Clean Your Room!

Our Thanksgiving was great, thanks for asking.  No, I didn't take pictures.  Moving on.

Miciah's Room

Miciah has trouble keeping her room clean.  I know, I know, she's only 10, but honestly, she's crazy messy.  I've posted about this before.  It's not a new issue.  Sometimes I can't even look into her room without wanting to puke, and that is NOT an exaggeration.  That kind of clutter makes me physically ill.  (So if you ever come to my house and wonder why it's normally pretty clean, you know why.  I'm a selfish person.  Having a clean house isn't optional.  Also, if you're wondering if YOUR house makes me uncomfortable, the answer is no.  It doesn't.)

Rob and I have been talking to her about cleaning her room for the last month.  She always has an excuse for why it didn't get done.  She's too busy with homework.  She had to do piano.  She was playing with her friend.  Rob threatened to go in to her room with a trash bag if she didn't clean up.  But, of course, he didn't actually do that, cause that sounds mean.

Well, Thanksgiving weekend we finally decided enough was enough.  She was gone for a few days, so Rob and I actually went through the room with trash bags.  We came out with 2 bags of real trash, 4 bags of crap that was on the floor or otherwise out of place (including 1 full bag of clothes), and 2 chairs that had been mistreated with a marker.

When I picked Miciah up on Sunday I told her that we had a surprise for her in her room.  She got excited and said, "Did you clean my room?!"  I told her we had.  "Hurray!"  I told her to hang on, cause there was a part she wasn't going to like.  I told her what we had done, and then I gave her a plan to get her stuff back.  Here's the simple plan:

She has to keep her room SPOTLESS for a week, and then she can have back 1 bag at a time.  So that's a 4-week total process.  If she doesn't keep it clean in a week's time, then I get the bag to do with whatever I wish.

That's it.  After those 4 weeks, her room will have to be cleaned weekly, not daily, and she'll have to pick up after every single craft project that she does.  And that's the end of the new rules.

I also talked to her about how it was out of control, she knew it was out of control, and that if she can't take care of her stuff better than that, then she can't get any Christmas presents, either.  Cause that's what mean parents do.

Miciah was silent.  I asked her if she was mad at me.  This is the best part of the story:
She said, "No, I'm mad at myself."
That surprised me.  I asked her why.
"Because you did what you should have done.  I didn't take care of my stuff, and you told me that it would happen."

And in my head I shouted, "YESSS!"  How many times are we going to get that kind of parental validation from our kids?  Like, about never more times.

So has she been keeping her room clean?  Umm, yes.  I've never seen it cleaner.  I've been very, very impressed.

Elijah's Room

To give Miciah's story a parallel, let's talk about Elijah.  Elijah also doesn't like cleaning his room, but he does it every time I ask.  EVERY time.  He's not a huge detail person, though, so often things get thrown on shelves or under the bed.  Mostly I don't care.  At least the floor is clean, right?

But lately he's been asking for some pictures to put on top of his bookshelf.  That baseball one that I put in the last post, plus the team photo.  I told him that it wasn't possible, because he didn't have enough room for any more stuff.  He protested, saying that there was plenty of room.  I spelled it out for him a few times, saying that there was just too much crap in his room.  Toys, papers, junk.  He didn't fight me after that, but he did bring it up a few more times, and I laid down the same expectation:  If you want pictures up, then CLEAN your room.

So he did.  (Pause on that line for a second.  Take it in.  "So he did.")  For an hour and a half one night, he cleaned his room.  His friend came over to play, and Elijah told him that he was busy.  When he finished, there was not a scrap of paper left, toys had been taken downstairs, and the tops of the bookshelves were nearly spotless.  Clearly, there was a place for those pictures now.  He came out and said, "There, Mom.  I cleaned my room."

Here's another thing that I love about Elijah.  He didn't immediately demand that the pictures be put up.  He didn't get all snotty about how great he was, though he was obviously proud of his hard work.  He just left it at that, "My room is clean," and moved on with his day.

