I've Got Claws...

After 4 1/2 years as a mother, I finally experienced that, "Protective Mom anger" with another adult. My claws came out, and if I weren't too busy wiping the sweat from my brow and calming a sobbing child, those claws may have made contact with a grumpy old man face!

This evening I took my crew to sign them up for soccer. Angel, Isaac, and Bella are going to try to follow in their daddy's cleats, and join an organized team. The sign-ups were held in an elementary school classroom with a few musical instruments sitting on the floor below the blackboard.

I had seen some children playing nicely with the instruments earlier, so I didn't think twice about it when Angel and Isaac began to gently play with them also. Within minutes, a man swooped in and YELLED at my children.

"Get out of there! You can't be touching those things. This IS NOT OUR CLASSROOM!"

I was appalled by his actions toward my children. If one didn't know better, by his reaction, one would have thought that my children were beating each other over the head with the instruments.

Mortified, all four of my kids gathered by my side. Seconds later, Angel belted out with screams of extreme embarrassment. In public situations, my kids are generally very well-behaved, and have never been treated in this manner by another adult.

The man with whom I was speaking to before this incident took place, tried to assure me that everything was okay. In my mind, it was far from okay. I informed him that there was absolutely no reason for this man to be so rude to my kids. I then turned to the man directly and informed him that there was no reason to be so rude. For Pete's sake...I'm trying to involve my already reluctant child to be involved in recreational sports, and this man goes and behaves this way.

I questioned the personnel that were in the vicinity to be sure that this man was not a coach. I let them know that if he was, I would not be signing the check allowing my kids to join this club.

While he moseyed around pointing out what had happened, I tried to reconcile the situation in my head. It was not the fact that he reprimanded my children, rather, it was the manner in which he reprimanded. A simple, "Hey kids! This isn't our classroom so could you please leave the things alone?" would have been a much more appropriate redirection.

I've had to tell myself all night that it wasn't directly aimed at my kids. Any other kid that would have been playing there would have been subjected to his crass outburst.

If nothing else, I learned that there is an assertive bone in my body!

Look what I am protecting...

The Sneaky One

Even her brother and sisters have labeled her, "The Sneaky One," and they could not have got it more right! Yesterday Annie and Angel were playing swim school together, pulling every cotton-pickin' bathing suit out of the drawers. I informed them that this must stop, because I am not a fan of doing laundry, nor a fan of folding itty-bitty, teeny-weeny bikinis into perfect little bundles and returning them to their rightful place.

As if I would not hear her as she was standing just inches from my chair, she very sneakily tried to convince her older sister that, indeed, they could still play the game.

"Come on Angel. We can go in my room behind the bed and Mom won't even see us!"

Had I not been right there to talk some sense into them, Annie may have very well coerced her big sister into disobeying her mother!

Little Sneak!!!

Then this morning, while I was packing their lunch with yummy dried apples, I shooed them away from the snack like sea gulls, informing them that they could eat them with their lunch at school.

I have no idea how it happened, but somewhere between dowsing their waffles with maple syrup, and cutting them into one-inch square bite-sized pieces, 2 pieces of apples out of one of the bags mysteriously disappeared. I never even left the kitchen! I had only occupied an area of about 2 square feet, and the bags of apples shared that same space.

I looked over at my four little monsters angels, quietly consuming their breakfast and inquired, "Who on earth stole the apples?"

Without a second thought, Bella retorted, "The Sneaky One took the apples."

Giggles erupted from the belly that consumed the missing apples and she couldn't have been more proud of her accomplishment!

Oh doctor, I think I'm in trouble!

Never Say "Never"

The last time I boasted, "I've never....." I ended up with the most painful cold sore on my upper lip. That's what I get for bragging to my friend who had frequent cold sore outbreaks.

I swore that I would never again make that statement.

And then I did.

This past weekend.

Not once.

But twice.

At Bella's t-ball game last Saturday, I was boasting to the grandma of one of Bella's teammates, that none of my children have ever cut their hair. Oh, I was so proud to state that my children are avid scissor users but they are much more interested in cutting paper into 500 little pieces than chopping away at their hair.
NEVER.....Say "never!"

The other day while my back was turned to my little artists, one decided it was time to do the unthinkable. My most feisty, risk-taker, large-and-in-charge, YOUNGEST CHILD, set scissors to hair and closed the handles.

Have you ever tried to keep a straight face when all the muscles in your face are willing you to do otherwise?

I caved....I laughed....I couldn't contain myself when Annie looked at me and declared, "I wanted that part of my hair shorter, Mom!" She lopped her little pony-tail right off.

