Step Mom...hardest thing ever!

Calling all step mom's out there. How is it for you? I have found it to be wonderfully rewarding, and amazingly hard at the exact same moment! The balance of ex wives, ex-family environments, instant microwave families, the list goes on and on....and now that its soccer season we sit with the ex's every Saturday. Don't get me wrong, we all get along really well, and for the most part everyone is happy with the situation. However, its hard. Its hard to see them all the time, its hard to have a bond with the kiddos and then feel so distant from them the next week. Thoughts, advice? Words of wisdom?

Video Games....the things little boys live for.

To game or not to game...that is the question. As you know our boys are 7 and 10, so video games are their life. We use them as rewards when they are good, constantly monitor what they are playing and limit their games to a couple hours on the weekends. Yet still, these games are their favorite pass times. Why? I guess growing up as a girl, I would play super mario brothers and then be done. Their latest fix is Skate....a game where you are skateboarding and you try tricks, but seem to crash constantly. The bonus comes when you crash hard, and get some sort of bone crusher score. Sound fun? They LOVE IT!

So I decided to join them, for one little skate session. My third attempt at a trick shot me through the air, in a way the boys had never seen. I continued to fly through trees and started tumbling down hills and onto concrete. Huh? The result is me setting the record in body damage / bone crushing scores. Now, the boys are desperately trying to beat my record. The thought of getting beat by a girl that has never played before is tragic. Its been two weeks, and I still hold the record.

So how do you regulate games? Are they good, bad or ugly? Do they make the luster of outdoor sports less appealing? What is a good balance? For now, we take it week by week (or in out case every other week).

Here's a little Coca Cola before bed....

Why is it that on the kids meals at restaurants they have caffeine, and they serve it after 4pm? Last night we went to Chili's to grab a quick dinner on the way home from Soccer. Our oldest ordered a coke with his Mac N Cheese and we didn't hear him do it. The youngest (always trying to do the right thing) ordered Sprite. When the coke arrived, we weren't pleased but said that he could drink that one and then it was water after that. Well as luck would have it, we were served by the single most cheery / happy / peppy 18year old you've ever seen. She started lining the table with refill cups of coke. Ummm hello?

Here's my solution. There should be a cut off time (for kids) for caffeine in restaurants....like 4pm. If parents want their kiddos to be wired for the rest of the evening then they can order a regular drink with an adult price attached to it.

Granted I know its ultimately our fault for not catching the coke order in the first place, but a little help would be awesome!

The result....he laid in bed until 10 and then fell asleep. He went to bed at 8:30....

Poop Towel

This story inspired me to start a blog. For those of you who don't know me, I am engaged to a man that has two boys...7 & 10. Im a girl. I was raised with one sister in a very girly house. Sooooo two boys, are just about as normal for me as toothpaste on toast.

Brandon (my fiancee) and I have the boys every other week. And as you can imagine, this is our week to have the boys......
Last night, after the boys were in bed, and we were getting ready for bed I noticed a smell in the bathroom that was off. Now, for those of you who have boys in your house, you understand that there are off smells all the time. But this smell just bothered me. Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw it. A brown streak on our white towel that was about 12 inches long. Upon closer examination, there were several streaks, and spots, and finger prints. WTF! Of course we assumed it was chocolate, since we have enough chocolate from easter to feed our entire neighborhood. So Brandon (gotta love this man) goes in for an innocent sniff and almost drops to his knees. He then proceeds to run around the bathroom and hall trying to blow the smell out of his nose. Hard.

So without hesitation Brandon marched into the boys room, first thing this morning to see who pooped the towel. No explanation, just it was on my hand, so I wiped it off. Hummmm...... What do we do? Burn the towel? Bleach the towel? Uggg!