Mean Mom

That's what I got called today. By my soon to be six year old. And I totally did not deserve it. I'm taddling.


Here's the skinny. Brody has had a 4 day weekend- I was really wanting to the flee the country but decided I better stay put. We have had fun- its been like the good ol days of just being home. Somewhere Brody has developed this fascination with star wars- so I finally embraced it this weekend and we watched the last 3 movies which are actually the first 3 right? And I learned that Annikan Skywalker is a boy, it's a light saber- not saver and I brushed up on my Jedi facts. We made a cool blanket fort and had a geek marathon and drank Yoda soda and even made a "Force" cake. I'm documenting this to prove my lack of bad -mom ness. Anyways- we pretty much did kid stuff all weekend and we were all happy.


The boys have chores. Small chores. Zane feeds and waters the dogs and cleans off the kitchen table and chairs. Brody empties all the garbages in the house and also cleans the mirrors in the bathrooms and vacuums. They both put away their clean clothes and have to clean their room together. I dont have set days they have to have these done by- when it needs doing I ask them and they are pretty good about it. (ps- another plea to my case- these are the "fun" chores in my book!)
So anyways yesterday I told them chores needed to be done- it didn't happen- they were playing great together and honestly I sort of forgot about them too. Well this morn I told them at breakfast that it could be a super fun day but chores HAD to be done first. I got the supplies out for them- they ran off. My niceness and patience was really wearing off. My friend asked if we wanted to swim- heck yes we did! I rounded up the lost boys and told them the deal. Chores then swimming. Excitement! We had about 45 mins until swim time. I showed them the cleaning supplies and set the timer for swim leave time and told them I wasn't going to hound. Chores needed to get done now. Well they didn't do them. I even reminded them IN my swimsuit to make the point. They just didn't do them.


We didn't go swimming.


Oh the tears. The fits of heartache and rage and unjust! It was truly a dramatic event. But gosh darn it JUST DO IT!


Brody was super duper sad and mad. He told me I was mean and not nice and a bad mom. Ouch. Really. I think that was really the first time he said mean things to me about me.


The dynamic duo finished their fits in their rooms and then guess what? They did their stinking chores!!


I think a family that works together plays together. Work hard -play hard ( I learned that from my Dad) and gosh darn it I will not have useless bums for kids!


When I went in to talk to the boys about the worst morning of their life (direct quote) Brody seriously said to me that the only reason I even wanted kids was to make them do chores. Hehehehe. I told him I use to think the only reason my parents wanted me was to make me weed flower beds.


Then I blabbed about how I was happy I had to work growing up because now I know HOW to work! He didn't care. But one day I think they might thank me.

Brody the storm trooper.

Zane pouting

Cute baby smiles

A self portrait taken by Brody.

He really does like me. I know it.

Sweet Moments

 There is something astounding about the love between siblings. It is closer then the best of friends and unique to itself. These two are rascals but I know that Brody would do anything for Zane- and that Zane, in his 3 year old capacity would do the same for his big brother. Oh to be a mother. It is in these sweet moments that I could not be happier with life.

    We took the kids to Disney on Ice last year. Here they are riding the trax. I think that co-ed friendships are brilliant. At least this one is. Its like the best ying and yang I have ever witnessed.(and they are darling)

  Well most of my days can be summed up wth this. There is laughter coming out of this pile of bodies and I'm pretty sure there is another bat somewhere in there.

This dude is potty trained! YAHOOO!

That being said, we have run into a few minor issues.

1- his theory is "big boys who pee in the potty always wear shorts" And that's exactly what he has been doing

2- "Big boys only go potty at home!" This is ok.. so far. But its not always going to be ok. Stay tuned.

So Preslie continues to be a wonderfully easy baby. We put her to bed between 8 and 9 and she sleeps until about 3 most nights, eats and goes back to bed. Well shortly after we came home from Idaho after Christmas I was up feeding her. When I get up, the dogs usually get up too, I let them out and then I just dont shut the door all the way, when they are ready to come in they push it open then I lock it back up. It makes it so I dont have to sit there waiting for them to come in.  So here I was feeding my wonderful baby,reflecting on Christmas and also the upcoming new year. Like most of us I was thinking about things I needed to improve or work on. It was overwhelming! Way too much room for improvment :) So I decided to pick 3. I chew my nails. It is gross. I know! So that was on my list. It needed to stop. I also decided that my life would be easier if I went to bed with my kitchen totally clean everynight. Ew. I hate dishes. I also hate a messy kitchen and the mornings are nuts so that was a good one. And of course the infamous #3, LOSE WEIGHT! ew. I hate that even more then a messy kitchen. But it needs to happen. So I sat there feeding Preslie in the middle of the night giving myself a pep talk about how to go about working on my just decided 3 goals. Well then the dogs came in. I had to get up and shut the door. When I sat back down I had a brain wave! I needed to teach those dogs how to CLOSE the door after they came in! It would be easy enough, they would just need to come in and then push it the other way just like they do when they come in. I was so excited. Small note, Cheeba is 9 and Oscar is 5, so ya ya you cant teach an old dog new tricks, but I was really stoked about this. I was still feeding the baby. Well 4 things on my list is really just too much right. Something has to give. So... well mentally I decided that the whole lose weight was going to be nicely replaced with teach my old dogs how to shut the door. Thats right. I would rather spend my time working with my old dogs, one who is probably mentally delayed as far as dogs are concerned, teaching them how to shut the door then lose weight. Hmm. I might need to work on my attitude :)

Happy New Year!

Princess P is 2 months!

 Two Months! And im still in awe. That probably wont ever go away, Im still in awe of my crazy boys.

Preslie continues to be such a joy in our lives. I cant really explain it but I feel so content and peaceful. Like all is right in my world. It is overwhelming at times the amount of love I have for Devin and our kids. Im especially grateful that we all healthy! I hope it stays that way.

 Still so cute even bawling.

 At her 2 month check up she weighed 10lbs 12 oz and was in the 35% for weight