My Opinions

Two things in the media have caught my attention lately.  I don't usually follow new stories and these haven't been any different.  Other than the fact that people have been making noise over these issues, I haven't followed them and don't know all the developments or details.  But everybody seems to have an opinion and I wanted to give mine.  So let me take care of something first before getting into it.  Opinion.  By definition an opinion is a belief or judgement that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty, a personal view, attitude, or appraisal.  Everyone has an opinion, but some people are mocked, criticized, or hated for expressing their opinion.  So maybe you already know where I'm going with this.


First of all, this whole thing about Chick-fil-a coming out and saying they believed in the Biblical definition of marriage, one man and one woman.  They do not support gay marriage.  I'm so very glad they did.  They had the courage to state their own beliefs, or opinions.  It's not surprising since the company is a Christian family owned chain of restaurants.  Now they are getting slammed from the gay supporters.  They're being called bigots, close-minded neanderthals, anti-gay, heathens.  For a group of people who are shouting for everyone to be open-minded and tolerant, they sure can throw the hate on.  Chick-fil-a did not say they would no longer serve gay people.  They did not say they would no longer hire gay people, or if they discovered gay people working for them they would be fired.  They simply said they believed in the Biblical definition of marriage.  I whole-heartily agree with them.  Being a Christian, my opinion is the Biblical definition is correct.  That's what an opinion is, when you believe something to be right.  It doesn't mean everyone is going to believe the same way as you and can't force them to.  Non-Christians have made it abundantly clear they don't like Christians shoving the Bible and religion in their faces and I can't say I blame them.  I don't like having different groups shoving their beliefs in my face saying "You have to be tolerant, you have to accept this, and you can't say anything mean or hateful to us." I've seen that trying to force someone to listen to my beliefs only turns them away that much quicker.  Until they have an accepting attitude, they are not going to listen to what I have to say about God.  Yes, I'm a Christian, I believe in God, I believe the things He says in the Bible to be true, I do not support gay marriage.  But will I ever be mean or hateful to a person because they're gay? No.  God teaches us to love our neighbors.  He didn't say only love your neighbors who are like you, or believe the same you do, or act like you, or dress like you.  There are no stipulations on this command.  He teaches to love people, but hate sin.  It's not going to do any good to go up to a gay, an atheist, or someone of a different religion, start wagging my finger in their face saying, "You're wrong, you need God, you need the Bible, you're living in sin, you need to get right." That's going to offend them, and when someone gets offended they're going to shut you out.  A Christian can't beat someone over the head, calling them sinners and then try to convince them that our God is a God of love.  So my approach is to wait.  I'm going to be nice, respectful and I will be your friend.  I'm going to live my Christian life in front of you and hope my actions speak for themselves.  Then if you ever come to me and ask about God or the Bible, whatever your sexual orientation, whatever your beliefs, I will then tell you what I believe because that's the only time a person is going to listen and maybe even accept what I say.  
Seeing all the hateful comments aimed at Chick-fil-a for their beliefs made me wonder why it was okay for the gay supporters to say anything they want in support of their lifestyle, even if it is hateful or close-minded, but Christians can't say what they want about their beliefs without being persecuted.  Tolerance is a two way street. If Christians have to be tolerant of each groups choices, then the same groups should be tolerant of ours.  Calling each other names and saying hateful things about each other is never going to get anyone to listen to the other side.




