A little love...

Just wishing everyone a little bit of love...I woke up Sunday morning, listening to my kids downstairs playing. (The older 3 do this every morning. They wake up before 6 and go downstairs, and play.) It is a rule in our house, they can't eat breakfast until we wake up at 7 (I know, we're abusive). Anyways, this particular morning, I awoke to all craziness. Kristin was screaming at the boys, calling them idiots (which is a no-no word in our house). The boys were pestering her and each other, and I lay there thinking...wow...what a great way to start my Sunday morning. I decided to be calm about it, not holler down at them to be nice (cause, come on, that never works, just adds one more person in on the hollering). So, Troy and I went downstairs, and I told all the kids to stand in a circle holding hands. Then one at a time, one of us went into the circle, and we looked at each person on the outside of the circle, and we had to tell them one thing we loved about them. Naturally, Jake was being stubborn, and wouldn't tell Kristin anything, but we patiently waited (for the 8 minutes it took him to tell her he liked it that she played with him, that was only after he told her he didn't like her and that she was irritating...grrrrr....that boy...). Troy and I even took a turn. Then, we went and made breakfast. Troy made pancakes with rice milk so that Haley could eat them. There was no taste difference. (Unless you asked Kyle...) The rest of the morning seemed to go smoothly. This afternoon, Jake ran up to me, and said, "Mom, we forgot to stand in a circle this morning and tell love things to each other!" I guess it wouldn't hurt to do this more frequently...but then it might take the magic out of it!