The Kingdom of Whine

Now that summer is in full swing we are all trying to settle into the new normal routine.  Which means the wheels are coming off a bit from our finely tuned (ha!) machine.  The kids are totally confused because some rules have been completely and gleefully abandoned (bed on time? no way - who cares!), and others have been reinforced and clamped down even more (TV, iPhones, or iPad in the afternoon? no way - the sun is shining! get thee and your kin outside).

In the wake of all the confusion over rules there has been lots of whining and complaining and pushing of limits to see who can get me to crack first.  They're getting close. At one point when I told them to clamp the whining to nil because while their Dad was nice and wouldn't take away all fun things (popsicles, TV, Pretty Ponies [Stan], bubbles), I was not so nice and I wouldn't hesitate to ruin their week.  Should I have been surprised that not one boy came to my defense and said, "No Mom, you're nice too"? Not really. I am the pooper to their party.

In case anyone is wondering after reading this whether my children have any fun, I assure you they have tons.  Case in point...

^^^Dairy Queen after haircuts on Friday. Thank God a Kids' Hair coupon finally came around so my littluns could finally see beyond they're over-long bangs

^^^BBQ and watching movies with their cousin on Saturday

These little dudes and I are going to have a sit down and clarification over what the summer will look like, rules and all.  And after they let me talk, talk, talk for a while they will remember nothing and hop along on their happy way while most likely asking me if they can stay up late, eat nothing but candy, and watch iPad all afternoon while George is sleeping.