So of course the pictures are up now.  Love that child.  Sometimes he doesn't like when things aren't done his way, but give him another way, and he meets your standards and then some.

Grateful

Thanksgiving is past, but I kind of want to continue the Grateful posts until Christmas!  What a fun exercise!

But I won't do that.  Cause that would be a lot of a lot.  One last Grateful post should do it.

I'm grateful for my family.  Here's a picture:

The ones in orange are the snake and the fish.  I don't know what's wrong with all of our eyes.  Though I have to say that my eyes look the best.  Not trying to brag or anything, but the truth is the truth.

I'm grateful for this little boy:

We've started working with him on how to calm down.  It's lovely Patience Practice.  ...  Also, I have to say that months back I finally, in total sincerity, asked the Lord to help me attain more patience.  I quietly asked to skip over life-threatening illnesses and such, and I'm grateful that we've dodged that bullet for now.  However, there have been a LOT of opportunities for me to gain greater patience, and I'm insanely grateful for that.  I feel much calmer and happier and at peace.  Love it, love it, love it.

There are a billion other things that I am grateful for, and I'm not going to list them all.  If I like you, then you should know that you're on the list.  If I don't like you but you somehow make my life better, then you're probably on the list, too.  If I don't like you and all you do is weigh me down, then I'm grateful that I can practice charity towards you.  It's a work in progress.

Okay.  NOW Christmas can start!

Grateful for 382,037

Today I'm grateful for this:

I am convinced that our van has magical powers.  Proof:

1 - It has 382,037 miles on it.

2 - Some mechanics looked it over this week and agreed as a group that the van is in GREAT condition for as many miles as it has on it.  They couldn't find anything wrong.

And finally, the one that impresses me the most:
3 - Our van has me wrapped around its finger.  I don't know how it has done this, as I typically do not love cars.  Cars are ... vehicles.  But I have come to realize that every time I talk about the van I use human characteristics to describe it.  Things like, "Our van's an Old Man."  and "In the Winter it has a hard time waking up.  I turn it on and for the next five minutes, it says, "Hey!  What are you doing?!"

This van was the first vehicle I drove, my Senior year of High School.  The van and I were young together.  And now we're aging, him faster than me.  Van years are like dog years. But it feels like we were meant to be together.  For the beginning, and now for the glorious end.

Every day I wake up and I don't know if the van will run when I turn the key.  But each day that it does, I feel somehow that he's on my team.

So, thank you, Old Man.  I love the soul hidden beneath your metal.

Grateful for the Busy-ness

(I wrote this 3 days ago, meaning to post 1 Grateful blog post every day this week.  Clearly that didn't happen.  But it didn't because we've been busy.  Which is fitting for the post topic.  Thankfully, we've been busy hanging out with loved ones this week.  Blog or spend time with family, that was the question.)

One of the things that makes it so easy to forget to be grateful is the fact that we are busy.  Rob and I end up swapping the kids back and forth on our way out the door.  There's more to be done than can possibly be accomplished.  There's more that we want to say to each other than we have time to fit in.  Some days we run and run and run and still nothing seems to get done, and our exhaustion is all we have to show for it.

It can be a real downer.

But lately I've truly been grateful for the busy-ness.  It really sharpens our focus.  It's easy to see what we need and what we don't need.  Somehow it's easier to be soft and kind, because both of us realize that the other is working Hard, and both of us are trying our best.  I'm quicker to let things go, to forgive and forget, and kiss and make up.  (Rob didn't need to work on this, because he's always been good at it.)  I'm more focused on creating a happy environment at home because our home really is where we come to be at peace and wind down.  We don't have time to have an unhappy home.

So it's become a great ... purging experience for me.  I feel like a lot of my most important relationships - with myself, with my Heavenly Father, with my spouse and kids - have become simpler and yet more meaningful.  It's hard to explain.  A lot of the extra crap that I'd let exist because it COULD exist, I've striped that away.  There's just no time for extra baggage.

