It started out and ended ok, but the middle.....

Tonight I sat down at the table with the boys for dinner.  I had good intentions, but it went downhill fast.  Jack had this little discussion starter card from Sunday school and I thought we could talk about it while we ate.  The topic:  discuss a time when you sinned and talk about how it made you feel.  Jack spoke up first to volunteer not one of his sins, but his brother Dylan's which sparked quite a battle.  Battle quieted.  First Dylan, he thought of one quickly-swearing.  Grant was next.  Let me just paint a picture of him.  He came to dinner dressed in red cowboy boots, cowboy hat, belt, holster, and pistol.  He decided he needed to stand to be heard for what became quite a long confession!  It started out about him not sharing, then crying, then hitting, and falling down, and on and on............when I suggested it was my turn, he said, "mom, I'm not finished yet!"   And on it went until we just moved on during a long pause.  I went next- judging others.  Jack's sin was 'stealing' his brother's DS without asking.  That didn't go over very well.  Then the bickering and picking and looking and staring and sticking out of tongues and rolling of the eyes and the name-calling.  It ended with Dylan in his room.   We finished up and Grant was running around shooting.  I put Jack in my room so he could start the long process of putting on his shoes because we needed to leave for open house in 45 minutes.  It took all of 45 minutes!  After about 30 minutes and "reminding" him 2,000 times to put his shoes on, I checked on him.  He had Grant's cowboy hat on, one shoe on, laying down looking at a star wars book?!  Grant was corralled out, Jack was reminded one more time very loudly to PUT HIS SHOES ON,  kitchen was cleaned, Dylan came down to apologize, coats were put on and we were out the door for Jack's open house at school.  After chasing 3 boys around a very warm and crowded school, we were on the way home.  Grant ran ahead and got a little "pat" on the bottom because he was running towards the road and while he was screaming my phone rang in my purse and it was Matt...."Hi honey, we're fine, can I call you back?"  When we got home, the boys took the trash out for me and went to get their jammies on.  Grant had a total meltdown because he could not find his "pirates of the carribean" jammie bottoms :o(  He was standing at the top of the stairs 1/2 naked (can you guess which half) and his head and arm stuck in the neck hole of his shirt and tears streaming down his face.  Everyone finally settled down.  I gave each boy a big hug and Dylan sat down and read us all a book that we just got at the book fair.  And finally-bedtime.

 The pics are from Jack's open house.