Reading Joys!!

One of the things I don't enjoy is teaching the kids to read! 
I homeschool.  What is wrong with me?  I hear moms say how wonderous the task is to cuddle up to their child and listen to them discover the mystery of the printed word.  Nope not here. 
KUUUU aaaaaaaaaaaaa TTT 
KUUUU aaaaaaaaaaaaa TTT
KUUUU aaaaaaaaaaaaa TTT
Cat already!!! let's move onto the next word please and it starts all over again. 
5 minutes to read one sentence.  Bring me the super glue and toothpicks to hold my eyes open.  We have read this mommy to sleep more than one afternoon and sometimes morning as we labor through the process. 
It is miraculous. It is wonderful when they learn to read.  But this miracle doesn't happen with the immediate task of sit down and open a book.  It is a process.  A long one in the midst of life. 

Much to my JOY my younger two have been really quick to take off. 
YEs!!! Smiley face does a happy dance.
The next hurdle to tackle is reading one's Bible and Awana workbooks, not to mention all the instructions on one's school work. 
The Man is hard at work.  Today he has discovered he can read the names of the Books of the Old Testament.  You see to finish last years book, one of the things he must do is recite all books of the Old Testament.  A fact I find humorous, some of the names can be difficult for an adult to say.  Take a tooth losing, lisping, & whistling first grader and have him say all the books of the Old Testament.  Absolutely adorable.  I must say, I have had a few chuckles over my kids mis-pronunciations over the years.  The Man had half of them memorized last spring.

 

 

You know what that means, he has to review and re-learn all of them this fall. 
Since he has to wait for me to sit down and work on his mom-led lessons today, I asked him to work on his memory work, handwriting and math. 
I had no idea he had crossed over and could read/recognize the incredibly long and difficult names of the Old Testament books.  But he has!!!!
He has followed me around EVERYWHERE reciting/reading the Books of the Bible. 
EVERYWHERE.  ALL DAY LONG. 
While I tried to teach Middle School Science, he was across the room, "Did you hear me?" 
"Did I get them right?" 
When we were discussing Romeo and Juliet there were murmurs of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus...
When we left the house, I was captive.
Joshua Judges Ruth.....Nahum, Obadiah 
When I go to the bathroom, there is a closed door, but I am still captive, until I flush and wash my hands. First and Second Chronicles
Then the sound of running waters drowns out all other noises.
All through lunch, all through Thursday activities, while I walk into the house, while I put things away, I hear...
First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings.......Isaiah, Jeremiah....Zephaniah, Malachi. 
"How do you say this name again?"  Genesis.
"First and Second Psalms"  He knows it is not Psalms but for some reason Samuel and Psalms, well they go together like ham and cheese.
Don't forget Judges...
"I will start over;  Joshua, Ruth..."
"Can I borrow your phone so I can time myself?"  34.8 seconds later he has read/recited all the books.
He tries again.  30 seconds!  Best time yet. 
I asked for 3 minutes so I could type this, just 3 minutes of not being talked to and he humbled me so quickly.  In spite of all the humor and truth I kept reminding myself all day, he is the last one.  There are no more kids to follow you around like this.  This will pass all quickly.  This is awesome.  There was the me, that just wanted to not be talked to for just 10 minutes.  I have been juggling 5 conversations and sometimes more and half a million different tasks all day.  1o minutes of brain rest.
In his most endearing way, "Thank you Mom for listening me say the Books of the Bible"

The war of insanity inside me that just wanted a quiet closet for a minute, melted away. 

And now he is back, asking me, "Are the 3 minutes up?"  Sure are.
"Where is my book?"  Where you last put it. (LOL)
And it begins again....Genesis Exodus....

 

A new quoteable courtesy of The Man!

I love my "Man".  He really is The Man.  He has a super big heart.  Wants everyone to be happy. 

He has a creative, artistic streak that makes me look at the world differently and smile. 

So when I was getting ready for church and cruised through the living room, I stopped to ask him what he needed to do to be ready himself. 

He launched into an explanation about his outfit.  He is a clothing expert.  He has an opinion on colors, fabrics, textures, and designs.  Honestly, he has really good taste. 

So when he proceeded to tell me, "This is the only shirt that goes with these shorts." I was really proud of my ability to stay straight face and proceed into a normal conversation.  I honestly have to credit God with my composure.  His heart is so big, he genuinely was serious, I didn't want to hurt or frustrate him.  But I was truly in awe that he really thought these two items went together!