Plus, the busy-ness makes us 100x more grateful for the down time we do have.  I've started creating some down time every day, cause I need it.  I don't feel guilt about it, and I don't think about what I have to do next.  Then, when we get down time together as a couple or as a family, it's cherished time.  On top of that, it makes me want to do more with the kids!  There are 2 nights a week that I'm gone, so when I'm here, I want to be with them.  It makes everything more important somehow.

So hurray for busy-ness and the clarity it brings.  I feel like Heavenly Father is aware of us, that He's guiding and directing us, and I feel a singleness of purpose, even though there are so many things we're trying to accomplish.  This is one of our choicest blessings right now, and I am immensely grateful for it.

Grateful for Tithing Settlement

Today I'm grateful for tithing settlement.  If you're unfamiliar with the concept, it's our once-a-year chance to go in to our Bishop and declare ourselves a full tithe payer.  It's not mandatory - we signed up to do it - which means it doesn't feel restrictive.  It's a totally optional experience, and one that I happen to enjoy.

We were able to go in just this past Sunday and declare ourselves full tithe payers.  And it was a fun learning experience.

The first thing we noticed was that one of our tithing payments had been put down in the records as having gone to Tank's name.  Which made it look like Tank had made quite a bit of money for a 5-year-old.  We giggled about that.  (If you're wondering how that happened, remember that Tank's first name is Robert.  Then think about computer systems, lists of names, and then finding the first Robert Thacker and clicking on that name.  Easy mistake.)

Then the Bishop looked at each of the kids in turn and asked if they were full tithe payers.  Miciah said, "I didn't pay any this year."  The Bishop said that was okay, since she probably didn't make any money this year.  She thought about it and said, "I just got birthday money.  I'll pay tithing on that next week."  The Bishop put her down as a full tithe payer.

He turned to Elijah and asked the same question.  Elijah flat-out refused to say he was a full tithe payer.  He hadn't made any money, and he hadn't paid any tithing, and he was adamant that this meant he was NOT a full tithe payer.  The Bishop marked him down as a full tithe payer anyway.

Then he turned to Tank and asked him.  Tank looked at the paper in his hands and thoughtfully said, "I don't know how to read."  The Bishop said, "That's a 'yes.'"

Rob and I each were asked in turn, and it always feels really good to look over the numbers, realize how much the Lord has blessed us, and then declare that we are, indeed, full tithe payers.  There's a sense of pride and love that wells up inside of me every time.

But I'm most grateful for this tithing settlement because of the experience with the kids.  Last year the kids had been earning money for Key West, so they had tithing to pay.  And they really liked that.  We didn't even think about it this year, but we changed systems, they didn't earn anything this year, and so they didn't pay any tithing.  Miciah found a way to still pay something - scrounging up birthday money (we don't make them pay on gifts - that's a personal decision, and you can interpret gifts how you will).  But Elijah REFUSED to say he was a full tithe payer.  And while I'm glad the Bishop marked him down as one anyway, because the Bishop has a kind, discerning heart, I was touched that Elijah felt so strongly about it.  Elijah wants to be good; he wants to do all he can to serve the Lord.  He obviously felt that without paying any tithing, something was lacking. 

Rob and I determined to pay our kids something this next year, so they could pay some tithing.  Even if we don't do it all year (the idea was to save money), we could do it part of the year.  And then, when it comes time for tithing settlement in 2012, they can say with pride and love, "Yes, I am a full tithe payer!"

Grateful for Blue Monsters

It's Thanksgiving, and I'm ready for Christmas already!  Seriously, all the presents have been purchased, and I am READY.  This is actually the first year I've been ready to skip over Thanksgiving, but it's also probably one of the years I need it most.  With our lives at a faster pace than normal, I think it's extra important to remember all the great things we have.

