Chinese Mothers

Good morning!  Here's an article on motherhood that I thought was very interesting.  I may even check out ebay and see if I can find her book.  The following is an essay from the same author.  I admire this writers' ability to be completely honest.  She doesn't apologize for anything but admits parenting is a journey.  We learn as we go...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html?mod=ITP_review_0

(More in another post...)

Government Shutdown

We've been following the news regarding the Federal budget and the potential shutdown of the government.  It's been a concern that the shutdown was going to cause my husbands' paychecks to stop.  However, he reminded me last night that he's not paid with taxpayer money.  Yay!   It will still stink to have any sort of government shutdown though.

I thought the following articles were interesting.  We don't realize how far-reaching a government shutdown would actually be.

We've visited this National Monument outside of Charleston, SC.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/07/fort-sumter-reenactment-face-shutdown-budget-deal/

Here's another article on the shutdown:

http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/04/06/administration-paints-picture-possible-government-shutdown

Here's another...

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/04/06/borger.high.school/index.html?hpt=T2

Weather!!

We're waking up to snow again.  The last two days it's been very windy and the boys haven't really been out too far in search of caches.  I guess if they want to find anything, they're going to have to overcome the weather and just venture out in full winter gear.  LOL  Tom has taken the last few days off from work.  Today is his last day off.  They should probably make the most of it.

I've actually been making dinner every night.  Go figure.  I'm not a very good cook at all, but I can do some simple recipes.  We had pizza the first night Papa arrived, one night we had spaghetti,  pork chops and potatoes the next and then last night baked ziti with caesar salad.   The desserts have been good too.  One night cupcakes, another rainbow sherbet and last night carrot cake (Tommy's favorite).  Tommy loves Italian food and anything pasta.  He's requested stuffed shells tonight.  We'll see... Steven loves chocolate cake but since Tommy's given up chocolate for Lent, we try to avoid it.  However, Steven loved the cupcakes and sherbet.

Robotics, Euchre and Geocaching

Here are a few pictures to let you know what we've been up to the last couple of days.  

Papa came with an early birthday present for the boys.

As you can see, it was a hit and these boys haven't stopped building and programming this robot for two days.

A little break for jelly beans from Aunt Renee...

One of the finished robots...

Outside it was snowing...

A game of Euchre after dinner.

A little Geocaching research was done...

I will explain more about Geocaching in another post.  They've been out searching but haven't had any luck.  Hopefully, they'll have better luck tomorrow. 

Random Stuff:   Tommy's voice keeps cracking.  One morning I expect he will wake up and his voice will be really deep.  In the meantime, he reminds me of Peter Brady (Brady Bunch).  All I can think of is Peter's voice cracking in the episode when they are in a recording studio.  Steven rocks at Euchre.  He and Papa really beat us tonight. 
Here are a few of my favorite websites:  http://www.woot.com/, http://www.ebay.com/, and http://www.amazon.com/.
If you go to woot,  make sure you read their item descriptions.  It's the only reason I visit the website.  So far, I haven't bought anything from them.  Although, they have some great deals.  Anyway, their posts are hilarious.   It's great entertainment.

Look! It's Snowing!!

Woke up to rain, then flurries and now snow!!  Yesterday, it was about 75 degrees and today snow. 

Here's a video from this morning.

A little more snow...

...and a little more.

I took this next video from the door.  It was too windy for me and cold.

Papa is here visiting.  I think he enjoyed this little sprinter storm we had. 

A Change in Perspective

A great article on Lent.   The writer really hit on the reason I needed to give up "two" things for Lent this year.   I didn't feel like I was sacrificing enough to change my perspective if I only gave up Facebook.  So, I added soda as well.  


http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/03/my-take-why-i-observe-lent/?hpt=C1

A change of pace, a change of place and hopefully a change in perspective...

Tommy gave up chocolate for Lent.  The first day back to school I completely forgot and packed him a Ding Dong for lunch.  Ugh.  Now, I rarely buy Hostess Ding Dongs or cupcakes but they were on sale.  So, I picked up a couple boxes.  Poor kid.   He remembered he gave up chocolate and gave the ding dong to a friend.  You don't realize how much food actually has chocolate in it.  Another day, I (as usual) packed him a granola bar.  Guess what?   Yep, chocolate in it.  He didn't eat it and I went out the same night and bought him his next favorite snack bar...Nature Valley Oats N Honey cereal bars.  Yes, I know.  I am a lame mother, but I try.  (That's a blog post for another day.)  

He loves hot chocolate.   Guess what?  Yep, no more nightly hot chocolate with his homework.  He's started drinking a half cup of coffee with lots of creamer.  (Yep, he's my son.)  LOL

I'm sharing this because even though his mom has made many mistakes and tempted him with chocolate, he's been very persistent and determined.  I think Easter is going to be much more meaningful this year for Tommy.  He's given up something and it has not been easy.

Random stuff:  Tommy can type 50 wpm. 
One year I gave up music for Lent.  I think I was 14 or 15 years old.  My Grandma gave me two albums for Easter.  It was Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and Donna Summers "Bad Girls" album.  I had to look up the name of Donna Summers' album on google because all I can remember is the song "Hot Stuff" on that album.

Happy April!

I started a blog post last night on April Fool's Day and then we started a discussion on growing up (again) with Tommy and an hour later Steven came home from his friends' house and wanted to play Euchre.   Needless to say, I was completely side-tracked and my blog was never written.

I hope everyone had a great April 1st!   We are officially on spring break and off for a week.   We are so excited because my father-in-law is flying in this morning.   Yay!   Tom and the boys left already for the Denver airport.  I'm going to clean house and wash clothes while they are gone.  (And write my blog post for the day.)  I think they plan to stop in Loveland or Fort Collins on the way back from the airport and go to Best Buy.  This trip could take hours because Tommy loves anything to do with electronics.  He can walk around that store for hours.  LOL  Tommy thinks electronics and Steven is thinking about where they will stop for lunch.   It makes me laugh.

Today, the temperature is expected to reach 70 degrees.  Wow!  What a great way to begin our week of vacation.  :)  We don't have anything special planned for the week, but Papa wants to introduce the boys to Geocaching.  I will explain more about this once I know more about it.  The great news is that I found out the boys can each earn a Merit Badge in Scouting for Geocaching.  :D

I need to close my post for now.  I will post pictures later after Papa arrives. 

Random stuff:  Steven is looking forward to playing Euchre with Papa.  He wants to show him how good he is at the game.