Carpool to the temple?

When John came to me with his plan for ward temple night I thought he was crazy! But I agreed to it because I knew we had people willing to help out! So, his plan was to get two babysitters, Maegen and Kim, who could watch all the kids at my house and we could all carpool together! Okay, not such a bad proposition, but . . . three kids each, well . . . I had my doubts! So last night we left nine kids in the hands of Maegen and Kim and all piled into my vehicle to carpool to the temple! At this point I was thinking, oh my goodness, what did we just do? It wasn't until we were at the temple that it really hit me, we had just left three babies, 15 months, 9 months, and 6 months. I would definitely be overwhelmed. That's why John planned for two babysitters. He has more foresight than I do sometimes.
Now that it is over and done with, it wasn't such a crazy proposition. We are willing to try this again. My house is still standing, the kids are all still alive, and the parents . . . well you'll have to ask them. As for me, I think I am converted to this insane idea of John's!

It seems that I am a little blog happy this week, but I have had so much to share. I know if I wait I will forget. So I will write now while it is fresh in my memory. As it is John had to remind me about this morning.
We were reading the scriptures as a family this morning as we usually do. Amber usually likes to read a verse by herself, and Emma usually likes to repeat after us. This morning all was going as usual until it got to be Emma's turn. I asked Emma if she wanted Mommy or Daddy to help her read. She said none. I want Amber to help me. So Amber quickly jumped on the chance and read each word to Emma, who then promptly repeated it back. The funniest part was when Amber didn't know the word (there are hard words for a Kindergartener in the scriptures!). We had a double echo. I said the word,Amber repeated it to Emma, then Emma said it. Amusing at the least. Amber was so excited that Emma wanted her help! It was a good start to the day!

Sometimes I can't help!

Not many things make me want to cry as badly as seeing one of my children hurt, upset, and such. But the absolute worst is when my children suffer emotional hurts that I just cannot fix. Oh, I can try to fix it with a hug, but sometimes, not even mommy's hug can do the trick. So, this is how I felt when I saw Amber coming to the car after school. She was in tears and holding a yellow paper. That must only mean one thing. She got a yellow ticket (warning ticket!) from her teacher today. That means something happened and I wanted to know about it! Seems so insignificant, but to see her broken down like that just ripped my heart right out. I wanted to scoop her up right there and just hold her, but I couldn't because we were in the pickup area! I had to calm my own tears and talk to her teacher. Amber wasn't upset that she got a yellow ticket per se, it was the fact that she didn't get any time outs before getting a yellow ticket! She is the only child in that class to go immediately to a yellow ticket without having two timeouts first! She knows that and it hurts her terribly to be singled out like that. It isn't easy being picked on by the teacher. Every child needs to be treated fairly and it hurts me that I can't do anything about it. Luckily Amber has such resiliency and an amazing capacity to forgive. I think I would want to stop going to school if I knew my teacher treated me differently.
I knew this situation called for some big guns. When we got home Amber and Emma got in a tiff and Amber pushed Emma down. I sent Amber to her room and Emma downstairs. Ahhh . . . bright light! I took the opportunity to go sit with Amber and talk to her. The rocking chair is in her room. I sat in the rocking chair and gently told Amber to come over. I let her curl up in my lap and we talked. We talked about what happened at school and how she felt. I don't think I've had a better mom moment than this! Okay, so probably, but this definitely makes it to the top. We sat and talked until Amber was calm enough to eat lunch. The girls were so good during lunch and then . . .Shocking . . . all three kids took a nap! Yay!
Amber knows she made a mistake, I had the opportunity to bond with her, and she is ready to tackle the world again. Plus, she gets the chance to eat dinner at Grandpa's house tonight! How much cooler can that get? To her, it is the perfect salve for an injured heart! At least there she knows there are people who love her!

Don't make mom and dad mad!

Yesterday morning John and I had such a laugh. We had heard the girls wake up. They have learned to leave us alone until we say it is time to get up. It works beautifully most mornings. So the girls closed their door and were playing nicely . . . for awhile. All of a sudden Emma started screaming. I was just about to get up to check it out when we heard Amber saying, "Emma, be quiet. You don't want to make mom and dad mad!" Screaming stopped. A few minutes later, more screaming. Amber again . . . "Be quiet, do you want to get mom and dad mad?" I thought it was the funniest conversation and the best part is the girls didn't know we were awake!

Good start to the week!

