From now on ...YOUR DOING IT ALONE!!

When I was a kid there was no structure when it came to homework. no one to help if you had a question, and so most of the time I was trying to get Vocab done at lunch before running into the class. if I got part of it done I was happy. I didn't care about grades, because I honestly didn't know to care about them. NO ONE in my family ever graduated form high-school, much less went off to college..it was the norm. Do just enough to pass and after a few years your done.


THIS IS NOT the approach I take with my kids. I see how much that HURT me and I want the best for them so home-work and school are a HUGE thing to me because of this.

Each day the boys get home we sit at the table go through folders, talk about school, eat a snack, then start homework.

We recently moved from CT to Arizona...meaning GREAT AWESOME SCHOOLS to...well not so great :(
My third grader is VERY advanced, (this goes back to the above part)...he is working on 5th grade math and reading on a fifth grade level. We brought testing scores with us when we moved to have him placed in the advance program but were told it didn't start until 4th grade...the poor child was BORED TO TEARS in school. When I approached the teacher about it after two weeks at the school her words to me were...."Alex needs to take  a chill pill, he is working WAY above the other kids and I don't have time to give him anything more to work on. I have 28 other children in the class, so if you could talk to him and let him know that he is going to have to learn to have FUN here and not  work so hard that would be great"

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!! REALLY!!!?!?!?!??!
and so the following day we started looking for a NEW school for our boys!

We are now at an AWESOME charter school in the area, and the boys are LOVING it. They work at a MUCH faster pace, and are a grade level ahead of task...PERFECT for us!!

Benjamin is 6 and in Kindergarten. Yeah we kept BOTH our boys back that extra year because first THEY ARE BOYS, and second they have really late birthdays so to us it was worth it!

Yesterday Benjamin had 2 math work sheets, a book to read and he had to write each of his 12 spelling words once each. This is a lot for him since he got chucked into the school mid year and has had honestly a 2 month vacation from school when you think about it....The move, the school he was doing Nothing in here, then Christmas break. So I sat with him and kept repeating ...up to the ceiling DOWN to the basement as he wrote the letters. With  each letter that he didn't make correctly we would erase and try agian...

This was followed with ....TEARS, GROANING, and I Cant's...

Three words in, I honestly had lost every ounce of patience I could muster and so I told him I was going to go finish the laundry and would check on him in a few minutes....

I started folding and putting away, and about 2 minutes latter I was greated with a BUBBLY BOUNCING BOY and a paper.......

THAT WAS ALL FINISHED and the letters looked great.....

Today when the boys get home, we will sit down, eat our snack, talk about out day, look at folders, and then.....

MAMA IS LEAVING THE TABLE...............YOUR DOING IT ALONE!!!

This week I say .......YES!!

I was inspired by another blogger for this post, and I hope it will inspire others as well!!

Thank you The B.M.C. Report, I loved your blog post so here is mine.....

I say YES to a chocolate bar...I deserve one!
I say yes to remaining calm at homework time.
I say yes to 5 more minutes of snuggling before sending them off to bed.
I say yes to making sure that my I tell my boys "I LOVE YOU" each day
I say yes to making sure my boys know that GOD loves them too!
I say yes to stopping to smell the fresh cut grass even if only for a second.
I say yes to marveling at the beautiful sun God made for us.
I say yes to getting ALL the laundry done.
I say yes to a fun walk with the family each afternoon.
I say yes to inspiring others
I say yes to find a positive in every situation
I say yes to giggling
I say yes to learning something NEW
I say yes to making sure I blog each day with SOMETHING even if it isn't a huge post.


What do YOU say yes to? 

"MOM, where do PUPPIES Come from?"......THINK FAST MOM, THINK FAST!!

Meet Bailey the Christmas puppy...(that is a WHOLE other story for another day)

She is the BEST puppy ever, and the love of our two little boys lives! She is a Mama's girl, she wears bows in her hair when we go out. We have had her since December 23rd & she is SPOILED ROTTEN! (just like our other kids.

