*Yawn* Happy 2008 *Yawn*

I'm a party animal I tell ya. I have pictures to prove it. Not that I would ever post those on the internet. Ha. I, however, have never really been that big of a NYE fan. Let's see, growing up, my parents never did anything or let us do anything so it consisted of us watching the ball drop on tv. Yee Haw. In high school I don't really remember, which means I was either grounded and asleep (NOT fun) or at a party somewhere totally trashed (probably pretty fun at the time!) Oh, wait, I do remember my senior year......yes, that one was VERY fun. Oh to be a senior in highschool at a hotel party. Good times. College and beyond is where the expectations started to climb and my disappointment climbed even higher. It's always so much fun to spend $100+ to be crammed into a bar fighting for every watered down drink/beer you could get from the bartender and hope you get a few appetizers before they were all gone. Even better when you are the DD and still have to pay the same amount as those drinking. And it really sucks if you aren't there with someone special and then have no one to kiss at midnight and everyone around you is "mashing". Even more good times. I just never saw anything magical or special about the evening. Maybe just because I always wanted it to be this super fun awesome night out with all my friends and it was just crowded, expensive and frustrating and then you had to be so nervous driving home even if YOU were totally sober.

My favorite NYEs have been when we are over at someone's house, now with all the kids in the basement playing, all the grownups upstairs eating and drinking, and we celebrate "midnight" at 8:00 then cleanup and head home to get the kiddos in bed before too late. It will be nice when we can stay 'till say.....10:00? I personally like crawling into bed getting all comfy cozy and maybe even falling asleep before midnight. My husband can give me a kiss then to wake me up and wish me a Happy New Year. (Only not this year, since he is at the Cotton Bowl. GO MIZZOU!!!)

Have fun and be safe!!!

Santa--the scapegoat

Contrary to popular belief (around this house at least) I do not like being deemed the "heavy", or the mean mommy, or the one who gives only to taketh away, so the last few years we have used Santa as our scapegoat to help us encourage the kids to give up "things" that we were too chicken to make them do on our own.

The first time we did this was when Jake was 3 1/2 and still was refusing to even sit his hiney on the potty. He was perfectly happy having a fully loaded diaper, never went to hide to go poop, never expressed interest in watching either one of us go in the bathroom, didn't care that his two best buddies were totally potty trained, threw a fit if we even suggested he LOOK at a toilet. We knew it was bad (and totally laid off) when 6 months prior, we had to start giving him some NASTY liquid vitamins, and he was having a full on melt down because he didn't want to take them, he was offering to go to time out instead and then when that didn't work, he offered to go to go sit on the potty. He viewed sitting on the potty as worse punishment than timeout. goodgrief. Anyway.....we made him go cold turkey and give Santa his diapers. We prepared him of course that this was going to happen, and Santa brought him all sorts of neat underwear, Thomas, elmo, etc. He wasn't super thrilled with it all, (and he did have pull-ups at night) but the kid was totally trained within two weeks and was done with pull-ups after a month. Granted, he was 3 1/2.

The next time was with Olivia and her binkies AND diapers. I know, could we be any meaner? She was 2 1/2 already potty training and the diaper thing was more for me. She was ready, I was not. The binkie thing on the other hand. OMG. Jake never took a binkie and she was really, really attached to hers. She wanted it all the time, and it would have been just as hard, if not harder to try to relegate it just to the bed as it was to going cold turkey. So, we prepped her for weeks that we were going to give her binkies to the baby reindeer, we even did a trial give away to the babies at daycare, which she did on her own, but freaked out and ended up in hysterical tears once we got in the car. Christmas eve came, and she collected all her binkies and put them in a pile, she gave them all one more little suck and then picked one out to take to bed with her one final time. We had told her that Santa would probably come and get that one too, but she could have it for bed time. (we really didn't want to deal with a bad bedtime on Christmas eve) Here is where it gets funny/bad. I had to cut the tips off of all the binkies and throw them away so that we wouldn't get weak and cave in and give her one. Then, in the middle of the night, I woke up and got the binkie from her bed and snipped the tip off of that one too, and then put it back in her bed. Christmas morning she woke absolutely hysterical screaming NO NO Rudolph! BAD BAD Rudolph! I run into her room....Sissy, What's the matter? Rudolph. Bit. My. Binkie. BAD BAD Ruldolph. Oh, crap. what have I done?!?
Oh, honey, it wasn't Rudolph. Here, let me see. It, must have been those silly baby reindeer, They don't know how to suck on binkies yet. They must have accidentally bit the tip off. It's ok, they are still babies, it wasn't Rudolph. Don't be mad at Rudolph. Olivia, still crying, shakily says, Yeah silly baby reindeer, don't know how to suck on my binkies. Phew. bullet dodged. (We don't get a solid nights sleep for another 6 months boo hoo!)

