Another summer week

Nothing like spending a few weeks on a 1000 piece puzzle only to get to the very end and realize you have lost a piece. The boys and I spent so much time doing this really hard puzzle. We had fun and are looking forward to the next one that I purchased.


Well, this week started off with Tee getting into a fight at a birthday party. This really caught me off guard. The kids were playing in the yard. She had a big water slide, there was a playground and a little playhouse. It ended up that the birthday boy and his cousin were throwing toys at Tee. He ended up trying to fight the cousin.

I did make Tee apologize and explained that the best thing to do is to walk away. The birthday boy came over the next day to say he was sorry for throwing things at him.

The boys had fun at golf camp but I wasn’t extremely happy with the camp. I am not sure that they were really taught much. I feel like there was a lot of messing around vs. instruction. The boys seem to like the golf pro but I personally don’t think he has much personality. I am going to try to find a different golf program for them next year.

We did go up to the gym pool this week also. It is a big pool with a zero entry area and a few big slides. I kept trying to get the boys to go down the slide and they did not want to. I then realized that Tee could go down the slide. I asked him and he jumped on the offer. He spent a lot of our time there going down the slide and loved it. Then the boys finally started going down the slide.

It has been so incredibly hot here. I feel like a hermit. We have everyone one of our blinds closed and all fans going. Friday made me realize that we needed to close up a little bit because it got way too hot in the house.

We are fortunate enough to have the pool and we have definitely used it this weekend. We have all been emerged in the water the entire time.

This week is a quiet week. We are done with camps so I will have to make sure to find things to do to keep us busy.

Randomness

The husband got tickets to the O’s baseball game today so he took the boys and I get some time alone. The boys were excited. They get to sit behind home plate.


The boys finished vacation bible school on Friday. They had a nice time but I noticed it didn’t seem as great as it was last year. There was a different leader this year and I think it made a big difference.

Our afternoons are typically spent outside in the pool. It is effective in wearing the kids out. We have had lots of friends over too.

Tee has such an imagination. He is constantly telling me stories and they don’t make much sense. For example, what if our house filled with water. Yes, crazy situations. Yesterday we were outside and Tee got stung by a wasp in his head of all places. He eventually calmed down. Later on, he said Mom, I hit the fence by accident and a daddy or mommy wasp came out and saw that I did it and stung me. It is funny how his mind works.

We have decided to have the boys tutored this summer. She comes one time a week and works with them individually. I don’t know specifics but I do know that during the summer kids lose so much of what they learned in school. It has worked out really well. The tutor is a teacher and she has worked on both fluency and math facts.

The boys and I went to see the Cars2 movie one rainy Friday afternoon. They enjoyed it!

E is an avid reader. He started reading this series called Warriors. The books are 300 pages (small print) plus. There are several series and he was read through the first 3, each series had 6 books.

My garden has done really well this year. I have a bunch of zucchini and cucumbers. I have made a batch of zucchini bread and plan to make many more. Green beans have also come in well. I do enjoy having the extra vegetables during the summer.

Next week, the older boys have golf camp. It is just a few hours for 3 days. They did this same camp last year and had fun. Tee is done for camps for the summer.

Low key

Last weekend, it was 3 cookouts in 3 days and 2 of those were at our house.  We went to a friend's house on Saturday evening.  I ended up making a cake batter and baked in ice cream cones.  Then I frosted them.  I got the idea out of a Rachel Ray magazine.  They turned out really cute, but transportation was an issue.

On Sunday, we had a party for the boys' baseball team.  The boys typically only see each other on the field so it was nice to socialize a little off the field.  We had over 40 people here, that is a lot of people.  The party turned out really nice, even though a storm moved in during the middle of it.  I am talking a wind blowing storm.  Our lounge chairs ended up at the bottom of the pool kind of storm.  We were all stuffed into the basement but the kids managed to find things to do.  After it settled down, the boys went swimming again and the party didn't end until 8:45. 

I decided on Monday, July 4th, that we needed to get rid of some of our leftovers.  So we invited a few friends over for swimming and food.  It was a nice evening and definitely not 40 people here.

We had nothing last week but the week went by fairly quickly.  Rain came in on Friday and I decided to take the boys to see the Cars 2 movie.  They all really enjoyed it.

This past weekend was really low key.  We spent a lot of time relaxing by the pool.  Saturday evening we spent with our neighbors, swimming and hanging out. 

