Look How High I Can Fly

Hello, hello, hello! Hope today finds you all well! It was a good day for me. I got up, got kids ready and out the door on time, and to school. And went back to bed. Noticing a pattern, aren't you? hehe. I LOVE it!

I woke up in time to throw on some exercise like clothes (all my good ones were in the wash - yes, Captain America ,I'm still doing laundry....sporadically!), and apply a new layer of make up. hehe. I washed off the old layer, so it's all good. AND, back to my good choice, step up thing from yesterday, I was gonna turn on my music and sing as I put on my make up, but decided to listen to a church conference talk instead! And it was SO good.

It was from the Sunday afternoon session, and talked about the difference between Be and Do. VERY good. I liked it.

I grabbed breakfast, got Jim ready, grabbed a DDP, and headed out. Here's me, at the church, with my DDP :)

I had skipped Exercise group, and was meeting Tammy there for an Activity Days meeting. Well, I made it in time for a 15 minute P90X abs workout. Oh the joy...
I tried a little. I really did. But my monkey nub wasn't having anything to do with it, and my abs (or lack thereof) weren't having anything to do with it either. So I just ended up sitting on the mat, facebooking - ROFL!

Tammy and I met after, and planned out or Activity for tonight. We're learning about the Savior this month, so we thought that we'd have a celebration of his life. And a lesson about it, then decorate cupcakes. Mmmm, yummy! But not for me :)

And we finished up, and Jim and I headed out. And I had enough time for a Howdys run. And still enough time for a quick Dollar Tree run to get Jim a snack. Because I'm not paying convienene store prices for a snack.

Anyway, got there, grabbed a few things, and got in line. And waited. And waited. And waited. Yeah, we totally DID have time to make the bus, but not after that line... Hmpf!

So, I scrapped the idea of catching the bus, and took a different route, and dropped Jim off at the school. Did I tell you he's been pocketing his lunch money? I found him with $8 the other day. SO not cool! They're gonna stop giving him lunches, you know - hehe. So I gave him a $5 bill for school. And I dropped him off, and headed out to Yoga.

Kari usually drives, but since I had an appointment RIGHT after yoga, we took separate cars. And yeah, I totally found the $5 bill in the backseat. Grrr, JIM! And, once I got near post, I found Kari right in front of me! She didn't notice me for a while, but I was just glad that I wasn't gonna have to walk in late to Yoga. Power in numbers, right? hehe.

I turned my music up loud, sang, and drank my Howdys all the way to Yoga. It was great :) And I'm sure it was entertaining to the cars around me. I really get into it. Dancing, hand motions, oh yeah, I go all out. So, Aunt Sue, are you ready for a Road Trip with me? And my microphone? hehe :)

Yoga was very nice. We worked on Spine Stretches. VERY nice. And I'm starting to wonder if my monkey nub has something to do with my EXTRA SUPER tight hamstrings... Hmmmm. I'm pretty flexible everywhere else but there...

Anyhow, Kari and I left, making plans to meet at the park after school, and I hit the bathroom, then headed to the West side. And found a short cut of sorts, and chatted with my mom for a few minutes on the phone. But she was busy, so I just ended up turning up the volume on the iPhone, and singing. LOVE it!

Here's me waiting for my session at therapy :)

It was a pretty good session. We talked about my kids, and Jake, and church, and movies, and Captain Americaand I, and food issues, and exercise. Yeah, we talked about everything. About socialness, and how I was thinking about things. It was a good hour :)

And I loaded back up in the car, and headed back to post. I needed to get Jim in 30 minutes, and maybe get little Jacob too. If Maggie's Tom wasn't home from work in time, I was gonna grab him and take him to my house.

I chatted with my mom the whole way home, had about 15 minutes to let Boxer out of the kennel, then walked on over to the bus stop to get Jim and maybe little Jake. And there was a police officer checking us out across the street. Weird. Eventually, he got out of his car, and wandered over.

