Staci and the horrible, terrible, no-good, very bad day

Next time you see my children alive and well, without bruises, without scars (emotional or physical) please acknowledge my restraint and bridled frustration. I found myself stopping, counting, breathing, praying, begging for patience, wisdom, love, and calmness more times today than usual. I also found myself correcting, advising, chastising, disciplining, intervening, refereeing, separating, vindicating, and preserving the two little ones every other second of this oh-so-long, never- ending, "when in the world is daddy coming home" kind of day. I didn't have the presence of mind or really any desire to grab the camera and capture on film the trials and tribulations of the day (though I give Liz total props for doing just that). Just next time you see "Super Nanny" or possibly the "Jerry Springer Show" just imagine in your head the faces of myself and my two cherubs superimposed on the bodies of the dysfunctional participants. That would more or less be the video at any given moment of our day. But..... praise God, it's 5:00. And by His grace, they, and I start fresh again tomorrow forgiven and free and hopefully with hearts that have learned a thing or two from today and its trials.

Captain One- Sock Grouchy Pants

Jack came marching (and I do mean "marching") into the kitchen like this the other day. 10 minutes earlier I know he had on pants and a complete set of socks. I am still not sure how he came to be missing 2 fairly important articles of clothing. The camera was handy, and I couldn't resist. Jack seemed offended. A super- hero can't be photographed sans britches can he?

Finally, I got a little smile from our "under-rooed" hero (you kids of the 70's know what I'm talking about). Full clothing is optional in his line of work apparently.

Hoop Dreams

Sam started basketball this winter with a church in the area. He has had 3 practices, and this past Saturday was his first game. We're really in it to promote coach-ability, team work, effort, etc. If we find out he's a "baller" in the process- OK. Sam likes the one on one time he gets with his Dad when they go to practice, and I think the jersey makes it pretty cool too. The kids were so cute. Only about 4% can actually dribble (Sam is in the 96% group). Luckily, they don't call traveling at this age. They cheered for each other, and no one ran off the court crying. Sounds like a good day.





Sam really prefers to run down the court as fast as he can to get back on defense. Maybe a future in track or cross country would be more appropriate than basketball.



Meanwhile...... Jack got to eat M&Ms and get cuddled by the grown-ups. He kept saying that he wanted to go play with "bubby" cuz he's a big boy too. How can you argue with that logic? So we just kept trying to distract him.

Rainy Days

Once upon a time, in a land far away, a princess named Staci loved rainy days..... The pound on the roof was relaxing. A stack of books was just waiting to be attacked, and an old quilt on the couch called her name when the dark clouds rained down on her land. Oh, that was a land far, far away...... Now I have a love/ hate relationship with the rain. I still love to hear it hit the roof, as I go to sleep. I would still love to hunker down on the couch with a quilt, cup of tea, and lots of books on my lap as the rain falls outside. It's funny though. Sam and Jack don't have the same agenda on rainy days. So, now the idea of spending an entire rainy day inside doesn't inspire the same relaxing, comforting images. Instead I start to panic a little bit. No walks! No feeding the fishies! No playground! No bike rides! Those 4 walls start to close in pretty quickly on this kind of day. I mean how many forts can you build in the basement? How many times can you play Memory and stay sane? There is a limit to the number of Curious George books you can read at one sitting (not my idea of entertaining literature). Well, with the new year begun, and my resolve to "play more" and engage more patiently, we got rolling. For the record, we did not stay in our pajamas all day. We put clothes on well before lunch time (I think).


We got out the paints that I've been putting off opening because, well, I didn't want to deal with the mess. What fun is that? So, we painted (mostly) on paper, a little on the kitchen floor, and then on our hands to make hand prints. I know. We are living large now! I did draw the line at footprints because, well, because I'm the mommy, and I said so.

After the painting, we had a car wash (modified from the "giving the baby doll a bath" activity- Thanks Erin or Kelli- I'm not sure whose idea it was first). I filled a plastic drawer from a Rubbermaid container with water and bubble bath, and the boys each found their favorite match box cars and went to town. They each got their own "rinsing tub" to get rid of the bubbles and old cloth diapers to dry the cars.

You may notice Sam has bubbles on his face. Clearly he thought "bobbing for match box cars" should be the next activity.

A good time was had by all. The soapy water that sloshed out of the tub served to wash the wayward paint off of the kitchen floor (that counts as housework right?). I thought we had exhausted our water activities, so I went to get some towels to clean up and dry the floor. This is what I found........

The sheepish face says it all. I think when he's about 12 he'll be mortified that this picture exists!

So at the end of the rainy day, we were all still standing. We had created and destroyed and played and even read a little bit. I know what you're thinking. "How did she do all those fun things AND go the grocery store AND run errands, AND clean her house AND have a hot, nutritious meal on the table at 6:00 sharp AND get on her lipstick and high heels before she greeted her husband at the door?" Well, here's what I have figured out whether I'm at work or working at home. You can have it all. You can do it all. You just can't have it all, and you sure can't do it all, all at the same time. So here's what I didn't have at the end of this day. I didn't have a clean house. I didn't have a meal prepared with representatives from all four food groups. I didn't have half a grown-up book read. But here's the upside. I did have fun with 2 pretty great kids.

Generations

At the beginning of January my brother and his family came to SC from PA to have a late Christmas. We took the chance to get my grandmother with 5 of her 13 great grand children. What can you expect out of pictures with 5 kids age 5 years and younger (Cali- 5 years, Sam- 4 years, Jack- 2 years, Ulysses- 18 months, Marshall- 4 months). They did great. It's just tough to get everyone looking at the camera at the same time.


Marshall was just chillin'

Those eyes get me every time.

Staci, Heidi, and Ulysses IV

(Rae, did you any pics of all of us together with spouses? If so will you please e-mail to me?)

Three of the cousins- Jack, Sam, and Cali- they love each other so much and have a great time playing and being crazy together. The rest of the pics are Grammie Wilson with her great- grands.