Tough Love

On Wednesday night the Sunday School students were asked to sing at the Lenten service.  Victoria knew all three verses of Jesus Loves the Little Children.  She had been performing them for several days.  Wednesday evening comes and Victoria was very tired.  If we didn't have church it probably would have been one of those nights where she crashed at 5pm and woke at 7am. 

But. . .we DID have church.  She laid on th floor and cried with a blanket over her face while I got ready.  Eventually I got her in her dress and away we went.  Long story short, the evening had many issues.  Her behavior was far from perfect.  But I knew she was really tired and I was really pushing her to be at church until 7:30 (her bedtime).

Fast forward to the next night. 

I went to pickup the kids from daycare and Victoria is frantically looking for Spanky the Beanie Baby turtle.  It was T day at school and she brought the turtle for sharing.  The issue was, school sharing is supposed to stay in her backpack at daycare.  This is why she was frantic before I got there.  I'm sure she knew I certainly wasn't going to look for Spanky.  I quietly said, "I guess Spanky is going to have his first sleep over."  She lost it.  The tears were being shed.  She cried and cried.  All I'm thinking is: early bedtime tonight!!!  She cried all the way to the minivan.  Before I backed out she began screaming, just in time for another parent walking by to actually look in the car.  I rolled the window down and smiled and said, "Would you like another one tonight?"  She has four daughters. 

As I was backing out Victoria was yelling for Spanky.  Yelling at me, "You're making me sooooo sad right now mommy!!!!"  I'm thinking: What is up with her behaior????  Did I give in too much last night by letting her cry and carry on?!

She continued to get worse and worse as I drove.  Christian was staring at her, his blue eyes even larger than normal.  About a mile into our drive she actually started SCREAMING.  A million different options were running through my mind.  Such as: scream back a her, slam on the brakes super duper hard, drop her off at grandma's on the way, crank up the music, the list goes on.  Of course I wouldn't have actually done any of those. . .just thoughts.

This thought kept popping into my head though: Children watch the way you react when you're upset to see how they should react when they are upset.

So, I didn't respond at all.  Then I took a right and pulled into the old Best Buy parking lot which is now empty.  Christian nervously asked, "Mommy, what you doing?" 

I parked, got out and opened Victoria's door.  She stopped screaming and looked at me all out of breath.  I calmly said, "You need a time out.  You are not allowed to behave that way when I am driving."  I unbuckled her and picked her up and sat her on a curb and walked around to the other side of the van. 

Shockily, she started screaming again!  Christian was really nervous looking out his window down at her then looking over at me.  When she wasn't looking at me I'd smile at him and mouth, "It's ok buddy," and smile.
I went back over to her and asked her if she was ready to ride appropriately in the car.  She looked right at me and screamed.  I got in the driver's seat and put it in reverse.  Christian started crying saying, "Mommy!  Don't leave Toria.  Be good Toria!!"  I rolled down my window and asked her if she knew how to get home from there. 

Finally she stopped screaming and crying and said, "I'll be good mommy.  I'm ready to go home."

And so we did.

First thing Christian said to Mark, "Daddy!  Mommy put Toria on the street!!!!" 

Hopefully it will be a lesson learned.

Tuesday of Spring Break

At the beginning of every single break, or even a long weekend, Mark will say something to the effect of,
"Now don't pack so much into this break so you're exhausted and regretting at the end."

Tuesday was the perfect example of cramming a whole lot into one day.

It was the one day I brought the kids to daycare, therefore, wanted to accomplish everything I had to do without them. 

I dropped them off at 9am.  Then had an eye appt at 9:20.  I was at Sam's Club ordering new contacts and lenses by 10:15.

Next, I headed off to my secret birthday mission of surprising Olivis for her birthday.  Tuesday, the 15th was her actual birthday.  I surprised her by tiptoeing and whispering in her library with flowers and balloons. I swooped her off to Chammps for lunch.  There she received her bday present. An 8 foot banner that said, Hip Hip Hooray It's Olivia's Birthday.  I think everyone should own one! Unfortuntely neither of us thought to take a picture there.  So weird for us two photogs.  I guess that just shows what a fun time we had together and we were really in the moment.

After I dropped back off I headed back to downtown White Bear.  I was early for my second lunch date, so I headed into Goodthings and found a straw that sings Happy Birthday when liquid passes through.  I think I should have bought them all.  Very cool.

I met my friends Amanda and Shelly for lunch at Rudy's Red Eye Grill.  Since I had literally just eaten I sipped a water and some soup broth.  But boy oh boy, am I glad I went.  There was lots to talk about!

From there I immediately headed to my third (and final) "lunch" at TGIFridays with my brother in laws former girlfriend.  This is her first year of being a teacher and we had tons of catching up to do.  We had a total blast.  I didn't want to leave.