So today I'm grateful for this blue monster:

I am not normally a sucker for buying things we don't need.  It's not that hard, and I'll tell you my secret: 
Rule #1:  Focus on what you already have and how great it is.
Rule #2:  Never go shopping with the kids. 
Rule #3:  If you do go shopping with the kids, because you forgot Rule #2, get used to saying "No."  Over and over and over. 

But this time Tank and I were at Target buying clothes for Elijah (broke my own Rule #2).  Tank looked over and saw some hats that he wanted.  He asked for the tiger hat.  It was an alright hat, but he didn't need a hat, plus all the hats were a smidgen too small.  I told him no.  And then he outsmarted me.  "How about the blue monster hat?"  I hesitated.  That hat was dang, dang cute.  I decided it wouldn't hurt to walk over and let him try it on, even if we weren't going to buy it.

And of course, once he tried it on, I was in love, and I had to buy it for him. 

Moral of my shopping story:  If you break Rule #2, you'll most likely end up breaking Rule #3.  But you'll also probably end up with a really cute blue monster.

Just Pictures

After my last post I got a lot of "are you okay?" comments.  Yes, yes, we are doing well!  Part of the blessing of a time crunch is that we don't have time to hassle with un-well-ness.  Things are resolved as quickly as possible so that we can go back to enjoying time together when we can.  And there are times when things aren't THAT busy.  Times like these:

And times like these:

And like these:

Purchasing and carving pumpkins AFTER Halloween is much easier on the pocket book.  I think that's our new yearly plan.

And we've had plenty of time to play with our new favorite pet  who is now officially named Cuddles.  There are about 20 billion reasons why a ball python is better than a dog.  Here are a few:

And if you're wondering why it was named a ball python, here's a clue:

Note, that's after we pulled him out of the cage.  He sits like that all the time, and often he'll stay like that for a few more minutes after we pull him out, until the kids prod him into moving.  ...  A ball python, I've decided, is a bit more like a toy than a pet.  Which is fine by me.  Best toy ever!

Little moments of good times hold our family's life together.  I'm determined to be a bit less stressed this term and a bit more focused on creating good moments with and for the kids.  Wish me luck!

Rob and Tamra Update

Boring, boring, boring!  But after the kid update, I got a request for a Rob and Tamra update, so here goes.

Short update:  We're stressed.

Longer update:

Rob

Rob still has his lab job at Children's Hospital, which he enjoys, and is enjoying more and more as time goes on.  He applied for a teaching job at the University of Cincinnati (UC), but he hasn't been contacted, so it's almost definitely a No.

The reason that job sounded so inviting is that it would have allowed Rob to stop working 3 and jobs at a time.  Rob is teaching an introductory-level Biology class, with lab, every Tuesday and Thursday night at Northern Kentucky University.  He LOVES it, but it's hard to be away from family so much.  Then, when he's home, he has to prep lectures (though not as much any more, since he's been teaching the same class for almost 2 years now), grade papers, etc.  At the same time, he's also teaching an on-line class for UC.  Sometimes he teaches 2 sections of it.

These extra jobs allow for several things.

1 - Paying off the grad school debt that we accumulated when we thought Rob would graduate and be working an industry job and raking in $90,000/year.  He's making about half that right now.  ...  Not that making less is a problem, because it's not.  But being in debt IS a problem.  We're still on track to be debt free (except the house) in 2013, give or take a year.  That will be the biggest raise we've ever had.  Right now between $700 and  $900/mo. is going towards debt re-payment.  That's like a second mortgage.

2- It's giving Rob teaching experience.  It turns out, though, that this is not helping him stand out from the rest of the job applicant pool.  We were told that it would.  Those people lied to us.  We're not bitter about that, it's just interesting.  What it means is that Rob is now more motivated to get some stellar research done.  He's working on a publication right now that's due on Tuesday.  That's a guaranteed publication, too, so slam dunk for Rob.  He has 2 others that he hopes to get out in 2012.

