Sunday, March 27, 2011

Consequences

consequence 

- 4 dictionary results

con·se·quence

  [kon-si-kwens, -kwuhns]  Show IPA
–noun
1.
the effect, result, or outcome of something occurring earlier:The accident was the consequence of reckless driving.
2.
an act or instance of following something as an effect,result, or outcome.


In Max's case, consequences are the result of earning poor grades which obviously occured EARLIER than the consequence, which, for the record, are in full swing right now.  

It's killing him.  And by that, I mean it is literally eating away at the kid.  He scrambles daily, begging and pleading with teachers to update the online gradebook to show improvement.  He's furious that they actually took spring break for themselves instead of working through it to benefit him and hopefully relieve him of these wretched consequences that his father and I have so thoughtlessly heaped upon him.  "We're always causing trouble that way" he tells us.  Obviously, Max has yet to arrive at the conclusion where he actually has any responsibility in this whole issue.  These bad grades are not his fault you know.  The teachers don't like him.  They pick on him.  They lose his work.  They refuse to update their grades because they A) don't like him and B) are lazy.  It must be hard to be so perfect in such an imperfect world.  I gently reminded him this afternoon that not getting to play video games was a consequence...which, in this case was designed to last a good while AND to suck.  I do believe it is doing both rather nicely.  Max is most definitely miserable.  And I have noticed him actually doing his homework every now and then and putting forth some strand of scholarly effort.  Of course, he's also badgering me daily about not being able to play and when I remind him of that magical word- CONSEQUENCE, he immediately tells me that "I don't even know what I am talking about or why I am saying that anymore".  But alas...I do!  Then I remind him of the solemn oath I took upon entering motherhood.  The one where I am required to pursue and uphold the quest of making my children miserable and unhappy in life in hopes of raising up fine young men and women.  Then I point out that one day, God willing (and no small miracle) he might one day marry some fine young lady that has also been tortured by her parents and together they can then pursue to raise their OWN tortured and underpriviledged child and expereince unsurpassed joy in watching their misery as they fondly remember the the days of their own harsh, gray childhoods.  It's the circle of life.  

Spring Break Surprise

Since I got home and was immediately sick, I did not have a chance to post the "surprise" videos!  But here they are!

This first one is of us telling Clara as we pull up to the curb at the airport that she's going to Tucson instead of the movies!
The next video is of Clara surprising Claire outside of her school.  Both girls were SO surprised and excited about this special time created just for them!
And what a wonderful trip it was for them!  SUCH good times had!  Here are a few shots of our week together!









Man, what a great trip!  I don't know when I've seen so many sweet, happy smiles!  Can't wait to see them all again this summer at the beach!  The countdown is ON!!!!

Coughing

It's what we are doing around here this morning.  Clara and I picked up some nasty little virus on our way out of Arizona last week.  A little souvenir to remember it by I suppose.  And it's been not one bit of fun.  Started on  Tuesday night, Wednesday morning with a very sore throat.  Followed up on Thursday by an even worse sore throat.  Then on Friday, the fever and snotty stuff rolled in.  Clara and I stayed home from school together on Friday, absolutely miserable.  On Saturday, my throat felt so much better but for the first part of the day I felt like a truck hit me.  Then later in the day I started to find my feet and felt like I turned the corner.  And I turned a corner all right...the corner onto cough street.  Woke up at 2 a.m. coughing my fool head off and NOTHING I did seemed to relieve it.  I got up, had a drink, blew my nose, swallowed some honey, sucked on a cough lozenge, choked down some NASTY liquid Nyquil-ish stuff (BLECK-GAG-WRETCH-UGGH!), tried something warm to drink, googled home coughing remedies, decided I couldn't choke down raw garlic and onions at 3 a.m. (are those natural people CRAZY?) and swallowed MORE honey instead, walked around, surfed the net, elevated my head and finally got quiet enough to crash out again on up in the morning out on the couch in the family room.  At some point, Chris let Cooper out to go potty and then gifted him to me in my sleepy, dazed, coughing stupor.  I shoved his furry little butt into the crate where he slept beside me for a while longer until someone, Max maybe, came and busted him out of there.  Cooper is a mama's boy for sure.  As in...noone BUT mama will do.  And he's a sweet little monkey and all but sometimes that drives me NUTS!!!!!  There is nothing special about the way I stand out in the backyard with him to go poop.  I certainly don't stand there holding his furry little paws.  I don't whisper sweet words of encouragement or coddle him along.  And yet, often times he will only go for me.  Or at the very least, only AFTER he's had a snuggle with me.  It's enough to make you crazy.  Most times it isn't a problem, because like most other things in this house, Cooper's care does happen to fall to me.  BUT, when I am down sick and tired and exhausted, it would be nice if he would just roll with it and not pretend I hold some magic degree in Persuasive Puppy Pooping 101.  Apparently, I hold several lofty and important degrees in this household which render me the ONLY one certified to complete certain tasks.  For example...changing the empty toilet paper rolls.  Apparently that requires some major certification that only I possess because noone here EVER does that.  And it's NOT because they don't see the empty roll.  And they certainly are not going without paper.  They see said empty roll, leave it right there on the holder and proceed to start a new roll which they leave sitting on the sink beside the toilet.  Like I said, takes a special certification to remove empty roll from holder and install the new one in it's place.  Same with paper towels.  And also light bulbs.  The dishes into the dishwasher requires yet ANOTHER special certification.  Everyone seems to get them to the sink, or at least in the general area...but regardless of how empty the dishwasher is and ready to be loaded...noone in my family seems to be able to "go there".  Nope.  Another special mom certification required apparently.  Good grief!  Who knew I was so darned talented and advanced?!

