Angels and Demons

No, I'm not reading a book by Dan Brown. I'm just reflecting on bringing up children and how they can switch personalities during the day. I can definately tell it's summer based upon their behavior. The boys are trying to bother each other--just for the fun of it. Yesterday brought quite the learning lesson with it for all of us. My hubby and I were downstairs in the kitchen when we heard Chief coughing and gagging. When asked what was wrong all I could understand from him was the word "mouth." I thought he must be unconscious when I first saw him--he was lying at the top of the stairs not moving. Then as we got closer, my hubby asked what happened again and Chief sprang up, led us to our bedroom, and showed us a small black canister he had apparently been playing with. Pepper spray. We shooed the kids (yep, the younger two were there too) out of the room and gave them milk to drink (milk is better than water at attempting to relieve symptoms borne from pepper spray contact). I tried airing out the upstairs rooms--particularly my own. Just from walking into the room, my hubby and I were gagging and coughing too. Not fun. Lesson for parents: don't assume that placing your personal items under piles of stuff on the dresser is a good way to hide them. Lesson for kids: don't play with stuff on your parent's dresser and don't press a button just because it says "press."
Later that day the Angel showed up in Chief. He gave a particularly enthusastic "pep talk" of why we should be 'faithful, and courageous' like the stripling warriors--willing to fight for what's right. He was very passionately into his speech, it was great! He also had us do the "love seat" again. Each member of the family got a chance to sit in the chair (love sac), be cheered for and then the other members take the opportunity to singularly tell them one compliment--one thing they love about that person. The kids just light up when it's their turn and they love to come up with things about everyone else too.

An innocent blunder

What started as a simple request led to a disastrous frenzy, leaving only destruction and visible tumult in its wake. The other day my hubby said he'd like me to take a chainsaw to the thick forest protruding from the top of his head. I've only done this once previously, about three years ago. After 1 1/2 hours, I think I did a fine job. But my hubby never did request me to cut his hair again--until now. However, the other night did not give the same results. I suppose it was because I didn't watch the hair-cutting video this time, or because I was impatient, or that I am not a perfectionist and it showed that night. Whatever the reason, at least hair grows out. I wish this were the end of the tale, but it's not. As I said, a frenzy ensued. Once my hubby was out of town (to camp with the scouts), he was unable to stop me from turning the razor and scissors on the remaining defenseless children. I couldn't help myself. First Chief fell under the blade, left with one side of his head botched when I tried to blend. Then Punkie, excited to have her first haircut, started cutting her hair with scissors. Luckily, not too much was cut, and I didn't cut more than 1 1/2 inches straight across the back. You might say she was the most unscathed of the three children. And Red was my last victim. I don't want to talk about what happened to him, it's too unbalanced. At least I had the good sense to put away the weapons before I turned them on myself.

Cub Scout Camp pics

Red left a day early with his Dad to prepare our camping expedition this weekend. He called and left a message on the phone that he forgot his emergency pack. My boys tend to pack backpacks with "emergency" supplies, just in case. So I checked out his latest pack: 4 trail mix bars, 1 gatorade bottle, jazz basketball, dinosaur toy, binoculars, 2 baseball caps, and 1 leggo toy.

At least if there is an emergency, we'll have some fun.

Here's a few pics from Chief's day camp last week:

How much fun is that?!?!