The other issue that evoked another strong opinion in me is the gun control issue.  What happened in Colorado at the theater was a tragedy and unfortunately has sparked another wave of people wanting gun control laws.  They shout that if we had these laws and we took guns away from the people then there would be less gun related crimes.  I just don't see the logic in that.  I think if the government was to take away all the guns, then the only people who didn't have guns would be the honest people who've never committed a gun related crime in their lives and never plan to.  Criminals don't follow laws, if they did, they wouldn't be criminals.  Criminals will be the only people with guns, except maybe the police.  Gun crimes will sky rocket because the criminals will know that no one will be able to defend themselves.  I always think about this: there's two scenarios.  First, the world where there are gun control laws and no one has any guns to protect themselves.  A man intent on robbing a store gets a gun and runs in, he knows for sure that no one in there has a gun, he has plenty of time to rob the store and everyone in it blind and get away before the police can get there, he's safe.  Second, the world where the people are allowed their concealed weapons and the right to use them judiciously.  The same robber thinks about robbing a store, before he runs in and robs everyone he has to wonder who might be carrying and will he survive this robbery.  He's second guessing and wondering if it's worth it.  Say he does decide to rob it, and more than one person including the store owner has a gun.  Chances are the people and the owner would only have to pull their guns out and the would be robber would probably flee the scene with out any violence.  And if he does go on and try to rob it? He gets shot.  If he's wounded he'll be treated and be arrested for attempted robbery, if he's killed, no one will have to worry about him hurting anyone else.  Criminals are going to target people who can't defend themselves.  If they have a choice they will attack someone or somewhere they know there are no guns, that way they don't have to worry about getting hurt.
I live in the south where most everyone has a gun.  Most of those people have done it the right way.  Both my parents went to the class, went through background checks, bought their guns legally and always have their carry permit with them.  In all the years they've had their permits, and carried their guns, they have never once had to even pull their guns on someone.  No one ever even knows when they have them.  
Criminals commit crimes with guns.  They also commit crimes with cars.  Are we going to ban cars? Criminals commit crimes with ski masks on.  Are we going to ban ski masks? Hollywood makes movies that depict people shooting other people.  Are we going to ban movies?  How far will the gun control people take it? I've seen videos of criminals attempting to rob different places using other things besides guns, there's been swords, knives, baseball bats, crossbows.  Anything can be a deadly weapon, not just a gun.  A gun in the hands of a responsible person only trying to protect his family is not a threat to anyone.
So my opinion: Everyone should get a gun and learn how to use it.  Less people would be victims and criminals would start second guessing before committing crimes.  


So this post may have been long winded and a bit tirade-ish.  But these were strong opinions I had on these issues.  These are my own thoughts and if they don't mesh with yours, that means you have your own thoughts.  I don't expect everyone to believe like me, this world would be pretty dull everyone was exactly alike.  But I do ask you respect my opinion as being my own.  You might be reading this thinking this woman is completely insane.  That's okay with me.  I might think the same about you if I heard your opinions.  But there again, what you think of me is your opinion.  Opinions are what make us different.  It's my opinion that all vegetables are yucky, doesn't make it true.  It's my opinion that I have the cutest, most adorable little boys on this planet.  My mother would say that's not an opinion, that's a fact.  But what mother doesn't think that about her children.  My point to all this is why can't people respect other people's opinions instead of being hateful to them.  If you don't agree with someone, you don't have to say anything, just walk away and leave them alone, unless you're both willing to discuss your opinions civilly.  

What A Day!!!

So, here's what happened.  In one of those "temporary insanity" moments, I decided to make Kenny's one year doctor appointment at 8:15 in the morning! The doctor's office is a good thirty to forty minute drive from my house.  But I need gas, so I need to leave earlier.  My mother is going with me, because a doctor's visit equals shopping trip, and we must not miss those opportunities.  So at 7 am, she's at my house and we're pulling out of the drive at 7:15.  I stop for gas, and we're headed to the doc's.

We arrive at the doc's office about fifteen minutes early and have to wait for them to open the doors.  In case y'all didn't know yet, I live in the south where the heat has now reached a 1,000 degrees.  So we're sweating our patootie's off waiting on them to open the door.  So we get in, get all the paperwork filled out because they haven't had me fill out a hundred times before, we must do it again, and me and Kenny go back while my mom and Connor stay out in the waiting room.  While we're waiting on the doctor, Kenny is having a good time walking up and down the exam table, climbing on me, trying to climb off the exam table, throwing a fit to be in the floor, and beating on the walls.  Finally the doctor comes in and says everything is looking great.  YAY! The doctor said he was above average in head circumference and height.  My mother (who wasn't in the room, remember?) heard, "He's a genius and the most adorable baby I've ever seen".

After the doctor, we went around the corner to where my husband works and saw him.  We love visiting Daddy at work, and Daddy loves to see us.  We said hi to everyone and Kenny showed off his walking and dancing skills as Daddy played his favorite, The Gummy Bear Song. (See last post to find a link to the song, if you've never heard it and want to)  Daddy gave Connor two dollars and told him he could get some ice cream after lunch.

