Inside the mind of a competitive 10 yr old

Parenting a very competitive child is difficult enough, but I swear mine is quickly trying to become an evil genius at it. Tomorrow our community is hosting the Pepsi Pass, Punt, & Kick Football challenge.

Well my evil genius Rebecca, says "Mom, how many girls do you think go out for that"?

Me: Well if I remember right from last year honey, your friend Morgan was the only girl who showed up, and she just went because her brother was going. She pretty much won everything.

Becca:So, if I went , I could pretty much take it with little effort?

Me: Honey, don't you want some friends to go with you though, so your not the only girl? Maybe (Insert atheltic friends here) can go with us?

Becca: No way they would totally win, Let's take ( Not Athletic friends) instead so I can have a good time, and still win.

Of course later on in the conversation I realize my 10 ( yes let me stress 10!) yr old then says, "do you think (insert cute semi-boyfriend's name) will be there too? I really hope so, cuz, then the day will be perfect."

So not only is she trying to guarentee her competition, she is trying to set up boytime. I am not sure whether to laugh because I was the exact same way at her age, or be completely horrified as her mother.

When Bartering is Best

I am a huge believer in using your talents to trade for services. For example, about six years ago we really had to tighten our belts around our house, and analyze the budget. One of the first things to go were going to be both of my girls gymnastics classes.

Regan has a private class every week that we use to stretch her muscles for her cerebral palsy. She has learned how to do a forward roll, and has participated in a cheer competition ( disability category) and done tap and ballet recitals.
Rebecca is a natural athlete, that took to gym like a duck to water. She has been doing Backhandsprings since age Five. They both are complete gym rats.

Now when I was in high school I helped coach gymnastics, and I have a cheerleading background, so when I told the gym, that possibly I could teach classes in exchange for my kids tuition it turned into a dream partnership. Three evenings a week I teach the beginner classes on floor and trampoline, and I teach trampoline to some of the older groups too. For six years my girls have gone to the gym virtually free! The great thing is that I am not the only one who has figured out how to make bartering work for them.

I have one good friend who trades cleaning the gym for her daughter's tuition. My sister has traded her knowledge of child development and child-life skills, into a permanent assistant job at her daughter's private school in return for reduced tuition. She has a good friend who is talented at making children's hair bows and belt buckles, who has traded for manicures and pedicures. This year I traded some of my scrapbooking talents for pool therapy for Regan. The Bartering system is alive and well, just have to figure out how to make it work for you.

When Adults and Cartoons shouldn't mix

I have learned to bite my tongue if I am watching cartoons with my kids. I swear I think Nickelodeon is purposely trying to make my children dumber. A few days ago I was sitting down to watch some random television with the girls, and the first one is Spongebob Squarepants.

I really am fine with him living in a pineapple under the sea...and all of his lighthearted adventures. What I don't get was how was he visiting a beach with water? Isn't he under the sea already? After I pointed this out to Regan my 12 yr old, she proceeded to roll her eyes, and say" Mom, you don't have to ruin it for everyone"! Ok, point taken, well I tried to watch another show just to be sure and it was called Barnyard or something to that effect

This barnyard show I was fine with talking animals, and their silly antics. When it hit me that the main character cows who were all male....Had Udders! Ok, it is not like I really wanted anatomically correct bulls on my TV just to make a point, but couldn't they have just left that off completely? We live in the country, and my girls know that cows and bulls are built differently, but does everyone who watches the show know that? I think I have just had enough of that channel. My girls already don't watch Cartoon Network, because of some of their questionable shows, and now I want to add Nickelodeon to the list too. At this point I asked the girls to put it on Disney or turn it off (they of course just changed the channel).

Geocaching....have you tried it?

Last year I read an article in Southern Living magazine about a growing "sport" in the world of technology called geocaching (pronounced geo-cashing). In essence people all over the world are leaving small treasures and sign in logs at GPS coordinates. Well being the adventurous gal that I am, and having a little streak of Indiana Jones in me, it sounded like a perfect match. But, alas, I had no GPS.

During Spring Break of this year I volunteered to have my three nephews for most of the week to come visit the girls, and my first thought was how do I keep five kids ranging in ages from 3-15 happy? Well a GPS would certainly solve that problem! I begged my husband for one as an early birthday gift, and he went to Best Buy and hooked me up with a Garmin NUVI. He is such a sweetheart!

Ever since I have been completely hooked. I love gong to the website, and seeing what geocaches are in any town we might be visiting. I think it is a great way to have rests on the road and be entertained too. Some of the puzzles, and terrain can be challenging, and my 12 yr old with cerebral palsy, does not like it at all, but the moment when you find a secret treasure and donate one of your own is such pure joy for me.