The good news is, her hair is so disastrous fine and uneven anyways, one would never notice that it is 3 inches shorter on the top of her head.

And by this time I should have already learned my lesson.

A few weeks prior, I was boasting about the fact that Angel rarely gets sick when the others do.

Oh yah....

In the past month and a half Angel has been struck with an ear infection, followed by a urinary tract infection due to the antibiotic from the ear infection, another ear infection, the flu, followed a week and a half later by another flu bug!

I'll NEVER, say "NEVER" again!!!

I'm Not the Only One

And all this time I thought I was the only one who noticed!

Today while I was playing sergeant, naming all the items that needed to be put away before we could have game night, Bella picked up a couple pairs of her shoes and then exclaimed,

"Hey Mom! I'm just like Daddy!"

After giving her a questioning stare she continued.

"I've left shoes laying all around the house!"

Even though it was out of the mouth of a four year old, it validated all of the feelings I've had about tripping over the various pairs of shoes that Mark leaves around the house.

Protective Brother

He's already proven that he's chivalrous. Remember....he even burps without saying, "Excuse me!"

Well, he came to the rescue yet again. The other morning I heard shrill screams coming from the back patio. The girls had come face to face with a spider.

After investigating the situation, he returned with helmet and sword to declare, "Don't worry! I am the Spider Warrior."

I'm not quite convinced that he was brave enough to come within 2 feet of the thing, but the screams were replaced by giggles and we continued about our business!

And then they do...

It's the day I've been thinking about for quite awhile now.

The day where I could go on my morning jog without pushing the annoying jogger stroller that continuously veers to the right.

The day I could do a load of laundry without having to kick one kid after another out of the laundry room and remind them not to hang on the washing machine door.

The day I could shower in complete silence without having to answer to my name being called 101 times.

The day I could run into store after store and actually get all the things on my list without having to give an uncountable number of reminders to, "Stay close...Watch out for others...Please put the toys back on the shelf....No, we are not going to the bathroom. I just asked if you had to go before we left the house.....No, we are not buying anything this time...and so on and so forth.

The day is here. Last night I packed four lunch boxes instead of just three. I put four kids in play clothes instead of just three, because today, April 7, 2008, my baby, Annie, started preschool.

Mark and I have been discussing for days how traumatic it was going to be for her. She has been attached at my hip since she has been born, wanting to be with me whenever possible. Although she really wants to be like her brother and sisters and spend the night places, she always changes her mind and ends up staying with me in the end.

Little did I know, I would be the one shedding tears upon leaving the classroom. She was perfectly content to find a place at the table and paint a paper plate with her sisters. Not on tear was shed by her eyes, but from mine, they were flowing.

I left the classroom feeling completely alone. There was no one beckoning to me, "Up-ee!" There was no one to buckle into the carseat. There was no one shooting questions at me at a rate of a million per minute. I was even able to listen to "big kid music" on the radio without any complaints from the back seat.

All I could think of were the lyrics to Trace Adkins song, "And then they do."

In the early rush of morning,

Trying to get the kids to school:

One's hanging on my shirt-tail,

Another's locked up in her room.

And I'm yelling up the stairs:

"Stop worrying 'bout your hair, you look fine."

Then they're fightin' in the backseat,

And I'm playing referee.

Now someone's gotta go,

The moment that we leave.

And everybody's late,

I swear that I can't wait till they grow up.

Then they do, and that's how it is.

It's just quiet in the mornin',

Can't believe how much you miss,

All they do and all they did.

You want all the dreams they dreamed of to come true:

Then they do.

Now the youngest is starting college,

She'll be leavin' in the Fall.

And Brianna's latest boyfriend,

Called to ask if we could talk.

And I got the impression,

That he's about to pop the question any day.

I look over at their pictures,

Sittin' in their frames.

I see them as babies:

I guess that'll never change.

You pray all their lives,

That someday they will find happiness.

Then they do, and that's how it is.

It's just quiet in the mornin',

Can't believe how much you miss,

All they do and all they did.

You want all the dreams they dreamed of to come true:

Then they do.

No more Monday PTA's,

No carpools, or soccer games.

Your work is done.

Now you've got time that's all your own.

You've been waitin' for so long,

For those days to come.

Then they do, and that's how it is.

It's just quiet in the mornin',

Can't believe how much you miss,

All they do and all they did.

You want all the dreams they dreamed of to come true:

Then they do.

Ah, then they do.

http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/--2157313

The Difference Between Girls and Boys....

Girls are fond of wearing curlers...










Boys are just as happy to wear yucky, ugly, fake teeth!