3- It pays for my school tuition.

Rob working for Edith, who is an angel in human form, is one of our greatest blessings.  I know I say that a lot, but I say it as much as I can.  You guys have no idea how much she has changed our family's life for the better.  Rob is just now figuring out that he's good at science, that he can be successful at it, and that he just might want to do this for the rest of his life.  Edith is an excellent mentor and boss, and I'm encouraging Rob to stay with her until something Amazing comes his way.  Who knows when that will be.

Tamra

School pretty much dominates my life right now.  This last week was my week off (Cincinnati State is currently on a 9-week term schedule, but that'll change in Fall 2012), so I've been savoring it.  Doing all those things that I haven't done in weeks.  Like folding the laundry while humming.  And doing a project with the kids.  And saying things like, "It'll all be alright," when Rob looks uber-stressed (instead of saying, "Yeah, me, too.").  It's been a much-needed break.

I volunteer at the kids' school 4 times a month, which doesn't seem like a lot, and it's probably not, but it's about all I can handle.  Otherwise, afternoons are my homework time.  Or my time to not do homework because I'm so stressed that I can't even think about it.  Rob makes dinner now, which helps me a ton, and I take care of the house except for that, and it works out pretty well.

The large upside to school is that I'm succeeding.  Cincinnati State is a community college, which means it's ... not to sound cocky ... below what I'm capable of doing.  I ace tests and papers with little effort.  I feel for the students who find it difficult.  ...  I say little effort, but I'm putting in quite a bit of effort.  School is a process I enjoy, and I very much dislike doing poorly on any assignment.  My lowest grade on anything so far was a 90% on a homework assignment, and I was mad at myself.  It's amazing how being 30 and feeling like I don't have time to waste changes my entire perspective.  It didn't bother me, dropping out of college when I was 21.  That's not an option this time.

I also have lots and lots of opportunities to sign.  About every other weekend I'm at some deaf event, signing away for hours.  I love it.  I've also been interpreting once or twice a month at church.  I was able to interpret for a deaf investigator meeting with the missionaries.  That was a new experience for me, and I helped more than I hurt, so that's good.  ...  I'm learning a lot and improving a lot. 

Our Family

School for me and 3 jobs for Rob means that our kids are getting the short end of the stick.  We re-connect as a family over the weekend, and it's sacred time for all of us.  The kids aren't involved in sports or any extra activities except for Miciah's piano on Wednesday nights.  That's all we can handle right now.  I feel kinda bad about that, but I know that the situation isn't forever.  And maybe it's good for them to know that sometimes we can't have everything we want, and that a family sacrifices together.  I dunno.

We don't hang out with friends much any more, which sounds sadder than it is.  Rob and I hardly find the time to hang out with each other, so hanging out with friends is almost a burden right now.  That sounds so friendly of me, right?  The situation isn't upsetting or depressing, it just is what it is.  Certain things have had to drop for our family to be successful.  That's not sad at all.  It's necessary.

What's been fascinating to me is seeing how much peace I've had through the whole process.  I hate stress.  Hate it.  I avoid it like ... like something that should be avoided at all costs.  Sure, some days I break down.  But mostly I'm steady.  I have the time to do what most needs to be done, and I don't mind doing it.  I need less down time than normal, and I feel like Heavenly Father is strengthening our family.  I get the sleep I need.  I get and give the hugs I need.  And I know that this is worth everything we're putting into it.

It's a good life.

Recipe

For those who want to try the chili from the previous post, the recipe is here.

It's seriously good.  Very robust.  The spiciness has a lot of nuance, which makes sense when you look at the ingredients list.

Our adjustments:  apple juice instead of beer (on-line I read that you could switch it out for several things, including white grape juice.  We didn't have any of that, so I used apple juice instead).  And we added 2 cans of kidney beans for the last hour of simmering.  The recipe doesn't call for beans, so it's essentially just a fancy meat sauce.