So then it was on to the shopping.  After a successful trip into the clothes store where I found two cute tops, and a successful trip into Archiver's where my mom found a couple of stamps and Connor was on his best behavior, we decide to go eat at the food court in the mall.  On the way there Connor said he was going to buy a cookie with his $2.

Whoever designed the mall was either really smart, or really devious, because you can't sit at the food court without seeing the carousal.  As soon as we walk in Connor starts, "I want to ride that!" How much does it cost to ride the carousal? $2.  So I told Connor he had to choose, he could buy ice cream, like Daddy suggested, a cookie, like he was talking about, or ride the carousal, but whatever he chose he had to eat his lunch.  And he did! My picky, skimpy eater ate all his nuggets and some fries.  Then I asked him what he had decided to do with his two dollars and he wanted to ride the carousal, so that's what he did!

So then we headed to Wal-mart because the other day I got a phone call from the portrait studio offering me a free 10x13 photo for Kenny's birthday.  I made the appointment for 3 because I figured we'd be all day shopping.  Wrong.  We get to wal-mart at one! I thought maybe they might could get us in earlier, but nope, they were booked and then the photographer had to take her lunch.  I should have just rescheduled and went on home, but nooooooo! I come from a family of 'going to see it through no matter what' kind of people.  At 2 I decided I would go ahead and reschedule.  But the people ahead of us was still in there.  Finally, at 2:30 they left and I thought, "well, there's only a half hour left, might as well stay now."
An hour later we're finally leaving.  The kids are tired and my mom and I are beat.

Oh, but the fun doesn't stop there.  When we got home we went over to my mother in law's so she could visit with the grand kids and she was making spaghetti for supper.  After supper she gave Kenny the rest of his birthday present (It didn't come in in time for the party) It was a little CD player for kids and she had her daughter burn a CD with nothing but the Gummy Bear Song on it, over and over and over and over.  So now he can listen to it non stop as much as he wants.  I have discovered that when relatives buy presents for kids, they take no consideration for the parents sanity.  But it's okay, Kenny loves it and I love seeing my baby happy.  Besides, until he figures out how to turn it on and press the play button, I still have control over how many times in a row it plays!

So we were sitting there listening to the gummy bear song for the 158th time and my sister in law starts talking about the new movie Magic Mike.  I'm not sure how it happened, but before long she had talked me into joining her in making these pictures to put on facebook.  She made one with her fellow and I made one with mine.  Then we posted them on facebook and watched everyone start laughing! So I thought I'd share it here too:

So that was my day.  It was a really good day, the kids behaved, I got new clothes, Kenny got a good report from the doctor and I'm going to see Magic Mike with my sister in law sometime Saturday.  

Kenny's First Birthday Party!

Kenny turned one on June 22.  He actually had two birthday parties.  Since my husbands mother had to work on Saturday, she had him a little cake, ice cream and presents the night before.  It was going really good until Kenny grabbed his daddy's cup of milk.  Now, for the past few days Kenny has been drinking out of regular cups really good.  The only problem he has is when he's done, he throws it down! So when he grabbed Brad's milk, everyone got nervous except for me and Brad because we had seen him drink from cups.  I brag on him, telling everyone, "It's okay, he can drink from a regular cup, watch." What does he do? Dumps it all over himself.  So for the rest of the evening I'm getting teased and laughed at because I let him do it.  But it was nice, his granny got him this cute little activity table that plays music and lights up.  He loves it, he can stand up at it and dance.


The next day was his other birthday part for everyone else, mostly my side of the family.  I got the cutest idea for his cake.  Kenny, for whatever reason, has come to love the Gummy Bear Song <-- this is the link in case you've never heard it before--  This song can instantly change his mood.  He can be mad, upset, crying and screaming, but if we turn on the gummy bear song, he will stop, start laughing and dancing.  Since it seems to be the only thing right now that he just absolutely loves, I decided to have a picture of it put on his cake.  The Kroger Bakery does that.  I took them the picture and they put it on the cake.  Not only that, but Kroger, ours at least, gives a free little cake they call a "smash cake" on the first birthday for the baby to dig into.  It turned out so cute.  Being the procrastinator that I am, at 1:00 I leave to head to Walmart and get Kenny's birthday present, and then to Kroger to pick up the cake.  I got home with thirty minutes to spare!

