After a whole day of having Charlie, Tommy, Royal and Grey over, it was time to clean up.
After three times of asking, i called them all in, and gave each a piece of paper and pencil.
And the culprits of not cleaning wrote, “I will clean when I am asked.”
And the most amazing thing happened – after sentences….the house was spotless in no time!
My kids “earned Christmas” back.
Two important factors played into them earning it back.
1. I have seen effort. After a really rough few weeks, I have seen a glimmer of hope. All four have had really good moments, and plenty of naughty ones. But I can see that there are starting to be more good moments than bad moments — so I’ll take it.
2. Christmas has already steam rolled into the wrap room, and I am not about to undo all of that.
I always think Decembers are a little tough. There are so many things going on, inside our own family, at school, at church, in the neighborhood, etc. Add to that some shopping, cards, baking, parties and everything else that comes with the holidays….it just gets crazy. I LOVE the crazy. I thrive off of CRAZY.
But what I L-O-V-E even more than the crazy….is a sweet, happy, nice, simple, loving family, who understands that Christmas’ meaning far surpasses the hum drum of the month.
To be honest — I’ll never take away Christmas, because that would be taking away the celebration of one of the most meaningful events in history.
But…BUT…that doesn’t mean I won’t use it as leverage when I need to!
Unfortunately, Dash found some spare chalk at the Chalk Walk. So among artful masterpieces, sits this parking space with a few simple flowers, and the letters D-A-S-H! I hope nobody tracks this graffiti back to the Denisons…but we are probably out of luck. So in an effort to not be humiliated next year, Micah had a stern talk with the kids about graffiti on our way home. His first point, “Don’t EVER sign your real name”. His second point, “How to come up with a cool ‘tag name’”.
Skylar got the most lovely love note today. And it must have come all the way from Montreal, Canada, where Nate is serving his mission! It reads, ” Christmas time, Christmas cheer. Christmas is a time to spread our cheer. When I saw your face, I felt so happy. I found the girl that I liked best. You made me so happy, it made me smile ear to ear. Since I’ve known you, I saw your face, it glowed every second of my life.”
Sooooo poetic!
And you can see that it says “From Nate” on the bottom.
Or did it go a little more like this – Navy saw Brigham over and canoodling with Ka. Navy didn’t like what she was seeing, so she devised a plan to make Brigham mad — and possibly get the heck away from Ka. So she manufactured a “love note” from Montreal that was “frum Nate”, and told Ka that something was sent here for her. When Ka read it, she was almost crying — as were all of us. (Except Brigham) But when Icka saw that we might be on to her, she tried to grab the note and run with it. Thank goodness Ka held on for dear life, because I can’t wait to show this “note” to Nate when he gets back. He will always know that we all remained loyal to the end!
Pippi was already excited to have Blush here.
But when she realized that Blush is like a real-live doll, everything just got WAY more exciting!
It is always a great day, when the Christmas cards are printed.
It comes only second, to the day they are all put in the mail!
Don’t be fooled.
My kids, who were legitimately acting good in the waiting room before the dermatologist, turned on me about 30 minutes later.
(To be fair — only one turned.)
I can’t even write about the experience, because I want it erased from my memory.
Let’s just say, that the long-awaited appointment, for the one plastic surgeon/dermatologist who will see kids within 100 miles, went south very quickly.
And let’s sum it up by saying that Navy’s moles are no more.
And Scout will walk with his mole forever…or at least until I have recovered.
Dash was innocent in it all — but the morning breakdown he had before school, might have gotten this day off to its bad start…so he got my wrath too.
After getting home, Scout disappeared for quite a while. When he came back, he had a note for me:
Apparently, he is “supper sorry” and will not disrespect me at a “docter’s ofice.”
I have never received a note from my kids without being touched or softened.
But this note just made me annoyed that his spelling was atrocious!
I told you it was a bad day.
Here is a snap shot into our lives.
My kids are just quickly competing in a headstand competition before bed.
It is also proof, that none of my kids wear diapers at night.
Boo Yeah.
My mom announced this morning, that she wanted to go and get all of the kids from school for a sushi date.
And since my kids are suckers for sushi, I knew that she was creating the best afternoon they could each ask for!
Afterwards, she said, “Wow….your kids are becoming expensive dates!”
Well Nonnie — when you introduce them to the finer things in life, I blame you.
But you are the funnest!
As I perused in a furniture shop, Pippi found every doll and animal, and had all of her children acting quite properly.
And when one got out of line, she patiently went over and spoke sternly enough for that child to behave.
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