'I'm In the Mood For Love...."

Picture this: 6:30 a.m. Alarm goes off. Snooze button hit. 6:50 a.m. husband comes in and announces I'm going to be late if I don't get up. I reluctantly get up, shuffle to the bathroom to start getting ready... I venture slowly into the living room to tell Brandon to please remember to deliver Valentines to his parents from the kids (Spiderman and Bible verse notes...So cute...). Brandon doesn't know what in the world I'm talking about, despite having talked on this last night. Brandon leaves for school, hopefully with Valentines in hand...

7:10 a.m. I am ready. Kids are still sleeping. I make sure the Valentine's box has it's final touches with everything I need for the day at the various locations I plan to stop. It's all good.

7:20 a.m. I talk Braylon into getting out of bed despite his, "Just 7 more minutes because I'm still tired" speech. I bribe him to get out of bed by promising he can wear his Spiderman shirt, which I have no idea it's location. Search for the Spidey shirt. Find it after several minutes. Set Braylon on his course of getting ready with a firm warning not to drown his toothbrush with toothpaste....Again.

7:25 a.m. Ok we should be gearing up to leave already and Blaine is still snoozing away, snoring and oblivious to my calls to wake up. I yank him out of bed only to find that he wants to cuddle. I bribe him out of bed by reminding him he has a party to get to today... He is thinking of the candy and cookies, no doubt.

7:35 a.m. We REALLY should have left already considering we have 2 stops and Valentines to drop off before Mommy has to arrive at work by 8 a.m. Sheesh! We venture out, kids complaining about X, Y, or Z (you pick) around 7:38 a.m.

7:40 a.m. We arrive at Blaine's day care provider's house. I had a big box to carry in. I told Blaine to walk to the door, where he was lovingly attacked by a stray boxer who wanted to lick his face and jump on him. This set an emotional cry from Blaine who wanted to be picked up away from the dog. Juggled box/kid/dog/door. Only dropped cupcakes once (don't worry, Mom, they didn't get hurt).

7:55 a.m. Arrive at the final stop. Realized that in our hurry and chaos, Braylon didn't eat breakfast. Braylon assures me it's ok because he'll just eat candy instead. He begs me not to tell his teacher he didn't eat because then he'll fill up on something halfway good for him, which he doesn't want. I take the 'Bad Mom of the Year' stance and agree to keep it a secret.

8:05 a.m. Arrive at work. Ok, there may have been a little speeding involved, who's to say? All I know is that it was one wild way to start the "Day of Love...."

Happy Valentine's Day!!! Hug your loved ones tight and remember to always say "I love you" more often than is comfortable!!!

'A' Game

Yesterday at school Braylon got into trouble for fighting on the playground. I can only assume it wasn't a major infraction since I wasn't notified by the school. Braylon fessed up fast and served his time in his room while I made dinner. After about 15 minutes of solitude, I went in his room and talked with him about making good choices in school. After what I consider an 'A' game lecture (short, to the point, loving), I asked Braylon, "So what did you learn?"

With sincerity in his voice and an utterly confused look in his face, Braylon said, "What are you talking about, Mom?"

So much for my 'A' game lecture!!!

Family Movie Night

On Friday night our little family gathered around the boob tube, popped popcorn and settled in for a family movie night. On the menu, "Shiloh." It's a touching story of one boy's plight to rescue an abused dog and claim it for his own. I'll spare you a movie review of this film - But it is a cute family film that I recommend.

During one part of the movie, the main character and his little friend, a girl, exchange a special dialogue about the dog. The friend leans in a gives the boy a kiss on the cheek, expressing a special moment between the two friends.

It was at this moment that Braylon quietly says, "Eww." Blaine then chimes in with a loud, "EWWWWW!!! She has boogers!!!" The tender moment was then turned to laughter in our home...

Different as Night and Day

Yep, I confirmed it. It's not like I didn't already know... Last night I clicked on the advertisement at the top of this blog that said something like, "What's your child's temperment," or some such thing. I took the test twice, once for each child. It's free and doesn't make you put in personal info for advertisers to nab opportunities...It will even print out a little chart at the end with 5 main points of personality.

What I confirmed was that my kids could not be more different. Braylon's line chart looked like a one-peak mountain, or a bell curve. Blaine's looked like a valley with a few little ridges. Braylon scored nearly off the charts on "Activity" and high on "Persistance." Blaine scored high on "Emotionality" and "Persistance." Persistance was the only one of the five they had in common. Everything else was bi-polar opposites. I'd say that was just about right.

Try the test if it's still on there - It's fun!

Banned from the Library

Ok, maybe not banned, but I'm sure we'll raise eyebrows when we go back...

Last night Blaine and I ventured to the branch library to get Braylon some easy reader books. Blaine had already been VERY clingy all evening - even more than usual. He was being a little naughty when we first got there by pulling books off the shelf and running them over to the book return slot just for fun. So I made him sit in the chair on the floor of the children's section. The wailing begins. As I quickly perused the easy reader section (after taking what seemed like forever to even FIND the easy reader books), the entire library listened to Blaine screaming at the top of his lungs. Consoling him from across the shelf wasn't cutting it... I had to hurry... I had time to pick out 6 books and my patience could take no more toddler screams and evil librarian stares.

I went over to pick him up, he nuzzled his head in my shoulder, and mumbled something about, "I just wanted you to hold me." Guess Blaine won that one...

Ready Reader

Last night I confirmed a suspicision I've had for a while. I gave Braylon three books that had very simple words in it. As Brandon as my witness, that kid read all three books to me with alarming accuracy! Now, I did assist him with harder phonics like 'th' and 'ch', but all the basic phonic words like 'frog' and 'dog' were a breeze for him. He was so proud of himself, it took him extra long to wind-down for sleep. He has been wanting to read for several weeks now and he is just bursting about it...Thanks for letting me share...

Super Family Weekend

We had a good Super Bowl weekend - Not that any of us were really into the game, per se, but it was a good weekend nonetheless. Brandon's brother, Zane, was in town with his family. It was great to let the boys play with their youngest cousin, Maverick. Unfortunately, this part of the family lives over 10 hours away in Louisiana and we just aren't able to see them often at all... A Super time was had by all!

Oh and there was the Super Bowl, too - Brandon didn't feel strongly towards either team, but was minorly irritated at the upset.