How do you spell drama?

H-A-R-M-O-N-Y!!!!

Picture the scene: Mason is screaming his head off in his swing. I am trying to hurry through "Oh the Places You'll Go" so that Ivan can go to bed. The older kids are SUPPOSED to be playing nicely. I hear Ethan crying and here comes Harmony...

H: " I just want you to know that I am trying to make Ethan feel better."

M: "Well why is he crying in the first place?"

H: "Because Connor and I told him that we were sick and tired of him."

M: "Why on earth would you say something so mean to him?"

H: "Well don't worry, I am trying to make him feel better."

M: " You shouldn't have said it in the first place. You and Connor just earned a one way ticket to bed."

H: "THAT ISN'T FAIR! I WAS TRYING TO GET HIM TO STOP CRYING!" Walks out of the room and slams her door.

I go make her come back to Ivan's room and walk back into hers without the hissy fit. I than said, " I don't know why you are acting like this." Her response:

" I don't know either. I am just a bad person aren't I Mom? Admit it, that is what you think about me too!"

Huh? What?

Me: "just go to bed. Not one more word. Not one. Just go to bed."

If she is this bad at 10, how bad can the teenage years be?

This is why I only have one girl.

Economics 101

(photo from stock photo's site)
I was laughing as my friend Beth shared a story about her son. His shoe had a hole in it, and he insisted that he didn't need a whole new pair, just one shoe. I thought it was cute, that someone so young had a sense of being frugal. I also wondered if my kids do...

Being military, being overseas, we have honestly not been that affected by the economy. We have noticed gas prices rise, the cost of groceries steadily rising but...it ends there. We are lucky, I know that. However just because we are "safe" from what is going on, it doesn't mean that we should just throw our $$ away right?

Yesterday, I had the great pleasure of taking all 4 of my kids to the commissary. I let them know the rules before we even went in. I must say, they did pretty well on the "not running in the aisles", "let people pass you, don't hurry to get by them", etc. The whole "don't ask Mommy for anything, if she wants to get you something she will" rule was the one that didn't quite take.

In my cart went, mini oreo's, ice cream, 3 boxes of cereal, yogurt for Ben, yogurt for Harmony, yogurt for the big boys and Dora yogurt for Ivan, spaghetti o's, frozen pizzas etc. I forgot how much junk we buy when we are all together.

Last night I poured out juice with dinner. I came into find the jug of apple juice almost completely gone. The three older kids had helped themselves to seconds. Filling the cups until almost completely full. Connor, after pouring, changed his mind and decided to just dump it out. AGHH! I caught him before he did though.

This morning I find Ethan chowing down 2 yogurts out of the 6 pack. AFTER I told him he could only have one. I pointed out that we had cereal, bagels, bananas, etc that would fill him up.

I can't believe how much money we have wasted on food, just by having them at home. They are in for a wake up call. I am getting tired of them wasting food & money...just because they can!

Is anyone else going through this? Ugh so annoying!

it's funny...

I have been having such a hard time updating my blog. I keep thinking that there is nothing going on. Then, all of a sudden I have like 50 posts that I want to write. So here is another one...

Every Tuesday and Thursday I drive all the boys down to baseball practice. The older boys get out. Ivan stays in the car. We wait until Ben comes and than we go home.

Every Tuesday and Thursday Ivan screams and cries about not being able to get out.After Ben telling me he was going to get someone out to condemn the bleachers I have said no.

Every Tuesday and Thursday Ben tells me I don't have to wait around, I can drop the boys off and go.

Every Tuesday and Thursday I tell him I can't do that. What if one of the boys get hurt and neither of us are there?

Every Tuesday and Thursday I threaten Ivan with bodily harm if he doesn't calm down.

Every Tuesday and Thursday he still screams and cries. He uses his "nice words" like please and than gets upset when Mom STILL says no.

Every Tuesday and Thursday I feel like screaming and crying and using nice words. I always remember, "THERE'S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!" and I try to be tough.

After lots of screaming and crying (on both of our parts) we came home. Ivan said, " I go watch a movie on your bed." I say "fine." I start on dinner and mess around on the computer. I hear crying. And screaming. I want to pull my hair out.

