We put a moratorium on television-watching in our house yesterday.  My kids are having issues with respect and obedience.  I don't know that I can actually find a correlation between obedience, respect, and television, but we had to do something, so I reached down into the depths of my desperation, and television was the huge threat.  As soon as I said it, I closed my eyes and held my breath for a second. TV is wonderful when my children are nuts and I need 30 minutes of sanity while I make dinner or they calm down before bed.  Interestingly, I watched the main culprit in the disrespect department think hard before making comments yesterday (I told them there would be no TVuntil I saw a huge change in behavior and craziness and disobedience).  I watched her flip out because she didn't want to do something I wanted her to do, then she looked up at me with somewhat fearful eyes as if to say, "Oh, no.  How much longer am I have to going to go without tv now??" and then I would hear an apology.  The first time she obeyed immediately after I told her to do something, she looked at me and said, "That's what I'm supposed to do, isn't it?"  After the fourth or fifth time, she said, "Mommy, how many times have I obeyed right away now?" 

I guess the tv worked.

It's on this morning. 

It's a Saturday, right?  How many of us used to sit in front of the tv for hours on Saturday morning?  It's 10:43, and my kids didn't wake up until 9:00, then we made humongous IHOP recipe chocolate chip pancakes...I was afraid maybe they'd all lapsed into comas when it was 8:45 and nobody was awake, but then I realized they couldn't all possibly do that at the same time (two out of three slept in the camper with Daddy last night--he had a really sore back, and "needed the whole bed to stretch out in, and the fresh air"--and though Bryson wound up back indoors at 5:13 this morning because he had to go potty, and Lainie slept in bed with me all night, I got up at 6:30 and none of them even stirred. Amazing!  2 1/2 hours of quiet, all to myself.  You'd think I got a ton accomplished.  HA!  I sat and watched Pride and Prejudice on Showtime.  Pitiful!!)  So, after Lilo and Stitch ends, the tv goes back off, and we enjoy a blissfully silent (except for Chris Rice Smell the Color 9 in the cd player) Saturday without tv, with lots of playing, and three smallish children digging in the garden with their mommy.  That is, if I can find the plot layout for my garden.  Hmm.  What did I do with that thing?

I know, I know.  Don't say it.

It's that scary anal retentive part of me that I've buried in the bottom of my personality for the past 6 years (you know, the part that you have no time for when you have children 11 months apart?).  My house may be a disaster, but my garden?    I can keep a 12x12 foot space neat and tidy.  Just don't ask me to keep my house organized.

I learned a valuable blogging lesson last night.  Never hit the back arrow when previewing your blog entry.  Seriously.  Just don't do it.  You will lose your entire entry.  So 30 minutes of typing and thinking last night went right down the tubes.  Ah, well.  At least it wasn't a term paper, right?  That is the blessing of this whole blogging business--it's entirely non-required.  No one is checking my grammar, spelling, or punctuation, or determining whether I've turned it in late or not, or double-checking my sources.  And if you feel the need to do that, just ask my kids.  They know everything. 

It struck me today while talking to Stacy that some of you haven't seen my gorgeous girls with short hair, so I've posted a couple of pictures.  I have a really awful digital camera that will only be used for blog album purposes (the quality of the pictures is so pitiful, I would never have them processed (all right, all but the ones I took of Lainie with it--they're the only ones I have of her Locks of Love adventure because I thought I was out of film in my SLR--turned out I wasn't, which is why there aren't digital pictures of Reasa's hair-cutting escapade posted)), and someday I will save up all of my birthday and Christmas money for like 5 years and buy the 8 megapixel camera I really want.  ARGH!  So, there are the girls with their short hair.  I love it.  Reasa keeps saying she wants to grow hers back out.  We'll see (I keep really trying to convince her she likes it short--you can't imagine the time this has taken off our get-around-in-the-morning routine!). 

Nine years ago this moment, Seth and I were driving to Toronto (on a new tire changed out late on that Saturday night, way after business hours, by our dear friend Doug Beardsley) on our way to our 2 1/2 day stay at a beautiful hotel for our first honeymoon.  Amazing to think nine years have passed.  Unbelievable that we now have 3 children, a house in a different city, different vehicles, vastly different jobs, a different church family, new friends, and completely different outlooks on life.  Imagine if you knew on your wedding day what lay in store for you and your life nine years down the road... 

OK...enough reminiscing for one night.  Hope you are all well...

