Wednesday, March 30, 2011

The Super's

We've been doing Netflix now for almost two years and just recently started watching things instantly on the computer. Recently being interpreted to when I got pregnant and started spending a lot of time in the bed and had to have something for the kids to do besides cause total destruction around the house! Then Jon and I got in the habit of watching episodes of our favorite t.v. shows in bed after the kids were asleep at night. That got old so we finally decided to purchase a device to stream Netflix through our t.v. It has proved to be one of those purchases that was well worth it and has us wondering why we didn't do it sooner!! Their absolute favorite show to watch on Netflix is Kipper. Yes, the British dog! I like it because it's like Curious George and Cat in the Hat in the sense that I don't have to worry about it giving them nightmares or bad attitudes!



 James inherited a pair of Superman and Batman jammie's from his cousin Matthew and he wears them ALL THE TIME (just like Matthew did. must be a boy thing!). And he and Audrey have started playing Princess and Superman with her castle and their characters which is the most amusing thing to listen to. I found the original Superman cartoons on Netflix and let James watch them this past Saturday. He couldn't take his eyes off the t.v. while his sister was constantly getting up to go hide behind the chair!! Well, she's finally realized that it doesn't matter if the car falls off the bridge or if Lois Lane looks like she's about to fall into a volcano; Superman will fly through the air and save the day! They are the best of friends this morning playing Superman and Supergirl, saving all the peoples from the dinosaur!





p.s. bet ya didn't know Superman wears cowboy boots, did ya!!!

Friday, March 25, 2011

Hall Monitor

Ever since James has been able to talk and understand things that go on around him, I've lovingly called him "hall monitor." You know, like Screech on Saved by the Bell? He was so obnoxious when he was in charge! Anyway, James has hawk eyes and ears for things that are done and said "wrong" and he loves to correct any and every one when they say something that's not right, get things confused, don't do things the way he thinks they should  be done, etc. The older he gets, the more we are trying our best to teach him that he doesn't always have to correct others and he especially shouldn't correct adults. I'm not sure how much good we are doing since some days it feels like it all goes in one ear and out the other when he wont let his sister pretend something because it's not how he thinks it should be pretended. But I do know we are trying to lead him down the right path!! We would like for him to have friends when he starts school. Ha!!



Lately, my brain has been kinda mushy and I say things backwards. Like, go wash your hands in the toilet or go get your pillow and get in the chair and go to sleep. Rest assured the hall monitor is there to let me know what I've said wrong and what I should of said!



We were at Wal-Mart yesterday morning picking up a few things and after I paid the woman at the register, we walked out. I got halfway through the doors and James starts yelling "Mama!!! You forgot your bags we bought." Now, I know good and well I would of made it all the way to the car before I realized I'd left my stuff had the hall monitor not been with me to point out my mistake. So, I reckon I'll keep him around for times like that!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Supper time with the Peach

Audrey, pick your fork up and eat some supper

Audrey, get your leg off your brother's chair

Audrey, get up from under the table

Audrey, don't talk with your mouth full

Audrey, stop sliding out the back of your chair

Audrey, you can't lay across the table

Audrey, dear, you have to eat your supper

Audrey, don't spit your drink back in your cup like that

Audrey, you are going to choke if you cram all that food in your mouth at once

Audrey, swallow your food child

Audrey, you have to eat your supper. Please???



You laugh but these are all things we say to Audrey during supper. Granted, we usually don't say all of them at on sitting but, rest assured, they will all get said at some point during the week! The child is a trip. A stone cold trip and even though it can get frustrating at times watching her squirm so much instead of eating, we can't help but get tickled at her most times. Of course, she doesn't know that! She's always been a mover and a shaker and the only times she's still are when she's sleeping, reading or very sick. But it seems that when I call for everyone to come to the table she gets an extra dose of ants in her pants. Oh and by the way, her brother has usually licked his plate clean and is either asking for seconds or requesting his "surprise" for making a happy plate by the time Audrey has successfully eaten 4 bites!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

No name calling

6 weeks ago:
The 4 of us were in the car driving some where and Jon was picking on me about "getting bigger" and he called me a beached whale. James pipes up and says "Daddy, you can't call mommy a beached whale." He's such the gentleman!

4 weeks ago:
The 4 of us were eating supper and James randomly reminds his father, "Daddy you can't call mommy a beached whale." Oh if I could of captured the look on Jon's face at that moment!!!

1 week ago, while in Birmingham, Audrey was sitting at the breakfast table being really silly and I told her she was a nut! She says "I'm not a nut!" I say "Yes you are!" And with hardly a pause she says "If daddy can't call you a beached whale, you can't call me a nut." Big sigh, "No, dear, I guess I can't!!"

