A mothers wisdom...

This morning I asked Gracie to pick up a few things she had out in her room. She reacted by complaining, huffing and puffing, saying no body ever helps me pick up, and so on and so on.

So I said to her that I know how we can solve this problem. I told her I could take away all her toys and then she'd never have to worry about picking anything up. Then she told me that she'd have to complain because there would be nothing to play with.

Well, I took some time this morning to read some uplifting stories and thoughts...and this is what I came across.

"What you are supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it. Don't complain."

I decided to share this wisdom with Gracie...here's how it went...

Me: "Gracie, what you should do when you don't like something is change it, and if you can't change it, then change the way you think about it. But don't complain."

Gracie: (scrunched up face, shaking her head, clearly showing she had no clue what I had just said, turns around and walks the other way, and says with attitude...) "That makes no sense."

Well, she didn't understand my wisdom (or someone else's)....yet....BUT at least my frustration turned into a good laugh.

Another Dose of Parker-isms!

By the way, something funny about Parker (mostly for me to remember in the future)... his favorite number is 29. Everything that has something to do with a number, an amount, or anything like that, Parker ALWAYS says 29. It really is hysterical when you hear how often he uses it.

5-28-09
Parker's prayer:
"I won't hit Gracie for 29 days...but my arms just keep hitting her."

6-9-09
Gracie comes up stairs with lip gloss on, dressed, and hair done by herself...

Parker says, "Gracie, I love your style!"

Mandi: (laughing)...

Parker: "No, I'm serious, I love your style!"

7-4-09
At the 4th of July BBQ, Parker was over eating his dinner at a different table than Phil and I. He came over to us and said, "I'm done eating all my dinner...but don't come look, k?"

7-5-09
Parker has gotten into this gross habit of playing with his spit in his mouth (which absolutely drives me nuts!).
So there he was playing with his spit, so I told him to stop. He says to me, " Jesus made me that way and so I can't help it."

Gracie, Gracie

(Gracie jumping on the tramp.)

So the other day I'm doing Gracie's hair and I notice a big chunk of hair that looks like it's been cut and is 6 or so inches shorter than the rest of her hair. So like any mom, I asked her if she knew what happened to her hair. She assured me she had no idea. I don't know why, but at the time I didn't question her any more...I actually believed her.

A couple days later I was holding one of those little battery operated foam fans, cooling off my face, and apparently getting it a little too close to my hair for Gracie's liking. She kept telling me, "Mom, don't get that fan so close to your hair because it could get tangled in it!"

A couple days later I was helping her re-organize her room and I came across something quite interesting in her closet, hidden behind some things.

(The quarter is to help show the size of the chunk of hair.)

Of course I asked Gracie what it was. She started bawling and saying, "I'm too scared to tell you, you'll get mad at me!" That went on and on and on until I finally persuaded her that I was not going to get mad at her. She explained to me that she was cooling herself off with that same little foam fan and her hair got tangled in it really bad. She thought I would get mad if I found out so she took the liberty of getting the scissors and cutting it out herself. Only thing, she cut way more hair than necessary!

4TH OF JULY

We started out our morning with a yummy breakfast at the church, along with a few pioneer games. Later in the day we went to a BBQ at another members house here in Harrisburg. The Wilcox's throw a big 4th of July BBQ every year with a competitive bean bag throwing tournament. There was a ton of people there and they had a poster with the break down of the bean bag throwing teams and the different tiers of the winners all the way down to the champions. By the way, the tournament was for the adults, not the kids! Phil and I loved it because we are both so competitive! Unfortunately we didn't have beginners luck. After the BBQ we went over to Harrisburg Liberty School for fireworks. By the way, Harrisburg is actually a very small town in the country, just south of Sioux Falls with a few thousand people (and those few thousand people are very spread out). As we were waiting for the fireworks we watched the fireflies and got eaten alive by mosquitoes. The kids played with their glow-in-the-dark bracelets and Phil and I (the kids were too scared) wrote our names in the air with sparklers and threw "Pop Its." I couldn't believe that Gracie and Parker were so scared of the sparklers and the "Pop Its!" (To their credit, the next night at our house Parker did the sparklers and they both did the "Pop Its.") The fireworks were an enjoyable 15 minutes of one firework at a time! :) No really, even though they were short, it was just a fun experience to be in our new little small town and with our little family. Gracie and Parker were afraid of the fireworks being too loud so they plugged their ears the whole time. Funny little kids they are! It was interesting because I talked to my mom and dad on the phone that night and they were at the fireworks with my siblings, nieces and nephews, and with several of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. I have some great memories of watching fireworks with so much family, but I really do love and enjoy every second and memory that I get to have with my husband and kids. Our little family has experienced so much growth just being on our own.