Mindy

My 6- and 7-year-old are driving me nuts. 

I love my kids, but today, I really considered leaving them with a perfect stranger.  It's exhausting to have them feed off each other's silliness, and today was no exception.  Have you ever wondered when you would lose it with your kids?  Have you wondered if it would happen at home or in, let's say, a bank?  Have you ever had a conversation with your children before entering a public place that sounded something like this:

"All right, we're going into the bank.  We're going to pay for our house and our truck.  We're going to see Laura, and she's very sweet."
"Mommy, can we talk to Laura?"
"Yes, you can talk to Laura, and you can be sweet, but you can't be crazy.  You will not run in circles around the table in the middle of the bank.  If Laura asks you a question, you will be polite and answer her, and you will not be a show off and go crazy and laugh like a hyena.  If you DO run in circles and go crazy and you're rude to Laura, there will be serious consequences.  Do you understand Mommy?"
"Mommy?"
"Yes?"
"What's consequences?"
"Mommy will spank you.  And you will take a nap.  And you won't be allowed to ride your bike.  And you won't get a bednight snack.  That's consequences."
"Oh. OK."
"Do you understand Mommy?"
"Yeeeeesssss," in 3-part-kid-harmony in my back seat. "Mommy, can we have a lollipop in the bank?" (and at that point, you know the conversation is completely forgotten.  And believe me, it was.)

I was so embarrassed.  Reasa and Lainie laughed hysterically and were silly and acted ridiculous and insane the whole time we were there.  At one point, Reasa whacked Bryson with her jacket, and of course, hit him with the zipper pull, and he screamed.  While the girl at the counter was trying to communicate with me about the 3 different transactions I was trying to accomplish while talking with Laura, our friendly banking helper, he cried and complained that the lollipops weren't big enough and he couldn't find a banana lollipop, and the girls whacked each other with their lollipops.  By the time we left, I wanted to slam the glass door on the front of the bank and watch it shatter into a million zillion little pieces, but I had to settle for slamming my truck door closed when I got in.  AAAAHHHHH!!!!!  Failed parent moments!!  And did I follow through on the nap and the list of other consequences??  Of course not!  The girls had piano--they couldn't take naps. I forgot about the spank threat, and the bednight snack thing...well, by the time it's bedtime, they have totally forgotten about the behavior, and frankly, I think having that snack right before bed keeps them from getting up in the middle of the night hungry (and thus, waking me up!).  As for bike riding, it was too cold to be outside anyway.  So what's going to happen the next time we go to the bank? 

I'm actually going to leave them there with Laura.  That's what's going to happen. 

So there.

The hour I spent wandering around Walmart deciding what organizational tools I'm going to use in my childrens' rooms in order to make them less cluttered was so peaceful and wonderful.  Even if I did shop for them, and make decisions about paint colors for Bryson's Buzz Lightyear bedroom, and forget the actual reason I went to Walmart, it was worth the quiet of Walmart at 7 on a Monday...all by myself.  I think I'm going to go eat a heaping bowl of ice cream.  Anybody for Mint Chocolate Chip?

Sunday...a day of rest.  Or not.  Worship this morning was amazing, though.  Vaughn has been on vacation for two weeks, and today, he was on.  To sing the same set of songs four times in a row, and to walk away from third service knowing you're in the presence of God as much after the third service as you were after the rehearsal...it's just an amazing experience.

The kids and I spent the day yesterday enjoying the company of our dear friends the Burkes.  The kids had the privelege of getting completely worn out playing with Wes, Emma, and Cameron, and I received a gift of time with my friend.  Rich let Kara and I sit for two hours (maybe more?) in a trendy coffee shop in Chili Center while he took charge of all 7 kids and then started dinner.  It seriously felt like Christmas.  Or my birthday.  Or both.  Put together.  The only downside (well, two)--no naps and late bedtime for the kids, and the fact that Seth couldn't come with us.  As a result of that, we watched a movie until way too late to spend any time together yesterday, so with only 4 hours of sleep last night...well, this entry will be short, to say the least. 

I so appreciate the support of my friends.  I am sure I don't say that to my friends enough, but I am so thankful for the real friends who deal with me in reality without pretending to be perfect or to have it all together.  I hope I am that real, despite my imperfections and my shortcomings.  So to you who are reading this...thank you.  You are the reason I have not yet lost my mind or run away from home!