Apparently, he was checking out the bus drop off procedure. Cause, since their doing construction where the bus stop is, the bus stop moved to the MAIN road. Which, in my opinion, is dangerous. I told the dude that I thought that they should move the bus stop to the park. Yeah, that would TOTALLY make more sense from a safety point of view, and it wouldn't have the MAIN road traffic held up. We'll see if it goes anywhere...

I grabbed Jim off the bus, and little Jacob's dad was there, so we went home. I baked a box of cupcakes for tonight, and soon Joe and Eme and Tom were home. And we all went to the park to play. But they didn't all stay long. Jake had ridden the bus to the Teen Center.

Kari and Amanda and the other Tara were at the park, and we all chatted for about an hour or so. It was a nice time. Here's a picture of me and my Diet Dr Nasty. I'm out of DDP....

After the park, we headed home, and I had the kids do minimal chores, and I cooked dinner. I found a few chicken breasts in the freezer, and had defrosted them. So I cooked up some rice, and then cut up the chicken breasts, and browned them, then added 2 cans of cream of chicken soup and some garlic powder. And served the chicken stuff over the rice. And the kids actually liked it! Well, except Jim. He refused to eat anything. And Jake didn't like the rice when he eventually ate.

I cooked myself the last of the chicken breasts on the grill, and ate it as a sandwich. And had some veggies. See, making smart little food choices. Good for me!

And at 6:20pm, we all loaded up in the truck with everything we needed for tonight, and drove over to the youth center. I went in, and picked up Jake, and we headed over to the church. And everyone was in a decent mood. Thank heavens!

The boys went to their activities, and I got mine set up. And soon Tammy was there, and we started our lesson. We talked about how we celebrate someones life. Through birthdays, and things like that.

The funniest part was when Tammy started talking about Obituaries. Yeah, some of the girls hadn't every heard that word before, and thought it sounded like a bad work, and kept giggling every time she said it. LOL! Never thought of it like that before!

We had the girls write their Testimonies of Jesus Christ inside of their books, or on a piece of paper to tape inside of their books. Then, once done, we decorated cup cakes. It really was a good activity.

At one point, I went to see where the little boys had wandered off to, and found them in the hall, getting candy. hehe.

The girls working on the cupcakes

Working on her testimony

We had enough cupcakes for each girl to have two. And asked that they give one away to someone. So here's some of the girls giving cupcakes to the Missionaries :)

Joe and Jim were here for the whole lesson, but TOm and Jake came in at the end for the food. Yeah, they're smart kids...

All the girls and their cupcakes!

It was funny, because Tammy and I were both wearing yellow. And one other girl had on yellow. They girls were like, how come no one told us it was yellow day??? So I told them that next time they came, everyone had to wear red. I don't know if they knew that I was just joking - LOL :)

We cleaned up a bit, and my kids were SO ready to go. Jim was falling apart more and more by the minute. He was SO ready for bed. Tammy said to go ahead and go, that she'd finish cleaning up, so off we went. Jake and Tom had both had OK evenings at scouts, and were both in good moods, at least.

Tom has a campout coming up weekend after next. Sounds good! And Jake's group talked about Summer camp. Cool. Jake talked Video Games to Tom the whole way home (I think he's recognized that I don't like talking video games, at least to some extent), and we had on music and were signing, too. Great trip home. No fighting, and everyone was happy enough!

Jim had fallen asleep in the truck, and Jake carefully got him out of the backseat (all 75 lbs of him) and carried him upstairs and put him in his bed. OMGosh, what a nice, helpful big brother! I guess being away from home all day can have its advantages. He was actually happy to see everyone! Thanks, Jake! You're awesome :)

We put the kids to bed, and I had Jake do his chores real quick, and then we watched an episode of Chuck. Big kids went to bed at 9:30, and I started blogging. And Facebook was TOTALLY distracting me. Serioulsy. It wasn't me. IT was Facebook. I'm innocent here! Whaaat? You don't believe me? OK, fine....

