Bonkers anyone?

It's been a busy, crazy month so far and I'm ready for it to slow down. I get to a point where I don't like the month of December. I love the fact of what Christmas means and stands for but I get irritated with the hustle and bustle of life.

I tell myself every December that I will be on top of things, that I will not wait for last minute gift shopping, but every year something comes up. Something that is unavoidable.

So for the sake of my children, I will make this a great Christmas by showing them that it is better to give that to receive, but most of all, that Jesus is the reason for the season.

Enough of a pity party. I'm good.

The boys have been driving me bonkers lately. Yesterday was a bad bonkers day.

The boys wake up and they rough play which usually results in someone crying.

They start school and AB is staring at the wall, or out the window with a blank stare. While UB is whining over not remembering what he had learned a month ago. Then AB starts scribbling all over the big pink eraser while UB starts to dump his crayons out because he'd rather draw than do math.

I send them outside, in this cold weather, and they end up fighting over who gets to ride a certain bike.

After lunch, it's reading time. AB picks a spot to read and is quietly reading, while UB sits on my lap to read to me. UB is finished before AB, so he goes off to play. At least that's what I think he does. That is, until I see a head bopping up and down as I sit on my bed folding laundry. I look down and there is UB, doing some yoga poses on the yoga mat. After the allotted time to read, they rough play some more. And they end up crying. Both of them this time.

AB goes to play on the computer while UB decided to use the bathroom. So when he comes out, I notice that my femenine pads are opened and in the trash. I ask him what he was doing with them and he says just playing. I tell him that they are for girls only and I stop myself from telling him that they are special napkins because I sure don't want to see those special napkins at the dining table when we actually need napkins. He then runs to AB and tells him that he was playing with mom's big band aids. (deep sigh)

I'm still doing laundry when I hear UB laughing. I go in my bedroom to see what is going on and I see my chihuahua's bed and blanket in the shower and my poor chihuahua shaking like a leaf, terrified of UB. I save her for the second time that day.

I send him to his room, but he stops at the Christmas tree to turn on and off the lights because he wants to see the lights blink. After I get on to him, he keeps the tree lights off because he says he doesn't want to waste the battery. (another deep sigh)

My mom had given us a bread machine as an early Christmas present so we tried it yesterday. AB wanted to make pretzels. When the machine beeped that it was time to get the dough out, UB decides to push the button again and the machine turns on to start the process all over again.

I get to it in time, take it out and am about to let the boys make the pretzel shapes when I see that there is about a pound of flour on my countertop. There stands AB, with a grin on him face, telling me he's ready to roll the dough in the flour and form the pretzels. He says that is how Emeril does it.

Now, it was just flour on the countertops I wouldn't be so flustered, but the flour was on the flour, on whatever else was on top of the countertops, but most of all, on the boys. (another deep sigh)

When they finish forming the pretzels, they decide they want to put cinnamon and sugar on a couple of the pretzels. Before I could react, they had already tag teamed each other and were making the mix. So now I have flour, cinnamon and sugar all over my floor.

We put the pretzels to bake and the boys went off to play while I went to finish the laundry. I figure the mess in the kitchen can wait a while.

As I sat there, folding laundry, I realized that it wasn't about me. I was making memories with the boys. That even though they weren't doing things the way I would have done them, they are learning. I have to remember that I was once a kid.

So as the boys continue to do things that drive me bonkers and make me speak in Spanish to them during those times,that probably to them sounds like I'm speaking in tongues, I will thank the good Lord for those opportunities I have with them.