Sometimes it just clicks...

...and sometimes it doesn't. For a stretch of several hours today I felt like a GREAT mom. We had such a rhythm going...here's what went down....11am, Ry left for practice/summer league. 12pm, naps with NO problems! 2pm, cuddles with both kids and no fighting (this is HUGE nowadays!). 3pm, met Lynn at Target and shopped without incident until about 5pm. 5:30, I actually prepared a meal without interruption! Kids rode bikes in garage while I cooked stir fry for all of us. Today I am laying down the law with meals...they eat what we eat or they get cheese & crackers. Read that tip in Parents magazine and am running with it. 6pm, Austin screamed "NO RICE...I DON'T LIKE RICE!", ate his chocolate pudding, cheese, and chocolate milk. It's going to be tough with my little picky pants. Caitlin ate her rice, chocolate pudding, cheese, and chocolate milk. The cool part was that we all got to eat together because I wasn't bouncing up and down to get stuff. 6:20pm, the kids used their reading pens to read books while I cleaned up the kitchen. Again, with no fighting!?!?! 6:40pm, took kids for a bike ride around the neighborhood until about 7:15. When we got home, nobody cried or complained about having to go straight in...HUH?! They got to choose either a banana or a nectarine for a snack...Austin picked the nectarine, Caitlin the banana...they didn't eat much...just nibbled. Then we headed upstairs for baths. I knew I was pushing my luck...

Bathtime started out well, but ended with Austin crying about everything. One of the more mystifying things he cried about was having to use the "elephant" towel. He wanted the "puppy" towel that Caitlin chose. OH MY GOSH! He was going hysterical..."I don't want the elephant. I want to be the puppy! NOOOOOO ELEPHANT!!!" and he's running around our room like some naked madman crying and screaming. Then he REALLY went nuts when he asked, "Sis are you going to be the puppy all day?!" She smugly said, "Yep" and he went ballistic. Then she sat back and enjoyed the show wrapped in her puppy towel! I just started laughing at how ridiculous it was! That's what it took for him to stop crying. Then he started laughing too. Ah, the inner workings of a 4 year old!

In other news...our 4th of July was a wash out. It rained all day and evening. So we didn't do much. Ryan had practice in the morning and that afternoon/evening we played in the garage...riding bikes & scooters and playing ball. The kids got to see fireworks this morning because we recorded part of the Macy's fireworks display.

Caitlin has been really interested in spelling and wanting to read words...so that's what we've been doing a lot of. The other day she wrote (without my help) Caitlin & Austin...and yes, she used the ampersand! I was shocked and amazed.

Austin is in constant motion. He is hard to keep up with & he LOVES to do jobs....mowing, filling stuff, pulling weeds, whatever.

Other funny stuff....

**Austin saw Michael Jackson on TV and asked Ryan, "Who is that lady?" (Sorry hon, it's too good to NOT put in here...you'll thank me years from now!" :)

**Caitlin keeps singing this commercial with me. "What's your flavor?" Oh my, we sang that and danced around the garage making up silly songs for quite awhile yesterday!

**Some kids sleep with stuffed animals...Austin sleeps with a pass to the P.I.T. (bball tourney)! Daddy gave it to him this morning and he slept with it at nap and bedtime! Oh my gosh, he is supposed to be sleeping now, but I hear him chanting, "P.I.T., P.I.T., N.B.A.!"

**I heard Austin looking at some instruction manual saying, "Bills, Bills, Bills..." which is a line from one of their favorite shows...Caillou.

Have to go for now...dumb fireworks are scaring Caitlin!!!!! I hate fireworks.