Monday, May 27, 2013

Memorial Day

So it's Memorial Day.  Which means that my kids get super excited because they get to watch the parade with firetrucks and candy!

So we cart out our chairs, water bottles and sippy cups to the curb out in front of our house.  We waited until the time the parade was supposed to start, because in our town, they never start on time.  We learned that the hard way last year.  Even still we were waiting awhile.

But, a man came up and was talking to us.  It wasn't a total stranger.  We knew him from Freecycle (his granddaughter is now using a bunch of Landon's baby equipment) and he's part of the Fire Dept, so the kids recognized him from school.

He asked my boys (Sweet Nut and Cute Boy...Chunk was too busy with his lollipop and Spawn is at the X's for the weekend) if they knew why there was a parade today.  They said, Yep, it's Memorial Day.  I'm sure he thought that they were just parroting me saying it.  He asked them if they knew what Memorial Day meant and Cute Boy said that It's the day that we spend time with our families remembering the soldiers who died.  Sweet Nut went even farther and said that we need to pray for all the soldiers who are fighting now and for the families of the ones who have died.  The man asked if they knew anyone who was a soldier and Sweet Nut said yes, we know some who are soldiers now and that Grandpa(my grandpa-the boys call my dad Pa) was a soldier.  The man asked if he knew if Grandpa was ever in a war and Sweet Nut said yes, he was in the Army Air Force in WWII and that my uncle was in the Navy in Vietnam.  The man told him that it was great that he knew that and that he hoped that when the boys got bigger they would never have to go to war and Sweet Nut said, it's OK.  I'm going to be a soldier because I want to be like Grandpa and be a pilot.  The man said he can do that without being a soldier, and Sweet Nut said, but regular pilots only fly regular planes.  I want to fly planes and protect the world from bad guys.

Who knew my kids actually pay attention when we talk about things that go on.  And I'm super impressed that Sweet Nut remembered about Grandpa and my uncle, and what they did.  He learned about it for a project over a year and a half ago.  I guess I should prepare for him going into the armed forces now, because it's not the first time he's mentioned it.

The one thing that made me sad was that when the parade was done, both the boys noted that there were not a lot of people there, that more people were there for the carnival parade.  And then my ever so wise goobers said "Mommy, more people should come to this parade.  It's shorter but at least the soldiers can look down from heaven and see that we still care."

Yes, boys, you are right.  All the soldiers, on earth and in heaven should know that we care.

Friday, May 10, 2013

What a crazy few months.

Sorry for the blog silence.  We've had a rough few months, but I think we're on the other side of it now...at least I hope so!

A few quick updates:

Spawn is uber excited for middle school.  He's signed up to play the viola in the orchestra and will be signing up for football next week.  We're still working on some of the areas he struggles in at home, but all in all, this has been a successful year.  We've also dealt with a first crush and the first letdown when she became someone else's 'girlfriend'.  He's working his way towards earning being allowed to walk/ride his bike to school for the rest of the year, so that's been something good.

Sweet Nut is getting to the age where school isn't 'fun' anymore.  He's a smart kid, but hates to write, so that's becoming a problem.  We're working on writing at home and on penmanship, since he tends have a lot of assignments that need to be redone because they are sloppy.  Content wise, he's a great writer.  But it's getting him to actually write that is the problem.  He just had a pretty bad bout of some form of the coxsackie virus.  He had a throat full of blisters making talking and eating pretty painful.  Not fun.

Cute Boy is doing ok in K.  He's got a few areas he's struggling in as well, so we are working on that at home.  Sight words are giving him the same trouble that letters were, he's having a hard time remembering them.  He's just taken the training wheels off his bike so he's been working on that as well, and is pretty good, but has taken a few good spills.  Also he made a 'greenhouse' at school and has 2 bean plants he's growing, and hopes to transfer to the big garden.

Chunk is doing great.  He loves daycare, even though he won't talk there.  At home he's getting more words and is putting words together.  It's our 3rd time around with a late talker, so I'm not too worried yet.

Hmm...what else.  Oh, we are working on a garden this year.  My grandpa always had one growing up and nothing tastes as good as when it comes out of the garden.  So we're working on getting a corner of the backyard tilled and cleaned up.  We're going to cheat this year and buy plants, but I think the goobers and I might try to make a small greenhouse box like my grandpa used to for next year.  We don't really have the space to start plants indoors, so I figure buying them is the next best option.  The lilacs are blooming, so we'll start planting over the next few weeks.  Spawn did have a few seed packets that he got from his dad that he planted a few weeks ago, so we'll see how they do.


Also, I was approached by Reading Eggs to try out 2 of their apps and do a review and giveaway, so we're playing with that and the review will be coming soon!  I'm so excited!

I hope everyone has a great weekend and Happy Mother's Day!