04/05/12

1.  We're considering adding on to our house.  We've been thinking about it for a few years, actually, although now my idea has evolved from adding one additional room (mostly for a homeschooling room) to now adding a 2nd living area (which would be our school room), an office for Ben, and another bedroom (which we would use as a playroom most of the time) and attached bathroom.  I think it will be really great if we do it.  Our current playroom (which is supposed to be a formal dining room) could then become a full-time music room, our living room could be an actual living room instead of a living room taken over by school stuff, all the boys legos and blocks and toys can be confined to an area of the house where I never have to go (right now the playroom is where the piano is and is right in the main traffic area of the home, which makes it extremely hard to get around in my wheelchair when the boys are making block buildings or lego stuff), Ben could have an office which he really needs, and which we could also definitely use when various children need a quieter area to do schoolwork, but where I can still go to them to help, and, best of all, we can have a real schoolroom with room for desks for all 3 boys so they can have computers (in a public location in the house), and we can have space for bookshelves and white boards and maps.  A real classroom!  So exciting! 
Anyway, I've designed everything exactly how I want it, but the first step was to get approval from our HOA architectural committee, which we have, as of this morning.  Next step is to talk with some builders.  We got bids a few years ago when we were considering adding on just the one room, and I think I know who I want to work with, but I haven't called him yet. 
Ben still wants to meanwhile keep looking around more and see if a good one story house becomes available in our area.  I am very doubtful, since I haven't seen anything that would be suitable at any price point in our neighborhood, but you never know. 

2.  This was another rough day for a certain boy getting his schoolwork done.  It's so hard.  I remember so well hating the same things this boy hates-- tedious stuff like taking notes (he loves the research part, hates the physical writing part) and writing bibliographies and having to be neat and nit-picky about stuff.  I'm not smart enough to come up with a fun, compelling way to teach these skills.  He just has to do them.  So he'll have a few lessons to finish up tomorrow on our "free" day.  :-(  I hate having to come down hard on my boys.
After coming to a pretty unhappy impasse, I had to go and pick up Desiree and her girls for our art group.  After we came back, I ended up taking this child to HEB.  He wanted to look at the Dragons Universe dragons they had there (no new ones in stock) and had been asking me for a couple of days to go.  I used the time to talk to him and try to gently come to some conclusions about how we should go forward.  Then I bought him an orange soda.  So was this good parenting on my part-- toning down the situation and showing an increase in love, or was it bad-- essentially rewarding bad behavior after several hours of defiance?  I sure don't know, but it was what my gut told me to do.  So, so much of parenting relies on instinct, and I just have to pray (and I do, constantly) that my instincts are right.

3.  I'm in a serious I-hate-cooking-dinner phase of life right now.  I have seriously so little time!  On Mondays we don't get home until 6:00.  On 1st and 3rd Tuesdays we have Scouts here until 5:00, then Brigham and Joseph go to Scouts at 6:15 and we don't get back until 7:30-8:00.  Wednesdays we don't get home until 5:45.  Thursdays we have our art group until about 5:30, and then Mosey has cello until 7:00.  Friday is the only day I don't have something scheduled in the late afternoon, but usually by Friday afternoon I'm so wiped out the last thing I want to do is be cooking.  So, let's think back on dinners this week.  Monday we had hamburgers fried on the stove and microwaved hotdogs for kids that didn't want hamburgers.  Tuesday we had omelets.  Last night I actually did cook and made shrimp and pasta, and tonight I made blueberry pancakes.  Tomorrow night is Friday and I think it may be a pick-up-pizza-at-Little-Caesars night.  Seriously, if I could have one totally extravagant luxury, it would be having a full-time cook.

4.  The boys like getting up on the roof and doing who knows what.  They can get out through Joseph's bedroom window.  Our house isn't super-duper high, and the roof isn't super-duper steep.  But it was enough so that our neighbor came knocking at the door at around 7:30 PM as I'm making dinner to ask if I knew there were two boys up on my roof.  :-)  Yep, I knew about it.  Nope, I'm not going to stop them.  That's life with boys!