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Dine Without Whine is a great menu planning service for active families.

Long Long Day

When class starts and 9:30 am and ends around 5pm, it certainly makes for a long, long day. And get this - class really didn't end at 5 pm, it's just that I had had enough. I couldn't take the whining or complaining anymore. JD can certainly takes hours and hours to whine and complain but he can't take 15 minutes to do his work. I think that for some reason that he believes that if he complains enough that I will just let class go and not do it, or he won't have to do his work. I have showed him time after time that no matter the amount of complaining that he does, he will still have to do his work. How in the world can I get him to understand? And even if he doesn't understand right now, if I can just get him to comply.

I know that some of you may have experienced what I am going through with getting JD to understand, sit still or just simply do his work. What can I do? He wanted my help today with math, no problem - but - the whole time I am explaining the division problem to him he is using his pencil as a car and even making car sounds. How much of this can a person take? I stopped and ask him to stop making the sound and to please put his pencil down. Oh yes - it worked for about 15 seconds. I know - take what is given to me. But the whole 15 seconds he is complaining that he doesn't understand. Well for goodness sake, I guess he doesn't understand if he won't listen.

I suppose some days I am just at a lose. Tonight we discussed his behavior at supper and he had to have a talk with his dad. He certainly doesn't like having those talks with his dad.

MJ is about to move on to Unit 2 of his History and Geography studies, he is also about to move on to Unit 2 in his Language Arts studies. He is really working very well and comprehending what he is reading.

I told WW that I am not holding him back and waiting on JD anymore. Tomorrow he will be able to pick up his books and do his studies by himself. I ask him to come to me with any questions that he has and I will check him from time to time.

Other than it being a long, long day, it was an ok day. Hopefully JD will get some really good rest tonight and we will be able to move him along.

Saturday in St. Louis

Friday night found us in a motel in Houston, Missouri. The boys told me that they have never stayed in a motel or hotel before. They have traveled but the slept in the vehicle. What an experience for a kid. Never again for our 3 boys!
WW, JD and MJ thought the motel was top notch. They wanted to know how much it cost and if we had enough money and so on and so on...They just needed reassurance because of their past.

Saturday morning we all woke up rested and ready to go again. We drove to St. Louis and talked and played games in the car. Superman and I had talked and thought about what to do. Saturday was the boys day since they were so good when we had to do business on Friday for the property. We decided that we would take the boys to a really nice breakfast, then to Cabela's, then to a really nice supper and in between we would just play it by ear.
When we walked into Cabela's the boys couldn't move. They stood inside the main entrance with their jaws dropped open. They were amazed! We walked around and looked at all the animals and talked about each of them. I took the boys to the aquarium area and we talked about all the fish. Beautiful fish and HUGE!

Shopping! I am not a shopper. I don't do the mall! Nope - not me! We stayed in Cabela's for about 5 hours. Yeah - I know! I was fine though, watching the boys and Superman with amazement and having the time of their lives. The boys actually got to touch things that they had seen in the catalog that we get every month. Needless to say, because of the amount of time that we spent in Cabela's were weren't able to do anything else that day. I had wanted to go to the zoo and maybe take the tram into the down town area and maybe do a few other things. As it turned out, everyone had a great time and that is what counts.

Hotel - oh boy! I thought the boys were gonna fall on the floor when we checked into our hotel in St. Louis. It was fancy! Or so said the boys. LOL WW and JD were able to walk around inside the hotel a little bit (as long as they stayed together). They were in the lobby area just checking things out and they found a wallet. The front desk called our room to tell us that we should be extremely proud of them because they turned the wallet in to the front desk (it had lots of cash in it). They did a wonderful thing. When they came back to the room we ask them what all they did and if they had fun. Funny thing is - they didn't tell us about the wallet. We ask them if they found anything. "Oh yeah" was their reply, and then they told us about it.

We talked about the last couple of days, about what the boys thought of their plane ride, the property, the Osage Indians, Lewis and Clark, the animals in Cabela's and a few more things. I was pretty amazed at how much the boys actually remembered about all the history that we had seen.

Sunday morning we packed the car and headed for the airport. The boys remembered the routine from the Jacksonville airport and they were directing us on what we needed to do. We ate at a wonderful bagel place in the airport. I had to help the boys with their decision on what to eat. I think sometimes we take things for granted and expect the boys to know about such things that are common to us. They have never ate at such a place before.

Of course JD ask for me to sit beside him on the plane again. For some reason he just couldn't sit still. I think it may have been all the excitement of coming home. He was asking me how much longer we had and if it would be bumpy again. We made it back to Jacksonville safely and we made it back home safely. We all had a wonderful time and we were all ready to come home.

Rabies

"Mom, he's gonna get rabies if he puts that hook in his mouth." I'm at the barn feeding the horses and that's what I hear coming from the back steps. I listen a little bit and chuckle to myself because the next thing I hear is "MJ if you keep doing that, your gonna get dead".
Personally, I have never heard of getting rabies from a hook. Gonna get dead...Well that's something else totally different. I guess it goes right along with DRT which is Dead Right There. Superman is always coming up with initials like that, and of course they are rubbing off on the boys. When you hide around the corner, you'll hear all kinds of things that you've said in front of the kids. Just chuckle to yourself and keep on going. It's pretty darn silly around here sometimes.

Now let me think, what was all the talk last night at supper? Oh yeah - it was about how the boy's were gonna have sisters and Superman was going to teach the girls to be mean. It was all in fun and every one's cheeks hurt from laughing so hard. The girls were all gonna be dressed up in camouflage and hiding in the woods to ambush their brothers. The boys would be swimming in the pond and the girls would all drop in from a zip line, shooting the boys with paint ball guns and taking them as hostages. Once again, you can blame it all on Superman who has a wild imagination and loves to make up stories. The boys followed suit and made up their own stories of what they were going to do to their sisters. Sometimes I have no clue where all this stuff comes from but I love the laughter and the freedom that we bring to each other to be ourselves.