Brain Talk

Did you ever stop and think that maybe you really are smarter than you believe? Well this is a new stratagy we are working on with Gunnar. You tell your brain what you expect from it and it will respond---hopefully!! We had a little talk with Gunnar about our parent teacher conference and explained to her that there are a few areas she needs to work on. Her response was "I'm just dumb" and that's that. Yeah, I'm not buying it. We ALL know that she is very bright--it's just getting her to think so that is the trick. Gunnar is a praise girl--meaning: give me praise I give you results. She needs serious motivators--basically REWARDS! I'm willing to do whatever it takes. I mean don't most people love praise? I know it makes me feel better. So the other night we were reading and she stopped and said "why do you think I'm not smart" and I said "is that truely how you feel?" She goes on to say well if I'm not doing good in school that means I'm not smart---I told her that when you tell your brain you aren't smart then it doesn't want to work for you anymore, so it just gives up. She looked at me funny. Then I said so my advice is that you start telling your brain how smart you are so your brain will work really hard to make you, and your teachers and mommy and daddy really happy. This big, snaggle tooth smile came across her face and she said "mom, that is a great idea". How did I get sooo darn smart. Anyway, we wrote on her chalkboard wall in really big letters "I AM SMART AND TOMORROW I WILL DO MY BEST" this is part of our NEW nightly routine. Gunnar must say this before going to sleep. The first night she hid under the covers and laughed the whole time--as I giggled and encouraged her to say it louder. Last night she just hid a little and smiled a lot. The best part to this whole story is today I went to have lunch with her and she said "mom guess what?" and I said Yeah, she said " I have the best news, -- you know those words on my chalkboard--and I said "the smart ones?" and she said "yup, I think they are working" I said "why" she said "my teacher said my butterfly story is the best story in the class!!". She was beaming with excitement. I was thrilled to see her so fired up over school work. Shortly after that I ran into Gunnars teacher and she said I don't know what you guys have done since Tuesday,but Gunnar is on the ball. She has been so focused and has been working really hard. AHHHH--all you need is the power of suggestion--talk to the brain and the brain will respond:)

And the rain came tumbling down!!

It's raining cats and dogs here! We need the rain but wow, not a years worth in a days time. Not suppose to see blue skies again til at least Sunday. What a bummer for the long Labor day weekend.

Anyway, we've had a pretty good week so far. Monday evening Todd took Gunnar to try out a new gymnastic gym??? Not quite sure what we are thinking, but she thinks she's going to be the next Shaun Johnson. We'll see! All she does is flip constantly, so we've decided that we are going to give it another try. UGH!! We definately LOVE gymnastics in our family just not sure if we are ready to take it on for our own child. We will just take it one day at a time.

Tuesday we had a conference with Gunnars teacher--just the routine business. We definately didn't love everything she had to tell us, but what parent does. Gunnar is very well behaved and respectful --YADAYADA, but she is struggling in a few areas academically. Hopefully nothing we can't correct with a little motivation. The question is what tactics do we use. How do you get your 2nd grader to love school??

Also on Tuesday we went to see Gates classroom and meet the teachers in the classroom setting.. OH Boy, we are on count down. He starts preschool on Tuesday. He loved it!! There are lots of fun activities planned for the year. Looks like its gonna be a great place for him.

Really not too much happening here at the moment. Wish I had more to tell, but no news is good news -- right? I don't seem to have my creative juices flowing tonight. Guess that could be because I'm at work, it's 2am and I can barely hold my eyes open. I'm actually getting ready to grab a coke and my snack---a yummy bag of popcorn. Just what everyone wants to eat at 2am!! Until next time.......

COMMENTS!!!

I finally figured out how to do the comment thing!! Many of you that read my blog have been asking me why you can't comment. I had it set to private and you had to be a registered blog subscriber--now that is all changed. You can now post comments even if you're not registered. You can even keep it anonymous. So feel free to add your comments--I'm excited to get some feedback!!

Snaggle Tooth!!!

