U2 - Classic Rock?

K-Mart's ad for this week had some "Classic Rock" specials. Now I wouldn't typically pay too much attention to this but one of the selections didn't seem to make sense. We could have played "One of these is not like the other one". There are four choices: AC/DC, Guns N Roses, Def Leppard and U2?!?

What has the meaning of classic rock come to? Just because it was popular in the 80's doesn't mean that it's "Classic Rock" does it? U2 is so not a black concert t-shirt band of the 80's. I agree that once you are out of the era, there become fewer and fewer classifications of the music, but does U2 really have to be called Classic Rock?

I guess that this just makes me old, but I so was not a hair band (Guns N Roses) or a black concert t-shirt person. I was much more of the punk bent and so seeing my favorite bank labeled as "Classic Rock" just hurts! I'm definitely going to have to put some U2 in the CD player and listen to some "Sunday Bloody Sunday".

Sock Bingo

You read all of those parenting articles about motivating your kids and they say to make it fun and make a game out it. I usually don't feel that creative to come up with some game to get a task done. But it keeps rolling around in my head because I want to try and motivate my children without being angry at them.

So today, we played Sock Bingo. It wasn't really bingo but it was a sock matching game because they weren't getting socks matched just by me asking them to. We split the socks into three groups. I held up one of my socks and they tried to see if they could find a match. Who had the most matches in the end won...

In the end they didn't win anything tangible except they won a happy mommy instead of a nagging mommy and the job was completed with some fun.

We also did fractions with tater tots today, that was a fun one too. Just shows me that I need to take a deep breath and enjoy life a little more and not just demand to be obeyed! (I can't believe that I'm teaching my kids about fractions...and how do you teach a 6 year old to figure out how many 3/4 of 8 hats is? The teachers "lab notes" aren't terribly helpful.)

That tater tots were quite yummy!

Do I have to change clothes?

So as I am trying to get my little guy to change clothes this morning, I have been pondering how often do we really need to change clothes, especially in the winter.

I am wanting him to change clothes and for what reason? I'm not really quite sure. It's very cold outside and so he's not getting hot and sweaty. It's taking my energy to motivate him to actually change clothes. Finally, I'm just generating more laundry for me to do by having him change clothes!

He's had on the same t-shirt for two days straight, so I think it's time to take it off, but how much do I really need him to change clothes? Less laundry sounds very appealing!

For me as well, I'm trying to not generate as much laundry. I'm not in high school anymore, I can wear the same clothes two days in a row and it doesn't really matter what other people think...as long as I don't smell.

Training Again

April 6th is the next target for a 1/2 marathon! We are 11 weeks again and the training program that Becca arranged for us this time is 12 weeks long...Week 1 went well and starting on week 2 this week. Yard work today is my cross training as well as some riding bikes up and down the hill with the boys!

I'm looking forward to this training and hopefully getting a little faster. I am in much better shape training for this year's race than last year. We ran a 10K in April last year and that was a long race...this year I am running a 10K without too much effort. I am watning to try and make 2 hours this time.

As I officially start training again, my challenge this time is motivation. It's not motivation to actually get out and run, it's more of what is my motivation for getting out to run and is the time the best way to use my time for my family. I usually pick races to motivate me to exercise, but I'm starting to get to where running is more of my identity and that's not really what I want it to be. So, I'm trying hard not to set a goal that pushes running too high up on the priority list of life. If this is my personal time, is this what I should really be doing with my time and I shouldn't be asking my family for more just me time if I'm spending hours away from them running.

Visit from the Tooth Fairy

In the span of 8 days, we had two visits from the Tooth Fairy!

Mom is really happy that those two teeth have finally been pulled. In November, we figured out that Andrew had a loose tooth. A few days or weeks later I realized that his adult teeth were coming in behind his baby teeth even though the baby teeth weren't out yet!

We were in need of seeing the dentist anyway, so off to make sure that we weren't in an orthodontic situation that was going to cost us lots of $$! We were reassured, that this was pretty normal and the tongue was going to push his teeth forward when the baby teeth came out. Our instructions were to wiggle the teeth and work on getting them out of there but they didn't have to pulled.

Andrew wasn't really that interested in wiggling his teeth so I did that for him! My husband thought I was crazy! I pulled the first tooth but Andrew pulled the next one by himself though I kept threatening to do so. The second tooth was almost sticking straight out - the other tooth was so tall and close that it couldn't even push it back upright anymore.

Thankfully, the permanent teeth have really moved a bunch since the other teeth have moved out of the way.

Contenders Ready?

The newest fascination at our house is "American Gladiators"! Remember that show through the 80's and 90's with the professional body builder types beating up on the guy from the local gym? It's back and on prime time with Hulk Hogan as a host. My boys love it and we have even created an "Eliminator" course in our house! JL's favorite Gladiator is "Woof". It's a great winter activity to keep their little bodies moving.

We have found that they have full episodes online http://www.nbc.com/American_Gladiators. There are commercial breaks but each episode is sponsored by only one company and the same commercial is played only a couple of times through the entire show. We (mom and dad) love that we can watch it anytime. Therefore it is a great incentive in our house to be able to watch it! Also another reason why we don't necessarily need cable anymore...but golf season is getting ready to start.

Contenders Ready? Gladiators Ready?

Some smiles, goofiness and tradition...