I explained he need to wear nice jeans or khakis...shorts or pants.  Not athletic shorts.  Pulled a pair out of the laundry not quite folded, but perfect for church.  I didn't snicker, didn't laugh and didn't try to correct him.  I did ask him if I could take his picture. 

 

Later, I would learn from Hockey Player, he only pulled his jeans on over his perfect shorts.  I definitely need to pull out the totes to help him find the perfect shirt for his perfect shorts. 

 

Little Princess makes me smile.....

Sometimes, I look through files on my phone to clean up extras no longer needed.  Pictures of register amounts for recording later.  Photos of clothes taken and texted to see if I should get or not...
You know just routine maintenance.  Then there are photos like these taken by my beloved children and I can only smile.....

You can't take the boy out of the man!

Hockey Player is 13.  He is growing up.  Just a inch or two shy of being almost or taller than dad.  Looks us in the eyes these days.  If I am barefoot and he is not, I am quickly reminded how short I am becoming.  He has tryouts coming up in a month or so.  His stick broke at the end of the season. 
He doesn't nag.  Daddy O reminds me often.  So finally I sat down with Hockey Player. 

We looked online.  He took me to Hockey Monkey and showed me the sticks he wanted.  I took a chance and went to Ebates and discovered Hockey Monkey was affiliated with them.  Joy of all joys!!  Not only did we discover his preferred sticks clearance, we scored 3% back on Ebates!!  So excited, I was quick to call and Facebook moms of his teammates. 

But that is not what this post is about.  I order online, but not a WHOLE bunch.  Though it is increasing in this season of life.  A huge package showed up at the door.  I kept hollering for Hockey Player to come.  He is entering this season of life where he can be slow to respond to mom.  He is starting to think for himself.  He tries to interpret my calls to determine if he wants to/should actually come.  It is really annoying.  So this particular day, he wouldn't come.  Not with all the cheering and cajoling of his sibs.  They even told him what they had...now guaranteed he might now have heard all the way in the depths of the basement.  But guaranteed he heard some sort of rumble and knew something was up.  Soooo, I yelled down to him, if he didn't get upstairs I was gonna stop the truck as it turned around and drove back by and send the package back with. 

He showed up! And he did this when I suggested returning his box.....

And I realized he is still my "little" guy at heart.  Especially when it comes to his "toys".  

 

He doesn't look all that happy, but that is Hockey Player.  He was posing.

Then Fun Girl got in there with him and they started measuring where they might need to cut the stick. (Aunt Shell, please note:  He is taller than Fun Girl!)

Trying to get a picture and this is what I got.  They were being silly.  However, this is a classic look.  For whatever reason, I seem to capture this expression a lot on film.  It is definitely not the one I am trying to capture!

This is what I wanted to see! 
Success!!!!!

 

 

 

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Body Art courtesy of Sibling Love

After a full day of running around, I sat down to do some memory work with THE MAN.  His shirt shifted and I was like, "What is that?"  Lifted his shirt to discover his latest body work.  Love how the belly button (aka tickle dot) is incorporated into this work of art.  It is then I discover he didn't do it!  He asked his sister to and she honored his request. 

It starts with a drip...then a sneeze

It all starts here, hopefully not at the shirt sleeves.

But if they start with shirt sleeves, they are quickly directed to here.

 

 

Inevitablely, they end up here.  Normally in front of the tv during the day.

Sleeping here, at night, to be close to mommy and daddy.

 

 

And if they are truly going to be sick.

It will be at 3 am

because kids are never sick during the day.

That would interfere with play and fun.

It must be at night only. 

When a mother and father desperately need their sleep.

If the cold requires this at 3 am.....

 

 

You can be sure mom and dad call the doc in the morning.

Mom and dad need sleep to play and have fun during the day.

Not sure why kids don't need sleep for that.

Doc will do Xrays.

Doc will diagnose pneumonia in "THE MAN"

He won't hesitate.

He won't hint.

He won't say it is patchy.

He says it is pneumonia.

He looks at The Man sadly.

Cause mom dropped the ball this time.

At 3 in the morning, Mom was too sleep deprived and missed the signs of distress.

But all is good now.

Antiobiotics.

Steroids.

Breathing treatments around the clock.

 

 

And today he is playing! 

And Dad and Mom are tired.
Dad sleeps on the couch for now.

Mom types. 

Naps are soon to come.

Their eyes were causing trouble!

My two youngest boys remind me tremendously of my childhood.

My older three are the kind of children that could allow a parent to become prideful.