He is all by himself. No one is there to mess with him. I ignored him FOR AN HOUR. I finally had enough and went to check on him. His elbow was stuck in the slats of our head board. " Mommy I have been stuck here forever already." I felt awful. I got his elbow out. Gave him lots of kisses and asked why he didn't say, "Mommy come help me". He looked at me and said "no Mommy I not say that." Yeah no kidding.

He snuggled with me and gave me kisses. And with red, swollen eyes fell asleep on my lap. Poor kid. Life is rough!

Bed time

Ivan is spoiled. He is. Being the baby. Having some of the problems that he does. Well it leads to a lot of, doing what you can to keep him happy. And for the next couple of months, he can enjoy that position! Lately, we can only get him to go to bed if we let him lay on our bed and watch a movie. After a good 20 minutes he is sound asleep. No harm no foul right? Wrong. Because he also needs, "Mommy you come lay me". I have to go lay down with him. And in all honesty...I am usually asleep before he is! :) I mean we have all the lights off,snuggling under covers...it is hard to not close those eyes. So for the past few nights, I have been going to bed at around 8:30. Today I got up at 3:30am, and couldn't go back to sleep. Maybe because I had already slept for 7 hours. I don't see how my kids can be so grumpy when they wake up, they sleep from 8-6:30! Hmmm...anyway being up early has allowed me to have a little bit of quiet alone time. It is nice. I have also been getting my house straightened up without little interuptions.

The whole point of this is to share something I read on a blog. I don't remember where I found it, and am misquoting ( I am sure) but the jist of it was this...
The blogger was saying that in these days ×, girls know how to use computers, cell phones, ipods. They learn quickly how to text and how to find their favorite celebrity online. But they don't know how to boil an egg, or use an iron. They don't know how to clean house or cook.I thought it was really interesting. I admit that I struggle with cooking every day, cleaning every day etc. But I don't want Harmony to lack all of these skills. After all, she will have her own house to take care of some day. So I have been trying to have her help me in the kitchen every day. One day it was just showing her how to turn the oven on, set the timer etc. But she has also helped make a Watergate salad, Chicken Divan, apple crisp (although she was not a big fan of peeling apples) and a few more. Every time she helps make something, I write it down on a recipe card and put it in her box. I just hope that when she heads off to college or after getting married, she can pull that box out and feel a little more comfortable in the kitchen. After all, she will have made it before!

All right, I am off to clean up. I have to use the quiet time while I can!

Growing up

There was a time, not that long ago, when my life as a mother was basically "hands on". The job description required little in the way of, counseling, disciplining, deep talks etc.

Although it wasn't that long ago, I sometimes forget about those days. Those days which were filled with having 3 children in diapers all at once, 2 kids drinking from bottles (which were kept seperated in the diaper bag and with different kinds of nipples so wouldn't get mixed up), Ben being gone at school a lot, days spent at home because who is crazy enough to take all those kids out at once. Life was a lot of work. But it was, dare I say...simple.

I had a lot of people tell me that, it is easier when your kids get older. I don't think that is true. I think it is just DIFFERENT. You go from being completely hands on to dealing with bullies, fears, anxieties, school situations, and all that good stuff!

I may not need to run the kids bath for them...but they do need me to explain things to them.

Where is all this coming from you might ask? Well, last Saturday, Harmony spent the day at a GS activity. When we got home, we all worked to move our freezer from the garage to the house. This was a lot of trips back and forth to the house. And as we were finishing up, Ben said, " ugh, Harmony smells." I went over to her and the stench of BO was overwhelming. I sent her straight up to take a shower. PU!

And so it begins. Harmony is going to be 10 this summer. That means a lot of changes coming our way. I just ordered an American Girl book for her that goes over a lot of it.

Needless to say, this Mom is wishing she could go back in time and enjoy those days when Harmony was little, dressing up in princess outfits and cooking in her little play kitchen. **Sigh**

Soap

(Doesn't she look so sweet and innocent in the quilt that Grandma Kennedy made for her?)
It was bound to happen. After months and months of dealing with a smart mouth, back talk, and being rude to her brothers, it finally happened. I am still kind of shocked that I did it. But I am also kind of shocked I didn't do it sooner. I washed my daughters mouth out with soap. She knew what was coming and so she would turn her head and try to get away. I did get some in though. After much screaming and crying and telling me her mouth tasted awful ( to which I replied I hope you remember that taste every time you want to say rude/mean/obnoxious things) the girl crashed. She slept for a good couple of hours. So it was obviously very traumatic for her. I can't wait for the teenage years let me tell yah!

