Movies

Movies we watched over Christmas Break 2016
Finding Dory
Singin' in the Rain (before Debbie Reynolds died)
Secret life of pets
War games (yes the 1980s one)
Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

Rogue One  (excellent but I remembered how much I hate going to the movies.  We had to sit over an hour before the 2 hour and 13 minute movie... 1/2 hour early for decent seats and then more than 1/2 hour of ads/trailers.)

Potential movies to watch
Gremlins
Goonies
Major League (recommended by a friend--I haven't seen it.)
Pink Panther Movies
Forrest Gump
Moana (as soon as it's out on Netflix / iTunes) 
Hidden Figures (as soon as it's out on Netflix / iTunes)

Movies we've watched
Big (a little uncomfortablee on the love scenes)
Stand by me
ET
Men in Black (only the 14 year old liked it)
Back to the Future (all of them loved all 3)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Princess Bride

One of our kitties...

On Halloween, one of our beautiful black kitties was diagnosed with intestinal lymphoma.   We'll call him Tall Handsome Boy or THB for short.  Here's what I shared with a friend in FB.  This blog may be resurrected after all... look, 2 posts in a as many days!  I want to remember some things and I don't want to put them on my other blogs.

THB has intestinal lymphoma (the slow growing kind)... Apparently it's really common in cats. He's going to be on prednisone 2x a day and chlorambucil (low dose) 3 x a week for a long time (up to two years). So far, it's been 2 months of treatment. After the first month and 1 week we got good blood results. We go back in another couple of weeks and have another blood draw. The good news is we don't have to take THB in and we give him the pills at home.  He doesn't hate them too much.  I've known some cats who HATE pills and the treatment would be awful for them.


In addition, THB seems to be tolerating the meds e.g., no throwing up and eating pretty well. His energy is about 85-95% of normal on most days. Today he seems pretty perky and I'd put him at 95%. (Last week we had a day when he was really draggy and I was worried, but he bounced back the next day.) I'm hoping that as the treatment goes on we'll have less low energy days. I can't complain though 'cause the really draggy days haven't been very frequent and I think (and hope) we are on positive trend for his energy and eating.

Thoughts as the girls get older...

Friend:

            We are winding down for the day. Mom and dad are exhausted. How have you survived with 3?? 

Anyway hope you had a merry Christmas. 

Me:

            When the youngest hits 3 it gets easier. And we are still having a blast with them.

            Teenage years are significantly better than toddler years.  I have the best book recommendation. It's called "untangled" it's about girls growing up. I highly recommend it.

Friend:

            Well about 2 more years until we all are three and over... which will coincide with the milestone I'm really looking forward to.... no more diapers!

Me:

            No more diapers was HUGE.  The good news for us was that T (#3) potty trained herself ‘cause she was all about being a big kid!

Friend:

            I dislike nothing more than diapers and car seats. Ugh. 

Me:

            At some point they all strap themselves in the car seat.

            When I look back, I don’t even know how I got all 3 dressed, all their stuff for the day, and them into the car ….

            CRAZY

Friend:

            It is an act of god when we make it out of the house. 

Me:

            now I just say, we’re leaving in 5 minutes and you need a water bottle, snacks, and whatever you want to do to amuse yourself.

            It’s awesome

            (Been saying this probably since T (youngest) was probably 5… The youngest learns so much the older ones.)

Friend:

            Oh yeah. For sure. 

Me:

            Back when T was in kinder, she had to remember her hw, her kinder bag all by herself ‘cause I couldn’t remember any of it… I did so much for N (oldest).

            T is very responsible.

            N is too now, but I still do more for her than the others…. just ‘cause she’s the oldest

            and her personality… she likes to work with me

            She just wrote an essay for To Kill a Mockingbird and she wanted to have nightly chats about it.  It was super fun and sweet.

            (She = N for To Kill a mockingbird)

Friend:

            We do a ton for S (#1) as well. She does not like doing much by her self. 

L (#2) on the other hand enjoys her alone time. 

            Super fun. Can't wait. 

Me:

            K (#2) is so independent

            She likes her alone time too… and with her, she won’t let me help on her homework… AT ALL… I tell her if she gets As, I won’t intervene… If she ever falls lower than that, she gets to sit with me and work with me

            It totally motivates her.  This year, we had to intervene with Algebra 1….  She was getting a …. She pulled it up to a by the end of the trimester… She *almost* got an .

