Why a simple Kindergarten project can mess with your self-esteem...

So the girls brought home a project their first week of kindergarten. The instructions were to cut out the "little person" provided and have your child make it look like themselves. So I gave the girls a box of crayons and let them "create". Besides, I had a fussy baby and a screaming three year old who needed my attention at that moment so I thought nothing more of this easy project.

Fast forward 9 weeks and I am standing out both of the girls classrooms (they adjoin) and the sweet little people are glued to the bulletin board in the hallway for everyone to see. And I find the girls "girls" and then they start pointing out their friends "people". And that is when I noticed that alot of these projects had yarn for hair, glitter for shoes, real buttons, real clothes, etc. And the Tidwell girls just had crayon. Talk about a sinking feeling. I realized I should have helped the girls a little more. But I didn't even think to get out real fabric, real buttons, yarn for hair, refurbished Barbie clothes, etc. I thought that the child was supposed to do the project...guess not!!

Exhibit A: Notice the person with brunette yarn hair and pink dress..oh my stars and Martha Stewart


Is it me or do you think a bunch of five year olds did these people above?? NOPE...cheaters. Not the innocent little Kinderfolks, but their parents who somehow knew these things would be in the main hallway for all to see.


Exhibit B: I think they are all mocking me.....
And here is Exhibit C with my girls people (the two in the middle with no yarn or real pictures)Now don't get me wrong. I am very proud of their artwork. I think they did the best out of those who didn't cheat. And it didn't bother them one bit nor did they notice that some went over the top nuts WITH the exception of the little girl who used a Barbie princess dress with glitter. Laura looked at me a little disapprovingly and asked why I didn't think of that. I just told her that mommy will never think of the crafty stuff but I can throw a really cute birthday party or baby shower and that is what is important in the long run...right?? Right??

And that is why you should always listen to your mother....

So the other day I saw a cute centerpiece for fall and attempted to re-create it on my kitchen table. I took a huge hurricane vase and then put a small cylinder vase in the middle and then poured some carmel candy corns around the bottom and then put a candle in the cylinder vase. Voila, a really cute and easy centerpiece. What I failed to think through is that there is a huge container of candy corns on my kitchen table for all the kids to see!! The girls noticed before Cuatro and before they could get their hand in the container I made a rule that NO ONE was to eat the candy. I went back to tend to Audrey while the girls sat at the table doing their homework and Cuatro climbed the window. I finally made it back to the table to help the girls and by then Cuatro had discovered the wonderful candy corns. As he was putting his hands in I told him the candy was fake and poisonous so he better not touch it (Before you judge me, please know that the poison card always works with Cuatro and I did not want to be fighting with him over my pretty handiwork!). Well all of a sudden Laura starts to cry uncontrollably. I asked her what was wrong and she said through her tears, "I ate the candy corns and now I am going to die because they are poisonous!!!" After I whispered to her the truth she was fine but she is still wary of the candy on the table:) She should have listened to her mother.....

Does Cuarto have a future in the NFL?

This video speaks for itself. Cuatro is in the blue jersey second from the right-#41.

Worthy Lessons to Remember

We have a bit of a black cloud over us this week. There is so much going on with our family right now and I just wanted to remind myself and the kids of some verses about revenge. There are people around us who want to bring stress into our lives for their selfish gain and it makes us sad. Relationships have been severed and the whole situation is hard to handle. But what makes our perspective different than the one bringing the pain is our good God. He is in control and He has our good in mind. I have shed tears but have been given such peace through the following scripture. He loves our family and while this might be a refining period, it is for our good and His glory. My prayer is that we come through this with dignity. Here is what I am clinging to right now:

Romans 12:17 - "Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody."
Proverbs 20:22-"Do not say, "I will pay you back for this wrong!" Wait for the Lord and He will deliver you."
1 Peter 3:9-"Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you might inherit a blessing."

I will be honest and say that all sorts of thoughts went through my head as we found out this person's intent yesterday but I was reminded to take these thoughts captive and remember that I serve a BIG God and a GOOD God. We are to act ABOVE reproach and He will take care of the rest. God has been so faithful in making us aware of some bitterness creeping in. Joe and I know that we have been given so much-I don't mean material wealth but the gift of a wonderful home life, healthy children, a sweet marriage and many family and friends who are praying for us right this minute. I hope that as you children read this one day that you know that money and stuff you aquire do not matter. It all goes away in the end. May you know that your treasure is in heaven not here on earth. May greed not blind your life and ruin your relationships. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

And it starts.....

