oops...for the second time....we still made 4 pizzas, I had the dough, and the big kids will eat it for lunch tomorrow. I let Jon and Sonja each spread out a dough. I really have to control myself, one little hole in their dough and I am ready to grab it from them.....they put the cheese on, too, and some of the other toppings. I even let Charlotte Claire put some stuff on....great fun for them, an excercise in patience for me...but fun, too. These guys behave so well with the big kids and daddy gone, and I know why: they have me, all my attention. I am not trying to talk to daddy, not conversing with the big kids....I am talking to them, and listening to them. They just blossom, so I am glad for these kinds of weekends. It makes me see more on regular days how much more I can give them.
Kathryn, Evelyn, Suzanne, and Sonja went out today and shoveled off the trampoline. The picnic table is pretty snowy....
This picture was taken at a restaurant on the way back from Ottowa the other night. I am in the front left, then my sisters daughters, Janet and Becky next to me....my sister is in the front on the right, with her daughter Susan, Susan's husband Thomas, and their baby, Will. The other people are our friends, we traveled together with them on the way home and met for dinner....it was great fun...
And, I made it through another day. Aahh. And, I stayed home. It just seemed the peaceful thing to do. We played restaurant for lunch. Suzanne and Sonja got a notebook and took our orders. They must have seen this on a movie or something, they have never been to a restaurant where the waitress takes orders, except for maybe Pizza Hut....anyway, lunch was "restaurant", complete with soda. Then we made the pizza for dinner, later after nap time , and playing outside time, and movie "Enchanted" time....while they had their pizza, I started a double batch of Rice Krispie treats. Wow, what a difference it is to make them in the microwave, it took 15 minutes from start to finish.
Today at lunch, the kids started telling me things they probably shouldn't have. One took a lolllipop and lied about it. Another stuck a tack in daddy's mousepad, and when he asked who did it, she pretended to be reading a book. Another said she peed in a cup one time when she was playing doctor. All the girls said they tried to pee standing up, like a boy, and they laughed their heads off when I told them I did that too, when I was a little girl...hey, I had 5 brothers.
All in all, it was a good day. Even the times Charlotte Claire stole Camille's bottles, and ran away....but not when Jon opened the silverware drawer and knocked Charlotte Claire in the head. And not really when Charlotte Claire spilled her entire cup of cocoa, and Suzanne was trying to clean it up, saying, "If mommy was cleaning it up, she would be yelling..." Ooh, that hurt. Do I really do that? Ouch. At dinner tonight, I told them how much I really really love them. I told them when I get upset about messes and spills and stuff sometimes, it is my impatience, and that I always still love them. I told them I am never mad at them in my heart. I vow to be much more diligent to control myself, to not give in to that anger......oh, from the mouth of babes.....and it SEEMS so impossible. I mean, all day long, the dealing with things, the pressure is ON. In a perfect world, where the mom was well rested and organized, it might be easier...but .....no excuses. I only get one time through, here on earth, and I am going to be faithful, and honor God in my daily life, not just justify myself and get bent out of shape about things and snap at the kids....
4 comments:
The true confessions of little children are always funny.. and so are those of teenagers!! (And I thought my girls were so, what's the word.. perfect!!) I used to love those times alone with them when they were little, too.. they were hard in some ways, but very special. And of course I love any time alone with them now! Nice restaurant picture.. too bad Claire was taking the photo. That was a very nice time. It's late and the girls are still at the band weekend..
I love the restaurant picture!
It's amazing what we can learn about ourselves by listening to our children.
Thank you for the encouragement you give here.
I only had two older brothers and I tried it too!!! One question-I think I only yell when someone is in danger, "STOP!!" but sometimes my kids will say, "Why are you yelling at me?" and what I am really doing is using a firm voice (sometimes not a nice tone) but NOT raising my voice. Anyway, they interpret that the same as yelling. HMMMMM, maybe if I actually yelled at them more, they would know what yelling really is? I think I'll go try it-just kidding!
I'm not sure if you got my comment before as I don't see it showing up but now that I am done looking at the pictures and actually read your post here I see just how much I relate!! My little ones LOVE it when the older kids are away and they become the most perfect little children and it seems kind of easy:)
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