Parenting 101

It was time for a talk. Matt always talks about wanting to be a Kyle Korver and play in the NBA. Well, he's on Ben's team right now as a helper, learning how to run offense and defense but not getting play time. He started skipping out on practice. Earl and I thought it would be good to discuss how we have to work for the things that we want and that sometimes the pay off doesn't come until much later.

So, being the sensitive man that my husband is, he begins with something like the following. "Son, no matter what you decide to be when you grow up, I will love you. Whether you play for the NBA or you're a garbage man, I am going to be proud of you."

Well, Matthew was brought to tears. It had never occurred to him that he might possibly end up a garbage man and the thought was apparently more than he was prepared to hear at tender age of 8. Earl quickly changed the subject.

I suppose we'll have to have the "work... pay off... we get out what we put in" talk later.

Best Day Ever!

“Today was the best day ever!” or so I was told by our five-year old. It was one of those moments when a person remembers why they wanted to become a parent, on purpose, more than once. The day was fairly normal I suppose. But perhaps that is what was so wonderful about it. Normal isn’t exactly part of the routine around here. It is so nice to spend an entire day together under one roof behaving like and almost feeling like a ‘nuclear family’ or ‘non-step family’ or whatever the PC term is these days.

Our day was pretty simple really. We all drug ourselves out of bed to make it to church by 9:00. (We joke about being cursed because we have had two years in a row of 9:00 church.)

After church, Benjamin and Matthew played football. They are the only two people I have ever heard of that actually enjoy playing one on one tackle football for hours at a time. For all I know they invented the concept of one on one tackle football. They play it so often that we have designated special football clothes so there other clothing is not torn to shreds. Jacob crossed the street to entertain himself in the park, Chloe read and sought partners for Battleship.

We then had a wonderful time taking family photos. At Chloe’s insistence we even included our little ungroomed but beloved dog, Lulu, in some of the shots.

Afterward, the kids finally got to dig, carve and slice into their beloved pumpkins. They have been talking for days about how carving pumpkins is one of the grandest activities a person can participate in. As you can see the pumpkins turned out great. Ya know, we might be a step family full of various and sundry personalities and expectations but every once in a while a normal day occurs and it is correctly deemed “the best day ever!”