Catching up....

Every day I check my buddy Neil Browns blog to see if he has written any more! Its almost like an obsession you see. His writing interest me and he adds just enough humor to make what could be a really depression subject, interesting and not depressing at all! I was thrilled when yesterday he posted not just one but two blogs. After I read his blog I was browsing through the rest of his site because he just doesn't have a page, he has a whole freakin site dedicated to his writing, and saw my name! Yep, there it was Jenny Jones Blog. Which reminded me that I very well may have been neglecting my own blog. Oops!

So here I am, catching up! My life isn't all that intersting and I don't have any major pitfalls to over come. Its life. My life. Work, family, working out, read sleep! So here it goes! All in a nutshell! :)

This month has been awesome! We have had some really great weekends. The weather was beautiful and we took full advantage of the first two weekends in March by spending it at the lake. I will refer to the Lake many times and what I mean by that is my Grandparents house on Lake Barkley.

The first weekend we went down was with the whole family. All of our kids including Troy, Lindsay and Chloe. Then of course Nanny and Papa too! We packed so much fun into one day that we were all so wore out. It was a great weekend with very little fighting. (still some, we can't expect miracles).
We did some much needed yard work in the morning hours. Aaron and Jimmy took turns driving the riding lawn mower up and down the hill to unload sticks and leaves. Aaron succeeded in dumping CHloe and Jimmy off the wagon and the tail gate hit JImmy right in the head! He had a nasty cut which everyone insisted didnt need stitches so i went with the majority vote even though i still think it could have used a few! Then we ate our favorite lunch. Porkys! An older man smokes his pork in a parking lot and we love it! Its a real treat for us! Then.....We rode the 4 wheelers, played foot ball, shot Bob and Troys guns! Just sat around and gabbed! It was a really really wonderful weekend! We watched movies and played poker all night Saturday. Papa kicked all of our butts! But we didnt expect any less. Lindsay and Papa both have a real big competitive streak which def made the night interesting. I kept stealing Bobs chips. Figures as his wife I was due them! :)
The next weekend we went down with Amy and Hayjo and Nanny and Papa. We went into town on Saturday morning with complete intentions on going to the civil war reenactement they had going on but all of our allergies were killing us! So we ate some Porkys (of course), went to FREDS, (gotta love freds), and then went back to the house and lounged all day! Watched a couple of really good movies that night after my grandma cooked us a great dinner and then went to the reenactment on Sunday before heading home. It was a much more relaxing weekend than the one before but no less fun!
This last weekend however we stayed home. It was dreary, cold, and not very motivating. See we've been working out with our kids for the last few months to get into shape for summer and one of the things we've been doing is boxing. So this weekend we decided to put our new skills to the test and we set up a boxing area in our makeshift gym and put on the gloves! It was so much fun and painful at the same time! I'll put the links to the video on here if you're interested!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4CeQ9LbQGk&feature=youtube_gdata_player
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4CeQ9LbQGk&feature=youtube_gdata_player
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2nW-EW4o00&feature=youtube_gdata_player

So That was my first three weekends in March so I'm excited to see how the next one goes! What shall we do? Only time will tell!
Enjoy my pictures! :)

Heartach vs love

Its true what they say, the ones you love have the most power to hurt you. Especially, your children. As adults we have learned to somewhat sensor what comes out of our mouths. We may be spitting mad and dying to hurl that insult we know will hit the other person right where it hurts but because we are more grown up and our tempers are more fine tuned, we don't.  Children however, don't have that must control. This is my most recent heartache.

My boys were fighting. I heard them. They usually wrestle around on the bed until one of them starts screaming so this wasn't new. But tonight my youngest was screaming. Panicking, as I always do when I hear them carrying on this way, I run in there to see the oldest, (just turned 13) with the youngest (9) in a headlock with the youngest one struggling to get free. It was clear that he was more upset with being put in the headlock than actually hurt. So I yell at the oldest to let go, then I yell at the youngest to go to his room.

I follow the youngest because I know that no matter what something he did whether it be innocent or not, provoked his brother into this. So I follow as he stomps to his room. What did you do? I ask. He shrugs while crying. He is a sensitive boy. I almost hate confronting him because he gets his feelings hurt so easily but I knew that I had too. After not getting anywhere with him I tell him that he knows he cannot provoke his brother by acting silly or even hitting or punching him or talking back to him. The oldest is now 13 and he doesn't have much patience for his little brother.

Getting nowhere I go back into the oldest room. He is sitting on his bed with his arms crossed belligerent. I know he's spoiling for a fight. I can see it in his eyes. Usually my temper is just as bad as his. Not today though. Somehow I approached him calmly. "You know you are big enough you could really hurt your brother right." my son says, "I don't care! He shouldn't have been hitting me!" Which is true but I don't give in. "If he is hitting you then you should come tell me and let me deal with it!", yet we try to teach our kids not to be tattle tales, "Whatever!" he yells. "Your always sticking up for him." I try to explain that i wasn't sticking up for him. That the youngest got a talking too as well. But he doesn't hear it. Finally he yells" I hate you, I hate being at your house. And I hate that little punk in there!" pointing to his brothers room.

So instantly my heart shatters even though I know he doesn't mean it. Hes just mad and upset and wouldn't listen to reason. So instead of pushing the issue and arguing over it like I would have done in the past, I said "Okay, sorry you feel that way." And I backed out of the room and shut the door. the whole time my heart is beating a mile a minute and there are unshed tears in my eyes. I'm a sensitive soul too. My boys def get it from me.

So now is the hard part. I sit back and wait. Because see, despite all else, my kids do love me and each other and they, just like myself, cannot stand it when one of us is mad at the other. A little over an hour goes by but sure enough, the oldest comes out of his room and goes into the youngest room. I don't hear whats being said but I do know that they hugged because I saw that much. Minutes later they both exit the room and go to watch TV together in the oldest room. Even though they didn't approach me I know that when I walk into that room I'll be greeted with a smile and a hug.

See, even though it will happen again and again, maybe even tonight, I know that eventually it works itself out. In our family in the battle heartache vs love. Love wins every time!