They simply just never participated in the,

"He's touching me!!! 

She's looking at me!!!

They breathed on me!!!"

At least not until the younger two boys came along.

GOD knew the risk of me becoming prideful as a parent.

He knew it.

I have a tendency to get comfortable in my abilities.

He knows that.

So He allows circumstance to keep me on my knees. 

To keep me focused on HIM.

To NEED Him.

Because He loves me.

Because He knows without Him, my life is nothing.

One day, the sun is shining.

There is promise in the day.

A promise to accomplish much.

A promise of time together as a family.

A promise that I will need my Heavenly Father to survive,

as I step out of the bathroom, dressed and ready for the day

when I hear my two youngest striving against the other's existence.

**SIGH**

Lord, help me to get through today.

As I sit at the table, trying to encourage children to start school.

It begins, "He is looking at me!"

"Nuh huh ~ He is looking at me!"

**Sigh**

God reminds me of the poster board in my room, I recently pulled out.

The older children come running.  Hanging over my shoulders.

What are you doing?

Shhh!

Still sitting at the table, the two youngers are still looking at each other and annoying one another.

Supposedly, trying to do school but can't 'cause "HE" is looking at him.

** SIGH **

And I plop these poster board dividers down and tell them to do school.

They laughed.

I didn't, my sense of humor had left me.

I think I forgot to ask God, to sustain my humor for the day.

I wish I could say it solved all my problems. 

One of my "sweet" little gifts discovered the poster board shielded him from my view and he snuck away to play instead of doing school.

**SIGH**

But at least they weren't looking at each other.

 

Quoteables courtesy of THE MAN

Riding in the car I hear lots of chattering of course but I hear "MOM, THE Man is using his middle finger...HELP! "
Good Golly, 
MAN!  You can't use your middle finger to point.  It offends people.  Some people would be so offended they would beat you up.  NOT GOOD!  STOP!
THe Man: okay
Sigh, and I continue to drive and there is more indistinct chattering.  Not sure that it is indistinct or if I am trying to go into "my world," but I picked up this blurb that made me wrinkle forehead and ask myself, "What?"
From the backseat...
The Man: You can go to Heaven or Satan's world.
There is some more chatter.  I am chuckling to myself over his way of saying hell.
Then I hear
The Man: It's a bad word and I have to come up with a way to describe it.  (Satan's world)
About this time Fun Girl gets involved and asks, "What letter does it start with?"
The Man:  an F
I am thinking, "Man I have failed!  He doesn't know the letter sound at the beginning of hell."
Fun Girl asks: Does that word have 3 or 4 letters?  She is remembering this conversation.
The Man: 4
Laughter... full on laughter...side splitting laughter.  I didn't clarify anything.  Because it could have been anything.  But Fun Girl is old enough, she knew this could go anywhere and she lost all control of herself and laughed herself silly. 
Which led to her telling me she retold this story to the lifeguards at work.  How they laughed!  Big mistake cause The Man overheard.  Up to this point only letters and numbers had been spoken.  NO words.  He had to ask about THAT word again.  To which then Dad's Bud flips out and can't believe he said the word. 

AND off it comes !!

Friday it was officially off!

The cast that is.

Hockey Player was up and ready to go.

I have never seen him so excited to go to the doctor.

He missed 4 hockey practices.

He had big plans for the night.

The cast was just adding insult to the injury.

 

AhhH!  relief is in sight.

Then doctor gave him instructions!

NO ice time till Wednesday.

That would be 5 days.

OH MY!!!

I thought the dad and son were going to fall into the floor.

There is a tournament coming up.

Doctor's face didn't crack.

Not one bit.

He didn't give an inch.

NO ICE TILL WEDNESDAY,

unless of course we want to come back in and see him.

For 5 days he is to work on flexibility and regain range of motion and strength.

You should of seen the pleading in my men's eyes.

Just a little bit of ice... he has to play on Saturday.

It was a good thing I was there.

I get to hold them accountable.

I don't know who was more disappointed, the dad or Player.

After limping this weekend and working so hard on getting range of motion back,

I think Hockey Player is getting a good dose of understanding.

There has been plenty of limping and wincing as he gets that foot and ankle back

to where he wants it to be. 

But don't be fooled, this kid when he gets back on the ice, he will leave it all out there on the ice.

He doesn't slow down. 

The doc knows this.

He has a warrior's heart

and he will fight wounded if not strapped down and sat on by his mother.

I just remind these two brutes of mine,

Gotta live in this body for the rest of your life.

