I had so much I intended to do today. Grocery Day means we are out shopping from 8am to about 11:30 and to be honest it makes me want to zone out when I come home.

I've been directing the girls to clean their room this afternoon. It feels like I'm hitting my head against a wall sometimes when I want them to clean up.

When I look in their room and see things that should already be picked up~water cups from last minute dry mouths after bedtime, old Sunday comics that they just have to read over and over, books strewn all across the floor, flower petals from the roses Mike gave me for Valentines Day that they just wouldn't allow me to throw away, socks x 1,000~I feel like my head is going to explode.

And then I look around the rest of the house~a Christmas bucket that was bought to put goodies in that is now a purse to hold treasures, a camera with pictures on it that they look at over and over, the Disney scrapbook that they have looked at every. single. night. this. week with their Daddy, socks(need I say more), little puffs of stuffing from a stuffed animal that Abby taped to her underarms and back last night and announced she was a man ( I just tried to tell Trevor this story and could hardly get it told I was laughing so hard:)~I know that I'll miss all this when they are grown.

So I take a couple of deep breaths and I try to teach them how to clean their room more efficiently. They will learn. Sooner or later. I'm hoping sooner.

Have you ever thought how much negative speech creeps into your life?

Mike and I were talking on the way home from the Y. He said he was going to try and reword things that he normally says in a negative way to a positive.

For instance, instead of saying to the girls "No, you can't do that." say "Here are some things you CAN do" It got me thinking because I feel like I say NO all the time.

No, you can't climb on the back of the couch.

No, you can't swing the cat around by her legs.

No, you can't jump from the top bunk onto the floor.

No, you can't wear that size 5 dress when you are now a size 8.

I think you get the picture.

I am going to try and make a point to say more positive than negative.

You can climb on the swing set outside instead of the couch.

You can hold the cat nicely or put her down.

You can jump on your mattress from the top bunk.

You can wear the dress to play in while we are home.

Positive speech.

I'll give it a try

We are having a great week of nothing to do. Well, except school, tutorial, church, and cheer-leading. Ummm, besides all that, we have nothing to do. No piano lessons, Select Singers practice, Musical Beginnings Class, or Bible Club.

The girls are having their birthday party on Saturday at the Y. They can't wait and tell me so every. 5. minutes.

I can't believe Mike is graduating in just 2 months. He said today that it took him 6 years like that was a bad thing. I reminded him that he did it while working 54+ hours a week, raising 3 kids, and being a husband. So what if it took him 6 yrs.

Today I baked over 60 potatoes for church and I put them in a cooler to take them to church. Oh my. They were so hot when 3 hours after I made them that I couldn't grab them with my bare hand. I was so impressed that they stayed that hot. Also, it was so easy to bake that many potatoes. I think it has been the easiest thing I have made for large crowds.

I know this post is rambly (no, that's not a word but I like it:) I am so bad at this blogging but I guess I'll just post when I can.

Aren't these pictures lovely? They're from the trip the kids and I took to see my parents last summer.

Why am I posting them now, you ask? Thanks for asking but if I answer that question I will have to tell you about one of my finest moments in parenting~NOT!

I was browsing through our pictures and came across a folder marked 'Recovery' and I cringed because it made me remember that ugly afternoon in June when I reverted back to a bratty 5 yr old.

When we went and visited my parents we took lots of pictures~the Amish country, the boat ride on the bay, exploring Ft. McHenry, the aquarium, the light rail ride where we got thrown off the train, you get the picture, right? (haha)

On the drive south to visit more family, Abby thought she accidentally erased all~ALL those pictures.

Here's where my finest moment began~ I reached into the backseat of the car and snatched the camera away from my precious daughter's hand, tried to get the pictures to reappear on the screen of the camera and when I wasn't successful I threw the camera down in the floor board.

Oh, yes! It was a lovely display of, of~~~errr immaturity, stupidity, ignorance. You can take your pick.

Oh, wait I left off one vital piece of information. Ummm it was Shelby's camera AND I broke it. She got that camera for Christmas and her mother in a temper tantrum broke it.

Now here comes the ignorant part~Mike was able to get every one of the pictures off the card. I felt like a heel and still do.

We couldn't take pictures of our trip to Virginia because that was the only camera we had taken.

Isn't that just the grandest display of parenting ever?