One of those days

Dyeing Easter eggs

Serious business

My sweet little girl

Today was one of those days. I truly enjoy staying home and not rushing out the door to be somewhere every day. But, I swear, I think staying home all day is sometimes harder than getting us ready and getting out the door. Maybe I was just a little more tired today or something, but I seemed to have a much shorter fuse than usual. We started fine...a little housework and then we went outside to play. All I wanted to do was throw away some garbage that was in the garage. It would have taken me about 5 minutes, if I had been able to do it without stopping. But, I had to stop every 5 seconds to see where my little explorer, Bradley, had gone. For some reason, he's obsessed with a small tree/bush (?) in the front pine island. He'll stand next to it for 15 or 2o minutes and just pull old buds off it. I guess he likes the crunchy feel of the dead bud. ?? Anyway, that's the first place he went. I had to get him, because I certainly can't see him from the garage if he's at the front porch. So, I went to get him and he started running and giggling because he thought it was a game. I chased for a minute then scooped him up and headed back to the garage. I pulled out some cool toys for him and showed him what to do, in case he had forgotten, and then tried again to get a few more pieces of trash out of my car. One minute later, he was gone again! This time, I headed for the backyard, since that's where his golf club and ball were discarded. He was all the way at the back deck when I found him. This time, I scooped him up and spoke sternly to him. I know he's doing what's natural to him, but it sure does get frustrating (and tiring) when I want to accomplish a simple task! In the meantime, my poor, sweet, obedient Rachel is playing where she's supposed to and trying to keep up with me and Bradley. I finally let both kids play in the car and finished cleaning things out of it and they thought it was the coolest thing ever. We played on the playground for awhile after that and then came in to make lunch. Everything was going smoothly until I put lunch on the table. Bradley lost it and started fussing and crying and demanding that I hold him. Poor Rachel was eating her lunch and holding her hands over her ears. Bradley finally settled down while I held him, rocked him and watched Teletubbies with him. We sat there for about 45 minutes in the rocker and Rachel joined us. We all covered up with the kid's favorite blankets and snuggled together. Anyway, that was a nice end to an unpleasant little fit. I think poor Bradley was having a stomachache, so he was extra-needy today. Unfortunately, I didn't have the patience that he deserved. It was just one of those days.











Also, Rachel and I dyed our Easter eggs today since we have such a busy day tomorrow. So, we boiled the eggs and I let Rachel have her fun. We had all the different colors in all the little containers and Rachel loved dipping and re-dipping. Unfortunately, she dropped several of the eggs and cracked them. I told her it didn't matter, we would decorate them anyway. Anyway, while I was on the phone, I noticed that she only had 2 eggs on the table. We had started with 6. I asked her where they were and she said they were cracked so she threw them in the trashcan. For some reason, I overreacted and got mad that she threw them away. Poor little thing told me she didn't like me anymore and ran to her room crying. I felt terrible. I know she shouldn't have thrown away the eggs, but she's only 3 and it was supposed to be a fun activity!! So, I hugged her and kissed her and told her it was okay and that we would boil more eggs. But, I told her that even if those eggs got cracks in them, we would still decorate them and leave them for the Easter bunny. So, we boiled 4 more, she decorated them beautifully and we had a great time.







I feel sad now that the kids are in bed and the house is quiet and I can think about the day's events. I don't know why I didn't have the patience I needed today. But, I don't think it was my precious children's fault. They acted their age and did the things that come very naturally to them...heck, maybe I did too! I just hope and pray that I develop more patience and remember that they're my sweet little babies and that I'm blessed to have them, so enjoy them and be thankful!