Day 56

Tuesday October 12, 2010

Elsa left bright and early. When Nina woke up she actually started crying when she realized that Elsa was gone. Elsa is magical...always has been and the kids had loved that about her. Teddy slept in and I took him to school late. I loved hearing his classmates holler "Hi Teddy!" and "Teddy is back!" I most of all loved seeing the sheepish grin on his beautiful face!

Nina and I went home and unpacked some more. We had quite a bit to do before Thursday. On Thursday, we were leaving for the beach house. Todd's Uncle Wally and Aunt Bonnie have a beach house near Santa Cruz. They generously let the family use it for vacations and all of the vacations that we have taken as a family with Todd's family and mine have been there. The kids have incredible memories there and for weeks Nina has been asking to go there. Initially, I had said no but Nina was so strong now that Todd and I felt like we could go. So...we had two days to get all the details taken care of. Nina was delighted....more like gleeful!

While Teddy was at school, we did some grocery shopping. As we passed an aisle, Nina shouted, "Stop Mama...we need that!" She was pointing at a bag of sour cream and Cheddar chips. I smiled. It had been years since I had those chips. I grabbed a bag and we were off. Once we got in the car, she asked if we could open the bag, which we did. To my surprise and Nina's delight, those chips were addictive!!! Dang it! The bag was practically gone before we got home. As I pulled her out of the car seat, Nina said, "Mama those chips are super yummy...can you buy more, one bag just for me?" Sweet girl!

After school, Teddy and Nina played with Cami and Katie. The girls are such good friends to our kids and the Vineals are an incredible support for us! In fact, after dinner Larry came and picked up Todd and they went to Dargons (a local Irish pub) and played darts in a local league. I am so glad that Todd has good friends and can get out a bit!

While Todd played darts, Teddy and I butted heads over homework! With all the routine changes, he had started complaining about homework again. I stand corrected...he wasn't complaining....he was tantrumming at horrifying levels. Finally, I had enough and pulled out the token system that we had used in previous years. He was angry and said that he wasn't a baby anymore. I explained that I didn't want to spend our evenings arguing and this was how we were going to solve the current conflict. After so more arguing, he came up to me, wrapped his arms around my neck and said, "Okay mama....you're right...let's do better!" How I love this boy! He is incredible!!!