library mayhem {okay, okay it wasn't that bad...}

Well that topped them all. Atty has pitched some big ol' fits in his time, being a redhead and all... but this took the cake. And was all the more embarrassing because he's six for crying out loud!  Let me set the scene for you.

I should start by mentioning that he's been really argumentative and basically difficult lately. Not sure what that's all about. It could be diet related, usually is. He is my only kid that doesn't seem to be able to figure out that fit throwing and arguing will get you nothing in this family. I have stood my ground every single time, but he keeps trying. He's persistent I tell yah. 

So anyways we went to the library on the way home from the Skagit Valley Learning Center on Monday. {Which I just have to tell you about as soon as I get around to it, ha ha!} Each of the kids get to pick out five books, I had the kid I nanny for there too, so that's a lot of books when you tally it all up! Last time Atty had accidentally grabbed six and so I told all the kids that they could get six that time, not as a regular thing. Well Atty immediately comes up to me with his arms full of books and tells me he wants six. He always wants to change it just a little bit. I told him no, that the normal rule is five and he would have to put some back {he had somewhere around eight or so} and the fuss was on! I felt it building and I knew is was going to be a doozy. But rules are rules and I'm a stickler. With a lot of kids you need order or you get chaos. I do not function well in chaos. Plus he was being really rude, and things are just not up for discussion in those cases. He was taking forever and getting more and more worked up so I told him that he could quickly figure it out on his own, or I would do it for him, or he could get no books at all. He worked it down to the last two, put one in the bag then freaked out and changed his mind. So I took that one out and let him put the other one in the bag. His thanks to me was to start freaking out all over again about how he wanted six books. So out his books came, on to the return shelf they went, and away I marched. He followed me through the library, up to the check out counter, wailing "I want six books, I want six books" the whole way. I wasn't about to punish the well behaved kids by leaving with out books so I got to sweat it out while the librarian checked out all 24 books {only bright side, I got some books too}. Everyone, and I mean everyone in that library was staring at us. I'm a shy and generally quiet person when I'm out and about. I have to say I just wanted to be swallowed up. Wanted to crawl into a bed and pull the covers over my head. Wanted to bang my head against a brick wall {not really I had a headache} because I mean really!?! Really!?! All because I said five books instead of six... good night! There is no reasoning with him when he gets worked up, he just repeats the same thing over and over again. It's absolutely maddening. So I totally and completely ignored him, and all the eyeballs as best I could, finished checking out the books and walked out. All the while with a wailing red head following behind {and four other obedient children, thank goodness, I think they were as mortified as I was}. I think I might have had steam coming out of my ears on the walk back to the Suburban. Angry doesn't even cover it! Of course by the time we get out there, he's basically done. He's calmed down enough to realize what a mess he's made of it. Now I want to pitch a fit!!! My kids are normally so well behaved, I mean seriously well behaved. About 95% of the time I'm insanely proud of their behavior... and 100% of the time I love them for who they are, even if they drive me crazy at times. :)  Getting back to Atty though, he's a wild card that kid. Never can tell what will set him off, and once he's started it's like he becomes a broken record. The only way to snap him out of it is to get him out of the situation and have him spend some time alone to calm down. It doesn't work to stay with him, because that generally just keeps him going. Must not engage, learned that early on. He went through an awful phase around three years old where I really had to reinforce that he will get nothing when he throws fits. It did make a difference, but they still happen from time to time. Every once and a while one erupts and takes me by surprise. Lately it's been happening more often. Too often. But once he gets it out of his system he's a smiley sweet boy again, that says "yes mom" and "I love you" for no reason. One who is ready and willing to cheerfully help me. I'm the one left having a hard time getting over it. Which makes me feel bad. Forgive and forget and all that. But lately I feel like I'm on this emotionally roller coaster with him and it's not fun. Not that anyone ever said that parenting was always fun, ha ha! I hope we can get something figured out so that we can get back on track though. I'm starting to worry that he will still be throwing fits when he's twelve. Egads! 

Now that I'm out of the situation it is sort of funny looking back. I mean at least it was a fit over books, and not toys at the store or something. Ha ha! Wonder how many times that has happened, a kid leaving the library crying "I want books, I want books!" 

Our trip to Idaho!!!

Ahhhhhhhh! I've been meaning to blog about our trip to Idaho for a couple weeks now! But with school in full swing right when we got back, I've just been struggling just to survive. ;) So without further ado... 

We decided to get up really, really early on Friday morning. We are talking 3:30 in the morning and we were on the road by about 4:30. It was Ryder's birthday, so what a treat for him. ;) Plus he did all the driving, what a trooper. The kids slept for a bit, and the grown ups watched the sun come up. We had an awe inspiring thunder and lightening show the night before, with massive rain and we also had a weather report of the same thing waiting for us in Idaho. Sadness. But we kept our hopes up. And I'm glad to say we were not disappointed!   

Wake up time! :) The sun is shinning and our hopes are starting to soar!

The mister driving on his birthday. Don't worry he opened his awesome present before we left, so he didn't totally get the sort end of the stick.

First stop after driving for 4 hours. Sun Lakes State Park. Breakfast time!!!

Dry Falls Look Out in Eastern Washington.

First family photo of the trip. :) My mom came with us, so we got quite a lot of family shots on this trip.  Bonus!