Have fun!

(And if you're in my ward, no fair making it for the next chili cook off!)

Chili Cook Off Almost Fail

Ready for candy.

This year I decided to actually make chili for our ward's trunk-or-treat / chili cook off.  Except I don't make chili, so I looked up a recipe on-line.  It said it was award-winning.  Honestly, I just picked the first one I saw.

I substituted out the beer for apple juice (why not?).  I bought the special hot sauce that it required.  I even bought ground pork, another first (I wasn't previously aware that this was available to purchase).  I came home, and started out on my quest to make some great chili.

After it had been simmering for about an hour, I tasted it.  HOLY SMOKES it was spicy hot!  I thought to myself, "A bowl of that might just kill someone."  I went back to the recipe to see why it was so hot.  My eyes got big when I saw the amount of hot sauce the recipe called for:  1/2 tsp.  Any guesses for how much I actually added?  ...  Higher.  Guess higher.  ...  Remember that I never cook with hot sauce.  Might want to double your guess.

A cup.  I added a cup.  ...  That's 96 times more than a half teaspoon.  ...  After it was all said and done, I called my mother to tell her and she just laughed and laughed.  It turns out that everyone else knows that a cup of hot sauce is a gargantuan amount.

But I didn't want to waste 3 1/2 lbs. of meat.  So I drained off all the liquid, which we kept for future seasoning purposes (taco meat anyone?), and then put the meat back in the pot and re-added the liquid ingredients, except for the hot sauce cause I figured the meat had absorbed quite enough of that in an hour's time.  Luckily I had given myself plenty of time, so it wasn't a big deal.

The end result?  It was delicious.  We got second place, and we're convinced that we only missed first place because it was so good that it ran out first.  People loved it and Rob and I only got to eat the little bit we had before the event.  So we'll be making it again in the next few weeks.  Though without the extra steps.  (Add a cup of hot sauce.  Let simmer for an hour.  Drain the liquid.  ...)

Celebration

Celebration is such a non-celebratory word.  It's so ... boring-sounding.  It's not like party, which is fun to say and even funner to say loudly.  Anyway.

Last night was Parent-Teacher Conferences.  Rob and I went together to all 3 conferences, one right after the other, rapid-fire-like.  And, pleasantly enough, they were all great.  We heard good things about our kids, which is nice, cause we think they're pretty good kids.  A short sum-up of how they're doing in school:

Miciah - 4th Grade

(As a side note:  Miciah loved that the picture captured the one zit on her forehead.  It's a sign of growing up, and she was kinda proud of that.  Funny.)

As always, she's loving Language Arts.  She's in an advanced Language Arts program, which means harder homework and higher expectations.  She's loving it.  She was so proud of herself for acing spelling tests 2 weeks in a row this month.  She has a lot of homework this year, but she does it without complaining most nights, and I hardly ever have to remind her.  That girl is a Get-it-Done Machine.

We met with her Math teacher who was shocked to learn that Miciah has never liked Math.  When she told us how well she was doing, I stopped and said, "Yeah, I wanted to ask about that.  What in the world are you doing in class?  Miciah LOVES it!"  And who knows what the secret really is, but she's tearin' it up.

About a month into school, Miciah brought home her first timed multiplication test.  I stared at the page, with the 100% circled in the top right corner.  "Was this timed, Miciah?"  She said it was.  "How long did you have to do it?"  She'd finished the whole page, which she'd almost never done in 3rd grade, so I thought she was going to tell me that they'd had 10 minutes to do it.  When she told me she'd finished it all (correctly!) in 5 minutes it was all I could do to not say, "Really?!!"

The teacher we met with, who is also her homeroom teacher, also gave her a very nice compliment.  She said, "Miciah is just so comfortable being Miciah.  She doesn't seem to care what other people think."  And it's true.  I don't know how long she'll hold onto that (hopefully forever, right?!), but it's wonderful.