My favorite find has been in Austin near my sister's house. There is a sinkhole cave in a greenbelt next to her subdivision Meridian. Near the entrance to the cave was a box with a book exchange. Lo and behold at the bottom of the cave for all of us to view was a buzzard nesting. It was really incredible to see, and when we took my parents back to see it, we saw the egg. That in itself was a special treasure too.

FiestaTexas Vs Disney for the Wheelchair Bound

Two years ago my girls both earned free tickets to Six Flags Fiesta Texas, in San Antonio, as part of the Read to Succeed program. This was to be my first theme park experience with my then ten year old daughter Regan. She was born prematurely, and later diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Now normally in day to day activities she uses a walker, but for an all day outing she has a wheelchair to make things a little easier.

Well two years ago, the experience we had was absolutely wonderful. The park policy for Fiesta Texas, was that she had a separate entrance for most rides, and that she could ride each thing twice in a row, because what is the point of getting someone out of a wheelchair, to only zip through once on a 30 second ride. We completely felt like VIP's, especially on the Gully Washer ride where they pulled a separate boat out of the river for us.

Through my husband's company and encouraged by our great time we did our first ever big family vacation to Disney World as a land and sea combination package (three days in the parks, 4 days on the Disney Cruise). There is no doubt, that Disney is King when it comes to the disabled. There was only one thing in the Magic Kingdom that she couldn't do, and that was climb Swiss Family Robinson's Treehouse. Everywhere we went the employees directed us to handicapped special entrances, let us ride everything twice. We had great accommodations at the hotel and aboard ship. Even on Disney's private island, they have sand wheelchairs to go out onto the beach with. The Disney experience was beyond what we thought a vacation with a physically disabled child could be.

Well this summer my girls again won free tickets to Fiesta Texas, and our experience was almost completely changed. Most Park employees had no idea if there was a handicapped policy. Only on one ride did they tell us to stay on to ride twice (the Gully Washer again). Many of the rides, had integrated the wheelchair line, in with the regular line which is fine, but her wheel chair was very difficult to maneuver in the aisles and ramps when you have so many people pushing in from behind. I spent half my time apologizing to people in front of me for clipping their ankles with her chair. We were so disappointed in how cold and uninviting Fiesta Texas seemed to be this time. I am not sure even free tickets could entice us back again.

Frugal "Back to School' shopping in Austin

Well, I am definitely back from hiatus, and ready to get this up and running folks. I am excited to share today about my frugal shopping on tax-free weekend down here in Texas. I am definitely a caviar mom, on a Target budget, and so is my youngest daughter. She wanted all the big name brands to start school off such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, Roxy, Aeropostale, to name a few of her "faves". Well to do the kind of wardrobe that would make her proud, I had to do some creative thinking.

First thing, was shopping in a small town was not going to cut it, so I called my sister in Austin to plan to stay with her on tax free weekend. Secondly, my sister used Google mapping to find all the children's consignment stores in Austin, and then highlighted those that were in the wealthier neighborhoods ( Thanks Jen). After a day of shopping we got items in great condition ( the shops are very particular about what they will accept), and a lot of them too. I want to give a shout out to our favorite place we went to...The Polka Dot Pony---in the cedar creek area. The shop owner takes in all the trendiest clothes! We walked away with Abercrombie T-shirts for $6.00 a piece, and didn't pay taxes too boot! I am one happy momma!

Finally to make the deal even more worthwhile, I had brought my sister all my girls fall clothes that they would not be wearing this year, to put in a huge consignment event happening in Plano, Texas Labor Day weekend. Divine Consign is a very well known Dallas area event, and since I will be making money off of my children's gently used items, I feel that my school shopping turned into an even sweeter deal. I hope everyone was as successful getting their darlings looking great, as I was.

Creative Cleaning with a Houseful of Kids

Well this afternoon I have 4 children at my house who have literally turned it into a war zone. So it is time to divide into teams and do some competitive cleaning. Since the Disney Channel Games is right now a favorite of everyone's I will let them choose their favorite color teams, and be their favorite Disney Channel star for different contests.

First is to race through the house with a laundry basket and fill it with ten items that don't belong on the floor, and put them back where they belong. Then pass the basket off to your team mate for their turn. That is an easy way to get 40 things picked up quickly.

Second is divide the kitchen into dish duty and sweep duty, Which team can finish first.

Third Contest (to make it fun, and not just about cleaning) Is a real competition. First Leg is to push a poker chip across the kitchen floor with your nose and back.
Second Leg is a jello eating contest using no utensils.

After our fun afternoon my house will be back in semi order, and the kids will have been entertained without TV, computer or Playstation.