So my little guy was playing with Bailey while I was making dinner....

"MAMA, where do Puppies come from?" 

(he is 6)

THINK FAST MAMA , THINK FAST!!!

Me........"Well There is a MAMA & a DADA dog. They make a puppy and it grows inside the Ma Ma's tummy like a baby does"  

Little guy...."I KNOW THAT, BUT HOW DOES IT GET THERE!"

UMMMMMMMM..... I am NOT doing a good job at thinking fast LOL

me...."Well, God puts it there"

little guy...."BUT HOW" 

me...."GOD IS MAGIC" 

little guy............"OH, that's cool!"

MAYBE I AM good at thinking fast!!

Stylish Blogger AWARD!

I will start off by saying....

WOW .THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! 

I was so excited to see that I had been given a blog award by   

Sweet Life by Nicole

this SO made my night!

Knowing that SOMEONE took the time to even add your name to a list; a list that took THEIR time, makes you feel so SPECIAL! SO MUCH in fact that I didn't want to wait until morning to make my own list. I hope that I can add a smile to another bloggers day, the way one was added to mine! Over the last few days I have found MANY great blogs. Below are a few that I found great information on and some that just put a smile on my face.

How It Works:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers.

4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award.

 

 

 

7 things about ME

My favorite color is BLUE

I DO NOT like spiders, no matter how small they freek me out!

 I am a night owl

I Design childrens clothing

When I start a book I can't put it down until I finish it 

I can't fall asleep while watching a movie NO MATTER how tired I am  I HAVE to see the end

I don't like driving

  

My nominations are:

 

 The Unexpected Mother

 Finding Heaven

By Word Of Mouth!

The Mommy Chronicles

momswrites

The Book Buff

Me and the Twins

365 days of my life as A MOM

Beholden to Nature 

A Little Bite of Life

DaLa Chanelle

Close My Eyes and Leap

I am NOT a VOLCANO and other such Stories

My Life as Me

The Knit Wit by Shair

Three 1/2 out of four "aint" bad.....is it?

So my four GOALS for myself this year

1) Get to the gym at least three times a week (or exercise)
      I took the boys and little bailey pup-pup on a HUGE walk this afternoon and we were all tired when we got in. LOTS of nice fresh air, and it was good for all 4 of us. Both the boys got a Razor scooter for Christmas and they are AWESOME for taking walks around the apartment complex! THANK YOU SANTA!!

EXERCISE DONE...CHECK

2) CHORE CHARTS...OH yeah BABY! and the boys were REALLY excited about them too! Who knew
     I found a great website with FREE printable charts that you can make custom. Each of the boys picked their theme and we added 5 chores for each boy. If you are looking for an EASY chore chart with cute themes check out this site.

CHORE CHARTS DONE.....CHECK

3) BLOG a little as much as I can. honestly I have been Loving putting my thoughts down the last few days, it has been very therapeutic! Even if NO ONE reads what I am putting down it has been a little piece of sanity in the sea of motherhood and craziness! I know I have a few comments so SOMEONE read at least a few of my posts, and that made my day even more!

BLOGGING DONE.......CHECK

4) Make the boys clean up after themselves...Yeah it didn't happen with everything but I did make them take their PSP & DSI to their rooms.....BUT chore charts start tomorrow so I am cutting myself slack on this for tonight ;) honestly I THOUGHT they had cleaned up their dirty clothes and put them in the basket, but NOPE they are on the floor BY the basket. I really think that is a GUY thing because hubby does the same thing!

Boys are in BED....Bailey PUP-PUP is napping on the kitchen floor (not sure WHY I spent 3 hours MAKING her a princess dog bed), hubby went to see a movie & i am going to curl up with my blanket that is almost done drying in the dryer and watch a movie...

ALL is well at the Battaglia house

YOU HAVE GOT to be kidding me...they are SO getting chore charts!

