Almost Christmas

It is 6 days before Christmas here in Houston. Today was 81 degrees. I am all about warm weather, but even I thought it was a little warm today. However, it does allow my children to play outside all day long. Amen. Bret has been working at night this week(boo) but I do love the time it gives us in the mornings as a family. Lately, it has been family gator rides to the park up and back the road and again and again:)

This morning Bret stayed home with Tucker for his morning nap while I took Carter to the park to meet up with one of his friends. It is so nice to have that option sometimes because most of what we do is planned around nap times. So for Carter to be able to just go and play during Tucker's nap is a win for everyone.

 Carter at the park is almost like Tazmanian devil at the park. I mean the kid is ALL over the place. He could be over at the ducks one minute and on top of the tallest play structure the next. No fear in this child what-so-ever. He truly just loves to play and I love that. On colder days he will just beg us to go outside. Good thing we have only had about 3 cold days all year. Carter was also being so sweet today. Sat down for lunch today and he grabbed our hands and just started praying. He was so thankful for everything today, using his manners so well. We were so proud of him. We always try to tell him when he is doing great at things because it is so easy to harp down on the oldest so often. Then, this happened.

Yep. My son took my blow dryer and burned a whole in the carpet. The funny thing was that he said "Mommy, come look what I did." As if he drew me a picture of our whole family. I was not exactly so proud in this moment. If there is one thing I have learned though from parenting it is not to freak out about every little thing. He did need to know that this was wrong. So I let him know, but at the same time it was ruined and there was nothing we could to do to fix it. So, we move on. I am sure that will be half our deposit when we move out, but kids are going to make messes and break stuff. It is not the end of the world. Now, don't get me wrong we punish our kids. He knows not to do that again- he even reminded me of it this morning:), but life is too short to send him to his room forever. It is also too short to be angry more than happy. Kids are defiant, but when they see that anger in you I feel as if it drives them to keep doing more. My tone of voice and how I react in moments can make or break that teachable moment. It is a lesson I learn everyday.

On a lighter note, it is the end of December which means in a month, my baby will be one.

Time please slow down.