yesterday

The boys and I went to the park for a couple of hours to soak in some of this crazy January weather we were having.

I tried taking some pics in manual, but I suck at it.

I need to practice... I know, I know.

And I am going to have to get a real editing software, since Picnik is closing down!

[I am a bit bitter about this news, as you can tell]

But I might as well finally learn my camera and all, while I am forking up the money to edit...

My pal, Kristen, has promised me a crash course, and I plan to take her up on it!

Here is what I got yesterday.
(other than a major case of the sneezy-sneezies, a headache, a dose of antihistamine and an empty Sonic cup!)

Once we got home, Maddox wanted to play with the neighbor kids.

He loves playing with them so much but it does a number on my anxiety, so honestly I tend to make excuses so that we can't play.

Example::  a few days ago, one of the boys was kicking and hitting the other kids and Maddox was just taking it. Lance was watching it and finally told the culprit to stop.
They're kids... I wasn't mad.  Boys are just rowdy.
But back inside, Lance gave Maddox "a talk" about taking up for himself, and told him he needed to hit him back!
Maddox responded, "Mommy says to never hit, that I just need to tell the mommy."
I was proud, but Lance still disagrees.
I get what he's saying.... but what's the right answer?
The second kid is always the one who gets caught-- besides, hitting is just not acceptable parenting advice!

Yesterday while playing, my allergies were bonkers and I was on call, so Lance was out again, watching them.
One of our neighbors called Lance down to his house and another mom said she would keep an eye on them.  When Lance came back, they were gone.
All of them.
The big sisters had taken them a few houses down, and across the street, to another kid's house.
Needless to say, Maddox was in a heap of trouble.
Probably the biggest trouble he has seen in a long while.

He knows to stay in front of our house...
and he certainly knows to never cross the street without one of us holding his hand!
His rebuttal::  "I wooked both ways!!"

Punishing him was the right thing to do....
but you can't blame a 3 year old for following the crowd.
And a 10 and 12 year old, to him, are adults.

I am honestly not trying to make excuses, but the next time you hear from my neighbors that I am "stuck up", just realize it is honestly just a difference in parenting styles....
And some things I can't lower my guard about.
Like the safety of my child... that's a big one.

On another note, The Mom of Boys blog from yesterday made my little ticker at the bottom, there, hit 20,000 blog reads. 

I put in on there in June 2009-- and am well aware that about 300 are just from Pinterest to the Belly pics. 
--But I am still going to call it an accomplishment, even though I really don't get anything for it!!

20,000 is a lot.

Finally, my husband got a random phone call yesterday that is going to take some household thought and prayer...
I will blog about it again, once we have dissected it down to its final thread...

Until then, please pray that we hear God's word.

Happy Saturday Folks!

We have an awards banquet for the fire department tonight, and still no babysitter.

Yay us.