~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The Kids~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday, September 9, 2011

The apple strikes again

You all know how much trouble Adam and Eve got into with the apple right? Well it seems to have caused trouble in our little paradise.  (Yes, I know it wasn't necessarily an apple per se.)

We had our first home school co-op this morning. It was a hectic rush out the door but we made it just fine.

Someone had donated some apples to our group, which was very nice. The way it worked out only my middle three children got an apple. They had a limited number available and had to make a cut off somewhere. Ellie was too old and Sadie - well she obviously isn't old enough. Because of a miscommunication, Ellie thought she was supposed to have gotten an apple. She got embarrassed and frustrated and was crying. After we left I explained the mix-up to her in the van. She seemed to understand.....or so I thought.

We had some unplanned errands to run so I ran through McD's drive through and grabbed two bags of apple slices for me and Ellie. We got home and the kids brought in all their papers, folders, recorder and book, paper bags of left over snacks and apples on the counter. I immediately noticed a not-so-lovely aroma in the air. The plates from breakfast were still on the table but that didn't seem to be the culprit. Before I could deal anymore with that I noticed Ellie was trying to convince Evelyn that she should eat the apple slices from McD's instead of her whole apple. I explained to Evelyn that she had to choose between them and couldn't have both. She chose the whole apple of course.



Tears. Tears. Tears from Ellie. After a long conversation about people making mistakes and showing grace Ellie calmed down. I gave her the bag of apple slices from McD's and then.....


Tears. Tears. Tears from Evelyn.  Those were her apples!!!  So I explained (again) that she had to choose and she had chosen the whole apple. She had eaten the whole apple and that was all she would get. 

Sadie was a bit clingy so I sat down to nurse her before nap. Silas came in from outside and needed a shower. (I won't even go into why - you can use your imagination) So Silas got in the shower, Sadie went to the crib and Evelyn went to the couch for some quiet time.

Now where was that smell coming from......?

The phone! 




No the phone didn't smell. I got a phone call that Todd was in traffic and needed me to meet him for an unplanned appointment with a change of clothes for him.

I grabbed Sadie and put her in the carseat. (Thankfully she fell asleep in there.) Silas quickly got dressed and Evelyn went potty before hitting the road. We were all buckled in within 5 minutes but I suddenly remembered there was a lady coming by at 4:00. ack!  I grabbed the item she needed, wrote her a quick note and put it on the front porch. I just prayed she would be able to find the house.

We ran the clothes to Todd and came back home. As we came in I noticed that smell again. blech!  I started to check the trash cans when Evelyn asked me if she could have her apples. I took another 5 minutes to explain to her (again) that she had eaten her whole apple and she didn't have anymore. I had not eaten my apple slices from McD's yet so I asked her if she wanted some of mine. I would be happy to share with her. Nope. She wanted her own bag. Gotta love 3-year olds. So again we had......


Tears. Tears. Tears from Evelyn. She didn't understand at all why she couldn't have her own bag. Then I hear, "Mom!  There's someone at the door!" Oh that's right. The lady was coming by to switch the stuff. I headed to the front door. "No mom. She's back here."  She was at the back door. Of course it was drizzling rain so I couldn't just have her stand out there. She had to walk all the way through my house to get the box.

My mind was racing: My house literally stinks. There's papers and crayons everywhere and a screaming 3-year old. What is she going to think?  At least I got the dishes done. I am so glad I don't know her. How embarrassing.

Soon she left and Evelyn did eventually stop crying. No, she didn't get any of my apples.

We cleaned up all the co-op stuff and found one lone bag.




What in the world could that be?












An apple?????


Somehow my children grabbed an extra apple by mistake. After all that explaining about how life isn't always fair, people make mistakes, you can't always get what you want..... I wasn't about to give it to Ellie. (Yes, she did ask for it.) I told the kids that Daddy could have it for working so hard for our family.


Oh and in case you were wondering.... I think the smell was coming from the trash. It wasn't full but it went out to the big trash tote anyway. phew!  I was worried we would never find it. Given the fact that we found a potato (Yes. You read that correctly.A potato.) in the middle of our bedroom floor the other day, who knows what it could have been. 

One of these days I'm going to look back on this and laugh. Today is not it.





Have a blessed day! ~Tammy

1 comment:

S.T.S. said...

I so know those days like this! Ever wonder, Did God send that extra apple to teach us as parents about Grace or the kids about Life? Oh oh God help us all! But to tell the truth I would not have given her that apple either.