Brittany visit to the doctors

Yesterday Brittany had to go to the doctors to just get a shot, something that should just take 2 minutes. Not for us, 15. The nurse would ask her if she was ready and she would say yes, then jump to the side and yell NO NO Not Yet. This went on for several minutes. I tried to tell the nurse to just do it, but you can't put any thing past a 14 year old. She finally got it. I love the humour she brings to the day.

Rocky Gap

Today we went to Rocky Gap, such a beautiful day for it. Brittany spend most of the time tiring to catch fish that swam by her and working on her tan, with her friend Amber. I love watching them together because they act like little kids. Justus finally swam under water. Ok, so he was actually crawling on the bottom, but he did have his head all the way under. It's a start. Justus made friends with every kid that came within 10 feet of him, but this time he didn't give everyone our life story. I love you all, and miss everyone.

Happiness and sorrow

Today is our anniversary! Jerry and I have had many great years and are looking forward to many more. We have been blessed in so many ways, with each other and our families and friends. This man is the most wonderful, understanding, and caring person I have met, no one could ask for a better husband, or a better friend in live

Today is also a special day for me because my sister, Linda, went to be with our Lord just 2 years ago. She fought long and hard and is now at peace. She will always be in our hearts and prayers. I just want to say a special "Hi Sis, I miss you". But I don't want to be selfish because she is where she worked hard to get to, so someday we will be together again along with all our other loved ones.

Reward System

I thought that I would fill you guys in on a reward system that Eric and I are trying to implement. We can't take the whining or the "I want Mommy to do it" anymore. We have come up with a system that if we ask the boys to do something (take off your shoes and socks and put them in your room for example) and they do it right away without whining or complaining then they will get a penny. They can save up their pennies for prizes. 3 pennies gets you a fruit roll up or some other candy type treat. 6 pennies gets you a match box car. 10 pennies gets you a trip to Rita's. (Michael says he's saving all of his pennies for Rita's.

This worked great the first time we asked the boys to take off their shoes and socks, put them in their room and then wash hands. David and Michael each got a penny. Later that night, getting ready for baths, I had taken off Michael's clothes and asked him to put them in the hamper--he threw the clothes down saying "No, you do it". I then calmly asked David to take his clothes to the hamper, he scooped them up, ran down the hall, put them in the hamper, ran back saying what a good helper he was. This earned him a penny. When Michael saw that, he immediately scooped up his clothes ran them to the hamper, ran back and asked for his penny. I told him that he did not earn a penny because of his behavior. He was devastated, you would have thought I told him he would have to skip Christmas. He cried and cried until finally of course I felt terrible. I did not give in and told him that maybe tomorrow he could have better behavior and earn more pennies.

Then of course it seemed like things had calmed down until the boys were getting ready for bed and David asked if we were going to Rita's in their PJ's? He just figured I would give him the rest of the pennies and then we would go. Guess they are going to finally learn the meaning of patience by having to earn something. Stay tuned to see if it works!

Things Michael says

This will probably be a steady topic of mine. Michael is always coming up with something that shocks us, makes us laugh, or makes us think. On Saturday we were all going to an FOP Cookout. I turned on a "Junie B Jones" CD for the boys hoping that Eric and I could have a few minutes of much needed conversation. Out of know where Michael says "Mommy, maybe when I'm bigger I can go to Kinko's with Mr. Chris". Well, this just floored us. Eric and I talked about Chris and I going to Kinko's probably 2 weeks ago. Of course we had no idea that Michael heard or cared about our conversation. Chris and I had been to Kinko's to purchase business cards and letterhead for our company.

Eric says he envisions Michael's brain like a merry go round. There are all of these ideas going round and round in his head. You just never know when the merry go round is going to stop and one of his thoughts is going to get off.

This is great!

I will try to add a post although our lives are pretty boring compared to the both of you. At least it will give me some good reading and it's great to have it all in black and white so that we never forget the smallest things of life.

Love to all,
Mother

Just wanted to let you know I recieved this

Hi, this is different, but I think it's great idea. I will try to post daily, it's should be fun. I love you guys and just want to let you know I got this message.
Connie

First post

Well, this is my first attempt at creating a blog. I talk so much with my mom and sister on the phone, but I thought it might be fun for us to have a place to permanently put our thoughts, feelings and funny things that have happened during the day. We each lead such busy lives, I thought it would be neat to be able to share with each other in this format.

My thinking is that we can each try to post something daily. It could just be a one liner with something funny that happened, or a way to express your feelings. Lets give it a try.

Love you guys,
Beth