Yes, I don't know what we would do without our pool.  It does provide us a lot of entertainment.  The boys had friends over on Sunday and they played out there for a good few hours.  And we spend time out there just about everyday. 

This week, all the boys have vacation bible school at our church.  Today at pickup Jay says wow that was short.  Well, compared to their all day scout camp I am the 3 hours felt like no time at all.  They had a great time. 

How to get things done.

In April, we decided to make a change.  I don't particularly like change.  I like to keep things the same for the most part.  But my husband finally convinced me that we needed to switch cable companies. 

The cable company decided to change to digital and every TV needed a box.  We figured it out after the fact.  Yes, we had received a letter but it didn't make much sense to us as our TVs are digital.  So we get all the boxes and put them on our TVs.  We had trouble with the one in our bedroom.  We, my husband, made several phone calls that made him incredibly frustrated.  As a side note, I am usually the one who handles these types of phone calls, but he took this one on.

He was transferred to an area that was closed on one particular day, on one call the rep was yawning on the phone and no one really offered much help.  We wanted someone to come fix the the problem, but there was a question on whether we would be charged.  After many calls, my husband finally escalated it to a manager who said it would not be a problem to get someone out the next week.

After thinking about it for a few hours, we he, decided that it was to move to fios.  In addition to this situation, we had problems with our phone.  During conversation, people would say that I was coming in and out. 

Our transition was great.  As soon as fios was installed, we returned and disconnected the other cable company. 

I ended up receiving an invoice in May with a credit balance.  I thought that I would be receiving a check.  I wasn't shocked when I received an invoice again the next month with a small credit balance.  I decided to make a phone call.

I spent the next 2 plus hours on the phone.  The first time I called, I was transferred and on hold for over 30 minutes.  I called back and although the rep was very nice and held with me for the next 30 plus minutes he ended up disconnecting me.  During the conversation, he told me I had to be taken care of by this other area.  It appeared they must have been having problem with the phones.  Yes, they are a cable, Internet and phone company.  My third call back is when I decided that I would no longer be nice.  I immediately asked for a manager.  I went over the situation and explained that I was done with the company.  It needed to be handled, I was not going to be transferred and did not need to speak with anyone else.

The next week I did end up getting 3 phone calls from corporate.  Why do they need to talk to me?  I returned my equipment and canceled my service.  They had a total fail of closing out the account. 

Well, just yesterday I ended up getting an invoice for an amount due.  I was beyond angry.  They are charging me for Internet and Cable that I have not had.  I decided that I was going to send a letter to corporate outlining the situation.

I did a little research trying to find an email address to corporate.  I found this website that an executive carpet bomb.  Not sure why it is called this.  But people determine format of the email (@whatever) then take the executive and make a list of all emails.  

Oh yes I did.  I wrote a letter and thought about it a little and re-wrote some of it.  I copied every single email address and hit send.  Out of the 100 emails, I had less than 30 not deliverable. 

Today I had a message on my machine from corp (maybe the same person who called me several weeks ago).  She stated that she had closed my account and is expediting the shut off outside our house.  I have a credit balance of $138 that will be sent to me once the shut off is completed.

It makes me sad but that is how you get it done.

Instinct

Many people have told me that Tee is every one's friend.  The Moms tell me the girls in his preschool class all talk about him.  In May I had a conference with the preschool teachers, they mentioned that he gets along with everyone.  They also said that everyone fights to sit next to him.  As a parent, that makes me feel really good.

I did probe a little more into the kids fighting to sit next to him.  Tee said that he wanted to sit next to two certain friends but a boy named C wanted to sit next to him all the time.  This was very frustrating to him.  This boy was also on his T-ball team and he never had any interaction with him.  This is just not like Tee. 

The boy's Mom emailed me last week to see if Tee could come over for a play date.  I have not asked him yet but I know his answer will be NO.  I just don't know what to say.

I mentioned this to one of my friends who has older children.  She told me to trust his instincts.  You can't and should not force friendships.  She did this with her daughter when she was young and then found out that the other girl was not very nice.

I don't want to ignore the email although I have so far.  I also don't want to say that my child wants nothing to do with hers.  We have been very busy as of late but we obviously won't be busy all summer.  I was thinking that I would have them come here for a little swimming so I can see the interaction.  I need to figure this out quickly because I really need to say something soon.