Anyway, I'm done now, and it's 10:49pm. I'm putting Jim in childcare from 8-11ish tomorrow, then meeting my new friend Lesa (from church and Facebook - haven't actually ever hung in real life) at McDonalds playland for lunch! I'm SO excited about visiting with my new friend! Should be a grand time :) Then, after school, we're taking the kids to ice skating. Another busy, fun filled day :)

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Awesome page, Sharon! LOVE trampoline pictures!

Total Goofball

Ha, Ha, I know, you looked at the title, and thought TOTAL Bethany. hehe. So, ok, it fits! LOL :)

Typical morning, got kids ready for school and out the door and on the bus, and Jim and I totally went back to bed. And woke up around 8:30am. And got ready, and headed out to the store around 9:30am. To buy dog food. Poor Boxer had run out, and Jake had forgotten to tell me... Grrr... But, I'm always up for a shopping trip - ha! Big Lots is close, so we headed out to there.

And Jim and I had WAY too much fun just wandering around aimlessly in Big Lots. hehe. LOVE Big Lots. And, I have this Big Lots reward thingy, and with my purchases today, I got my 20% rebate!

See, there was this iPhone/iPod docking stereo thingy than I really wanted, but I didn't wanna pay $69 for it. BUT, when I realized that I would get 20% off, that would drop the price down to around $55, and I REALLY wanted one for the kitchen. See, we have a CD player in there, that no longer plays CD's... But we have an audio cable hooked up to it, and it kinda works. Anyway, YEAH for me :)

So, I paid, and headed out to the car. And realized that I'd been picking my thumb the whole time I paid, and it was bleeding. Crap!

Me, on the way home. Dude, I need some make-up. ha!

And Jimmy. And Boxer's new bed in the trunk...

So we got home, and I set up my new stereo thingy! Isn't it fabulous!

It even had a remote! WAY fancier than anything I've had before - hehe :)

I plugged in my iPhone, and Jim and I sang and danced and had a grand time with the music. And I got a text from Amanda, wanting to know if I had plans at lunchtime. Well, I had a therapist appointment at noon on the west side, but I was free after that! She wanted to go to lunch at Souper Salad. Yeah, I could TOTALLY do that at 1.... Sa-weet!

I dropped Jim off at the bus at 11am, and invited Terra and Laurie and Maggie to go too. Laurie had something else going on, Terra said she had too much homework, and Maggie said maybe she'd come. We chatted at the bus stop for a while. I headed back home, and spent the next 15 minutes putting on a fresh layer of make up. hehe :)

Then, loaded up in the car, and headed out to my therapy appointment. I got right outside the gate, and got a text from my therapist saying that he had a "crisis" come up with a patient, and that he wanted to push our time back to 1pm. Nope, not gonna work, because I already made plans with the girls. So we rescheduled for tomorrow at 1pm.

So no I had an hour and a half before lunch. I texted Terra to beg her to come to lunch with us, and she said she was at the Jaurez walmart. SWEET! SO I headed on over there, and hung with her for the hour before lunch. And since my appointment was postponed, we didn't have to go to the one on the West side, so we could go to the one by Walmart! Even better!

I got some Strawberries for $1.50, and a new bandana (yellow and zebra striped), and I found this shirt. I thought it could totally pass for a Country shirt like Kari needed. But this one was only $3. I thought I could pull it off!

We walked around for about an hour, then, after a lot of wearing her down, I convinced Terra to come to lunch! Her twins were at Daycare, so lunch with the girls would be great!

It was my first time to Souper Salad, and I was very pleased. Apparently, Tuesday was $5.99 buffet day. Sweet!

And Amanda, the sweetheart that she is, paid for us. Awe, thanks, my dear! You're awesome :)

Here's my salad. Doesn't it look yummy! I also got some chips with taco meat. Protein is good, right? I was pretty pleased with my food choices.

What's a lunch out without funny pictures of myself...

