Eagle and Facebook

Eric had his Eagle board of review on Wednesday. He asked me and Mario to accompany him to the interview. Of course we weren't allowed to go in during the review, but that didn't help my anxiety over the whole thing. I was a nervous wreck for him. Fortunately, Walmart was only a mile away and so I left and went to get a few things while Eric sweated through his interview. Mario called me to tell me that he could see Eric through the glass window and he assured me that Eric was smiling and laughing and looked completely comfortable. After about 45 minutes, they let Eric leave and then called us back in a few minutes later to tell us that he was now officially an Eagle Scout. Whew! What a relief, it is over.

I have always been opposed to having Facebook in our home. I didn't want to get hooked on it and I certainly didn't want my children using it. But about a month ago, I came to the conclusion that I can't shelter Eric forever (as much as I would like to). So Mario and I talked and decided to allow Eric to get his own Facebook page when he passed his Eagle board. So Eric immediately came home after the review and started his page. Mario sat with him making sure the privacy settings looked right. Then we watched him start "friending." First guy that friends him back is in his Spanish class. Mario and I watched over Eric's shoulder as Eric scrolled through his Facebook wall. It was covered in 4 letter words and immoral stuff. I immediately felt a pit forming in my stomach and felt like we are making a BIG mistake in letting Facebook into our home. As far as I'm concerned, it is pure evil for teenagers (and for some adults). I went up to bed and Mario spent a long time talking to Eric about the dangers of this new hobby.

Of course we have strict rules set up for using it, including we have to be home and around for him to use it. We ALWAYS have access to his password and he better be careful who he friends and what he says on there. We won't hesitate to take it away. A couple days later, I am not sure how I am feeling about it. I really want Eric to be able to make some decisions. I can't send him off to college in 3 years being completely sheltered. But Mario and I feel that home is a sanctuary from all the peer pressure he feels at school everyday. Now allowing this in our home, we feel that we may be taking from his sanctuary. It is not easy being parents to teenagers. I am grateful that Mario and I are on the same page with everything and that we have a strong foundation in the gospel.

Lt Colonel

Today, Mario was told that the General gave him a DP (definitely promote) to Lt Colonel. I had no doubts that Mario would make LtC because of his two Master Degrees and deployment. He has checked all the boxes. But he still worried because recently the military stopped allowing passed up Majors to retire at 20 years. So if he didn't make rank, he would have to separate. After 14 years, and this close to retirement, that would be horrible. I think the boards meet next month but the results don't come out until June. So if Mario would have only gotten a P (promote), we would have had to wait until June to know if he would be promoted. So I am thankful that Mario can put all the stress about promotion behind him and now he can just stress about the upcoming move and new job. Does the stress ever end?

I think it is time for some Ugly Cake, except it isn't so ugly because I finally replaced my pan that was no longer nonstick. I am so proud of Mario. He has always put the family before his career and Heavenly Father has always blessed him for it. I think it's safe to start planning our vacation to Hawaii now. Hooray!!

Day Off

Over the weekend I realized I didn't have a single obligation for today. No tutoring (Ian went to Vegas for the weekend), no dr apts, no volunteering. I can't remember the last day I had at home all by myself with nothing I HAD to do. I got a little nervous when Erin wasn't coming down for breakfast. I was worried she might be sick and that would ruin by perfect alone day. Is that selfish for me to think like that?

So today I started by cleaning out all my drawers. Then I started cleaning the twins room and moving some furniture around. It is really the only way I know how to clean. I cleaned out all their drawers and removed all the small stuff for an upcoming yard sale. Last week I went through and cleaned out all their old books. We donated all the picture books to a neighbor expecting twins. It was hard to say goodbye to all the books that we have read to our four children over the years, but we just don't need them any longer. The boys are reading chapter books and so they barely touch the easy ones anymore. I did keep a couple sentimental books and also all the Jan Brett books. She is my favorite children's author and probably only because I met her once at a teacher's conference.

After cleaning the twins room, I moved onto Eric's room. He had cleaned it on Friday or Saturday morning, but by Saturday night it looked like a tornado had gone through. Eric has boxes and boxes of books (another good reason I am glad I bought him a Kindle.) I made him go through each box and separate into piles of what we should keep for twins and which should we donate. We got them separated on Saturday night, but we didn't finish cleaning up the huge mess we had made in the process.

