February in December

   I know.  Weird title huh?  I have to confess to you in the northern part of the U.S everyone knows that February is brutal for moms.  We have little sunshine and bitter cold and the kids, well, it depends on who you talk to- they either have "cabin fever" or are "stir crazy".  It seems February has come early to us this year.  Our weather man said the other night we must have "snow repellent"!  Every major snow storm literally splits and goes north AND south of us but leaves us frozen and green!  NO SNOW!  We had a little bit but it melted.  No white Christmas.  No sledding.  No snowball fights and forts.  Pretty much no outside.  It's boring!  It's freezing, grey and not much fun to ride your bike or shoot hoops when the wind chill is 10!

   So here we are in December stuck inside and going a little crazy!  There are only so many movies to watch and only so much gaming you can allow.  Today I had bunkers built in my basement for a Nerf battle you can't even imagine!  The neighbor boy was over and the bullets were flying.  I had to step in once to remind them that wars are fought to defend the women and children and if they couldn't find a safe hiding place for the 5yo girl then Mama was going to have end the war.  That and a kind reminder that all girls are children of King Jesus so that does indeed make the 5yo a princess so stop telling her she's not.

    The girls had a tea party while we watched The Sound of Music and I assured the 5yo that Daddy WILL be at her wedding. And yes, I'm sure he won't have to work that day ;0)  I reminded the 10yo that picking on a 1yo is fun for only so long.  When her screech starts to break glass you have officially pushed her past her limit.  The Christmas candy was munched and the day ended with a "tomato".

   When one of our children has reached a breaking point and can't seem to make good choices we make them stay by us.  We call it "being a tomato". This is an idea from the website Raising Godly Tomatoes.  Although we don't agree with everything they share we have seen great results in pulling our children close when they have been disobedient rather than separating  them or pushing them away.  Today's tomato... the 7yo.  Why you ask?  Well, one golden rule in our house is if someone is bugging you you can't just whine "stooooop" you have to say "please stop".  If someone says "please stop" you HAVE TO STOP or else you are in BIG trouble.  There is a catch to it though.  If you say it and they don't stop your job is to get a grown up to help NOT take matters into your own hands.  This is not too hard to remember but, apparently after a long week of Christmas excitement, little sleep and too much candy it was just to much for 7yo Elijah.  When 10yo big brother started shooting him with his Nerf gun he said "please stop" but when big brother didn't stop poor Elijah lost it, tackled the 10yo and tried to strangle the guy!!  He had reached his breaking point.  It was kind of hard not to laugh because... well, when the 7yo takes down the 10yo it's pretty funny!  BUT since we do not allow beating of ones siblings a tomato he became.

Ahhhh... did I mention it feels like February?