Things can get pretty irritating around here. By that I mean why in the h-e-l-l-o do these two kids have to fuss and fight and pick and whine 24/7!?? What happened to that extra special super close bond they were supposed to build being at home together and homeschooling? Yesterday they were right in normal form until when about 1/2 way through the day I decided I had had enough.

Let me set up the scene: I was busy (ok preoccupied....ok obsessed with fixing my blog's template) and asked Brandon to help his sister with her school work. Now I know she can be let's say.....a brat... at times especially to her big brother but he in turn has developed this habit of growling at her. He just talks so roughly and snaps at her it seems constantly. As I sat in my room I kept hearing this over and over and finally I had had enough. So, I called him into my room and asked him to find the paddle. (It seems I spank my children so often that the thing can turn up missing for weeks without anyone knowing it was gone.) While he was looking for the paddle, because it was indeed no where to be seen, he would pass his sister and growl at her for getting him in trouble. See... they thought he was in trouble for not helping her to do her work not realizing that it was his attitude that had sent me over the edge.

So, here he is all mad stomping around the house looking for the object of his impending doom when Emily came into my room. She had her serious face on and I could tell she meant business. She walked right up to me and took my hand in both of hers so as to have my full attention. She looks me straight in the eye and says in a tiny little voice,

Emily: "Mommy, you shouldn't spank Bubba because it's not his fault."
Mom: "It's not. Well, then who's fault is it?"
Emily: "It's mine. He tried to help me do my work but I told him to leave me alone."
Mom: "So, he shouldn't get a spanking?"
Emily: "No. "
Mom: "Well, who do you think should get the spanking?"
Emily: "I should."
Mom: "You think you should get a spanking instead of Bubba?"
Emily: "Yes Ma'am , It's all my fault. Don't spank him. Spank me."

Now, at this point her bottom lip is sticking out a tad and trembling, her eyes are red, silent tears are trickling down her face. Sweet wispy strands of hair have worked loose from her braid and are sticking to her wet face. Her tiny little nose is kindda swished up. She is SO sincere. She is breaking my heart! About this time Brandon came into the room looking suspicious. I could read his mind, "What's this monster done gone and done to me now." So, I called him over, put my hand under her shaking little chin to tilt her head up to his face. I asked him to look at her in the eye. As he did I saw his countenance visibly soften. Then I dropped the bombshell.

Mom: "Brandon you see this little face, this little face that you have snapped at and growled at all day long?"
Brandon: "Yes, Ma'am." said a little humbly.
Mom: "This little face just asked to take your spanking in your place. She said it was her fault and not yours."

Brandon's eyes tear up a little, his hard shell is dropped. He is broken.

Mom: "Now, is this is the same person you yell and growl at. Do you think now may be you can see what I'm saying and quit being so dog gone mean to her? She loves you."
Brandon: "Well, I love her too."

Emily throws herself at her Bubba and they hug and kiss and declare they love each other....... but as they leave the room I hear her pipe up in that dramatic gasp-y voice she uses sometimes,

"You should be grateful! I just saved your life!"

Hmm....I had a really cool template loaded but it needed tweaking....reverted back to old template to work over the new one and now I can't get the cool one back......This stinks.

Edited to add I got the cool template back, but it still needs tweaking.

Oh signs have been coming in for a while now. I had to break down and buy Proactive. He had to start using deodorant and Axe body spray. A faint mustache is forming on his upper lip. He began to like a girl. He now cares if his clothes match... Yes, it has happened, my boy has become a teen. September 14th he turned 13 years old. Ah, the big one three. I had originally planed to have one big bash to celebrate his birthday with style and then move on. You know what they say about the best laid plans, right? This was the birthday that wouldn't die.

First, his Me maw set us up at a Log Cabin style resort for the first week of September. Yep, just one week of the school year in and we took a week off. Regrettably I forgot the camera. It was a nice cabin, fully furnished, dishes, towels, etc. It had a bed room downstairs, 2 beds up stairs and a pull out couch. We had some friends come hang out with us. The kids spent most of the day walking the trails. It was an enjoyable week. BUT I had to come home on Friday to prepare for Emily's party the next day. Then Brandon's was to be the next Saturday.

As I said Brandon's party WAS to be the next Saturday. However, Hurricane Ike had different plans. I doubted seriously that anyone would want to attend a Luau in a hurricane. So, I canceled his party. On the 14th we did take him to pick out his MP3 player. He got a Creative Zen. It was second to the ipod nano and so far we really like it.

My Mom also came over with her presents. Lots of clothes! Yeah! I'm so grateful my children are finally at an age that they like to receive clothes for presents!

His party was tentatively rescheduled for this last Saturday but we all fell ill. Especially Cecil. Brandon had a hacking cough. I just couldn't see it making any sense to have people come to our home just to get sick. So, I canceled again. Then Friday a trip to the doctor's office said we weren't contagious just having severe allergies. *sigh WHATever!......after two days of med's we all felt fine so I went ahead and invited a few of his friends over just so he could at least have his cake!

While we were out Daddy and Emily decorated the house, baked his cake and started supper. When we got home supper was ready. We all ate, then had cake and ice cream. We got him a new game for his Wii (Star Wars: The Force Unleashed). His friends got him a Beatles t-shirt. (He has since had me download a ton of Beatles songs onto his MP3 player because he didn't really "get" who they were. Now he likes his shirt even better.)After cake and ice cream came the silly string war, the sack race and balloon race. I think his birthday is finally over.....

Not only did Emily have a way cool party where she really cleaned up on some great new clothes but she got to celebrate her friend Macie's birthday with her too. For Macie's birthday we went to...........American Girl. Is there really need to say more? Does it get better than this?

Now, last Christmas I bought Emily a faux Julie doll to see if I really wanted to hand this child a $100 doll. Not only has she taken excellent care of her, she also sleeps with the annual AG catalog that comes in the mail, she finally watched the Felicity movie (I'm planning on buying all the ones they've made for Christmas.) , I've been reading her the AG books (a wonderful friend loaned us a beautiful set), and she has been to the AG book club at a local library several times. Yes! It was time. She was ready for her very first Real American Girl Doll! She got Samantha! We are currently making a "game plan" on who to buy next and which accessories are necessary, etc.

Her mouth just dropped open as we entered the store.



The dolls can get their hair done while their "mothers" shop.



At the Bistro the A girls get their own highchairs and menus.



A girl and her shopping bag. This was a good day folks!



She fell straight to sleep that night and
didn't even ask once if she could sleep in my bed.

We were blessed. A few hours without electricity, had to boil our water for a week and a few limbs down in our yard. In fact about half way through the day we went out and sat in the gazebo to grill steaks and baked potatoes. All and all we know we were very blessed to have enjoyed a storm that wrecked havoc on so many others. As we count our blessings, we will also remember others not so lucky in our prayers.



As you can see the trauma of the storm really shook Emily up.

No doubt about it Emily is growing up! Of course it had to be a princess party! Duh! It was fab-u-lous darling!

Bonus: My friends do love me. She got nearly all clothes as presents! No T O Y S! Yes! I felt like it was MY birthday!