Sundays are LoooooooooooooNG

Yesterday was the stuff blogs are made of.

Sundays tend to be "long" days because they are unstructured. Yesterday I thought we were doing good, we got through the morning with no yelling....until I tried to walk out the door. Then Grant is yelling because he wants Greyson's DS since Grant's DS is "dead." And I'm yelling because no one knows where a charger is. And then we're in the car and I'm swearing at my kids on the way to church.

After lunch we went through toys. My kids have decided to have a yard sale to sell their old toys so they can get something big, like a Wii. This is their idea, and yet I'm the one who ends up doing all the work. As we are going through the toys, for 75% of them Greyson is saying "sell" and Grant turns around and says "keep." In the middle of all this chaos, Greyson picks up a nerf gun (and those who know me, know I loath nerf guns) and proceeds to shoot my head point blank. Yes, I experienced regressive pull and the next words that came out of my mouth were, "I hate you." Greyson smiles and says, "You told me you loved me this morning!" My 8 year old suffered no self-esteem damage on that one!

Sundays also tend to be grocery shopping days. For those who say, "I never go grocery shopping with my kids," you can stuff it! My husband works 800 miles away, I have no family nearby, and I have already paid more for child care this summer than my mortgage. (I am not exaggerating either). So my only option, as I see it, is to take the kids. This particular shopping trip ended with Grant sprinting across the produce section with Greyson hot on his heels until Grant was tackled and Greyson sat on him until I made it over to them. All because Grant "stole" A m&m from the bulk bin.

And it continues....we next pick up this saga in the shower where I hear, "Grant you know mom is gonna yell if you spray water on the ceiling." Sure enough, I walk in to see water dripping from the ceiling.....

I decide for story time it's MY pick and I pick MY favorite book Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel. Afterward I told my bunk bed kids that they cannot sleep in the same bed because of their behavior today. To which Greyson says, "Let's give mom the finger." Both kids stuck out their pointer fingers and shook them at me.

After they were snug in bed, I cut myself a slice of birthday cake and poured a non-kid appropriate drink!

Wedding Fun

So I think I promised you some funny stories....

Yesterday we went to a wedding. On the way we picked up Megann and Lindsay and we decided to stop at Bronner's Christmas Store in Frankenmouth. I have to admit that we were running later than I originally planned (and yes, it was me being late) so we only had 20 minutes to get in and out of the store. If you've been there before you know it's HUGE. The idea was that we were each going to pick out an ornament for the newlyweds tree for Christmas. I picked out an ornament with 2 hearts that said something like "Happily Ever After." Megann picked out a camping ornament since the bride and groom like to hike and camp. My kids.....picked out wine bottle ornaments. Yep, my underage-ers thought these were great. Lindsay picked out a cheesecake ornament, which of course goes well with wine bottles!

The wedding was held at Dow Gardens and afterwards Greyson was precariously checking out a pond next to the ceremony site. Megann asked me about it and I said I brought extra clothes. "For Greyson?" (He's 8) "Oh, I brought them for the whole family."

At the reception I found out I have a very talented 5 year old. There are witness accounts of him break dancing to the country favorite Cotton Eyed Joe. I did capture the following video of his dancing abilities with the song Raise Your Glass.

On the way to and from the wedding Greyson kept us amused by playing the Truth or Dare game on his Ipod. Lindsay started out the hilarity by answering the question: Could you be a vegetarian? Why or why not? with "No, because I love bacon." My kids think "bacon" is hilarious. So when there were "pick your own dare" for another person the dare was always to roll down your window and yell "BACON" as loud as you can. Yep, the same kids who are fascinated with wine bottles are fascinated with the word bacon.

The last truth question that Grant had was "What seat would you choose on a bus?" He answered, "The clean one." And I think because we were laughing so hard he added, "with footrests."

A job well done

No man is an island, and neither is any mom either.
This summer our family was treated to having Amelia babysit 3 days a week for us. She took the kids to the splash park, supervised "homework," made sure chores got done, made double decker quesadillas and BOXES of mac & cheese. The bonus for me was I didn't need to get the kids dressed and out the door 3 days a week!
Today is Amelia's last day before she migrates back to college for the fall semester. As I reflect back on the summer I am truly grateful to all the effort she put into her summer job, aka helping me raise my kids!
What they say is true: you will never know how much this means until you go through it too. I am thankful for everyone who has helped me out in this all-consuming profession of being a parent.
And Amelia, thanks for a job well done!

Honesty is Funny

So, I have been told that I tell funny stories about my kids and I thought this blog would be a way to share more of them. We have a phrase at our house, "honesty is funny" and really, that's all I am - honest. These are things that really happen to me, as a mom. But more than making people laugh, I want other moms to know that you are all NORMAL. These things happen to ALL moms and you are not alone!