Yesterday morning I had the delight of sharing my profession with Emma's preschool class. I stewed over what to tell a class of 3-5 year olds. How do you tell a 3-5 year old what an attorney does? I struggled with finding a simple explanation. I shouldn't have worried. It was so easy. I told them that I get to talk to lots of different people, I get to write, and I get to read a lot. They enjoyed the picture I showed them. I had found a coloring page online depicting an attorney holding a gavel. Okay, so it wasn't entirely correct. Attorneys do not hold gavels. I had told them the picture looks like me when I am at work. I shouldn't have said that. They asked me, "Is that you?" They were so excited to see a picture of me at work. Hehe, I then had to explain it was just a random picture but I thought they would like it. I should have made copies so the kids could color the picture. I didn't think that far ahead.

Mrs. Park (Emma's teacher) asked me to tell them what kinds of tools I use in my work. So I told them I use a computer, pens, pencils, paper, stapler, etc. Basically anything you can find in the office supply sotres! It was entertaining to listen to the kids. They all wanted to tell me their stories. It was so fun. There was one little boy that sat right in front just enthralled with what I was saying. Of course he had to tell me he likes to read and wanted to tell me all about the books he reads. Okay, so I don't think they understood, but it was fun for me. I had to actually think about what I do!

I got home just in time to watch Obama's inauguration speech. As much as I don't care for Obama, I felt his speech was full of hope for our country. It was what most people needed to hear, especially when all we seem to hear lately is doom and gloom and the country is going to fail. The speech allowed Obama the opportunity to connect with the American people. I realize his speech was probably written by somebody else, but I was glad that I had the opportunity to listen to it. This is the first inauguration speech I have been able to listen to. It was well worth my time to listen.

Monday evening we had the pleasure of having Jaime, Bryan, and their kids over for games. Actually just one game-- UNO flash. Jaime had bought the game but wanted more people to play it. It is really more fun when there are more than two players. We had just gotten started with the game when my brother and sister in law showed up. They had actually come over for different reasons but we convinced them to stay and play with us. It was so much fun. I am grateful for the opportunities we have to spend time with friends and family.

Why I am grateful for Book Club!

We've had our moments this week! More like our hours, days, whatever. It seems that we have been angry at each other all week long. Frustration reigns! Arghh! Does it ever end? Well, no, but there is some reprieve.
I am so grateful for the people who have listened to me rant and rave! I am especially grateful for the Book Club. At about 5:30 last night I thought I was crazy hosting the book club at my house! What was I thinking? YW basketball game, John in school, kid's bedtime? Okay, so when I agreed to host the book club I didn't know the YW basketball schedule. I also did not know John's school schedule as he had not signed up for classes yet! However, as everything landed on the schedule, it still took me a few days to realize, Oh my goodness! Everything is on the same day! To top off the craziness, I forgot to pick up Emma from Preschool! I was leaving to pick up Amber at 11:40 when I realized, oh no, Emma is at preschool and I was supposed to pick her up at 11:15! Luckily she is just at the elementary school so I could run in and get her real quick. Her teachers were good about it! I feel so bad. How did I forget about Emma? Oh my, I don't know about this!
So, back to the reasons for being grateful for book club. I tried to get the kids in bed before people showed up for book club. But that didn't work. The girls have a routine-- which includes getting in bed, a few seconds later deciding they need to go potty, say prayers, annoy each other, and then conk out on their pillows! Last night they were just finishing the "I need to go potty" stage when people started showing up. Finally the kids were all in bed! But Amber kept calling for me! I told the ladies I was going to ignore her. They didn't have a problem with that! They also listened as I vented a couple of frustrations and didn't make me feel as if I was a horrible mom for feeling the way I do. I was able to vent frustrations, then laugh and have a good time. It was so good to laugh with other women. Even though I felt my day had been very challenging, I went to bed feeling like I could handle another day.

Ummm . . . strange . . . here I am again. (Go ahead, I give you permission just for a few moments to think I am an annoying pest!) Okay, permission rescinded. I told you it would be just for a few moments!

So, here goes. Another peek into the happenings of the McAuliffe family.

The other day the girls were playing on Timothy's bed. I don't remember why I thought they were being so cute, but I took a few pictures. I got the biggest kick out of this picture. Check out Amber's eyes. They are so huge! I don't even know what to compare her to, maybe a monster!

 

Here's just an adorable picture of Timothy. He was trying to run to the camera in hopes he could weasel it away from me. No such luck for him! Mission unsuccessful!

 

The pics for the slideshow are from the Super Reader Party. During the month of November Amber and Emma read (or had read to them) about 20 minutes per day! They were rewarded with a big party at the State Fairpark. They had tons of fun. There were so many activities for them to do. I was shocked that Emma actually touched the snake. Amber would have nothing to do with the snake!