Hey, lets play the disobedience game!

Since I'm babysitting now I have even more kids to talk about, isn't that great! They are all down for naps now so I'm free for a few minutes before Christina gets home.

Typically Jaren and Chloe are very good, compliant children. They usually do what I ask and if they don't I usually just have to correct them once and they're fine for the day. Today was NOT that day.

I was preoccupied with Halle for a while this morning and was trying to get her to sleep so I asked the kids to play in Jaren's bedroom. They've done that before and have done fine. I guess my first clue that something was wrong should have been the fact that they were pretty quiet. Well, I went in to check on them and the first thing I noticed was water on this little car garage -thing Jaren has? "Where did that water come from?", I asked. As I looked up a little higher I saw an amazing amount of toys and debris inside the fish bowl. The conversation then went something like this:
Amy- What did you guys do?
Chloe- We fed the fish.
Amy- What about this mess?
Jaren- We made a mess.
Amy- Chloe and Jaren you go to time out right now!
Chloe- (crying) Mommy!
Jaren- (crying) Mommy!
Halle- (crying the whole time- oh yeah, still crying)
After closer inspection I noticed that Chloe had emptied and entire sippy cup of water into the floor as well!

After time out I had the kids clean up while I searched for a vacuum cleaner (I had already rescued the fish or rescued the toys, however you want to look at it. Fish bowls gross me out btw.) to vacuum up the spilled fish food. I went back into the room and walked up behind Jaren as he was saying to Chloe, "Hey, lets make a mess!"

Yeah, they were just like that today.

Later, I let them play on the patio (lest you think Jaren was the only instigator today) and as soon as we went outside I had to get Luke up from his nap. Naively, I asked them to stay right on the patio while I got Luke up. So, I got him up and changed his diaper and as I was taking it to the trash I heard crying and "Jaren!" I went to the patio and saw Chloe walking up the steps, crying, and holding her head. Now, from that you'd think it was Jaren's fault, wouldn't you? However, it was Chloe that was the instigator. She and Jaren had been playing with a hard plastic dog (it weighs about a pound) and a small butterfly net. She decided that she should go into the yard with the butterfly net and let Jaren throw the dog to her and she would catch it. Well, she sort of caught it, right in the noggin she caught it.

So Chloe got a spanking and was sent upstairs for a nap. Jaren had a little more time to play and honestly he was just fine. Chloe was grouchy from not enough sleep and maybe that was enough to impair her judgement. But whatever it was I hope Wednesday is much better.

Wow! I have not had time or access to a computer regularly to update everyone on all things Button but it is naptime for most of the kids so I'll try to get something up quickly.

I'm babysitting the Spitters boys three days a week at least for the next few months. Christina is pregnant and due in January. She's planning on being home with the kids after that so I'm guessing I'll do this until sometime in December.

As I said in my last post the car was backed into (again) and we had a rental van. Well, we got the car back on Friday and it is not right. We told them on Thursday after we picked it up that it was not driving correctly. They checked it out again and said that the tie (ty, ti, ?) rods were damaged but it was due to wear and tear and not the accident. Well, they may have been worn but my car did not drive like that before the accident so it is very frustrating. So, we'll see what happens next. We're looking at vans now. Our general feeling is to get rid of it before something major goes wrong. We know it needs work but we just don't want to put anything into it since it's really too small for us anyway.

We are now staying with Don and Lana Tracy. That makes our 6th place to stay and our 6th city in the last 4 and a half weeks. Old Hickory, Hermitage, Goodlettsville, Madison, Nashville, and Hendersonville! It's a long story, too long really, but we have some great friends that have helped us out a lot. We stayed in a hotel for a week and a half but other than that we've stayed with friends, house sat for one of Trav's co-workers, and are now with Don and Lana. We're tired to say the least and are just trying to get through the home stretch. We'll be in our apt. on Thursday, sleeping on air mattresses and Friday we'll leave to go to Birmingham to get our stuff. We'll be coming back on Sunday and then it's just unpacking and settling in, whew!

More later, I must research vans.

Real Quick

OK, Halle is fussing so I'm going to make this quick.

1. Found a place to live
2. Got Amanda in school
3. Everybody got sick
4. Went to a baseball game (so fun!)
5. Started babysitting the Spitters boys
6. Car got smashed up (It was parked)
7. Have a rental van (I don't want to give it back)

I'm taking Amanda and her friend to the mall later since I actually have enough room for everyone. I promise to make time to post later.