Emily and I spent Saturday night making a treasure chest cake for Tim's Opa's (Grandpa) 85th birthday party. It was filled with pictures of his sweet wife that passed away a few years back along with gold coins with the names of all of his children, great children, and great-grandchildren.
We have gotten to know Opa very well over the last few years. He has lived with Tim's parents and comes to Tim and Emilys house often. When Steve finished Tim's Mom's basement Opa would sit and watch him while he worked. He would ask him questions and Steve loved having his company.
We were invited to his party and it packed with all of the many people who loved him. He has been getting sicker lately but did great at his party. He even sang happy birthday with us and said that he hoped we could do it again next year.
Sadly this morning (his actual 85th birthday)Opa collapsed and was taken by ambulance to the hospital. He passed away surrounded by his family. He lived a wonderful 85 years, and that must have been enough for him. he was ready.
I am a strong believer that to some extent we choose when we are ready to go. I think that people live for certain events, or to say goodbye to certain people, and they know when their time on earth is through.
While some people die tragically when it is not their time, others realize that they have lived a treasured life and that it is time to go and see those whom they miss that are on the other side.
Opa spent his live surrounded by those that he treasured most. He had a wonderful wife, amazing children, and many offspring who adored him.
Yesterday he had an amazing party surrounded by those that love him here on earth and today he will spend with his wife and son that went before him at an even bigger party.
His cake summed his life up perfectly, and while he will be missed he left behind many memories and many treasures. A perfectly fitting ending to a rich life.
I just picked the kids up from school. Carson got to the car first.
"How was your day?" I asked. "The BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!" he said happily. "Oh really, what was so great about it?" "Well, we had singing, and Spanish, and at P.E. we played soccer and my team won every game and I even scored! I just love school!"
Let me tell you what is happening to me right now.
It all started with bad roots. They were in need... bad need.
Shari, my hair girl, fell down the stairs. Broken foot. Can't call her.
Took matters into my own hands. Bought a hair dye at WalMart. First mistake. I went with the one on clearance for 50% off. Plus I had a $2.00 coupon. Got it for $3.00. Not my first color choice. Why do I do this?
It is on right now. My eyes are burning. So bad! I can barely see. But I blog? I know, weird!
Why do my eyes burn?
To make it worse my head is starting to burn. Is this normal? I feel abnormal. I have never had this sensation before. Usually it is pain free.
I feel the need to itch. Can I itch? But at the same time the burning is getting worse. I might lose skin over this. Really! Oh my!
I have five minutes left of this thing. I am not really sure what to do. I am having little awake nightmares of my hair falling out, or turning orange or gray... or worse.
Bald is beautiful, right? Or what if I just get one big old bald spot. WOW, now that would be HOT!
Holy crap! I am starting to panic. And the pain is getting worse. Now my nose is even running. Should my nose run?
I feel cold too... but I think that is unrealated.
This does smell kind of good though.
The worst part is that I don't even know if I will like this color. I better like this color.
Now I have to go to Shari next time and have her laugh at this mess I am creating. She is so nice that she will probably even tell me that it looks good. The baldness and orangeness that is.
Time to go wash........ FINALLY!
Well, I am back. I am even kind of happy. The pain is gone. My nose is still running so I am possibly getting a cold. That part sucks!
I kind of like the color. Blue suits me. KIDDING! It looks highlighted. Go figure. PLUS, there was a huge BONUS. The conditionar that came with it was amazing. LOVE IT!
I lost the usual amount of hair during the shower. What a relief.
Deep inside I feel the need to bleach my hair totally blond. The roots would be a nighmare, but I think I would like it. Maybe next time.
Moral of todays story. Brandi is bored, and don't try this at home!
I have this funny thing with food. My kids and food that is. I cannot STAND picky eating. Ever since they were little I have dished up their food and they have just eaten it. It was a non-issue at our house. Of course they had their favorites, but they just knew from the time they were born that they would eat the food I gave them. Even the slightest act of dislike was quickly dismissed and we would just move on with the meal. It has worked great for us.
The last year or so they have started to express themselves a little more when it comes to food. Honestly I think it is from being around other people who are picky eaters and seeing that they have a choice, and so they have been testing me a little. I will give them some food, things that they usually LOVE and they will act like they don't like it. I swear just to see what I will say. It makes me SO mad. The thing is, I make great food. I am a pretty good cook, and I always give them good meals and great variety. I totally get not liking food that is nasty, or that you eat all of the time (variety is the spice of life). I would never expect them to eat something that isn't good. But seriously, I was starting to get so mad with the whole food thing. I was at my boiling point to say the least.
I feel like kids need good well rounded nutrition. I do not want kids that look malnourished and weak but I don't want junk food junkies either! I want them to have a healthy brain and body. I think that you need to eat a good variety of foods, and I think that kids need to learn to adapt. We live in a world where everything isn't just the way you want it. Food included. You can't be picky about everything, instead be grateful for the food you have, and that it tastes good.
