Monday meltdowns

It's Monday, which is always our day off from everything (sometimes including showering and, on one memorable day, deodorant) It alternates between being a peaceful respite from the hustle and bustle of the other days and being pure hell because the kids get extra pesky when there is no structure to what happens next. Today we seem to be heading in the direction of peaceful but it is only 9am so pesky could rear it's ugly head any minute.
Thanksgiving was jam packed with family and food and lots of activity. It is sure to be the busiest holiday this season considering that we had every member of the F. family present including spouses and children. It was great to see everyone, especially my niece. She is a few months shy of her 3rd birthday and she always keeps us laughing. The kids adore her and each of them has a special relationship with her. One of my favorite memories from this week is Naomi grabbing the bowl of M&M's from the table and taking them to her seat. When Aunt Sara told her she couldn't have anymore, Naomi calmly replied that she was simply "passing them to herself". As much as I love visits from Naomi, it is always hard to say goodbye. I wish they lived next door so I could pop over every 10 minutes or so to talk to her over a plate of bacon and M&Ms.
(Okay, it is now 10pm and I'm finally picking back up to finish this post)
I don't want to tell too many embarassing stories about my kids on this blog because I hope to share it with them later so I'll just say that a certain boy may or may not have wet his pants this morning because he didn't want to leave the room while Grandma and Grandpa were still here. He was so worried they would leave while he was in the the bathroom. So when they really did have to leave later this morning, Ace didn't know how to deal. When Ace is upset we never know how he's going to handle his feelings. Sometimes he just needs some extra hugs and his inpenetrable bicycle helmet (which he will sometimes wear for a whole day if he's feeling a little insecure), and sometimes the poor kid goes apeshit and nothing we do makes him feel any better. Today he decided to go the apeshit route. He drove me bonkers until Andy came home and they talked about the train the Grandpa left to fix up, hugged it out for a few minutes, and all was right in Ace's world. I'll never understant men. Anyway, he seems much better now and tomorrow he has his morning preschool which he loves so I'm hoping the rest of the week will be better.