Yard Sale Season

One day when I went to pick up Jared from preschool he asked, no begged, to eat lunch at Burger King. I told him that we couldn't...I didn't have money for that. He cried and begged and my heart broke. Then I had an idea, "Jared, why don't we go home and pretend that we're at Burger King. I'll make a happy meal for you."

I was surprised when his eyes lit up and he said OK.

Once we got home I made a counter between our kitchen and dining room and asked him for his order.

"I would like a cup with juice, a straw, chicken nuggets, french fries, and napkins."

While his food was in the oven I got some card stock and made containers for the fries and nuggets just like they do at the fast food places. I made sure he had some juice with a straw and served it to him on tray. He ate everything! I was going to share pictures of our lunch with all of you but I couldn't find the camera. Dan took it to take picture of the garage clean-up.

Jared enjoyed playing 'fast food' so much that I was set on painting a large cardboard box to look like Burger King for him to play in. Until I went to a yard sale this morning. Here are all of our great finds from this morning...

A McDonald's play set - without the play food - cost $5. A pair of boots for $0.50. Four book that cost $0.80 all together.

Jared has been playing with the set all morning. I can't tear him away from it.

Mystery Reader

This month Jared's preschool had a different mystery reader come to each class and read a book to the children. The mystery readers are the parents of the kids, even the child of the mystery reader has no idea who would be reading. There was no way I was going to pass up this opportunity. I took a personal day from work and prepared myself for the reading. I knew one of two things was going to happen. Either Jared was going to be excited to see me there and yell, "Mommy!" or he was not going to be happy that I was at 'his' school and yell at me to "Get out!"

After he went into his classroom (never looking back mind you), I waited in the lobby for the teacher to come and get me. Now, I talk in front of over 100 teenagers everyday without a second thought. That's no problem at all. But, as I stood there waiting I started to get butterflies in my stomach about reading to a bunch of three- and four-year-olds.

Finally Miss Donna comes to get me and tells all the students to close their eyes. I walk into the middle of the circle and sit down. "Okay, everyone open your eyes!"

Jared looks up at me and yells, "Mommy!"

Whew! As soon as I started reading the butterflies flew away. I have to tell you , if you ever have the chance to read to preschoolers jump at it. They are so lovable.

The Bad Guys

My little boy is all about the bad boys. He likes to roll play and every character he pretends to be is a bad guy. Like Swiper or the Grumpy Old Troll from Dora, Brutus and Victor from Geo Trax, and the Dirty Bubble from Spongebob.

Tonight our free fun thing to do was to watch Spiderman. Jared has never seen this movie before and we thought it would be fun. During the scene where the Green Goblin makes his debut, the scene at Times Square, there was a lot of mayhem...police officers are injured, a little boy was almost crushed, Harry was knocked unconscious, and MJ almost fell from a fatal height. At the end of this scene Jared looked very concerned about what he just saw. He looks over at Dan and me with one of the saddest faces that he is capable and asks, "What's the matter with the Green Goblin?"

No More Karate

Dan and I decided that Jared was no longer going to karate class, at least anymore this year. This past week was....embarrassing.

At this particular Karate school, everyone receives a free month to determine if they like the school. Until that time the students (children or adult) don't have a karate uniform. Jared was the only child in the class that was still in his free month and stood out like a sore thumb without a uniform (more than usual).

We finally decided that enough was enough when Jared left the gym floor and started running through the other parents to hide from us. I guess it is our fault, well, my fault. Jared told us that he didn't want to go there that evening. He insisted, "I don't want to go to karate class!" as he crossed his arms, turned his head away, and closed his eyes. Dan looked at me and asked, "Well?" I was taking him. He wasn't going to join something and then quit. I should have listened. Why oh why don't I listen to Dan? Why?

So, picture this....

There are all of these cute little 3 year old children down on the gym floor doing their front kicks all in their little white karate uniforms. Then there's Jared. In his black tee-shirt and gym pants. Yelling, "Mommy! Look at me!" As he pirouetted.

