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Where is the adult-parent line?

Posted on March 19, 2009 8:12 am by TheAngelForever

As a parent, I understand what my responsibilities are for my children. I also realize that as an adult, when around other children, it is my "job" to keep safety a priority. If another child is doing something that is not safe, I feel that I can step in and ask them to stop. If the child selects not to do it, that is where my boundaries end. I would never think of threatening them with a consequence, I would get their parent and explain the situation for them to take care of.

Sunday afternoon at my nephews party we had an experience where another adult at the party over stepped the adult-parent line. TechyDad did an amazing blog post about this experience when it was very fresh in his mind. You can read that here.

To this day I am still floored with the behavior of the other person at the party. Please note that there were only four children at this family party, my two boys and our two nephews. This woman’s children are adults and she is NO relative of ours.

What would you have done in this situation? I was too busy picking my mouth up from the floor to reply properly. How would you help to prep your child IF you go back into a potential environment like this again?

As sad as it is that my boys may not be close to their two cousins, it makes me even more determined to make sure that we continue to be close to my brother and his family.

Categories:
decisions family jl looking back vent

New car and snow

Posted on March 3, 2009 9:49 am by TheAngelForever

When we woke up yesterday morning we knew it was going to be an exciting day. We were going to trade in the old 1998 Toyota Corolla for a new car. Of course, a few things stood in our way. The car dealer needed the release on the lien, other papers had to be brought in, the loan had to be acquired and a few other items. With the economy the way it is, and having been identity theft victims, we were a little nervous. The snow outside was just going to make things even more "interesting" in the scheme of things.

After JSL woke up from his nap, we went over to the dealer and brought the paperwork. I waited around while they looked it over. At that point they had me sign a paper that we were indeed going to purchase the car. As I was looking it over, I noticed that the money for the trade was missing. Ooops! That was fixed in seconds and I signed the proper forms. When I left they said they would call JL at work with figures on interest rates and loan offers.

JSL and I went to my parent’s house. My cousin M and her hubby B were in visiting from the other coast (more on their visit later). They had never met JSL before, so we went to spend time with them. Just before I went to pick up NHL from school I called JL at work. He said there was a little snaffu with the loan process. Apparently the security measures that we had put on our credit were working a little too well. He had to talk to the bank to finalize a few things. By the time I was at school getting NHL, we had a loan secured with a nice interest rate.

Of course, the snow did not really let up most of the day. We did not get a lot of it, but there was a lot of blowing and drifting snow. It certainly added to the anxiety of getting the old car in for a trade and picking up the new one. My family watched the boys and we left for the car dealer to pick up the new car. This was just before 5:00.

After a comedy of errors that included me leaving the title at my parents house (thanks Dad for bringing it to me), forgetting the check book, and the car getting stuck on ice when we tried to pull out of the lot, we finally got back for dinner just before 7:00.

Oh, before I forget here are photos of our new "baby" from this morning:

We are the proud new owners of a 2009 Nissan Sentra. Thanks to the size and amazing trunk space, we will be able to use this car for mini trips to save on gas that my minivan guzzles. So yesterday we continued to do our share to help the economy and put ourselves into debt again. Not having a car loan for a few short months was nice, but this was a needed acquisition.

Categories:
car decisions family shopping weather

Is being an adult overrated?

Posted on February 27, 2009 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

There are days that I wonder, why do kids always wish they were adults? Seriously, kids do not have to think about the never ending home repairs and expenses. There are no worries about buying new cars. They do not have to work out budgets for groceries, utilities, insurance, vacation, car expenses and the other items needed for life in the so called real world. The list just gets more complex and "interesting" when you add in loans, mortgages and the cost of raising a family. Of course, not everything has to do with money. As an adult, the responsibilities are endless. You need to schedule time to do laundry, get car repairs, clean, organize and perhaps even try to relax.

The last few months have made me wonder why being an adult was something I always longed for. As a child, I do not remember my parents worrying about so much. Is it the recession that is the culprit of all of my fears, or did the adults in my life simply hide everything? Of course, the reality of so many things happening at once made me think about being an adult and taking care of all of the "things" in life.

Today hubby’s car decided it may be giving up. His car is a 1998 Corolla and has 104,000 on it. In the scheme of things, we have hardly done any major repairs on it. Clearly, the car does not owe us anything. The cost of a major repair, assuming it has anything to do with the transmission, is not worth it. We went to test drive a car and may make a final decision after getting some price quotes.

So my question for this week is inspired by all of these adult decisions being made around here lately:

What three things do you wish you did not have to worry about as an adult? If you would like to explain why feel free, if not that is fine.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the Mr. Linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #37

Categories:
Aloha Friday decisions family photos vent

Family flip time

Posted on February 25, 2009 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Categories:
family fun jsl nhl photos weekend Wordless Wednesday

Sesame Street Live 2009

Posted on February 24, 2009 9:53 am by TheAngelForever

Over the last three years JL, NHL and I have seen three different Sesame Street Live shows. Each one has been fabulous and encouraged us to come back for another. This year the show was Elmo Makes Music and it lived up to our expectations. The show started with Bert, Ernie and Rubber Duckie coming out to introduce the letter and number of the day.

Soon after this the stage exploded with even more favorite Sesame Street characters. The kids in the audience went wild as Cookie Monster, Telly Monster, Prarie Dawn, Zoe, Grover, Big Bird, Elmo and others joined the group.

JSL and Cousin S were taking it all in. They just sat there watching as the characters danced and sang fun songs on the stage.

The little guy started out on my lap and eventually got fussy and wanted JL. At that point I took over with the camera duties. For the first half of the show Cousin S was happy dancing in front of Uncle I to the music. It was so fun to watch her with the Mamba number.

Here is the way the kids looks after the switch off.

The boys

After a while JSL started to get into the show. He was telling JL each time he saw Cookie Monster and Grover. They were definitely the highlight of his show experience.

Cousin S was excited when she saw Count. She demonstrated her count laugh (priceless) and stood mesmerized with the happenings. She was also quite fond of the part on Elmo’s World.

Soon after Elmo’s World it was time for the characters to take a break before the second half. Here are a few more photos from the start of the show.

While waiting for the second half of the show the kids played by our seats and had some snacks. They also sold the $8 Elmos balloons that we did not purchase. The boys talked about seeing Cookie Monster and Grover again.

Little did we know that a mystery would take place. The mystery of the missing Sesame Street characters. The two in question are seen below. They are fuzzy and blue. One may be seen eating a cookie and the other with a Super cape.

Why the mystery? Neither of these characters showed up again in the second half of the show! There was much disappoinement, but they did get over it. During the second half of the show Cousin S also made up her mind that she wanted to sit with Uncle JL and JSL. She made herself right at home and enjoyed the view.

The rest of the show was more fast paced than the first act. Bert came out for a 1970’s Disco number, Big Bird and Baby Bear (we all cringed when he showed up on the scene) sang Rockin Robbin, the Count did a tribute to the number 8, and there was the finale. Here are some favorite photos from the end of the show.

If you ever have the opportunity to see a Sesame Street Live show I highly recommend it. They put on a highly entertaining production for a reasonable price. I hope we will be able to see them again in 2010!