Tonight's meeting is over

and photos from Tuki's dance debut..tomorrow is her second dance and sisters, Grandma J and neighbor A will be coming to see her dance too

getting ready

close up

from the back

with good buddy A (a friend from daycare and 4K)

waiting time...can't take photos during the performance so these will have to do...btw she did GREAT!!

We're back

Mim is still sleeping, Tuki took a bath and is now taking a nap to be well rested for her big dance recital and Ve and I just finished lunch. We both are also going to take a nap since Ve is on her second week of a bad cold and I am now in my first week of the bad cold/cough.

Pictures from Ve's game today.










Second week in the row that her team won!!

She's home

Mim is home, safe and sound. She had a good time with her friends but never slept (over 24 hours) so she is now sleeping and Ve, Tuks and I will soon be heading to Ve's soccer game.

Mim

is at the all night trivia competition at school,

and

I

am restless and feeling uneasy and feel like I am suppose to go

pick her up before I head off to

bed.

This is the first night since she has been home in which she has not slept in her bed upstairs (except when the whole family was on vacation)

and I am finding

I am not liking it.....

WOW this is rough, I sure hope she is OK

and she is

having a good time.

I think I will end the night with a

glass of wine

or two

so I can actually sleep and not worry

all

night

long.

Lord help me, parenting is one tough job!!

This weekend is busy

Tonight;
Mim is participating in the all night 7pm to 7am trivia that is held at our Junior High
Tuki, Ve and I will be taking care of Kiki's dogs
Begin erecting new fencing for the new chicken outdoor yard
Maybe attend the Girl HS track meet

Saturday;
Mim comes home after a night with no sleep
Ve plays a soccer game in the am (she has been working hard this week on telling the truth)
Tuki has her dance recital in the afternoon
I have a meeting in the evening

Sunday;
We usher at church
Tuki has another dance recital
We erect more fence for the chicken outdoor run

Dance Recital Weekend

a friend putting make-up on Tuki since I have no idea how to do this

close up

the final look

Aunt M. Ve and Tuks after her rehearsal

posing beauty

She will perform on Saturday and Sunday...she feels right at home on stage!!!

Declined!!

I found out that I did not get the 10,000 grant...bummer. I thought it was good too!! Shows you how much I know............

This morning

After sitting on it last night, I decided to allow the girls to earn back what they had lost. I informed Tuki that she will have to earn her pieces of gum back through good behavior and Ve will earn back the soccer games each week through working on not lying, but her Easter Basket is gone, maybe, I may give her a piece day by day as she works on not lying. I am still thinking about this one.

I still feel like crap. The biggest concern I have in all this lying is that Ve has a hard time processing and problem solving UNLESS she decides she wants something she is not to have. Then she comes up with very elaborate and creativee stories. I am not so worried about the impulsive, "oh oh" I got caught lies, but the pre-planned lies to get something that is not allowed scares the H@@@ out of me because I feel if I can't help her to stop this behavior she may wind up in deep trouble some day. Plus she is destroying my trust little by little. Will I ever be able to trust her when she is given a chance...I have no answers to all these thoughts, just a lot of questions.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Good: The girls woke early, 5;00 am on a Sunday to find their baskets. Everyone was excited!! After church, all on her own Tuki built a cross out of wood and nails to represent what today is all about.

Ve and her basket

Mim and hers

Tuki with hers

Then we went to Uncle W's to spend quality time with family...and do a Easter egg hunt. Uncle W is real good at hiding eggs with clues!! The girls love it
The color of egg you choose from the basket is the color you hunt for.

The three wee ones after the hunt is over

Mim still looking

Resting Tuki

Happy Mim

Organizing Ve

The Bad; Ve lies, probably more than I even realize. I have given consequence after consequence, but she adapts well so consequences don't help very long. I had gotten to the point where she was no longer allowed to participate in sports due to her lying..My motto to the girls has been "Good things happen for girls who act good" Lying was not good, so no good thing like sports. There was even a time where her lying became very severe so I informed her that the Easter bunny was not going to be giving her a basket this year. She and the other two knew this was going to happen all the way up until last night. I have noticed that lately Ve seemed to be working on not lying, so I decided that I would tell the girls that I stayed up late to explain and plead Ve's case for her so that the Easter Bunny would give her another chance since she was working on trying not to lie. I also explained to them that I needed to be around so that our dogs didn't become worried over the big bunny in our house and attempt to kill the Easter Bunny (I of course was joking here, but it made for a jovial story)

Good question for me is, when the time comes how will I explain Easter Bunny and Santa Claus without the girls calling me a liar, the irony, some lies are universally accepted as Ok, while others are not...such a dilemma, Before I was a Mom I was not going to allow for this stuff but the pressure from other kids, school talk and commercials was too great, so I caved.

