Meltdown Anyone?

Sometimes your kids just need to be snuggled after a rough day.

King's Club was going fine until the last minute. Literally.

We had time inside playing Twister and this fun Dr. Seuss game that I bought the kids for Christmas. But, after school is a tough time to entertain kids and I have found if they have time to run around everyone is just a little better off.

So, we spent time outside. It was a small group today which is lovely, but it is also the first week back after vacation, wed of that week, after school hours when kids are hungry ... you get the idea. Well, combine all those things along with a wide age range of the kids and disaster is bound to happen apparently. Just when I was ready to mark the hour off as a success all you know what broke loose. Kids started trying to mess with the younger kids by taking their toys they were playing with so you have a meltdown, very guilty looking older kids who then end up fussing at each other, reluctant apologies and it's time to go in so one of the littlest ones (mine) start crying because he doesn't want the play time to end. Oh my.

What a great way to end an otherwise good day.

In all honesty I am beat too. Before I had to leave to get Madelyn from school I really just wanted to snuggle up and take a nap. Alas, responsibilities ruin that plan.

So, again tonight I have great plans of snuggling into bed early and reading my book until I fall asleep, but do you know what will really happen? This ...

Dan will get home later than expected. The kids will go to bed later than expected, and they need showers. Dan will then say we have to check in with the wii fit since neither of us has done it today. Admittedly, I have started to look forward to that time of day because it is really funny. I'll post on that later though. Then we will head to the basement where our tv is and it will be an hour before we come back up.

In the meantime, I will hang onto the fantasy in my head of lying in bed at an early hour reading Bonhoeffer (such a great book by the way).

Depressing

I hate it when I get the urge to post melodramatic stuff online whether it's here or on Facebook, but I feel better about posting it here since I believe no one really reads my blog anyway. I have other issues with Facebook right now, but I'll save that for a different post.

So, heregoes my melodrama! ...

I am so worked up over the kids starting school this year. I know that mostly it revolves around Elijah starting Kindergarten and on top of the usual waaaaaahhhhhhh my kid is starting kindergarten I also know he didn't have a great year in school last year for a number of reasons and I am afraid we are going to be facing all of that again as well.

Ugh!

So, naturally, I want to just take each of my children and tuck them ever so gently back under my wings and pretend there is no world out there worth taking every advantage of in all the good and bad it offers to us.

Nope.

Not out there.

Okay, but first, every time I try to hint to the kids that I want to keep them home protected by me forever they instantly resist. And, second, I don't really have wings that I can do that with!

But, the other thing I am stressing over already is them getting sick. It always starts up in the Fall and lasts through the Spring. Both kids. It is very frustrating. On so many levels.

So, what have I been doing? Fretting. Getting annoyed. Feeling anxious.

Is that helping? No.

The other day I even asked myself "Self? Have you prayed about ANY of these things you are fretting over?" And, because I asked myself and because my brain and I share the same, well, brain it just doesn't make sense to lie about it so I had to honestly answer no. And then I quick prayed about it.

Have I really prayed since then? No.

I am pathetic. I think this burden would be a little easier to bare if I asked for some help with it.

This one, and all the others I am holding so close to my heart while not being so nice to my family.

Again, this is one of those reminder posts. Maybe if I write about it I will remember later when I start fretting over the next set of issues that come my way.

Now if you'll excuse me please, I have some praying to do ...

Elijah, the Town Crier

Or, the K4 Crier.

I seriously believe that he sees it as his duty to be the crier of the class. His teacher Mrs. Shrom, or Jane as I sometimes call her, told me today that he was crying so hard yesterday and wouldn't calm down. Finally she told him that he was going to have to sit in time out if he didn't stop and he immediately turned off the water works. She could not believe it. She was at the point where she was ready to go get Dan because he just was not calming down.

He is so theatrical. Yesterday when I asked him if he cried in class he said yes as in, "of course I did." One day he told me it's because that's what he does in his K4 class. But, I told him he didn't HAVE to cry. He is still trying to understand that.

Meanwhile, he LOVES K4 and is so bummed when Friday comes and he doesn't get to go to school that day. He cannot wait to go to school in the morning and is so happy to be there. Silly boy.

Madelyn of course is doing great and is just in her element when she is in school. And, she is riding the bus home which is just so fun. Seeing her little face in the window in the front seat as the bus pulls up to our house just melts my heart, and she waves to me. I just love it. It's my favorite time of day.

Is September really almost here?

My boy is starting K-4 this year. Hard to believe. I keep telling him things that he can and can't do in school trying to prepare him for the classroom setting. For instance, he kissed a kid on the shoulder at swimming lessons the other night. I called him over and explained to him that he just can't kiss his classmates and that the same rule applies to K-4. He said okay and as he was walking back to the pool he turned around, put his arms in the air, smiled big and said, "But they can kiss me!!" Oh boy.

He just loves to hug and kiss people. He loves to sit on people and talk to them, sometimes taking their face in his hands while he is talking to them or asking them a question. It's very sweet, but the older he gets I am trying to teach him about personal space. He is catching on, but last weekend at Dan's parents' church he was greeting the pastor after church. He went to hug the pastor and said, "I can't stop hugging!" I love his personality and his love of life and people. Plus, I can always count on him for a laugh.

So, school should be interesting for my little boy. I am excited for him and for all that he will learn. I know his teacher is wonderful and she absolutely loves her job so I know he will be well-cared for and loved. It is also comforting to know that Dan will be right upstairs. That is a huge blessing. I am really spoiled with our schooling situation, to be less than ten minutes away and have Dan there is just a wonderful thing.

On a related note ...

Madelyn is going to be a 2nd Grader! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How did this happen?? I filled out the re-enrollment forms I had a mini-heart attack. I handed them in to the school and one night Dan came home and said, "So, I saw Madelyn's form and when I saw the 2 for her grade I had to do a double take." So, we both shared a "holy crap our life is passing us by like the speed of light" moment. Granted, we started the girl in school early so it's our fault, but still! She's in second grade!! I'm sure I will freak out every year over this type of thing probably for the rest of her life, but don't we all?

I have been trying to convince her to drop out of school and just do what I like to call Snuggle School at home. Basically we sit on the couch and snuggle all day pretending life isn't passing us by and maybe watch a video here and there. She's not going for it, not even with the lure of a video.

She is a brave girl though. She is going to ride the bus home from school this year. This is huge for Madelyn. I have driven her the past two years, but with Elijah being half day, that's 3 separate trips there and back that I will have to make to the school. And, this year I will have one of Elijah's classmates with me in the afternoons twice a week. So, it will just be nice to not have to make that extra trip. She is fine with it though. She knows some of the kids who will be on the bus, and it is a less than 15 minute ride. I, or Dan, will still drive them to school because the bus doesn't take K-4 students so it's all good.

All in all, it's a big year for us on the school front. EEK!