Momster

momster

A word used in conversation of siblings to complain about their mother. Comes from "mom" + "monster" = momster.

Well, folks, in a Family Home Evening first, I'm the one who stomped off in a raging fury after making everyone cry.  Yep, you read that right.  Apparently, when I haven't gotten a decent night's sleep in several days thanks to Jane and/or Alex keeping me up all night long, I reach a breaking point very quickly.  Especially when bombarded with whining voices and lack of cooperation during a lesson that I actually spent a lot of time working on and preparing for because I felt like it was time to actually teach what it means to "Hold to the Rod" -- since that's what our family theme is for the school year and all.  Unfortunately, screaming so loudly at the 3-year-old to just "STOP" his whining {and causing every single child to start crying in the process}, isn't exactly what I was hoping to use as illustration for how the Iron Rod represent the word of God.  Nor was throwing a roll of Scotch tape across the room in frustration and then skulking off to my bedroom to escape.  But that's basically how things went down.

The sad thing was that the lesson started off really great, with all the kids gathered around me and excited to have their scriptures out for a "scripture chase" and even more excited about the promise of a special treat that I had made to go along with the lesson.  Once I calmed down and then came down to apologize to everyone and pick back up where we left off, however, we managed to finish on an okay enough note, and they were all pretty tickled with the "Iron Rod" pretzel sticks I had made for them earlier that day.  But still.  I wish I could go back and have a do over. 

I'm just so tired!  It's been a scrambling kind of day AND weekend.  Here is the Reader's Digest version of the last few days:
FRIDAY NIGHT --

•  Scott ended up taking Jane to the emergency room because she was struggling so badly to breathe.  It was scary.  And I'm not usually one to worry.  Thankfully, they took good care of her at the hospital, gave her a steroid to help with the breathing, and then sent them merrily on their way without admitting her for a stay.  Thank goodness!

{Smiling and happy(er) with that barf bag in hand.  Apparently, after throwing up, she started doing a lot better.}

 {Scott says she REALLY loved that warming blanket.}

SATURDAY --

• LOTS of screen time was in the works for the day.  Ethan still had a fever and was not feeling great; Jane was fever-free, but still tired, and emotional, and not feeling great either; and then Scott and I were so tired from being up so much of the night before that it was easier to let them have free reign with electronics.
• I escaped from the house mid-day for an awesome lunch meeting with my Daisy co-leaders and then skedaddled over to the Meijer's next door to stock up on some basic necessities -- you know, a few Christmas presents, household necessities, some items for my Primary Sharing Time lesson the next day.  And some dry ice for Ethan.  Hahaha.  He's been hounding me about getting some since LAST weekend, so I decided to make his day and bought some for my poor little invalid to play with.  It provided quite a thrill for a few minutes there, as he got a cooler full of hot water to plop the dry ice in and made a bunch of smoke for his "experiment."  :)

 Catching it all on film.  :)

SUNDAY --

• Jane and Alex coordinated with each other to minimize our sleep on Saturday night, so that was a fun way to start off our Sabbath day.  Hahaha.  :)
• Even with only TWO children {Grace and Sophie} to get ready and cart along to church, we managed to be late.  
• Lack of sleep and physical well-being put EVERYBODY'S moods and behavior on the fritz by the end of the day.  We were vacillating between straight out CRAZY town and sweet normalcy all afternoon/evening long amongst the older two and bedtime couldn't come soon enough.  

 {In one of her moments of peace and creativity, Grace fashioned a time machine.  Hahahaha.}

MONDAY --

• And then there's today.  Jane was up from about 3 o'clock onward as she came in and out of our room wanting to sleep in our bed and then crying and having a fit when we told her no.  I think it was around 5 (?) when she finally responded to the threat of no Aunt Kristin's house this week if she didn't go back to sleep, and I was able to get just a few more zzzz's in before the day started for good.
• I ran to to the store around 10:30, only to discover that the pumpkin muffins I signed up to bring for Alex's "Thanksgiving Feast" at preschool this afternoon were no where to be found for purchase.  Which meant that I had to speed through my grocery shopping trip, run home and feed both kids lunch before the bus got here for Jane, and make PUMPKIN MUFFINS from scratch before Alex had to get to preschool at 12:30.  Not to mention, I also had to use that narrow window of time to get dinner started in the crockpot so it would be ready in time for us to eat tonight at a decent hour.  So, it was a bit chaotic for an hour or so there.
• The after school crush was not bad until it was time to turn electronics off and get chores done.  And then it was just one steady, sloping, descent into madness.  Which is what set the stage for my FHE performance.  

So, there you have it.   All's well that ends well, though, and things are looking up.  The kids have all forgiven me {or so they say}, and I'm optimistic that we are finally at the end of our croupy nightmare.  Tomorrow is the last day of school before vacation, and we're all excited to have a little break!  Until next time...

 {"Iron Rods" -- Chocolate dipped pretzel rods, rolled in silver sugar.  They were a hit!}