My Children Surprise Me Every Day....

Proverb 22:6 — Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

I love my boys. They are my world. They are the reason I get up in the morning and try to be the best mom I can. I was always proud of them, but yesterday I realized just how much I am proud of them.

I always spoiled my boys with attention, presents, vacations.I always gave them everything I could. Few people warned me about giving them too much and telling me that it will turn my children into spoiled, ungracious and rude little monsters.

Sharing a Milkshake

I am a firm believer that living a privileged life doesn't mean that you will become uncaring and selfish person.There is nothing wrong with living the good life as long as you realize how lucky you are and as long as you always give back more then you receive.

So while I was "spoiling" my children I always made sure that they were aware and thankful how blessed we are.

I never knew if they took it to heart and if they actually cared down deep inside.

They always had plenty. They always asked for lots of things like normal children do. No, they did not get everything they asked for (but pretty close).

Most of the time they are polite, well behave and caring boys. They have their moments of selfishness, rebellion or jealousy. They do show a mean streak now and then. They are typical boys.....

Clowning around with Baby S

As many of you know we fell on hard times over a year ago when Mr. Misery lost his job and HB was hospitalized for 4 months. We had to live from our savings for a year and we fell behind on few credit cards. We try very hard not to discuss the money issues in front of our children and we try very hard to keep their lives as normal as possible.

They are smart boys and HB is 12 year old boy genius who can put two and two together without us saying anything. I did have a talk with the boys few months back when we ran out of money and Mr. Misery was still without a job. All I told them was that we need to watch our money very closely and make the right decisions about spending.

His Brother's Keeper - Always Together

Our life changed a lot last few months and this is the first Christmas on the budget and buying presents with cash(I actually love that part). I was worried how the boys would handle it going from plenty to almost nothing. Regular days are different. They got used to not getting stuff every time they ask and I just realized that they actually stopped asking all together. But this is Christmas, the time of plenty and plenty more in our house since the day they were born.

In the past they both would make a huge Wish List. LP would circle almost every toy in the Sears Wish Book.They would talk about it month before and every day till Christmas. We all knew what they wanted.

Well, it is almost Christmas and there is no: "mom, I want this" or "mom, I need that", "mom, check it out".

Few weeks ago LP and HB made a Wish List and wrote it on a board in HB's room.

I went to check it out and LP the child who usually has pages wrote down 4 things. Now, I don't know where the 4 things come from, but I have a feeling his brother told him to write down only 4.

Last night Mr. Misery called and asked me what the boys want so he can pick up couple of things for them while on the road. I went to HB's room to check out the board (LP is changing his mind daily, but never more then 4). There were 4 things for LP and HB's list was erased.

I called HB and asked him how come his list is gone and what he would really like for Christmas.He gave me a big hug and said: "Mom, there is nothing I really need. Just make sure LP gets his stuff. You know, he still believes in Santa".

At that exact moment I felt like the proudest mom in the whole wide world and I knew we will be alright.


While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.
~Angela Schwindt

Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.
~ James Baldwin