FEA or Modern-Day Robin Hood?

Was anyone else a member of FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) in high school? I was, but mostly just to go on the 3-day, under-chaperoned trip to Salt Lake City with friends and cute boys.

I think Logan is founding a new club and she's only in the 4Th grade. It's called FEA (Future Entrepreneurs of America). She just started it yesterday, but I only found out about it this morning. While I was in the bathroom applying my makeup she came in and asked how she could earn some extra money. I thought about it and told her she could wash the windows, and if she did a really good job I would pay her $10. She seemed very excited about that, so I said she still had to make sure she did her homework and practiced the piano, and I expected the job to be done up to my standards:)

Well, as I was going around the house this morning opening up all the blinds and letting in the sunlight, I noticed Maika's piggy bank. It was tipped over on it's side with change scattered around it. I knew Maika had a $5 and $1 bill in there because of a recent visit from the Tooth Fairy, and doing an extra hard chore by herself. The cash was mysteriously missing so I called Maika in and asked her where all her money went.

Maika proceeded to tell me that she had to pay Logan back. I knew she owed Logan a dollar or so for a treat from a convenient store, but not five dollars! So, I asked what else she owed money for and she told me, "So I could play with her and Tyler." WHAT THE!!!??? I could immediately feel steam coming out of my ears! Luckily Kelly hadn't left for work yet so I went and told him about it. We both felt so bad for Maika, but she doesn't really understand. Money is only a piece of paper to her. What's the big deal if she gives some to Logan? That way she'll be able to play with the "big" kids. Melanie or Mom: I know I pulled a lot of crap as the oldest child, but did I ever charge Melanie to play with me?? Please refresh my memory.

I think this may have stemmed from a TV program she saw yesterday. It was one of those tear-jerking commercials about feeding the starving children of Africa. Logan and Maika were stunned to see that people in other parts of the world don't have clothes to wear and eat rotten food out of garbage dumps. The program was trying to get people to pledge just $8 a month to feed a child healthy food. So Logan came up to me and told me she had $7.50 and asked if I would call and pay the $8 so a child could eat. It made my heart melt to know that she felt so deeply about it. I told her that when we pay our tithing, we could also donate extra money to other funds that help people like the one's she saw on TV. When we came home from church she informed me that she paid $2.50 to the Humanitarian Aid Fund. I was one proud mama.

So, now we're at a loss as how to discipline Logan. Is her secret desire to save the world, or does she just want more Webkinz? We thought about going to get her out of school and talk to her immediately, but didn't want to upset her at school. We thought about giving Maika a $10 bill at dinner time just for the heck of it, in front of Logan, but think Logan needs to pay her back. We know Logan needs to learn a serious lesson: you can't charge your sister money to play with you!We want to hear her side of the story too. Do any of you out there in cyber-world have suggestions of what to do? Any creative object lessons? Extra-fun ways to punish wayward children? Please, help!

Update: First of all, thank you all for your wonderful suggestions. Here's how I handled it: I talked to Logan when she got home from school. Her side of the story is that they were starting a club to look for cool rocks and that Maika offered to give her money to buy the pretty rocks. Maika says she offered Logan the money to be able to play. Logan says Maika offered the money so why not take it? Logan immediately gave the money back and wanted everything to go back to normal. All I know for sure is that Maika doesn't understand money. She saw Logan crying and upset and the first thing she did was run in and get the $5 and throw it at Logan to make her feel better. I guess the moral of the story is that Logan now KNOWS that it is unacceptable to take money from Maika in exchange for playing privileges:) It's funny to me what they think we won't find out about, or that they won't get caught. What's scary to me is that we only find out about things that we catch them in...There must be soooo much I don't know:)

Scaring the pee-whizzle out of Bronson!

If you read my "100 things" list you might remember that I like scaring people. Let me just tell you that I am an equal opportunity scarer: I like to scare them if they are little, big, young, old, pretty, ugly, fat, skinny, boys, girls, and all colors of the rainbow! Sometimes I'm so good at scaring people, I can do it without even trying!