It was a day packed with activity but so worth it. 

I guess it's no wonder I stayed away from all restaurants on Wednesday.

Monday of Spring Break

Monday of Many Birthdays

On Monday morning we headed out to Hammond, Wisconsin to celebrate Jack & Shauna's birthdays.

Since they were unable to make it to Christian's birthday party, we also celebrated his birthday.

We enjoyed a lunch of pb&j and chicken nuggets.

The girls are adorable together.

Victoria wanted to make her laugh the whole time.

Maya apparently didn't want to get her little fingers dirty.

I've known Shauna for a long time now. We taught together nearly ten years ago. We got engaged and married within months of each other.  I'll never forget the day she told me she was pregnant with Jack.  I was going to tell her I was pregnant with Victoria that day.  She told me first and she was soooo excited I didn't want to take away from her so I took her to get a pedicure and waited a couple weeks until we hung out again.  (It was in the summer.)  What an amazing experience it was to go through our first pregnancies together.  Daily sharing our worries, ultrasound pictures (we actually went to an ultrasound TOGETHER!) first kicks and finally birth stories.

She is one of my closest friends in my life.  Having shared such an emotional and momumetal time in our lives I think we'll always have a bond.  Now, we talk husbands, marriages, kitchen tables with leaves,  preschoolers,  eating issues (the kids' not ours), potty training, etc.  There's never a lull in our conversations.  However, we don't get to converse nearly as much as we'd like too.

Jack loved this Thomas game we gave him.  Christian also loved it.  He saw it sitting on the counter waiting to be wrapped and kept saying he wanted to play it.  Luckily, Jack was all for us opening it and playing it.

The boys with all their Thomas birthday gear.   

I don't remember what Christian and Maya were looking at out the window. But I do remember running for my camera because they were so cute right there.

It was the perfect way to kick off the official start to spring break.

Sunday of Spring Break

On the first Sunday night of spring break we headed over to Mall of America for some rides.

I love to see the kids choose to ride together.  Christian is on the inside of the truck.  When it's not busy these trucks are the first to close, so we were happy to get on them.  I see a lot of MOA coming our way this summer!

Soon to be Five

So so so hard to believe Victoria will turn five next month.

The party planning is in full gear.

The petting zoo has been ordered.

We've been to the party supply store several times to get ideas of what theme she wants.  First she wanted a princess party (which she already had when she was one).  Then she saw a Scooby Doo pinata and wanted a Scooby party (which she had last year).  Now she wants a Princess Scooby Doo combo party.  Therefore, I haven't purchased any of it yet.  I love to plan birthday parties.  Now that she's old enough to voice her own opinions (which I love) she's really cramping my party planning ideas.  It's not about me, obviously.  In real five year old fashion we may actually have a combo party if that's what she really wants.   

A Night at the Train Museum

A few weeks back we had a date set to finally have Christmas with Simon.

Granted it was February, but finally we were able to all meet up to exchange gifts.

Christian was the lucky recipient of more trains and tracks.  He was thrilled!

Here are Simon and Victoria enjoying setting it up and playing with it.

This is the best shot of the night of the three of them.

Hard to believe Simon is a full year younger than V!

The ever so patient Grandma Kaye.

When I was little I wished Kaye was my mom.  Actually, I still do.  For Christmas she gave me a family ornament with all of our names and a set of dish towels hand embroidered by Liv's grandma.  I love them so much I can't use them.  She always goes out of her way to make others feel special.

Our children were given gifts after gifts and more gifts.  Out of everything V received her favorite things was a tin of mints that had a Victoria license plate on the top.  She ate everyone of those sugarless mints then taped the top of the tin to her bedroom door.

Christian and his friend Owivia.

That night when I was putting his jammies on he said, "Owivia nice to me.  Her my friend."

After the gifts we all headed over to the train museum. It was the last night they were keeping it open in the evening to run all the trains in the dark.  This brought out every person in the city.  The place was totally packed.  The kids didn't care.  They could have watched the trains go around and around all night long.

Every train had many details.

Little cities were set up all around the trains.

Since it was so dark in there the pictures don't do it justice.

All the little lights were really pretty.

Christian clung to his daddy to get a good look.

He was bossing him all around pointing and saying, "That way daddy!"

This was by far the coolest train.

It went around a carnival and there were different buttons for the kids to push to make different rides and things work.  Victoria really loved this one.  Earlier in the day I asked her what part I would like best. (Mark had taken the kids there once before without me)  She told me all about this one and she was right, it was my favorite.

Of course they had a gift shop at the end so you could buy your own trains.

Nothing warms my heart more than one of my friends loving one of my children!

When I noticed this look on his face I knew it was time to go. 

It was a very fun night filled with friends, fun and a whole lot of trains.