The White House

The White House

Monday, March 26, 2012

Sunday at Home

The sun was shining and the weather warmer, but I never looked at a thermometer yesterday. We spent all day at home… no one was up for dealing with crowds.
Only in Alaska do kids play Frisbee in winter. Can you see it? It is red…down by Lucas’ leg. They quickly gave up as big mittens didn’t work so well.
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After Frisbee was soccer and swinging. I think these kids are ready for summer. Olivia also rode the little snow-go around and around. No walks with the dogs today. Nick and Nick took the big snow-go to town and rode for hours. Andrew stopped by with his girlfriend to get a bucket of mud to repair a hole in the wall. Elijah went snowboarding with his friends. Enjoying the longer days.
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Baked a cake and Lucas thought it would be best to do the frosting half and half so everyone would like it. He’s such a thoughtful boy.
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Made wraps for the first time.  Chicken, bacon, onion, parmesan cheese, caesar dressing, dash of seasoning salt and some garlic powder.
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I spread cream cheese on a sun-dried tomato basil wrap, added chicken and lettuce and they were so good!
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These two played a lot today. They made an elaborate city out of blocks upstairs and then moved it down stairs when Homer started using the saw. Olivia kind of did her own thing today, but these two were joined at the hip.
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After the basketball games Homer worked on Elijah’s wall and I planted another 164 6-packs of seeds. Of course, that is too many…. if they all grew and they all survived that would be another 1000 plants, but as life would have it that will not be the case so I plant for insurance. There will be that day when my son is sick or in trouble and needs picked up, I will be really late watering and something will die. That’s what happened last Spring and why I didn’t have enough flowers to fill my beds and had to supplement with vegetables. (Veggies are great, but they go in the veggie garden and not with my flowers!).
I was up too late cleaning the kitchen out of frustration (and could just go back to bed right now, but won’t). Elijah was “less than pleasant” when he came home from snowboarding last night. You wouldn’t think he could say such vicious things to the people that give so much to love and support to him, but he does. There’s that moment in his tirades that I am standing in my former life reliving all the bad that I got away from and realize that this is my child and as a parent I can’t walk away (although some have) and I just shut down and wait it out like I did so many times with his mirror image. And then when he is done and goes to bed where he forgets all about it I clean and clean and clean to keep myself from crying. That generational demon is so strong and I’ve been beat up by  it for twenty years now. Is the glass half full? Sure it is because Nick is the complete opposite and unaffected. And there is always hope that one of the many adults working touching his life will make that connection that leads him to a better place. I have to believe that he can change…..

3 comments:

gpc said...

I've probably said this before and it is probably a useless response, but for what it's worth: after years of (mostly) verbal abuse from her father, I kept silent through years of (mostly) verbal abuse by my child. Like you, I bit my tongue and knew she didn't mean it and that it wasn't really her fault. But finally I spoke up, at a time when she was calm, and told her that I had been sworn at many times in my life, and I had decided that no one had permission to do that to me again. I told her that no one had a right to treat her like that either. AFter that, when she started being abusive to me, I would quietly but firmly say that one thing: no one has a right to swear at me and treat me with abuse. Then I'd keep my mouth shut while she ranted. Over the years, the lesson sunk in as much as it could, and her tirades got shorter and less nasty. She will never be well, but there has been improvement in that area. I hope things improve for you.

Humble wife said...

Gayle- demons are heavy in the lives of teens. Trust me-years later I can testify that your efforts are not in vain. He will be fine, because of you!!! Some day I may share more of my life...but trust me-your efforts will sow productive adults~

~your wraps look delicious!!

~we were in the 80's yesterday and most likely will be today too. Oh to see so much snow...my kids would never know what to do!!

~oh how similar we are...I have to frost the cake in thirds, one well not frosted(me) chocolate for the kids, and vanilla or anything but chocolate for Bill. Funny how as moms we compensate for all of our unique likes and dislikes. We rock-if I must say!!

Hope Lucas is doing better-boy he has one tough noggin!!

take care my friend...

Janie said...

Teenagers can be so cruel. Eventually they wise up, but it's painful for the parents in the meantime.
Lucas is a sweet kid to ice the cake with 2 kinds of icing.