Before I go on too much further and seem like a jerk, I am NOT one of those parents that makes my kids sit at the table until they clean their plate, although they do lick it clean sometimes. If I know it is something that they may not like, something unusual like squash or something I only give them one, and if they want more great. If they don't eat that bite fine. But at least they have the option. I know some things have odd texture and taste to kids. I remember that, and let lots of things go that I can see being grose to a kid, but for the most part I really have no tolerance.
Each day I make the kids a great breakfast. They can choose a hot breakfast, cereal, or whatever. Sometimes I make three separate breakfasts, but it really doesn't take that much time and I think breakfast is so important that it is worth it for me. They never complain about breakfast.
I pack Kenna and Carson a lunch, so they just eat it. They do trade with other kids sometimes, but I love that. It teaches them how to operate in the real world. It is kind of a business thing. Sometimes I am really proud of their trades. Carson once traded 2 chips for a whole package of fruit snacks. That was a steal. A proud day for me.
Dinner is where the problem sets in (and really this is only like once a week, but really I have ZERO tolerance!) We sit down and one of them will get this concerned look. I feel my blood pressure rise. Before they speak I give them the look of death. They think really hard about if they want to start the war. Usually they just start eating, but occasionally one of them will be feeling brave and they say something like, "I don't like this because it seems hard..." then the curl up into the fetal position and brace themselves. They end up either eating it, or not eating it and being done with food for the night. But they know that if they don't eat it, they will miss their evening eating binges that they love so much. 9 times out of 10 they eat it. And like it. Did I mention they can eat WHATEVER they want WHENEVER they want as long as they eat their food? They have it pretty good.
Anyways, the other night I made this Chili Verde that is to die for. Everyone loves it. We sit down and Carson and Coren both say that they don't like it. Before they even ate it. Plus, they usually LOVE it. I kind of freaked out. Steve saw the freaking out about to happen and decided to handle it so our kids could live. He went and got a shoebox and dumped their food into it. He handed them tape and a marker and told them to package it up so that we could sent it to someone who didn't have food. They were both in total shock. Finally after some tears, they packaged it up and put it on the porch.
While they were doing this I pulled up some YouTube videos of starving kids. I made them watch a few. They are horrible to watch. There was one where there was this tiny bone thin child near death. A vulture was waiting next to him so that he could eat him once he passed away. My kids couldn't handle it. The whole family was in tears. My kids were amazed that there were kids like this in the world. They felt very sad, ashamed, and were very shaken up. How sad that I had never showed them these movies before. They need to know, they need to be grateful.
So how does this story end at the Johns house? The kids went to bed without food for the first time in their lives. They chose that by not eating. The next day they were starving and beyond humbled. They were so grateful for their food. Coren came home to lunch that was ready to go, and wouldn't be his first choice (or second or third choice) and ate every bite and thanked me for it.
Really the main reason I hate picky eating is this. First, I hate it when kids are whiny and with picky eating comes whining. Second, I think picky eating is a sign of bad parenting. I really hate to say that but that is how I feel. Obviously I am guilty since my kids were being picky, so I am not just saying it is other people. I let it happen too. I think that the parents either feed their kids crap (and that is when picky eating is justified) or the parents have no control. I read an article once that a child has NEVER let me repeat NEVER died from choosing not to eat or starving themselves. The article said that children use picky eating to see what they are capable of getting from their parents. It is a total control thing. They mentally freak themselves out and create this issues for themselves or to get a reaction out of us suckers. My kids have dry heaved, puked, acted like they were choking, said they were going to explode and die, cried, acted like the food was burning them, you name it, but at the end of the day it was all in their heads and I let it happen by not stopping it sooner. Funny how they don't have that problem now!?! But last and most important I hate it because there are so many starving children in the world. We should be so grateful for our food, and allowing our kids to be picky is really a dis-service to them.
And finally, my last test. I had to see if the kids had been reformed. The next night the boys came home from a friends house to the exact same dinner that they had hated and boxed up the night before. I secretly filmed them to see their reactions. Well not one complaint, all smiles, ate every bite, and Carson had seconds. This was a few weeks back and I am SO happy to say that I haven't had any food complaints since.
I am for sure not the best Mom, in fact I kind of suck, but I am so glad I got this handled now, because it could have gotten so bad so fast! I am sure I have offended people with this post, but I put it on here because I want my kids to have it for when they are raising children, and so that they can see what dorks they were, and maybe it will give other people some ideas to help them out if they are going crazy like me. Honestly I think I am going to start showing the kids videos like that more often. They need to see it, and they need more gratitude in life.
Well, I am off to solve my next life crisis... Coren and Kenna not making their beds. Carson will be coming home to a dollar on his bed since he is the only one that makes it every day. I wonder how many beds will be made tomorrow? Awe, the life of a Mom, it's funny really.
The boys looked so cute on sunday. They were dressed in twinner outfits. They are still just a little young to protest dressing the same so I took advantage. They looked so cute!
After church they came home and decided that they were going to organize the house. They did a great job. They get on these little cleaning kicks sometimes. I love it.
I am so dang proud of Steve right now. And in a small amount of shock... but mostly proud.
