Why Being Less Protective Is Better for Your Kids

http://www.redbookmag.com/kids-family/advice/protective-of-your-kids

AMEN to this! All these years of being tougher on my kids and having friends/family comment on it can now read it an learn! Cut the cord ladies, you know who you are... Let your kids fall and pick themselves up. Stop running to pick up their messes. You now need to go take care of you and let go a bit! Maybe I should post this on Bedford High Schools website...

ENJOY!

Birthday Guilt

April 2oth is Sophia's birthday. That is where it stops. I have been asking her to give me a list of party ideas, and kids names so I can get the invites out.
Last night I went up to my room to find a note taped to my door that read, " Mom, I don't want a party and I don't want to stress you out or have to have you worry about how much it will cost."
This was one of the lowest feeling, "THE BAD MOM AWARD" goes to me:(
I know I have been totally stressed with work(2 jobs), setting up football camp for Kurt this summer, Halee and prom & college, Abby with lacrosse and me being the lacrosse rep for the girls at the middle school, and Brock with his friends. Sophia some how felt like she was getting lost in the shuffle.
I have made three different invitations for different ideas I came up with, but she is just not into it. Sophia told me she would just rather have a gift card for the amount of money we would of spent to shop with. I am thinking this was part of her master plan.

GUILT WORKS WONDERS.

Prom Season

Prom dress shopping with your daughters is a right of passage, right? WELL, have you seen some of the dresses out there today. Um, when did prom become a night at a strip club? The other issue I have is I payed $400. for my wedding dress, why are the dresses my girls gravitate towards are $350 and over? REALLY? This is one night for about 4 hours. That is about $100 an hour.

Halee, Abby, and I headed to Concord, yes the captital of NH. As we are driving through the "city" Abby is freaking out saying she feel like she is in NYC... Halee and I just shook our head and chalked that up to another "Abby" comment. I guess I have to get Abby out into the world a bit more, maybe to another big city like " Manchester". We finally found the store we wanted. After Halee tried on like 25 dresses we narrowed the field down. We took pics of the labels and sizes and headed home to EBAY. The dresses she had tried on for $350- $500 were running about $150 on Ebay. This is where Halee bought her dress last year and then resold it a few days later for more that what she had bought it for. Halee was considering even buying the same one from last year to wear again because she loved it so much, but has retracted that idea.
While we were at the store Abby wanted to try dresses on too. WARNING to all of you with sibling that are very competitive of each other... Halee was getting upset because Abby has bigger boobs and fills out the dresses correctly, Halee is tall and thin and needs some tailoring done for proper fitting. If I was on the outside of the curtain I would think that these girls were killing each other with the comments and the slapping of skin, and the occasional "you suck" comments. I was sweating dressing these two girls. I am glad Sophia didn't come because It would of been complete mayhem!
So Halee is still searching for "the" dress. I am done for this year dress shopping. I will hop on line and help but no more stores, or dressing rooms!
My next shopping adventure will be for swim suits, another horrific adventure for the Hines Girls...

Time is FLYING by...

Life is speeding by me at light speed! Here I am at the VA Hospital working, but on line checking out prom dresses for Halee's Senior Prom in May. I am also looking for scholarships and Financial aid info for her college that she will be attending in Aug.
Abby is a social butterfly, and is rarely home on the weekends and is starting lacrosse in a few weeks so that means many practices, games, and camps. Glad she has a cell phone because that has been our way of communication for the past few days, weeks, months. I had to ask her to stop texting and call so I could hear her voice.
I just signed Brock-man up for wrestling camp this summer up in Concord. The day after that starts he is off to the lake with his friend Andy for a lot of the summer to enjoy wake boarding, 4 wheeling, and boating.
Sophia, she is my home body, but I know that this might be the summer she is off and running. I am looking for a volleyball camp to send her to because I know she will have the height to play due to the huge puppy paw like feet she is sporting.
Kurt is SO busy I am not sure he has time to poop, wait he does, that must be where he does a lot of football studying:) Kurt is trying to get a football camp together for the summer, he is personal training 3 people a week, going to meetings for football, redoing his play book, and teaching in the midst of all of it. Not sure how he doesn't snap.
I am just plugging along trying to keep it all together. Working a full time job and trying to be a good mother and wife is very tough! I had work off today and it was such a treat to go food shopping with out tons of people like on Saturdays or in the evenings.
I guess I just have to sit back at look at the blessings in my life and realize all that I have and enjoy the moments. Our kids will be gone out of the house in 9 years, what then? Somedays I want to strangle some of my blessings (kids) but all in all it makes up for some great memories that I can hold on to when they are gone.