TGIF... maybe

This week has been a blur, seems like it just flew by. I've been reading a book called " Making Children Mind without Losing Yours" by Dr. Kevin Leman. It has started to open my eyes to the reality of our family. Emily was gone for the first 3 days this week and her absence also brought a lot of perspective. She has a huge impact on this household, one we really weren't giving her credit for, unfortunately, it's a negative one. For months now I have been trying to "fix" Matthew's behavior. He's a willful child, who at the age of 6 (almost 7) was throwing temper tantrums that could easily rival that of a 2 year old. Everything seemed to be a struggle with him, but the three days that Emily was gone... he was an angel. He did his homework, chores and listened like an angel, he even lovingly helped his younger sister. The minute Em was home, he was back to old Matthew, fighting, yelling, getting defensive, distracted, hard to keep on task. So I decided to sit back and pay more attention to what was going on. Emily, and I hate to say this, is an instigator. She goads him on with little digs here and there. She tattles to try and make herself look better and then sits back and loves watching Matt get in trouble. I think now his acting out is not only to get attention, but at the sheer frustration that we as parents were not aware of what was happening to him. It's going to be a long road to try and correct the negative behaviors Emily and Matthew have picked up and an even longer road to get to where they are well behaved and loving siblings towards each other.

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

The old man is snoring. Woke up this morning to thunder rumbling and the rain coming down by the gallon. It's the last day of Spring Break and I am going to be stuck inside trying to entertain three children that are polar opposites. Is that even possible? Three kids and all of them completely different? Speaking of entertaining my children, Matthew just woke up and the first thing he did was walk in and ask me since it's raining can we play checkers now. LOL! He hasn't even wiped the sleep out of his eyes and he wants to play checkers. In his defense I did know it was going to be raining today and I did tell them we would play board games and watch movies today. I'm even thinking of ordering pizza for lunch.

And to think yesterday it was implied by my husband and my daughter that I didn't do enough to make Spring Break fun. I think they just need to reevaluate what the word fun means. Fun is not defined in the Webster's dictionary as " always saying yes to sleepovers, trips to the beach and sharing meals with the neighborhood".

The Light At the End of the Tunnel

I've almost made it through Spring Break in one piece! Managed to get caught up on the housework Tuesday. Even got all three kids out of the house and home in one piece after glasses shopping for Emily yesterday. I'm thinking we might brave a trip to the park today. It's suppose to be the last nice day of the week. Tomorrow calls for thunderstorms and high winds. Can we say movie day? For now I think I will just sit here and enjoy my coffee, the sunshine coming in through the windows and the birds singing in the backyard. For at least a few more blissful minutes my children are asleep.

Spring Break... is it the devil?

Last Thursday started Spring Break here in North Carolina. So far it has been one calamity after another in this house. Kona, our 10 month old Chocolate Lab demolished my oldest, Emily's only pair of glasses and her cell phone. My middle child, Matthew decided that he was entitled to the little neighbor girl's allowance so he stole it and tried to hide it in his piggy bank. =( Top that off with my youngest regressing on the potty training. I swear that girl pees and poos in her panties more than on the toilet.

Spring break has not only wrecked havoc on me mentally it has wrecked havoc on my home as well. There is still a pile of dirty laundry sitting in my hallway, not to mention the 4 loads that need to be folded. My kitchen smells like a brew pub thanks to my sweet husband's new hobby of beer brewing and his laziness when it comes to cleaning up after himself. I, kid you not, have 3 5gal buckets sitting in my kitchen. One is full of water and beer bottles that he was cleaning and didn't need. The other two are full of beer remnants that didn't make it into the bottles. You would think with all the extra hands around the house would be neat and orderly. Unfortunately, children's hands are much more adept at making messes rather than picking them up.

Well, it's time to end this... I can hear Lauryn screaming, Matthew bellowing about only having 'unders on and Emily trying to referee. And this is all from the back porch at 9am in the morning. I'm sure my neighbors LOVE me. LOL!