Silence leads to...

When my house is quiet, I am talking when there is dead silence. You know the kind, when you can't hear a thing. That is when I know something is wrong. I know somebody is into something.

I'm not naming names or anything but here is what the silence led to yesterday!

He was hiding in the corner with the tube of Desitin. We are not even going to talk about the tube of 12 hour lipstick that he found this morning.

Kindness-round 2

Long time...no blog. Life has been its normal, crazy self. I am trying to keep up with the boys & their homework, school projects, soccer practices/games, soccer pictures, cub scouts, play dates & work projects. And on top of that, I am trying to keep a clean house & maintain my sanity. Some days are definitely better than others. Last Sunday was not one of the better days. We went to church (like we do every Sunday) & Brody literally lasted about 10 minutes before the shrieking started. He is just so loud & doesn't stop once he gets going. John took him out to the foyer to see if he could get him to be quiet. So I am sitting there with Tanner, Carter, & Garrett. I noticed that Garrett has scooted down to the end of the pew & then I realized that the Sacrament tray was coming. I whispered to Tanner, asking him to slide down by Garrett(but not too close). Garrett was totally on to him & started to say in a loud voice "Tanner, I don't need your help & started leaning into Tanner like he wanted him to move. Again, he is not being quiet & he is starting to get louder at this point. Is that even possible? Oh, yes it is. The Sacrament tray(with the water) is @ our pew & Tanner is on stand by to help, just in case. The young man holding the sacrament tray continues to hold it to make sure that Garrett doesn't spill it. This clearly annoys Garrett & so he decides it is time to have a tug of war competition with this poor young boy & the Sacrament tray. I am pretty sure my face was totally red out of embarrassment. We finally get Garrett to back down & sit still. Two minutes later he is saying (in a totally loud voice) that he has to go to the bathroom to poop. Mind you, he has already been twice in a 10 minute period. I tell him he needs to wait. Well that wasn't working for his escape plan so he lays down & says in an even louder voice "I have to poop NOW". At this point, I am so done! I can feel the tears beginning to well up in my eyes. I take Garrett out & decide to call it an afternoon. Well, while I was out in the foyer, with tears in my eyes. My good friend Kristin(who is also a Mom to 4 boys) had come out with one of her sons. She could tell that I was upset. She then told me that they thought Brody & his screaming was cute. She said "it always sounds louder to the parents." She was trying to make me feel better & at that point, I was really just DONE. John headed back into the meeting with Garrett. Brody & I headed home. Brody fell asleep one minute into our car ride home. Can you say tired.

The whole reason I blog about this little incident is because I wanted to share what my sweet friend Kristin did. Later that evening, Kristin showed up on my porch with a cute little bucket filled with candy.

She then explained that she couldn't find her fortune cookie recipe that afternoon but she had included some little fortunes tucked in with the candy. She had taken the time to print little thoughts/quotes out that had to do with motherhood. Reading those little slips of paper made me cry(cause that's what I do best)& realize how important my role in these little boys lives are. We are going to have hard days mixed in with the good days. I am so grateful for the chance I get to start over each new day...a do over. Kristin, thank you for thinking of me & making me smile. I will never forget your kindness & I may even attempt to try Sacrament meeting again next week :).

I'll share a few of my favorite quotes from the candy bucket.
"Being a full time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs...since the payment is pure love".

"It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't".

"God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers".

"Raising children is like making pancakes. You mess the first one up and the rest turn out good".