Quarterly check in

The girls are good.  Three-a is going to middle school in the fall, twoK is in middle school right now (and struggling with math... not because she doesn't understand it, but because she doesn't like it). oNe is going to high school in the fall.  

When you get to high school, the focus is on getting in to college.  There are many people in our area who have a specific college in mind for their kid (or several very high ranking specific ones). I don't understand that.  Of course,  I want my kids to have a good life. But I think the college they choose should be up to them and they shouldn't feel pressured to go to a certain school.  (Of course, if they've heard their whole lives that they have to go to a certain school, or a certain kind of school to have a certain kind of life, they will "want" to go to those schools.) 

We know what goals oNe has and I have shared several schools with her that we know she can get in and that would be a good fit for her.  I'm sure she'll end up with some on the list and some different ones by the time the deadline gets here, but we're not going to stress about it.  We will keep talking and let her be in the driver's seat.  (I know there are some kids who need more guidance, but I would encourage them to figure out what they want instead of figuring out what I want for them, but that's just me.)

Recently, NYTimes Well Family blog had a post about college and it's very enlightening.  One tip that I learned is that we'll submit early (do it over the summer!). Other things from the article: We will make sure that for each kid, we'll know what they want from a school. We'll make sure we are doing some more community service... We are lacking in that department.  It's a good reminder for us.  We won't take every advanced course.  (oNe could have taken the SUPER-DUPER advanced math course in her freshman year, but she opted not to take it.  It is fine.  I know parents who wouldn't have allowed that transgression to occur.)

I love the spreadsheet tip and the "get a job" in the summer tip so that you can learn from diverse situations.  Each summer, I look for opportunities for the girls to be mother's helpers (as the girls are still young).  This summer, oNe will take the baby sitting course and get certified.  She already kind of has a job (taking care of animals); I wish twoK could take the course at age 12, but she can't until she is 13.  oNe going to college and twoK going to college will be two very different experiences.  Three-a will make it three different experiences. Oh, wow!  If you'd have told me 10 years ago that I'd be thinking about colleges now, I would have said, yea, whatevs.  Even 2 years ago, I wouldn't have believed you. It goes so fast!

A good reminder

Happy New Year!

I'm still here.

Only 3-ish months this time.

I'm thinking resolutions, but I don't like to call them that.  Goals, that's a better word.

More strength training classes:
I ALWAYS get in one a week.  I usually get in two a week, and I sometimes get in 3 a week.  I'd like to more consistently do 3 a week.  If I can't get in 3 a week, I should do more core work at home (at the very least).

More flexibility work:
I'd like to do yoga, but I haven't found a class that works for my schedule and body.  I have some stretches I love so maybe I just need to work on my own and do the poses I think work well for me.

More fun:
I need to make a goal to not work between 5 pm and 10 pm (except if I'm teaching and that's only one night a week).  To hang with the girls... to play with them.

This Christmas, they got a jumprope, the kind that takes two people twirling... I like to jumprope, and it's fun to hang with them.  Try to do this with them once a week, if possible.  (Or stretch with twoK... she loves to stretch.)  (oNe and I take 2 dance classes together so we do get some quality fun time.)

With MWH, we need to try to do date nights / afternoons more often (and actually go out just the two of us).

Blogwise:
Maybe I should try to blog at least monthly here?  I'm trying to blog a lot on the family picture blog.  I'm thinking about doing a good photo of the week... Maybe I should do photo of the month?

Food-wise, I'm always just working to find EASY, tasty, healthy, FAST recipes.   I have a food blog were I keep all the recipes we use.  We eat pretty darn well.  3 of us are vegans and 2 of us are vegetarians.  We try to eat as many (green) plants as possible!

Just FYI, January is going to be a crazy month with work--if I can't do it all in January, it's okay.  February is my birthday month so it's like a new year and I can start then!  (Wish me luck on all that we have to do in January.)

__________

In other news, oNe is going to be 14 soon!!! OMG.  So far, she's the sweetest teen you've ever met.  She doesn't want to be a rotten teen.  She looks at friends who have become "teenagers" and she really hopes it doesn't happen to her.