this week...

Earlier this week we decided to take advantage of this amazingly sunny (warmer) weather and take the kids to a fun looking park we've seen, across the street from church. 

They were very excited. Thrilled, actually. I think they ate all their breakfast super fast and even got dressed in lightening speed. Hmmm... I need to make a mental note that they DO in fact know how to do those things in quick time. Rachel has begun a new trend, when she doesn't want to do something, she tells us "my tummy doesn't want to...." Its not a trend I will allow to stick around much longer. 

I'm famous for firing back with "I don't care what your tummy wants." Mature, I know. 

Anyway, we loved the park. Loved it! It has two fun playgrounds, a huge lawn area, an awesome looking soccer field and a pond with ducks! All bordered with huge, beautiful evergreens. Reminded me of a park we used to go to in Mt. Hermon when I was little. Actually, most of the area we live in reminds me of the Scotts Valley area. 

Kara amazed Jason and I with her mad skills on the playground. That girl isn't afraid of much! She was climbing up on the big kid play ground all by herself, going down the slides with no help; hands held above her head, screaming with delight the whole way down. And just when I'm thinking "I don't know who's kid she is" my Mom tells me "she's just like you when you were little!" Great. 

We took them to the pond/lake to see the mallard ducks and Kara wanted to get in. She was pushing away from me and mad at me when I held tight to her and said "no". She was saying "Baf! baf! BAF!!!" which means "bath", if you didn't know. I kept saying "no, Kara, this isn't a bath." and she would reach for the ducks and yell "spash!!" which means she wants to splash... with the ducks... in the lake. It was fun though. We came home and everyone took naps {ahhhh} 

The next day I decided it was about time the kids and I visited the Library, which is down the street from our house. So sad, I know. When we pulled into the parking lot and Ethan realized that was the library he said "Oh. This is the Library?! I thought it was far away in Seattle... or Oregon or California and that's why we haven't been here yet." I love my son. 

We had a nice time, initially. The kids loved looking at new books, and playing with some of the toys the Library had in the kid's section. They did however forget the part where I said "we need to be quiet in the Library." So while I was a few feet away getting a membership card, Ethan and Rachel thought it would be the best idea to play a game of freeze tag. And if you know Rachel at all, you know that she doesn't do much with a soft, quiet voice. She is LOUD. She talks loud, laughs loud and plays loud. If you tell her to quiet down, she often replies with "I don't think God gave me a lower volume." So I'm trying to talk to the woman at the information desk, while holding onto Kara, who desperately wants to go play with her big brother and sister and all the while, I can hear my 2 older kids tearing up the place behind me. "Hi, we're those crazy nuts from California!" Goodness. 

Anyway, a lady from the Library saw the position I was in and she said "Do you mind if I tell your kids that their behavior is not allowed in the Library?" YES! thank you! Please do. I was thrilled. I love when a stranger goes over and puts the fear of God in my kids. Really. I do. Its good they hear it from other adults and not just Daddy and Mommy all the time. So she went over and very nicely said "kids, did you know that you're breaking the rules in the Library? There is no running allowed in here and certainly no screaming. People are trying to read books and do their school work and if you're too loud, it disrupts them." They responded well - Ethan said he was sorry and then went and sat down. Rachel said she was sorry and then stood there, in shock, not sure if she was allowed to move or not. 

I finished at the check-in counter and turned around to see my two kids, sitting at the table with these total shamed faces. Their cheeks were red (not from shame, but from all the running, mind you) and they were looking at me like "mom, we're criminals." 

We walked out to the car in total silence. I was remembering back to the days when I knew I had blown it in a public place. My Mom one time had to put her full cart aside and ask the man at the store to watch it for her so she could take her kids home and deal with them. I'll never forget the time she did that because when we got out to the car, I fully expected to get her wrath. Instead, she was dead quiet the whole way home - she even smiled at me when she was helping me into the car! Yikes. I knew I was in for it because Mom was way too calm and collected. This time, we had surely pushed her over the edge. So we walked to the car in silence. Ethan kept looking up at  me and smiling a half smile. I would smile back and he'd look more worried :) 

On the way home I said "what did the lady at the library say to you guys?" and in seconds, the tears began flowing....

Rachel {while sobbing} "Um... she said we were being naughty. She said we were breaking rules. She said people were doing school work and we were breaking rules!" 

Ethan {sobbing, but trying to hold it together} "Remember you told us that when people break laws, they go to jail? I think that lady is going to call the police on us and I'm pretty sure she knows where we live, since we just moved here." 

I decided not to say anything more until we got home. So we finished the short drive, with sniffles and sobs. 

We arrived home and came into the house and I told the kids that the Librarian was just trying to remind them to follow rules and to help them to keep the rules. We had a nice talk about how its not pleasing to God when we break rules that have been set by those above us and how it doesn't honor God when we set a bad example for others. They were SO shamed. I had a hard time being hard on them... so I wasn't. I just kept the whole thing very serious and made sure they understood that when I tell them the rules ahead of time, they must keep them. 

Once we had hugs and gave "I'm sorries" and "I love you's" all was well in the universe again. Cracks me up. Five minutes of talking and its like water off a duck's back. Don't you wish it was that way in our adulthood?! I do. 

Anyway... yesterday we stayed home. We read lots of Library books and played store. Its a new favorite with our kids. They love to set up Rachel's room like a big store and use the Monopoly money like real money. Ethan is learning how to add the money together. Today he noticed Rachel had all 5 dollar bills. So he sat down and counted them.... "five, plus five, plus five. hmmm... three fives. two fives is ten so three fives is... 11, 12, 13, 14... fifteeen!! You have fifteen dollars, Rache! You're a rich person!" -- don't you miss the days when you thought $15 bucks was rich? I do. 

Oh, I'm forgetting another funny thing Ethan said this week (see what's gonna happen when I'm no longer on Facebook?!) 

We were headed home, about to pass McDonald's and he started in with "I'm SO hungry. I'm SO starving. I just really wish we could get Macs." (that's what he calls the Big Mac) 

I finally said "Ethan, we're not getting McDonald's for dinner. You had fast food last week and its not good for you to eat that much fast food." He begins crying (he does this easily these days. I hear its a boy thing) so I'm trying to convince him that too much fast food is horrid for the body. 

He replies with "I just wish you could cook good food like McDonald's."

Throw out the cookbooks, Moms... nothing is as good as McDonald's!