Case in point: on Wednesday morning I was rushing around trying to get everyone ready to go to the dentist. All three girls had appointments "in town" about 45 minutes away and we were cutting it close. I still had to get Bronson dressed, tidy up the kitchen and drop Bronson at a friend's house so I wouldn't have to wrestle him in the waiting room for 2 hours. Bronson was running around in his diaper waiting for me to get him dressed. If he's left in just his diaper for too long he rips it off and runs around in his birthday suit. I guess he thought he'd had enough, so he ripped his diaper off. Meanwhile, I'm almost done sweeping the floor, so I just let him run around naked for a minute. My floor's a bit dirtier than usual so my sweeping takes longer, and Bronson decided he needed to go out in the garage and ride around in his Fred Flintstone car...naked. Well, I finally finish with the floor and we have one of those dust-pans that come with the central vacuum systems so I turn it on to suck up all the Cheerios off my floor. The central unit is out in the garage and is pretty loud. As soon as I turned it on I heard a little yelp from the garage and Bronson came scrambling into the house as fast as his little legs could carry him. Laughing, I pick him up to let him know that he's gonna be okay and there's not a monster in the garage, when I notice his wet little legs. I look out in the garage and notice a little puddle on the floor. Bronson literally got the pee scared out of him. I never would've known if he hadn't ripped his diaper off. We all got a pretty good laugh out of this, and I wasn't even trying to scare him:)

I'm not a complete scrooge!

You all know how I feel about Valentine's Day if you read my last post. I decided my problem with it was my attitude towards it. Maybe it's me that feels like I have to do those special things and so I do them. Because I have to. Maybe it would help if I did those special things because I wanted to, not to escape feeling guilty if I didn't. Who knows?

It did turn out to be a fun, crazy busy day. First thing in the morning I took our Suburban in to get some body work done. Remember our fender-bender from Thanksgiving? Well, after they got our bumper off they realized there was more damage underneath. Something about absorber bars bent and other car-lingo I didn't understand. All I knew for sure was that I needed a car. So the very helpful people at the body shop contacted our insurance company and lined up getting a rental for us. Can I just tell you how nice it was to have all that done for me? NICE! So within an hour or so we have our rental van from Enterprise. Their commercials are true, they really do pick you up. And drop off your kindergartner at school. And stop by the body shop to get our car seats and garage door opener out of the Suburban. Our rental is a new KIA Sedona, it is so much bigger than the old style of Sedona that we had before our Suburban. Very nice, it almost made me miss my mini-van. I said almost.

After finishing at Enterprise, I raced home to prepare part of my Valentine Dinner. Which was Buttermilk Baked Chicken with Buttermilk mashed potatoes (see, I even had a nice dinner planned. I told you I'm not a complete scrooge!). So now that I had the marinade going and the chicken soaking I was ready to head to Logan's class to help with the party. It was just a quick stop to help the teacher dish up and pass out food. Fourth graders don't need much help with crafts and telling them who their Valentine's are from:) So after Logan's class I went to help in Maika's class. It was the first time I had seen her in action at school. Pretty darn entertaining! The kids thought it was fun and so did I! I figure I better help out as much as I can. Pretty soon Logan will be embarrassed to be seen with me, let alone want me to help out in her class:)

After school, we came home to finish dinner. The kids helped to set the table with a red tablecloth and we even had heart candles (see, I told you I'm not a complete scrooge)! When Kelly came home we ate dinner and had fun laughing at Nalani. Logan kept moving Nalani's chair with her foot under the table. Nalani could not figure out what was going on to save her life! The look on her confused little face was hilarious!

Earlier in the week I bought Kelly a new IPod for his present and I also got him the new John Grisham book. We bought the kids "Mario and Sonic Olympics" for their present. Kelly did not come home empty handed...he got me a gift certificate for an hour massage and a very sweet card. It turned out to be a nice day! Though, I still think it's a weird holiday (in case you were wondering).

