the sidlingers

what Daniel is like at home when no else is around?

P.S. any feedback on the videos would be great, do they take a long time to load?  Do they even work? Do you have broadband or dial up?   Email us and let us know!  Thanks!

My apologies for not updating in a while, summer has proven to be a busy time.  The non-stop Daniel is, well non-stop.  He does not like the fact that I cannot do what he wants with him all day long.  I really wish we had more kids in our neighborhood, so he might have someone to play with while I do day-to-day chores.

Daniel is graduating to another karate belt this Friday (we’re getting closer to the belt that starts the weapons).  Austin is staying with us right now and he attended a class with Daniel on Monday, so that Daniel could earn a Leadership Star. Here they are stretching.

We’re also getting ready for vacation in a few weeks.  Daniel is super excited.  If we ever go to the beach and don’t return, it’s because Daniel would not allow it.  Last time we went, he said he wanted to live at the beach and we told him that there were alot of people who would miss him if we moved there.  His reply?  "They have our phone number!"

Have a great day!

We Love You All!

Daniel’s auction ended this morning at $124.10!  He is currently in toy heaven, having made major purchases at Toys R Us today.

I had no idea that he would make that much, I thought he might get enough for one of the Transformer’s he wanted.  Instead he made enough to buy two of the large figures, 1 medium sized figure, 1 Lego set and a pair of Super Soaker waterguns.

I still can’t believe he made that much.

Daniel has been vaguely aware of eBay.  We’re not big users, but will occasionally go on to pick up items we can’t find elsewhere.  When I re-did his bedroom last month, it became very obvious that we needed to scale back on the number of toys he had.  There were toys stuffed in every possible place and a great number of them were ones that were years old and hadn’t been played with in a while.  So Daniel and I went through everything and he gave us a carload full of stuff to give to Goodwill.  Since he did so with no objections and because he was so generous in his giving, I made a suggestion.

Back when Daniel was really into collecting Thomas the Train items, we had two different sets.  There is the wooden set that he has collected over a couple of years and still plays with and is one of the toys I will always keep, so that maybe he can give it to his kids one day (and they can say "What is this wood stuff?  How do you turn it on??") and then there is the set that they sell at Target.  The Target trains are diecast metal and cost a few bucks each and Daniel basically got one everytime we went to Target for about a year (and most of you know how often we go to Target).  So I suggested that Daniel could maybe sell the diecast trains on eBay and I would let him keep whatever money the auction made (he’s currently saving up for a $40 Transformer).  He agreed and then I promptly ignored the box of stuff until yesterday morning. 

Last week Daniel was given his allowance on Saturday ($5 a week, if he does all the things expected of him) and went through the toy aisles and saw several things that he wanted and could afford and then made the decision to save it towards the $40 toy he really wants.  We finally got through!!  I was so proud!!  So I figured that I owed it to him to actually list his trains on eBay now that he was serious about saving towards a goal.  After all, he is only five and the patience only lasts so long.  The auction ends on Sunday, I’ll update then and let you know how much Daniel made.