I really can’t blame them. Things have been changing again in our house and it’s a lot for kids to deal with. First our oldest, Dinker, is now in kindergarten. He loves it and he is doing well from my understanding. It’s a new school, new faces, new routines. Giggles is also attending preschool a few days a week. He is doing amazing and I know he plays hard as every day his teachers let me know that he never stopped. He’s like the little Energizer bunny and he just keeps going and going. If I could tap that energy for a day I can just imagine what I’d accomplish.

Dinker, Chunky Monkey, & Giggles

Now I just don’t know what to do. The kids are confused. They will not listen to me. They will not listen to their father. They are not bad kids at all. Heck, the oldest is only five so he hasn’t had a lot of time to learn how to be bad. However, I’m just losing it trying to figure out how to restore order and get the food chain linked back up. I feel at times like I’m the child. Giggles has this new tactic now. Honesty.

Brutal Honesty. When I tell him no he can’t do this or no he can’t have that. His reply is “If you don’t give me a snack, I’m going to go be mean to H.” My favorite is when I told him that he couldn’t have any cookies before supper and his reply “If you don’t give me cookies, I’m going to bed“. Then he does a total 180 on me and is amazingly cute. Like today. I had to drop my mother off downtown so we walked around Joseph-Beth Booksellers for a while. It was my first time there and from the moment I walked in I was wishing I was there by myself and had some money to spend.

We went up to the children’s area where they have an amazing set up for Story Time and all kinds of goodies on display. Giggles and Chunky Monkey played with the train set for most of the time we were there. I browse around and found a few classics I hinted to my mom for the kids for Christmas. Then off to the car so I could beat traffic and get home to meet Dinker at the bus stop.

As Giggles climbed into the car he stated in his cute little voice “We had a g-great day!“. Oh gosh there goes my heart melting all over the parking garage. Why do they do this to me? Destroy the house, get into my school notebooks, pick on each other, hit each other, unmake the freshly made beds, and other things that they do. Then turn around and give you puppy eyes and are nice.

I am not a horrible mother. I’m not. I don’t hate my children. Although I do hate the things that they do at times. I’m lost, confused, and ready to curl up into a ball and just cry the night away. I dread the mornings, especially now that Daylight Savings Time has kicked in I’m up even earlier. I just want my cute little kids back that listen to my every word as if I’m Mother Goose herself. Kids that pick up when asked and think it’s the funnest game they’ve played all day. Kids that eat without demanding that they have something else or they are going to be mean.

Please Lord, give me strength to stand up and be the parent. Lord help me make it through another day. Lord, I thank you for these three amazing and beautiful little boys. I know that they are perfect in every way in your eyes, please help me to see this and love them even when I’m cleaning permanent marker off the walls. I need you more then ever to help me to know patience and the right words to say to help them understand. How do I help them to understand that I’m only trying to do what’s best for them and keep them safe. Lord, I need you.

Cute Little Giggles

Oh doesn’t that just make your heart melt. Those little things, little excuses just to get to spend a moment of time with you. Then he finishes it off telling me he loves me before I even could say it to him. I love when my kids ask me to scratch their back. That brief moment of them needing me again. They can dress themselves, feed themselves, and even entertain themselves, but for those few seconds it is I that can solve their itchy problem.

What are you grateful for this week? Even if it’s as simple as scratching a back it’s the little things that we never really think of that complete our days and our lives.

As time went by and as the youngest started getting involved in playtime I was being more cautious with the toys. I noticed that where the different parts of the building sticks linked together were breaking off very easily. It created an environment that was not safe.

So if you do have the Toobeez building products please be very careful if you have younger children in the household.

Home is more of what I think of when the name Michael Bublé is mentioned. It’s slow and one of those types of songs you can just hold the baby and sway along too. Both closing their eyes and just relaxing to each beat. Haven’t Met You Yet one of his newest songs and definitely his newest single is much the opposite. It surprised me that it was his song. It’s upbeat and makes you want to bebop around the living room.

Check out the video – really cute, er, nicely photographed.

This week is one of their totally awesome sales – Buy One Get One Free. So to begin they have frames for as little as $7.95 and prescription lenses are not that much either. When I got my main glasses that I wear all the time I spent well over $300 for them at the eye doctors.

Mara in Green

I love them. Wear them every day and love how they look on me better then my $300 pair from the doctors office. So you can bet this week during their sale I’ll be picking up another pair of sunglasses and clear lens.

Recently this company was even featured on our local news station. It covered how during this time when everyone is watching their pennies and even their quarters to find the best deals around. The only warning the feature covered was children. EyeBuyDirect does not sell children’s frames and I would not get them from there anyway. I would not trust myself to make the final adjustments to get the frames to fit my son correctly.

Other than that – I’m hop, skipping, and jumping over to EyeBuyDirect.com to place my order. I’m thinking some trendy thin black framed glasses and maybe the Mara in red for my sunglasses.

Last night we had an amazing dinner for my middle son to celebrate his four years of being cute. We had everything from pancakes to bagels, scrambled eggs to avocado, bacon to chicken sausage and everything in between. It was yummy. We opened gifts and had cake. My mother and sister left and I really didn’t think much about it until I got an email from my mom this morning.

Here’s how it went down…

My email to her

Thanks for coming tonight. I think the boys had a good time. Boys went to sleep fast after they got into bed.

So, how was dinner – even though it got cold REALLY fast?

Of course I had to ask how it was. I took a lot of time planning how to display it all nice and serve it up all fancy. Although I didn’t time things right and the eggs got cold fast. But anywho.

Her email to me

Dinner was VERY organized and it appeared to be obvious the boys are use to sitting down as a family. Don’t ever loose that time with the boys – you will see as they get older how much information you get from them when you spend time as a family over dinner. Although H tends to spoil things – I think he is getting better and that K is too dang cute. He loves to sit and be read to – I remember when he couldn’t sit still through 1 page of a book.

You are doing a nice job with the boys – keep it up and keep up the studies. You will NEVER regret getting an education and I think you have chosen an excellent field – the world will ALWAYS need caretakers.

Goofing At The Table

For the times that you get caught off guard and are totally taken by surprise as something you never would have expected and it just puts a smile on your face that you can’t take off no matter how hard you try.

So thank you mom for taking the extra few minutes to let me know that the dinner was organized for I sure did try! Also, for reminding me how important it is to keep small things like eating dinner together as a family a nightly tradition. How just 15-30 minutes a night can change the way my kids view relationships, the world, and even themselves!

It’s just a small thing. A simple piece of wood crafted by the Amish into a table. It gets colored on, climbed on, slammed, bumped, and a few Matchbox cars have had their final ride off of it. Yet it’s so much more than a table. It’s a place where I get to watch my kids as they learn to use a fork for the first time. Where the baby has taken a liking to slipping the dog a few nibbles here and there. A place where I can look around and just sigh with contempt that we are all here – safe and happy for another day.

This is what I’m grateful for! How about you? What are you grateful for this past week. Leave a comment or link to your Grateful Friday post!