No icecream for you!

We decided to do a frugal dinner tonight with our buy one get one free dinner at Dickey's. Twelve bucks can get us lots of stuff there and the kids had not eaten for 6 hours so they should have been hungry. We were waiting in the line and the kids were trying their best to be patient. It was taking forever and eventually the patience ended. Logan was getting rowdy and he pushed Lucas and made him fall down. Usually no biggie, but the lady in front of us in line gasped when he did it. Logan and I had a talk right before we came to the restaurant about behavior out in public at a restaurant. I thought to myself, "This is not the behavior we discussed and a time out is in order" He sat in a booth for 3 minutes and then came back in line and told Lucas he was sorry.

We got our food and the kids should be so hungry. Logan ate everything and Lucas ate one bite of mac and cheese. His favorite things were on his plate but he did not eat it. He overheard our conversation about eating everything on their plate to be able to get an ice cream cone. Lucas starts screaming "I WANT ICE CREAM CONE, NOW!!!" over and over again. I explained to him that he needed to eat his dinner first. He calmed down a little then was distracted by his balloon for us to have a few minutes to eat in peace. Lucas started screaming again "I WANT ICE CREAM CONE NOW!!!" E had to take him out of the restaurant because he was attracting so much attention. Lucas screamed the whole way home then flung himself on the floor having a full fledged temper tantrum on the tile floor for what had to be 20 minutes. E and I thought we were supposed to ignore tantrums of this magnitude so that is exactly what we did. We cleaned up the playroom, folded clothes all the while stepping over Lucas flailing on the floor.

I guess I am a mean and terrible mom but I really don't want to tolerate that kind of talking or behavior...and if he was that hungry then he should have eaten his dinner. A couple of hours later I offered him his same dinner again and what do you know, he ate it! I gave him a popsicle afterwards. Maybe this was a learning experience for him or maybe I am just a really mean mom. I really don't remember Logan being this sassy, determined and bull-headed at 20 months old.

Needless to say, this was not our best eating out experience. But, I am sure we will do it again soon and hope for the best. Good thing we don't go to any fancy restaurants or I would be really mortified.

Job search

I think I am ready to go back to work at a very part time basis. The benefit to my profession is that the laboratories are open 24 hours a day, they always seem to need extra help, and the health care field is recession proof at the moment. The negatives are that you have to work really odd hours including holidays. My perfect job would be working one to two evenings a week (meaning the 3-11pm shift) and a weekend day mixed in now and then. I would only need help with my kids from 2:15 or so until 5:30 when E could be home on those days. He thinks two days a week is too much but I don't think I will find a job that will let me do only one day a week.

My top places to try to apply and send a resume are Centennial, Children's medical center at Legacy, Baylor in Frisco and Presby in Allen. None of them list a PRN (as needed) position but hopefully they are willing to give me an interview. In the past, I have gotten every professional job I have applied for. I don't have very high self confidence about much but I do think I am pretty great at what I used to do for six years.

Maybe the grass is greener on the other side when it comes to working but I think I would really enjoy the adult interaction, using my skills and making a little extra money. I don't have anything to loose by trying. If I don't get a job then no biggie. I will wait a year and try again.

Parent-teacher conference

Today, I had my first of many parent/teacher conferences to come. It was a scheduled thing that the preschool does in January for all of the children. They do a full 3 year old assessment on each child and we discuss their progress in the class. The options for each skill are Mastered, Progressing or Not Yet. Logan has mastered all 9 things in the Cognitive list other than follows directions (carries out two or three simple tasks after being told once) which he is progressing in this task.

Logan mastered everything in the Social and Emotional list and is progressing in the Gross and fine motor skills. We do not have a sports enthusiast. Logan has never been much into gross motor skills hence not wanting to crawl until he was 13 months old. He is not so great with the hopping on one foot and able to catch a ball . I think Lucas can catch a ball better than Logan. Out of the 21 tasks, Logan has mastered 14 and is progressing in 7. They will reevaluate at the end of the year.

Logan's handwriting has dramatically improved in the last month. He is doing great with writing letters. He has been writing "Happy Birthday, Love Logan" on homemade birthday cards this month. His real aptitude is for reading so I signed him up for the Phonics class offered at his preschool. It is for 4-6 year old children but I think he is ready for it and will really enjoy it.

The teachers only had great things to say about Logan. They said that he is always so helpful and cleans up, shares and takes turns, and is always so enthusiastic about every activity they present to him. They also said he has become much more independent since school started.

Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised they had nothing negative to say since I know how he can really be with Lucas. It must just be a little brother thing. At least he knows how to behave in public.

Was going to workout...

