The Latta Family

We have had a serious problem with being slugs this week.  It started on Wednesday.  I let Andrew and Alexa watch . . . a lot of Netflix.  I felt horrible about it.  I was horrified with myself.  I tried to reason with myself that honestly up until Wednesday neither of them had really watched tv this summer. Andrew had played on the XBox,but neither of them had really watched tv, maybe an hour or two of screen time a week.  So if we had a veg out day on Wednesday, it was okay, still I felt terrible.  I was clearly establishing a pattern of laziness in my children.  I was a terrible example. I sucked as a parent. We had been so busy with camp, baseball, activities, friends, and "stuff" we hadn't had a lay around day.  I assured myself Wednesday night that we would be more productive on Thursday! Well, Alexa went to school (she goes 2 days a week- sometimes).  I came home and went for a long walk and then made Andrew come outside to mow the back and side yard, except tha

Two summers ago, I tried to talk Andrew into reading Harry Potter.  He wasn't into it.  I was devastated.  How could he not LOVE this book????  How could he be related to me????  Did I still love him?????? Last summer, I decided to try a different route.  I let him watch "Sorcerer's Stone."  I remember when that movie came out.  Katie Couric went on the set when the movie was being promoted.   Andrew LOVED the movie and then I was able to convince him to read the book.  Well, I read it, he listened. We got through Books 1,2, & 3 last summer.  Happy days were here again! I know some people are against the whole Harry Potter series.  Which has always, always, always, puzzled me.  That's such a short sighted theme.  It's like reading To Kill a Mockingbird  and saying that it's about a girl living in the South.  Or reading The Old Man and the Sea  and saying it's about a dude who went fishing.  If you say Harry Potter is about magic, well okay.  Yo