What did we have the kids give up this year? I am actually a little embarrassed to admit it....their sippy cups. Yes, my children are 5.5 and 3.5 and LOVE their sippy cups. I LOVE their sippy cups. They drink out of open cups at the dinner table, but we eat and drink in every room in the house and part of the reason we allow the drink part is because of sippy cups. I tried to do it with Jake about a year and a half ago, but it was too hard because Olivia genuinely still needed one at all times, and it just wasn't a battle that I felt was worth my energy to deal with. We didn't really play it that Santa was taking them, but we did bag them all up (sob!) on Christmas eve and they are sitting out on the curb in the trash right now. Santa brought them some cool new open cups and a few cups with lids and straws for in the car. sigh. Every sign of baby/toddler/little kid is disappearing from my house (except for the gobs of toys of course!) and part of me is so ready for it all to be gone, but.......well you know.

I wonder what bad habit I will make them give up next year?

Back to reality, well sort of

I'm still not back at work, the kids are not back in school, and my house is a wreck, but we are slowly coming out of the fog. I'm caught up on my reading of all of your blogs, so I will be back to commenting soon and now I just need to get back in the swing of things here. This is the longest break I have taken since I started blogging and it is hard to start up again! So much has gone on and so much is swirling in my head, let's see, in a quick nutshell:
-We get back from the in-laws and Maggie (the golden retriever who doesn't retrieve but who DOES snore) chewed up my brand new Mizzou visor the kids got me for my birthday. (see pic above) It was hanging up on the back of my bedroom door. She must still be mad that they didn't win against Oklahoma.
-The kids had a blast at grandma and paw-paw's house with all their cousins and were very pleased with their gifts. It was so much fun watching them really get into it, and they were very patient taking turns and appreciative of what they got and what others got too. It was nice.
-Christmas eve was hilarious, we had never seen the kids move so fast up the stairs as they did that night when we said it was time to go up to bed because Santa was on his way.
-Christmas Day was nice and relaxing for the most part. The kids were done opening their presents from Santa and us pretty quickly and they played all morning, then took a nap during the afternoon before everyone arrived.
-My turkey turned out GREAT, very juicy and tasty. (Thank you Raquita for all your advice!!) Dinner was great, my only beef was that my aunt and family (grandparents, cousins, etc) all came together and were supposed to be at our house between 4:00-4:30 and didn't show up until just after 5:00 which is when we were supposed to eat. I personally think she wanted me stressed out (since she was mad that it wasn't at her house) and I was slightly stressed trying to keep everything hot. No apology, no explanation. O'well. Food was good, if I do say so myself, and my grandmother kept going on and on about it which made me feel good. (My aunt and her family were also planning on leaving at 8:00 because she invited friends over to her house for a get together. I won't get into how rude I thought that was.....so much for family time)
-All of the above did leave my house totally trashed after dinner/dessert/presents etc were done. It makes me wonder, Why do I want to do this every other year? If it is so important to the other dominant female member of the family to be the hostess with the mostest, it sure is a heck of a lot easier to make a casserole or two, bring a bottle of wine, and just show up, and leave when the kids start getting cranky. Hmmmm. Something for me/us to think about. I proved to myself that I could do it, and no stinkin bird is going to scare me now. Giblets beware!

Birthday Loot and Christmas Stress

Overall, it was a good birthday yesterday. Olivia's attitude improved, I don't think it could have gotten much worse, and she picked out a beautiful candle for my cake (she apologized for not getting me the Strawberry Shortcake candle instead). I got my dyson hand-held vacuum from Dave and my MIL, a Mizzou visor, and a gift certificate for a massage. My sister got me a gift card to Old Navy, yippee I can get a new pair of jeans! and my aunt gave me a gift card to Victoria's Secret so a practical everyday bra will be purchased, I know, bor-ring. I suppose I should take Olivia along for that shopping trip uh? My grandma gave me gift certificate for another massage too. Are they trying to tell me something??? Who cares, I need a massage, and I'm going to use them soon! Oh, and one of the cards that my husband got me says.....
I knew in the 8th grade that I wanted a wife like you. (open it up) One with boobies. Since then, I've learned to appreciate other things. Still, though...... Pretty funny uh? He did get me a sappy, cheesy card too.

