hello, new readers!

Hi Rachel, mom and dad! I just opened up my blog so family can read too. Feel free to leave comments if you want. I'm kind of numb right now. I'm so tired of the whining and the screaming. Violet has been extra sensitive today, and Dave and I picked a BAD night to pick a food battle with her. She is strapped into her booster chair trying to finish her food. Its only one piece of broccoli and about 4 bites of chicken. But still. We told her we weren't going to talk to her until she was done eating her food, and she's been sitting in that booster chair crying for the last hour. And during that last hour, Calvin was sitting in his chair, crying because he didn't want any of the food we were serving. So he went to bed at 6:45 and she's still screaming. Dave just went over to the damaged house to look at the tires on the truck. He thinks the tires on the truck that was ruined in the flood will fit his brother Sean's van. Sean said he needs new tires on his vehicle which would be one more hurdle to jump over in order to make it here for Christmas. Dave is missing his family so much, and he really wants them to come. So this is his way of trying to make that happen. She just dropped her fork on the floor. *sigh* I think I'm going to lose it! Do I talk to her? Because I said I wasn't going to. I took both kids with me to the post office this afternoon. Before we got in there, I set her expectations and told her she was to stay right next to me and not run off. Well, the first thing she did once I got up to the counter to speak with the lady helping me was to run away from me. I said excuse me to the person helping me, and I walked over to her and calmly gave her a nice big pinch on the rear end. She gave me a very shocked expression. I told her "You disobeyed mommy. I told you to stay next to me." She immediately stuck to my leg and didn't move far from me the whole time I was speaking to the person at the post office. She even cheered up on the walk back to the van. I was holding Calvin the whole time so it was a tough trip. Tomorrow Jeanette (the designer helping us) is coming over to talk paint colors. We got the painting but still need to have it framed. I hope we can pick some colors tomorrow. Since the mirror fell off the wall in the bathroom, we need to redo all that too. Maybe tomorrow will be more cheerful! Gah!