No point in destroying it in the first 13 years and living in pain for the next 80.

 

 

Life Requires a Sense of Humor....

Fortunately for Fun Girl, she wasn't home.

My allergies are bad.  Ragweed is my nemesis this time of year.

Mostly my eyes are affected.

I step outside and they swell and water.

They itch.

They get tired. 

I spend a lot of time like this.

Cold Compresses to reduce the Swelling.

Often, I doze off for a while as well.

 

 

 

So when I needed to show the Dad what needed to be done in the yard/garden,

I had to take serious steps.

I refused to shower first....

cause the shower would remove all the gunk from my being that makes me sneeze and wheeze.

But what about my eyes?

My sunglasses weren't going to be enough.

So in my jammies, I ventured out.

Then I heard giggles and my IPhone.

Iphone in the hands of Hockey Player.

He is no longer my sweet quiet child.

He is onery, squirrely and obnoxious.

I turned my back and laughed.

Dad reminded me it was his birthday.

So I turned around and smiled.
How cool is that!! 
I told him that would be his birthday present.

 

 

And since you can't tell in the above photo, we had to take one of the feet.

mismatched flip flops.

 

 

Fun Girl's response:  "I Can't Believe you Went Outside!"

WHat will the Neighbors THinK.

UmmMMM We have OnLY LivEd hErE for 17 YeArS.

I think they have seen it all from us.

 

Then I told her, I would blog it.

Her response,
"If you want to embarrass yourself that way!"

I love my FUN GIRL and HOCKEY PLAYER

 

Wednesday night quoteables

 Dad's Bud

at Awana asks Commander Evans,

"Do you know what is better than a hug?"

~"Nothing is better than a hug," and he gives her a great big one.~

 

 

At Awana ~ The Man is learning a new verse.

 

Children, obey your parents in the Lord

for this is right.

Ephesians 6:1

He looks at his leader and says,

This should be easy!

 

He thinks super hard.... he is struggling to get the "for this is right"

 

Leader comes to tell me this,

and then she adds, "I just couldn't figure out what part was suppose to be easy."

"The reciting the verse, or living it out."

 

I asked him at home.

Didn't get an answer.

Best to claim the fifth anyhow when you are 6 going on 7.

What on earth? Better yet what on high seas?

 

It is Hockey Player still. 

So the plastic bag trick doesn't work too well in the shower.

He had to get another cast.

I begged. I pleaded.  I offered this kid $20 to get a hot pink cast.

To get out of his normal color palette.

Nope

I offered $40.

Still no.

I offered his choice of places for lunch.

Still no.

I offered $40 and lunch.

Still no. 

He is a man of principles and he sticks to them. 

For that I am very proud.

 

Considering he would only be stuck with it for a week, I am shocked.

His jeans are long and baggy. They cover it up. 

Glad he didn't take his mother's money though.

As for lunch, well it was food and he was happy.

He was really happy when I showed up to his piano lessons with pizza in the suburban.

It was an eat in the car kind of day!

And yes, minus one slice, he did all that damage. 

 

 

 

 

Cause you just can't have enough shoes....

Pretty much a daily occurrance:

Time to go, get your shoes on.

I must tell them to get their shoes on.

Some, have thought is was perfectly okay to leave home without shoes!?!?!

What they were going to do when we arrived, I have no idea.

Definitely a source of exasperation to a mother on the go.

 

Fun Man shows up..

Something tells me to look down.

 

 

No!

"But I can do it!"

No.

"I will put socks on Mom, it will work."

No.

"Mom I can't find my shoes."

No. You can't wear socks with your flippers.

"I will put socks on, it really will be ok."

No.

Dad tells him, to go find his shoes.

Now it is not like we don't keep some back up shoes on hand

for this boy.  He is forever losing shoes.

He has been known to leave the house in two, I am saying two different shoes.

For instance, a sandal and a tennis shoe!

His brother saves him and announces he has found his tennis shoes.

Relief

Fast forward several days.

Mad family cleaning session.

I find another "flipper" as I call them. 

Ask if it is The Man's?

"YES!!  Cause I had only 2 left feet.

Now, I don't"

Yep, you are correct, you don't have 2 left feet.

Woohoo!

This boy makes me smile.

 

**Same cleaning day**

In the storage room cleaning.

I find a lonely shoe.  No mate.

I have a box upstairs of lonely mismatched shoes waiting to find

the other one in the pair.

I holler for Dad's Bud to come here.

I hand him the shoe and instruct him to take it upstairs to the box,

if he doesn't know where the mate is.

