day 1 of re-tweaking and crack down mode

it's 1pm and

I have confiscated 4 tubes of lipstick from two two years olds (should have known that 10 min. of silence was BAD!!!) taken from my purse - a known boundary

I have found doilies taken down from decorations on the wall, they were there this morning - a known boundary

I can not find a screw that holds the play room refrigerator door handle in place, it was there this morning - a known boundary

I have put two little girls in time-out, against a wall, hands on knees, do not talk to anyone too many times for opening or closing any door - a known boundary

I have found Sophie using my bathroom instead of hers, TWICE - a known boundary

I had to peal Nora and Sophie out of Lydia and Samantha's room, they were destroying a game box....IT. WAS. EVERYWHERE. - both the room and the game box  - a known boundary

Samantha spent most of the morning in her room 'chilling out' until she could come out ready to do what I had asked her to do in the first place....and I mean MOST of the morning.

and that's just off the top of my head...does not include the discipline for speaking rudely to your sisters or hitting or pushing or scratching.

does not include the torturous meal times or protests over my attempts to separate and concentrate my time on a pair of kids or an individual kid.

but by golly, I think I'm figuring some stuff out.

and even through the list above 

I have had separate Bible reading times with each pair of girls 

(we're talkin' less than 10 min for each pair, it may have been closer to 5 min! - shootin' LOW)

I had just Lydia come in the kitchen with me and get a cake going for her best friends birthday party on Saturday (and because it's her best friend this will be a doozy of a cake - hang on to your panty hose my friends!)

and

Lydia, Samantha and I played GO FISH right after Nora, Sophie and I read some books 

(two books and I skipped some pages...again, shootin' low)

Two loads of laundry done (uh...not put away, just washed people), beds made, dishes done, two Bible study questions answered - 

(now, the kids are only kinda dressed, actually, I am only kinda dressed, weird piles of stuff everywhere, bathrooms are scary, floors....don't wanna talk about them....windows, dusting, polishing, organizing, etc.......yeah, not even close to touched. see you have me paranoid now that I might seem out of reach/perfect/or 'that' blogger so I am over detailing!!!!)

(...say it with me...shootin' low!)

I am just as tired as I have been the last week or so but not as defeated.

can I get an AMEN!!!???

It's amazing how knowing that the beds are made, the kitchen is clean and the kids have been prayed with, sung to and read to makes me feel so settled. (how's that for an eternal perspective!?)

I think that's my new goal.

See, I told you I was figuring stuff out!

Workout, beds made, kitchen clean, kids sung to/read to/prayed with (no time quota on this!), I looked into the eyes of each kid and genuinely told them I loved them at least once and my quiet time had = if that gets done in a day, I'm letting myself off the hook.

off to make some of that happen.....

and unfortunately for you, this isn't the end of this conversation, I just don't believe in long posts!