Now comes the time for me to officially start freaking out about Christmas. I am done shopping, but nothing is wrapped and we celebrate with my in-laws tomorrow. I have to finish picking out and loading everyone's photos into the digital frame we got my mother and father in-law. So, we need to wrap stuff for tomorrow first, then try to get everything else wrapped for Christmas after that. I need to clean the house. We are hosting Christmas dinner and I am making my first turkey. Fun. From what I hear it is fool proof, right? Right? I picked it up today and it is on the bottom shelf of the fridge to thaw, I have one of those bags to cook it in and a pan. Just follow the directions, take all the junk out of the middle of the bird once it is thawed out, rub it down with oil and wait for the thing to pop out? Am I missing anything? Any secrets or advice? I just don't want it to be dry. Nothing would give my aunt more satisfaction than for me to have a dry turkey. Especially when she gave me what she thought the menu should be, and I didn't feel like making any of it. Then she will just go on and on about how juicy and good her turkeys are, blah blah blah. I love her to death, but it is hard for her to let go of being in control over a family gathering. Anyway, this is probably my last post till after Christmas. I'll still be reading.....I can't completely leave the blogosphere, even for just 1 day. I would miss you all too much. Thanks for any advice you may give, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas, and if you currently are a silent reader......leave me a little Christmas present and say Hi! :)

It's all about Me?

This is what I woke up to, put your headphones on (if you are at work) and turn your volume up loud to hear the background "noise". It will make sense when you watch the second video.



Jake was sweet and sang me Happy Birthday while Olivia was throwing a fit because she didn't want to get dressed for school. She didn't win, and neither did I. She went to school in her pajama top, underwear and socks. Dave said she was very quiet on the way to school and then got dressed with no argument in the bathroom at school. This marathon temper tantrum earned her 3 X's on her board for those of you following the Smart Discipline system.

Let's take a look back at the last few years of how my birthday has gone:

2000: Maggie (the golden retriever) had lovely diarrhea and vomiting. We rent a rug doctor.
2001: I was 8-9 weeks pregnant with Jake, so I was vomiting
2002: Jake was puking
2003: I was 6 weeks pregnant with Olivia AND it was my 30th birthday AND the babysitter calls us home because Jake is puking AND we have to take him to the ER because he has croup so bad he can't breath. (I swear he was fine when we left the house.)
2004: Both dogs got into something and have diarrhea on the carpet. On my birthday. Again. I kid you not.
2005: We were in the middle of dealing with Olivia's mysterious UTIs that
wouldn't go away and her allergic reaction to one of her meds that swelled her eyes shut. (Can I just tell you, that 14 month olds are NOT supposed to
get UTIs....)
2006: It was the first year that everyone was healthy!!!!!!
2007: Dave came in from walking the dogs and informed me that Kaira had puked twice. Of course she did, it's my birthday....he was like, Oh, yeah I didn't even think about that. At least it wasn't on the carpet.

Lingerie Please Santa

We went to go see Santa last Friday after we picked Jake up from school. While I was getting ready that morning, Olivia was watching me get dressed and informed me that she was going to ask Santa for a bra. Oh really? Yeah, I want lots and lots of bras like you have Mommy. Well, bras are for when you get a little bit bigger, I thought you wanted a new baby doll and some other things for your baby? Well, I still want the baby care center (which she is NOT getting) but I think I'll get some bras too for me and my babies. Um, ok, how about we go downstairs to eat some breakfast? (me trying to change the subject and not make too big a deal out of this, because if I do, she will for sure ask Santa for bras!)

Fast forward to that afternoon, We find a parking spot outside of Macy's and head inside. Do you want to guess what department we walked right into? Yep, the women's bra and underwear. Olivia promptly notices and says Oh Mommy, look at all these pretty bras. They are just like yours, now I can tell Santa where he can find them! I'm getting a little bit panicky now. Please God, do not let her ask Santa for bras. Please, please, please. I don't even acknowledge the bras or her statement. We make it out into the mall and see Daddy. Both kids run up to him, there is no line waiting for Santa. They get on his lap, chit chat for a minute, Jake asks for his racing game and Olivia asks for.........



