Be warned I'm venting here...

I am so mad for lack of a better word. I took my kids to McDonalds with a playplace with a friend of mine and her two girls. Seriously, within 5 minutes of my kids playing one of her girls comes out crying, then Red comes out crying both saying that there was a kid inside punching them. I had Red take me inside and I witnessed first hand this kid punching kids. Then I came out and started asking parents who he belonged too. But as I was asking parents at least two of them said their child came out crying too saying someone was punching them. Hmm. I found the mom and right away she got her kid out and all was well in the play place for about 20 minutes. Until two brothers decided that they were going to be the bullies. Two of the three of my kids playing in there came out complaining about them. I told them to stay away from them. And I just kept my eye on them to see where they went to get their drinks between bullying. Then it happened. Monkey got hurt from one of them. I'm thinking great kid I told you to stay away from them. I told the mom and she did nothing but buy them ice cream. Then she comes up to me and says, "I pulled each of my boys aside and asked what happened and your son poking my son in the eye first." I told her that was fine but, "That her son body slamming my son was an inappropriate way to react and that it was unacceptable." Then she says, "Well they are just boys being boys. They are just playing." To which I responded with the sign from McDonalds saying, "ALL children must be supervised. This play land is not a babysitter. I have been watching my kids." Then she says, "I have been told by several people that my boys are very well behaved. And you should talk to your son about poking my boy in the eye." I'm thinking to myself yeah that is why I have been hearing several parents around me comment on how rowdy and misbehaved your two boys are, sure lady. Needless to say, she was in denial that her kids could be bullies, together. Well I get out to the car and find out the only reason why Monkey poked him in the eye, not that it was right, was because these two boys were picking on Red. **When we got home he told me that they were actually sitting on top of Red and not getting off when he asked them too.** Red and GG told me the exact same thing leading up to the poke in the eye. He was trying to protect his baby brother from these bullies. So I'm asking you ladies. How do you handle these situations? Do you just leave the place or tell the manager or the parents. Do you talk to the kid yourself? I hate these places but my kids love them. I hate confrontation even more and I was shacking as I went out to my van. But I'm the protector of my kids, I don't baby them but I'm also not going to sit there and watch them get hurt by other kids bigger then them. These two boys were 7 and 6 years old and the youngest was the same size as GG.

The day is going better than yesterday minus this above incident. There was only one unpredictable thing happen. That was Peanut pooping out of her diaper and all over her clothes. Why is it that there is always poop involved!

Neighbors

I try to live peaceably with my neighbors since almost all of us are outside in the summer. But I just need to vent for a second, there is one lady that has a 3 1/2 year old. SHE. DRIVES. ME. CRAZY. She hovers over her son and then she does that to my children, not to mention last summer she spanked Monkey right in front of me. Yeah I was steaming about that but that is a different story for another time. Anyways, my kids know they aren't to go to into the street even my 2 yr old knows that. When he gets close to the street we tell him to stay back and he listens and if he doesn't then he has to sit on our lap for a time out or we take him inside. Well her almost 3 1/2 year old (he will be 4 in Oct) hasn't grasped this concept yet because she runs after him every time he gets near the street and so he thinks its a game and most of the time runs into the street. It's really nerve racking to watch. Well today I was blowing bubbles and Red was getting close to the street and just as I was telling him to come back she starts running after him, which he thought was funny and then takes off, not into the street but away from her. I couldn't take it and asked her not to chase my children and that they know not to go in the street. I wanted to say, "I am their parent not you so please let me parent them they way I want and you parent your child they way you have been and let me know how that goes in about 10 years when he doesn't know how to handle himself without you around." Of course, I would never really say this to her but I *really* wanted to. It just frustrates me to no end. I just want to know what would you do if she was your neighbor? I think we will be purchasing pool passes this summer and so that we won't be home much!

Makes me want to SCREAM!

This is a major vent from today and I am not in a good mood so sorry if this offends.

