New baby.

Well, Sam and I have decided that we don't want to have any more children, and if we do, it's going to be quite some time before we do. (Think 5 years or so.) So, we decided, along with the kids, that we were going to adopt a dog. It's been a dream of mine to have a retired Greyhound for a very long time. I think it's horribly sad that alot of these animals are put to death after their racing careers are over, simply because they don't have someone to take them and love them as part of their family.

Lilly, our American Eskimo dog, she is very high energy. We go outside and play with her and take her for walks, but you can almost tell that she wants another dog to play with. When the neighbors have their dog in the back yard they run up and down the fence line just wagging their tails and playing. It was a decision to bring her home a "brother" as well.

I had been watching two different Greyhound rescue sites for the last few weeks, and Sam and I had fallen in love with one. Before we had really made the decision to go forth with the adoption, he was placed on hold pending adoption. We were both kind of sad, but if he got a good home, then it was great for him!

We took the kids to the ER for the rash that they have, because it spread from Bug to Monkey and Monkey's had gotten worse. The doctor had told Sam it was something that we didn't think it was and we were going for another opinion. We spent pretty much all night in the ER with very little sleep. The next day we slept in and recovered. I also wanted to watch the rash a bit more. I ended up calling the adoption agency that he was at just to inquire about their adoption policy. It turns out that the people that had put him on hold for adoption didn't want him after all! I decided right then and there that we were going to get him.

I filled out the application, answered some questions, and Sunday afternoon we found out that we were approved to adopt! This upcoming weekend the entire family will go meet him to see if he is a good match for us. Everyone at the agency has told us that he is the sweetest guy and that we will fall in love with him the moment that we see him. I have no doubt in that considering we are already in love with him and all we have is pictures!

Hopefully, this guy will be in our home next weekend and part of the Charwood family! Here is a picture that we got from the agency, and the one that made us love him!

Wedge cuts and Faux hawks and layers, oh my!

Well, it was an awesome week with my mom and step-dad visiting! The kids got to spend some time with them, which they really enjoyed. We got to go to their open house for their brand new school. It was just built this year, and they will be the first students there! They're very excited!

Monkey has a male teacher for the first time, he's excited about that. We met him. He's a Star Wars geek, which is something that they will most likely get along very well about. Monkey has the Star Wars trilogy and is often very upset when he can't watch it on the living room TV because his sister throws a fit!

Bug has another female teacher. She seems really nice. This will be her first year of going all day to school. North Carolina is different than Ohio. Kindergarten goes all day, and pre-school is half a day. You have to graduate pre-school before you can go to Kindergarten. I was actually very excited that she had a sign language alphabet on the white board. Bug was learning sign last year in Kindergarten. She has forgotten alot of it, but, knows more than I do!


We decided yesterday that it was time to get some haircuts for the kiddos!
Bug is growing her hair out from a wegde cut that she had last year and Monkey wanted an Mohawk but settled for a Fauxhawk! Sam was too worried that he would get a reputation as a trouble maker if we sent him to school with his hair in the fauxhawk, so during school it will just be jelled in some spiky hair fashion, but on the weekend he will be all Johnny Ramone! Well, maybe not Johnny Ramone, lets hope for someone more tame, like David Beckham!

Today is Sunday Funday! They don't know it yet, but, we're actually going to a soccer game! Monkey will be super excited, but Bug won't be. It's actually one of the women that I work with, her son is playing, who is Monkeys' age and she also has a daughter that is Bugs age! I figured that it would be good for them to have a couple of friends that share their passions (Monkey is soccer and Bug is anything fashion related!) Now it's off to finish house work, so we can enjoy a day of soccer!

Turning into your mother!

