Manic Thoughts Monday

Have several random thoughts that I just want to drop here.....
1. Seen the news about the cruise ship that half sunk off the coast of Italy? Reason #47 you will not see me on a cruise ship. EVER.
2. Tess has been having headaches a lot lately and I am trying not to worry. I don't immediately jump to tumor or anything, but I do worry about her eyes straining and her needing glasses, or even worse, PUBERTY. I am really so very not ready to think about the torture of hormones on my baby girl.....not to mention what it will do to the rest of us.
3. Andy tiled a beautiful backsplash in our kitchen, installed a new faucet and painted the door pulls on all the cabinets. Why the heck did we not do this sooner? I hate that we are doing all these upgrades so someone else can enjoy them. meh.
4. We are still working out. Still don't like it. I do however, like the muscle tone that I am starting to notice in my arms and thighs. Stomach is still flab city. Sorry for that visual.
5. We get to keep our sweet little Amelia for Valentines Day weekend. She just up and called me one day and asked if she could come over....something about her parents needing to get out more. Huh.
6. Anyone out there ever taken glucosamine for joints? I am especially trying to help my knees out. Just wondering if I am swallowing these horse pills for nothing.
7. Forgot to mention that my school age darlings both had stellar report cards at semester. Tess raised her math grade from an A- and got straight As in all subjects. Her teacher put in the comments section that she is going to challenge Tess this semester. I responded back by encouraging her to BRING IT and that we will totally support her making Tess earn her grades. Not that Tess coasts though class, but she could definitely stand to be pushed to use her critical thinking skills more often.
8. Kate had all positive remarks on her grade card too. They don't get a letter grade in Kindergarten. We loved the comment from Mrs Ballew "I love Kate's strong sense of self worth. She approaches all activities with wonderful confidence and enthusiasm. We all enjoy her delightful sense of humor." I had such a worry that Kate was not getting the self confidence boost that she needed being the middle child. Not the first to do most things, not the baby and learning new things.....just Kate doing her thing. This comment gave me hope that Kate really does have the confidence in her, we just need to nurture it and make sure she knows how much we support her.
9. Read a great comment by the President and First Lady in a magazine about how they are raising their girls. They mentioned that their daughters have always had responsibilities/chores, etc. but the part that really struck me as sound logic was that they feel it is important to let them struggle and fail. They feel it is important for their daughters to learn to deal with adversity and failure now while they(the parents) are there to support them and help them back up....hoping it will make them stronger and self reliant adults. Andy and I love to praise our kids for accomplishments, but we don't just hand out the awesome card for anything. Average work doesn't deserve above average praise.
10. Tess's basketball team has won one, lost one, and tied one. They are an average team with above average coaches. Shout out to Andy and Bobby! I like that Tess loves basketball, is aggressive, and can dribble the stupid ball. I do wonder sometimes how well she would play in a league that really challenged her. Not sure she would be such a baller. Probably would still hustle though, which is super great....
11. I'm ready for some snow. Yesterday we got out the snow pants/coats/boots/waterproof gloves just for giggles. Discovered that Tess did not have snow boots that fit, so I went and bought some on clearance today at Target. This will undoubtedly secure that we will NOT get snow.
12. We did not have working toilets or running water at work today for several hours. not cool.
13. Forgot to talk about Jane! She is great. A real winner. Her poop does not stink. Can't say enough positive things about her. Really. She is an amazing child and does no wrong. (see #9)
14. Jane really is pretty great. Struggling to find her independence while still playing the "baby" card every now and then. We laugh with her more than we discipline her, so that's a positive, right? Her little lispy speech is a-dorable and her sassy facial expressions and body language is too fun. She loves school and has two best friends that are BOYS at school...one of them wants to marry her, she says! She loves to sing age inappropriate songs, and just yesterday we overheard her singing "Sweet Home Alabama." No "Wheels On the Bus" for this girl. We are all about Music Appreciation in this house, but Skynard? C'mon! If she breaks into Freebird, we are going to have a talk.