Another tooth gone!!!! Gunnar pulled her second loose tooth last night--she's getting to be quite the expert tooth puller. It has been pretty loose since loosing the last tooth,(only a week ago) but we weren't expecting it to come out this soon. If you remember Todd and I were both gone when she pulled the first tooth and the baby sitter said there were NO tears. Well................. the DRAMA with this tooth was a little different. She was very tired, after a long day of school then last night she went with the Walters to a live animal show and didn't get home til about 10:30, but she was determined to get that tooth out. I think it was driving her crazy. So she tugged and pulled and pushed and pulled and cried and whined and tugged and pulled and finally it came out----along with TONS of blood. You talking about tears. OH MY MY, you would have thought she pulled her arm off. She screamed and screamed and screamed. I don't know if it was because we were a good audience or what. It didn't bleed long, but it did bleed a lot initially. Once the drama was over, we all went to bed and tucked that tooth into its little pillow. Sometime in the night the tooth fairy came, took the tooth and left three dollars. AHHHHH, the magic continues.

Tuesday 19th of July WET & WILD!!

Once again I forgot my camera---what good is a blog without pics. Oh well, I'll try to paint a picture for you. We went to Greensboro for the day to Wet and Wild. We ALL had a terrific time. I don't think I have played that hard in a long time. We rode every slide possible---big ones, small ones, wavy ones, straight ones, dark ones, bright ones, tube slides and dry slides. There was a wave pool, a sunken pirate ship pool and tons of kiddie areas for our little man. The lazy river was a hit too. I was so impressed with Gunnar, boy she isn't afraid of anything. There was only one slide she didn't want to do and in was a little scary I must say. Of course I got challanged to ride it so I had to live up to my old dare devil name and I did it!! It was called the dare devil twist--you start off a little slow, then go into a dark tube and drop straight down--you are going as fast as a rocket. I must say I was a little scared, but I was very glad that I did it. The dare devil drop was a 76 foot drop straight down. I have a really hard time with heights so I didn't do it, but I think that was Pete's favorite. My favorite was a slide that Gunnar and I did together, it was called the dragons den. You ride a double tube down this really long slide then at the end it drops you into a big toilet bowl--you swish around and around and finally get flushed to the bottom and you shoot out. We laughed sooooo hard all the way down. Gates wasn't quite as gung ho about everything as we all were. He had to wear a life jacket on most things and that didn't sit well with him. He is so independent and definately not use to wearing a life jacket so he was a little fussy at times to say the least. There were tons of slides and stuff that he could do! I must say it was a GREAT day. We can't wait to do it again. And being so close we plan on making that trip again soon. The park closed at 6pm and we were there to see the gates close. And not long after that 6 little eyes closed and it was a quiet ride home.

Oh what a day!!

I feel like we are on a never ending roller coaster. We wake up and hit the ground running!! Today we got up and made cinnamon rolls -- a fave in our house. Then we got dressed and headed to the IMAX theater to see a World Under the Sea in 3-D. Wow, it was awesome. So amazing and we learned a ton. Wish we would have taken a picture of all 5 of us in our super cool glasses. After the movie we went to the Natural Science Museum in Raleigh. Pretty cool stuff there too. Dinasoaur bones, whales, bugs galore, butterfly observatory, and the Dead Sea Scrolls are currently on exhibit there. We saw lots of interesting things. We were a little bummed because we just missed the class on snakes. You actually got to go in and learn all about snakes and hold them--but we were 30 minutes too late and they wouldn't let us in.... UGH, it was the last show of the day... By this time we were getting a little pooped so we decided to head home. Everyone quickly went to sleep, except me, of course I was the driver. We took a short break at home then it was off to work for me. Todd took the kids up to NC State to play at the gym. They were there a few hours then went to Woody's for wings. I'm sure Todd was in heaven. I just spoke to him from work and he said everyone ate like they'd never eaten.

Tomorrow we don't have any big plans--hoping for a low key day, then off to more fun on Tuesday!! Stay tuned for details......................................................

PETE IS HERE!!!

