Random Update-Post Valentines, President's Day

I gave my husband a cake for Valentines. I gave it to him early. He likes to give things as soon as he buys them so why not? I'm sure it tasted better that way. I got some beautiful roses that day from him. His best present was helping me out with the kids though. Sometimes Dad is the only answer. I LOVE that guy!! The kids had fun preparing valentines for their classes. Thing 2 is really into writing his name. It's on the walls everywhere. He only wrote it on 3 valentines of course. Too exhausting after writing it on all the walls. I have thrown away about 305 worn out valentines now, but they are apparently breeding under the couch because there are more. I did the math. There should only be 75 of them in all.

Enigma had a great day because Papi told her she had to drag herself out of bed no matter how sick she was and go to school that day. And love was in the air because potential boy finally confessed his love and asked her to be his girlfriend the Friday before. She said no, then she realized she blew it. She went back and told him yes. Then she got sick and threw up her guts for 5 days. Then it was Valentines Day. He gave her a stuffed bear and a rose. He invited her over to see a movie she loves. His family helped them watch it. I like potential boy because it will take him another 5 years to make the next move. I feel sorry for all the boys who like Enigma; she is a handful. But the brave and lucky who end up in her good graces will have a memorable experience for their valor. They do need to like adventure. And be very, very brave.

Sunday we met finally with our extended family for a great dinner and combined birthday celebration with lots of fun and noise and wild kids and fun and fun!!! Papi made way too much salsa and I ate half of it. MMMM!

For President's Day we went to the movies- "The Bee Movie" cuz that's all that was left to see. Ever have those moments where someone says something and you know it will go down in family history? We were in the car and Thing 2 was monotonously reciting over and over again, "big W, little W, Big W, little W." (Don't ask me why.) Gigio finally couldn't take it anymore and told him to stop. Thing 2 said "I wasn't talking you, I was talking Thing 1." Thing 1 says,"Stop talking me." Thing 2 responds, "Big Y!?" I'm thinking that response will continue to crop up. Just like "far, far away, with Shrek!" This was from a little read the comic strip version of the scriptures session with the kids. I was just telling the story to the pictures of Mary and Joseph taking the baby Jesus to Egypt so I said they took him far, far away. To which, smart aleck teenager adds, "with Shrek". After that, every thing else happened with Shrek, until they got sent to bed with Shrek. The other day I was telling Thing 1 about his cousins and said one of my sister's families just moved here but the other lives far away. "With Shrek?" he asked innocently. Anyhow, we also went out to lunch at a malt shop with a great juke box. Oldies but goodies. Made me want to get a bunch of contemporaries together and go play with that thing and sing along and dance. Would that be disturbing the peace? I know it would be disturbing my teenage daughter.

AND NOW, AN ESSAY ON PARENTING TEENS
Can I say that teenagers are so confusing? My mom is laughing at me now. They can be so wonderful one minute and so awful the next. They can be so helpful one minute and so unwilling to move a finger the next. They can be so sick one minute and so well the next. They can spill their guts about everything one day and then clam up the next. They can keep you up till 4 am one night and then torment you the next day, then sleep in the following day and turn around and pass out at 6 pm again.

They can insist that they will die if they don't see a doctor today again for the second time because nothing will stay down, then refuse, absolutely refuse to use the suppository the doctor prescribed and put on a show worthy of the loony bin in the doctor's office, out in the parking lot, in the car, down the slippery slidey road, and with 4 other kids you won't dare go to the pharmacy with her the next. This is where you will break down and argue, and for the first time in your life, say words you never thought you would call your offspring. Words like "anal" and "buttheaded" because, unfortunately they just fit the situation like a glove and so you can't resist. (That's the Reader's Digest version, the long one is even worse.)

They will just hint at how bad they've been one minute, leaving your poor imagination to run wild, then astound you with their deep insights or acts of kindness the next. Oh, a little tip: Before you let your child have a license, you might want to spell out for them that if they are not allowed to drive their friends around for the first 6 months, that also means they are not allowed to be the designated driver for their friend's parents either. That will NOT be obvious to them. Which brings us to, they will get into something over their heads but never dare ask for help one day, then beg for your continual hovering over, consulting and assistance on something they could really do with their eyes closed the next day.

They will refuse to see reason on something one day, then make more sense than you the next. It's exhausting. It makes your mind spin. It makes your stomach churn. It makes for white knuckles and grinding teeth. It is not for the faint of heart, raising teens. There are all kinds of possibilities before them, some wonderful, some awful. You can't do much about what they'll choose anymore. You feel like an idiot one minute and are so proud the next. You realize how wrong your choices were before, and you realize how right your choices were before. You realize how much you've overcome one minute then the next they've gone and driven you to some new weakness. It's the roller coaster ride of all roller coaster rides. WHEEEEEEEEE!!!!