Birthday Party

Yesterday Liza turned 7. Today she got to have her party. She had two of her cousins, her brother and 5 friends for a total of 9 kids. They played on a water slide, broke the pinata and made their own ice cream. It was a lot of fun. The beach ball party theme was way fun too. The cake was super easy. It didn't take much time to decorate and since it was simple, there were no goofs to get me frustrated. So much fun. I'm glad she got to earn her party back. Now it's off to have dinner with the family.

Early birthday present

The flies are driving me nuts. They are driving everyone around here nuts. Last week, I was at a friends house. She pulled out her fly swatter to get at them. I laughed and told her that I just used a rolled up news paper and if I didn't to them fast enough they would recover leaving me to swat them again. So yesterday, I show up for music makers and Maryanne hands me a heavy duty fly swatter and wishes me a happy early birthday. I just laughed. This is the funniest thing I have ever been given as a gift. It even tops the plunger I received as a wedding gift.

Now I have to tell you about the packaging on this thing. Someone was having a bit too much fun. Maybe it was late. Here goes:
A Military Spec Swatter for the Toughest Pest!
-Recoiless design allows for swat-attacks on even the largest flying prey
-Handle creates the most lethal flying pest killing apparatus the world has ever seen
888 Civilian uses. Here are just 8
-Keep it in the truck for the winter and use it as a windshield scraper
-For those who don't mind spreading a little bug shrapnel, try it as a back scratcher
-Emergency toothpick (works well, but don't let your wife catch you)
-Canoe paddle, never know when you will be the that creek without a real one
-Makes a good fish club
-Beer can crusher
-Red neck badminton
-Manual mouse trap
Caution:
-While Srg Swat is effective on most campsite pests; it has been shown to only aggravate bears
-Ment for backyard warefare between you and the flys. Not your neighbors or dogs
-Keep away from unruly kids (unless you like getting thwacked)

I caved

I made Liza clean closets, make super nice with her brother, and do many pages in a first grade work book. But, I did let her earn her birthday party back. It will be on Saturday, but I have been busy working to pull it all together. The agenda will be to have a huge water slide, then a pinata and finally, the kids will make their own ice cream and have cake all before leaving. The other day, I spent about 3 hours making thick layers of paper machet wrap around a balloon. Finally the thing dried and tonight I put the tissue paper around it. I have to admit, I am a bit proud of it. And I am super excited about the party.

I am still having mixed feelings about letting Liza earn her party back. But I do think she finally learned something. I just wish that it didn't come down to all of this. It would have been so much more enjoyable if she had never lost her party in the first place. It would have been nice to have the week or two ahead of me to make all of this happen. Now I am rushed, but I think it will all work out super well. I'll let you know.

On another subject, PJ and I met his teacher yesterday. She seems really nice. All parties are looking forward to the next year. PJ will go in to be tested by Ms. Parker tomorrow morning. Then on to classes beginning Tuesday. They have a tool bench in the classroom- complete with power tools. I think there will be a few issues there. I had to practically pull PJ away from it when we were leaving, I knew I should have gotten him something like that for Christmas last year. Oh well. Maybe this year. Ha!

Best Dog EVER!

As long as I can remember the circus has come to town over my birthday. For years, I have wanted to go and even more so since I had kids. But alas,  I have never been. Not once. In all my 30, soon to be 31 years. I know, sad, isn't it? Ahh, but thanks to Lucy, that has all changed. All week, B98.7 has been giving away tickets. All you need to do is get you dog to bark 4 times in 10 seconds on the air. Not as easy as it sounds. I heard the announcement this morning, gave it a moments thought, then went on the hunt for a phone. It took a minute or two to find one. By the time I called, I figured I was too late to accomplish anything. Right away, I get a ring. So while I am waiting, I get out the laser pointer and get Lucy all riled up. She barks, she wins! She is sending us to the circus! I am far more excited about this then I should be, but, hey, I am just that pathetic. And that excited. Liza's face was so funny. She opened her mouth and did that wide-eyed stare that she does so well. Jer can mimic it so well.

