The Shoe is On The Other Foot!

I don't know if I have mentioned often enough how much I appreciate my mom. I must admit that she gets smarter and smarter as I get older. And I KNOW I haven't mentioned enough how much I appreciate my mom (are you reading today, Mom?)

Yesterday, I went into my girls' room and just dumped all the stuff they had lying around into a big pile in the middle of the room. Mom would do that when we were kids. I'd walk into my room to find everything that had been lying around the house and my room all dumped into one big pile. And it drove me crazy!! You know, why couldn't she have just asked?

Now I know the truth. She did ask. She begged. She told, and she demanded. And I ignored. I made excuses. I told her I had cleaned my room when she could plainly see socks, sweaters, little bits of paper, tissues, toys all over the place. Sorry, Mom!

The only thing worse than finding the pile of junk was when I would come home to a perfectly clean room A MOM-clean room. Everything put away. Which meant she had been in there with......the garbage bag.....

And yes, I admit, I do this too. And my kids hate it. But they don't hate it enough to pick up after themselves. Sorry, Mom!

I wonder if my sister and I fought enough while cleaning our room, that we ended up grounded for 3 days??

One of the Hardest Things

about being a mom of 5 (or even 2 I would imagine) is watching the face of whomever is left out. A lot of the time here, it is Olivia. Grace is 9 and have more privileges than Olivia. Grace can ride her bike farther distances. Her friends invite her over to their homes. And Olivia is left behind. Now, I can remind Livi that Grace didn't do those things when she was 6, but that offers very little conciliation. She just feels left out.

On Sundays, Grace and Olivia tend to go to Grandma's for the afternoon. The three younger ones come home. Grandma and Bill don't have room in the car for all 5 and they are not young kids anymore (don't tell them). As we leave church, well the wailing and gnashing of teeth is horrible!

I can't imagine what it is going to be like when they are older and their heart really are broken!!