80's Dance

Last night we had an 80's dance at church, and as I had been taught by my daddy, we showed up fashionably late. Rich began the night in his Letterman's jacket, polo shirt with collar up, and high tops to tie the outfit together. Braden was sporting rolled up jeans, a polo shirt also with the collar up, spiked and gelled hair, and his infamous black penny loafers on his feet; I decided to mix up the 80's a little (I had to use what I had), so I donned a Madonna inspired skirt, a white shirt under a vest, a long necklace, high heels, and some huge hoop earrings. I attempted the big hair, but alas, I could not remember how to achieve the wave, so I put a ponytail on top of my head as I often did in the late 80's; my dad would always say it looked like I had a flower growing out of the top of my head. I put on my makeup a little heavier than usual, and I was all set. Since Emma is so little, we decided to spare her the humiliation; Brooke on the other hand would have been adorable in the 80's outfit I picked out for her, but she wanted no part of it. Brooke wanted to wear her princess outfit, and that was the end of the discussion! They served punch and cookies and also supplied us with a couple performances, in addition to the entertainment of the rest of the ward (including the Masedas) making fools out of themselves. Rich showed off some of his break dance moves, Brooke shook her booty, and even Braden warmed up and braved the dance floor. It was such a fun night; we stayed until the bitter end!

Oh to be so sweet and pure

Braden has such a sweet and pure spirit, but there are some days I go from wanting to strangle him to wanting to take him in my arms and give him a huge hug; yesterday was one of those days. I woke up, as you read, to evidence of more destruction; to say I was exasperated would be an understatement. In one moment though it all changed; Braden looked at the picture of Jesus we have on the refrigerator and then looked up at me, and uttered the phrases that melted my heart and touched my spirit, "Mommy, I really love Jesus." "I miss him." Oh, to be so sweet and pure; we can learn as much from children as they can hopefully learn from us, but yesterday Braden was the teacher.

If at first you don't succeed, try, try, and try again

If at first you don't succeed, try, try, and try again; that is my new motto as a parent. Braden and Brooke have recently been in an everything is free game, I don't care if I destroy your things mood, so I decided to teach them the logical consequence. Monday morning I sat Brooke and Braden down and showed them the most recent victims of their destructive ways: my deodorant and my Halloween sprinkles. Brooke had decided she wanted to see how it would feel to dig out the rest of my deodorant, and Braden thought it would be fun to watch my sprinkles fall on the floor one by one. I started the conversation out by asking Braden and Brooke who the items belonged to, to which they replied, "Mommy." I said, "Yes, and did you ask Mommy if you could play with these?" The answer of course was no. We then discussed what they should do about the things they had destroyed. Braden thought that he and Brooke should buy me new stuff, but when I asked where he was going to get the money, I got a blank stare. I asked if he wanted suggestions, which he did. In the end, Braden, Brooke, and I decided that they would do jobs around the house to earn money to replace my things. We made a list of jobs numbered 1-10, and then put the numbers 1-10 in a bag for them to pull out as we went to select which job they would do next. I also got 2 bags out, one for each of them, to put their money in as they completed a job. Some of the things they did were: clean out the refrigerator, clean up the backyard, clean the toilets, clean the sinks, and clean the playroom upstairs. I don't know if they were actually suffering as much as I was hoping they would. I was hoping they would be a little miserable to drive the point home, but I knew my goal was not being met when in the middle of cleaning out the refrigerator Braden looked at me and said, "Hey Mama, we are having a party." Let me just point out, that they did a LOT of work! I made them take everything out, throw out what was bad, wipe everything down, and put everything back in the refrigerator. Of course, I forgot to take into account that as long as we are doing something together and music is on, it is a party. Despite Braden's loving work mood, I continued on with the plan. Monday night we poured out their money, counted it, and determined they had enough to replace the items; Rich took them to Wal-mart and let them select their items, and took them to the register to pay. Brooke excitedly ran into the house exclaiming, "I got your 'odorant!" She was so proud, she wanted me to put it on right then and there. I went to bed that night feeling like a good parent, thinking I had really taught them something. Of course, when I woke up this morning to discover that Braden had gotten into my pink cake glitter and had sprinkled it all over the carpet, I realized he had taught me a lesson, I needed to put a childproof doorknob cover on the pantry door along with my bedroom door. He also taught me that as a parent, you can't just do something once and have the point always come across. Of course I knew they weren't going to never destroy again or get into something that wasn't theirs, but I thought they would at least make it a full week before doing it again! I guess if at first you don't' succeed, you must try, try, and try again. The good parents stick in there, continuing to allow the natural consequence teach the lesson when possible; they don't give up even when they don't seem to be getting through, but come up with another game plan. The easy thing would be to throw your hands up in the air and give up, but the most rewarding thing is to dig your heels in and fight the good fight; they're worth it!

As soon as you turn your back

Sunday after church I had a meeting at the Stake Center, leaving Braden and Brooke in Rich's more than capable hands. The only problem is that Braden and Brooke are like hound dogs; they can sniff out opportunity and they hunt it down. It only takes a matter of minutes for them to get into mischief. The first mistake Rich made, he fell asleep. Did he take a long nap? No, but it doesn't take more than a matter of minutes for Brooke and Braden to search out trouble and opportunity. When he awoke from his cat nap, he woke up to a nightmare; Braden had apparently painted Brooke's toenails, fingernails and part of the bathroom rug. Brooke also had polish on her eyebrows, her face, and under her left eye. It was quite a sight to behold. Would it have changed things if Rich wouldn't have gone to sleep? Probably not, as Braden has started saying, "He is a sneaky fox." Braden and Brooke definitely keep us on our toes!