Friday, March 4, 2011

One more lemon

As I was reading over the comments on my Lemonade post, it reminded me that I left out a very important part: After I had calmed down and was semi-happily munching away on my french fries, I hear a little voice pipe up and say "Mommy, you should of said please to that lady for your drink." I almost ran off the road while choking on my fry. What??? Did I really just hear my son say that to me??? I asked him what he'd said and sure enough, he repeated it exactly the same. I wasn't hearing things. My 3 year old son just "corrected my behavior" instead of consoling me. He didn't stop there though, oh no. For the rest of the ride home every so often he would say things like "Mommy, you shouldn't cry about your drink" or "Mommy, you should ask nicely for your drink" or "It's ok that that lady didn't give you your drink" or "You should say please nicely next time to that lady." Talk about kicking someone when they are down. Making this poor mother feel like I've done a horrible job at teaching my children compassion or that perhaps I correct my children far too often and am now reaping those benefits. What ever the case be, I felt like James telling me that was just the perfect way to end that terrible trip that went horribly wrong!!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

When you get the lemons but no lemonade

No one ever said being a parent was easy. No one ever said being a stay at home mother was easy. No one ever said that being pregnant and trying to parent 3 year old twins was easy. I must say though that NOT being pregnant and trying to parent those same 3 year old twins would be a mite easier. When they turned 3, I told you all it was tough. Their little attitudes started to blossom what seemed like over night and we were having to rearrange our whole defense system, our whole battle plan. Once we (the parents) acclimated ourselves and pulled our pants up a wee bit higher, things calmed down for a while. Oh, those attitudes were still there but it seemed we had a pretty good hold on redirecting them. Then the pregnancy hormones kicked in and I lost what seemed like all resolve. My patience seemed to disappear over night and I started to cry just about every time one of them did something that was upsetting. Which made me even more upset because I don't like to cry in front of my kids when they are the reason I am upset. But alas, over these last 5 months my children have seen me cry more times than my husband sister brother in law has ever seen me cry!! Which brings me to my present story. Most of you probably don't know this but Jon started his master's program back in August which means a lot of the time since then he's been MIA. Together with church responsibilities, preaching appointments, his secular job and now having to do school work most evenings he's been a busy man. It's been tough at times on both of us both the Lord has certainly blessed him to keep good grades and not slack on any of his responsibilities which includes continuing to be the best husband and father in the world!! Any who, yesterday was going to be another one of those long and arduous days for me stuck with the kids from sun up to sun down by myself so I decided that a trip to Tallahassee to the mall and then the grocery store and supper out was in order to keep me from climbing the walls. Well, that usually works.



James and Audrey love to go to the mall and recently our mall built a little playground for kids to play on and that has made going to the mall 10x better for them and me. We don't go often (maybe once a month) so when we do go I like to treat them to all kinds of things that they like. They love to ride in the stroller cars($5), eat at Chick-fil-a in the food court ($11), ride the story time school bus as many times as quarters that I have($.75), get smiley face cookies($3 for 2) and they really like to pick out a few new shirts or outfits for themselves($ depends on how good of a mood I am in that day!) I also treat myself to a thing or two so I usually end up spending somewhere in the neighborhood of $50-$60. Not exactly chump change. Seemed like everything I did or bought for them yesterday was not enough. They complained and whined about it ALL. It was enough to drive a normal mother too the edge, perhaps even crazy. After about an hour and a half I couldn't take it any more so we left. I was feeling extremely unappreciated. We went to the grocery and by the time that stoning was over I had one thin piece of straw left on my back. And it was quickly unraveling. I have to give a shout out to the clerk and bag boy at Publix though. They could totally tell I was having a rough time and were so nice to me and the kids that they actually made me forget for about 60 seconds how miserable I was! We got in the van and I gave them 2 hoodlums a strong talking to, among other things, and then we all made up and you could feel the love between mother and children once again!!


Then we went to Chick-fil-a for supper. It was getting late and I did NOT want to go inside and be in town for another hour so, we went to the drive-thru. The hoodlums were NOT in favor of my decision and let it be made known. What? What happened to my smiling little chums I got back just moments ago? Whatever. I placed our order, got them to accept that it was my way or the highway, paid for our food, got our bags and drinks and drove off. I parked next door to hand them their food and that's when I realized the lady had not given me MY drink. MY lemonade that I had been thinking about for the last hour and a half. That was it. I couldn't take any more and burst into tears. You might ask why I didn't just go back and get it but it was about 6:30 on a family night so the the inside was packed and I would of had to get both kids out and the drive-thru line was out to the street. No way was I getting out boo-hooing like a baby or going to sit in the line again while they fussed at me for the latest thing I'd done wrong so I just headed home. I tried so hard to hide the tears from them but Audrey noticed and as soon as she said "Mommy, why do you have tears in your eyes?" I started sobbing. Uncontrollably. Over lemonade!!! Of all the things that I had endured the entire day, this is what made me cry. What can I say? It's a crazy adventure we are on right now and even though at times I want to pull all my hair out and go running down the street like a maniac screaming.......I love my life and am so grateful for the truth in this verse that I woke up with on my mind this morning: This I recall to my mind, therefore I have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.  And today has been much better!