Her baby care center. That's it. (she is still not getting it) whew. I'm really not a mean mommy, this care center is a huge piece of plastic that she saw in a catalog. I'm tired of plastic. This is what she is getting from Santa instead. I have heard her say she wanted a bunk bed for her babies. Hopefully it all works out. Maybe I'll throw a bra in there for good measure, for me of course.

You said it sista!

Olivia to Dave in the middle of the night....apparently he gave up and went to sleep with her. I, on the other hand, am a cold hearted mother and refuse to sleep with a 3 year old who doesn't go to sleep until after 10:00 and then still has the nerve to DEMAND for all sorts of things at 3:00 in the morning. No siree bob. Not gonna do it. Anyway, back to where I started. Olivia to Dave in the middle of the night:

Daddy, you snore like a pig!
Grandma really can't sing.

I really, really like the first one. :) If only she had kicked him out her bed because of it. I'm glad she didn't, I got a solid 4 hours of sleep thanks to her.

The weather outside is frightful?

After my wild night out Friday, we woke up to our first snowfall of the season and the kids were ready to go out at 6:15, which of course was not happening. I stayed in bed until around 9:00 (grandma and paw-paw are here to entertain them!) and came downstairs with their boots and Olivia's hand-me-down snowsuit. It is so 90's but she loved it! We just don't get enough snow here anymore to justify buying them new bibs every year. I guess I should hit the resale shops and let her have something pink. Jake just wears fleece lined track pants and his winter coat. Anyhoo, we headed up the street to play with their friends who we haven't seen forever. This neighborhood shuts down once it gets cold and the kids can't be outside all the time. Lots of snowballs were thrown, a mini fort was built, Dave shoveled 3 times, 8 inches fell and our backyard looks beautiful.

Friday night's bloggers get together

Can I just tell you how much fun I had? Traffic was horrid, and it took forever to get there, but it gave Lisa and I a chance to talk which was good, since I didn't really chat with her much once we got there. She had to leave early and I was so nervous about that, but I was a Chatty Cathy and so happy to finally meet Farrell and Rebecca, and of course Kristie caved in (peer pressure) and came along too. It was awesome to put real faces (these women are HOT!) and voices to my first blogs that I started reading. These women are the reason I started blogging in the first place. I also LOVE Raquita, (she cracks me up! and check out her site for links to more pics) Dana is so nice and gave me some good advice. I have now added marriage-101, news-bitch and susanisk to my reader since I enjoyed talking to them as well! I didn't get home 'till a whopping 11:30pm (a whole hour and a half later than my husband predicted) and the next morning he asked if I had a good time and if everyone was "normal". My retort was, I blog, am I normal? He could have been a total smart-ass but then he saw this picture and wants to go next time! I'm not sure if he is invited or not. :)
From Left to Right: Lisa, Me, Kristie, Jaelithe, Raquita, Farrell, Rebecca

Flash Back Friday and My First Time

I'm sooooo excited!!!! Tonight I am heading to my first STL blogging get together! Are you disappointed? Thought I was going to tell you about the other first time? :) I'm picking Lisa up, Kristie is following, and we are headed to Llwelyn's Pub in Webster Groves where I get to meet Rebecca, and Farrell, (who I feel like I already know!) and Jaelithe, Raquita, and Jeannette (who I just started reading) AND the infamous Dana (who is super cool and I hope I don't make a total fool out of myself in front of 'cause she is famous!) and quite a few others that I'm sure will be added to my google reader after tonight. I'll post pictures.....

We finally got our Christmas cards and letters out yesterday. Yes, we do letters, but in no way are they brag letters, we just don't get to see or talk to our friends as much as we would like, so they really are update letters. Anyway, I thought it would be fun (for me anyway) to look back at our cards since we started doing the "picture" card thing. Thanks for humoring me and allowing me to get weepy over how big my kids have gotten. 2002-2007 in order.