validation

Connor is absolutely the worse kid to bring to the store with you. Seriously. From the minute he finds out he is going, the "can I have's" start and don't end until we are back in the car on the way home. Yesterday I took Ethan to spend his birthday money. I gave Connor plenty of warnings, "please do not ask me for anything. If I decide to get something it will be my decision." He kept asking for things. I told him ( and yes all of us adults realize that this is an idle threat but...) I told him if he didn't stop he would be sitting in the car until Ethan and I were done. But he kept it up. He came up to me with a Star Wars Lego set and "please Mommy it is just something small." But by this time I had literally told him 30 times to stop asking. So I made him put it back and told him he would be getting nothing.

The drama, the tears. Oh we were quite the site. But I was VERY calm, and stood my ground. We finished up at the store and were getting ready to go. Connor still crying, still upset. Amazingly enough, Ivan behaved wonderfully! When we get to the cashier, she asked him what was wrong. He didn't answer but I gave her a quick explanation. She said "good for you" and finished bagging our stuff and we left.

In the car he was kicking Ivan's seat, huge sighs, crying and just going on. I marched him straight into the house and straight upstairs.

As he was upstairs, throwing a fit,and I am feeling like an unfit parent, Harmony comes up to me. I was sitting at my desk and she noticed a package of business cards. She asked me what they were for. Very non-chalant I said, " for my business."

She just looked at me, angrily, and said "What?! Now you are going to go to work too?"

I was shocked but said, "would it be a problem for you if I did?"

She was all upset and said, "yes it's important for you to stay home. I want you here."

I told her that she had never told me that before and I appreciate it. I then explained that the cards were just for me to pass out at my ctmh parties so people could have my webiste info. She said oh and walked off.

Later I told her, " you know Harm, Mommy will always be here for you. I am not going to work outside of our home." She smothered me with kisses and went on her merry way.

It was such a heartwarming moment for me. It actually matters to her. I always thought, "oh my kids will appreciate it later." But I guess later came a little faster than I thought.

Why I never...

According to my kids, there are many things that I never do. Really important things too. Like...

** I never buy Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal

** I never let them have any fun

** I never buy toys

** I never take them out to get dinner

** I never play with them

** I never pack good lunches

** I never let them go anywhere fun

** I never buy the chocolate milk with the bunny on it

** I never make anything good for dinner

** I never make Harmony take the garbage out

** I never make Ethan pick up his socks

** I never make Connor help clean up the house

** I never buy good food at the store

** I never do anything right!!

grrr!!

You would think,that with hardly any time left before my husband makes his return home, that I would be in a fantastic mood. Maybe even clickng my heels while I do a little happy dance. Well...if you thought that, you would be oh so WRONG! My patience is not currently a resident of my home. I am tired. I am frustrated. My cell phone just died. I have a very short fuse with my kids. I need to clean the house. I need to prepare my lesson for primary and I am just...DONE. I don't want to be a single Mom anymore. And I realized, that I am currently out of milk. Which means a trip to the commissary with all 4 kids. Maybe brownies will also have to be purchased...OK I think my rant is done.Please oh please let me have a better day...and it is only a quarter to 10!

THAT Mom

This morning was not a good one. It started with yet another power outtage, at around 5:15. Once the air conditioner & fans go off the kids wake up because they get hot. So the kids were all up bright and early...and in my bed!! So not knowing what time it is, we didn't start getting ready for school until 7! Then I turned into that Mom. One who is grumpy, yelling, impatient and more. Trying to get lunches made, and unable to find any lunch bags. Harmony deciding to play Barbies instead of getting her shoes on. Connor not following the " no toys at the table" rule. Ethan lying about bringing his lunch bag home, Ivan just causing trouble in general. So not a good morning. Harmony felt like I was picking on her the most.
" Just because I am the oldest." So my frustration is rising, and I ask Harmony where her lunch bag is. She says she left it at school and I am annoyed. It is a pet peeve of mine. I send her off with a paper lunch sack that says" bring your lunch bag home or suffer the consequences" and an I love you. So I start to clean the kitchen and what do I find? Her lunch bag. On the counter with the load of dishes that I didn't get done. I HATE it when that happens. Now I owe her when she gets home...