help transform me into this:
Miss Hannigan....minus the drinking, of course. I'm referring to her line in the song "Little Girls" when she belts out "Someday I"ll be in the nut house. With all the nuts and the squirrels...". That's me these past two weeks...and it begins the second Caroline closes the door from getting in the car at carpool.
The arguing begins, the "that's not fair"s. Yesterday it was started by someone being too cold and wanting the AC turned off (even though it was pretty muggy) and someone else wanting it on. The whining and the aggravated grunts were drowning out my daily questions of "how was school? Did you like your lunch? Who did you sit by today?". Then that sweet looking boy proudly proclaimed (in a bratty taunt) that he had an Icee at Target that morning....which brought on another whine from Caroline. We didn't get one mile from the school before my first Miss Hannigan moment occurred.
So, yes...school's begun but we are not quite back in the saddle. This new schedule is hard! Early mornings rushing off to school in inching traffic, and two kids who take only half of their usual naps, thrown in with a sometimes-bossy big sister who is exhausted by 3:00 make for some fun times in our home. Add piano practice, homework, baths and dinner making to the background tunes of obnoxious laughing, crying, whining.....NUT HOUSE!!! How did my mom do this with five girls in that station wagon??? It will get better. It will. I keep telling myself this! At 7:30 we have three sleeping children, which brings me to my other transforming character...the mommy in "Love You Forever". Yes, I open their doors, I don't crawl across the floor, but I do peek into their beds and see their angelic faces and instantly feel enormous love for them that I forget all about the tantrums, whining, fighting, obnoxious behaviour. They are perfect at those times:)
And speaking of that Target trip where we bought the Icee. Roy Austin cannot wait for cooler weather mainly so he can start wearing his long sleeved shirts. Each day he tells me that it will be okay to wear long sleeves. Yesterday, I told him to go get dressed so we could go to Target and he quickly reappeared wearing this:
John Deere shirt, green and white gingham shorts and his camo fleece. He said "Mommy! It does match! See? Green, green." I let him keep the shirt, but cargo shorts were put on.
And here is sweet Charlotte in her new getup:
I found this brand new Panthers cheerleader outfit for $6 at my favorite consignment store last week. I think I now have a new name for her eye color...Panther Blue. We are not big sports fans, but I thought it would be cute for game day here in the Queen City. This girl amazes me daily with her speech. She is not quite 23 months and she talks more than any of the other two did at this age. Yesterday (on the way into that Target to get my John Deere boy his Icee), I had her on my hip and a dollar in my hand. She said, "That a Dollar, Mama?" And then after dinner last night, she brought me her plate and said, "I want more, Mama." Very matter of fact.
This is my job for the week:
That is my never ending ironing pile that keeps building with each load of laundry I finish. I think I ironed 3 things from it yesterday so it's slowly dwindling. Slowly.
And here is my new book I'm reading. My sister's mother-in-law said it was great so I'm trying it out. It's written by Sandra Bullock's sister who is a baker, hence the title. I"m on chapter three and so far, it's good.
And speaking of baking, I C-A-N-N-O-T wait for Fall to arrive. Going to Target and Homegoods and seeing their decorations out, thinking of stews and pumpkin muffins and cups of coffee on brisk mornings with a fall scented candle lit puts me in a happy place.
I guess at 3:06ish today, I should think of Fall:)
9 comments:
Love the correlation to Ms. Hannigan - I have been there! With you on Fall - bring it. Sensing a blogswap with the onset of the new season. :)
I love the quote in the movie "Shadowlands" that says,
"we read to know we are not alone"... So true! My days look so much like what you described. I know it will get easier, but it is nice to know that I am not alone on my way to 'the nut house'. Nice writing Donna! Your mom did a most excellent job with you and your sisters... you all are so beautiful inside and out!
Love your posting!! That is the cutest picture of little Charlotte - those BLUE eyes! I'm with you - can hardly wait until fall - love that time of year!!
Great post! I laughed and cringed all at the same time. Thank God for the seasons in life both with the weather and with life. I just heard someone tell me today that these days are the easiest...the teens are the hardest. Enjoy! :) You're a good momma and I don't know how you have time to read with all the other things you have going on. Bring on fall is right! (although I'm a little sad Summer is almost gone)
Glad to know that I am not the only one with a never ending ironing pile! About fall too, I am already thinking about the pumpkin chocolate chip muffins I will be making :) Can't wait!
I love Roy Austin's comment, "See? Green-green!" Speaking of the book "Love You Forever", I was reading that to my class at the end of the last school year. As I was reading it, I realized that that was the copy that Jimmy had given me for Mother's Day when he was in 1st grade. As I turned more and more pages I saw pictures that he had drawn on the pages of himself doing what the boy in the book was doing, and he would write "this is me", "this is me as a teenager" and "this is me as a grown-up". At the end he drew a little old lady in a rocking chair (me) and on the last page he drew a baby with a brown face and wrote "My baby boy". I started to tear up as I was reading it and could hardly finish. He would be graduating a couple of days later.
By the way, today was Jimmy's first day of COLLEGE! Where does the time go???
Wow, Donna good post with lots of comments for a change! I skimmed this post this morning and LOL at Mrs. Hannigan. BTDT too! You're just in the thick of it right now. It will get better, although we still have the after school thing in the car. Not so much fighting, just NOISE, which gives me a fast headache after a quiet day.
So what is that book about? Is it a novel?
Donna: This is a great post! It is so nice to know that other Moms feel the same way. We had a situation yesterday afternoon that was a big teachable moment. We saw God answer prayer immediately in two situations. What a wonderful thing to experience! All Moms have things left undone, but when we embrace the small moments with our children, we see that they are really big moments. Yesterday, my son and I had a long prayer time and I could literally feel the weight of his burden leave his body. Only God! So gad to be able to share this season with you!
Thanks for all the sweet comments, girls! I'm glad to see I'm not the only mom who can lose it:). Actually yesterday was a much better day. Roy laid some new ground rules for after school! Aunt Barbara, what a sweet story about Jimmy! I'm lol at the brown face drawing!! Denise, the book is a mixture of bio and recipes. She left her Hollywood life for a quiet country life with her hubby. Amy, those were sweet words! I'm looking forward to Bible study next week. You'll love it!
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