We have been waiting a really long time for this week to come. Peter Daggett has finally joined the Henry's for a week of craziness. Me and Gunnar and Gates picked him up at the airport last night around 9pm. He was suppose to get in around noon but his flight got cancelled---oh no, I got really nervous that he wasn't going to make it. My original plan was to pick him up then surprize Gunnar at lunch during school but that got nixed quickly. So we just ran a few errands til time to pick him up. After we got Pete we headed to another concourse to pick up Papa Henry--remember he was in Tennessee last week. Last night we just hung out at the house and watched the olympics. Everyone was off to bed around midnight. Well, I say that but Todd and Gates turned in around 11ish and Gunnar fell asleep on the couch at about 11:30.

Today we went swimming for a few hours then I took the two big kids(Gunnar and Pete) ice skating while Gates and Todd napped. Yes, Todd naps every chance he gets!! Gunnar and Pete had a great time skating, racing, trying stunts and most of all falling..... NO actually they are both pretty good. It was really COLD!! I decided not to skate and just watch this time--not like me--I'm usually the first one on the ice but I felt a little lazy today and to be honest I think it was just as fun watching. We discovered that Pete had never been to a Japanese Steak house--so you know us that's our favorite and of course we go every opportunity we get. So we went home from skating, had about an hour break and headed to Ginza. Yummmy, little sushi, then steak and shrimp--I must say I'm still feeling full and that was several hours ago. We came home and had to play baseball in the front yard, Gunnar and Pete had scooter races and pogo stick competitions. We were out til about 9:15. The bugs were getting the best of us so we decided to come in and call it a night. Tomorrow another big day lies ahead. Will keep you updated and pictures will follow.. I forgot my camera today! :(

The Tooth Fairy

Well, it finally happened. The day Gunnar has been waiting for, for seven years....... She lost her TOOTH!!! Last night I was out with some friends from church doing our ladies of life thing and when I got home the babysitter said --I've got news---Gunnar lost her tooth. I felt bad that I wasn't home to witness it myself, but maybe it was better that way. Brittany said she didn't cry a bit and it bled a lot. Gunnar wanted her to save the bloody napkin so I could see it for myself. Thanks Gunnar--I do love the sight of blood. She said Gunnar was in bed wiggling it around and it just fell out. I couldn't stand the suspence soooooo yes, I woke her up. She was beaming as she showed me that hole in her mouth and all I could think was OH the years are going by TOOOOO FAST!! I want time to slow down. Right before my eyes my little girl was changing. UGH, that's what my heart said. But I cheered loudly like I always do and hid my true feelings. I wanted her to know how excited I was for her, and we quickly went back to bed (in my bed of course) so the tooth fairy could come and shower us, well her, with goodies. That darn tooth fairy left her $5. Man wish I would have put that tooth under my pillow that I lost a few months ago, it was a doozy so maybe I would have gotten some big dough!!!!!

I'm at work and had a moment to update so I thought I would share the week so far. Todd is in Tennessee at Flip Fest and we are wishing we were with him. How lucky is he to be watching the olympics with all those ex-olympians. Must be exciting, because we are excited and it's just us.. Gunnar puts on a leo nightly and she and Gates bounce and flip around the house trying to mock everything that is going on. Gates is now trying backhand springs on his own---YIKES!! I have to keep a close eye on him or he will end up with a broken neck!!! Gunnar has decided to go back to gymnastics, and has informed me that one day she WILL be an olympian. You go girl! Maybe Todd can coach her then both of their dreams will be fulfilled.



Let's see--today it's raining here, so we got Gunnar off to school and Gates and I headed to the library for story time. Boy that is sooo much fun. After stories and puppet shows we picked out 18 books to bring home. Should keep us busy for a little while. After that we went to Target our favorite place and got a few groceries and other things we NEEDED. Chick filet was the spot for lunch, then home and time to get ready for work. Gates is with Ms. Tiffany and Gunnar will get off the bus and go there too. When I get home they should be gooooood and tired.