Brad graciously volunteered to grill out for everyone.  Hamburgers and hot dogs.  I don't want to brag, but y'all, my husband can grill up some awesome food!! I love when he grills for us, it's always grilled just right, never burnt or under cooked, juicy, just perfect!! He started grilling as the grandparents and great grandparents arrived.  While he was grilling, Kenny entertained everyone by dancing to the gummy bear song! (His great grandparents were still laughing about this morning at church)



So we eat, and then pull out the cake.  We give Kenny his little smash cake and at first he's a little shy with it.  Then he realizes it's edible.  Before long it's all over his face, his clothes, his hair, the chair, up his nose and in his ears! That's when we decided it probably would've been a good idea to let him open presents before digging into the cake.  So while the rest of us are enjoying the big cake, my mom and grandma stick Kenny in the bath and wash him off.  We get him redressed and after my grandmother insists on coming his hair, which didn't do any good cause he ran his hands through it and messed it back up, we give him his presents.

All the presents are in gift bags so it's easy for him to open.  I encourage him to pull out the tissue paper in the first bag.  He leans over and looks in.  Clothes.  (Cute clothes) so he goes to the next bag, pulls out the tissue paper.  More clothes. (Even cuter clothes) On to the third bag, pulls out the tissue paper, and again, clothes.  (I'm happy, cause he's out grown everything else and the clothes are so cute) On the fourth bag he was done, he started playing with other stuff.  I knew there was a toy in the fourth bag because it was from me and Brad.  But I could not convince him to pull the tissue paper out of the bag! I finally pulled it out and tipped the bag over for him to see and then he wanted it out of the bag and out of the box so he could play with it!

So he had a great first birthday!

A Whole Year is Gone

My youngest son Kenny will be one on the 22nd of this month.  A whole year has passed.  I can remember a year ago I was so miserable.  I was ready for him to get here.  I was excited too, I couldn't wait to meet him.  I couldn't wait to see the differences between him and his older brother.  What would he look like? What would his likes and dislikes be? What would he show interest in? What would he care less for? Well, I've had a year to learn about him.  He's a very different baby than Connor.

Right off I noticed that Kenny was a very determined baby.  Most of the time he was relaxed, easy going, laid back.  He just went along with the flow, unperturbed by what went on in his world.  But when he decided he wanted something, like to be picked up, then he'd start whining.  If ignored, the whining turned into crying.  If the crying was ignored, it turned into screaming.  I say all this in the past tense, but he still does this.  Now he follows me around the house, letting me know he wants to be picked up.  I have had to pick him up and go put him in his crib to let him cry it out.  But since he's so determined, crying it out can last forever.  I've tried distracting him, I've tried picking him up and getting him calmed to put him back down, I've tried bribing him with food.  Nothing works.  Fortunately this doesn't happen a lot except when he's teething or going through a growth spurt.

We also discovered pretty early on that it doesn't take much to make him smile.  Me or his daddy can just look at him and we get his big goofy grin in return.  And he has the cutest laugh ever.  He's very ticklish and we've found all his tickle spots.  I love his grin.  He's got a small gap between his two front teeth and when he grins you can see it.  He'll throw his head bag, squint his eyes and grin as big as he can.  That grin makes my heart smile.  He loves to play and his favorite thing to do is play with faces.  He'll stick his fingers in our mouths, grab our bottom teeth and pull.  He also likes to pull on his daddy's nose.  He also finds it hilarious to smack us on the face and hear us say 'ow'!

Kenny is definitely a mover.  He's never still.  Trying to change a diaper on that kid should be an Olympic sport! He'll do one of two things: He either pulls his legs up to his chest and start playing with his hiney (that's usually only when he's dirty) or he waits until the diaper is off and starts rolling away.  It's hard to hold him down, keep his hands above his waist, his legs down and put a diaper on him all at the same time.