Am I Alone Here?

Am I alone here, or does anyone else out there think Valentine's Day is stupid? I think it's stupid that there is a designated day where you have to buy your loved one silly cards, candies, and flowers. If you don't, you risk an argument, and feelings of guilt. I think it's much more thoughtful and romantic when Kelly comes home with flowers, suggests we go out to eat, or leaves me a love note, voice mail, or email just for the heck of it. Not because he'll feel guilty if he doesn't come up with something because he has to. Because it's stupid Valentine's Day!

Let's face it. Valentine's Day has turned more into a kids holiday anyway. It's fun to have heart-shaped pancakes in the morning. It's fun to eat with fancy dishes. And what's not to like about getting more presents? Christmas was soooo long ago! They get excited about decorating boxes to receive cards in, classroom parties, and all that candy! (By the way, does anyone else think those old-fashioned conversation hearts are disgusting?) Kids are the only reason I do like Valentine's Day. Kids and good chocolate. I'm excited to help out with Logan's and Maika's parties and to see them interact with their friends and teachers.

Don't get me wrong. I'm going to take the opportunity to get mushy on this post (smooth segue, huh?). I love Kelly and my kids more than anything! I love that we can spend time together without having to fill every second with noise or people. I love that we are home bodies. I love that we can spend an entire Saturday watching "Lonesome Dove." I love that we can laugh at the cute things our kids say and do. I love that Kelly listens to me while I complain about the swimming pool Nalani made in our dishwasher door. I love that he calls me several times during the day just to say hi. I love that we always say, "I love you" when we are getting off the phone with each other. I love you, Kelly! I love you, Logan! I love you, Maika! I love you, Nalani! I love you, Bronson!

I guess what I'm trying to say, is, I want my family to know I love them every day. I'm trying harder to show my love for them in my actions. I want to speak kinder, smile more, and exercise patience. In doing these things, I hope my family will feel more of my love. Everyday.

Any way, there's my little rant for the day. What do all of you out there in lovey-dovey world think? Am I just being a scrooge? Or did I hit the nail smack-dab in the middle of the head?

*Kelly, please note: This post in no way excuses you to come home empty handed tonight!:)

Tagged

I was tagged by Rochelle. She killed two birds with one stone and got me twice. The first task is about a book, the second is to show you what I have in my purse.

#1
(1) pick up the nearest book to you (one of at least 123 pages).
(2) open the book to page 123.
(3)find the fifth sentence.
(4)post the next three sentences.
(5)tag five people.

The book nearest me is "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" by Ann Brashares.

'Suddenly Lena was getting a bad feeling about this. She skittered behind them. She knew before Bapi reached the Dounas residence that he would be stopping there.'

#2

Here's what's in my cute lime-green purse: wallet, cell phone, gift cards to Macy's and Bath and Body Works, 3 new lip glosses from Mary Kay, tampon, hand sanitizer, receipt from Pampered Chef, Pampered Chef recipe cards, pain killers, Extra peppermint gum, Brush-ups, and in my little 'a' bag: more chap stick, lip gloss, lipstick, and dental floss. I also usually carry my camera, but I used it to take the picture so you can't see it:)

I can't keep track of who has and hasn't been tagged yet so forgive me if it's a repeat! I tag Melanie, Nani, Candy, Jennie H., and Shannon M.

getting a laugh out of us...

My friend Candy's blog, got me thinking about some of the funny things my kids say and do. I thought I would tell some of the recent things before I forget them.

• We've recently started to read the scriptures (again) as a family. Sometimes over the chaos Kelly and I give each other looks that say, "Why, exactly are we doing this?!" The kids seem to think Scripture Time is the perfect time to start wrestling matches, tell us everything that their friends said on the way home from school, and just plain craziness! We know that it's important to start this habit while they're still young and that it will get less crazy, but really?