I'm wearing Amanda's son, Austin's hat. hehe .

This Diet Coke actually tasted pretty good. I had 3...

But maybe that was a bad idea, because by the time we left, I was SHIVERING!!!

We headed out, Terra to pick up her twins, Amanda and Austin to home, and me to go and get Jim from the bus. And yeah, I was there a bit early, but I found things to entertain myself.... hehe :)


I got Jim, and he and I headed to Jake's school to get the bus pass for the Teen Center. Because I promised that I"d do it. Pretty simple to do, just took time to drive there and back. And we headed back home, and had just enough time to make cupcakes for the library.

I made pink cupcakes, and white butter cream frosting, and red/pink tinted coconut, and sliced strawberries, and assembled it all together. But failed to take a picture of it. Dang! They sure smelled fantastic, though.

Jake came home at 3:15pm, and Tom and Eme and Joe at 3:35pm. And we loaded up in the truck, and headed to the library. The kids watched a movie about the sea, and I designed a few wordarts, and Amanda and I chatted. Kari is still in Tennessee at convention, and I'm not sure where Laurie was...

I thought this sign in the library was funny :)

Anyway, after the movie, we went and looked for book. I let each kid pick 2, we checked them up, and we headed home. We did chores, and I started on dinner. Eme and Tom helped. Mac N Cheese, and pigs in a blanket. Yeah, I went all out - hehe.

And I got a text from Christal, asking if I was going to GNO. Oops, I'd forgotten! It didn't start till 6:30, and was near by house. Sure, I'd go! So I gave Tom directions on what to do and bedtimes and such (only an hour without me before bed), and I headed out.

And got there a bit early, so, once again, entertained myself in the car with my phone - hehe :)

No body in this picture...

And no head in this one - LOL!

Finally, my friends all came, and we headed in the restaurant. It was called Kiki's restaurant, and apparently there was a thing about it on the Food Network that one of the girls had seen. So she wanted to check it out. Sounded good to me.

Nasty Diet Pepsi...

PAige and Summer

Brenda and Amy

Me and Lynette

Christal and, um, er, Sara maybe (can't remember he name) came a bit later. We really did have a nice dinner, chatting and eating. I'm back on my menu plan, and they didn't have a salad. So I got a steak, and asked for double salad instead of the fries. They brought double salad, and the fries too. So I took those home in a box to Tom as a babysitter bonus.

After dinner, we chatted in the parking lot for a bit, and tentatively decided that pedicures would be fun for next GNO. I liked mine SO much last time :) And I headed home. And totally should have peed before I left. I'd gone 30 minutes before I left, but the 6 sodas at dinner were killing me. I barely made it home - hehe.

And got home early enough, that Tom and Jake and I watched an episode of Chuck. I put the big kids to bed, and I started blogging, and watched something or another on TV. And here it is, almost 10pm. And this show is holding no interest for me at all.

Tomorrow is gonna be a busy day. I've meeting my Achievement day leader at the church after Exercise group to talk about our plans for the month (and Wednesday night). So, I might as well go to exercise group... MIght as well, right?

Then, I've gotta be home at 11 for Jim's bus, and then yoga at 11:15, then home for lunch, then to the west side by 1pm for therapy, then Jim AND little Jake from the bus at 2:30, my Jake is going to the Teen Center, I may or may not be watching Terra's twins in the evening, AND we have Scouts and Achievement days. How's that for busy!

Oh yeah, and I wanted to tell you about my "realization" I had the other night. See, I'm an "All or Nothing" approach person. For diet especially. I've had GREAT success by getting on my plan, and holding it it steadfastly. No deviations. BUT, if I do deviate, I crumble. And fall off PERFECTLY. All or nothing, you see.

And I know when I first started therapy, the therapist said something to me that made a lot of sense. I felt like my life was all out of whack, and I was choosing wrong things, and just getting myself deeper and deeper in "trouble". He said that life is like a series of steps. And with each little choice we make, we either go up or down. We'll, I'd been coming to those choices, and going down, and down, and down, and down.