Today we took the kids to this placed like is like a glorified McDonalds playland. It is a huge with a carousel and the kids love going there. Every time I go I tell myself I will not go back there again. I get so frustrated. Well I went back today with the same feelings...I'm never going back there again. J tells me I need to be more outspoken and in these moms faces about what is going on but that is just not my personality. Needless to say, Monkey had a really good life lesson today. He was building a castle with another little girl and I was gone for a minute and when I got back he was yelling at these two kids, "PLEASE Stop recking my castle. Stop I was making something." I stepped in and asked what was wrong and he burst into tears. I asked what happened and he told me those kids ruined the castle that he was making. Which when I walked in I saw them kicking at it. As soon as I got there the kids stopped and left, even though their mothers where standing right there. That's the part that bugs me. I told Monkey I would help him make another castle and we played and I ended up making a big pile of the soft blocks and threw him into them. As we were playing one of the "mean" I should really say unsupervised kids threw a ball and starts screaming for someone to get it for him. Monkey ran over and got it. I was thinking what a good kid he is going to be nice even though they weren't nice to him. I was wrong. He just held on to the ball. So the other kid that was part of the destruction of Monkey's castle comes over to him and tries to get the ball from him. She was jumping on him and swatting at the ball. I call him over to me again and ask him if he is holding the ball because they were mean to him. Of course, he says yes. That is such human nature (revenge) but I asked him if that would be what God would want him to do. He said, no. Then I asked him what he thinks the right thing to do would be. He said go give the ball to him. I said yes and you know what you don't even have to say anything but hand it to him. He gave it to him. That was a small trial for Monkey but he learned a huge lesson. We have a choice to be nice or mean. About 20 minutes later these same moms still weren't paying attention and one of their kids hit Red. Well my protective daughter GlamorGirl was standing right there and told the kid not to hit Red so he started hitting her. She pulled Red out of that situation and came right to me. I was there watching and it happened so fast that GG took care of it before I could get there. The mom noticed what was going on...how could you not when two kids are crying pointing at your child saying they hit them. She made her son apologize then put him in time out. After about a minute this mother calls her son over and ASKS him, yes she asked him, do you think your time should be over? Wow, now I know why her kids are like that. I'm sure this is just a small look into her life and maybe it was just a bad day for them but it seems like every time we go there the moms are somewhere else. My kids aren't the only ones to get hurt by these unsupervised kids, either. J tells me I should of said to the mothers, "Do you mind watching your kids so they aren't hurting others." That is way to confrontational for me. J always handles stuff like this way better.

It's Raining

We just came inside because it started raining on us. We had a really fun day today. This morning we met with Monkey's teacher Mrs. S and she let him pick out his locker and seat for the school year and she also gave them a job for the first week of school. Monkey chose paper passer then she let him bring home a computer game he was playing. The only problem was it didn't work in our computer :( After we left school we took the kids fishing. Monkey caught a bunch of fish and GG practiced casting. Then J switched her pole to a bobber and she started catching fish, too. Red did really well he walked around and watched the ducks and saw the kids catch fish. It is a boring sport for a little tike! To top of the fun morning J didn't have to go into work until 4:30 :)

I'm a little upset right now with my extended family...for some reason they seem to think that my brother knows my plans better than I do. Very frustrating considering my brother has no idea what his plans are half the time yet they think he knows what we are doing and where we are going for the weekend. AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH! Sorry but my sister just called assuming I was out of town, because of what Kevin said I was doing.

I find it hard to keep up with this journal because we have become so busy with different activities! Last night the kids and I went to a basketball game for my brother Kyle. He was on a weekend tournament and the first game happened to be 5 minutes from our house. So we went! The kids loved it and it gave us something to do while J was at his probation party. Monkey was cheering for Uncle Kyle before the game even started. It was funny. GG sat with me and watched the whole game I was amazed at how interested she was in it. On one of the time outs the ref gave the game ball to her to hold. That sure made her night! But then this guy sitting next to us decided that Monkey should be holding the ball and took it from her and handed it to him. He wasn't even paying attention to what was going on and would of been fine without the ball. So then Monkey had the ball and decided to throw it so GG got it back, which it should of never been taken away from her in the first place. Adults can do stupid things! Don't we try and teach our children not to take things away from people??? So why would that man take the ball out of her hands? The worst part of it was that Monkey then became upset that GG got the ball after he threw it!!! He shouldn't of even had it to begin with. Well Kyle's team won so that was fun. I have another vent too about school. Just to go along with how some adults can be so dumb. We had a mother (who stays home) bring her child to school with a fever! She gave him mortin for the fever but still brought him. HELLO! Is anyone in there? When we got a hold of dad we found out that he had a fever on Thursday as well, and he was at school that day too. I just felt so bad for the poor little kid you could just tell he felt miserable. When mom came to get him she was in the middle of dying her hair. That is the reason he *had* to come to school? So you could dye your hair! Ok I feel better now. As for today we went to my dad's and got our van!!! The kids are really excited about getting to ride in it. But they aren't too happy about us selling the truck. I totally understand because in the truck they get to sit in the front seat with daddy and it is special. But to keep the truck would be silly of us because with the car it will be able to hold five people...when they are out of car seats! Tomorrow we are tentatively planning on going to the Kid's Expo after church. If we do go it will be great fun. Well that is all I have for now.

