Lemonade and Dennis the Menace

My boys are adorable and sweet and make me laugh at least 20 times a day. Sometimes even when I am so mad at them I have to try to keep a straight face because they are so damn cute and I just want to smile or laugh but I know that would ruin my point. I am, after all, their mother, the adult in the group...

The younger one has an extraordinary way of causing innocent mischief. This seems more like an oxymoron, but what can I do? For example, today Evan wanted to make lemonade with me. I showed the boys how to make their own homemade lemonade over the weekend and now they love it. They even go into the garden and add a sprig of mint to it. SO today I obliged and Evan and I sat outside and did "cheers" with our cups. Then he said, "hey mom it's just you and me right?" He has a cute way of saying that expression when we have our one or two days together, when he is not in school. He really gets a kick out of our alone time. Jake was so used to having me all to himself his first 3 1/2 years that I don't think he savored it as much.

Then Evan decides that we should have a picnic-style lunch and eat outside on the patio. Again, I oblige and get the food together. His lunch consists of turkey and chips and salsa. I go inside to get something when all of a sudden a little wind comes through and knocks the paper plate toward the sliding glass door ( and big brother Jake just cleaned them all so expertly for me.)Evan says "Oh my gosh!" I look and see that there is now turkey and salsa on the slider and the floor. He comes in, after I go out to him to assure him he is not in trouble and it is not his fault. He wants to help me. So he finds window cleaner and presents it to me as I am trying to wipe everything up outside. He has trouble with the sprayer so I fixed it for him. I'm on floor duty and he is doing pretty good with the sliding glass door. I see he needs more paper towel so I run into get him more. That's when even more calamity ensues and is pretty typical of him. Evan opened up the window cleaner and it spilled all over the floor. SO now he is really alarmed and I feel my temperature rising as I know it is soon time to leave to pick up Jake from school. I have to work fast so I get some towels and a mop and the hose. I try to hose down the patio and wipe it up. Meanwhile Evan is trying out his newest stunt , jumping from the coffee table to the couch, landing upside down. Of course now I am screaming. Evan laughs and gives me an innocent smile and tells me he loves me. I regain my cool, and finish the task. I walk into the kitchen and Evan is helping himself to more lemonade. Luckilly he doesn't spill it.

Proud Moment

So yesterday I was at church with both kids. Jake is going to be making his first communion so these are his last weeks of obligatory church attendance. There was one lady sitting on the end to my right, then two seats, then Jake, Evan and myself. I had two seats between me and the person on my left. After mass started, a lady of middle-eastern descent came into our row and sat to my left, leaving one seat between us. The rest of her family, including a little girl around Evan's age, was in the row behind us. I noticed that Jake was looking at the lady and then I saw his fingers go up like he was counting. I looked behind me and immediately knew what he was thinking and I was in total agreement. Then he came out and said it and actually asked me to do it. He said, "Mom, that lady is separated from her family. If I move down two and Evan moves down two and you move down that will be three extra seats and her family can sit with her. Tell her mom, tell her."

I immediately told the lady that we would make room and to ask her family to join her. They were go grateful. As they filed in the row, I made sure to tell them it was all Jake's idea.

I was beaming at that moment. I was just so proud of Jake. He also shared one of his two toys with his brother who had nothing to fiddle with. For the longest time I had wondered if my boys, who have so much, will be the kind of empathetic considerate people I wish for them to be. It can be taught but at some point it has to come from within. Sometimes I feel that in this day and age, many kids just don't get that message - to be kind to your fellow man and to do unto others as you would have done to you. For me that's not church talk, that's just morality. At that moment, Jake showed me that he has empathy and consideration and I was relieved and happy for him.

A few minutes later, Evan, who is four, slid past me to sit next to the little girl and rub her arm when he thought nobody was looking. He caught me looking and gave me a slick smile...Now that child worries me.

Seeking Assistance- I think?

Okay how many times have you felt this way? As the CEO of your abode, you try to do so many jobs and wear so many hats? Sometimes, maybe more than others, you want to just scream from the rooftops "I need help!" Well, I feel this way - a lot. My hubby does his share of pitching in sometimes but mostly, he is the outside guy. If there is a job to do outside or fix something in the house- he is the man to do it. He has a no nonsense approach to all of that and thankfully he is handy. So I do have a quite capable and very handsome handyman. However I always have something that I need to do that doesn't ever seem as rewarding as fixing something that is broken. All the mundane chores are mine: laundry, cleaning, cooking etc. Don't get me wrong I love to cook and sometimes take a lot of pride when I have cleaned my home... but I just need a break sometimes from the constant spin of the wheel. Oh and let's not forget the "project" that I always feel I need to tend to, or piles of paper, artwork and cluttered closets that are always staring me down. If I just had a week to myself, I'm convinced I could get it all done. The probelm is that there are not enough hours in the day and why do I have to do this thing caled sleep? Am I just overzealous? Who knows but it is a constant source of frustration for me. I am convinced if I could get all the things I want to get done I could save the world. Okay maybe not. And you would probably wonder why I don't get a cleaning lady to help alleviate some of my issues? Well here goes my mental condition - I feel guilty hiring someone to do something in my house that I know I can do myself... and better. Uggghhh, so you see my frustration. From painting a pirate wall mural to scrapbooking, to organizing, to cleaning my spacious home, I can do it myself and I am saving money. But I do dream about one day hiring a houseboy? Well that will eventually be my boys (can't wait). They already are a pretty decent source of help. They dust their furniture, and seem not to mind light vacuuming. They also bring their plates to the sink from the table and are in the habit of emptying their laundry baskets next to the washer and dryer on laundry days. The little one likes to clean and jumps at the chance to help. Sometimes that means he'll spray a bottle of something that was not meant for windows on the windows, but overall the enthusiasm is refreshing. I am counting on them being like their daddy, only I am grooming them for the "inside jobs."