Ok, back to my sad tale; He, meaning Easter Bunny, according to my story.. agreed, and Ve received a basket. She was so excited and thanked me sincerely for talking to him....But, then later this morning she lied when asked a question and then again tonight, she tried to sneak a piece of candy up to her room..with a very elaborate laid out plan and tale hoping that I would not notice. We have talked many times that sneaking was just another form of lying. I was PO'd so I told her that her basket would be removed from her and soccer was done again, (she hasn't been in a sport since last fall) which is too bad since she is frickin' good at it. This may appear severe to some, but to me her lying is severe, as we have been working on it for over two years so she knows it is wrong to lie. I asked later if she thought it was the best choice to lie for 1 piece of candy, and lose soccer and the rest of her basket. She said no. I also asked her if she made the choice to lie even though she knew it was wrong and she would get into trouble if I found out. She said yes. I also know she will lie again...she always does and that is the deepest cut of all, I just can't seem to get through to her that lying is probably the worse behavior you can do to someone you love. I think she saw people she loved in Haiti lie, to her, to others, and even to themselves so I fear the behavior is etched very deeply into her psyche. It will take a looonnnngggg time or maybe not ever to remove the etchings

Tuks then tried to copy Ve about 15 minutes later with trying to sneak a piece of gum to bed. Her consequence, all gum will be removed from her basket (lesser sentence since she doesn't have a pattern of this behavior). Both were very upset, I am upset, but I am sticking to my consequences....At times I feel that Ve is learning, and then a situation like tonight. Her lies can be so planned out that I know they are not impulsive or fear based, just based on wanting something and designing a plan to get it. These are the worse kind of lies to me.. carefully planned out so well, it kind of scares me what will happen to her if I can't help her turn this around.

The Ugly: I sent them to bed early and crying, and now I feel like a heel that this all came down on Easter. So I get the bad Momma award and now I have to take candy away on top of it....

Coloring Eggs

so many colors to choose from

pink as always was the favorite

fur buddies nearby-DaVinci

Rem

Einie stretching

busy at work

we used the Serama eggs, that is why they are so small...5 eggs equals a regular size chicken egg

Mim very serious at work

proud of her color choice

Tuki pleased to show off as usual

busy, busy arranging

focused

working diligently

Mim loved to go slow and color with various colors on one egg

My dad always said

"if you don't like the weather in Wisconsin, wait a minute" He was a wise man.


Wednesday, April 20 morning

Wednesday, April 20 morning

Friday, April 22 morning

Friday, April 22 morning

I was coming in from outside after taking the tire/tree photo and Tuki says "Mom take a picture of us, me , Ve and Heathcliff (they are watching Tinkerbelle)" So I took it.

Just when we thought it was over

another 6 - 10 inches of snow is predicted for tonight into tomorrow. Every activity after school has been canceled in anticipation of the big storm....nothing more to say....

Week of many celebrations

HAPPY EARTH WEEK AND RESURRECTION WEEK!!!


btw: we attended Tuki's kindergarten orientation this morning!! I have so many thoughts about this, some good and bad....bad running along the lines of where did my baby go and where did the past 5 years go so fast.....I almost started crying when I thought of her in school full time all day...She is ready, but it is me that is really struggling. We, the parents were being given a tour of the school when Tuki and the other pre-5Kers come into the cafeteria to pick up a carton of milk...and guess who do you think was leading the line...that's right, Miss Tuki herself. So at home later in the day I asked her why she was chosen to lead the milk line and she states "well they were all dilly dalling around so I took the lead for the milk" That's my Tuks all right...all I can say is her kindergarten teacher won't know what hit 'em next fall. She will keep them on their toes, not in a bad way mind you, its just that her little mind never quits turning!!!

Annual Salamander Survey Trap Setting

R setting the traps Tuki & Z exploring the kid crew adventures the crew again Mim having fun Mim & Ve enjoying the sun and water