A Morning in the Hawkins Household...

This morning was yet another test of the many challenges we face as parents- patience. Our typical morning usually goes fairly smoothly. I get up at 5, make coffee, prepare bottles and lunches, throw some clothes in the wash, get myself dressed and.. then the chaos begins around 6. John gets Brandon duty and I make sure Jalen and Karlee are dressed. Brandon definitely does not take after his mommy - he is NOT a morning person. Jalen not so bad, but it takes reminding him 3-4 times to stay on task.. he likes to dilly dally and forgets what he is suppose to be doing. So this morning was a different story. John did not get home from work until after we were all snoozing, so I decided I would let him sleep in and I would conquer the morning duties solo. What was I thinking?! Brandon was not having it today.. he refused to get dressed and get up. So I left him in the bed with John with intention of returning after I dropped Jalen at the bus stop. 20 minutes later (yes, the bus was late the day I pick to take him) I find Brandon sobbing his eyes out at the front door. I guess he realized that he missed out on the trip to the bus stop and was NOT happy. I calmly picked him up and proceeded with getting ready to leave. I attempted to give him his Medicine- after forcing it in his mouth while restraining him, he decided that he wasn't partaking no matter how hard I tried.. the entire mouthful of purple medicine came spewing out of his mouth when I turned my back. The calmness changed to anger very rapidly. And he was going to wear the clothes full of purple medicine! We made it out the door, with the meltdown continuing as we drive off. Then I realize that I had no milk for Karlee's bottles and needed to stop by the store. Everyone in Food Lion got a nice wake up call when we arrived-- the meltdown was still going on as I sped through the store and Brandon was a half mile behind me. Get to the milk section- NO MILK! What?! How can a grocery store have no milk- none, the shelves were completely empty. oh boy, I was taking a deep breath by that point. So we proceed out of Food Lion. But not without Brandon stopping by the candy and helping himself to a sucker- I was already out the door as he was nonchalantly trottin behind me yelling "I got candy". It's quite amazing how the meltdown immediately ceased and he was now smiling. But I, again, calmly with my blood boiling, took him by the arm and directed him to return the candy. The meltdown begins again. We make it to daycare.. I discover that one of Karlee's bottles had leaked and soaked the entire diaper bag with her change of clothes. As I was putting them away, Brandon was helping himself to the box of rubber gloves used by the teachers when they change diapers .. like 6 of them. Needless to say, the next step was a trip to the bathroom for Brandon. Not exactly how I wanted to start my day. I was ready to get in my car and go home and start all over. The tears were building but As I drove to work, I asked God why does He allow these small but significant situations to occurs.. and He answered me very clearly..... to teach us patience- one of the most important factors of being a parent. If we didn't face these situation we would never grow and become better parents. I have struggled with this every day and continue to pray that I can learn to overcome these challenging situations.... and look back at them and laugh as I am sure most of you are doing. If you would like to ever experience one of these morning, please feel free to join us anytime- 502 Whitewater Drive. Our door is always open!

Ok, now I will backtrack a few days....
Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and is in full Christmas Spirit. We had a safe trip to Grandma's and enjoyed seeing the family.
I did brave the black friday crowds with my friend Lisa. That was definitely interesting. When we arrived at Toys R Us at 6:15 am and saw 3 mounted patrol trotting through the parking lot, I knew this was serious stuff. I have never seen so many people in one store at one time. The lines to check out weaved throughout the entire store. I think we made it out in an hour and a half. But well worth it- got great deals!

We began the Christmas decorating Saturday but will complete that this weekend with a trip to the tree farm. Saturday evening was not so good... after a nail biting game, USC managed to lose again to Clemson. Jalen sobbed himself to sleep. Guess Gamecock football is a serious issue in our house now. Watch out!

After church on Sunday we enjoyed another Turkey dinner at Paulie's. I left there not wanting to see food again for days.. It was wonderful as always! And we are still eating leftovers.

I think that wraps up the events over the last week. Looking forward to another eventful weekend.

More to come..