But enough about me and my awesome collection of talents.  Here's an update on the rest of my household...Clara, still snotty but seems to look as though she feels much better today.  Chris, sitting working at the kitchen table AGAIN on a Sunday.  Gracious that man does put in the time for that company.  Ben, currently sleeping over at friends house, undoubtedly delighted to have found me so ill and sleeping when he checked in a bit ago because it means our family is not going to church today which means HE gets to go to breakfast with his friend for giant breakfast burritos which is his FAVORITE thing to do on a Sunday morning!  Oscar is tolerating Cooper more and more,  Cooper is harassing Oscar more and more.  Still working on the potty training, though he is definitely getting it.  He's using the "poochie bells" on the door like crazy.  He knows if he rings the bells with his nose then we will let him out.  If I had a buck for everty time I opened that door yesterday.  Grrrrr.  Trying not to discourage him and 9 out of 10 times he at least pees when he goes out..but SERIOUSLY.  That doggies needs a bigger bladder!  And then there is Max.  Still grounded.  Still very upset by it and still arguing about how unfair it is, ridiculous, uncalled for and reminding me constantly that I don't even know why I grounded him.  Oh brother.  But then...that's a post for another day, eh?

Okay, so that's what's happening here in Texas.  Oh...it's Sunday, for the record, and totally gray and overcast.  How DOES it do that nearly without fail every single Sunday????!!!!  I'm telling you, the sun does NOT shine in this state on Sundays.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

The Challenge of Two

This past week I had the great opportunity to photograph a brand new set of twins!  An opportunity that rarely comes my way!  So, of course, I totally jumped at it!   Here are some of my favorites from that session!

Spring Break!!!!!

Hooray!  Spring Break has FINALLY arrived!  I thought this week would NEVER get here!  Oh the excitement and anticipation of it all!  But enough about that because little can be said at this point.  Shush is the theme, right?!

And so....in other news...the great contact quest has FINALLY taken a more positive turn.  I'm on my third brand now.  Oy vey!  This has been crazy!  Contacts have NOT been my friend.  But I think we FINALLY have hit the brand that will work for me and my crazy eyes.  And I am crazy fond of vision!  It's SO nice to be able to cook dinner without having to go scrounging for my glasses first so that  I can read the recipe! And to be able to read a menu in a restaurant without digging for the specs!  Pure bliss!  But I think the best part is being able to get them  back OUT again at the end of the day!!!  That part has been kind of freaking me out.   The first set hurt so much and kept my eyes totally irritated.  Thirty day, thick contacts are not my friend.  The second set made my eyes sticky and acted kind of like super glue, making it nearly impossible to get the contact out once it sat in my eye for more than a couple of hours.  I would spend anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour trying to lubricate and dislodge it at the end of the day...or at the end of the time where I just couldn't take it anymore!  The new ones pop right in.  And pop right out!  Even after a long and wonderful day of having them in.  I don't feel them all day like I have the others.  They are comfy and convenient since they throw away every night.  I don't have to mess with solution or anything!  Hooray!!!!!!

