Saturday Nights

Saturday nights are the worst, well after church every other week. See my kids come home after having a fun three days with their father and well they get back and I have rules that they don't want to follow. So when they come traipsing in the door at nine o'clock, bedtime is still at 9:30 and they are all hyper.
This week was especially bad. Alex had no glasses. Apparently they "split apart" so I quickly texted his father and told him that he needs to take them to get fixed. Then I realized that to my horror Alex had black hair. Yes, his father dyed it with out even consulting me. This was worse than the time he got Maddy a hair cut. I was livid. Alex is fairly light complexioned and had light hair. BLACK???? What was he thinking. I also was irritated that the kids came back at 9:00 so hungry. Both boys say they had cake and fruit but no dinner, that can't be right. Then Alex said I was supposed to feed them dinner, but the agreement is when they come back at 4 pm I feed them dinner (of course) and when they come back at 9 pm, I expect them to have eaten already.
So Alex is having a temper tantrum, yes he is my neuro-typical child, and this freaks poor Justin out. Alex threw a beloved hot wheel on the ground and emptied the shoe bucket onto Justin's bed. The shoes were an easy fix, as we played a game and picked them up, but the car on the hardwood floor made Justin cry. So now I have two crying darlings at 10 at night. Yay....it is Saturday night at the Brigg's house.
Luckily Maddy came in the house quietly and went to her room and got on her pjs. She is going to come out of this the best I hope. Another week, another trial, another journey.

grrrowls

Today is one of one those days that my kids call a "growly day". It doesn't have to do with them at all. In fact they are not here. I do miss them when they are at their dad's house but this is an entirely different feeling. It is more of an "ugh" and "blah" kind of day that follows a night of poor sleep. I had one of those nights where you wake up a million times, yet it is past the time where you can take sleeping aids and still hope to get up at 7:30. Some times I can blame the animals but this time I cannot even blame them, they were all happily asleep. Comet the cat did start her normal traipsing around the bed a little early, but I had already been awake for 2 hours at that point. Of course too much moving around for Comet because the poor thing threw up twice already this morning, not helping to lift the growly mood for sure. Besides being cold and having a horrid cough, there really isn't a reason for the morning growls today. I just feel like it I guess. I know I have a lot to do today maybe the growls are because of the daily agenda. I should have accepted one of the many sub machine calls but didn't feel like it. I answered one and couldn't remember my pin and then had the general attitude of "screw it" after that. I need to wash the hairy sausage of a dog named Chewie and go to some kind of store to buy deodorant, tooth paste and sponges, but again my motivation is not even in this house. I am sure of it. I will probably be able to drag my butt down the stairs to wash laundry, as that is dearly needed. I may even get the motivation to try out my new dance dvd...that may even get rid of the growls :-) I am hoping that the growls leave soon as it would suck having them tag around all day long and haunt me.

Monday morning hurdles

Is wanting scream and pull your own hair out wrong? Mondays are always hectic and today was definetly no exception. Hurdle number one on a Monday morning is always getting the kids up. Maddy gets up easily so its operation wake up in the boy's room. I threaten to throw water on my eldest's head and he finally gets up after almost a half hour of prodding, pulling off blankets and threats. Justin however is not in the mood for getting up today. Last night he informed me that he was not going to school on Monday, so this Monday was particularly hard. He was wrapped up in his "shell", a shirt that he puts his entire body in. Almost like the comforting device that Temple Grandin made for herself. I tell Justin what I always do, "get up or I have to pull you out of bed." This usually works for Justin as he does not like being man handled, lifted or touched in the morning. So of the two options he usually picks to get up himself. However, I have to pull him out of his shell this morning as he decides that he doesn't care to chose the option of getting up. Hurdle number one completed...only a half hour.

Hurdle number two...breakfast. Sometimes this isn't a hurdle, in fact Justin had pop tarts and he loves pop tarts. The issue, however is getting Justin to stay in his seat and just eat. He likes to take a bite and leave his seat, roll around, walk to another room, lay down and then come back to the table. By this time Maddy was completely dressed and Alex was mosying over to the table to distract his brother. Both boys take ADHD meds, but at this point in the morning neither one had their meds yet. The meds are on the table waiting for the boys to take with their breakfast. Justin ate his pop tart and then climbed into his shell on the couch without even glancing at his pills. Usually Justin does quite well with his meds. This morning he was tired, cold and hyper. Alex took his pills remarkably well, which for him is odd. We had to coax Justin out of his "Shell" once again and offered him his favorite "smooth" sweat shirt to wear instead.

Hurdle number three was convincing the kids, mainly Justin, to be quiet. Jay is still sleeping at 6:30 so they are to get ready as quietly as they can. Today Maddy decided to sing in the bathroom while washing her face, but since she usually is the loudest in the morning, this was a minor offence. Justin however, was still in operation hyper mode and practically was yelling down the hall from his room to his brother in the kitchen. I finally sent him out and told Alex to help by gathering Justin's shoes and backpack from the room so he wouldn't have to go down the hall anymore. He was loud at the table and loud in the kitchen also. I felt so bad as I couldn't get his volume to turn down. To top it off he runs every where so he was running through the house at 7 a.m. An added noise maker this morning was Bruno, our albino Garfeild cat, who found Tiffany, my old cat and wanted to "play" with her. So Jay also heard hissing coming from the boy's closet (which shares a wall with our room).

Monday mornings are the worst days of all , but at least today I had Alex's help and a fairly well behaved Maddy. Also a bonus I only had three children today (instead of 5) so I didn't have to leave extra early to drive to two more schools. The extra 15 minutes was in my favor this morning. So despite wanting to scream at my children and having a few morning hurdles (some days there are more) I should thank God for Mondays like this.

Game night turned to all night

We stayed up way too late playing monopoly. At least it is Christmas break still right? My body is going to hate my decision that staying up till 5 am was a good idea. It was so hard to quit the game when my little Justin was doing so well. He bought almost everything on the board and was in such a good adorable little mood. It was like the cuteness meter was turned on to high. His turn taking and fairness dial was set to almost normal and he willfully shoveled over owed rents to his fellow family members. Of course it didn't hurt that most money being paid was to him or that he had a huge pile in his color coded money piles. He even learned how to properly roll the dice. A year ago this same child could not make it through a shorter game like Sorry. Though games like Monopoly I think make more sense to him so perhaps he does better at those, but he has tried monopoly unsuccessfully before. A little after 2 am, Justin fell asleep. His brother, who was kicked out of the game previously for a bad attitude, took over. Alex is a sore loser so he was excited to come into the game with several millions. I guess when the money was all counted and the winner was declared we can attribute it to teamwork, though through a whisper I will say that Justin won. At least the kids will have a good memory of their last day of break. Now get me my coffee!

The peace of yesterday is lost;.

All 5 kids are here and yesterday's peace is gone. My 12 year old finally took his meds after much prodding. The only thing to do next is force feed him, which I have had to do in the past, but not for many years. Now that he took the tiny blue pills he will be able to cooperate and produce for me a laundry basket. Once the basket is brought from his room he is supposed to be responsible and actually wash them. The other children are finally calm as well. The mood has shifted as I am typing. Justin is in his room admiring his collection of hot wheels....lining them up in color coded rows to "race" them. The other three have also found ways to occupy themselves with computer games, Barbie and Legos. Almost a week more of break and hopefully I can retain my sanity.