Elijah - 2nd Grade

Our spastic child is also quite smart.  Which often leads him to believe that he knows everything.  Sometimes Rob has to hold back his I-want-to-smash-you-to-show-you-that-you're-not-all-that feelings cause, you know, Elijah is our son after all.  We don't want him to have a complex.

But he's doing great in school.  He's loving Math and often challenges himself at home with harder math problems.  He'll say, "Look, Mom.  I'm stretching my brain."  Love it.  The one "complaint" that his teacher had is that Elijah struggles with showing how he got his answers on Math tests.  That whole show your work thing.  She says when she brings it up with him, he'll just look at her as if it say, "Well, the answer is 8.  That's obvious."

We worked really, really hard with Elijah on his handwriting last year.  Well, that takes away from his achievement a little.  Elijah worked really, really hard, and we pushed him to do so.  He just didn't understand why his teacher should be able to read his papers.  He'd always say, "Well, I can read it."  So it's nice to see all that hard work paying off.  Now they'll start working on writing, which should be a nice challenge for Elijah.  Typically, he's the kid with less to say (see the above paragraph in relation to Math).  I'm interested to see how he does.

Teancom - Kindergarten

I've said this before, I think, but Tank LOVES Kindergarten.  His teacher is one of those genuinely nice people.  The type you meet only a few times in a lifetime.  He adores her (and truth be told, so do I).

It's funny.  Tank never was into coloring or reading or any of that before Kindergarten started.  I was worried that he would have no interest in what they were doing in school.  But his love for learning took over and is helping him overcome his desire to do nothing.  (The boy can lay on the floor for hours.  Not joking.)  His teacher told us that he really loves science, which isn't new information to us, it's just interesting that she noticed it, too.  They've done a few science experiments, and she said that Tank's eyes light up every time.  It must be genetic, cause that's totally his father.

Teancom is sounding out words like a champ, and is beginning to read.  He knows all his letters, can write his name correctly, can count to 100, and loves to color.  I list all that because these were all things that he couldn't or wouldn't do as of August.  AUGUST!  It's been fantastic to see his explosive academic growth.

Unique to Teancom's growing up experience (for my kids) is that he gets to go to a babysitter's house 2 mornings a week.  We are super lucky that it's our good friend, Rachel, who loves Tank and treats him like a king.  Teancom adores her and LOVES going to her house.  It's such a relief to me to see that, cause I feel just a smidgen guilty about not being with him, even though I know that me going to school right now is good.  He begs to go to her house and is disappointed when I have time off school.  That's a perfect arrangement.

Tank loves to do his homework.  He only gets just a little each week, but he begs to do it as soon as he walks in the door.  He's very self-motivated, like Miciah is.  (Kindergarten year was a struggle with Elijah.  We had to force him to do his homework.  That was true nearly the entire year.  It was brutal.)

Party!

Rob and I drove home and talked about how great it was that our kids are doing well in school.  It was nice to have the teachers all say, "You're doing a great job with your kid," and then honestly respond, "Well, we think you're doing a great job with our kid, too.  Thank you."  We arrived home, Rob turned off the engine, and then he just sat there.  I thought he had something scary-important to tell me.  He said, "We just had these great conferences with our kids.  We only heard good things about them.  Let's do something nice for our kids tonight.  Something to celebrate."  I thought that was a great idea!

So we ordered specialty pizza that we normally don't buy.  We got soda.  We bought 3 kinds of ice cream and let the kids eat it in a cone.  And we ran a fun little science experiment / craft project (folding paper and putting it on water.  Seriously fun).  The kids got to stay up late, and everyone had a great time.

It was a nice reminder.  Our kids really are fantastic little human beings, and they try so hard to be good.  That's definitely something to celebrate.

Here's a cool video about the folded paper on water thing.  Ours weren't this intricate, of course, but it's the same idea:

Flottille (detail) from Etienne Cliquet on Vimeo.