I'm so mature.

This morning Brandon had a basketball game at 10:00AM. At about 9:15 he was flopping around the house in his uniform looking for something, and obviously irritated. Against my better judgement, and stupidly in support of his passive aggressive fit, I asked him what he needed. "My Georgia Hoodie", I put it in the laundry and didn't get it back."

"No", I said, "That's not true, I washed it, folded it, and gave it back to you. It's probably in your landfill, ahem, room downstairs."

"No" he grumbled at me, "I looked, and I know where I put it. And you never gave it back to me. And it's not here."

"Brandon", I replied, my voice raising. "I am not in the habit of throwing your clothes out onto the street. If you put it in the laundry and haven't gotten it back clean, it will be in the laundry. I did not lose your shirt. If it's not in the laundry, it's in your room, or you left it somewhere"

Brandon snapped right back at me, "Well that's what usually happens when I can't find my clothes. I put them in the wash and never see them again".

I think it's possible steam actually came out of my ears. Brandon loses his clothes all the time.
He leaves them at friends houses, at school, in people's cars, at Basketball practice, you name it. It is a constant source of irritation for me how many of the clothes I buy him disappear. And for him to take no responsibility and blame all these lost clothes on me, made me downright irate. Granted my laundry skills are not the best, but I don't think even I can make the dryer eat a mens XL UGA Hoodie.

Well I yelled, and he wisely said nothing and walked out the door slamming it on the way out.

This is what he will find when he gets home.


Because parental grace is beyond me at this point.

****************
Updated-The Man says this is mean and I shouldn't call our kids names, even perfectly harmless ones like twit. I think what he really means is we shouldn't put them in print to come back and haunt us at a later date. :)

Uh-oh

I got home late from the city yesterday, arriving in time to help get the kids through showers and into bed after hockey practice. When the kids were down, I ate dinner in the living room and watched a hockey game with Chris. Imagine my surprise when I found this note beside my place at breakfast this morning, after the kids had already left for school!

Chris grimly filled me in. There had been a food fight and yes, the letter of apology had been written and signed before they left for hockey last night.

When Ross came home, I made a point of looking at the note until he became visibly uncomfortable. "Do you want to tell me about what happened," I asked?

There was a pause, then Ross slowly replied, "Nnnno. Since you asked, no, I don't really want to tell you about it." And he walked off with the cautious gait of a boy who fully expects something horrible to happen. He got to the door of the room and risked a look back to meet my gaze. Finding me exactly where I'd been, he wasn't sure if he should be worried or relieved.

"You're right, I did ask. I'll respect your answer, if you'll promise me this will NOT happen again."

"It's a deal," he said with a little cringe, then a small grin. I have to admit, I felt a bit of pride...my baby's first food fight!

Wordless Tuesday??

Okay, I had every intention of posting this last week for worldess Wednesday, but I forgot. I beleive it needs no further explanation.

Get it out of the way early

I think this merits mention in this forum. Sorry for being too lazy to post it twice. Please see link.

Toddlers Gone Wild.

Thriving!

27 Days and we haven't broken him yet! Here are some new photos to prove it. The Z-man seems to have decided life outside the womb is A-OK and we think he is pretty cool, too.









Napping with my newborn son.














Baby Z with his Pappi (my mother, Ashley's too)













Gifts from the WMEs - Thank you Ladies! Love to you all! xo













After the first bath - he looks like a contestant on Dance Fever













Best. Christmas. EVER.



















Honey, look what Santa brought!!!



















Baby Zane with his Granny LeB (Phil's mother)

My family.

Sheer Terror

So, my worst mama ever moment this Christmas season came when Santa made a visit to my parent-in-laws house prior to the big day to see all the kids at the house. Todd (he is 2 and a half) was terrified of Santa. I mean full on screaming fit...great...Giving in to the pressure from the in-laws I tried to get Todd in the pic with Santa and the other kids...I should have known better...and to sacrifice the mental stability of my 2 year old! Oh boy! You can see for yourselves from the following pics. (I promised myself I would not traumatize my children like this...however IT IS Christmas and so what if I tell my children a big, scary man half hidden with a beard is okay for getting up close and personal..forget that whole stranger danger thing...shoot...it is Christmas)

Parenting over my head

I hadn't declared December's tie between Joy and Paige, at 10 points each. Congrats, ladies!

Tonight, we went to Target to buy Lindsay her own pair of pink cowboy boots and a soccer ball because she keeps taking Lauren's. In the car, Lauren recounted how she's being pushed by a bully in the bus line.

"Did you tell the para?"

"Yeah. She said, 'Stop pushing' and he kept pushing anyway."

"So what happened next?"

"I pushed him back."

"And?"

"Well, he spread his legs so he didn't fall down."

"Hmm. Well, I think there are two possible approaches for this."

"Okay."

"You could use your Danger Voice and say 'Stop pushing me! You're hurting me!'."

"I'm only supposed to use my Danger Voice if a stranger is hurting me."

"Do you think it's better that someone you know hurts you versus someone you don't know? If someone is hurting you, you use your Danger Voice."

"Ok."

"Or, another approach would be not to stand near him in line."

"Ok."

"Because I could go talk to the principal, or call his mother, but I think you can handle this yourself."

"Ok. Mom, can we go to church?"

Uhhh? "Sure."

"Ok."

"Did you want to go Sunday? We can go to the church Jack goes to..."

"Well, I always like to see Jack, but do we have to go on Sunday?"

"That's when church usually is..."

"Alright then. Sunday."

"Ok, honey."