So yesterday as I was leaving to go home GG's teacher pulled me aside along with GG. I then witnessed GG reading words!!! The teacher said that she had started with two of the older kids in the class (ones that turned 4 in Sept) and GG said that she wanted to try so Mrs. Sherry let her and she was amazed that she could do it. She is just so bright! I can't believe my baby has started reading. I am so excited because that was a bad subject for me and I really want her to be confident in her reading abilities and it looks like she is off to a great start. I just love this school so much because they are able to work individually with each child so she is never held back on learning. GG loves school too, it is just the greatest feeling in the world to see her excel at learning. Another thing I love about GG's teacher especially is that she never blows smoke up my butt, what I mean about that is she never exaggerates about her abilities and behavior in class. GG's dance teacher is the opposite...she tells me that she is the best dancer in her class and the best listener in class, which she is good at both but then I see and hear her turn around and tell other parents whose kids don't listen at all in the class the same thing. Mrs. Sherry tells me when their are issues with her for instead she wasn't keeping her dress down at school. Then I can address them and we can work together to fix the inappropriate behavior, which is so important to have the teacher supporting you on fixing it! The teacher that I work under likes to blow smoke and the parents get frustrated because the kids aren't doing, knowing or acting like she says they are/should be. When parents come to me it puts me in a very bad situation, because I'm not going to blow smoke...parents know how their kids act and behave at least most do. I don't really think I should lie to them, especially when the parent asks did they listen or interrupt or fight with anyone? I will end with saying I don't like having hot air or smoke blown at me so I will not do it to someone else. Sorry for the vent I just can't take it anymore. ***Parents beware of teachers/people that blow smoke at you.***

Day 2 of the training! He did so great today. He had one small accident...he started to pee and he stopped himself. He put everything else in the potty!!! It's so funny how the two kids learn differently. This method would never of worked with GlamorGirl. For Father's Day, GG and I made Daddy breakfast in bed. He got a glass of oj, scrambled cheese eggs, bacon, and toast. He liked it and I loved doing that for him. Right before I started to update my dad told me I had to mow the lawn. I have never mowed the lawn and why would I start now. I cook dinner for everyone everyday why should I have to do another chore??? There are 2 adults that live here that don't have full time jobs so I feel they should take turns doing that task. The reason I say that is because they want J to take a turn which I know he will have no problem with but he shouldn't have to take a turn, and in a few weeks he won't even live here anymore. It is just my lazy family trying to do as little as possible. We need to get out of here so that their laziness doesn't rub off on my children. I don't want them growing up to be slobs. Ok I got off on a tangent. Really that is all I have to say.

I am going to vent today. We went out to dinner with Grandma and Grandpa M. because Grandma won 1,000 on a radio show today. Anyways, we went to TGI Fridays. It was the longest I have ever waited to eat. When we got there the person said a half an hour. Not bad we'll wait. Well it turned into an hour with them telling us twice that we were the next to be seated. Let's just put it this way the people sitting around us all got seated. A new group of three parties sat down and got seated then a third group of three parties sat down before we got seated. The stupid girl had us as a party of 8 we had 5 adults with two kids. WE ONLY NEEDED 5 SEATS!!! Needless to say GlamorGirl was getting hungry along with everyone else. When we did get to eat the server we had was great, very polite, fast and organized. Then again we did order what we wanted right when we sat down because we had plenty of time to look at the menu while waiting! Then we went to get ice cream so I am completely stuffed. For the most part of the day while the grandparents were at work we did laundry and I say we loosely. It was really J that did the laundry and I watched the kids. We did go to the grocery store and get some pop because they didn't have any in the house. They had nothing in the house to be honest. They are leaving for vacation Sunday so that is why. The rest of the night my plan is to relax and let all of the food I just ate digest. Tomorrow it is suppose to snow I can't believe it, it is March almost April. Oh yeah I got two new pairs of pants from Becky so they are really old but new to me! I need to get two patches for them so the whole world doesn't see my behind. But they are free!