The McCullough Family: September random stuff, take 2

The night we drove home from dropping Brian off at the airport in late August, I saw a mouse in the garage. Upon further inspection, it appeared that they were having along time buffet of dog bones. I moved the bones inside, still- mouse poop would appear. So I got to work- killing mice. Sara told me about some awesome traps- and I killed 6 of them! Eeeeeeewwww. Tate and Macy would check the traps each morning, and Tate would help me dispose of the dead mouse. Except for the one guy who refused to die. I noticed he was still moving in the morning and left him. He was still moving an hour later after walking Macy to school. So I went to work. And 5 hours later- he was still freaking alive! I called my neighbor who sent her husband. He was shocked even at how feisty that little bugger was.... After the 6th mouse, I called the landlord. They sent in a mouse man... Only one in the traps since!

Also right after Brian left, my engine light came on.

And I had to replace a filament light bulb in our back patio spot light. That was a first!

And Tate's got a flat tire in his spanking new bike- and I broke the bike tire air pump trying to fill it. Oops. (That was also the morning- 8am mind you, as we are on our way to the kids triathlon practice, that I had a huge temper tantrum. A deployment temper tantrum. I was just FED UP! I had just gotten over my nasty 3 week long rash and just wasn't feeling too confident...

Guess what else I did in September? SOLD A HOUSE! Yup, on Sept 15th we closed on our Arkansas house. See ya. Not a tear shed.

Another thing I quickly had to learn to manage as a single parent was schedules. One night Tate stayed home alone so that I could go to his back-to-school night (for parents only, no childcare in middle school) and I dropped Macy off at girl scouts on my way there. A friends mom brought her home- to Tate. By the time I got home, both kids were fast asleep. Wow how times have changed. Sure, perhaps an 11 year old and an 8 year old aren't supposed to be home alone for 90 minutes after dark- but oh well. You do what you gotta do. Hats off to these REAL single moms!

The second week of school, I was chatting with Tate about how PE class was going now that he had a uniform to change into. He had to remember to get his PE bag from his locker and go down to change into his uniform now. He told me he'd been changing in the bathroom, instead of in the locker room. I asked why? He sweetly said "I had character underwear on." OH MY GOODNESS! Poor kid.

Thank you Amazon Prime! Luckily PE is only every other day.... Character underwear is for the weekends only... not my rule, his!

Ashley and I became friends in Germany. She currently lives in Arizona, but her father-in-law lives about 20 minutes from me. So on a visit to see him this fall, she carved out a night to come over and have a slumber party with me! We both like to go to sleep early- but it'd been a year and a half since we'd seen eachother- so we stayed up until 2am talking and catching up. It was so, so very great.

Tate and Macy like each other 90% of the time. They both think it is such a treat to have sleepovers together on weekend nights-

But always in Tate's room... Perhaps because he has more floor space? Perhaps because she has dolls? Who knows. Who cares.

I took Macy and her friend Mia to read to a therapy dog named MACY at the library-

Macy and Macy-

Can you believe it? When I saw that advertised, I just knew we had to go.

Picking out a book-

Macy, Macy & Mia-

Afterwards we went to a kids entrepreneurial craft show, where we discovered Oorbeez. They are the size of sand, and when soaked in water, become the size of marbles-

We had so many that I had to put them into two bowls at the grew- and then give them to friends!

This teeny tiny jar full of dried sand like pieces filled up these two bowls of "water marbles"

Cool stuff for sure!

Kristen told me about this book, and boy am I glad I read it-

While I don't necessarily want to get started on allowances (or commissions as Dave Ramsey and his daughter call them in this book) it did teach me about having the kids divide up all money they receive into envelopes- 50% SPEND, 25% SAVE and 25% GIVE. That is a life long tool we will for sure implement...

Thank you Mrs. Sara for this wild shirt and pants combo- she rocked it!

Tate had such a hard start to 6th grade. Looking back, he has such a hard start to each grade. I always give him enough rope to hang himself- and about a month in, he hangs himself. He tries to get away with not doing the work- and I try to get away with not following up on whether or not he has done the work. We both know this doesn't work for him, as he has to give 110% and so do I...

So I try to help. But if you don't follow through with even my help, there are of course consequences. Like this one- being grounded from you Legos. I covered it in a big black sheet-

Done.

And if you forget shit at school- I've gotta help you remember it. The first time, I will drive you back. The second time you owe me gas money. The third time- I write with sharpie on your hand so you get a little reminder-

I honestly forget now what each letter stood for- but it was a lot to remember! But he did it. I'd threatened to write in in read, along the top of his forearm the following day if needed. It wasn't needed... Nor have I ever driven his butt back to school after that initial week of shock and awe. Shock and awe people, shock and awe. And as the old saying goes "this hurts me more than it hurts you." So so true.

Boycott popcorn- dont buy it. Such a waste. SOOOOOOO expensive. But, he worked a shift to try to earn some money towards his monthly campouts- and he looked cute!