But the biggest thing I can't believe with him is how he eats.  Connor has always been a skimpy eater.  When he was 8 weeks old he was diagnosed with Pyloric Stenosis and had to have surgery.  He lost a lot of weight for a baby and since then has never really ate.  He also inherited my picky eating habits.  But he's healthy, he has plenty of energy, he's just skinny.
Kenny never stops eating! He is as opposite from Connor in the food department as one can be.  I have yet to fill this child up.  Even has a newborn, he'd nurse for a long time.  The only time I've seen Kenny turn food away was one time when he didn't feel good and had a fever.  My parents kept them the other night for my husband and I to go out for our anniversary.  They told me he ate supper, then laughed and said he ate 6 chicken nuggets and half a banana.  My mother in law was watching them other day while I was cutting grass and said he ate an entire grilled cheese sandwich and some pudding.  Last night he ate an entire bowl of a pasta dish I had cooked.  That kid will eat anything that doesn't eat him first.  When he sees food, he spits his pacifier across the room! It literally flies!


It has been quite an interesting year of learning all these new things about Kenny, like he inherited my curls, or his daddy's dimples.  Or how when he decided he wanted to walk he just started walking. (He's been walking really good for a couple of weeks now) and when he cries he has this heart breaking, pitiful cry that makes you feel like a terribly cruel person if you don't pick him up and comfort him.

They Grow Up Too Fast

I love the country song Don't Blink by Kenny Chesney.  There's a line in it that says "Don't blink, you just might miss your babies growing like mine did".  I'm finding that's true.

On July 11, my oldest will be four.  Four! That's how long I was in high school, that's how long my husband and I were married before we got pregnant with him! Of course he thinks he's grown.  I don't know how many times a day I hear "I'll do it myself", or "I'm a big boy".  He no longer needs pull-ups during the day, he's in a grown up bed, he drinks out of grown up cups, and now he thinks he can wipe his own little bottom. (That didn't turn out to good by the way).  I love seeing him grow up and learning how to do things, watching his mind figure things out.  But at the same time I realize he used to need me for these little things and now he doesn't.  In another year he'll be starting kindergarten! That's a day I'm not looking forward to.  We drive by the elementary school whenever we leave the house and I see all those little kids out there playing and I just know once he's turned loose in those kids I'll never see him again!  Connor's excited about going to school, he can't wait.  But I think that's because every time we drive by the school, he sees the kids out on the playground, so to him that's what school is, playing.

On June 22, my youngest will be one.  A whole year has gone by and it's felt like a few weeks.  In the past twelve months Kenny has learned how to smile, babble, grab, laugh, crawl, feed himself, hold his own drink, clap, put things in buckets, and now walking.  Last night I was putting sheets on Connor's bed.  I turned around to tuck them in at the bottom and Kenny was on his feet just booking it across the floor.  I counted about five quick steps before he lost his balance, fell and started clapping.  He was so proud of himself! I helped him back to his feet and took another four steps.  It won't be much longer before he's running around with Connor.








It seems that in a few short more weeks, they'll both be in school, then they'll be teenagers, then they'll be in college and adults and have their own lives.  But I'll always be their momma.  I know from experience you never get passed needing your mother.  My husband and I both still need out mom's.  So I'll always be here for them whenever they need anything.  But I wish sometimes I could slow down time and enjoy them being little just a little bit longer.

The Escape of the Keys

I know that there is rarely an easy day where everything goes perfectly and smoothly.  But do some days really have to be so stupid?  And why can't your brain just recall whatever you want it to?  Our brains remember everything we ever hear, read, and see.  We just don't have the recall capability.

I woke up this morning tired.  I really didn't want to get out of bed, but the kids are always up no later than 6:30am.  I wasted a lot of the morning sitting on the couch, trying to talk myself into getting up and getting something done.  It wasn't going very well.  I was just about resigned to spending the day on the couch until Kenny started wailing from their room.  The worst case scenario sprang to mind: He hurt bad, there'll be blood, broken bones, missing teeth he just grew in.  I get back there and Kenny's just sitting in the floor crying.  Connor has destroyed their room with toys.  So after I get Kenny calmed down I figure I might as well stay up on my feet to get some things done.