A Long Winter's Nap

Tomorrow is the Christmas party at my Mother-in-Law's house. This is a tradition and so much fun because Santa makes an appearance at this party and everyone gets a chance to sit on his lap and get a present. So, my part is to make the cheesy sausage meatballs for this gathering.


Here's the recipe....

1 40 ounce box of bisquick
4 Cups shredded cheddar cheese
5 packages of jimmy dean sausage.

Mix all together and form into meatballs and bake at about 400 degrees for a half-hour.

Anyway, back to the point of this post. It took me about an hour and a half to make these in conjunction with supper.

Everything was quiet in the living room and I decided to see what was going on. I found Dan asleep on his recliner. And I was a little envious. Not that Dan curls in his chair, but I found myself wishing that I was curled up on my couch for a little nap.

Then I wondered why Jared was so quiet. I looked over at Jared's recliner and he too was sleeping. All curled up in his chair. But, not like you would think.....





Here's another view....

This poor child. Do you think that Santa should bring him a bed?

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Karate Update

So, this week was our third week at karate class. Just to recap...

The first week was horrible. I was so embarrassed. Jared kept running around the gym. He even got some of the other children to not pay attention.

The second week my husband went along. His thoughts were that if things don't get better by the end of the free month we're not paying money. Jared was better for the 2nd week, but it wasn't good. This time he only ran in one-half of the gym. At least he was in the right area, right?

The third week (this week) was super! Dan's thought's...I would pay money for this. Jared did awesome. He stood in line and tried to do what the instructors wanted. He waited his turn in line to hit 'Bob', one of the dummies. I was so proud. I wanted to yell to the other mothers who rolled their eyes at me during week one, "Look, I am a good mother! Take that!"

Who knows what our last free week has in store for us.

Mr. Snowman

This is Mr. Snowman. He has been in our family for a few years now...and Jared LOVES him. Last year he made Mr. Snowman sing so much that the batteries needed to be replaced at least 3 times. The good news is that Mr. Snowman lives at my parents house.

My mom was afraid that one day Mr. Snowman would just stop working and bought a back up. I couldn't find a picture of this back up one online but he's sitting in a sleigh singing "sleigh ride".

Are you familiar with the lyrics? One line is..."Outside the snow is falling and friends are calling you hoo!"

My son believes that the lyrics are this....

are you ready?....

"Outside the snow is falling and friends are calling you poo!"

And he will argue with you. Some friends he has :/

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Karate

First, I'd like to talk about basketball camp. This past summer we enrolled Jared in a week-long basketball camp. I was thrilled that the flyer mentioned ages from 3 on up. Jared just turned three! Yippee, he can participate. My one girlfriend from high school (we played basketball together in school) raved about this camp. She informs me that they bring in all these little nets for the kids, they show them the proper way to shot, etc. I was impressed.


Do you see this picture? That is our week at basketball camp in a nutshell...

The cost for the camp was minimal. It cost $50, but then each child received a certificate, an imbroidered T-shirt, and a quality basketball at the end of the week. But, I still can't believe that I paid money to chase my son around a basketball court and fight with him to listen and pay attention. I could have done that at home for free.

I was embarrassed, and annoyed that there weren't more activities geared towards a 3-year-old who doesn't even understand what a basketball is.

Remember those self-defense classes that I've been taking, well the instructors have a karate school only blocks from our house. My husband and I have been debating whether or not to sign Jared up for these classes. The first month is free, so I figure that I have nothing to lose but my dignity.

This past week I took him there and he did it again. He didn't listen to the instrutors and ran away, but here's the best part....the instructors went and got him and brought him back, and when he ran away they did it again. I couldn't believe my eyes. Instructors that instruct! I will try again next week and see if Jared does better. I can't wait until he gets his little robe thing (I don't know that proper name for it yet).

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