Spudlets

Catchup

Here it is – two months and finally getting around to a post.  I need to remember why I blog, in spite of the low traffic.  Uhh … what traffic?

Catchup … oh yeah.  The Spuds are doing OK.  We’re planning on hitting the beach soon, and now have our own family laptop to take with us.  The kids have a special account with the state where things like education expenses (i.e. summer camps, computers) can be reimbursed, ergo we bought a laptop for under $500.  It has Vista and so far I have not cared working with it, though the kids usually are using the laptop for games on the internet.  I’m tempted to install WinXP, but I”ll wait for now.

Sandy:  She continues to be a roller coaster ride for us, sometimes behaving and a joy to be around with her zest for life, other times not so good when her hard head cannot be “cracked” and she screams whenever she does not get her way.  I hope she turns the corner soon, and learns that behaving is an easier way to go.  She had her last soccer game of the season yesterday, but unfortunately the other team did not show up.  She had a great game last week scoring three goals.  If she gets distracted or frustrated, she’ll usually spend the rest of the game not involved and the coaches yelling at her.  We’ll just keep giving her opportunities to blossom.

Joey:  After two and a half years it still does not feel like he’s accepted me as dad 100% (Sandy seems to have done this).  I need to keep finding opportunities to share different experiences with him.  He’s not a talker unless the subject is computer games, stuffed animals or his pets.  He is smart and has done well in school this year, testing nearly a grade level above in math.

Joshua:  We continue to challenge him to be the helping big brother and set a good example.  Unfortunately he usually puts himself first, and God forbid someone should seem to take advantage of him.  He rarely has a bad temper tantrum now, so that’s been encouraging.  He also does fairly well in school when he wants to, but has a difficult time applying himself at math.

Kristal:  Wife has been berry berry good.  She was on the fence deciding on whether to homeschool Sandy or ship her off to public school (she’s almost finished with Headstart) next year, and made the decision to try teaching her at home.  The few times she tried it this year have worked OK.  Kristal has said she feels like a failure because the kids will act up in public and she feels like it reflects badly on her.  I keep reassuring her that we have some special kids, and she should not keep comparing ours to other kids.  One of the most difficult aspects of parenting is when to know it’s OK to let go and not try to be in control all the time.

(little ol’) Me:  Besides glaucoma, tennis elbow(arthritis?), protruding gut, graying at the temples and the beginnings of a flabby turtleneck, I feel great(!).  I installed an antenna in the attic, but the results have not been as good as I had hoped for.  It has helped to bring in a few more channels, but the PBS channels are still a little shaky.  I think having elevated the antenna has helped.  I purchased an RCA antenna for ~$80, but I’m not sure if it is any better than my homemade cheapo antenna (got the instructions from a Youtube video).