Like mother, like son?

In our house, we have two bathrooms and three children. This of course means that there are times when a child has to stand in line and wait in order to use the bathroom. This happened this evening at bedtime. Our oldest was upstairs taking a shower, and I sent JC to use the downstairs restroom. I gave HT his nightly vitamin and then sent him to wait in line to use the downstairs bathroom after his sister was finished. From the next room I could hear her yell, "Keep the door closed!" I went in and reminded HT that he needed to keep the door closed and wait until his turn. He crossed his arms and announced quite sternly, "I am out of patience!" Gee, I can't imagine where he would have ever heard that before!

A great weekend

Everyone in our family had a wonderful weekend. The kids loved every minute of being overnight guests with my best friend, her husband, and their little girl. They couldn't stop talking about it after we got home yesterday. They were also exhausted which was wonderful! Early bedtimes for them! The adults also loved the weekend. We had some maintenance issues at the hotel but were compensated for those, and we all looked lovely in our formal evening wear. Lots of laughs were shared by all and we loved it!

On a lighter note

The kids have been excited as I've been packing their bags for the weekend. HT doesn't have preschool on Fridays, so he was home with me all day as I was getting everything packed. As I laid out the clothes in the living we discussed many things, including how much fun he was going to have and how long he would be gone, and he watched as I packed his bag. Later as he was getting out of the bath tub, I asked him if he remembered how many nights he was going to be gone. He replied, "Yep. Two nights and three underwears!" (I had thrown in an extra pair just in case. He is five after all). I was amused by his perspective on time-telling!

Sad news

My husband just called with sad news from his school district. This morning, one of their students (he teaches at the high school) was killed in a car accident. It's always sad news when a young person passes away, but this one, well this young man had an impact on my husband, and I believe that my husband had touched this young man in some way. About a year ago, or perhaps a little more, this young man had come to my husband and had given him a book that he thought my husband would like to read. My husband was touched by this, because here was a young man that my husband was pretty sure didn't have two nickels to rub together, but this young man thought so highly of my husband that he bought him a book. I remember my husband telling me that he was going to give him a McDonald's gift card when he wrote the thank you. My husband mentioned to me that this young man had a way of finding himself in trouble, but my husband knew there was goodness in him. Our prayers go out to this young man's family, friends, and everyone whose life he impacted, even if he didn't always know it.

A weekend away!

This weekend we are having a child free weekend! My wonderful best friend and her husband are taking the kids for two nights so we can go to Cincinnati with another couple. Tomorrow evening we are going to the Charter Day Ball at Miami University to celebrate the anniversary of its bicentennial. I am so looking forward to a fun weekend away! At the same time, I know I'm going to miss the three little ones terribly. It seems laughable. I'm so anxious for a break, and then I miss them so much when they are gone! I guess that is the role of a parent though. I know that we will have lots of fun, and we are so incredibly grateful to our friends who are willing to take on three extra people for an entire weekend!

God grant me patience

Everyone knows that I am not a person who has a lot of patience. In fact, I have almost none. On the upside, I recognize this in myself and try very hard to force myself to remain patient with my children (and with my husband, as needed...love you dear)! I was raised where I was asked to do something once, and if I had to be asked again, there were often consequences. I've learned not to yell and scream at my children (mostly) when I'm asking them to do something AGAIN. But the area that truly tries my patience is their homework. It seems as though everything my children learned at school goes out the window the minute they leave that brick building. Furthermore, it seems as though they are completely incapable of reading directions and following them. I realize that this is not a life tragedy, but some days are better than others...and this one isn't so grand!

Howling

The wind sure is howling outside. I'm sure every winter is like this, but it seems as though the wind this year has been really strong. I suspect it's just because we notice it more after the September windstorm. I know the kids are really aware of it and are constantly asking if we are having a windstorm. We were one of the very, very lucky ones and we were only without power for five hours. The experience of it all though, seems to have left a last impression on us all!