A Day of Rest?

This morning started bright and early...Miles off to meetings, and me working to finish up lesson prep. As I am wrapping things up in the office, I am listening to our girls talking to each other...suddenly Emma starts singing "I Am A Child of God", Maddie quickly joins in and it was an angelic duet! A marvelous start to my sabbath day...which was good because it all unraveled crazy fast!

In very typical fashion, the later it got...the more deaf the children became (anyone ever dealt with this phenomenon?) I find myself with 15 minutes before time to be on the road to church, and BOTH children are still in their pjs...having a wonderful time playing and completely oblivious to their mother's frantic attempts to get them focused on getting ready. In a very human moment, I misplaced my temper for a moment...note I didn't LOSE my temper...just misplaced it :-) and I doomed us to an inevitable late departure by issuing the ultimatum that somebody better get their rear end over to Mom for their church-going hairstyle, or their would be intense unhappiness. This of course got both girls crying, and as previously mentioned...slowed down the process of getting out the door. It also got Maddie off on the wrong foot, and by the time I was ushering her out the door she was pretty upset...to the point that she started screaming and crying that she didn't want to leave her house, "I wanna go back inside my house!" So, I dragged her down the sidewalk, and hefted her into her carseat, and buckled her in as she cried and cried and cried. I grabbed her little body in a big hug, and said a prayer. Emma, who was not happy, but was completely overshadowed by the meltdown from her sister, was quickly buckled in, and I climbed into my seat to head to church...with two crying children. I did stop, and say another prayer, then put the car in reverse and started to back out when Maddie starts screaming again...in a whole new pitch..."NOOOOOOO! Don't leave my house! NOOOOOOO!"

By the time we arrived at church she had calmed down, and after I promised to carry her into church, she left the car, and we made it into church with little to no more incidents. I have a picture schedule for Maddie for sacrament meeting, to help her know what is going on...we try not to use it EVERY Sunday...but this was definitely a picture Sunday. Sacrament meeting went well, and off she went to Primary with her friend, Hailey Chapman. However, this is the fifth Sunday, and that means combined third hour, which means that Primary works differently to maximize the people who can attend...this was NOT the day to mess Maddie's schedule. Needless to say, one of the members of the Primary brought a sobbing Maddie into us at the very beginning of third hour...which she then spent sitting on her Daddy's lap, watching Mommy's watch tick down the seconds until it was time to go home. It was a rough church day!

However, once we got home, things settled VERY quickly, and we have had a wonderful afternoon with the girls. We had the Elders over for dinner tonight, and Maddie was quite the hostess...she wanted to know what they got for Christmas, and what they were going to be tomorrow? It was pretty cute. While Miles took the Elders back to their apartment, the girls and I danced to some rockin' Primary tunes from the group "InsideOut"...and had alot of fun!

Quick Emma story...yesterday Emma hurt her finger, a small cut...nothing life threatening, but definitely in need of a band-aid (whoever invented band-aids HAD to have been a parent...because those things work MIRACLES!). Anyway, tonight at dinner she announced she had to go potty (Emma is in the phase of potty training where she sits on the potty for less than 1 second, gets up...flushes...washes her hands, and reports back to the family that she "used" the potty. ) Apparently, during the hand washing portion of the routine, her band-aid came off...as this is about the 3rd band-aid I have put on her in the last 2 days...I told her she could wait until AFTER dinner to get another band-aid. Being Emma, she would NOT drop the topic..."OWWWWIE, I need a band-aid. Mommy, OWWWWIE, I need a band-aid" Exasperated, I said, "You are NOT getting a band-aid until after dinner...if you want I can tie your hair ribbon around your finger until you get your new band-aid" As an adult the idiocy of this statement is obvious...to a 2 year old it is pure logic! :-) She replied, "I need my pretty on my finger." Stuck, I removed her LARGE hot pink ribbon from her hair and tied it around her little finger...and through the remainder of dinner she was constantly admiring her "band-aid". Another brilliant Mom moment brought to you by me....stay tuned there are bound to be more...

Finally, tonight as the girls knelt to say their prayers, our little Maddie offered up the following, "Heavenly Father, help us to have a baby (she is VERY baby hungry...she wants Mommy and Daddy to have a baby...NOW). We will name the baby "Lay-ta" . Bless the missionaries to be home. Bless the baby we will name "Lay-ta". In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." Out of the mouths of babes...:-)

We love you all! Tune in tomorrow for more Maschger zaniness! :-)