Could have gone a lifetime without this experience

Jason called me yesterday at work. I was in a patient's room and normally wouldn't talk to him, but I could tell something was up. You know what I mean, that tone of voice that just cuts to your heart and you worry about what happened. He wasn't panicked though, so I knew the kids were okay and nothing terrible had happened.

I listened with growing shock as he told me the following story:

Austin and one of the neighborhood boys were playing out back. Another little boy ran by and Austin asked him why he was running. Other little boy replied that he needed to get home so his dad wouldn't spank him. Austin answered that he got spankings all the time and that they weren't so bad. Other little boy started punching and kicking Austin. Austin tried to hold other boys arms down. Other little boy pushed Austin down and climbed on top of him. At some point neighbor boy ran inside to get his mom. Meanwhile Austin was yelling, "I give up! I give up!" While other little boy scratched at his eyes.

I was in shock and near tears. I am sure some of you know that feeling of helplessness and shock when something happens to your child that you can't undo and you can't make better. I wanted to leave work right then and go and hold Austin in my arms. (A separate part of me wanted to leave work and go fight other boy! Thankfully that was a small part of me.)

Layla ran inside and got Jason. He went and talked to other boys mom and they discussed the whole situation.

Austin is over it, and I will be soon too, but it is a hard thing. And I know it will just get worse as the kids get older. Below: Austin enjoying a mini ice cream cone, you can see the scratches under his eye.

Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we went to the pumpkin patch. We went on the hay ride. And then spent almost 30minutes finding just the right pumpkin for each of us.

It was a very fun day. It was so nice to do something all together.

Stinky or not!

We started this new plan. Every morning is a nightmare because the kids can never find everything they need to get up and dressed for the day. So a week or so ago I found a book shelf and put it in the hallway upstairs and now before bed the kids put all of there things on the shelf. Clean undies, shirt, pants, socks, and shoes. Everything they need in one convenient place. This morning Layla's clothes wouldn't fit. Really just her pants. They were too tight. Not surprising, she is still wearing her 5T jeans. With her size 6 bootie! So I have her try on each pair of her pants. Three pairs of pants fit, probably ten don't. (Yes, she has way too many clothes!) Annoying, now I need to buy her new jeans. I remember doing this not that long ago (it has probably been a year or more!).

Then I come down stairs and Austin is walking around with one shoe on. Only one of the $40 we just bought him because he has no arch and needs really good support so we had to buy fancy, stinking, New Balance tennis shoes that he will probably out grow right about Christmas time when I won't be able to afford new ones. So anyway, he is walking around.
"What are you doing?"
"I can't find my shoe."
"Why wasn't it on the shelf?"
"I couldn't find it last night."
"So it made more sense to you to wait until this morning to start looking for it?"
I will edit the other not motherly things I said to the poor child. I did find his shoe under the curtain in the computer room.

I put the two big kids on the bus and am happy to only have one to entertain for the morning.

When the kids get home from school we run around and get Austin's stuff all ready for piano lessons and scouts. We take him to lessons and drop him off.

We then go to Target to look at new clothes for Layla. We probably spend 20 minutes in the girls section with me yelling every 2 minutes. The kids are fighting and hitting and pushing and I am saying, "You better stop." "Quiet!" and "do you want me to be mad?" So finally, after 20 minutes of this and finding no good deals on jeans, but some pretty good deals on summer clothes for next year, I finally say, "FORGET IT!! WE ARE LEAVING!!" and I put all the good deals back on the clearance rack and storm out of the store.

With two little sad blond children in tow.

We get in the car and I start to calm down. I decide to swing by a consignment shop on the way home and find four pairs of jeans for $4 each. They are in great shape, cuter and cheaper than the others I had seen that day.

We then go to the library and get the rest of the books from the new series that I have started.

So all in all, this day only kind of stunk!