Cooper puppy continues to make great progress here in the Roberts house.  We have had a GREAT week with potty training.  No accidents in days now.  He is up to just over 7 pounds (we're so proud), and is just a delightful little bundle of fluff that we adore.  He does have a double ear infection right now that is not too fun.  But he's enduring the treatment well and we will all be glad when the 10 days is up and we don't have to keep filling his ears with the yucky medicine anymore! Did I mention that we adore him and he's just about the cutest thing ever?

Other news?  Well...we've been weekend warriors this weekend, installing the final flower bed in the back yard.  It was designed for us last year and we just didn't get it put in until now.  As we got ready to install it, Chris got to thinking and "had an idea".  After hearing it, I had to agree it was a nice one.  Instead of the metal edging stuff that was used in the others, He thought we ought to use stone. And so we headed off to Lowe's and bought us 60 big landscaping stones and got to work digging a trench for them, mortaring them into place and creating the prettiest flower bed border you have ever seen!  It really did turn out nice.  SO nice that now we have decided we need to go back and do the same thing to the flower bed that we already put in back there in the fall!  But THAT is going to come on another weekend!!!!  While it looks beautiful when it's done, it's rather back breaking work!  Today, we shall RELAX!  Well, and go to church.  And then Costco.  And the grocery store.  And do some laundry.  Ummm...scratch the relax part, huh?!

That's about it for now on this beautiful Spring Sunday morning!  Have a GREAT week!  I KNOW that I will!!!!!!!!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Just Because...

Just because my new puppy is so darned cute...here are some pictures for you to enjoy!

Oscar and Cooper are becoming good friends nowadays!  See?
They love to play tug of war...
And WRESTLE!!!
Sometimes, Cooper likes to find a little higher ground...
He adores toys of all kinds!

And even helps out around the house with chores like laundry...

Of course, all of that wrestling and running and helping out around the house wears a puppy out.  And that's where Clara steps in and helps the little wee one get his nap!  

But Clara is a busy girl and does not always have the luxury of tucking him in and laying down with him.  So she has a mobile solution to helping Cooper nap also...

And does Cooper cooperate with the mobile solution?


Oh yeah!  She needs only tuck him in and he lays right down and sleeps like....well....

A BABY!  

Oh....and lest you think we've  neglected or forgotten our sweet Oscar....we haven't!!!!  Here he is!  Cute and neurotic as ever!


And that's what's happening in our house today!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Recent Happenings

Thought I'd jump on here and catch up the latest details of life here in Texas.  So much has been going on...yet nothing overly mentionable.  Cooper continues to grow and wedge himself into our hearts and family.  He and Oscar are quite good buddies now.  Oscar is very jealous of any excessing loving on Cooper.  And likewise...Cooper can't stand for you to sweet talk Oscar without having to jump right in there for his own words of praise and snuggles.  They wrestle and race and play most mornings now like a couple of crazies.  Then both sack out for naps exhausted from all of their efforts.  It's a far cry from our first quiet week at home with Cooper where Oscar was hiding at the top of the stairs constantly and wouldn't get anywhere near the new puppy!  Potty training is...well, we're still training.  Not that I really expected to have this mastered just 3 weeks into the game...but I think somewhere in my mind I had hoped he'd be a puppy prodigy and just "get it" from the first.  He does pretty good for the most part.  There are still accidents...usually on the boy's watch.  But when we are vigilant, he has a much higher success rate!  I would however appreciate it if these training lessons are grasped...sooner than later!!!

Clara is restless these days.  She's BORED.  Always.  Endlessly.  If she is not with a friend or having a friend over to play she is bored, bored, bored and drives me NUTS!  Apparently it is all my fault because I did not give her a sister.  And she's holding quite the grudge.  When I point out that I did give her two perfectly good brothers AND an adorable puppy she is less than amused.  And so Clara is currently struggling with learning to entertain herself and to be content with being ALONE.  Driving me absolutely crazy in the process.

Report cards just came home for everyone.  In true fashion Clara brought home straight A's.  Ben came home with 5 A's and 2 B's and Max...well.  Max was also true to form with more C's than anything else.  WHICH got him grounded from all video games until the next report card in six weeks.  WHICH made Max very upset.  WHICH then had Max saying that "You two always cause problems" (since we grounded him).  And there you have it.  The classic Max cycle.  Everything is our fault.  No responsibility lies on his shoulders.  Because we push him to get better grades...we are horrible parents.  Ahh, the joys of parenting.

