This week started off with a gorgeous snowfall. The flakes were huge and floating softly as they fell. It was so pretty I shot some video of it. And the next day we woke up to this:
I appreciate the snowfall much more this year since we've only had a few small snowfalls and nothing more than a few inches at a time.
The weather was perfect for this treat:
A huge mug of chipolte hot chocolate from Theo Chocolates. The mix is made up of big yummy chunks of chocolate, no powder. It is awesome!
We had a REALLY bad night on Monday. The kids were home alone for a couple of hours and when I came home I saw that there was dog poop in our family room. Not a happy camper!
The tale begins with my daughter telling my son to let Milo outside. He said he would after he was done with the computer game he was in the middle of. Get where this is going?
He forgot to let Milo out.
Why my daughter didn't let him out--who knows.
So they both had the pleasure of picking up the mess. It was a struggle to get this accomplished but I was just the supervisor standing by with my arms crossed and a scowl on my face so I could deal.
After this was done I sat down for a moment and saw that Milo had also puked on the floor. Lovely. I asked the kids to clean this up too. I figured this was part of the mess they failed to clean up before I got home.
They ended up fighting with each other trying to get the stuff to clean it up and I heard a crack and then really shrill crying from my son. I was pissed. Beyond pissed actually.
I went to check on my son who was sobbing on his bed to find out what happened. He said he'd kicked Milo's bone at my daughter and she responded by slapping him in the face. I know from the sound I heard it was very hard and I felt sick.
I somehow was able to manage this all without losing it and explained to my daughter that it was never okay to hit someone, and that slapping someone across the face is much different than having a bone hit your foot. I said when you are standing eye-to-eye with someone and you slap them across the face that causes more damage then a red cheek. It is emotionally bruising too.
I took her phone away from her for a week, and her world stopped. At least that is the way she felt. She went on like a two year old telling me I love my son more than her, etc., etc. My daughter rarely gets this level of punishment so this was a big deal to her, and that is what she deserved.
I sent both children to their rooms with their doors closed and told them they were not allowed to come out unless they had to use the bathroom. They were supposed to clean their room and reflect on their actions. They spent 1 1/2 hours in their room before I allowed them to come out on the condition that they would sit and talk about what happened and find a way to make it right.
They acted so happy and played together so nicely after that, it was like two different children. We have spent a big part of this week talking about these behaviors and ways to prevent them from happening in the future.
We watched an amazing movie called Courageous. It is one of the best movies I've watched. It is Christian based and shows how important having an active father figure in the home is. I have not laughed nor cried as much at any movie as this one. I highly recommend it, and wish more movies were this family appropriate. It has already changed our home a bit with my Hubby wanting us to say a prayer before dinner and eating at the dinner table together (something we did occasionally, but not always). He has also come in to say prayers with the kids and I before bedtime. It is nice to see him choose to be more involved.
The end of the week was a fun one for me as I received my third batch of Copic markers.
Found a great deal on some new markers at the Sale/Trade board at 2 Peas in a Bucket and couldn't pass them up. This is the stash I have now. Haven't counted but around 50 I think.
I played around and got this:
from an old Prima Paintables cardstock sheet I had. I was in poor lighting and kept getting shadows so I stopped trying to be perfect and just experiment with how the colors blend. Not too bad for a first try.
On a sad note, my Grandma (my last living grandparent) is about to die. She's had no water or food or IV for 10 days and is somehow still hanging on. It's quite a feat and doesn't depart from the strength she's shown throughout her life and as she has been battling Alzheimer's and has had a poor quality life for many years now. My mom and my two aunts have told her "It's time to move on" but she still lingers.
