Conversation Exhaustion

This morning I left Evan and Drew alone in the car while I made a quick dash into a store (I could see the car from the store and yes, I locked and alarmed the car). When I came out I found Evan out of his seatbelt. Then the following conversation ensued:

Me: “Evan, what were you doing?”
Evan: “What did you see me do?”
Me: “I saw you out of your seat."
Evan: “Well, that’s all I did.”
Me: “Drew, what was Evan doing?”
Drew: “Ezan spit.”
Evan: “NO I didn’t!”
Me: “Then what did you do?”
Evan: “I forgot.”
Me: “If you forgot then I’ll just punish you for spitting.”
Evan: “I didn’t spit!”
Me: “What DID you do?”
Evan: “Drew will tell you.” (Then Evan covered his ears so he couldn’t hear Drew spill the beans.)
Me: “Evan, you have three seconds to tell me what you did or you’re getting punished for spitting.”

At this point I was all prepared to hear some huge, horrible act that he had committed.

Evan’s crime? “I took the batteries out of the remote control” (to the DVD player).

And THAT conversation is why I am tired at the end of every day!

Sledding and Slush

Ben came home from work early one day last week and announced that we were all going sledding. It was the perfect day for it -- 40 degrees, no wind and the snow had melted into ice -- this meant fast sleds and we didn't even need to wear boots. We had an absolute blast! Drew went down the hill several times by himself and a couple times he insisted on lying on his belly in the sled. He has no fear.

On the final "descent," all five of us rode down on three sleds side-by-side. What a perfect family photo -- EXCEPT that my loving, sweetheart of a husband pushed my sled right into a slush puddle at the bottom of the hill. The boys (all FOUR of them) loved it! Even I managed to laugh.

My biggest regret from the sledding outing is that I didn't take pictures. But, as my friend Elizabeth says, "My heart took a picture." (groan!)

World War III

I am going crazy! The boys have been fighting non-stop and I'm ready to send them all to Grandma's house. (Any volunteers, Grandmas? I'll even send them to someone else's Grandma.) The fighting is only bad when all three boys are home. So poor Joel -- he comes home from school and instantly the fighting starts. At first I thought it was his fault, but then I realized it's not him, it's just the fact that all three are home and when you have three, someone is always being left out.

They fight over toys, food, attention from Mom and Dad...they even fight over seats in the living room! Last night I told them I was DONE with it and there was to be no more fighting in MY house; "if you fight again, I'm putting you outside!" Within the hour Evan and Joel were both on the front porch in their stocking feet and no coats. I'm sure the "Gladys Kravitz" of the neighborhood was wondering what I was up to, but I didn't know what else to do. ("Gladys" has also seen my boys running laps around our cul-de-sac when they get too rowdy inside.) At first the boys fought on the porch too (throwing snow at each other), but within three minutes they promised to be nice to each other and were back inside.

(FYI, sister Mindy who works for Children's Services, the boys were only outside for THREE minutes. I promise!) smile

When Ben came home from work, we took all three boys to a "sports center" where they played on gymnastics equipment and jumped on a trampoline. This helped burn off some energy and I got to "vent" to some other moms. One mom, a friend of mine, said her three boys have been doing the same thing and she attributes much of it to being stuck inside all winter. I'm praying she is right and that soon, when the weather warms up, my boys will once again be friends (or at least not try to kill each other!).

Any brilliant (or even not-so-brilliant) suggestions for nixing the fighting are welcome.

Singin' In the Rain

Yesterday afternoon it was cold, windy and raining -- perfect weather to stomp in puddles, right? If you're a boy, ANY weather is perfect for puddle-stomping. So, all three White boys donned their boots, coats and umbrellas and went outside for some wet fun. Evan's quote, "This is AWESOME! Today is a good day!"

For the actual historical record of the day, I will add that 20 seconds after these pictures were taken, Drew fell in the COLD water and began sobbing and, I now have NO working umbrellas.