Sleepovers

A few years ago a friend asked me if our kids do sleepovers. I had never even considered it before but her question gave me a chance to think about it. I thought back to being a a kid and all the sleepovers that I had. Nothing bad happened during any of my sleepovers, thank goodness. But when I was doing my student teaching in college, a professor told me that 1 out of 5 homes had children being abused. Not all of them sexually, but that number was very shocking. Too many stories about molested children and boys getting together to look at pornography made me decide that day to say no to all sleepovers. I know I can't protect my kids from all things, but there are some things that I can do to help keep them a little safer.

Last night, Eric's friend, Andy had a sleepover for his birthday. Normally with sleepovers, we just tell the host that the kids can stay until about 10 pm. Andy was having a camp-out in his backyard. But, Mario talked Eric into skipping the evening party and staying home with him to watch a movie. Eric joined his friends this morning at the skate park. Andy told Eric that he was smart not to stay the night because one boy brought his cell phone and started to look up porn late that evening. Andy got upset and went to sleep in his own bed. I was so glad that Eric wasn't put into that uncomfortable situation. Eric said Andy seemed to understand at that point why we don't do sleepovers.

I feel bad saying no to all sleepovers but I feel that we have to say no to all because the kids won't understand if we say yes to some and no to others. It is just easier to forbid all.

I pray that my boys will stay away from all forms of pornography. It is scary as a parent to boys because you know how addicting it can be. But what may be even scarier is having a daughter because you have no idea if the man she decides to marry will have an issue with it. I read in the Ensign all the time about women who marry men and have no idea until after the wedding. All I can do is teach Erin to make sure she knows how to recognize the Spirit and make sure she gets that confirmation from the Holy Ghost that the man she chooses to marry is a worthy man. I can't believe how many women marry these men without getting that confirmation.

Knee Update

Today I went to Physical Therapy. I have been going twice a week for the past 3 weeks and I have been diligently doing my exercises at home everyday (except Sunday). I must admit, listening to the dr and doing the exercises as I am directed really works. The physical therapist was pleased with my progress and she said she would get me on the treadmill in a couple weeks to get me back to running. Wow, that is so exciting but scary at the same time. I am so scared that I am going to re-injure myself. I am glad that I have a couple more months of therapy so the therapists can help me along the way. I am so thankful that my insurance is paying for all of this. The surgery alone (without the surgeon's fee) was just under $10,000. The physical therapy is over $2000. Thank goodness for the military's good medical insurance. I just wish their dental was equally as good. Speaking of dental, my braces come off next week. Hooray!!!

Babysitters

I love having kids old enough to babysit the twins. I pay Eric or Erin $5 for babysitting when we go out for fun. I figure they can do service when we go out for church or school functions. Five dollars doesn't buy much though, they do a good job of keeping the kids safe, but they don't clean up like the rest of our babysitters have done in the past. I guess we get what we pay for though since we paid the others much more than a flat $5. The kids love when we go out because I usually let them watch tv or play video games for as long as they want and they eat lots of snacks. Eric and Erin both like earning the $5, so I am thinking of holding a contest to see who does a better job babysitting (cleaning up) so I can hire that babysitter more often. If they were smart, they would pay Zach $1 and he would clean up the whole house. Zach is the hardest worker I have ever met. He is awesome. Nathan is content to sit back and watch Zach work. He's going to make a great supervisor one day.

Today Mario and I took advantage of our wonderful sitters and we left this morning for a trip to Gila Valley to the new Temple. They took the boys to Sister Park's house at 7:30 so she could take them to school. Leaving early allowed us to make the 9:30 session and be back in time to pick the boys up from school. We would have made it back an hour early but we got behind a truck carrying an oversize load that took up the entire highway. To make sure no crazy person tried to pass, there were 4 state troopers escorting the truck. They finally pulled over and let all of the cars pass. We were really excited to finally get around the truck until a few minutes later we came up behind another truck with four more police officers. There were times we were going about 25 miles an hour on the interstate. Fortunately, we were only a few miles away from our exit the second time or we probably wouldn't have made it in time.

Hopefully we can do these Temple trips more often. It was so pleasant having a quiet drive with just Mario and not have four kids constantly asking, "Are we almost there yet?"

