Rub a dub dub

While I've been in the house, in a Dayquil induced coma, the rest of the family has been enjoying the weather. It took a quick, surprising turn for the better. Mid 60's without winds. Considering that's pretty much the same temperature as the inside of our house the past 3 months, our bodies are plenty used to it. When I did finally make it back into the world of the living, I found Joe working on his tractor, and the kids running around without shirts on. Nice to live out in the country, where no one cares!

I don't know if it's the weather, or just dumb luck, but the kids were actually ALL playing nice together. As they saw me coming, they hurried off towards the end of the driveway. Joe and I were chatting, and when I was about to head back inside, I realized the kids has been TOO quiet. Hollering didn't get me an answer, so I made the trek down there. As I was getting closer, it was apparent by the muffled giggles that they hadn't run off down the road. They were having too much fun in here

Don't ask me how they all got into this trashcan. Or who came up with the idea. Or how they got the heavy metal lid on. Whatever will they do when we move back into town???

On a side note, we've been having problems with something eating our eggs. Instead of getting 10 a day, we were only getting about 4 every 3 days. A few days ago, Joe thought he smelled skunk. Not again! Instead of sitting outside, waiting for it to come back, we bought a humane "havahear" animal trap. (Joe was laughing about that name, saying: how much of a heart will I have when I drop the trap plus skunk in the lake!) I wish I could report that the trap got us something. But no... nothing. Maybe it wasn't a skunk,.. maybe a snake? I'll keep hunting, cause those eggs are MINE!!!

Free agency

Or maybe I should title this post "battle of wills". Last night for dinner, I made a sauerkraut dish that Ginger did NOT want to eat. We usually give a consequence of "no dessert" or "no other food" until the kids do eat their dinner. This is usually pretty effective, but somehow Ginger chooses to just forego her dinner, and wait until breakfast. She's quickly becoming a picky eater. My philosophy is: if a child is a picky eater, it's because the parents LET them be picky eaters. I'm not one of those parents. Maybe it's old-fashioned, but when I cook something, I expect my kids to eat it. Even if they don't like it.

So instead of letting Ginger get away with skipping dinner, and then just eating breakfast the next morning, I told her: "you don't get ANY other food, until you finish this". She skipped breakfast without a beat. Around 11am, I could tell she almost caved. By lunch time I fully expected her to cave (by this time I had gotten the quantity down to just "2 bites"). Nope. Man, that girl is stubborn! In the afternoon, she was starting to complain that her stomach was hurting. I nicely reminded her that she was more than welcome to eat anything she wanted, cupcakes, cookies, bread, or whatever, AS SOON AS she just finished those 2 bites.

As I was cooking dinner, I started to get worried. She hasn't eaten anything for over 24 hours (I did let her drink as much water as she wanted). So I made it a point to cook something for dinner that she loves: pasta. We all sat down at the table, and all she did was frown and say she didn't want to eat those darn last 2 bites. When will she crack? Am I being too stern with a 4 year old? At what point do I give in, and let her "win"? Surely she won't go much longer without eating. Or will she???

2 hours later: I just couldn't stand by any longer. I think that child would die before giving in. So her 2 bites went down to 1. Then, I added bread to make it more enticing. Then I even offered to take off the one piece of red pepper. In the end she had a bite of bread with some sauerkraut juices. And she just gave me the biggest loving hug! I feel like I failed as a disciplinairian, but succeeded as a mother.

Under the weather

Okay, I know I was just talking about swimming the other day, but today is snowboarding day! We got a nice surprise this morning, with fluffy white flakes. It only took an hour or so to start sticking to the ground, and it kept up all the way until dark! I love the snow!

Living in Texas is great and all, but we seriously miss mountains and snow. Turns out we have our own "mountain" on our lower 40. Okay, it's just the dam. But, it's a large enough hill to get going on a snowboard (or sled, which we don't have).

So after being under the weather, and in bed all day, I pulled myself out for the snow. Here in Texas it's "now or never" when it comes to snow. Tomorrow it could be 70 again. The kids bundled up in their 20 year old snow suits - seriously, these are the suits I wore when I was 9! (the green one Winter is wearing) Rainboots had to substitute snowboots, cause you know.. we get a lot of rain here, not snow.

We thanked the wii for turning our kids into professional snowboarders. We just let them loose, and they did great! They made it all the way down our "mountain".

Ginger

Fast little Feet

Winter

Olive

Cute kids