When you have children there are things you must do so you continually stay in communication with them. Communication is the key to a successful relationship and studies have shown kids that talk to their parents are less likely to misbehave. Communication is also something that may be hard to accomplish as they get older.
When this happens, you must find ways to make it happen. During these times of electronics, it’s a little easier for us to make it work.
I have found using the electronics they have is what it takes to stay in communication with my boys. We all have cell phones and so we call them and text them regularly to make sure everything is good with them. Another form of communication is email. We email them regularly to see what they’re up to and how they’re doing.
Another thing we do is play games with them. We have played games on the X-box and PS2, but the new thing is Facebook. Facebook is not just for communicating with friends and family. They also offer games and other fun things to do.
To spend more time together and communicate with our boys we play the games on Facebook that they play. One in particular is Treasure Isle. This game is designed for people of all ages and likes. It’s easy to learn and a lot of fun to play.
We use this game as a form of communication because we have to ask each other for things like energy, treasure pieces, and fun things for our islands. You can also teach your child lessons from this game. It’s a great way to teach them to share, ask for things, be nice and generous to others, and so much more.
Families are so busy these days. Constantly on the go from sun up until sun down. It’s hard to stay in communication with your children and know what they have going on. We have found that Treasure Isle is one way to make that happen. It’s something we all enjoy doing and it gives us time to be together.
If you’ve been looking for a fun way to spend time with your kids, consider creating an island on Treasure Isle.
May
31
Well it happened. Graduation officially happened on Saturday afternoon. We had a small party for the boys and it was wonderful. They had no idea we were doing it, so it was a complete surprise.
Chris graduated from 8th grade and is officially a freshman in high school now. Josh graduated from 5th grade and is officially a middle schooler now.
Here are some pictures of the party and the gifts they received.
The graduation cake!
Chris with his new scrapbook
Chris with his new KW shirt
Josh with his new scrapbook
Josh with his new Centennial shirt
Boys, we’re so proud of you and the fact that you’ve worked so hard to graduate. We look forward to the road ahead and the adventure as well. Keep up the great work. We love you!
May
20
I was a little concerned when we started the day on Wednesday. It rained most of the day and I was sure the track meet that was to be held on Thursday wouldn’t happen. Well God had other plans. The track meet went just as planned.
Josh did a fantastic job! We were so proud of him.
The morning was spent on the track watching the kids run. Josh did the 50, the 100, the 400, and the 200 meter relay. He took first in the 50 meter dash, first in the 100 meter dash, second in the 400 meter dash, and second in the 200 meter relay.
Here is a video of Josh running the 50 meter dash. He’s the one on the far side in the red shirt.
We enjoyed lunch on the grass and Josh played with some of his friends.
Then we did field events in the afternoon. Josh did the soccer kick, the football throw, the javelin throw, jump rope, sack race, a 5 minute run around a circle, the hurdles, partner jump rope, hula-hoop, and tug-o-war.
Here is a video of the hurdles.
Here are some pictures of the field events.
Great job Josh. We’re so proud of you!
I was listening to the radio the other morning when the news came on. The first story they talked about was a 7th grader from New York. She had saved her friends life when she choked on a piece of gum. Now you may wonder what in the world a 7th grader saving her friends life has to do with SpongeBob?
Let me finish the story. This 7th grader said that she saw her friend choking and decided she needed to do the Heimlich maneuver. After the gum came out and the friend was fine, she was asked how she knew to do the Heimlich maneuver. She said she watched an episode of SpongeBob. SpongeBob’s friend was choking on his clarinet and was saved when he did the Heimlich maneuver.
We think that the cartoons on TV these days are so violent and they’re not educational. We may think that they’re irritating and not worth watching, but we let our children watch them anyway. Now we now know that SpongeBob SquarePants is educational and it’s a show we maybe should let them watch.
Apr
15
I was very excited for dinner this evening. We were trying a new recipe. It had hamburger, onions, green peppers, pepperoni slices, spaghetti sauce, and noodles. Smelled wonderful and was sure to be a tasty meal.
I read through the recipe and started putting it together. When I was ready to put the noodles and the hamburger mixture together I read through it again because I was certain the noodles needed to be cooked. It didn’t tell me to. I hesitated but went ahead and put it together the way it read and put it into the oven. When Kevin got home, I had him read through the recipe and he said no the noodles were not to be cooked.
When the meal was done I pulled it out and immediately knew it was ruined. The top was burned. I thought well ok we can remove the first layer and eat the bottom part. We won’t have any leftovers, but it will be ok. Well, that didn’t happen either. The noodles that were on the bottom were still hard and crunchy. Basically the only noodles that were good were the ones that were in the middle.
It was not enough for us to eat, so we ended up buying a pizza. Ugh! What a waste of food. Not good for our budget or our meal planning. I’m frustrated about this, but I can’t let it ruin my night. Hubby isn’t upset so that’s good. He tells me I should be upset either. Things happen and are not worth stressing over.
So I’m done. Time to move on. We’ll try this recipe again, but the next time we’ll cook the noodles first. HeHeHeHe!
My Wordless Wednesday post goes along with my Wednesday video. Chris is taking swimming lessons and is doing very well. This picture is of Chris acting like a dolphin. He had a lot of fun in the water today.
Apr
7
Chris has been in swimming lessons since March 15th and he is having a good time. He’s learning a lot and he’s getting rid of his bad habits. Last week his instructor taught him to dive and he loved it. He’s decided that he might want to be on the dive team next year instead of the swim team. Sounds like he might be able to do both, so we’ll see.
Here is a video of Chris diving today. He did a great job and I can’t wait to see him do it again on Wednesday. Great job Chris!
Mar
31
Josh’s basketball team had an awesome season. They won all of their regular season games. The first tournament game was against a team we’d never played before. It was a traveling team and it was hard and tough. We were tide and had to go into overtime. We won 20-19 and that meant we had to turn around and play again. The kids were really tired, but they played hard again. We lost the game, but it wasn’t because the kids didn’t try.
Way to go Josh and the rest of the Wizards team members. Coach John did an excellent job and we’re happy with the skills the kids picked up along the way. He taught them so much and Josh learned a lot.
Picture courtesy of Jordan Shoes.
Mar
30
We went to the Cav’s game last night. Chris worked the game and we watched it from the stands. It was a fun time for us. The Cav’s won 48-46 in overtime.
Chris was the equipment assistant to the Cav’s team last night. He helped set up the locker room and then clean up after it was over. In exchange he got into the game for free and had the best seats. He stood next to the Cav’s team and cheered them on. He was just a little ways down from the table that was knocked over during a play.
It was a very exciting game and one that made you sit on the edge of your seat. With seconds left on the clock the Cav’s scored and took the game into overtime. We won the game after we scored and got the 2 extra points.
Josh and Kevin convinced me to do a game with Josh. So we went on the field shortly after the 3rd quarter started. We had to ride a trike around 4 cones. I started and then Josh went after I was finished. Needless to say I didn’t do very good with it. I was worried about falling over on the corners so I went slow. I guess the announcer kept calling me ma’am and kept telling me I had to hurry. LOL! I had a player and the coach that were in my way so I had to go around them and the cones.
Josh did really well after he got past the first turn. He got off track and almost ran into the wall. It was a lot of fun and we’re glad we did it. For the time we spent on the field, they gave us McDonald’s shirts and two gift cards for free meals. Worth the time and embarrassment.
Here’s a picture for you to enjoy.
Way to go Cav’s players. We look forward to the game on Friday. Good luck!