Last Thursday his work called him and told him that they wanted him to try to pass the LEED AP exam. Basically this is a certification that you need to build green, but it is the highest level of the certification. It is so hard to get. Very few people have this certification. Well, the world is going green and one of the jobs that they are trying to win required that the Superintendent be a LEED AP, which is very abnormal. This ruled pretty much everyone out, because there are not many Supers that are LEEP AP. This certification is mostly held by Engineers, Architects, and Attorneys, and on the Construction side by the big wigs of the companies.
His company knew it was a long shot but asked anyways. He started to cram on Friday. He worked his booty off. Sadly his project was finishing up this week so he had the stress of that on top of the test. He needed more time to study. They recommend at least ten weeks of intensive study to pass this test. He had less than one.
The plan was to take the test today (Friday) and then re-take it on Monday. The bid is on Tuesday. When they went to schedule, Friday was the only open date the whole month. He had one shot. Can you say STRESS!
The practice tests were insanely hard, so hard that he thought there was no way the real test would be that hard. He was a nervous fellow. I seriously spent the four hours he was testing sweating and shaking. This was one of those moments that you really shine... or not. Miracles are hard to pull off, especially on a test with a 20% pass rate. YES only TWENTY PERCENT!
The first test was hard. The LEED GA is the basic certification and he was shocked at how hard it was. He needed 170 to pass. He got 185. Next came the LEED BC&D test. He said he maybe knew the answer on 1 in 10 questions. They try to trick you and there are multiple answers that could be right, you just have to get the one they are looking for. Really weird. He said while he was taking the test he wondered how he would EVER pass it. It was that hard. He finished and was so nervous to see how badly he did. He slowly started to scroll down knowing that he needed a 170 to pass. Suddenly he saw his score. 170... WHAT ONE SEVENTY? Yes, he passes, but barely, but hey he PASSED!
So what does this mean? Not sure yet. It is for sure a HUGE HUGE career thing so we will have to see where that goes, but he now has a title...
Steve Johns LEED AP. I think I will call him that from now on.
My friend Mandy snapped these amazing shots of Coren catching air while we were sledding the other day. I love them. I am going to frame one and put it in his room! So great!
As if he wasn't a fatty before (yes, I call him fatty cause he is so small), his lip if for sure a fatty! Poor guy had a cavity and they numbed him up. While he was laying in the chair he was apparently chewing on his numb lip and I didn't notice because he was watching the cartoons on the ceiling. The dentist came in and almost freaked out. Needless to say his lip was huge and very sore the next day. I don't think he will do that again!
Steve was SO excited to find out that Makenna had to make a castle with a working drawbridge. His brain went crazy, way too crazy, and I think it was a little overboard... but MANY hours later, we had ourselves a pretty sweet castle.
They ignored my advice of making it out of a shoebox, and they made this thing out of really heavy duty wood. The brick were made out of these nasty cracker things, which was a mess, and the towers were pringles cans covered in popsickle sticks. Then there was the drawbridge. This thing had a spring on it and everything. It was pretty fancy.
She took it to school and the teacher was so impressed that she gave her extra points and asked if she could keep it to show to the class next year. Makenna was so excited, but she was ten times as excited as her. Sad but true! I asked Makenna what the other kids made theirs out of and she said Lego's and shoeboxes. It made me laugh. Really ours took HOURS, especially the drawbridge that had to work just perfectly!
Makenna is doing a really fun unit at school right now on the mid-evil times. I love how her school is because instead of just reading the information, they do everything really interactive. The learned about the different status's of people during that time such as a Pheasant or a King. They started at the lowest status and were actually tied to their desks. As they did different projects and earned points they were able to move up in the world. They learned about the different foods in that time, the amour they wore, and all about different castles. She made two castles. The first was a "keep." This is a small castle. She could tell you all about it, I can't really. I called it the Rapunzel Castle. We made ours out of a cup covered in salt dough. At first she was putting the dough on, but I stepped in. I can't keep my hands off these projects sometimes. Steve came in and told me to let her do it, because it was her project. So I stepped aside. A few minutes later I walk in and there he is working on it. I nearly died of laughter. And Makenna being the smart girl she is just kept him distracted while he finished the whole thing. Crazy girl. It turned out really good.
Corens friend Tannon was the victim to his face painting. He was turned into a Pirate. He was a good sport. I am sure his MOm loved me when he got home.
We took sledding to the next level and tied some sleds onto the back of our four wheelers. It was so much fun. Some neighbors even came and joined in the fun. Honestly if it wasn't for the below freezing weather I bet even more people would have came out. By the end we were frozen solid, I think Carson even had frostbite on his feet. It was so fun, I can't wait for a big storm so that we can do it again!!
We had a great day on New Years Day. The boys are both playing Jr. Jazz this year so they each got two tickets to a Jazz game. Luckily they were on the same night.
First we went down to The Gateway and shopped around a little. The boys found two stores that they loved. Of course the Apple store, and Brookstone.
We went and had dinner at Tuchanos. It is so good. The boys love it. I am always surprised at how much meat Coren eats when we go there. I don't know where it all goes.
Towards the end of the game Carson got one of his bad headaches and a few seconds later threw up. Luckily I had a cup handy! Poor guy. He wouldn't leave even with how sick he was feeling.
We had a great night! Fun way to start off the New Year!
Posts