Last night we were all laying in my bed watching the olympics and snuggling. Gates was in the middle and Gunnar said "that's not fair he always gets to be closest to you" I said sorry scoot over here and we can all snuggle. Gates quickly said "come lay on my chest" so darn cute. That is what Todd always says to him when they are snuggling. Gunnar ate that up. She layed ever so gently on him and he kissed her on the forehead---ahhhhh those are the moments you hope to remember forever. The next thing you know we were all asleep. I woke up and gymnastics was almost over---ARGH I was sooo mad. I missed the whole thing. Oh, well I did DVR it so I'll watch another day.

Let the Games Begin!!

8-8-08--We had a blast I must say! I ran around all day like a crazy loon trying to get the last minute finishes to our costumes and Greek food. Gates napped and I worked my buns off to research all I could on Greece for our posters. Yes, nothing like a little last minute rush. That's the name of the game in our house most days. Gunnar got home from school and helped me put the final touches on the posters. Then it was costume time. Gunnar was first, we tried several different toga stategies before coming up with the most comfortable, most appropriate and well of course most beautiful style to suit our evening. We did makeup(blue and silver glitter) head pieces (ivy with stars) and of course the toga white sheer with silver stars. Gunnar looked like a Greek Goddess for sure! Todd was next. His head piece was red,white and blue stars to match his ever so charming red, white and blue toga of American flags. No makeup for him. My outfit was exactly like Gunnar's except I chose not to show off my lovely body--we all know some things need to stay hidden:). Gates, well he wasn't having any part of this toga business. He had the cutest material of all--off white with baseballs, gloves, bats and helmets--a visor which he docorated himself with stickers and a red rope sash with baseballs hanging off. However you will notice in the pictures he decided on his own outfit. A baseball shirt, ball cap and shorts. He did wear his red rope around his waste. That was as far as we were getting with him. I have learned in life you should just pick your battles. Yes, I could have forced him to wear all that garb, that I spent hours searching for and picking the perfect material that would suit him. But why? because in the end we would have all been miserable.

The weather could not have been better. It was warm but breezy, perfect for a night outdoors. The Huffmans yard is wonderful--let me try to paint a picture for you. We had a HUGE like movie screen size well movie screen, everyone brought chairs, so it was set up like a drive in. We had the olympic theme playing in the background until the actual ceremony started. Tables were set up all along the yard to display everyones food and decoration. They have a trampoline, small kid sized pool, spectacular tree house, tree swings, horse swings, a volley ball court, ummm , oh yes and a ton of land for the kids to just run free..

We had tasty treats from all over. Greece, Mexico, China, Argentina, Germany, Jamaica, India, England, USA, Italy, and few others I can't remember. I choose to eat a little of everything, so by the end of the night I was really happy my goods were hidden behind my tank top unlike my other family members who choose to let it all SHINE!!!

We got home around midnight and everyone had to have a quick bath before bed. We had played, ate, thrown water balloons, rolled in the grass, hopped on one foot, played baseball, jumped on the trampolin, turned flips and had a heck of a time. Needless to say we were tired, grumpy and really, really dirty.