• As some of you may know, Nalani is obsessed with "The Backyardigans", "Dora the Explorer", and "Diego". I try to limit her TV time, but when I'm getting meals prepaired, or just plain need a break, I usually give in and let her watch. I have to admit she has developed quite the imagination. Some days we have to address her as 'Tasha', 'Uniqua', or 'Dora' and if we forget, believe you me, she reminds us! When she is in character she often gives us names off the shows too. The other night when we were getting ready for scriptures I walked into the room last and Nalani introduced me to her friend, Diego (it was really Kelly). Another day, she was pretending Kelly was Austin (from the Backyardigans). On one of the episodes Austin's character played 'Austin the Smart'. Now, remember Nalani can't say her "S's" very well (think of Sid from Ice Age). So she kept telling us that Kelly was "Austin, the Fart". We all laughed at that one pretty hard!


• At Family Home Evening it was Nalani's turn to pick a song to sing and she chose "Do as I'm Doing". Bronson must've recognized it from Nursery or something, but he started rolling his arms, or I should say tried to roll his arms. He must not have that coordination yet, because it looked like he was doing a dance with castanets. He had one arm up high with his hand going in circles and his other arm crossed over his stomach, that hand doing circles too. He looked so cute and was so proud of himself.


• Another Bronson story: He has this funny walk. He always has his left arm behind his back, it must be a balance thing or something. So, now when Bronson is playing chase with Kelly, he squats down really low and puts both of his arms behind his back. He looks like a ski jumper or something.


• Logan and Maika recently finished serving their hard time of being grounded (for real) for the first time. They had been constantly picking on each other, tattling, teasing, and just plain getting on everyone's nerves! Finally last Sunday, Kelly had had enough and grounded them for 5 days. You would've thought their world ended! Let me tell you, I've never seen them get along as well as I did when they were grounded. We should do it more often:) I overheard them talking and they both apologized to each other for "acting like jerks!" I about busted up laughing, but didn't want to ruin their learning experience:) They are very happy to be free again, and now when we threaten grounding they know we mean business!!
• 5/10/08-We were watching one of the NBA playoff games and the mascot was jumping through a ring of fire and then dunking the ball. I guess the ring fell over and the floor was slippery during the next few minutes. When we told Logan what happened, she got this puzzled look on her face and asked if they got extra points for jumping through the ring of fire and then dunking it. She totally didn't get the entertainment factor during half-time, so so funny:)
• 5/19/08- Nalani got sand in her eyes while playing on the beach. She walked over to me with her eyes closed and in a whiny voice said, "Mom, my eyes aren't looking!" After we wiped them out I told her they weren't looking because she had them closed:)
• The other day one of Maika's little friends (in kindergarten!) called to just talk on the phone. Maika was so funny to listen to, she kept telling all these little white lies to trick the friend. The best one was that we have a parrot named Rainbow and that it repeats back everything we say...We do have a parrot, and it repeats everything that we say, the part she left out was that it's a toy! She had Logan and me busting up:)
• Bronson gallops wherever he goes!
• May 2008- On our camping trip while Kelly was chopping fire wood, Maika said, "Wow! Dad, you have a humongous axe!"
• Nalani had a little ear ache and told me there were shoes in her ears and they were marching. She wanted me to get the shoes out. Poor thing. But it was so cute!
  

Those are the funny moments that stick out right now. This might have to be one of those posts that I link to and constantly add more to it as experiences happen. Because with four kids, there are bound to be more funnies:)

Weekend Pics

Our view from the beach house balcony.

Dinner at "the peanut throwing place".

Poor Merilee fell asleep on this little chair
with her glasses still on her face.

The huge log they all climbed to pose on.


back row: Alisa, Jen, Rochelle, Katie, Merilee
Front row: Darilyn, Amy, Ashley, Aundrea

Just a sample of the crazy Christmas

ornaments! Who ever heard of GI Joe Merman?
And, why would you be inclined to hang that on

your Christmas tree?!