Payton's Pre-K Valentine's Party

The Thursday before Valentine’s Day I received a call from Savannah’s school at Bluebonnet asking us to come and pick up our kids as soon as possible due to a snow storm that was hitting North Texas. We are already on our second missed day of school this year because of the snow. I am anxiously waiting spring since it has been a really long winter season.

Due to school being canceled on Friday The Kids’ Valentine’s Parties were rescheduled until Monday, the day after Valentine’s Day. I surprised Payton and arrived at his school party. Payton immediately jumped up when he saw me walking through the door, telling all the kids “That’s my mom, that’s my mom.” I quietly told him to sit back down since Mrs. Robertson was trying to finish her lesson. Payton then said “Mom are you here for my party? I didn’t know that you were coming to my party.” Yes buddy, I replied sit back down and listen to Mrs. Robertson. He then said “Mom, we are going to have so, so much fun, we are going to pass out Valentines and have ice cream.” Yes buddy, I said, and I motioned for him to be quiet. “Mom, what do you want on your ice cream, you can have ice cream, mom, do you want one,” Payton said. Mrs. Robertson replied, “Payton, I am so glad that you are excited that your mom is here. Let’s have our Party." It was so much fun watching the kids interact with each other. I just love Mrs. Robertson; we have been so blessed to have her as Payton’s teacher this year. Several times Mrs. Robertson has whispered in my ear things like “I asked Payton why he has a scratch on his face” and he replied “my sissy did it, when I go home; I am going to kick her butt.” She said that Payton is quite the comedian in the class and it takes all she has not to laugh at some of the things he says. She truly does have some great patience and love for Payton. Payton tells me almost every day. “Mom, I just love Mrs. Robertson.” What a great day it was getting to see Payton’s entire class, all of his little friends are so cute and it was nice to be able to put a face to all the kids.

Payton with his Baked Potato

I keep forgetting to write about some of the cute things that my kids say and do. I think that I will always remember these things but in time you forget. It was on an evening just before Christmas and Chad was teaching a class at TCC that night. The kids were just getting home from school and I told them we needed to head to the store to get Payton some new shoes. My kids get home from school every day and are starving. I have been trying to hold them off by having earlier dinners since they like to snack so much that by dinnertime they are not hungry anymore. That evening we went to look for Payton some new shoes. We finally found a pair that we both liked, but they didn’t have his size, so we headed to a different store. By then, the kids really were starving and Payton was having a meltdown in the backseat. I asked the kids where they wanted to get something to eat since I was not prepared with dinner that night. Payton quickly replied Wendy’s. We arrived at Wendy’s and I asked the kids what they wanted to eat. Payton replied” a Cheesy Baked Potato and Chicken Nuggets.” I had Savannah sit down by Payton while I ordered their food. I walk up around the corner with their food and Payton sticks his arms out and screams so the whole restaurant can hear him, “Potato, come to Papa.” Everyone was laughing and thought that it was the funniest thing. He keeps me going in life. I never seem to have a dull moment with my little guy.

Now it is Savannah’s turn. Savannah is quite the comedian herself. She is very shy and reserved at school, church and in public places, but when she is around her family in her comfort zone, she cracks us up. We have decided to do a three strike system with Savannah. She starts over every day and if she misbehaves or is mean, then she receives a strike. If Savannah strikes out then she loses her privileges such as watching TV, playing with friends, or playing webkinz on the computer. Savannah had struck out one day and was not very happy. She comes home from school and says can’t we come up with some other way to discipline me; I really don’t want to lose my privileges for the day. I respond, no Savannah, you cannot take a strike back, but tomorrow is a new day and you can start over again. She walks away for a minute and thinks about it and comes back with the response of Mom, “Can’t you just kick me in the butt instead, that will only hurt for a minute and me losing my privileges is hurting me all day. I then realized that I had found the right trick with her. Every kid is so different and what works for one doesn’t always work for the other. I love my kids. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t look at both of them and think about how grateful I am to have them both. I never realized that being a mom could be so challenging at times, but so rewarding at others. I am so blessed.