Today

If I were to rate today by the number of hours I have spent in my p.j.s then I'd have to say, "It just doesn't get any better than this!" :-)

Better day

Today was a better day, as far as attitudes go. However, tomorrow will be another winner, as the kids are in bed later than they should be due to Gage's hockey and Scott being out of town. I don't know if most kids are as sensitive about the amount of sleep they get or not, but I can pretty much count on Gage being in a bad mood if he isn't asleep by 7:30-8:00. Emma is not quite so bad in the attitude department, but she is quite difficult to get out of bed in the morning if she doesn't get enough sleep the night before! Now that it's darker earlier, it should be easier getting them to bed at a decent time, that is if we don't have activities going on that night. Emma decided she would go to hockey again today to give it another try. She did much better today, but still she's not happy with her performance. She's already better than I could ever be at skating! I didn't learn that growing up, so I pretty much suck at it now. Gage didn't fight me going to hockey tonight, so that was good. He had fun and actually worked hard tonight and was more aggressive than usual. Maybe he's learning to take his frustration out on the puck? That would be nice! As for me, well, there are 3 1/2 hours left in the day, and I still have 270 lines to go. I don't think I'm going to make it? I don't know if it's allowable or not, but I guess I'll just have to tack those extra lines onto my next week, so I'll have a total of 2270 lines starting tomorrow. UGH! I really try my hardest, but there just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything I need to do. Something's gotta give!

Uff-dah

Uff-dah! What a day! I have a migraine coming on. Emma was mad after hockey because she didn't know the ice would be like that. Scott left for Ames, IA on a trip I had forgotten about. Gage came home grumpy. I have one more day to get 512 lines typed. CALGON, TAKE ME AWAY!

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Today we had Gage's Parent-Teacher Conferences at his school at 3:30. We really like his teacher, and so does Gage. She really likes Gage, so that is great too. He is doing awesome. He will soon be put into an accelerated reading program, and will be the only one in his class. She said there will probably be 2 others joining him in the future. The only concerns we had were about his penmanship and that he is consistently writing a few of his numbers backwards. She thinks he's just in a hurry and gets sloppy with his letters. (He gets sloppy handwriting from his Dad, not me!) She is going to give us a few copies from a book that contains little rhymes about how you write your numbers and letters. Hopefully that will help. She said that she will start getting a little more strict about those kinds of things, so hopefully we can get it taken care of. He will now start having spelling tests. He tells me he hates spelling. He does not get that from me. Spelling was probably one of my favorite subjects (and, if there are any misspellings in my blog, just ignore them, it's getting late and I am tired!) Scott told Gage that since he did so well, we would like to celebrate and he could pick where he would like to go out to eat for supper. He picked China Garden (he does get that from me!). I like ordering too much so I have leftovers for lunch the following day. :-)
After supper Gage and Scott had a Cub Scout den meeting. It was at one of the other scouts' house. Only 2 showed up out of the 4, so it was a fairly quiet meeting.
Emma starts Preschool hockey tomorrow. It goes from 11:45a-12:30p. She is very excited. We had to try her gear on her today to make sure she hasn't outgrown anything. Everything looked good, so hopefully we'll get by cheap with her?
I have 774 lines to type in the next 2 days. Not sure how I'm going to fit that into the schedule, but I will have to get it done some how, some way. Keep your fingers crossed for me. If I can get good dictators, that will be helpful. (Ones that speak English!)
Scott is going out to hunt in the morning but has to be back to work for a meeting by 1:30.
Oh, and before I forget to mention it, we had some SNOW this morning! The kids were very excited. It started snowing a little before we left for school. Emma was trying her hardest to catch some of those wild and crazy blowing flakes on her tongue on her way into school. Scott picked her up from school and said she was quite upset to get outside to see the ground was not even white and it had quit snowing! It won't be long and they'll be sick of it! North Dakota definitely has 4 seasons, but winter is the longest. You can tell it's getting cold because at Gage's school they already have 2 banquet tables out in the hallway full of lost mittens, hats, sweatshirts, etc. I should have gone and picked out a few extra mittens, as I'm sure Gage's will be lost soon.

Hockey

Gage's hockey season is in full swing. This past summer, I signed him up for the summer hockey program, thinking it would be great exercise AND he really likes hockey. Well, I had no idea that it would cause burnout. At the end of the few week long program, Gage was done. He had had enough. He wasn't trying and it was totally obvious. When I asked him what was up, he told me he didn't want to play hockey anymore. I was a little surprised. However, soon after this, it was time to sign up for the fall/winter hockey program. I asked Gage if he wanted to play. He wasn't sure. I gave him a few weeks to think about it, as I had that amount of time before I had to pay the fee (which was over $200!). Gage decided that yes, he did want to play afterall. I confirmed this with him a few different times to make sure he wanted to play. He said he did. I signed him up and the season started a couple of weeks ago. We have had a fight EVERY TIME he has practice. I keep reminding him that I gave him the choice as to whether he wanted to play or not, and he chose to play. "But Mom, that was a long time ago!" UGH! I told him that we had to pay over $200 for him to play, and we couldn't get our money back. Well, he had practice today and once again, I had to fight him to go. I don't want to force him to play, but I also want him to know that if you commit to something, you need to follow through with it. We went, he had an attitude. After practice when we were in the locker room degearing, I asked him how it was. "It was good Mom!" Did you have fun Gage? "Yes, I liked it!" UGH! What's up with that? I can guarantee that Tuesday, when it's time for his next practice, he's going to throw another big fit!? Does anyone have any tips on how I should handle this situation?

Ballet

I wanted to share a video I took today of Emma at ballet class. This is the second of two videos. I am having problems uploading the first one and I think it's because the file is too big? I hope to figure it out and get it posted for all of you to see. Emma's ballet class is getting ready for a holiday recital and the instructor asked the parents to take video so they can watch it to help them learn the routine. It is very cute, so I hope to get it added to my blog. I want to apologize for the video being sideways. I didn't realize that the camera wouldn't turn it right side up. So, you will either have to put your monitor on its side, or turn your head, risking a kink in your neck! :-)

Busy Holiday Season

The busy holiday season is upon us! I worked this morning for a friend who has a jewelry business where she sells at hospital bazaars. I see that the holiday shoppers are out in full force trying to snatch up all of the great bargains. I usually don't make much money when I work for her because I end up giving it all back because there are some great deals that I want to take advantage of as well. Everything is $5. There are signs up on the walls, at the cash register and on the front of the tables. It's AMAZING to me how many people still ask how much things are! LOL! The sign at the register says "YES! Everything really is $5.00!" I worked until noon because Emma had school today from 8:30-11:30. Emma got to run errands with Dad over the lunch hour so she enjoyed that. Now I need to find some time the rest of today to get some lines typed! There aren't enough hours in the day to get done all I need to do!