Dear Noah....one of our best days ever!!

or at least I thought so! I only had to work half day on Saturday...and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. Only low 70s...lots of big fluffy clouds in the sky.....cool breeze blowing...my perfect kind of weather for summer! We decided to go to Idle Hour Ranch in Troy, Ohio for a visit. It was an awesome place....where you can get up close and personal with many animals.....even feed them. It was a wonderful outing...and I am sure we will go back again! YOUR favorite part was mining for gems....where you could play around in the water...in fact..you liked this so much...you want me to build one just like it in our backyard.




We saw elephants, kangaroos, parrots, horses, giraffe, camels, a yak, goats, llamas, pigs, coyote, cougar (forgot to snap a pic of him), elk, ostrich, tortoise, fish, owl, prairie dog, fox, dogs, just a lot of wonderful animals! You could feed them too if you wanted. They were giving elephant rides this weekend...the elephants were actually here for 3 weekends only visiting in between other shows they do somewhere else for another touring group.....soon some tigers will be stopping by the ranch for a visit...







here is a link to the ranch...

IDLE HOUR RANCH

After we left the ranch we went to CiCi's Pizza....you have been wanting to go there for a long time and a new one had opened in Huber Heights...it was fantastic food and wonderful restaurant. The pizza was excellent and they had some new kinds of pizza to try! I like the thin crust authentic Italian and macaroni and cheese ones the best! You liked sausage and sausage and ham pizzas the best. You were in heaven!







Then we drove down to hit up the Covered Wagon Farmer's Market in Union, Ohio.....wow...they had some amazing things there....anything from soaps, candles, candies, fresh homemade Amish baked goods and canned goods.....fresh vegetables...dried goods....etc....and flowers and plants outside.




While looking inside we saw a beautiful buttefly or moth that had gotten trapped down in a bin between some packages of crackers. I thought it was fake at first....looked almost like wood lying there...but you said no and touched it and he began to move around. I told him if he wanted to live he better get on my finger so I could take him outside..and HE DID! I had you open a side door inside the store and the moth/butterfly turned around and looked at me..and I said to "GO....GO...you can go you are free!" and it turned around the other direction and flew away towards the flowers. He looked like this...sort of....



I bought some peanut butter fudge, banana bread and pumpkin bread among other things...and even though I do not need another candle..they had some clearance hot buttered popcorn candles on sale and that is a discontinued scent and smells so yummy...I got one!

link to Covered Wagon Farm Market

Covered Wagon Farm Market

We saw my cousin and husband in the store while there and they invited us over to see their house down the road when we were done shopping...so next up was a drive over there....then we drove to Arcanum to see grandma C....had a wonderful visit with her as well....



you went outside to catch lightning bugs before we left....




The weather was gorgeous.....the night was just beginning...so we rolled all the windows down in the car/truck and drove around..the lightning bugs sparkled in the fields...it was almost like being in a convertible and you and I loved it! You want to do it again...and we will...cause I loved it too!

We had an awesome day...and it was even better for me cause I got to share all that with you! I have decided no matter how I may look or feel...this is our life NOW...and we better live it now while we can and not wait around until everything is just right to do something. I hope you had as much fun as I did! You have been busy working on Sonic chatroom movies to load onto You Tube. You have become very creative with your storyline and now have included and designed your own Sonic characters to have different mouths and eyes so they show EMOTION when you load still pics to your movie...it is great...cause when the movie still shots move in the slide show..it does make it look like the characters are MOVING and SHOWING EMOTION! ALL this is huge for you besides the creativity factor....because you really do understand emotions now and even how those emotions look on a face and in words. It is amazing.

We went a lot of places yesterday....ate at the park too...drove around our city.....went visiting....stopped at our local library...you got to play with my cousin's dog....we just had an awesome time. I cannot say that enough.

I love you Noah...thanks for the wonderful memories. Hope you will always remember today too!

Mommy
XOXOXOX

oh P.S....we went to see Cars 2 at our local theater on Friday...and it was also awesome! You loved it so much...laughed and giggled..said it was your favorite one ever....

Dear Noah.....a disagreement....

(Message reads..."Until you say you're sorry AND go to CiCi's pizza within 2 weeks, I'm not even going to talk to you till then. If the 2 weeks are up, I'm leaving...so goodbye mom...cause I know you won't go till then"

You have been in a very argumentative stage recently...probably due a lot to your tween years....you will be 13 in December. However...you seem to want to argue with your mother about a lot of things. Now sometimes you are correct....but regardless of who is right or wrong...I am trying to teach you...you don't argue with your mother...

