Almost . . .

On Saturday were scheduled for family pictures in Murfreesboro with Nana and Pa.  So on Friday I took the boys shopping to pick out their outfits. I really don't like taking Finn and Sam shopping - they aren't good little shoppers.  I told them that if they could be good in the store I would take them to Clovers for ice cream.  They were so excited!  A little too excited maybe, because they were just about as rotten as one could possibly be.  They couldn't manage to be even "decent" for a measly 20 minutes.  

When we got back into the car I dropped the bomb - I told them "no ice cream."  Finn immediately started bawling and begging for another chance.  Sam gave me a dirty look and then proceeded to tell me how mean I was being to Finn.  Leave it to Sam to ignore is own feelings of disappointment and advocate for Finn.  Finn really had no idea how fortunate he is to have Sam. 

As we were leaving the parking lot Finn looked at me and said, "mom, I almost hate you."  He wasn't quiet ready to say that he actually hated me, but he made sure that I knew that he was almost there. He followed it up with, "mom, I almost don't love you." 

After a few minutes, Finn said, "mom, you're right."  I was so impressed with Finn's change of heart. I was so proud of him for seeing that he was misbehaving that his actions were deserving of punishment.  Then, he finished his statement.  He said, "mom, you're right -  you really are the worst mom ever."  Boy did I jump to the wrong conclusion.  Sometimes when we are playing around I will say "Finn, you have THE worst mom ever."  On this day, he was happy to affirm my statement. 

As I mentioned above, on Saturday we had family pictures in Murfreesboro.  The boys were fairly compliant with the photographer's instructions. The biggest problem we faced was the "walking across the bridge" picture. The boys didn't fully grasp the concept of walking slowly across the bridge so that we could get a good shot.  They would take two slow steps and then they would take off full speed. 

I think that we got some cute ones down in the creek.  I put Finn in his "Godzilla" rain boots so he spent every moment trying to get in the water.  Sam also struggled with smiling.  When he tried to smile, he looked "the joker."  

After pictures we went to the "White Reunion. "  

The rest of the weekend was very relaxing.  The boys went to Grandad and Gigi's while Michael and I went to Brixx and then to see Everest.