So this has been the week from down under and I don't mean Australia. I mean as in H-E-double hockey sticks. We had a great full weekend of activity and a family overnight trip to the ranch. The kids had a ball just playing in the dirt and riding all around on the hunting Jeep. So Sunday afternoon, we loaded our dirty and tired bodies into the car and took off for home 3 hours away. About one hour into our departure, Cuatro throws up all over himself. We are still on a county road so we pull over, clean him and his seat up, and he insists on wearing a new set of clothes. So we dress him again and take off. WELL, 50 minutes later we stop to let us girls take a potty break and Cuatro complains that his tummy hurts again. So I leap into action and throw his straps off and put him over the side of the car and tell him to throw up outside not inside. He smiles and starts playing with buttons on the car and anything else he can get his hands on. I think he is just bored sitting in his car seat and put him back in and we drive off again. Well, not even 5 minutes on the highway and we hear an awful noise and look back to see our son throwing up (exorcist style) about a week's worth of food EVERYWHERE. It did not stop for 2 minutes. I am in shock and Joe is trying to pull over as fast as he can with a huge trailer hooked up to our car. I am trying to find paper towels and Clorox wipes and Joe is telling me to get Cuatro out of the car. So I open my door to the tallest grass I have ever seen and refuse to step out---hello!!! snakes live in this kind of stuff. So Joe gets out and gets our son out and I vainly try to clean him and his seat up. We stripped our sweet three year old on the side of I-35 and I give up on the seat and tell Joe to get it out of the car and on the trailer. We put Cuatro in our back-up booster and a new diaper and go on our merry way. And I had the privilege of sitting next to him the rest of the way holding a plastic bag in case there was another episode. He promptly fell asleep about five minutes after we got back on the road and he had chosen Barbie and the Diamond castle to watch on the DVD. So fast forward to Wednesday at 4am where Laura starts throwing up. Here we go again!! Well, I still had to get Grace and Cuatro to their respective schools by 7:30 and 8:25 respectively. So everyone is ready to walk out the door and Laura throws up all over the floor. SO I clean it up and send her to the other house (Joe's office) to stay with her daddy until I return because there DID NOT need to be any more puking in the car. Needless to say, we are so late at this point to drop Grace off. The policy for being tardy is to have your parent walk you into the school office and sign you in. Well, I tell Grace this when we park at her school and she says, "really, you have to come in and bring these two in too (these two are Cuatro and Audrey)?". I looked at her in shock because I saw in her eyes that she was embarrassed to be seen with us!! It didn't help that I was in workout clothes and a ponytail and no makeup. I might have looked like death warmed over but I was her mama. I went through 37 weeks of throwing up, swollen feet, a rare all-over-body rash for her and then endured a 15 hour labor on top of that. And she wanted nothing to do with me or her little brother who is now shouting, "I get to go to school!!" at the top of his little lungs. Or her sweet, innocent, adorable 8 month old sister who was by this time wailing. I just don't see how we are embarrassing??? Nonetheless, I drag everyone out of the car and walk slowly to the office. All the while my sweet Grace is walking far behind us while Cuatro is running full force to the first open door so excited because he thinks he is going to Kindergarten (think this is going to end badly???). We get to the office, I sign her in and she gets her hall pass. I then ask a really dumb question which was, "Would you like us to walk you to your classroom?". And she said, "No, I can go by myself." And she quickly runs off (her class is a few feet from the office). So I watch her go and try not to cry and then tell Cuatro that we have to go. Well, you might have guess what happened. It wasn't pretty. There was a three year old jumping up and down, crying, and screaming that he didn't want to leave and that he was five and a half and can go to Kindergarten. I reminded him of his field trip and his friend Carson being at his school and all was right with the world and we walked to the car without further incident. But my mommy heart was a little sad as I drove off. Five years old is way too young to be embarrassed by your family, right? I thought so too. Oh Grace, I love you dearly and I hope that one day we don't embarrass you---that might be a really big stretch though.

