I Win

Let me tell you about some of the things I went through today.  In no particular order:

The boys sat in cardboard box "boats" while watching a movie.

Later, Jr. rode his boat down the stairs.  "I only bumped my head a couple times... and my nose."  They didn't get to play with the boats after that.  Later, Jr. Jr. kicked Jr. in the nose.  It didn't actually bleed, but it got close.

For the Ides of March we had caesar salad and got to eat two fruit-e again.

Every time the boys have raisins now they have to make it into a snowman whatever.

Jr. Jr. knocked his salad onto the floor and refused to clean it up.

For those of us who actually ate our salad, we later drank orange juliuses.

Nichole and Jr. decided to draw designs of leprechaun traps on notebooks.  Jr. Jr. decide to draw... on his bed... and hands... with a marker.

Luckily it was washable marker.  Nichole helped him wash his hands.  It came off quickly.  For his bedding, I put stain remover on it and ran it through the wash.  It came right off.  Thank goodness it wasn't paint.

While I was starting the laundry, Lucky fell asleep in the crib.  I was about to work on my Primary Sharing Time lesson, when I heard squirting sounds in his diaper.  As I was cleaning him up, he squirted some more.  A lot more.  Luckily it was only on the changing pad and not on me.  I put him down in the crib again so I could rinse the changing pad, then I had to pick him back up to finish changing his clothes.  I never did get to work on my lesson.

With all that happened today (what I wrote is only some of it), I did not lose my temper.  I definitely got frustrated a few times, but I did not lose it.  I kept thinking of what my friend, Serene, wrote on her blog recently about acting instead of reacting.  I also prayed a lot.  I didn't handle things the best way that I could in certain situations.  I really didn't know how, but I didn't handle them horribly, either.  And when I did make mistakes, I apologized to the kids and explained that I could have handled the situation better.  Then I reminded them that I didn't yell.
Hooray.  I win.

Because you know that my children are so precious to me.  And even though there is craziness from time to time, some frustrations, and a lot of apologizing, it's most important that there is love.  And that's why even though it was light's out time, I read a bedtime book to Jr. Jr.  And he went to bed soon after (which he has not been doing the last few nights).

Yeah.  We win.