Date with Max

Last night was my chance to spend an evening with Max. He and I don’t get to have date night enough. We both enjoy it. I love that Max knows it’s special. He really looks forward to it and puts thought into it. 

Last nights agenda included a shopping trip to Walmart to spend a gift card, dinner at Chick Fil Et, and playtime at Adventure Park. 

We really had a nice time together. I especially enjoyed playing the games with him at adventure park. We played air hockey along with several arcade rocket based games. It was fun when we teamed up on Down The Clown. He’s such great company and really enjoys celebrating successes. 

The artwork overflow

Clair will make me some artwork and or writing almost daily. It’s very thoughtful and she puts her heart into both making it and giving it. I’m greatful for it. 

But I can’t keep it all. I try to take pictures. Here are some from recent gifts! 

Love my girl. 

Cuzzie Time

Today was a whole day of cozy time. This was the day the kids had planned since Christmas. Today was the day they finally got to do their Cuzzies lemonade stand.

There was a lot of prep work that went into this day. They honestly started planning it over Christmas break. There was lemonade to make. They were homemade chocolate chip cookies to bake. At one point, there were even Popsicles to be made. ( but we nixed that.) there were signs to be made, and there were debate to be had about which signs should be used. There were jobs to be agreed-upon. There was scheduling to be done, and flexibility to be learned. The original day were supposed to be Saturday, but it rained all day so he agreed today, Sunday, would be the day. 

Lemonade was made early on and put in the fridge to chill. Max and Erika shared that job well. Once we told them they could begin setting up it was like a big assembly line bringing things from around back to the front of the driveway. They did a good job setting up. We ended up even buying an umbrella to protect the children from the sun last minute.

They were open for about three hours. Between them they made $35. They had a steady flow of customers for the first hour and a half. We even had some people come from a far like Gramma, and Robert and Colleen and their family.

By about 2 o’clock the kids were pretty tired. We agreed they would pack up and do something fun. Do something fun ended up to be playing in the water. We set up the slip and slide, the baby pool, and I homes for them. They were outside for about two more hours enjoying the sun and the fun practicing their softball slides.

After showers we let them watch dolphin tale two while they eat. Of course there were fights and fussing, I’d like to believe that happens in every situation where a group of kids comes together to accomplish things. But even if it doesn’t, I still think they had a pretty good day together. I am exhausted. I think the kids are exhausted too. I hope today we made some lasting memories that they’ll look back on and smile.

Deciding to grow up

For the past month I’ve asked Claire to set the table for dinner every night. She chooses the silverware for each person. She generally does a good job helping me.

The other night she announced, “mommy look, I’m using a big girl work now.“

These little moments are coming all too often for my little five-year-old Claire bear. She is excited to grow up and tackle the world. So far though, she reminds me many times each day that our love and our snuggles and our time together or what matters most to her. She is such a great gift to my heart. I love watching this girl grow up and being able to be her mommy!

Date with Ellie

Last night I had the pleasure of spending the evening with Ellie. We went out to see a movie with a fairy grown up topic. Then we went to dinner and got ice cream. Finally we spent some time in a book store looking for something new for her to read (as she’s addicted to Harry Potter).

Spending time alone with Ellie is calming. She’s easy going, patient and so thoughtful. It’s nice not to be interrupted by others and just get to enjoy Ellie. I don’t get enough chance to do this. I can’t believe she’ll be off to college in about 8 years. Wow! So much change and growing up to happen. 

I love this girl!

Date night with Clair

Clair makes spending time together so easy and fun. The girl will make a good time out of anything. Tonight she was super tickled to go to Target shopping with me and call it a date. 

We walked out of the house holding hands while she chanted, nearly floating through the air, “I get special time with Mommy! I get special time with Mommy!”

She is genuinely happy just to be in my presence. I am so blessed by her. 

We spent a few hours together and a lot of it was just buying everyday household items. She made games out of it all. Hiding, surprising me, looking for toys, pretending I was taking her on a rollercoaster, joking, etc. it just went on and on. She made me smile. She really is such great company. 

Consequences

Children hate to be giving consequences for their bad behavior. My children hate to be giving consequences for bad behavior. Parents half to give consequences when children don’t follow rules don’t respect their authority. I firmly believe parents hate giving consequences because it is just as hard on the parents as it is on the kid to come up with the fitting punishment and actually hold your child accountable for making bad choices and not following rules.

Tonight, we had one of these nights in her house. The children had rough days. We got back from all the events of the day and the children were outside playing with one another and I kept screaming at each other. They were mad at each other. They were frustrated each other. They were unforgiving of each other. The straw that broke the camels back came when I was sitting around the corner listening to them talk about pushing each other down the stairs and breaking legs. At that point in time I decided it was bedtime. I told them they had 15 minutes to finish their dinner and then they would get baths and go to bed. The tears and drama that ensued were epic. But, I believe it was important for them to realize that they had gone to far and their behavior and treatment of one another.

Parenting today is such a mix of guilt and expectations. I imagine it’s always been like this. I do feel like I have more guilt than my parents did disciplining my children, making them do chores, holding them accountable to cleaning up the rooms, holding them accountable to being responsible as a whole. I will leave that much of today society is really wanting their children be in charge. When you’ve been at work all day it’s hard to come home and hold your children accountable. When you hold your children accountable to say things like I hate you or you hate me or my life is horrible. Imagine those horrible things your children can say to you to make you feel like a bad parent who doesn’t love them, and this is what they say in this moment.

I appreciate it a quick conversation with my mom on text to reminded me that sometimes parents need to make these choices. I know she’s right. And I needed the reinforcement. Thanks Mom!

Ellie, Max, and Clair, I hope one day you will read this and know that you are my world. You have been my world since the day you were born. On days like today when I am frustrated this is simply because I am overwhelmed at the feeling of not providing for you the perfect world I want to provide for you. I hope that when it’s all said and done, you can remember more good, loving, wonderful experiences as a post to bad ones.

Keeping the treasures aka trash from piling up

Oh the treasures ....

I love the creative side of childhood, or I know that I should love it and encouraging it. Art work, box creations, rocks, feathers, nature, school work, towers, lego creations, forts, nests, etc.  But oh the trash ....

We have a very large house, yet at times I feel like the walls of these large rooms are closing in on me as I see the treasures that have been built by the kiddos are piling up because they are “special.”

These creations are special and if I keep them all I will be on a next episode of Hoarders. My office walls are full of writing and art work; as are the bedroom doors, bathroom doors, hallway doors and more. The dining room is another toy treasure room. The bedrooms are large and full. So I sneak things into the trash and recycle after I see them discarded or untouched for a while. I feel both guilty and relieved when I do this. But it’s my job at Mom. One day they will understand. 

Here’s the treasure I dismantled this morning. 

Here’s my office door and a pile of treasures waiting to find some place to live.