P.S. As I was writing this, I was interrupted by Laura throwing up once again. I resumed my story once I got that "crime scene" cleaned up:) AHH, the endless joy of being a mommy.

Why I have been Absent from Blogging

I have not posted in FOREVER. And yes I have been busy. But that is not the reason I have neglected my blog. It is a much more complicated answer but a funny one...did you expect any less?

So one night, I was working on the laptop at my desk in the kitchen when I heard a disturbing scream from the girl's room. So I got up and put my laptop on the stove since it was in route to the room. I then got distracted with things like bathtime, storytime, and threatening Cuatro. So around 8pm, I emerged from the back of the house to a really weird smell in the kitchen. I called Joe to see if he could smell it too since it smelled like something was burning. And burning my laptop was. I had failed to see if the cooktop was off before setting something like a laptop on it. The computer had been there for so long, that the bottom was completely melted...gone...finished. I cried and Joe LAUGHED. I knew I loved a sense of humor in a man for some reason:) So I was without the internet for about two weeks and was starting to twitch. So Joe went and bought me an IPAD and assured me that I would love it and could do everything on it that I did on a laptop. It was really great until I figured out that I could not edit the posts in my blog or email a group of people from my account or use any type of Microsoft Office document. This is the three things I use most!!! So now I have a laptop and we all use the IPAD for fun...Cuatro especially when he found out he could see movies on it. So there is my excuse. But I am back and plan on doing a catch up post with pictures soon!! Until then, enjoy Audrey's birth story two posts below that I was finally able to edit and finish.

See you soon!!

My little brother got married last weekend and I was very emotional the entire weekend. And some of it may have been because there was a whole bunch to do and I had to coordinate four children AND babysitters AND a husband in the wedding. But most of it was because I was remembering the past and looking into the future.

First the past:
My brother is 27 and is 4 years younger than me. He and I were extremely close in college since we were roommates for one year. I came to count on him so much that year. He helped me feel safe when I came home late at night from studying. He made me laugh through a very stressful year of grad school classes. He took care of me when my dog was run over and injured. We had a blast that year as the good very much outweighed the bad. And then I graduated and moved many states away but we remained close. He has driven cross country with me and the twins TWICE moving all of our stuff. He has spent countless hours with Joe and I laughing and making so many great memories that I treasure so much. AND then he met this wonderful woman and they are married. He is someone's husband and I can't believe it. There is some sort of sadness that no one mentions when your sibling or best friend gets married. You are so happy for them and regardless of whether they are marrying the most wonderful person ever, you know life will never be the same. Change is good and needed but there is always an underlying sadness. I will admit that I cried in the balcony at the rehearsal when he saw his sweet bride come down the aisle and the song "How Beautiful" played on the piano. I had so many flashbacks of this sweet red-haired boy with a goofy grin grow into a young man on the brink of the rest of his life. It was a sweet moment I will never forget.

Now the future:
On the day of the wedding, I had to get four kids dressed up (which is a whole lot different then just getting them dressed) and get myself looking presentable all without the help of my husband (since he was a groomsman in the wedding and therefore had to be there early). So needless to say, I was a mess when I arrived at the church with only ten minutes to spare until the ceremony!! But the girls and I sat directly behind my parents so we had a great view of everything. This was the first wedding the girls had ever been to so they had no idea what to expect. Well, their eyes were so wide the entire time. I could just see what they were thinking on their faces because I attended my first wedding when I was five too. They were in awe of the bride and her beautiful dress. They sweetly held my hands throughout the whole ceremony and hardly moved. And while they were looking ahead, I couldn't help but watch my sister-in-laws parents. Because the thought occurred to me that I will be in that seat possibly three times in the next 20 or 30 years. And then I held my girls more tightly and prayed at that moment for a wonderful mate for each of my children and I also prayed that I wouldn't take this time with them for granted. And part of me knew that at some point that day, Jenny's parents were remembering a sweet five year old girl whose whole world was theirs and now she too was on the brink of the rest of her life......

Congratulations Jenny and Clegg!!

P.S. I am writing this so I won't forget:

Grace didn't want to attend the wedding since their would be kissing and "that's gross". I hope you always remember that baby girl. It will serve you well:).

Also, Laura got in the car afterwards and immediately asked if Clegg and Jenny can live together now---you also need to remember that little gem baby girl #2. It will serve you well:).