{swimming , dancing, discipline}

1. My mom and dad dancing in the dark to Anne Murray music, with the fire lit. The Song playing that i remember most is "Could i have this dance for the rest of my life". I hear the crackling of the fire and the room is filled with the warm glow coming from the fireplace. This was a regular occurence in the winter time at my home growing up. We always lit our fireplace up and danced together in the evenings. When it was time for us kids to go to bed(our rooms were upstairs) we would pretend to go to our room and then sneak out on the balcony ledge and quietly look down on our parents in the living room slow dancing with one another just holding each other so tightly.  They love each other so much. And i appreciate those moments that they often shared that kind of affection with one another. I truly appreciate their relationship. I often saw them kiss each other(i didn't appreciate that at the time), slow dancing together, my mom tickling and teasing my dad(and my dad letting her), and my dad often doing things for my mom because he knew she would love and appreciate it. When he had time off he would do whatever he could to help around the house. He would clean and clean(deep clean) and i knew he was doing it to show his appreciation for her and to show her he loved her. My siblings and I would try to help him. He would cook once in awhile. He cooks OFTEN now and he is an amazing cook! :) He would always surprise her with "lets go out to dinner tonight" so that she didn't have to cook. OR he would surprise her with gifts she wanted. I could always tell he loved her. They always went on a date once a week. My siblings and i loved when they left. :) haha! BUT i(and sometimes my other siblings) also enjoyed cleaning the house and making it look perfectly clean. We tried to set the mood by lighting candles so that the home would smell wonderful and then setting a peaceful mood with the lighting. For me it was so exciting because i knew when they walked through the door from their relaxing date night they would feel even more peace in their own home.  And i enjoyed their hugs and thank you's for a clean home. I knew my mom loved my dad too. She cared about his thoughts and feelings and tried to look after him in many ways that were important. She was always on his side. She would tell him when it was time for him to go to bed. It drove me NUTS at the time. I didnt' like that she was TELLING HIM what to do because he was a grown man and could go to bed when he feels like it. haha! NOW, its an inside joke with us. She still will say that to him when i come around just to tease me. Its really funny. Now i realize she would tell him when to go to bed because she was just looking out for him. He had a very busy stressful job at the time, working 80 hours a week. She had to look out for him for his own sanity and for ours. ;) They loved each other AND I KNEW IT. :) I really appreciate their example. When i think about it, Shane is a lot like my dad. I never thought he was like my dad until recently.  I always thought he is a lot like my mom. He is a lot like my mom in ways and a lot like my dad in ways. What a great combo. He is like my dad in the ways that he loves me just like my dad loves my mom. Always trying to please me, always trying to help me when he can so that he can make me smile, giving me surprises(and they always are surprises). Just trying to do whatever he needs to do to see me smile. I truly have a good man. He loves me AND I KNOW IT. :) He is like my mom in that he loves to tease and harrass me. :) There is nothing that gives him(or my mom) more pleasure and joy than teasing. sigh. And i TRY to be like my dad and just LET HIM. Although sometimes its too much and then i have to put a quick stop to it. BUT That is why i appreciate my parents relationship so much. It helped me to find what my parents had.

2.Swimming. Swimming is a great love of mine. If i can remember one thing we did a lot of growing up, it was SWIMMING. I have been swimming since in the womb. My dad has a great love for swimming. He was an awesome swimmer in his younger years and won state championships. SOOO, its no wonder that swimming became a part of me and the rest of my siblings. I remember as a youngin, living in South Carolina, we swam at the neighborhood pool just about every single day of the summer. Seriously. My siblings and I swam on swim team and i really enjoyed it. I was a lifeguard in highschool and taught swim lessons to toddlers. Watching the swimming in the Olympics this year is really making me wish i could get in the pool to swim and swim...  and swim some more. I am craving it. So, its important to me that my boys learn how to swim. Scuba Diving is completely DIFFERENT.  My swimming skills really don't come in handy with scuba diving. It's crazy. I thought it would be easy for me since i am a swimmer. Nope. Wrong. I will do a post about scuba soon. Tomorrow is our last dive and then we will be certified.Anyway, we had a pool in our backyard in Oklahoma. The summer's got hot there. We were out in the pool all summer. We would lay out on our floats , we would play pool games, we loved doing tricks off the diving board. I love our memories of having a pool and really hope we get the opportunity to live somewhere where we can have one in our own backyard one day. We had family parties around our pool. We had a ward pool party a few times at our home. When cousins would come visit it was always in the summer and we would spend every single day lounging around the pool and chatting like you have never heard before. When i say we spent all day around the pool, i am serious. And when we showerd up in the evening, we would go back out and sit around the table on the deck next to the pool and chat past midnight. I love the water. Truly love it.

3.I am laying the smack down on my boys lately. I never realized how inconsistent i was with my disciplining until recently. And i don't know how i came to the realization. Once i really tried focusing on being consistent is when i realized it i guess. And i am done with time outs. I think that works with kids from age 2 to 4 years old. We have moved onto GROUNDINGS in this house. :)  haha. Yeah, baby. Let me tell you, it works. :)  And i stick to it. I hate to see them sad because their friends are all outside playing and having fun, but they really think about what they do and say now.  Gavin has this thing of sayiing "I hate myself" OR "i hate this day", when he gets in trouble. So, i also came up with a punishment for that. haha!  Just yesterday i made him write "i love myself" five times. And the next time he says it he will write it six times. The next time , seven times. And before you know it, he will LOVE himself so much. :) If he says "This is the worst day ever", he will be writing "This is the best day ever". Man i love it. I feel like my punishments lately are more severe than i like, BUT at the same time i feel like its right to do, so i am doing it. Whining results in grounding....disobeying results in grounding.... Punching, kicking, hitting, pinching all results in grounding.  Depending on the day, i might let them WORK their way out of a grounding. The other day around 3 p.m. i let Gavin work his way out of the rest of his grounding that day. I made him clean the downstairs bathroom. Brilliant.  I finally feel like i am in charge and control of my kids and it feels so good. :) And through this my love for my boys is growing. They are such good boys.