Yesterday was a long day. I only got four hours of sleep the night before. My kids were getting over the croup so they were needy. By the end of the day I had a very short fuse. Still, we hadn't done Family Home Evening the night before because Sam was gone all day, and even though he wasn't home again, I figured it would be better to do it alone than not at all. So after dinner I gathered the kids.
Sease and Lije pulled up chairs so they could face Enoch and I on the couch. The first half of my lesson on Being Kind to Your Family went great, but soon Elijah started getting restless and began climbing all over. When I heard scratching sounds from Elijah's boots griding on my new leather couch I decided I had had enough. My patience was waning thin. So I picked him up by the waist and reached to put him in his chair. Except the chair was too far away, so I kinda propelled him forward so that he'd land in his chair. Bad idea. He hit it hard, his neck whiplashed, and his little head whacked the back of the chair. Thus started the pandemonium. He screamed. LOUD. This, of course, scared Enoch who also began screaming. The apartment doors here are thin and their screams echoed through the hallways. Which only made me stress out more. And while I sat there absolutely overwhelmed about what to do, I looked up at Seara, only to see her chewing on a chunk of her hair. I've told her thousands of time not to do that. My patience was gone. So I reached up to swat her hair out of her mouth. But I missed. And I accidentally whacked her instead. She promptly joined the screaming. The lesson needed to end. FAST. So I looked down at my lesson manual and read the last part I had left to do:
Oh the irony.
22 comments:
If we make it through home evening without at least one child crying or being put in time out, we consider it a great success. I used to feel like a failure because of this, but then I watched an interview with Pres. Hinckley's children. They were asked what FHEs were like when they were young. They all looked at each other and burst out laughing. "We were horrible!" "It was chaos." "I think we made Mom cry once." I felt much better after that.
I laughed out loud. :) (as you know) :) That is a keeper of a story. Good little glimpse into life with 3 kids and a busy husband. :)
Sounds like our Family Nights growing up! They will still grow up grateful for having FHE!
What an awesome MOM you are to decide to have it even without Dad being there...kudos to you! I agree with the above statements--your kids will always be grateful for the sacrifices (and stress!) that you make to have FHE. No matter how much of a 'flip out' it ends up being!! I needed this. I laughed out loud AND it helped me remember the importance of doing it (even if Dad's not home. which is the case, pretty much all the time these days).
Are you having your blog made into books as you go along??
Shara - Well, sort of. I have made my 2007 book, but I haven't gotten to 2008 yet. And I haven't printed either. I want to print them out in the best quality possible, which means it will be expensive. And my plan is to make a copy of the book for each kid that was alive that year (so just Seara and Elijah for 2007, but all three for 2008). Kind of as their journal of their childhood. But that means it will be ULTRA expensive. So I'm waiting until I can afford it to print them. :)
LOL! I swear the Lord has a sense of humor.
I love the honesty! And really, what's FHE without great stories? How boring if your lesson would have gone well and the kids sat quietly and listened :)
Thanks for sharing your less than perfect story :) Its sad, but nice to look back and be able to laugh.
Oh Janae! You illustrated the scenario so well, you always do! Thanks for making me laugh!
LOL!
awesome.
It's nice to know I'm not the only one who "flips out" sometimes. It always seems when you're trying to do the right thing everything works against you. What's a girl to do with one kid stratching your new couch, one chewing off her hair, and the third crying about the whole thing? Add only 4 hours of sleep and I'd say it a miracle that's the worst that happened! It's amazing all family home evenings aren't a flip out.
As always thanks for sharing your life with us as only you can tell it. Your blog is seriously my main source for laughs. Sad but true. You could write your own comic strip based on your blog stories and Sam could illustrate. You'll be even better than Calvin and Hobbes!
That's so funny. Sometimes that's just how days go... :)
oh Janae!!!!! that is just too hilarious. I was just picturing the whole scene with a huge smile, at your expense of course :)
BTW, i left a response on my blog to your wonderful invite, but then realized I should probably leave it on YOUR blog! I would love, love, love to have a picnic with yall May 16. It is in the planner....I'm already lookin forward to seeing ya!!
Sorry I kept you up so late...my bad. But you have to admit, that is really funny.
Krishele - If I could go back and choose to go to bed early, I wouldn't. I'm glad we stayed up chatting. That night was probably my favorite night of your trip. :)
K that was pretty funny. At least you did FHE though, right?
I love this story! Trevor is constantly jumping off the arm of our couch during our family nights. And we have had some good crashes when Sabrina and Trevor are running around as fast as they can during songs. Crying is quite often a part of our family nights. I think next time I am just going to say "and now we will have crying/screaming by ______"
You pretty much summed up what happens at this house when we attempt FHEs. Getting through one of those "sweetened condensed" lessons from the nursery manual almost always ends up in tears from one member of the family or another. ;-)
I think at this stage in the game, it's just good to instill the habit of doing it, even if they don't learn much.
Oh, Janae! I feel your pain. Being a mom is HARD! Good for you for at least trying to do FHE.
I left a comment, but I guess I did it wwrong, because I don't see it posted. Here it is again--
When our kids fought, one would always start singing "Love At Home" and that would make us laugh. You are a good story teller, Janae. I loved the FHE story. Sometime you should hear Monta tell stories. She's wonderful. Love, Gr S
How familiar this sounds. I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets short with little sleep and being on my own. And that my kids aren't the only ones who don't last through FHE or any other similar activity without having such outbursts:).
just fyi-
after FHE today, my dad commented on how often our FHE's ended in screaming or storming out of the room (when we were children, of course). i told him that i didn't think we were alone in that, and then i thought of this post of yours. so i read it to my dad...and he loved it. :)
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