guy who is walking with a limp, not real, your going to out run them), one in particular that I always recall as actually scaring me is "When a Stranger Calls Back".

I would hope that my son would share in my obsession, but alas he has fallen into the others category who get too scared so you can't watch them (sorry more choose not to watch them). But I can only hope it is a phase and he will out grow that and join in watching them with me later in life. If I want to see them now I have to wait up late and watch while he is sleeping.

The picture is of my leg and the boy and us staying up late at our new house. We are in the bean bag (kind of miss that gigantic thing I should clean up and pull it out of storage). I miss those pajama pants they are what I was wearing when I went into labor with H. They recently had to retire because they just fell apart. Good times growing up.

Cleaning day...

So before my wonderful, young man left for his dad's for the better part of the summer I forced him to help me clean. Of course he struggled with me but I finally won out int he end, I had to hold the video games out until he agreed to help. I took this picture while he was helping me and I love that it shows how overly dramatic he is and it shows the pain and agony I put him through while cleaning. I love the Rambo look too, it was a ribbon he had found while cleaning so he tied it around his head. The picture shows him carrying the money jar which is rather heavy but the picture is just too cute.

After we took the picture we were laughing so hard we forgot to keep cleaning, but the thought of cleaning was there at the beginning for a few moments. Oh well, we tried.

Which is bigger...

Well let's start with one magical night that I decided I would cook, while eating the food I did one of my favorite things and asked one handsome young lad to fetch me some water. He returned with a blue cup, being as thirsty as I was I decided to let him have that cup and asked that he return to the kitchen to return with a larger cup for me.

Well, I guess I did get what I asked for. :)



On another eerie night while eating at our favorite Monday hang out, yes the staff there knows we come in all to often and we talk to each and everyone of them so Sizzler we love you. I was talking to the boy and I knew he was lying to me, straight to my face. I explained that my cell phone knows if someone is lying and it changes them colors. Well I being the sly mother that I am changed it to black and white and he tried to get out of the way of the picture, well it only added to the effect, but it looks rather eerie and he almost looks like a ghost.

After the "lying" photo was taken he didn't believe me, so I changed it back and took a picture of me just to prove to him the non liars look normal.

Oh what he does not know does not hurt him, at least yet, right?

And lastly, while shopping and getting a smaller grill for our already too small porch I found one and was trying to take a picture of it for some advice from my baby sister. I tend to use her for some of my major purchases because I don't really have another voice of reason in my house. You think the boy would be more helpful, but no, according to him we can just use the card and not wait for payday. I explained that the card must have money on it to use, he really didn't grasp that idea, he is learning my shopping habits.

The best part about this photo is he likes to be in photos with people not only to "ham" it up, but he loves to put bunny ears on them. Well low and behold he has bunny ears on the grill.

Only my boy.

Treats and tired...

So we went walking again and it was a family ordeal, my mom, both sisters, my brother-in-law and all the boys went. I was determined, even though we had to wait for Norah, that I was going to do a fast 3.2 walk. I left them in the dust. Hunter, Nathan and Noah kept up with me on their scooters. I would have them race up to a bench so they could rest and I would catch up to them and we would start again. Zach stayed back with the slow pokes. Finally the ones I was with decided they would just wait on the bench. When H and I got back to the car everytime someone came in we would start cheering, it was like our own personal 5k walk race. It was great. After I had got all the boys up on the car and I had them yell out 3.2 instead of cheese, it was fun.My other wonderful accomplishment today was the cake I have been working on. I was determined to give a co-workers son a real cake for his birthday, he has some pretty severe allergies to eggs, dairy and nuts. I was pretty confident in this cake but I am really worried now that even with all the precautions taken he will have a reaction. I am so crossing my fingers that it does not happen. We will see tomorrow.I couldn't find little dinosaurs so they are just little lizards instead. I hope he likes it. It was the easiest cake to frost because it I didn't have to worry about smoothing anything out.

Life it not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.