ANd, since I was in the "All or Nothing" mindset, I didn't know how to get myself back to even. In a way, I thought that I had to be all good, all at once. Back to the steps. Each time I hit a challenge, choose something good. Just in that moment. So I get upset. Do I freak out? Or do I do something constructive. He taught me how to make those little choices that will eventually help me climb out of the "funk" that I'd found myself in.

And it really did work. I'm SO much better now than I was last fall. SO much better. Anyway, as I was praying the other night, the thought hit me, that I need to look at food the same way. I'm SO much all or nothing. Like the other day, when I made cookies, I didn't eat one cookie. I ate 1/2 the cookies. NOT good. And I can't keep doing that.

So, all day today, I took it ONE choice at a time. I didn't stress about staying on my diet all day long. I chose to eat the right things for Breakfast. Then. when I was in line at the grocery store, I chose NOT to buy the candy bar, but to grab an apple as soon as I got home. Good choice. Step up. Then, when we went to lunch, I chose to get the sugar free Jello INSTEAD of the ice cream. Good choice. Step up.

I made the cupcakes, and instead of eating them, I decided to design. Good choice. Step up. At dinner, I chose to order a steak and salad INSTEAD of the yummy carb loaded Mexican food that everyone else was ordering. Good choice. Step up.

Little steps. Not obsessing about the "big picture". I'm trying to take it in little steps. So, that if I do made a bad choice, and a step down, that NEXT time a choice is presented, I can make a good one, and step up. Break the pattern. Just like I did back in the fall.

Did any of that even make sense? hehe. Anyway, it kinda came at me like an epiphany, and I just wanted to share. Even if it didn't make sense, it made sense to me - hehe :)

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Nice, Sharon! Disney looks SOOO fun :)

Star of the ShowI

Can I get a Boo-ya?.... OK, so we've been watching a little bit too much Kim Possible... hehe. Jim likes it, and I find them entertaining. That's what's important, right?

Anyway, I got the kids ready for school and out the door and on the bus on time. More like, I made sure they were getting that way, and they got themselves ready. Years and years of patience and training has finally paid off - hehe. And Jim had come downstairs and crawled into bed with me at 6:30am, and he went back to sleep, so once the kids left, I totally went back to sleep too.

And woke up around 8:30am, and started to get ready. And turned on the lights, and he was still snoring. But he eventually woke up :) And we gathered up our packages, and headed out to the UPS store and the Post Office on post. Cause I had packages that needed sent.

First stop, the UPS store. And I had 3 big boxes to deliver, and only me and Jim. So I had Jim carry the smallest of the 3, and I took the next one, and we dropped them off in UPS's lobby. Then went back for the 3rd. And the line was SUPER long. But my packages had pre-printed labels on them, so I just left them near the front. And yeah, everyone in line was glaring daggers at me. hehe.

Next stop, Post Office. More school books had come in for Captain America, so I got a package ready, and sent it off today. And we still had 20 minutes left before I had to drop Jim off at Maggies house, so we hit the commissary. I needed apples, and few other things. So we grabbed a basket, the few things that we needed, some ice cream bars for the kids, and headed out.

I dropped Jim and the ice cream off at Maggies house at 10am, and headed back home. Terra was there waiting for me. And she and I and the twins headed out to their hearing test. They have tubes in their ears, and those needed checked. And they needed a hearing test, and ouhae to take one twin in the chamber, and the other one has to wait outside. So yeah, Terra needed a 2nd grown up. I was happy to help out :) The 32 oz DDP waiting for me in the van sweetened the deal, too - ha!

We waited in the waiting room FOR_EVER! The girls did pretty good at first, but got a bit bored after a while. The TV was showing Matilda, which is a fun movie, but not for 2 year olds, per se. So I found Wonder Pets on youtube, and had them entertained for about 20 minutes. LOL!

