Bedtime Nazi

Oh, it is so fun to see that so many of you actually check my blog.  It makes it worth blogging to know that people are checking in to see what's going on at the Jacksons.  Plus, it is fun to feel like people care what is going on over here.  Thanks for keeping tabs on us.

This month has been the worst bedtime month of my life.  Seriously.  I spent a lot of time over the past 5 years trying to make sure that my kids went to bed when I said it was time for bed.  This month, however, I have gone to bed angry at my kids every single night.  They stay up until 11:00 and then are exhausted all the next day.  I have taken away cars, football guys, hockey guys, shin guards, treats, computer time, and even TV time (something I promised I would never use as a punishment, since it actually punishes me the worst!).  That is all in one night.  I have yelled and screamed.  I have said absolutely nothing at all.  I have researched on the internet, and I have tried a whole new program for bedtime and have found improvement.  I now put the kids to bed after our bedtime rituals and sit outside their bedrooms reading my book yelling "Shhhhhh" at every movement until they are in bed.  They also earned a sticker a day for doing a good job and got to pick something they could have when their sticker chart was full.  Sammi was the first to earn her's.  She chose a unicorn.  She earned it on Friday and we had a fun time on Friday picking out fabric for her for a pillow and a blanket.  She made them both herself.  I was so proud of her.  Here she is pictured with her new unicorn and the blanket and pillow that she made for them.  

FAVORITE STORIES OF THE WEEK:  We are going to Cabo in Mexico this Saturday, and I bought Sammi two new swim suits.  She was on cloud nine.  She kept telling me how lucky she was.  I teased her that she was spoiled.  She then said to Cooper, "Do you know what spoiled means?  It means you are really happy!"  I thought that very fitting.  Ev bumped his head and went into a huge fit of screaming pain.  I was comforting him saying, "No more tears.  That's enough.  Take a deep breath."  He stopped mid scream, calmly put his hand over my mouth and said clearly as can be, "Please stop."  "OK."  I said, and Ev picked up on his screaming and crying right where he left off.  I didn't say a word.  Scotti found that when he stands on our blocks on our linoleum they make great skates for our hockey games, so now everyone has to put on their "skates" before the games and slide around the floor.  The only problem is that it causes Ev, who can't seem to do it, a lot of grief!  Cooper has been disappearing all week.  I always find him outside on the tire swing in mismatched mittens, and hat, and a t-shirt and shorts.  It's warm, but not that warm (40 degrees or so!) 

Ev's Photo Shoot

Oh man, we have had a gorgeous week, and I decided one day while we were out playing on the playground to do a photo shoot of Ev.  You see the results here.  We have had a fun week, with field hockey, rock painting, playground, bike riding, swimming, and even a picnic.  I love good weather.  It hasn't been like summer--the high was 50 degrees, but in winter that just seems so pleasant!  The flooding here is almost gone.  You'd almost never know it happened now except that my kids still play flooding (especially in the bath.)  

Grant worked in the hospital for the first time this weekend and things went really well.  Much less stressful than Residency!  Grant feels like his business is doing really well and he is really enjoying himself. 

STORIES OF THE WEEK:  I have spent a minimum of sixty minutes each day this week cheering for all Scotti's pretend sporting events:  football, hockey, and racing.  He comes down the stairs every morning and tells me that I am late for the game and I better get up the stairs.  Once we are up there, I watch him move all his action figures around and narrate a game that seriously takes much longer than my attention span.  By the end, when my cheering is much less than genuine, he is still as excited as if it were really happening.  Cooper always wants me to stand in the hall and watch him run laps around our stairway.  I have to do this immediately after the game with Scotti.  Sammi received a bunch of beads for Christmas and wants nothing more than to create jewelry for everyone she knows, but Everett keeps finding her and messing up her masterpieces and throwing her beads all over the place.  She does a good job being patient, but I feel bad because she hasn't been able to finish one yet.  Ev constantly sings while he plays.  I'm surprised at how many songs he knows.  His favorites are "Twinkle, Twinkle", "Happy Birthday", and "BINGO."  He is in the most adorable phase right now where he copies everything I say in that adorable baby talk of his.  He thinks everything is the most exciting thing that ever happened to him.  

A couple of farms under water.  Look closely at the current.  There are actual waves in some spots.  Our little Satsop river, normally 5 feet deep, measured in at 50 feet deep yesterday!

Speed limit sign.  I love it.

The road going under the water!

A warning sign, barely above water!

Elma's lumber yard, flooded.

The last time we saw our road.  Now it is under a couple of feet of water!

Coop and some friends at our road, now flooded.  

Ev watching the waterfall the flood has made of our road.

Jacksons' first flood!!!

Western Washington has been flooding since Wednesday.  We've been stuck at home since then.  Wednesday and Thursday we could get to Elma (5 minutes away), but now we are stuck at our house and all the roads around us are officially flooded.  Luckily, our house is not flooded at all because we are sort of on a hill.  Otherwise, when we get to the bottom of our hill, you can pretty much only see water in every direction with trees coming out of it.  We went for a walk today down our street (since no cars can come on it), and were astounded by the amount of water.  Since there is no land anywhere, all the rodents are in the trees, and they seemed to be all over the streets.  In some of our pictures, there is a speed limit sign that you can barely see out of the water.  Our river, the Chehalis, crested (got to its highest) today, so hopefully we should be able to drive again by Sunday.  The force of the water caused the main bridge that we drive over to get to Elma to crack, so even when the flooding goes down, I won't be able to get to town without a 15-20 minute drive, so that's a bummer.  We have had a great time learning about the floods and watching in awe the power of Mother Nature.  When I was 14 or so, my dad wouldn't let me cut across Lake Yellowstone to get to our campsite and made me paddle all the way around the lake's perimeter because, as he said, we just don't mess with the weather.  Well, I'm learning that all over again!