The Latta Family

The other day I read a post by my favorite blogger,  The Pioneer Woman .  I just love her.  First, her style of writing is hilarious.  Second, she lives out in Oklahoma on a cattle ranch, and her husband often describes the work they do.  It fascinates me. So the other day she wrote a post about the differences between she and her husband.  I love when she writes about her husband.  She reminds me of . . . myself.  She feels psychotically competitive with her husband- like I do with Doug.  He always beats me, but I have these lofty dreams of one day defeating him. She appreciates some of the same physical characteristics about her husband, that I do of mine.  And she has a good sense of humor about him. Her post got me to thinking about the difference between Doug and I.  I got inspired.  So here's what I've got: 1. Doug is a worker.     I am not.     (for example, say- one kid is at camp, and the othe...

Some of my most fabulous parenting moments, I have stumbled into accidentally. I stumbled into a genius one recently. On the last day of school, we went to the library.  Andrew stocked up on his current favorite series ( 39 Clues-  for anyone in the middle to upper elementary level- is fantastic.  Boys, and girls, will both like it. It's basically a scavenger hunt with lots of adventure, but a little information about famous, important historical figures thrown in as well. They're well written and exciting), and Alexa found a few books too.  One book that has become our current favorite, and I will probably buy, is "When Sophie Gets Angry- Really, Really Angry . . . " by Molly Bang. From the first moment we read it, Alexa loved it.  I read it every night and at least once during the day too. It's about Sophie having to share a toy with her sister and she doesn't want to.  She has a temper tantrum, and the book describes how Sophie deals with her anger...

I don't really do New Year's resolutions because . . . the actual new year is in August.  I make my resolutions then: I'll cook healthy dinners for my family all year, I'll make sure Andrew has a healthy, cool lunch with a special note in it everyday, I'll never get behind on paperwork, my lesson plans will be ultra creative and awesome everyday. I also do summer goals: I'm going to exercise like a beast!  I'm going to keep my house perfectly clean.  I'm going to provide quality, life enhancing experiences to my children every day. This summer I hope my goals are a little more realistic.  To try and keep me honest- I'm making them public. Here goes: 1. Try to keep the junk food at a minimum, by planning for snacks and breakfast (my two weak moments of the day) 2.  We won't be slugs on the couch. 3. Andrew and I will read 4 out of 7 days for 30 minutes. 4. We will practice random acts of kindness, I have a list . . . somewhere. 5. We ...

Today a student delivered a present to me.  I love it!  One particular part of the gift I love is a small, simple bracelet.  Typically I do not like jewelry with words on it.  I think the words tend to be cliche'.  However, these particular words (which normally would be very cliche' to me) are a perfect mantra for me this summer.  One of my summer goals is to chill out. I don't mean lay around and do nothing, I mean, be less intense.  It's not all schedules, routines, and planning ahead.  It's not freaking out because my kids are driving me crazy with fighting, demands, and life in general.   One of the words on the bracelet is "peace."  Perfection for my summer goal.  I aim to have inner peace and tranquility.  It's a lofty goal for me, but . . . I can work on it. I failed miserably tonight. We went to get Andrew back from Nana's, where he's been the last couple of days.  I've missed him terribly (Doug wonders how I ...

Doug's always said, "Our kids are not going to have horses!  They're a money pit!!!"  He bases this on observations. People believe me- never say never with your kids.  NEVER.  Don't say, "My kid won't act like that!" or "My kid won't do that."  or "My kid will never like that."  Those words are the kiss of death!  I said, "Alexa will never like princesses."  She loves princesses.  I'm using them as bribery for potty training.  So Doug saying, "Our kids are not going to have horses . . . " well he did it to his own self. We went to see Aunt Janet's new horse today.  When we told Alexa we would go see Moonshine, she was so excited!  She was gonna see Aunt Janet's and Abbie's (her cousin) horse!  When she got there, Moonshine was trotting around the pen.  Alexa was a little nervous, she got over it quick. When Aunt Janet asked if she wanted a turn riding, there was no hesitation,...