While it's not necessarily a horrible thing to want to become like your mother, I certainly did look up to my mother for achieving all that she did with all of us kids! Some people don't want to become like their mother. That was me what I was younger. I always thought that my mom was "mean" and had "unreasonable rules, expectations, and discipline." Today, I think that I have finally come to terms with being my mothers daughter.
Monkey, who recently had a mishap at day care, which had been addressed many times, lost all of his toys but just a few, was throwing a fit. I informed him that because he was not being nice to his sister, not obeying the rules, and was back talking that he would not be getting his 5 toy reward for having a good day at daycare. We had made a deal that every day that he was good that he would get 5 of his toys back and every day that he had a bad day at school, he had to give up 10. It seems to be working for the most part, except for the being at home!
He decided that he wanted to continue to throw a temper tantrum after dinner because Sam wouldn't let him watch TV. The rule is, no TV before bed because it wires him up and he has a harder time falling asleep. I was helping Bug take a bath, and heard Sam tell Monkey that he needed to go to bed because he couldn't follow the rules. I peeked my head out of the bathroom and told him that he needed to clean up his room before he went to bed.
His response?
"I don't want to clean my room!"
My response?
"Well, I don't want to have to go to the work in the morning either. Looks like we both have to do things we don't want to do!"

It was at that point that I realized that I am, in fact, becoming my mother! I hope that I can be half the woman that she is. She did put up with me, my 3 siblings, all of our friends, and all of our combined crazy antics and she never killed any of us!

Thanks Mom! I love you so very much!

On that mushy note, the storms here are getting rather bad and the electricity keeps cutting in and out so I should probably get off of here and go to bed!

-Update: Just as I was typing that they power went out for about an hour. Sam and I layed in bed and talked for about an hour and the electric came back on, so, here it is!

Learning to fly!

Well, the kids have been bringing home paper airplanes from daycare for the past couple of weeks, and Sam decided that it was time to teach Monkey how to make his own! Bug decided that she wanted to learn as well!! I was making dinner, seasoned chicken, mashed potatoes, and corn. Sam taught them the fundamentals of flight, such as drag and such. After they were done with their lessons, they went outside to test what they had learned! I think they had alot of fun even tho it was roasting hot outside. The heat index for today was 105, and at 8:15 this morning the temp was already 87! They flew their airplanes for about 20 minutes or so, then Bug helped me set the table. We ate dinner. Monkey, who is a self professed potato-hater, ate 2 big servings of mashed potatoes! I may or may not have bribed him with a quarter to eat the 2nd helping, but he ate them! Bug, true to self, ate about 4 bites and "I'm full!" escaped. School starts in a week, and I feel so worried about it! The kids are in a completely new place, they don't know anyone, it's a brand new school. Maybe, I'm just being protective!
Anyways! I need to get to bed! I've got an early day tomorrow!

ADHD

Well, it's nothing new, but Monkey has ADHD. He's been on medication for quite a while. He will be 11 in just a few months and Sam and I have decided that we want to do something to try and help him as much as we can. That's not to say we haven't been helping him since he got here, but, I've been doing some reading, and I have decided on a new course of action.
We have been making a list of rules to print out for the fridge, and we've also been working on a "check list" of things that he needs to do every day with the days that they need to be done colorized. This way, he can just check to make sure he's done his chores, along with a prompting. We're going to also put up the rules list and the consequences for breaking them. We want to implement things like going to bed early, losing TV, video game, and computer privileges, and loss of dessert. (Not dinner, just dessert! LOL) We also have goals to work on. We want to become members of the local aquarium as well, so we would like to reward him with trips there, and other things that don't cost an arm and a leg!
In other news! My wonderful Mom is going to be down to stay for a week at the end of August! The day camp that the kids go to will be out the week before school starts, so, we don't have anyone to watch the kiddos! how crazy is that?!
Last night we went over to my best friends' house and let all the dogs play together which went fabulously, and played some RockBand and Austin is pretty good at the Guitar, not so good at drums, but not terrible either! Jillian was not very good at the guitar, and didn't even attempt the drums! We all had dinner together, meatloaf, cheesy mashed potatoes and greenbeans. (Monkey ate everything!) I attempted to make home-made banana pudding. The first batch came out beautifully! The second batch, which I thought would set up after I put it in with the first, never sat up, and we had banana soup! It's okay. I learned!