I know I was a bit obsessive with the sky shots, but with the weather report we had I have to say I was so freaking excited to see that blue sky!!! :)

None the less we {meaning my husband} made sure to secure the tent from rainy disasters. Last time we went camping my mom got drenched. This time... not a drop, and it did rain but nothing like they said it would and only at night. :)

Funny story though. We had packed the Suburban the night before so that we could just get in and go in the morning. Then we were hit with a crazy rainy storm that night. We took off the next morning, and it was still raining for a bit. Anyways by the time we got to our campsite {after about 11 hours on the road, counting stops} we opened up our carry all on top of the Suburban, and we got an ugly surprise. All of our sleeping stuff, the bags and pillows, were soaking wet. So much for thinking the carry all was water proof. Maybe for a light summer mist. Not for a pacific NW down pour. Luckily my hubby and mom found a laundry mat fairly close by. Ah, the fun of camping. :)

Our first morning, waking up relieved to be dry and safe. The weather was predicted to be severe thunder and lighting storms, wind and rain. So we had a lot to be relieved about. Living on faith. With a back up plan of a hotel. ;) The family we were meeting with ended up staying in a hotel the first night, they had a baby with them, and didn't want to take any chances. We didn't blame them, but we were a bit sad that we didn't get to see them right away. 

After breakfast we decided to check out the lake while we were waiting to see family. This girl decided to go wading in the beautiful green lake water.

Then she remembered that she would rather go wading in her skivvies. ;)

Then they all decided to join in. Mommy forgot to bring swim wear, oops. Luckily we had the lake mostly to ourselves. :)

Finally Atty's bio brother arrived! It actually took Atty a little while to warm up this time. He was a little overwhelmed at how much his brother looks like him and sounds like him. He told my mom it was like looking in a mirror.

But warm up he did, and they had a blast. :) It's so much fun watching them and listening to them play together. We are so lucky to be able to do this.

Got to have daddy snuggles. :) 

These boys are awesome together. And they had so much fun!!!

Trying to get a picture of Atty and his brother together, both looking at the camera is, well, next to impossible!!! Ha ha!

More lake fun, and this time mommy remembered swim wear! Yay me!!! ;)

These two were constantly working on something... :)

Joy!

I love his serious face. He use to look at me like this even when he was an itty bitty baby, so funny!

Oh man I adore her!!!

The boys decided they wanted to swim across this {little} section of the lake. So their Neenee went with them, they had life jackets of course. They were so proud of themselves, and it was super cute. :)

Daddy love.

This was a favorite at the play ground. It was hard to get them off of it!

My spunky monkey. Always pushing limits and testing boundaries. It will take you far son, but you drive a mother crazy. ;)

These two collect things where ever they go! Fascinating how similar they are in so many ways!!

His brother gave him a John Deer shirt, cuteness! Atty's brother is super into tractors and such. Atty, as most people know, is super into birds. They share their interests with each other, I love it! Atty brought his brother some Audubon magazines. His brother still carries around a robin {not a real one, don't worry, ha ha!} that Atty gave him a while ago. The adorableness has no bounds. :)

I just have to say I love this sweater, the hood on her is too much!  I just want to snuggle her up!!!

They played right in this spot, a lot! With tractors of course. :)

Group photo. Adoption has so many sides... this side of it, the side that brings families together. This side I love. My heart feels happy and full. I wish we lived closer together, but I will take it as it is. 

Neenee with her grandsons. :)

Me, my mom, and the brothers.

Brothers and cousins, but mostly brothers. :)

Banden's making the "seriously can we be done already" face. Ha ha! 

Silly face time!!!

And now for the time we all didn't want to face... saying goodbye. Leiella really loves M, it's so sweet. She's a truly wonderful person and all my kids adore her really. :)

Brother hugs... until next time. 

We went out of our way to stop here on the way home. Atticus cafe! With a bird! Beyond cool. :)

We even went in and bought a shirt {for a ridiculous amount of money}, exactly like the sign, bird and all. They only had adult sizes so we got him a small, and I told him he could wear it as pj's until he grows into it. Which at the rate he's been growing won't be long at all! If we ever go back around I just might have to get one in my size... which isn't small, ha ha!

Can you spot the tourists? ;)

Wild Horse Monument. Very cool. But hard to get a good picture of...

Lake Coulee in Eastern Washington, getting closer to home! :)

Once again we stopped at Snoqualmie Falls on the way home. Back on the right side of the mountains. ;) We love our lush greenery. Drippy, mossy, goodness. Can you tell we are all worn out. On the way back we only made two short stops, and managed to get home in about 9 hours. My kids are amazing road trip partners, I just have to say. :) 

So 2013 road trip I would say was a complete success, just like 2012... we have plans in the works for 2014! Don't know if it will include meeting up with Atty's bio brother on the trip, but they might come over here next year to meet up with us! I sure hope so. Our plan for next years road trip will hopefully include the redwood forest in California!  Up the Oregon coast, into California, and then looping back around. Dreaming big. :)

Now off to bed I go. Hopefully I didn't make too many mistakes in this post, I'm practically sleep typing. These long homeschooling days are draining me!! 

Actually I can't wait to share more about what we are doing this year, but that will have to wait. :)