Parenting is Hard

I just came home from the worst and most frustrating basketball game I have ever seen Brock play. To start it off the other team was really good and played well together in contrast to our team that is all for one and none for all. The first half Brock’s team never even scored a point but to add to my frustration was the fact the “ref” never even blew her whistle unless the time was up. At this age they can’t steal the ball unless it is being passed, but since she wasn’t calling anything they would just go up and tackle each other to get the ball. She was standing right in front of me and I could barely hold my self back from saying “your job is to teach the boys some of the rules of basketball not just to be the time clock“. A good example of what the refs should do was the man last week would blow the whistle if the boy kept dribbling and picking up the ball. He would pause the game a second and tell the boy that he couldn’t do that then he would give the ball back to that same team and they would start play again.
I guess my second reason for my frustration was the fact that Brock seems to have very little motivation, he wants to do the least and have the best results. He has the potentional to be a great basketball player, I think he is better than he should be for the amount of time he puts in practicing. The funny thing is, is that he gets so mad when he doesn’t make every shot or he loses the ball on a fast break. How do you teach your children they have to work for what they want. I know deep down that they have to want it themselves but how do we as parents guide and encourage without pushing them too hard?
I know this is deeper than I usually get but I have been thinking a lot about this because I am giving a talk at New Beginnings about being Strong and of Good Courage. I want to encourage the girls to do things that they might think is hard but in the end it will be worth it.
My last question is how do we light the fire in our children to have a passion about something (besides video games). Does any one have any great insights for me?

I don’t know if any one else does this but I will be watching my kids and think I want to remember this moment forever. They are rarely big momentous occasions they are just everyday normal moments that I would like to remember when they are older. I had one the other day when Jason was reading them a bedtime story.

Jason’s bedtime stories are not the calm sleep inducing bedtime stories that you might expect, they are interactive and loud and most importantly funny (when he decides to adlib). I want my children to remember these times too so I took a picture.

I love doing the wash, well most of the time

I can’t believe it has already been a week. So lately I have been trying to wash anything that can get wet from area rugs, to shoes, to pillows. It all started with me getting a new washer and dryer. The story of getting it is a long one but in short I saw a fabulous deal, bought it online, they sold out, I kept calling and calling telling them I wanted my washer and dryer and one day a month later they showed up.

But after today I was really wishing I had a carpet cleaning after Brooklyn got into my powdered bronzer and scraped out all the contents onto my carpet. For not being a liquid it is surprisingly staining to carpet. Anyone have any tips on how to clean makeup out of carpet?