OuR CrAZy hOuSE!!

Life at our house is nuts. It is not quiet, it is not clean, it is not abounding in love and harmony all the time.

Monday night is no exception. FHE has become a beloved tradition but I have not yet been successful in removing fighting and tears from this tradition. The crying usually starts from the moment someone says, "welcome to family home evening everyone" (. .. we used to rotate this duty but there was so much fighting Dave is the only one ever allowed to conduct. Lexey still cries over this every week.)

Last monday I asked Dave to give Calvin a father's blessing since he was starting a new school on Tuesday (and had not let dave give him a blessing to start school in the fall). Calvin was looking forward to this. Calvin, in spite of his difficulties has a very sweet spirit and is often the best behaved in the family when it comes to sitting still and participating in a lesson.

The girls are quite wiggly and tend to bounce off the walls. I warned Lex and Clare that if they were not good during the special blessing they wouldn't get ice cream. I figured that this would help them behave as they should but they were absolutely rediculous, having to be removed from the room on more than one occasion. At the end dave said, "I am going to throw them in the pool." (This is his favorite punishment for misbehavior, espeically in the winter). I assured him we already had a plan -- NO ice cream. The girls errupted in sobs and tears complete with throwing themselves on the ground and kicking and screaming. It was rediculous!! Calvin was still giving hugs and feeling warm and fuzzy and went to have his ice cream while the girls were going NUTS! It was a pretty funny and crazy scene. I am sure that someday I will have a quiet house and then I can look back on moments like these and wish I still had little kids around to keep life exciting!