Finally, they called up back. I had fun playing with the girls on the spinny chair. I'd slowly swirl them around and say WEEEE. So I had to try it myself.



And finally the doctor came in to check the tubes. One twins look perfect, and the other ones were just barely starting to come out. But should be fine for a bit longer.
Then we went to another waiting room, and sat for a long time more. I'd gotten an email that morning about a Military Spouse Appreciation day coming up in May. And Terra and I decided to go! Childcare was free and from 8am to 4:30pm. Yeah, I'm TOTALLY going - hehe :)

We picked the 4 classes that we wanted, and called ACS. And got all signed up. One of them is a manicure, massage, and facial. Oh yea! SO excited about that one - hehe.

Then we called, and got Childcare all set up. And I got Thursday morning for the hike childcare all set up, but they were already full for Tuesday for swimming. Crap.... I'll have to remember to book earlier for next week...

Then, it was our turn in he "booth", and we headed back. One twin and I sat on the floor and played with this toy, and the other and Terra went into the box.


With 2 of us, it was a good experience. But I can see how it would have been near impossible for Terra all by her lonesome... I'll come with ya next time, too, if ya want me to!

And we headed out. And drove WAY too close to the blue building... hehe. It's the Mental Hospital where I was at last September... I joked "NOOOO, don't take me back, I'm better now"... hehe. It's good to be able to joke about such things, you know - :P

And I told her that she didn't have to, but Terra wanted to take me out to lunch after. Well, I wanted to go to lunch, but I totally could have paid for my own, is what I meant. We were still gonna go to lunch - ROFL! We went to Chili's for their lunch special :)

The twin that likes me (my twin) is the one with the blue bow :)

I like the little straw protectors, or "straw condoms", as I like to call them - hehe. Hope your kids aren't reading, and they don't ask what that it - hehe - sorry!

Potato soup. Yeah, it should have been called CHEESE soup. Dang, it was good!

This chip is for you, Captain America!!!

And this lemon carcass is for you, Laurie! hehe. I hate lemon in my water, and she loves it. So she always gets mine when we go out together. I said that I didn't like them because there are floaties in my water from the lemon. Like their rotting carcasses. Yeah, I'm a bit disturbed. Maybe the blue building isn't too far off the mark.... hehe :)


Next stop, Dollar Tree. Terra wanted to look for Sandwich rounds. And the one on Viscount didn't disappoint! The had bagel and sandwich rounds. She got what she wanted, and I bought the rest. hehe. Into the freezer they're going!

Then, a quick stop by Howdys before heading back onto post.

She dropped me off at home, and I left Boxer out of his kennel. Poor thing had been inside since 9:30am, ish. So I decided to leave the back door propped open, and put the trash can on the counter (to not tempt him), and close all the doors, and let him stay out of the kennel when I went to get Jim from the bus. I would only be gone for 10 minutes at the most. How much trouble could he get into, right?....

I got Jim, Maggie gave us a ride back home, and when we came inside, this is what we found...

The pantry door got left open, he'd gone inside, found a new 5 lb bag of sugar, bit it open, drug it outside, and shook it empty in the grass. Thanks, Boxer. The sugar is now dead. hehe.

So, I swept it all up, and laid down on the couch for a bit. I was feeling really sleepy. Jake came home at 3:15, and the rest of the kids at 3:30pm. Extra 30 minutes of school is over now...

And the kids threw on some swimming clothes, and we headed out to the pool. And I remembered my laptop this time. I was playing the odds with Murphy's Law. Because, you know, if I bring my laptop, I'm guaranteed a friend to chat with. But if I forget it, I'm doomed to sit in boredom with no one to chat with...

And Amanda came! Yeah! A friend to chat with! The kids swam, and we chatted. Jake had stayed home, and didn't swim. He tried to ride the bus to the youth center after school, but they said he needed a special bus pass for that, so he just took his normal bus home.