As for me, I've had my own recent struggles.  This coming up on 40 is nasty business.  I'm getting fluffy.  And flabby.  And blind too!  The fluffy and flabby is a never ending battle that my body seems determined to lose...but I finally decided that I was tired of being blind and that I needed to make a stop into my optometrist.  He happily told me that, yes, indeed my vision was faltering...a lot.  But that he could fix it and wouldn't I LOVE to try some contacts.  I wasn't too sure about it.  But agreed to give it a shot.  Seems simple enough.  And I'm not squeamish about touching my eyeball.  I've seen others do it like a zillion times, so I figured Sure...why not!  Enter the drama.  I got a great lesson in the office on getting them into my eyes.  Mastered it.  No problem.  Well...it wasn't THAT easy....but I DID get them in and scheduled my one week check up and went on my merry way.  By bedtime that night they were making me CRAZY!!!!  Even though they said I could leave them in for a week, I couldn't stand the thought of leaving them in for another hour.  And so I went to take them out.  And thus, the drama began.  Because, see...there was no lesson on getting then OUT.  Only IN!  And here I was, needing them OUT!  NOW!!!  And I was tired.  And my eyes were aching and dry and irritated.  I got the first one out after about 20 tries.  But the left eye refused to be removed.  I tried forever!  Poking and digging and grabbing and pleading for it to come out.  I sent out a facebook appeal to see if anyone had any secrets for removing such apparatus.  After many tips (I tried them ALL), I FINALLY got it out.  And vowed NEVER to put it in again.  I put my tired, aching, aggravated eye to bed, got up the next morning....and put it right back in.  I did this for a week.  Fighting to get them in.  Fighting to get them out because they make me crazy.  Vowing to be done with them once and for all.  Sigh.  I went back in for my check up resigned and READY to order my glasses.  Instead, I got talked into trying a different kind of contacts.  Apparently, what they gave me were 30 day, day and night wear lenses.  They are thicker than most.  Hence the discomfort.  So now they gave me Dailies...which are very thin and much more comfortable.  Though they come with their own problems.  For one, they handle completely different than the others.  I manage to fold them up on themselves about a zillion times while putting them in.  My right side goes in easy enough each time with only 10 attempts or so.  But my LEFT side....oh mercy...yesterday it took 56 attempts to get it in.  And then...I realized that in all the attempts, I had managed to flip the lens and land it in my eye BACKWARDS.  So, of course, it had to come out and then I had to start over and get it back in again.  Grrrr.  I got in with just another 3 attempts.  Whew!  I didn't think I had trouble touching my eyeball...and really, I don't.  What I have trouble with is WATCHING myself touch my eyeball.  I can touch my eyeball if I look away.  The problem is, the contact won't go on that way.  I have to keep a watch dead ahead...and that's where the problems come in.  It's like a double whammy.  Here I am, watching this finger come right at me and everything in me is screaming "Don't do it".  I think it's written somewhere that Thou shalt NOT poke thyself in the eyeball.  This whole thing would work better if only I could sneak up on myself!  But I see me coming every time and reflexes take over and everything in me says NO...don't do it!  Thus...56 attempts.  Today is my second day with the new "thin" lenses.  I've not put them in yet.  Not ready to face the aggravation yet.  Don't really need them to type this because I have a honking big computer screen and can see it without too much difficulty.  But in the next hour or so I shall undertake that task again.  Can't wait.  .

In other news, Chris is traveling a lot right now.  Springtime seems to bring lots of that for him.  He just got back from San Antonio yesterday and will fly out today for Orlando.  Then will go from Orlando to Tucson.  Home only one night in a week.  Poor guy.  I am holding down the fort in the meantime.  Which becomes more fun by the minute considering one is grounded and one is BORED to death, one puppy is neurotic as the day is long, one puppy wants to poop on everything...or eat it!  Never a dull moment!  Oh, to be bored!

That about sums it up.  I got an e-mail from someone Chris works with.  They have newborn twin boys that just made it home from the NICU.  I'm going to be doing some pics for them very shortly.  They are teeny dudes at just 5 pounds each!  I can't wait.  I've only done one other set of twins and they were girls!  So this should be fun!

And, on a final note...it was 80 degrees yesterday.  The high today is 56.  Have I ever mentioned that Texas weather makes me CRAZY???!!!!  I wish they would turn on Spring and just LEAVE IT already!!!!!

The end.