Today was a good day

Both kids went to bed on time last night. Aiden actually went to sleep before 9. He was well rested, and when he got up this morning, was behaving like my sweet boy, not the grouch that had taken over his body for the last several weeks.

Once Kaya and I got him off to school, she and I went to McDonalds (Eww, I know) and got fruit and yogurt parfaits (well, I had a fruit and walnut salad- for which the lady behind the counter gave me a package of caramel apple dip. Why?) and coffee. She played on the play structure while I continued to attempt to read ahead in my environmental science book. After about 45 minutes, we wrapped it up and went to the library. We found the books we wanted and were on our way out the door when the nice man up in Children's Services told us that story time started in about 1/2 hour. We had been planning a hike, but instead decided to go for a walk around Muskegon, play at Hackley Park (no swings or anything, but a few cool statues and a walk way of hexagonal paver bricks that we played "don't step on the cracks" on), and just generally hanging out. When we returned to the library, we gathered in the story time room where Mr. Jim read a couple of stories, taught the children a fun song, then the children did an activity where they made a nest with a bird (a peep) and some eggs (jelly beans). It was so fun.

After that, Kaya and I came home and I made home made chicken nuggets and frozen tater tots and peas for lunch. While we ate, she watched a Care Bears movie and then I cleaned the kitchen and we went to get Aiden from school.

After school, we went straight to Clear Springs for a hike, but decided we were all in the mood for a trail run. We had such a great time!

It's been a wonderful day. Now I'm going to put chicken in the oven for some pasta alfredo and I'm going to work on getting the last of the leaves out of my front yard.

I LOVE Spring!

Whine, Whine, Cry, Cry

What is WITH my children this week? My formerly sweet and extremely (for the last year or so) well behaved daughter and my always mellow and laid back son are no longer their normal mellow and well behaved selves! Maybe mean mommy is more effective? As soon as I resolved to be more understanding of their quirks, their quirks seem to have gone THROUGH THE ROOF!!
I swear, Kaya has not stopped talking in a week. I don't even know if she's taken a breath or chewed any food. It has literally been non-stop "blah blah blah" since last weekend.
And Aiden! EVERY LITTLE THING sends him into a crying jag. Oh, you were fighting with your sister and I said no stories tonight? BWAAAAHHHH!!! Aiden, you need to finish your dinner before you can go play- BWAAAAHHH! Aiden, brush your hair before school- BWAHHHHH! I'd blame it on exhaustion, but I've tried to send him to bed at 8 (his bedtime!) every night this week (he was in bed past 8 only once!) and he just can't get to sleep- claims he's not tired!
Kaya, though- she might be tired. She, unlike most NORMAL human beings, seems to get MORE energy when she's tired. Today, her sleepies were showing though- she had dark circles (that she, luckily for her, didn't inherit from me- Aiden got those), and was just kind of dragging. That meant no climbing on the coffee table (I caught her doing that twice this week, by the way- she's NEVER done that, and both kids know they don't mess with the furniture!) but it didn't stop her or even slow her down in the talking department.

Let's hope next week is a little easier. I don't want to be that awful screaming, threatening mom, but I also don't want heathens for children- I'll be mean mom before I'll have rotten brats.

Balance, young grasshopper, balance.

Apparently I'm not the only one

Unfortunately I'm not the only person in my family with a temper. Somehow it seems that I married a man who gets as annoyed with the kids as I do- and he can be just as nasty to them as me. Yesterday Aiden dropped his pizza in the living room. Andy and the kids were having a picnic night- watching a movie and eating pizza- while I was at school. Aiden wasn't paying attention- he was watching the movie, not what was going on with his food- and he dropped his slice of pizza, face down, on the carpet. Now, this isn't as big a deal as it probably sounds like- my carpet is not nice. It's never been nice, as long as we've lived in this house. However, Andy was irritated and he blew up at Aiden- he yelled at him so badly that he had to appologize because he just took it too far.

This is something I will say about our parenting style. Occasionally we get too angry and we yell past what is acceptable for the offense. However, when that happens, we do admit we were wrong and appologize. I think it's more important for our children to see us as failable creatures who can accept when they've made a mistake and appologize for it, rather than having them think that we think we're infallable.

Anyhow, Andy and I had a discussion last night about how we both really need to light up on Aiden. He's such an amazing child- he really is- and our expectations of him are too high sometimes. We both need to work on this.

There are things I need to work on...

I know, I really pull off the "super mom" thing pretty well in public. I mostly manage my life- school, work, kids, housework, cooking... I really try to do it all. However, it's stressful and I'm not always the kindest, most understanding mother. As a matter of fact, this is probably the thing that bothers me most about "me". So, these are things I want to work on:

Lighten up on Aiden. He's an almost 8 year old boy- he is a child who has energy that needs to be used.

My children need more positive reinforcement from me. Less yelling.

Aiden and Kaya are wonderful children- they deserve to be talked to with respect and love.

Be kind when they make mistakes- they're just children.

Use time more efficiently for less stress. Don't take stress and exhaustion out on them.

Spend less time playing on the computer- it wastes time you could spend playing with your children.

This blog is going to be rededicated to working on these goals. I know that seems counter-productive since one of my goals is to spend less time playing on the computer, but this won't take the hours I literally waste every day messing around on the computer.

I need to get these things together. It bothers me that I have these faults, and I want to work through them. It's not ok for me to juggle a super busy life at the expense of my children. It's time to get the balance back.