My Independent 4 yr. old

I am so proud of Braden and his independent spirit; he is capable of more than I think Rich or I realize. Since we got back from the trip, I have felt a little under the weather and on top of that Emma didn't go to sleep until 2 this morning. Needless to say, I was exhausted this morning; the children however were ready to get up and get going at 6:30 this morning. Rich was already up, so he put a movie on for Braden and Brooke and told them to let me sleep a little more, which the angels did. Well, when I did get up about 8, I walked into the kitchen to see a fully clothed, underwear and all, 4 yr. old with a plate of cut up, syrup covered waffles in front of him. Braden had gotten the stool, gotten the waffles out of the freezer, taken a waffle out of the box, cooked it in the toaster oven, tore it up, and covered it with syrup. I was so proud of him, that I called Rich at work to brag about his accomplishment. To make it even more awe inspiring, Braden also had gotten himself dressed even down to his Diego underwear. After his dressing and waffle making heroics, Braden then proceeded to help Brooke get a waffle as well (I got to witness this firsthand luckily; I don't trust Brooke within 10 yards of the toaster oven unsupervised!), but Brooke wasn't quite as skilled with syrup. Brooke ended up pouring the syrup all over her plate, the trash can she was using as a table, and the floor; I cleaned it up, calmly repeated in my head the things I have been reading in Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood, and told her that I was proud she had tried so hard, and then I proceeded to show her how to lift the top on the syrup rather than remove the entire thing. Again, I must say I am soooooooooo proud of Braden, but I do think he and I will have a little talk about how the stove and regular oven are off limits!!!

Our Trip to San Diego

Our week in review:

Monday: We flew out of Savannah in the early afternoon and finally arrived in San Diego late that night. Luckily, the cuties were pretty good, especially Emma, she was an angel. Once we arrived in San Diego, the adventure began. Rich and Braden went to get a shuttle to the rental car place, while Brooke, Emma, and I along with all of the luggage waited outside for about 40 minutes. At one point, I was holding a sleeping Brooke while pushing Emma's stroller back and forth saying, "It's okay, It's okay, sh, sh, sh, sh." Finally a kind soul took pity on me and asked if I needed help. I didn't get any bad vibes, so I told him if he could just push the luggage cart up to the curb for me, I would be very grateful. Once on the road, luggage packed in our rental car, we were ready to begin our adventure. We finally got to the bungalows after 10, 1a.m. Georgia time; we visited with everyone for a little while and then crashed.

Tuesday: Rich played golf for a good portion of the day with his dad, Tom, and our nephew Kyle, while I watched the cuties play with their cousins in the sand. Once the boys were home, the festivities could continue. We had a scavenger hunt, which we won; I think Rich should have won just for creativity. One of the items we were supposed to find was a sand dollar, which was nearly impossible, so Rich took a dollar out of his pocket and got it sandy, a SAND dollar. After the scavenger hunt, we had supper. Following supper, we watched the DVD I had made for the reunion, and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. My goal was to make everyone laugh, cry, and reminisce; I wanted everyone to remember how important we are to each other. I am sooooooo grateful for my family, the one I was born into and the one I married into!

Wednesday: Today was a free day, so we along with Heather, Heidi, and their families went to Legoland. It was such a fun place; everyone loved it! The first thing we did was take a boat ride and look at Mini Land. There was an Eiffel tower made out of Legoes, along with the Sydney Opera House, Mount Rushmore, complete with little lego men using a lego q-tip to clean out one of the president's ears, a giant octopus and his starfish band, and several other sites. We did so many things, it would take forever to list, but I will again say, we LOVED it! Braden and Brooke also loved spending time with their cousins.

Thursday: This morning we went to the beach. I think I will stay loyal to my East Coast beaches, especially Myrtle Beach. It was a little too cold for me and my Southern blood, including the water. Rich and Brooke braved the water, but Braden, Emma, and I said, "No thanks!" In the afternoon we played Mormon Family Feud, where the boys reigned supreme. For dinner I cooked a well known southern delicacy, Chicken Bog. We also had rolls, green beans, and Mrs. Edwards' pies; everyone went back for seconds, which is always a good sign. After dinner we headed to the beach for Maseda Olympics. We had a water relay, buried the fathers in the sand, looked for a list of objects buried in the sand, and did a couple more things as well. It was a lot of fun; Melissa did a great job planning everything!

Friday: Today was Temple Day, but since with Emma nursing that isn't a possibility for me, I went to hang out with Bonnie (one of my good friends from St. Marys, whose husband is now stationed in San Diego). It was sooooooo nice getting to see her again, and the kids loved playing with her daughters. This afternoon we played the Not So Newlywed Game, Heidi and George fixed supper, and then we did family skits. It was a fun night!

Saturday: Tonight we went to Old Town for dinner. Bonnie and Chris and their cuties met Tom, Melissa, and us there for dinner. We ate Mexican and then headed to the candy store to spend way too much money on candy. It was nice walking around and spending time together.

Sunday: We went to church today (the ward was fantastic), we played Family Trivia, Guess Who, and Linda and Fred made dinner. We also took group pictures. Today was mainly spent getting ready for our trip home and trying to squeeze in some last minute memories with everyone.

There are so many things we did and memories we made, that I couldn't possibly list them all here; this is just a brief summary. I will just say I had a fantastic time; I miss everyone terribly!