The Latta Family

Every now and then I have a straight up BRILLIANT parenting moment.  It came to me suddenly today.  It is frankly a pretty creative consequence that I am pretty sure is going to result in stopping a behavior, I'm about done with. Andrew has been pushing the envelope lately, on what Doug and I will tolerate with language. Nothing serious.  In fact- pretty harmless.  However, I know Andrew, and if I give him an inch . . . he'll take a mile.  Is he going to cuss and talk trashy with his pals?  Uhhh, probably.  I'm not stupid. He needs to learn there are appropriate places to use "naughty" words, and places not to.  And. . . inappropriate language ain't gonna happen with his parents, his grandparents, or . . . pretty much with any adult. He's been warned a LOT lately.  Those warnings, gentle reminders, rational explanations for why I don't want him using those words (aka: a younger, impressionable sister), sarcastic remarks are falling on sel...

Holy Cow!!!  It's been over a month since I last blogged!  What's my deal?  It's like I started a school year, a new baseball season, and I couldn't get my act together.  Well . . . that's exactly what it is.  It's been this week that I have finally felt like I am not going to drown.  It's a nice feeling.  It's such a good feeling, I am going to paint my finger nails and blog tonight.  Yeah! Here's a catch up: Alexa started kindergarten.   She LOVES it.  She wakes up happy, and is ready to go every morning. She is so different from Andrew.  She tells me EVERYTHING.  Andrew . . . tells me NOTHING. I hear about Andrew's day from Alexa- because even though he's on a different hall and in a completely different grade- she knows.  She always knows . . . .  We really should have planned our children to be closer together.  It would have been handy to have her around when he was in middle school and high school. ...

It's National Dog Day, and instead of writing a post glorifying my dog, I'm going to tell you what a goof she is. It's a good thing she has lots of good qualities, besides protecting me.  She's the biggest . . .scaredy . . . cat, except she's a dog.  She gets scared of sticks, sometimes leaves, mysterious sounds with no source, one time a chair that was sitting near the road on the night before trash pick up. This whole story is totally related to my goofy dog.  So last year I was having back trouble, which lead to some pretty aggravating sciatic pain.  In the late spring, I went to a licensed, medical professional who specialized in back pain.  Instead of getting actual help, I got a pill pusher.  I got offered everything from hydrocodone to an epidural.  I was disgusted.  On my way home from that total waste of money, I called my dad to vent.  He said, "Kate- I have bad news.  You're going to have to suck it up and go walk."  ...

This week is a bit of an emotional one for me.  It's the last week one of my children will go to the daycare we've been going to for 10 years.  Ten solid years.  Almost everyday of the school year and sporadically in the summer I have walked in the door, greeted whoever was behind the counter, checked in, and walked down the hall to a classroom.  Upon entering the room, we were greeted by a teacher that has most likely been in that facility since we started going there.  Almost all of Alexa's teachers. . . had Andrew, except for 2 (by the time they went through the facility- they had 17 teachers).  Some of those teachers have been there since it opened.  That daycare has been open for close to 20 years. Folks- I don't know if you know about daycares, but that kind of staff stability is unheard of in a daycare.  They have notoriously high turn over.  Understandably.  Low pay, crap hours, and . . . small children (I teach high school for a...

For the most part, we have a pretty calm house.  I mean- we have 2 kids, so there is going to be loudness, but for the most part it's calm.  However, occasionally our blissful calm is broken by a shriek that could break glass.  If you are unaccustomed to these random, high pitched shrieks, it could cause you alarm.  I don't even blink an eye. We don't have a poltergeist.  We don't live near a train (well- super close).  We don't have a cat in heat.  We have a 5 year old girl!  Her shriek can mean anything.  Literally.  It could be a fly (not one of those Killer Bees we used to hear were coming to get us, from Mexico).  The scream could be due to a certain 10 year old male that also lives in our home (tonight he put a napkin under my fork, when he set the table.  She wanted to put my napkin under my fork.  For the record, it was Andrew's job to set the table.) Perhaps it's a crumb of bread she found on her arm (she though...

I don't know what it is about an outdoor shower, but I just love them!  Somehow the shower experience is better.  No worries people- it's private, no one can see anything they shouldn't.  I have not turned into a free spirit.  I'm not suddenly showering in the buff.  I still have some very conservative tan lines. We just got back from the beach, and while we were there, I discovered the outdoor shower . . . on my second shower.  For some reason I shower a LOT at the beach.  I would get up and go walk, and then . . . shower off before I put my bathing suit on.  Why?  Duh. It's hard as who knows what, to get a bathing suit on, when you're all sweaty. Plus, I like to feel clean before I get covered in sand and salt water.  Figure that out. On the first day, after we returned from a long day at the beach, I made Alexa take an outside shower. I ran upstairs and got her clothes and a towel.  I just grabbed me a towel because I was jus...

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...