If he knows where the mate is, collect the mate

and put the pair in the correct bedroom.

His response,

"It must be mating season for the shoes today"

 

Really, not making it up.

I couldn't come up with one that good if I tried.

Reasons for Homeschooling...

There are lots of reasons to home school.

 

Personalized education

 

Health concerns

 

Religious preferences

 

Personal convictions

 

It's fun

 

You want to travel as a family

 

Sports

 

Personal interests/pursuits

 

 

And if you asked Dad's Bud, he might say cause he likes to do school

this way:  

 

 

 

 

Just for our friend Princess Brylee...more gaps all around

Just for you Miss Brylee over at The Cav 5

Little Princess lost yet another tooth.

Hopefully, you have discovered the joy of the Tooth Fairy.

Sisters and Brothers, treasures from God

Big O Daddy O was trying to get Hockey Player to decide if he wanted to go to a Hockey Clinic the other day.
Kind of shocking that we were having trouble getting a response out of him.
He is thinker and we were trying not to push, but we were baffled. 
Little while later, he comes into the room where I am working and asks,
"Doesn't Little Princess get back around 6:30?"  Mental check and it is around 6:00. 
Nope. She gets back sometimes after 9:30.
"Oh, that's right. I do remember reading that somewhere."
Little Princess has been at an amusement park all day.
I am onery enough, I asked him, "You missing your sister."
HP: No
Mom: You missing your sister... yes there was serious teasing in my voice.
HP: No, it is just different with her gone all day.
WHOAAA this momma is enjoying this, cause she was gone to camp not so long ago and this wasn't the daily scenario!  Aha!  my boy actually likes his sister.
Hey, Big O Daddy O guess what!!!???!!
Of course BODO being sometimes more intuitive responds with, "So that is what the problem is?" 
Referring to why we can't get a response out of Hockey Player about the clinic.
So then Big o Daddy O gets in on it and asks him, "You miss your sister? "
HP: Yeah! said all quietly and Hockey Player like.
She is going to be gone for a while, you want to go play hockey?
No decision was made till later, they had to go to the rink to take care of Hockey business.  Later, I saw the debit transaction.  He did get on the ice. 
But I am ever so grateful for a glimpse into this kid's heart.
Willing to forgo hockey for his sister.  Willing to hear all about her adventures.  Something to hold on to and treasure.

This momma's dream is that her kids will be the bestest of friends forever.  It does my heart good to know they enjoy the company of one another.  Went to pick up Little Princess later that night and I let her in on a little secret....Your big brother missed you.  Her response, "That feels good to know. " 

My momma's heart is full.

Like Mother Like Daughter!!! I am so Proud of Her

It was one of those days.  I had been putting it off all week.  The weekend came and I felt crummy.

Hubby gave me a pass and let me rest the weekend away.

I just didn't want to do it.

It was ~

GROCERY Shopping!

With kids in tow!

Mondays the Commissary is closed.

We were scraping the bottom of the barrel. 

But the bonus is, we really cleaned out the freezer, cause this wasn't the first time in the last 6 weeks I pushed off the inevitable. 

With one kiddo on a church outting, and two at home playing games I made my way to the store. 

With not 2 kiddos but 3. 

If you know me well, the math does not add up.

But we were babysitting this particular Tuesday.

Talk about putting things off and not getting any better as time passes.

My kids aren't so bad, but it was a BIG trip.

Did I mention we had no food in the house? 

You aren't suppose to go to the store hungry.

So I popped some popcorn for in the car.

REALLY!

All sorts of suggestions and requests, cause you know, they had seen so much food in forEVER!

And food is a growing child's LOVE language.

and LOTS of IT!

I am couponing.  I am thinking.  I don't have a list, but it doesn't

really matter cause the cupboards are bare and I am just

getting the ESSENTIALS!

We discover lemonade for 50 cents, cause someone left a whole bunch of awesome coupons! 

YEAH!

A few more aisles along, I head to the meat counter and Fun Girl

starts trying to talk to me. 

There are 2 times in my life children are not to talk to me...

when I am paying bills and balancing the checkbook

AND

when I am grocery shopping with coupons and trying to not go over budget.

YEP!

AND my 16 year old Fun Girl is trying to tell me something about BBQ sauce.

Really, cause doesn't she know I don't like the stuff?

Really! 

Let me pick out the MEAT already.  

Not to mention, our friend for the day is asking me all sorts of questions about the meat.