Corny jokes part Deaux

Remember this post and my husband's gift of turning anything into a bad sexual innuendo? We have been discussing getting a new tv, because the one in our living room is going out and we have not made the jump into the HDTV realm (gasp!), and don't want to miss out on all the great deals going on right now. Anyway, the hubby is obviously very excited about this and was talking to me about the possibilities that he came up with from his research last night from consumer reports and whatnot. He said he needed to measure our entertainment center to make sure it would fit and I said it expanded to 72 inches so it would be no problem. Do I really need to tell you what he said? Ah, like I have said before, I'm a lucky girl.

Score 1 for Me!

One of my biggest peeves with my husband is that when he is brushing his teeth he turns the water on full blast and then while he is brushing, he walks away and LEAVES THE WATER RUNNING! It absolutely drives me up a wall and if we are not in the best of moods with each other he will totally do it to the hilt on purpose. If everything is going fabulous, he tries and maybe 50% of the time he will turn the water off while brushing. Dave is upstairs helping Jake brush and he turned the water on full blast and started to walk off while Jake brushed, and Jake just totally told him to shut the water off 'cause that was wasting water. We are supposed to turn the water off while we brush our teeth Daddy. Yippeeeeee!!!!! :) Now, should I go upstairs and gloat a little teensy tiny bit? I think so.

Just when I thought I was D-O-N-E

This weekend was not fun, good, or even remotely entertaining. It all started Thursday evening when Jake was put on major punishment that night and all of Friday (he got a yellow card during kindergarten and an orange card in adventure club) which meant no tv, no vsmile (video games) and no computer. He was in a fowl mood, and took it out on Olivia, which in turn got him in more trouble and I had to send him to his room several times(which is something we never do, since we want to keep their bedrooms a place of warmth and happiness, not somewhere they associate with punishment) to keep them separated. Olivia was egging it on, so she very quickly was racking up x's on her board and earning time-outs left and right as well. I think yesterday morning she had 4 x's on her board and had been in time out twice by 10:00 am. After 3 days of non-stop bickering (unless we were 300% engaged with them that is) I mentally checked out. I left and went to the store and was gone for over 2 hours. Dave thought I had run other errands, but nope I lolly gagged around and just took my sweet time. By the time I came home they were down for their naps and I laid down on the couch and dozed for 30 minutes or so before Jake woke up. Livvie didn't get up for another 1.5 hours so all was still nice and quiet and then she got up and was in a good mood! we decided to make chocolate covered pretzels and we had fun as a family!!! It was a miracle! Katy from The Country Blossom describes how to make them here.




The only thing I did change from what she said was that I used Hershey's "Bar in a Jar" because it was a heck of a lot cheaper than buying a bunch of bars and melting them down. That, however, may have been my downfall, because the chocolate didn't really harden. It did firm up and we can eat it, but it isn't hard. I should have gotten that chocolate that comes in squares and you melt it then it gets real hard when it cools, but I can't remember what it is called? I used it once when I made those cookies you spread peanut butter in between two ritz crackers and then pour that chocolate over it and it tastes just like peanut butter cups.....if you know what I am talking about leave me a note please!

Anyway, the kids had a blast and Dave and I had fun too, so it actually washed away all my crabbiness and I could just be thankful that I have both my kids here with me happy (most of the time) and healthy and I might just need to get me some mommy prozac because maybe its me......or perhaps like I have said before, a decent nights sleep would do wonders.

After bath last night I was brushing Olivia's hair and it was parted down the middle and she asked, Why is there a crack on my head? and then this morning she was coughing pretty good and I said, Oh it sounds like you got Mommy and Daddy's cough, and she said, Nope, I have my own cough. They are cute, fun and entertaining kids, just not when they're not. I love them no matter what though, and too bad for them, they are stuck with me as their mom.

Tree Trimming Bliss

In an effort to avoid screaming at the kids as Jake has requested, we decided that it would be best to not include them in the tree trimming process. Last year there was a lot of bickering between the kids over the decorations, the singing Rudolph in particular, which has continued over to this year as well and a few ornaments were broken last year which didn't make me very happy to say the least. I want to keep the holidays happy and not have them associated with X's on the boards and time outs. Trimming the tree growing up was one of the few family traditions we had growing up, but even that was wrought with negative and gut wrenching emotion for all. My dad and I would put the tree together, since my mom and I are allergic to real trees. This part was always fun. Then my mother would obsess and get totally OCD with the lights and it could take her anywhere from just a few hours to a day to put the lights on. This was a stressful time for us all. Then we would get all the ornaments out. It would start out happy....we had a hallmark tree, and my sister and I would get a new ornament every year. My mom would unwrap/unload all the ornaments and my dad, sister and I would be responsible for putting them on the tree. After half an hour or so, my dad and I would start moving the ornaments around that my sister had put on and she would then just quit putting them on and would eventually end up in her room crying. Yelling would ensue and then I don't really remember what would happen, probably just silence and me trying to finish the damn tree as fast as possible. Merry Christmas at our house, and that was actually a good family tradition, because at least it was something.

