The View From Here: thoughts on a sunday

Strawberry Days Rodeo crew - bad phone picture, but it's all I've got.

Since we live in Pleasant Grove now, we decided to abandon the Lehi Roundup and give the Strawberry Days rodeo a try. Really, we will be out of town for the Roundup, so it wasn't that hard to abandon it. But we went on Wednesday with Ken and Missy and their girls and we were pleasantly surprised! It was a pretty good rodeo. My favorite event by far? Wild cow milking. It was the most entertaining thing I've ever seen at a rodeo.

We have been enjoying those Alaska grown girls this month. I cannot believe how fast Ellery and Adele became best friends. They are both girly-girly girls and hold hands and sing made up songs everywhere they go. We all just adore watching them together and I'm already sad thinking that soon they'll be split up.

Addie and Elle might be best friends, but that doesn't overshadow the fact that Elise fits in perfectly with the boys. She is very similar to them and they have such fun playing outside and doing lots of wrestling. Elise is the best wrestler of the bunch.

Brian's sister Jaynann got married on Friday. It was a great, busy day. Sadly, I forgot my camera all day and didn't get a single picture. Jaynie was beautiful, of course, but what I really wanted to show you was how cute my kids looked in their wedding garbs. I have no idea if I used the term garbs right, but it sounds good, doesn't it? Anyway, McKay had a bow tie and suspenders, and the girls had beautiful dresses that Adele made. All the kids looked adorable. Wayne in suspenders and a bow tie? I am dying just thinking about him.

Layla was quite active during the reception. She was running around, being loud, demanding ice cream, asking to do the naked dance as she tried to pull off her dress. . .you know, the usual. But she really made me proud when she loudly declared over and over and over, "Shut the L" while looking out the eight story window. We have no idea what she was meaning to say, but everyone within a ten foot radius sure knew what it sounded like. It really made people wonder about us when she then started repeating a word that sounded a lot like another sh word.
That girl talks so much, I am amazed by it every day. The other day Brian asked her where I was. She responded, "She's upstairs." What not even two year old says that? I think she's really smart.

Ellery was in heaven getting to spend her evening in a room full of roses, plus a bride too. She definitely has a soft spot for weddings and carried my bouquet around the whole night, as well as any other flowers she could get her hands on. You can bet that Addie was right by her side, doing the exact same thing.

McKay was bummed that he couldn't wear his suspenders to church, but his outfit was in the dirty clothes. He is not above wearing things out of the dirty clothes hamper, and it's something I have to monitor on a daily basis. He has his favorites and always asks me the status of my laundry doing.

Our kids are super naughty at church lately. I read somewhere that in order to get your kids to behave in church you take them to an empty classroom, turn the lights off and sit them on a table and just sit there silently. I give this a shot with Layla today, and it kind of, sort of worked as well as you could expect from a one year old. Brian then tried it with Ellery (yes, we were in and out twice today) and it didn't work as well. I feel like we are a circus.

Speaking of naughty, today we heard some commotion from the basement. When Brian went down to investigate he found Ellery locked in the playroom closet with the lights out and McKay against the door saying, "I won't let you out if you tell on me." Apparently he punched her and then tried to hide the evidence in the closet. He ate dinner in his room, and spent quite a bit of time there. They've since made up, but wow, what are we supposed to do with these two?

I don't want to sugar-coat my children. I think it will be important to remember their struggles as well as all the good things. They are naughty sometimes, and lately fighting a lot more than usual. Brian and I feel a bit out of control and are re-evaluating our discipline tactics. It's hard though. Compared to a lot of families, we are quite strict with our children- we've been told this many times. And knowing that we are pretty strict makes it harder to know what more we can do. More follow-through. More serious consequences. No earning things back once they're gone. I guess those would work. But I wonder if there is more that we're missing- that we don't even know about.

What's hard about discipline is what is effective with one child can be completely in-effective with another. I am just thinking out loud here, and probably not making a lot of sense. What does make sense is that I have good kids. No matter if they fight or punch or tattle, I wouldn't trade them. They are good and I hope to be able to teach them how to get along better. It's more a reflection on us than it is them. We are the ones teaching them.