She thinks she is one of mine and keeps asking me if we can buy stuff.

Obviously, she isn't one of mine or she would know NOT to talk to me.

(Are you laughing yet?)

While I am selecting meat she says..."GROSS!!!!

If that is lunch I am not eating it. "

And I am trying to think about anything but lunch

cause when I am done,

 I don't want anything to do with food again for at least 12 hours. 

PLUS, this is the area, that always gets me into trouble.

I, always, go over budget in the meat department. 

So bad so, hubby is suppose to shop with me and take care of it.

BUT, alas, he is not there and I am trying.

And

 they

are

talking

 to

 me.

Further down, she asks, "WHAT IS THIS?"

Brisket.

"OHHHH BEEF"

sure thing sweetie

"MOM the BBQ deal is really good" ~ Fun Girl.

again with the BBQ sauce.

Deep breathe, okay sweetie tell me about this deal.

You buy this, and this and this and it is like free!

HUH?

So I try to do some mental math, but my head is back in the meat dept. 

I left condiments and lemonade a long time ago. 

I come up with well, it will cost us about $4 but okay, just give me the coupons and lets

get the stuff in the cart so I can get back to my meat.

$4 is worth it if they stop talking.

She hads me coupons and then she says,

"Don't forget these!"

What are these?

WHOA  NELLY! 

This deal just got sweeter.

She has learned the fine art of stacking coupons.

It is a 3 part deal.

Coupon for lemonade we found on lemonade shelf.

Plus, coupon for if you buy 2 BBQ bottles and 1 lemonade.

Plus coupon if you buy 2 BBQ.

3 items ~ 3 coupons.

End result

$0.50 overage for each threesome.

It didn't cost me $4.

It provided me with $4 in overage

THAT IS MY GIRL!!!

She was so excited and couldn't wait to tell her daddy.

She did it all on her own.

Good thing my family likes BBQ sauce, cause did I mention, I don't like the stuff!

But I do like the lemonade.

The things I say as a mother.....

The Man was complaining again about showers.  It was a shower or facing discipline from Mom and then Dad the next day.  So he complied.  But complied all too quickly.  In and out of the shower in less than 5 minutes.
He exclaimed, "My hair is wet!" 
Hockey Player confirmed it.
I asked, "But did you use soap?" 
The Man. "NOOOOOoooooooo," he whined.  "I don't like soap.  It hurts my eyes."
Mom, "It doesn't hurt your eyes to use it on your body."
The Man, "I DON'T LIKE SOAP!"
Knowing how this is going to go down, I jumped on the first thought that came to mind.  I don't really want to encourage his precociousness but we are talking the need for soap here.  I have to choose between encouraging his flair for all things Manly and SOAP!  I chose Soap.
Mom, "But if you don't use soap, you won't get all the ladies. Ladies don't like a funky smelling Man.  You won't have all the ladies anymore." 
Silence
The Man, "Fine, I will use SOAP!"
Little while later, 
"Hi momma, smell my hair" 
Mom, "MMmmm smells good and manly."
"I used soap."
Good JOB!  Thank you.

Now to find the bathing incentive for his brother.....

When I Grow Up...

and get married and become a dad.
Those were the words I heard come out of "The Man's" mouth the other day.
I had to shake the shock and finishing listening to what he was going to do...

When I grow up and get married and become a dad I am not going to Sparks and Awana.  I am going to stay at home. 

Silence from Mom.  He was trying to make a point. 
Then I said, "I am sorry, I will be very disappointed in the man you have become if you do that."

Silence.

Why would he say this?  He loves Sparks.  He loves Awana. 

He has recently discovered a favorite show is going to be on tv on Wednesdays.

I quietly told Big O Daddy O about this conversation in the car.  He chuckled and he told me why.

I guess "The Man" has been making his case to Dad recently when he couldn't win me over.  I had told him, I wasn't willing to lock him in the closet and I had given my word to serve at Awana.  I was going to keep my word.

So as he is making his case to Dad he tells Big O Daddy O,

"I have to watch it on Wednesday! It is a new episode!  Then it will be a re-run and I HATE re-runs!"

There you have it.  When he grows up and becomes a dad he will never probably watch tv because he will only get to watch the re-runs. 

Rules of the Road according to Fun Mom

When driving on wet, slippery roads, the speed limit is...........?
Fun Mom:  As fast as you can drive.
laughter  ! ! !
Fun Mom:  Safely,  As fast as you can drive Safely!
Close to the answer given by the book.  Reasonable speed for the road conditions.