School days

After a long and busy summer vacation, school finally started yesterday. It seems that it is becoming a first day tradition that Jer stays home late and takes Liza to her first day of school on the motorcycle. She was a little cold when she got there, but super excited.

First grade is a whole new thing for her. She gets lunch at the school. She was so excited to get to choose. She said she could have a corn dog, but she doesn't like them, so she chose this sandwich things instead. That was all she knew. Then she had apple sauce, a whole orange, and chocolate milk. I told Liza that she can make all the choices that she wants, but that I would rather have her choose at least one veggie and only have chocolate milk one or maybe two times a week. Ha! Right. How naive am am?

She was super excited to find out that she had 3 recesses and specialty every day. And she loved riding the bus home. She didn't make it home until almost 4. I told PJ that Liza should be on her way home. He jumped up faster than I have ever seen him move, ran up the stairs, yelling. "Yea! I'm going to watch for her out the window!" I think he missed his sister.

Yay for buses!

With the new school so far away (2+ miles), and the lack of a paved road directly from my subdivision to the school, plus no sidewalks or trails, it seems that Alpine School District has deemed the few blocks where I live to be bus worthy. Kids k-6 will get to board at 2 stops, both a little farther then I like, but beggars can't be choosers. I think I will call the district to see if they will add just one more stop along the route. I will be driving Liza to school in the mornings Tues-Friday, since I need to drive PJ anyway. Still, this will cut my trips to the school to just 8 per week instead of the 15 I was planning to need to make. This will be nice.

Also, at long last, I'd like to say, "Hip hip Hooray!! Pioneer Crossing opened today. Can't wait to drive it and see just how much time I will shave off my commute. When we moved out here, it took exactly 33 minutes to drive from Orem to home. Commute time has really shot up. Now, assuming I don't hit "bad" traffic in Lehi, I can expect at least 45 minutes. If traffic is bad, well, it has taken up to 2 hours to get home. The state has been working hard over the years to solve the congestion by widening 73 and rebuilding intersections, but it has not been enough. I have high hopes (high apple pie in the sky hopes) that perhaps my drive will be back to what it was 8 years ago, or maybe even better. Now wouldn't that be nice?

Finally???

3 days since Liza bit PJ. Have I finally gotten through to her? I hope so. I was just about at my breaking point. Wednesday, when she bit PJ, I told her that if she really needed to bite something, she should bite Ellie, her Build-a-Bear dog from Granny, that she loves more than anything. Her response was, "But, she is special. I'll never bite her!" That sent me into a whole tirade about how PJ has real feelings, while Ellie's are pretend. But the baby food plan actually worked. She even mentioned it today. She said she would never bite PJ again because she will never eat baby food again. This was a monumental leap forward. Finally, I feel like I have gotten through to her.

I thank everyone for their tips. There were many tips: baby food, time outs, spending 15 minutes a day doing an activity she initiates, positive reinforcement, and ignoring Liza while I dote on the child who was bitten until she addresses her bite... There were so many. I actually felt like I was able to get help by reaching out. When I posted it, I thought I may be reaching for straws. But when all is said and done (I hope it is) the tips I gained through my postings gave me the help I desperately needed.

Sadly, the stuff for Liza's party came finally. Actually seeing it made me so sad for the loss. I had been looking forward to this for months. I had it all planned. The beach ball invites, piniata, and 3D beach ball cake. Ahhh, the imagined memories. Maybe next year. Assuming that for a 3rd year, Liza doesn't bite away her birthday. Then again, next summer will be the first chance that PJ gets to have a friend party. I guess we see how it goes. So much of me wants to cave and let Liza earn her party back. But I think I just want her to have it. I don't want this to turn into some kind of I-know-what-I-said-and-I-know-what-you-did-but-I-am-going-back-on-my-word moment. I hate it when parents go back on their word, good or bad. The mother-in-law until thinks I was too hasty in taking away the birthday.

Gahhh! Parenting SUCKS!!!