Anyhoo, Dave and I too have a Hallmark tree. His parents also gave him a new ornament every year, and we are continuing the tradition with our kids. It is so fun, picking out ones that are really meaningful to their lives at the time and guess what? My "retro" Strawberry Shortcake ornament is no longer retro and Olivia was so excited to see it on the tree! Hee Hee!
I wish I was a good enough photographer and could get a great close-up of the tree. It is neat to see 37 years worth of Hallmark ornaments (I'm not 37....Dave is!) The kids were so cute the morning after we decorated the tree. It was almost like Christmas morning. We put all the interactive ones down towards the bottom so they could play with them and we figured out a way to solve the argument of who gets to do the advent calendar and sleep with singing Rudolph. Jake was born on an odd day and Olivia was born on an even day....so you guessed it I'm sure. Jake does the calendar and sleeps with Rudolph on the odd days, Olivia on the even days and they "get it". There have been no arguments and they cheerfully passed Rudy back and forth. I think we can apply this odd/even day solution to a lot things.......

Reverse psychology at its best!

Aren't these jammies so cute? Polar bears with scarves on, very festive, but not exclusively Christmas....well my 3 year old daughter didn't think so. She liked them when she "allowed" me to buy them for her, but in the weeks that passed between buying them and the time it actually got cold enough to wear them she decided she no longer liked them.
Me: But you helped pick them out just a few weeks ago and loved them.
Olivia: (In her whiiiiinieeeest voice ever): I don't like them, I'm not wearing them. Throw them away.
Me: Feel how soft and comfy cozy they are. Just how you like your jammies to be.
Olivia: I want my other ones!
Jake: Oh, Olivia, they are really soft. Mommy, I'll wear them!
Me: Really? Ok! That's fine with me, as long as someone wears them!
Dave: But, they have ribbons on the sleeves.......
(Jake puts the jammies on.)
Jake: Olivia! Look at me! I'm wearing your jammies! They are so soft and cozy! I love them!!
Olivia: You look cute Jacob! Mommy, those are my jammies, I'm going to wear them tomorrow, ok?
(You can barely see them here, but she does have them on!)

Lessons from a five year old

Damn, he did it again. I'm glad that Jake feels free to talk to me openly, especially since I was already horribly scared to tell my mother anything by this age, but I am always apprehensive about what I am going to hear because he is brutally honest. We had a rough day where he had gotten four X's on his board (the first time in quite a while) so I felt compelled to talk to him during bedtime about some of the things that I was proud of him for. I told him I was proud of his reading, and told him that his teacher said he has been doing a really good job listening and following directions at school. Then he pipes up and said that he has calmed down and isn't wild anymore when they do "centers". I thought it was important for him to know that we recognized that he has been working hard on his behavior at school but then I had to open up my big trap and ask him if there was anything he thought I/we needed to work on.

Jake: Yes, mommy there are some things you could work on.
Me: Ok, like what?
Jake: If you would quit screaming so much, you could be my best friend again. (ouch)
Me: Your right buddy, I haven't been very patient lately and I'm sorry. I will work on not hollering if you can work on cooperating better with your sister. Anything else? (of course I have to spin it back around on him, it's not actually my fault I've been yelling a lot more lately is it? If only the two of them would listen and get along! saracasm, here. Yes, I know I am totally to blame, I am the adult, and I suck that my 5 yr. old is calling me out.
Jake: Can you tell Daddy not to pull on my shirt? I really don't like that. (Dave has a tendency to pull on his shirt when he is at his whits end and is trying to get his attention.)
Me: Sure, I can tell him, but you can let him know too. Is that it?
Jake: Just one more thing, we all need to be more respectful and kind to each other.
Me: Sounds like a great plan buddy. We will all start fresh tomorrow. I love you very much.
Jake: Love you too mommy. I'm glad you are my best friend again.