I go get dressed and start picking up each room.  I'm going along fine, watching the clock because nap time has to be right around the corner.  I make it to the kitchen.  There's a check laying there that I know I better put in my wallet to deposit in the bank tomorrow.  So, like always I open the back pocket of my wallet and put the check in.  In the back pocket of my wallet I keep extra keys.  But they've in there so long I can't remember what they fit.  So I thought, "I'll get my keys and compare them.  I'll know what these go to if they match any of the keys on my key ring." that's where my trouble started.

We keep a key hook in the laundry room.  It's really in a dumb place.  It hangs on the wall right over the garbage can.  When I go to get my keys, they're not there.  Okay, if they aren't on the hook, they have to be in the diaper bag.  I checked that diaper bag three times.  Then I dumped everything out and came just short of tearing the lining out, convinced those keys HAD to be in there.  They weren't.  My  darling hubby is always fussing at me to always hang them back up so I thought maybe he hid them to 'teach me a lesson'.  (He's did that with something else....once)  I called him to ask and he said he hadn't seen them.  Of course I got the speech on how if I would just hang them up every time I wouldn't be trying to find them now.

I go through my purse, I go through pants pockets, I go through the kids toy boxes, I look under my bed.  I called Wal-Mart to see if anyone had turned in lost keys, I texted my preacher's wife to see if I had left them at the church, I called my mom to see if they were at her house, I walked over to my mother in laws to see if they were there, I searched the car, the grass around the back porch, I backed the car up to see if they were under it, I even looked inside the shoes that sit in the laundry room.  Nothing.  They were just gone.  I just know if my keys could talk they would've been laughing at me, mocking me.  I wonder if Kenny ate them, since he seems to eat anything he can get his hands on.  I wonder if Connor flushed them like he did my MP3 player that one time.  And of course the whole time I'm looking for them Connor and Kenny are right underneath me.  Connors want to play a game, then he wants a drink, then he wants a snack, then he's had an accident in his undies, then he wants to go outside and catch bugs.  Kenny just wants to be held.

Then an awful thought hit me.  What if they had fallen off the hook and into the garbage that my husband had just sacked up and taken out to the big can last night.  I really didn't want to have to dig through the trash.

Well, by this time it was lunch.  I'm fixing lunch for the kids, thinking of any other place they might could be before going through the trash.  And while I'm pouring Connor some tea, I happened to remember that I had dropped some keys into the little bag I keep my Bible in when I go to church on Sundays.  I went to look and there they were! I was so happy at not having to go through the trash I was dancing around in the living room with Connor giving me a thumbs up and telling what a good job I had done!

So my keys are safely hung back up....over the garbage can. We really need to find a new place for the garbage can, or the key hook.  It's amazing how one discovery (keys being missing) can really throw your day out of whack.  I still feel befuddled.  Of course that could be Connor in there saying "Mario Galaxy" over and over and Kenny turning the DVD player on, which turns Connor's game off, which makes Connor fuss, which make Kenny laugh.  So yeah.  If my biggest accomplishment today is that I found my house keys, I'm good with that.

Cleaning House? That's a Joke!

Ever heard the saying "Cleaning your house while you have kids is like shoveling snow while it's still snowing"? I don't believe there has ever been a truer statement made!

I have been putting off my house work because I simply don't like doing it for a couple of weeks now.  I was keeping the laundry and the dishes done and that was about it.  The dust was actually starting to look at me as I walked past.....staring....with little beady eyes.....accusing me of being a terrible house cleaner.  The weird thing was when it talked to me, I heard my mother's voice.  Let me tell why this is such a big deal.  I come from a line of OCD neat freaks.  It's getting less with each generation so I'm not as bothered by a messy house as my mother or her mother.  My grandmother's house is immaculate every day, all day.  You could literally eat off her floors.  My mom's house is nice and neat and 99% of the time picked up and clean.  My house is liveable.  But I have two small children.

So back to my messy house.  I decided Monday I had to get some cleaning done, I couldn't take it anymore.  Then something else happened.  I think my grandmother somehow possessed me and I decided to clean out closets, drawers and cabinets because we had way too much junk.  I started in my bathroom.  I got the bathroom clean and opened up my walk in closet that was no longer walk in.  I started pulling out clothes, shoes, purses, and hats.  Just as I get my closet all torn apart, that point-of-no-return, the nine month old decides he's going to through the biggest fit he's ever thrown.  I pick him up and he hushes.  I get him calmed and then set him down.  He looks at me, his lip quivering, tears in his eyes, but he's quiet.  I get back in my closet, he starts all over.  For two hours, while I'm sorting through clothes that are too little or that I don't wear anymore, he's screaming.  I'm doing my closet as fast as I can, but he just kept screaming.

