Chocolate Cake

Mario finally got word today that he will officially get IDE credit for his time at Naval Post Graduate School. Don't ask me what that really means, but apparently it is good because he is very excited about it. He says it will make it easier for him to get selected for Lieutenant Colonel. So we are celebrating with his favorite homemade chocolate cake. We had chocolate cake a lot in Monterey (when he finished up his thesis, when he finished all his classes, and when he graduated.)

He claims it is nothing he did to deserve this, just a blessing from Heavenly Father. I know that it was a blessing but I also know Mario worked hard to be worthy of that blessing. We are grateful to Heavenly Father for continually blessing our family.

Love this quote

"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people." Eleanor Roosevelt

Back to School

The kids are on a year round school schedule so they have been off for the past 3 weeks. I jokingly asked Mario last night if he felt like he needed to give them "back to school blessings" again. Not that blessings are a joke, just the break seemed like as long as a summer vacation. But we had a great 3 weeks and did a lot of fun stuff.

The first week was in San Diego which I already blogged about. We also did the following:

Erin and Zachary each broke their first boards in karate. The karate school was raising money for breast cancer and so they offered 30 minute private lessons. Nathan didn't want to do it and Eric was on a boy scout campout/hike. The instructors let the kids choose what they wanted to learn. Erin chose to learn to break board with a kick and Zachary chose to do it with his elbow. Zachary is so proud of his accomplishment that these are some of the things we here him say..."Whoever broke a board gets to use the bathroom first....I think my karate clothes need washed because when I broke the board, they probably got sweaty." Mario came up with a few of his own that we will probably hear in the near future..."Wow the weather is nice, it reminds me of that day I broke the board...Can we eat the same thing for dinner that we had the day I broke the board?"

Eric finished up his hiking merit badge with 2 -10 mile hikes (70 miles total for the merit badge). He had to forfeit his private karate lesson on Saturday to go on his campout and hike. We are so pleased that he made the right choice. I also talked Eric out of accepting his dad's $20-$25 for each completed merit badge. He should do it because he wants to and not for money. I convinced Mario he was only paying him because of his own fear that Eric wouldn't do otherwise. Give Eric a chance, he almost always makes the right choice.

Erin cut several inches off her hair and it looks adorable. Plus it is much easier to maintain. An added bonus is that she seems to be in a much better mood since cutting it. Mario and I both noticed that.

Nathan overcame his fears and went boogie boarding in San Diego. That was a huge accomplishment for him. He has been our only child with a fear of the water.

We saw two movies at the theater...Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Where the Wild Things Are.

Eric decided he no longer wants to be a doctor after I rented the movie "Gifted Hands." It was about a neurosurgeon who separates conjoined twins and saves both of them (He was the first to discover a way to do it.) It was a very graphic movie showing a lot of blood. Eric couldn't watch the surgery parts and decided maybe Law school would be a better option. Whatever he does, I am sure he will be successful.

I reread Dave Ramsey's book and decided to put ourselves on a tighter budget and start saving 15% towards retirement. We had only been saving 5-10% before. With Mario's pension and our retirement savings, hopefully we will be able to serve lots of missions. Plus I have been saving for a home when we retire. With all this saving, I capped our Christmas budget at $600 this year. I thought the kids might complain when I suggested we split up the $600 and give each person (including Mario and I) $20 to spend on each member of the family (Mario and I don't want anything, but the kids like to buy for us too, maybe I can decrease the amount that they spend on us.) At first there were some groans, but now instead of everyone trying to figure out what they are getting for Christmas, they are making lists of what to get everyone else. None of the kids believe in Santa anymore, so we don't have to worry about getting lots of Santa gifts. But Mario may end up spending slightly over our $600 budget to fund some stocking gifts. I think it would be kind of fun to see if we could really stick to our budget. With all the money we spend on karate and orthodontists, we need not overspend on Christmas. Our kids are definitely not lacking for anything.

Eric chastised me for wanting to watch the movie "The Proposal" with him when our Clear Play wouldn't edit it. It was PG-13 and so I thought I could use TV Guardian to edit out the language and it would be fine. He looked up the reviews and he saw all the sexual content in it and decided to watch a Little House instead. He constantly keeps our family on the right track. In fact, Mario and I were joking that his kids are going to come complain to us that their father won't let them do anything. Our only response would be, yep, he wouldn't let us either.

It was a fantastic 3 weeks, but I am excited to get some time to myself again. Eric and Erin occasionally ask to be homeschooled, but I keep telling them no. I am not dedicated enough, plus they both know more than me. I could never teach them. I guess I should start looking into online homeschools, but I am hoping they can hold off.

First Kiss

The neighbor came over to tell me that Zachary kissed her little sister, Anna, today. Fortunately it was just on her cheek. Zach denies everything. Eric told Zach no kissing a girl until he's 21. Zach asked why not because he could get married at 20. Eric and I explained to Zach that he doesn't get home from his mission until he's 21. That brought a lot of confusion to Zachary because he knew that he would leave on a mission at 19. He had no idea a mission was 2 years. I am not sure he is excited about the 2 years. He looked devastated.

Nathan's Advice

While Mario was up decorating the boys' room today he decided to fix their closet door. Zachary was doing a lot of talking while Mario and Nathan were working. Mario looked at Zachary to give him a "dirty" look and Nathan told Zach, "Less noise, more work."

Nathan was adapting a common phrase of Mario's that he says often at dinner, "Less talking, more eating."

Boarding School

Does anyone know of a good boarding school for two almost 6-year-old boys? Do they have a twin discount? I can tolerate my boys separated in public places, but not together. I took them to the local bank the other day to open an account. I don't know if they have ever been in a bank before since I do almost all online banking with banks in Texas and Utah. Apparently, they confused the bank with a park. Then I took them to the grocery store yesterday where they climbed under the display tables. Again, they must have confused the store with a zoo. Then today I took them to a baptism (which they are fully aware of how to behave in church.) They must think that because it is not Sunday, they don't have to behave in the chapel. After the baptism we went to the library. That was a mistake.

I have concluded that I have not done a good job with teaching these boys how to behave in public places. But to my defense, they are perfect children when they are separated. I don't know what happens to them when they are together. They forget how to act civilized. Erin is at the point that she doesn't even want twins anymore.

Is spanking legal? They both need a good swat!

Deployment Part 2

Well after much prayer, Mario has decided not to pursue the deployment to Ecuador in March. He kept telling me that he didn't feel it was the right time to go and that after praying the answer he got was that we need to trust in the Lord. As much as I wanted him to volunteer for a Latin America deployment, I also knew this morning that it wasn't the right time. I always worry that he will have to go to the desert, and who knows, maybe he will someday. But Mario's right, we just need to have faith and put our trust in the Lord and everything will work out. So looks like for now Mario will be sticking around. I am not ready to be a single parent anyway. Problem is, I am not sure I will ever be ready...but I also know that Heavenly Father will help make me strong when the time comes.