I was pumped to go to the gym this morning to take the CORE class. I like taking classes because it pushes me harder than I can push myself and they always do things that I would never think to do for exercise. I got to the gym around 10 minutes before the class, which normally is enough time. I noticed the parking lot was pretty full. Then I see that there is a line out of the childcare door and down the hall. They had reached capacity and were letting people in as children were being picked up. Apparently everyone else also thought it would be a good idea to exercise this morning as well. We waited for about ten minutes and I watched the time for the class come and go only to move up a couple of spaces in line. I told the kids that we could go to the playground to get them to leave with me. I was so annoyed I went straight to the Cooper center to tour it and sign up for a free two week trial. What is the point of having a gym membership if you can't use it for the things you want to do??? Now I just have to work on E to switch to a new gym. Unfortunately, I don't think he is going to be on board. He will probably tell me I need to get a job or we need to give up cable TV.

Recent pics

Christmas in Williamsburg. You gotta love Logan's face in this picture. He did this for every one. I seem to never be able to get a picture that is good of the whole family.
Christmas eve, eating Santa's Christmas cookies.

One of Lucas' new toys at his E's family's house.

Lucas found the cat food feeder that was out while we were away and thought it was really fun to play with. Mommy gave him a dust broom and pan to clean it up himself.

Lucas loves this Elmo hat for some reason. It goes to a costume but he thinks it is a winter hat to keep him warm. He had to wear it shopping one day.

He likes the gym

Maybe I should not speak too soon about this but Lucas was excited about going to the gym today. Logan talked him up about going saying "Lucas, We are going to play at the gym and have so much fun!" Then, he walked right in by himself and ran off into the big kid area with his highlighted sticker on his back. I just let him go and figured that one of the employees would figure out that he needed to be in the toddler area. When I picked him up he seemed content but happy to see me. This is such a great accomplishment! Finally at almost 20 months old. Now I can go to they gym whenever I want. No excuses except for the fact that it will be so crowded for the next couple of months with all of the new year's resolutions and all.

A really great Christmas

The Christmas trip started off well. A wonderful friend of ours drove me and the boys to the airport with our 3 bags to check, 2 carry ons and stroller. While waiting for our flight the boys explored the terminal and got some energy out. We heard them announce that the flight was not very full and my ears perked up. I pranced right over to the counter and asked if there was anywhere we could be moved to with an extra seat and hallelujah they did it. What a difference that made! The boys were really good on our 3 hour flight. Thankfully Lucas liked to watch Dora with Logan on the DVD player. Good start to our two weeks away and I was so thankful.

While in Williamsburg we were all getting over colds but mine just seemed to linger. My teeth started hurting so I got in to see my old childhood dentist. He found a cavity but I later found out that my pain was from a sinus infection so I also go to go to the urgent care while on Christmas vacation. One filling and a Z-pack later I was feeling much better.

We met up with E on our trip to visit with my in-laws. We stayed two nights and managed to infect all of them with our colds. What a nice Christmas present! We saw a tiny flurry of snow as we were leaving town to go back to my parents house.

Christmas Eve we had a great dinner and then put the kids to bed. The adults (mom, dad, m, s, e and I) stayed up and did our Christmas presents with out the children. It was nice to have that special time together without the kids around. My parents have always been really into Christmas and giving lots of gifts. My Mom can't help herself. We gave them a GPS navigation unit for their car and a CO detector, martini glasses and a few other kitchen gadgets. They gave us money, clothes, candy, stocking stuff, a weather alarm (since we sleep through the tornado sirens), coat from my brother, head phones and lots of other goodies. My parents always buy themselves something, wrap it up and say it is for the family. This year it was a Wii game system. We had lots of fun using it for the next 5 days. E loved guitar hero and I love the scuba diving game.

The best part about the whole night was when my brother told his girlfriend he had one last gift for her. She opened the box to find a card and then he pulled out a ring out of his video camera bag and proposed marriage to her. My mom and I were crying. After being with him for 8 years, of course she said "YES". They are planning a beach wedding in September. Although none of us knew anything about the engagement, we somehow got it on video. It was a very exciting ending to our Christmas present exchange.

In the morning the boys found their unwrapped Christmas presents from Santa. Logan was so excited and at such a fun age for Christmas. Lucas did not seem to care about opening any gifts. The boys got so many toys and were spoiled by all. We had a nice Christmas with extended family...cousins, aunts, uncles on a very beautiful Christmas day.

While visiting my family E and I got some really great time alone to go out to lunch, go shopping, visit with my grandma and take walks together. It was really great to have help with the kids and I probably took too advantage of the help. We had a late flight back to TX. Logan was telling everyone on the flight he was going back to TX with a very excited tone. On the flight back we had 5 pieces of luggage to check and 5 carry-ons. We lucked out once again and got an extra seat. At one point we even put both boys by themselves across the isle from us to watch a movie while E and I were able to read magazines and have a conversation. I makes me so thankful they are getting a little older and more self sufficient. It took me a day to unpack and get settled. Now we just have to wait for our three boxes stuffed full of Christmas presents to arrive. We had such a great time!