Thursday August 7th

Hello to all! I just wanted to share a quick little conversation I had this morning as I walked in from work. So I worked last night, and managed to find my way home again this morning through my sleepy eyes. I got home around 8am. I always try to come in with a smile no matter how tired or grumpy I may be feeling because I know the minute I walk through the door I impact how three other peoples day is going to go. Todd, well I don't always manage the same sweet ways with him--usually just an---argh or growl, but he understands and will send me on my way to bed so he can get the morning duties done---(getting Gunnar ready for school), which can be a really difficult feat somedays. I love the days of track out when I can just sneak in and not speak to anyone(I'm not a morning person---even if I've already been up all night). During the school days Gunnar really likes it when I come in and help get her on her way--dad doesn't know how to fix her hair, or he doesn't make lunch right or she just can't decide what fancy outfit to wear (poor Todd--he gets very little credit most days. I mean who can't throw a peanutbutter sandwich together?) So today was one of those days.. I came in and Gunnar was crying, trying to fight the tears as she ate her bowl of Lucky Charms. I was quickly greeted by Gates throwing his arms around me, "yeah mommys home" "I did it alllllll myself mom -- I peed on the potty" "daddy made me my hot tea" all this was said in a matter of two to five seconds--so it was a little jumbled and hard to understand but I scooped him up and gave him a big smooch. Then I made my way over to the couch where my tearful one was -- Todd started grumbling about the morning and I just ignored it and gave Gunnar a huge kiss and hug and pretended not to notice that she was crying. "So what can I make my girl for lunch today?" I said. She really started to cry---"Gunnar are you Ok?" she says "mom did you get to eat last night" (I had made my lunch before work but accidentally in my rush to get out of the house forgot to grab it) "yes, honey I ate" she says "but you forgot your lunch and I was soooo worried about you". So long story short that's where all the tears were coming from. She was so worried that I didn't get to eat and was at work hungry that she cried last night after my goodnight call and first thing this morning. A little smile came across her face as she said "did you have to eat alone since you had to go to the cafeteria" I quickly said no and she said well "who did you sit with" I told her I sat with my friend Helen and she got a really big smile on her face and she said "mom she must really be a good friend, because I bet she was really hungry but because you forgot your lunch she had to wait on you to get some!" After that the tears disappeared and her whole demeanor changed. Moms are supposed to do the worrying not vise versa. Lesson learned--no matter how young or old you are you always worry about your loved ones!!!!!!!

Monday Aug 4th

Well Todd and Gates went to the game last night and they had a blast! They ate ball dogs, snow cones and lots of goodies. At the end of the game Gates and Elijah got to run the bases--you talkin about two excited boys--not to mention Gates and Eli were really excited too--HAHAHA

Gunnar and I hung out with Tiff and the girls. We had a nice relaxing evening without the BOYS!! Gunnar is back to school today and Gates and I are off to do a little shopping---not for anything good just to the grocery store!

Friday night we have big plans for the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games. We are respresenting Greece--definately will post pics of us in our Togas. Everyone had to pick a country--and are expected to dress and bring dishes from that country. As you can imagine USA was scooped up quickly and there are to be no duplicates. Greece should be nice and easy!! Don't know what I'm cookin up yet so if anyone has any suggestions let me know. Should be a great night at the Huffman's house.

Sunday Aug 3rd.

Gates is soooo excited he is going to the Durham Bulls game tonight with Todd and our friend Shayne and his son Elijah. It's Canada VS the US!! Gates new thing is baseball.. We are slowly moving away from Spider Man--which most of you know was his last craze. His new favorite movie is the Sand Lot. He would watch it 10 times a day if we would let him. So ironic, when Gunnar was his age she loved that movie too. Since Gates has discovered baseball our new nightly ritual has become hitting baseballs in our front yard for about an hour. It is amazing how great that little guy can hit. We had a major breakdown this morning before church---Gates has a favorite shirt with a baseball on it, which he wears EVERYDAY, and he wanted to wear it to church this morning. I on the other hand had a much different outfit in mind. I tried to persuade him to wear a CLEAN baseball shirt, but he wasn't having it---literally the child had been wearing the shirt for 5 days straight. Yes, 5 days---I just don't have the energy to fight him over it and if we aren't really going anywhere that matters I just let him wear it, but today to church I had to put my foot down!! Gates cried and cried and cried--he told Todd and I that he NEEDED to wear that shirt because "it is so warm and cuddly." Oh you gotta love him, but in the end he did change shirts and I was happy that he was wearing a clean shirt. The minute we got home I let him change back into the "warm cuddly" one and he may not get out of it for another 5 days.

As for Gunnar, she had a friend sleep over on Friday night (I was working) so Todd was trying to stay on her good side! She and Bailey had a blast doin their girly thing. I could definately tell they had fun because I couldn't see her floor for all the mess when I got home. We had a babysitter come over on Saturday evening so Todd and I could go to a wedding for one of his gymnast that has graduated. We had a great time! So nice to get away and have grown up conversation every now and then. We danced and ate and ate and danced the night away.