After cleaning the rooms, I didn't touch Erin's because I think it really did have a tornado come through and I had nothing to do with that one, I filed our tax return. I love doing taxes and sometimes wish I had gone to school to be an accountant. But not really, I just love numbers. I love that a big portion of our income (like housing allowance) isn't taxed. So we still get money back each year. But I bet I will hate doing taxes once I no longer get a refund. I know that financial planners always say that you should never get a refund because that means you are giving too much each month. But I love the refund and I always use it to pay for family vacations. I know that it makes more sense to invest the money, but considering that my emergency fund last year only made $24 in interest, there just doesn't seem to be any money to be made in savings accounts these days.

I then read a few chapters and took a short nap. I had a nice quiet lunch while I clipped coupons. I just love days like today. I almost wish everyday could be like this. But I don't see another day like this coming up anytime soon. Maybe once I move and no longer tutor or volunteer.

Anyway, I was doing all the cleaning to prepare for our move to Omaha. The last couple weeks, I have put together the plan for the move. We still don't know when Mario has to leave, but as it stands this minute, he will have to leave on February 23. Hopefully it will get extended until at least April, but I am not holding my breath. Compared to the deployment, this is nothing. So I am not too worried. My plan is to pack out a week before the move so I can spend the last two weeks in a nice TLF with the kids on base and have little stress while Eric takes his finals. Mario will fly back to Tucson in time to drive away with the family. We plan on making a stop at Hoover Dam and then travel to Utah for a week. Eric was quite upset that we aren't taking the most direct route to Omaha. So I found a way to satisfy him-EFY at BYU for a week. We will also get to visit my parents on their mission in Heber Valley. Then we will spend a week at a resort in Park City. I loved staying in Park City on our drive to California from Illinois.

Personal Fitness and Camping Merit Badges

Eric finally finished up his last two merit badges for Eagle. He has been working on the camping merit badge for the past 3 1/2 years because it required 20 nights of camping. Eric doesn't like camping so he is very glad to have finally reached 20 nights. I am not sure he will want to go on another camp out with the boy scouts. We can barely get him to go camping as a family. It is not that he doesn't like to be in a tent, he doesn't like hotels either. He wants to be home in his nice, comfy bed (which isn't all that comfy because it is a futon.)

The other merit badge was personal fitness. That required working out and recording 12 weeks of exercise. He started it and then didn't finish a couple times before, but he quickly ran out of time if he wanted to complete the Eagle Board before moving to Omaha. So we gave him many "gentle" reminders to not quit.

What a relief that he did his project last summer. So now he just has to send in his application and have his Board of Review. We should be able to have the Court of Honor by April or May.

I am proud of Eric. I know that scouting isn't his favorite hobby, but he stuck with it and got it done. He only has one other friend that has completed his Eagle. Several of his friends are 16 or almost 16, and struggling to get it done so they can get their license. As our neighbor and good friend Brother Park says, "Once boys turn 14, they are no longer Boys Scouts, they become Girl Scouts!" How true that is. Boys quickly turn to scouting out the girls.

I don't know if Eric sees his growth from scouting, but Mario and I notice. Eric was required to make all the phone calls to merit badge counselors and make all the phone calls to work out his Eagle Project. He wrote many letters and he directed a large team for his project. He has learned some skills that will benefit him the rest of his life. While getting his law merit badge, he decided that he would like to go to law school. That had always been the dream I had for myself, so I am thrilled that Eric would like to go. Whatever he does for a career, I just hope he loves it. Fortunately, I have found something much more rewarding for me than law school, being a mom and teaching my kids, as well as many others, how to read.

So now Mario and I have 2 more boys to look forward to helping get Eagle. That should be lots of fun with twins! Hopefully they like camping more than their big brother.

Flying Fish

Zach used some Christmas money to buy this giant fish. It's filled with helium and floats around the room and is controlled by a remote. It has a tail fin that controls the direction. We tried desperately to talk Zach out of this impulse buy, but I have to admit, it's a pretty cool toy. Fortunately Zach has a very generous sister who paid for the helium since Zach spent all his money buying the fish.

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Nathan's Reverence Talk

Nathan was reverence child on Christmas. He wrote his talk himself and then Eric helped him with correct wording and then even typed it up for Nathan. Nathan did a great job and didn't appear to be even slightly nervous.

Gingerbread Men

For FHE last week, the kids each decorated a Gingerbread Man.

For FHE last week, the kids each decorated their own Gingerbread Man.