Kiss it out

Torii has been quite the handful lately. He already butts heads with Fred on a regular basis. I don't even want to imagine him as a teenager. Lately, Torii has been more ornery than normal. Fred and I don't know what to do with him. We've tried spanking, timeouts, revoking privileges, taking away prized possessions and he still acts out. This kid can have major tantrums and he has a bad temper. The other day I told him I would kiss him every time he acted up. He didn't like that idea at all. It wasn't long before I got to try the "punishment" out. I think I've had some mild success with it. He doesn't always completely stop the argument at hand, but at least it has stopped major tantrum induced meltdowns. Plus it gets him laughing instead of yelling. I hope this is just a phase he is going through. If not, there's always military school.

School treats

Today was a new milestone for me. I made some birthday treats for Rion to take to school tomorrow for the first time. I ended up making Rice Krispy treats because the original treat I was going to make didn't work out. Oh well, the kids are enjoying eating up the "mistake." Rion is having his party on Sunday at Snoopers. I know a couple of kids from his class will be there and Rion is excited. One of the boys called him the other night to tell him he would be there. It was so cute. I couldn't figure out who in the world it was until he asked for Rion.

Another classmate story... Yesterday I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things after work. I saw one of Rion's classmates there and right away she said, "You're Fred's mom!" I love how all the kids do that to all the parents. It's so funny.

Shotgun!

One of our seat belts in the back of the Blazer broke. Until we get it fixed Rion has been sitting in the front seat. He's still not old enough to be in front with the air bag, but I think it's better than no seat belt at all. When we get the belt fixed I'm not sure how I'll ever get him to sit in the back again. He loves it in the front. He liked the fact that he could see so much in front of him. He kept looking all around. My favorite part is that the boys don't fight as much. I'm not sure I'll like Rion in the back again either. Torii was complaining about something so I told Rion we'll just turn the radio up so we can't hear him. I had Matchbox twenty in and Rion loved the first song he heard. It was "Disease" and he said it sounded like the song from one of his computer games. Now he wants to listen to it over and over. I finally persuaded him to listen to another song. I wanted to listen to "Push" which is my favorite song of theirs and he said he liked that song too. Now if I could only get him to listen to the rest of the CD. He has really been taken with music lately. He sings and hums a lot and one day while I was listening to the radio in the kitchen he came in and started dancing. I was laughing so hard because he has never done that before. He's not a bad dancer either. Anyway, back to the front seat. On Saturday after we left the hotel we pulled up next to Grandpa and Grandma at a red light. When the light turned green he wanted me to race and had a good time watching Grandpa and Grandma from his front seat window. I couldn't see his face, but I knew it must have been funny because I could see Grandpa laughing.

Cookie thief

After dinner on Sunday, Rion was in the kitchen sneaking some Oreos. We weren't paying attention to him or Torii so they probably would have gotten away with it. That was until we heard Rion say, "Hey! Who took my cookie?" Then we heard Torii in the dining room, "Thank you!" Apparently Torii had taken the cookie from the counter while Rion turned his back to put the lid back on the cookie jar.

Weekend review

I was not expecting to have such a busy weekend, but we had just that. At least it wasn't a busy weekend of chores and errands. We had a fun weekend.

On Saturday the kids were with Grandpa and Grandma while I helped out at a rummage sale. A bunch of moms from MOPS got together and sold our unwanted baby/kid stuff. There was good turnout and I got rid of some things which was nice. I also made a little money and that's always nice. I didn't officially have a new year's resolution, but I've really been wanting to downsize. We have way too much stuff and I'm really sick of it all. It feels good to get rid of some of it.

After the rummage sale I picked up the kids and with Grandpa and Grandma we all headed to the Ramkota for some swimming. Andy had a room there for the weekend and Auntie Vicki invited us to come swimming. The boys had so much fun. Cordelia wasn't so sure about it for quite awhile, but I think she was starting to like it towards the end. When we finally got them out of the pool we had A&B pizza delivered. We got home late and all the kids fell asleep with no problem.

On Sunday afternoon I had about three hours to get something done. I usually reserve the weekend for two big chores, laundry and grocery shopping. I did manage to get most of the laundry done, although it is all still folded in the laundry room. I never did get it put away. I did get some baking done that I needed to do. I am also trying not to be so wasteful this year so I wanted to use some extra egg substitute and buttermilk I had in the fridge before it expired. I didn't get my banana bread made, but I might have another day or so until the bananas are completely useless.

After Cordelia got up from her nap we headed back to Grandpa and Grandma's house for a big Sunday dinner. Grandma made a turkey with all the fixings. It was so good and we left stuffed. After some visiting and entertainment provided by the kids, we packed up and headed home. GG also came out for dinner so we brought her home. Then we headed to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things before finally getting home. I would have put this off, but diapers were on the list and that just couldn't wait. So I am worn out, but at least I had fun in the process. There's a few funny stories to share about the weekend, but I think I will post those later.