Oy Vey

Is it September yet? The summer has just begun but we are already well into the drama, boredom, fighting, and meltdowns that accompany free time and lack of firm schedules in our house. This past week was filled with laughter, tons of play time, vacation bible school, lunch and park dates with friends. The good times were very nearly, however, overshadowed with screaming, tears, stomping, door slamming, whining, and nastiness that seemed to accompany the boys throughout each and every day. Joey has been throwing tantrums with a capital T lately. I'm talking on the ground, feet kicking, screaming FITS. I got to experience several of these gems this week including one at lunch with several of my friends and their kids. Good times. Ben has been having a hard time keeping his hands to himself at home. He is constantly pestering his little brother. The problem outside of the house has been with Benjamin's attitude toward others. He has been rude and forgetting how to be a good friend and kind member of society. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ok, this is why I love blogging. I wrote the above nearly 10 days ago and was (clearly) having a bad day. But today, just 10 short days late I think it is funny to log back into our blog and see where I left off. Today my life seems pretty sweet. Once again, I think I have mother nature to thank for the good day. I had my usual Monday plans...get up at 5 a.m., work out, work for an hour and half, shower, make the boys breakfast, baseball game at 10:00 a.m. screeeeetch, this is where the record skipped and my plans went off course. It rained this morning, starting around 9:00 a.m. Lots of rain. Torrential downpour rain. Monsoon rain. No baseball rain. My next item on the to-do list was grocery shopping. Now, I am all for a challenge but grocery shopping in a typhoon with two children who HATE running errands did not seem like a grand way to spend a morning. Grocery shopping was not an option. Instead, I abandoned the to-do list, pretended to be a carefree, fly by the seat of my pants kind of mom, which I most definitely am not though I do enjoy pretending to be every once in awhile. Joey and I made some pancakes and bacon and the boys and I enjoyed breakfast (even indulging in chocolate milk...wild and crazy in our house) while watching the terrific storm outside and listening to some Brad Paisley. It was awesome. I then made an emergency phone call to our good friends and neighbors and they came over to play for a bit. We went to lunch at the high school, swung by the library to pick up some new books and movies, and then Benny headed out to see Toy Story 3 with Kirin and Amber, Joey took a nap, and I got some work done. Sweet day indeed. I am now snuggled on the couch with Joe Bug, watching The Backyardigans, and counting down the minutes until Dean gets home. We had very little family time last week and are all really looking forward to just chilling out together tonight. So as you can see, my life is bipolar. I go from extremes of being, ahem, challenged by my children to finding this whole parenting thing insultingly easy. HA! But once again, it is funny what a little perspective can give you. Much like the crazy Indiana weather that brought wicked storms this morning followed by clear beautiful blue skies this afternoon, my days are filled with lots of instability complete with moments of rain and moments of sunshine but that combo produces a lot of rainbows that make life worthwhile, fun, memorable, and priceless. So bring on the rain. It makes the sun that much better.