Tom left about 20 mintues into swim time, and walk home. And Joe was done after 30 minutes, and dried off, and sat on the bench, or played outside. We only stayed about an hour and 20 minutes. Enough time :) Kids were done when we went home, so that was good :)

And when we got home, I made everyone do their chores. And do them well. The house was messy. I helped the kids with the dishes. And then I swept and mopped, with my Shark, the kitchen and living room. And moved the couches around a little bit. And this side of the house looked really nice. Dining room area? Yeah, not so much. Maybe I'll get to that area tomorrow - hehe. Baby steps, right? Captain America, are you proud of me for mopping??? I think you'd like the Shark. It's a pretty neat thingymabobber...

So, the house was clean (er), and the kids had done homework, and we turned on some, yeah, you guessed it, Kim Possible. And I answered some emails. And got my inbox down to 14! Yes! My new goal it to have it NOT over 15 by the end of the day. So I have to respond to people the same day it comes in... Or it's gonna get bad again... And we don't want that. hehe.

So, it was time for the kids to go to bed, and for the older ones and I to watch Chuck. And it was family prayer time (we've been slacking lately on it), so I gathered everyone together, and said it was Jake's day. We all have a day of the week that we're in charge of saying Family Prayer. Monday is Jake, Tuesday is Tom, Wednesday is Eme, Thursday is Joe, Friday is Jim, and Saturday is me. Captain America is Sunday, but we take turns or volunteers, since he's not here right now.

Anyway, I knew it was gonna cause a fight with Jake, but I can't change our family "rules", just for him. So, I told him it was his turn. No, he said. OK, then you don't get to watch Chuck with us. You have to follow the family rules if you want extra privlidges. So, he says FINE and starts in with this monotone "HeavenlyFatherthankfulforthedayblesseveryoneJesusnameamen" Yeah, that's not gonna cut it. I know that he's able to pray more respectfully than that. I've seen him offer beautiful prayers before...

So, I tell him that's not good enough, and he tries again, same result. Nope. One more time, and STILL no more effort. So, I tell him he can go to him room, and Tom and I will watch Chuck on our own. He stomps off, TOTALLY mad, kicking stuff in his path, and knocking over a tub of about 10 boxes of opened crayons. BIG mess. So, I tell him that because he's throwing fits, he loses his chance to go to the Teen Center, and he SLAMS his door shut. Nice.

So, I say that prayer (yeah, I had to calm myself a bit first), and help the little boys say their prayers, and send them off to bed. And Jake comes back out, and picked up all the crayons on his own. And come in, and apologizes. And asks for a chance to make it better. OK, if he says a nice prayer, then we'll call it good, and he can watch Chuck.

So he says a mildly better prayer, about watching chuck and such, and nope, not good enough. He was like "What do you want, mom!". So I explain the way that we pray. Like he's heard EVERY Sunday since he was born, practically. I knew he knew this, but maybe it was time for a refresher. I calmly explained the parts of the prayer. Start by addressing Heavenly Father. Next, say the things that you are grateful for. Next, say things that you need help with, or would like help with for others. Lastly, close in the name of Jesus Christ, and say amen.

So, when he was calm, he said a prayer. Sure, it was short, but it was thought out. I knew he could do it. And he was calm the whole time. No monotone upset voice. Great job, Jake! So he got to watch Chuck with us.

But I told him that he still lost privileges for the youth center for Tuesday. He was ok with that. But asked if I'd go to his school and see if I could get the bus pass thing figured out. I could do that.

Progress. See, we're having progress. I'm sure it's not gonna all get better in one day. Or even one month. Baby steps, though, right? I did a pretty good job at remaining calm tonight :) I was proud of myself :)

We watched Chuck, then I sent the boys to bed. And I started blogging. And it's now 9:49pm. And I'm gonna turn this computer off, and watch a movie (or part of one), then go to bed. And get up, and have another crazy busy day - hehe. Because that's how I like my days, apparently :)

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Ha! That's me! Good job, Sharon :)