We have another little momma in the house

First of all, Praise the Lord for this wonderful weather we have had the last 2 days. It has been great for all of our spirits to enjoy a little sunshine and get to run around outside. I have tons of pictures of the kids playing outside, but of course the camera is down stairs, & I am much to lazy to go get it and bring it back up. The greatest thing has been watching Sam climb the stairs to the treehouse and go down the slide. He really wants to do it all by himself, but I prefer not to make any trips to the ER, so I give him a little help. I am sure by summer's end he will be on his own. It is so unbelievable that he can crawl much less climb stairs.

So, Lexi Kate is always saying things that crack me up or make me want to tape her mouth shut, sometimes both. A couple of days ago she asked me to do something (I don't even remember what it was), I said no. She asked "why"? I made the terrible mother mistake of saying, "Because I said so." I know that should be good enough. But, as a child I swore I would never say that to my children, and I should have known that I would have a child that wouldn't buy that response. Lexi Kate's response was, "Mommy, that isn't good enough. I know you said so, I want to know why you said so. If you can't explain it to me, just don't say it. You are driving me crazy Mommy." Well, I guess you could say I had that one coming. From now on, I will try to not give the "Because I said so." response. I hope to train my children to obey because I am the Mommy & God wants us to obey our parents. However, while we are in this obedience training, I will try to explain so that they may appreciate the fact that Mommies have reasons, & maybe one day just because Mommy said so will be good enough.

Last night, Lexi Kate had chocoalte milk in a "real cup" with her dinner. Well, Lexi Kate isn't the most observant person in the world. Especially, when she was watching the Olympics while eating her dinner. Sam, on the other hand, is very observant. He saw Lexi Kate's chocoalte milk setting near the edge of the table, and he saw Lexi Kate watching tv while eating dinner. Without her noticing, he took her chocolate milk. All was well & good for awhile. He even drank over half of her chocolate milk, but then he got brave & went cruising through the living room with what is now his "real cup" of chocolate milk. Then, he meets daddy's boot. Sam gets a little big for his britches and tries to step over the boot while carrying the milk. You can picture what happens next.... white carpet meet chocoalte milk.... meet very angry daddy.... meet devastated Lexi Kate (it was the last of the chocolate milk). Daddy screams at Mommy for not watching Sam, Mommy screams at Daddy that he should get up and watch the kids, because Mommy is cleaning up the dinner she cooked for everyone. Sam is screaming because the milk cup is empty, Lexi Kate is screaming because there is no more chocolate milk, then Daddy is screaming at LK for letting Sam take her milk & not paying attention, then Mommy is screaming at Daddy "I wonder where she learned to watch tv while eating dinner & not pay attention to what is going on around her." Comedy real life style. Okay, so we weren't really "screaming" at each other, but nobody was happy. Then, life gets brought back into focus. Sam has run into the utility room at this point. Lexi Kate goes in after him, and closes the door. This is what I hear from behind the door. "Now, Sam, I need you to look at my eyes & listen to me. You have not made a wise choice. We don't steal other people's food, and we really don't spill chocolate milk. Now, sister doesn't have any chocolate milk, because we used it all. And, Daddy is mad because Mommy is cleaning up the milk on the carpet. YOu are going to have consequences for making a not wise choice. You go apolergize and ask Mommy for your consequence. Tommorow you will make a more wise choice." Lexi Kate opens the laundry room door & begins crying again for her chocolate milk. I go to get Sam out of the laundry room. Lexi Kate says, "DOn't worry about him Mom, I have that taken care of already." Well, on that note Mommy is going to bed, obviously LK will be running the show from here....

Little Words

I will be the very first to admit that my Lexi Kate is one rotten child, at times downright mean. However, 98% percent of the time she can say the sweetest things. Over the last few weeks, we have had many conversations that I wish I had written down. This morning reminded me that I just had to take time to share. As we were sitting in bed, LK watching cartoons, me sipping coffee... LK looked over at the night stand & said, "Momma, let's do some Bible Study. Will you please read your Bible to me?"

A couple of weeks ago, she said, "Thank you for having me a baby brother, I love Sam so much!" If only she would feel that way 5 years from now.

The other night we were saying her nite-nite prayers, her prayer went something like this, "Thank you Jesus for my precious parents who take care of me, bless them good. Thank you for blessing me with wonderful friends who love me and play with me. Thank you for being good." If that won't melt your heart, it is made out of lava rock.

We had a blast at The Morris's Super Bowl party. It was just another reminder of how blessed we are with great friends. I love my neighborhood friends that we play with every day. It is such a joy to share our lives with a group of people who are at the same stage of lives. I am also grateful for old friends who just know you. We don't spend nearly as much time as we used to with our old BBC friends. But, those times are just special. It reminds me how much we share in common and what a gift those friendships are.