Karen and I have been lucky when it comes to taking the kids on a long trip. Karen was smart when Jonathan and Andrew were young to be creative in entertaining them with new gifts they could play with. To mark the event time for the gift she chose crossing the state boarders as the time for the new gift. This kept the boys busy and eager to enter into the next state. Now that the boys are teenagers we still take long trips. They now know how to entertain themselves with their own toys. The boys either listen to CDs, watch DVDs or play games on their Gameboys.
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One of the things I disliked about school when I was young was homework. Now I see that same dislike in my children. I found it hard to help them with that chore although I do try to encourage them to do it. The older they get the harder it is for the parent to actually help them so instilling good habits when they are young is essential.

Jonathan, the bright, highly intelligent, under achiever frustrated me to no end when he was in the nineth and tenth grades. He would usually do the homework was too lazy to turn it in. Can you believe it, he would get an A on the tests and a C on the report card.

Andrew, the one who struggles to understand why he even needs to go to school actually turns the homework in; when he does it. Getting Andrew to want to do the homework is a big struggle. With his learning disadvantages I have a hard time with some of the homework he is actually assigned. But Karen and I as parents still try to instill a good want to do it in him.

How about you? How do your kids do with homework? Leave me a comment about them.

The sounds of Christmas begin to fill our ears and hearts with memories of joy beginning Thanksgiving Day with the "Maci's Christmas Parade" giving us our first sounds of Jingle Bells as Santa Claus is pulled down the road in his Christmas Sleigh. We begin thinking of decorating and purchasing gifts and often dread that "Black Friday" because we go shopping for our Christmas gifts in hopes of big deals from the retailers. I tend to relax on that Friday and don't go out in the masses to try to get that deal because I just don't like fighting for items like that. Instead I prefer to sit back, relax and listen to the sounds of Christmas with radio stations, CDs and even an old vynil records that I have laying around.

These sounds bring back pleasant memories of Holidays past. My siblings and I would sing songs and dance to the music as we got ready for Christmas and made out our wish lists. We began dreaming of that big day when Santa would arrive as we listened to the music being played. Now my children enjoy these sounds and make their wishes know.

Leave a comment and tell me your favorite Christmas Jingle. Mine is "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas."

Earnie
(C) 2006 - All rights reserved.

When Jonathan, my first born, was about two years of age I experienced one of those ``Firsts'' that call for claims of excitement and necessitate a visit to the Emergency Room (ER). Jonathan was dressed in one of those snuggly, cuddly sleeper pajamas with the feet in them. He had stepped onto the steps to the basement in order to try to find me. His mother had said for him to come back because he might fall going down the stairs with those pajamas on. No sooner than she had the words out of her mouth he was tumbling head over heals down the stairs to the basement concrete floor. No sooner than he had reached the floor I had him scooped up, wrapped in a blanket, placed in the car seat and was on the way to the ER of Children's Hospital. Once there, everyone was kind but it seemed like forever before Jonathan was being tended to. Excitement can make time seem slower than it is. Everyone was kind but our nervousness was abundant and we wanted them to move faster.

Jonathan needed a few stitches and once he had been sewn he was a happy boy complete with a popcycle dripping from his chin. He had learned a lesson about the stairs and learned to hold onto the rail leading down the stairs. He had learned that the stairs were no place to play. He had taught us to be careful not to leave the door to the basement ajar for him to take chances on the stairs. The three of us experienced firsts. He reminded me of one of my firsts where I fell down stairs playing with a piece of cardboard box and needed stiches.

Earnie
(C) 2006 - All rights reserved.