I Hate Fundraisers

The elementary school offers an "opt-out of fundraisers" program. If your family chooses not to participate, the school makes it easy by asking for a one time donation. For 1 child, they ask you to send a check for $30, two or more children...$50. I gladly pay my $50 each year so that I don't have to even look at these fundraisers that I despise so much. They begin with the ridiculous assemblies that get the kid all pumped up on winning prizes that look like they could be bought at the Dollar Store. What a waste of our education time! I don't know who they expect us to sell to. Our whole neighborhood goes to the same school. Plus, I would never sell to my neighbors, because I hate when kids come to my door selling junk.

Today, my boys went to the assembly and came home with the fundraiser packet. When we pay to opt-out, we are no longer supposed to receive the fundraiser information. Now we are going on an hour of Zach crying and whining because he wants to do the fundraiser. He really wants to win a duck by selling at least 12 items (I have seen the same ducks at the store for about $4.) So, I told him that he can take his own money and buy himself a duck if he wants one so badly. So now he is upset because I don 't want to hop in the car right now to drive him 20 minutes away to buy this dumb duck. He may end up in bed before dinner.

I am thinking about asking for a $50 refund. This is what I was trying to avoid when I wrote that check. What a rip-off!!!!

Ugly Shoes, Back to Work, and Kissing

I am sad because Mario goes back to work tomorrow, but at least I have had him home for 3 weeks. In a way I am ready to get back to normal and start volunteering again, but I will miss Mario. At least I know he will be coming home almost every night. He will still travel to Latin America occasionally. But I know he will love using his Spanish again so I am excited for him to travel.

Physical therapy is going well. I found out that I have a lot of things to change. I need to wear shoes with straps around the heels and I have to sleep on my back or side (no more tummy.) I also need a lot of work on stretching and building up strength in the muscles around my knees. Naps are a lot less enjoyable now that I can't sleep on my stomach. I have to be really tired before I go to bed at night so I can fall asleep on my back. Mario and I went shoe shopping last Friday night. I was hoping to find a cute pair of Merrells (if that even exists, they aren't the most attractive shoes) to replace my Merrell flip-flops. Instead, I picked up an ugly pair of Chaco sandals at REI. But at least my knees and ankles are happy. They look like $10 K-Mart shoes, but they are actually $95, but on sale for end of season for $70. Ouch!!! The return policy at REI is great so if I get too many people telling me how ugly they are, I can return them at any time. I read several reviews on line and it sounds like these shoes are indestructible. So fortunately (or maybe unfortunately) I should have them for many years.

In other news, today Nathan was watching Little House on the Prairie. He commented when he saw people kissing that he knew weren't married. I said, "Some people, like Spanish (or Hispanic) people kiss on the cheek and that's ok. That's just their culture. He commented back that he wanted to be Spanish so he could kiss people on the cheek. I always thought Zach was going to be the ladies man, but now I am thinking maybe Nate too. Funny thing is that Nate is already Hispanic. Unfortunately for him, that is not a cultural thing that Mario is teaching him. Maybe a visit to Mario's relatives in Miami will solve that.

Pity Party is Over

Today I went to my first Physical Therapy appointment since having my knee surgery. First thing the therapist told me was that I had "to stop the limping." I was a bit offended. Not like I was trying to limp. I was just happy to get around without crutches. But she was right. Limping hurts my back, hips, and other knee. So she explained that I have to re-teach myself how to walk properly. I have been very gentle with the incision area and she wasn't gentle at all. She pressed down on the area and got the blood flowing. It hurt pretty bad, but it seemed to help. She told me I need to straighten and bend my knee fully. If I didn't bend it, they would do it for me and she assured me it wouldn't be fun. So now I have lots of exercises to do at home and twice a week therapy sessions. The therapist said that when I go back to my five week follow-up apt with my surgeon, I should feel like I never even had knee surgery. So I am excited. Maybe that is enough motivation to actually do the home exercises this time around.

But the sympathy from Mario has unfortunately stopped. It was good while it lasted.

Bored to Death

I haven't had to take any drugs for pain since my surgery. But I am bored out of my mind. I thought Mario would entertain me, but he's too busy doing spring cleaning (just a few months late.)

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