The boys have been playing in the middle of the living room all day long. PILLOWS, blankets, FORTS they are all over the floor. SOOO once they went to bed I tried to clean it all up so that we could start new on MORE forts in the morning. I know I need to work with them on cleaning up after they play, but as most moms know...95% of the time cleaning up after they are in bed takes a fraction of the time that sitting on top of them asking them to pick up each things would take.

GOAL ONE: Tomorrow we are working on CHORE CHARTS!
GOAL TWO: make them at least help clean up some of the mess they make...I would save MYSELF hours of time a week if I...
a) do goal ONE
b) make them clean up at least PART of their mess.

The problem is I ORGANIZE it all and it drives me NUTSO when I take hours to make sure all the Legos are in one bucket, the Playmobil in another, the bakugan in bins under the bed.....etc

So tonight I am cleaning up the mess, the boys are running back and forth .......

"I NEED WATER"

"My covers are WRECKED"

"Bubby said I was stupid" 

"My nose hurts" 

"IF ANYONE ELSE GETS OUT OF THE BED THEY ARE TAKING THEIR PILLOW AND FORT OUT ON THE PATIO TO SLEEP" ;) yeah it was so one of those nights....

So while cleaning up I realize that my 9 year old had taking the laptop into the fort, and so I try to untangle the power cord from around the pillows, blankets, and chair. As I do...


THE LAMP falls of the table ...ONTO the laptop and ...yeap.....SHATTERED the screen..

I quit!!!!

TOMORROW my kids are getting chore charts!!!!

The MIDDLE Finger!!!

This is one of those stories that is just WAY to good NOT to share it.....

Dear Mrs Battaglia,

I wanted to be sure Alex brought home the paper he and I discussed yesterday. He had written once upon a time I told my brother to put up his middle finger. He told me he knows that it is bad and we discussed how you should never tell others to do bad things. He then came up to me and said I guess I don’t really know what putting the middle finger up means. I told him it was inappropriate and should never be done.

I just wanted to be sure you were aware of the situation. Let me know if you have any questions.


As a MOM that is just NOT an email you want to get from your sons teacher.....my little angel, my 7 year old, MY 2ND GRADER, the one who LISTENS, and is respectful. At that moment in time about 500 things when through my mind, and I just wasn't sure WHAT to think!!

When I picked my son up from school, I asked him...."Did your teacher give you a paper yesterday?"

His reply, "NO"

"Did you write a sentence in school that you got in trouble for"

THE FLOOD GATE OPENED! Eyes wide, and tears began to roll......

"MOM, I will tell you the WHOLE STORY"

"We were at the lunch table, and one of the boys said, You should NEVER put up your middle finger. I asked him WHY, and he said he didn't know WHY, but that it was very BAD. One of the other boys, HE KNEW what is meant...."

"AND.......", I replied

"He said that if you get someone to put their middle finger up................................"THEY WILL HAVE TWO WHOLE DAYS OF BAD LUCK!!!"

At this point I WAS in tears!!!!!!! Trying not to laugh while my little guy explain the rest of the story.....

"MOM I didn't want to bring the paper home, because when I got home I told my brother to put his finger up so I would win the football game.............I didn't want you to know..........THAT I CHEATED!!!!"

I couldn't hold back the laughing at this point....my son HAD NO IDEA what the "MIDDLE FINGER" was all about!!! When the teacher had asked if he knew it was BAD, he replied "YES" because WHAT 7 YEAR OLD wants 2 days of bad luck!!!

We talked about the "middle' finger, and my 7 year old discovered it was like saying a BAD word...He was SOOO upset!

As adults, we have had all the innocence taken from us. At 7 life is So simple, and BAD LUCK is the worst thing in WHOLE world!!

I am glad that as a MOM I was able to give the teacher just a tiny piece of innocence from a child.....so often we are QUICK to jump without an explanation.........

Did you KNOW????

We have a lit so DID YOU KNOW in the group, and here are some of my favorites!

1. To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

2. Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

3. I AM SO GOING TO TRY THIS!!!
No More MosquitoesPlace a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

4. Reducing Static ClingPin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and -- ta da! -- static is gone.