I take it back!

Well, if I had you all thinking that I have perfect children by the cookie experience, I take it back. Yesterday we had another perfect Christmas day. We drove two hours to Spring City for a family party. The kids either slept or watched the scenery the whole way. The snow storm on Friday made parts of the drive a little treacherous, but also very beautiful. The clouds were hugging the tops of the mountains and the lonely little towns were like Christmas cards. Everyone at the party was happy, stayed clean, sat on Santa's lap, went on a horse-drawn wagon ride, ate good food and had a great time overall. When we got in the car to go home, there was a little sadness, but then everyone fell asleep. We had a nice, beautiful, dry drive home. We got back just in time to go to our ward party. Once again, the kids stayed clean, ate good food, sat on Santa's lap and had a good time. I believe this is where things started falling apart. We got home from the party at 9:00, but brought home one of our nieces to babysit. The rest of her family went with Lisa. This made it well past 10:00 before getting the kids in bed. Welcome Sunday morning. Church starts at 1:00 which gives us plenty of time for chaos. Around lunch Tyler became upset about something and threw a fit. We took away privileges. Somehow Tyler thinks that screaming at us that he will stop screaming will reinstate his privileges. The more we try to explain that he has to be good in order to get things, the more he screams that he will be good if we give back his things. Sigh. We don't give in, and neither does he. He makes us late to church. We go in and sit down. Ryan cries because the blanket we used for Sophie used to be his. Anna cries because Ryan is sitting in her seat. I ask Anna to be quiet, and she shouts "I am being quiet." Trying to quiet her down is mostly futile. I start to take her out, and she resists. I am still holding Sophie, so I have to drag Anna out kicking and screaming. I was just hoping I didn't pull her arm out of the socket. Out in the hall Anna screams to me that she is being good, and to go back in. I explain to her that she must stop screaming and fighting with me to go back in. She stops for 10 seconds and then starts screaming again that she stopped screaming and that it was time to go in. Luckily by thisk point some nice people in our ward take little Sophie so I can deal just with Anna. She was making such a racket that Josh came out, leaving the other three kids alone, to see if he could help. Anna wouldn't have it. She wanted only me. During the sacrament song she calmed down enough to go back in. That didn't last long. Something else happened and I had to take her back out. With Anna yelling at me in the hallway, again, that she hasn't done anything wrong and she was being quiet, we take the sacrament. I tell her that she has been too naughty and won't be able to sing with the primary kids. I have to take her back in because I have to lead the primary kids in their special musical number. Anna screams to be left with Josh. Ryan screams to be displaced so Josh can take care of Anna. Sophie happily went to another ward member while Josh took Ryan and another ward member took Anna. I led the music and immediately went to get Anna. Josh and I stayed in the hall with Anna and Ryan until some members of the Spanish branch asked Anna to come with them. They had collected clothing and other items for children in their branch. They asked Anna if she would like to go shopping in the church. She was very excited about that and found a purple ceramic watering can to take home. She was finally happy enough to go sit down and not make noise. She has never had a quiet voice, and I honestly think that she wasn't aware of how loud she was being at first. Of course with the screaming there could be no question. Ryan was calm now that Josh could give him all his attention. Anna was calm and stayed calm because I was able to give her all my attention. Sophie was calm sitting with Johanna. Emma and Tyler were calm because they are usually very good and reverent in church. In talking to Lisa (since she was in the hall with her noisy Jared) we decided this is one of those moments that we vowed would never happen to us. But this was before we actually had kids. I guess the moral of the story is: for every perfect moment there has to be a moment that reminds us that nobody's perfect.