I finally get done with the closet and get him settled down.  So I tackle the drawers and cabinets in the bathroom.  This doesn't take me as long as my closet, but while I'm going through this stuff, Connor comes in and thinks all the stuff I have in the floor is for him to play with.  Every time I go to look for something or put something back, he's got it, pretending it's a race car or a monster he has to kill.

By the time I'm done with the bathroom (that's the closet, three drawers, three cabinets, the usual scrubbing down of the two sinks, the tub and the toilet, then vacuuming) it's lunch time.  Usually I can do both the boys lunch and nap at the same time.  But after Kenny's big fit, he's sleepy, so I feed him and get him down for a nap before Connor.  By the time I wrestle lunch down Connor, get him down for a nap and eat my own lunch, Kenny's ready to get up.

I spend the rest of the day and evening doing mine and my husbands bedroom.  Dusting, straightening up, cleaning out our bedside tables and vacuuming.  The entire time having to deal with the kids and the dog right up under my feet.  Because Connor likes to chase the dog and the dog will run to me for protection.

Tuesday morning I decide to tackle the dining room.  I've got a cabinet and a hutch that needed going through and cleaning out.  Luckily my mother in law was home and let Connor play at her house while I worked.  (She lives right beside us)  But Kenny uses me as a jungle gym while I'm in the floor cleaning out the hutch.  I'm able to get the dining room and part of the kitchen clean before lunch time.  This time lunch goes smoothly, which is rare.  I don't question it, I just enjoy it. I get them down, eat my lunch and enjoy a few minutes of peace before getting back to work.

By this time the need to clean out cabinets, drawers and closets has left and I'm done.  I decide to do just my regular cleaning and continue the cleaning out some other time.  I do dishes, scrub down the counters, dust off my pretties, or as we say here in the south, my purties, and make tea.  The next room on the list is the small laundry room at the back door.

By this time the kids are up and right up under me again.  We keep an 'outside toy box' in the laundry room that holds all the toys the boys are only allowed to play with outside: sidewalk chalk, bubble blowers, basketballs, soccer balls, and the quilt we use for picnics.  Somehow the bigger things have ended up on bottom and the smaller things are falling out the top.  So I pull everything out to get it back right and here comes Connor again.  "Can I play with that? Can I play with this? Oh, this is my favorite, I want to play with it!" I calmly (because they haven't driven me nuts yet today like they did yesterday) tell him, "No, those are only for outside." So you can guess his next question, "Can I go outside and play?"  again, calmly, "No, I'm cleaning right now and it's cold outside." So he starts whining, a new things he thinks will get him his way, even though it never has he keeps employing it.  I tell him to stop whining he's not going to go outside.  He keeps on until I finally shout at him to go play in his room before he gets in real trouble.  He disappears.  The whole time this went on, Kenny's snuck up behind and is playing with the 'outside' toys.  He's learning how to use his brother as a distraction to do what he wants.

I get everything put back, straighten up the shoes and start to sweep.  Kenny's sitting in the middle of the floor grinning at me.  I pick him up and move him out of the laundry room and before I can get back in the there, get the broom and start sweeping, he's back, grinning at me.  He thinks it's a game.  I move him again, run in there and sweep as much as I can before he's back.  We don't have a baby gate any more and I keep forgetting to pick one up.  I'm regretting this as I move from sweeping to mopping.  Because now every time I move him, he starts crying.  I get finished in there only to come find that Connor has destroyed the living room.  I think he was trying to see if all his toys would fit in the living room.

So today I'm working on the rest of the house.  Hopefully I can get most of it done today if not all and rest the next few days.  So far I've been able to keep the rooms I completed picked up and clean.  But I know they won't stay that way.  Usually when I get done with the last room, it's time to start all over again.  See, shoveling snow while it's still snowing.