Today we had thought about going to CiCi's pizza as a treat .....but before leaving you and I got into a disagreement....you started arguing with me again...and I said that was it....forget it...we would not go to CiCi's pizza. I was sick and tired of your attitude...thinking you knew everything and was always right about everything and this was clearly something I was right about...as it pertained to a setting on our computers....long story..but basically you got very upset.....you did apologize and start to cry..but I told you it would not matter anyway. You still did not deserve to go to CiCi's pizza today. I did not raise you to be disrespectful to me your mom...or your dad...or any of your elder relatives...etc. I told you your behavior would never get you anywhere in life with a parent, grandparent, future boss or girlfriend/wife. DEMANDING things and being argumentative was never a positive and usually you ended up with zip. AND the biggest lesson..there are always consequences for your actions and choices. Your consequence for being so disrespectful to me and then sending me this ultimatum message was not going to CiCi's pizza.

You tried to squeeze in how I am the WORLD'S BEST MOM...but, "YOU HAVE REALLY CRAPPY LECTURES!!" and you apparently hate them....and you started crying all over again. I am thankful you handle getting upset SOOOO much better than you used to. You have learned over time to keep yourself and emotions in pretty good check...to control any physicality and to USE YOUR WORDS to express how you are feeling and what your needs are. I praised you for that. I told you...you did the right thing by keeping it in check..and going to your computer to type out your anger to me in words....but....how your ultimatum and threats were not a good choice...and again how all this was just so disrespectful to me.

I know notes like this will come ...hopefully not often...but they are always hurtful..even from you at 12 years of age or maybe if you are 50. Wait..if you would be 50 I would be 90 and I doubt I would give a crap then..lol...NO ..I still would if I have my sanity intact. Words can be a positive or negative to anyone....we are to use our words to BUILD EACH OTHER UP...not tear each other down. I grew up in a verbally abusive ( and sometimes even physically abusive) time and I do my best to never subject you to a life like that.

BUT...after reading the note where you say you will leave.. I try to tell you a kid just up and leaving or trying to run away would be the worst thing you could ever do....there are perverts all over the world just waiting to get their hands on kids like you....to do all sorts of horrific things to...if not ending up and even murdering you. You say you would go to your dad. I ask you HOW...you said he would come pick you up. I then tell you we will call your dad...because your dad would have not only said the same things I did...he would have done the same thing.

We did call...your dad did say he would do the same thing...and that you had to learn there are consequences for your actions..and when you are being disrespectful, etc....you did not deserve a "treat"...

So all in all we talked more...oh sorry...LECTURED some more.....no we actually talked....I asked you if you understood everything and how you felt about things....and I wanted to hear your feelings and how you felt....and we went over everything again. AND finally got it all worked out...and no...we did not today....go to CiCi's pizza. That will be another day.....

I still love you...even if I have crappy lectures.

Mom
XOXOXO

Dear Noah.....your mom singing to songs she JAMMED to in high school...

yeah...that song came on the car radio....and it took me back...I wanted to go CRUISING....with the windows down...and sing along with the song.

You just wanted to turn it off...and get out of the car as fast as you could...

love you anyway...

cause...

you're some kind of wonderful!

mommy
xoxoxox

Dear Noah.....saving your words...

You have been really emotional lately..not wanting to go anywhere....just holing up in your bedroom...your sanctuary....watching videos on your computer or reading online comics....drawing comics in PAINT on your computer....

Last night when you went to bed we got to talking. You started crying...you have been crying at the drop of a hat this week. Anyway...you started to tell me you had a NEW SONIC character you had come up with to make a new movie but you were having trouble DRAWING her in PAINT on your computer. You have drawn characters before and I have always thought you did a good job considering you only have a mouse to use with your Paint program. That is hard to draw anything using a mouse.

Anyway...you wanted to draw this girl character....but you could only do the front. You said you could not do the sides..and you became so frustrated in the room...you finally gave up. You let me know that your art program this year in school did not show you how to do such things or show you how to SHADE characters you did draw.

I told you ...you had never told me these things before...and I asked you why you never tell me things? I mean I will never know what is bothering you or what you might need unless you tell me. You said you were kind of following what you heard the average man does....only speaking about 2000 to 4000 words per day.

I about busted a gut on that one. I asked you, "WHAT???" and you proceeded to explain to me how you had read somewhere back in 2008 online that a man usually only speaks about 2000 to 4000 words per day and you were apparently trying to make sure to only do that...or thought you had to do that in order to be a man?

I told you most women yes speak MANY more words than you guys ever would..BUT..we also would LOVE it if you guys would open up your mouths more and let us know more about what you are thinking and how you are feeling and that in the future your future girlfriend would appreciate that from you too.

So I informed you..you do come from a family of artists and creative people and if you wanted to learn to draw better it should be easy to do...and I could help teach you over the summer how to draw your comic characters better or even your grandpa or uncle...etc. We have many artists in the family and some taught art.

You are going to show me your special character tonight and we are going to start working on drawing her.

Saving your words.....what will you tell me next?

I love you....wordless or not.

Mom
XOXOXOXO