Not The Best Sunday

I wish I knew how to make our Sundays better. I know a lot of it is preparation thus the song "Saturday is a Special Day". Neil and I have never been too good at the Saturday part, mostly because our Saturdays are so busy. We try but always fail and this weekend was no exception. It's a little hard because we just got back from Georgia Thursday afternoon and Neil left for a scout camp Friday morning and got back Saturday afternoon. With Neil being gone I took the opportunity to clean out closets and start dejunking as well as research chore charts/routines and began planning my preschool curriculum for Mikey in the fall. I had the best intentions of cleaning the house but got distracted with my other goals. The kids did not help and destroyed the house. Thinking I'd clean for Sunday that night I left it a mess. Once Neil got home I ran some errands and came home to make some food for the Primary party and then we were off. The kids had a blast playing in all the water activities and of course didn't want to leave. When we got home the boys and I washed the filthy van from the scout camp and then it was baths, stories and bedtime. Once the kids were in bed I ran to 4 stores because I had some returns. When I pulled into the driveway I forgot that I needed to buy chicken for a rebate that expired so off to the store again I went. I got home at 10:30pm and needed to finish preparing my Primary lesson. I thought I had some really good ideas and was so excited to teach it. I finished at 12:30am and needed to clean the house but was too tired so I went to bed. So waking up Sunday morning to a disaster doesn't necessarily bring the Spirit. As always we were in a rush to get out the door but we made it on time. Lucy was awful during sacrament meeting but luckily she gets to go to nursery now and does really good! Mikey and Sam weren't very good either. I had brought a bunch of armor because my lesson was on the 2000 Striplings warriors and the boys would not leave it alone during sacrament. I get to Primary and there's only one little boy in my class. I'm devastated. I was so excited to teach but it wasn't going to work very well with just one kid. Conner's class had a substitute and I was tempted to ask if I could still a kid. The class behind me had about 10 kids and I wanted to take a couple but knew that they'd want to be with their teachers so I said a little prayer in my heart that somehow I'd be able to have another kid. As we were going to class Heather, Conner's substitute, asked if we wanted to combine and I was elated. The Lord answered my prayer. My lesson went great. The story of the 2000 Stripling Warriors is one of my favorites in the Book of Mormon. I want to be like their mothers. My hope is that I am able to teach my children to have faith in the Lord like the stripling warriors.

We waited at church way too long for Neil and the kids were beyond ornery. After lunch we all laid down for naps. Neil and I took a three hour nap even though we set alarms and Neil missed most of his planning meeting for the youth conference. I had planned on grilling shrimp for dinner but didn't really want to get all smokey so I decided on cereal but finally decided to make chili since I had cooked a ton of beans on Friday that needed to be eaten. I am so thankful that we have enough food in the house to make a variety of meals on a whim. Neil left again to go home teaching. The house was still a mess and Sam wanted to play Killer Bunnies but I told him only if he cleaned the family room. Whining, crying and complaining ensued by all and I had finally had it. I think I was sick of dealing with the kids by myself for the last 3 days and the full wrath of my frustration was unleashed on the kids. I was yelling at the top of my lungs about their lack of cleaning, markers and what not and then there was a knock on the door. Great. There was K at the door for Neil and he had heard it all. Talk about embarrassing plus I was in my mu mu. Once I shut the door I just broke down crying. My visiting teacher called and I cried to her about what a bad mom I was and she reminded me of the talks in sacrament on repentance and forgiveness and reassured me that I was a great mom. I hate when I lose it and yell at the kids and they are quick to remind me they don't like being yelled at. It makes it worse that it was over cleaning which should have been done on Saturday and then we would have had none of the contention. We all have trials that we deal with and it sounds so lame that keeping the house clean and trying to get kids to help is such a trial for me. It's little in the grand scheme of things but it totally bogs me down. It's almost time for bed. I'm definitely unveiling the chore chart tomorrow even if it's not perfect. I need something or I'm going to go crazy. Hopefully next Saturday will be better and we'll be more prepared for the Sabbath and it will go better.

In Sammy's personal prayer tonight he prayed that Mikey wouldn't be so annoying like he does and bless Mommy to be a good mommy and not yell or scream. Ouch.