Boys will be Boys?

Evan and Eli have been home from school for their Spring Break. Instead of an entire week, or five days off of school they split it over the weekend in this school district. At first I felt sort of bad and was a little bugged, wondering why they don't get a whole week off like most other kids? Well I think I've figured it out... the "big wigs" who do the deciding for the school holiday schedule must do a survey and ask stay at home mom's what to do? I'm even thinking that those mom's who are surveyed must be 10 months pregnant, like me! I've come to this conclusion because now that I've had my boys home for two days with no real structure I am thanking my lucky stars that I don't have them home for a week right now!!

I know I should be a good mom and have some fun plans for them... the dinosaur museum, the park, the zoo etc... but any fun plans mean- me arranging, packing for a day then chasing, and bending and lifting Gabe- non stop! The chasing is not even the bad part... no, just walking these days turns into contractions, back aches, the inability to wear shoes etc....

So I opted for no fun plans which means that their mischief is partly my fault...

Boys will be boys, I know!

If there were a "boy behavior chart" my boys would be closest to "fairly mellow and well behaved" which I thank the good Lord for daily! Of course they have their moments.... but I would chart them in that category for the majority of the time! Lately though, it seems that my boys have been having lots of "moments" and may be falling down a few notches on the "boy behavior chart"....

yesterday... was one BIG moment.

They had been teasing all morning... relentlessly bugging each other. I try to head it off early on and if they choose not to stop then I let it go and figure it's their own fault if they get punched in the gut or something (real sympathetic, I know and believe me, I have never been in the running for mother of the year!) When they come to me... crying, I say in my most sympathetic tone "Oh, I'm sorry you chose to act that way, which resulted in a fat lip for you..." I shrug my shoulders and give them a little pat on the back and because they are boys they usually get over it that fast. I have found this works better than trying to figure out who said something mean first or who's tickling turned into pinching while they are both blaming the other etc... Then it's just more complicated!

They were out on the trampoline yesterday although they hadn't cleaned their rooms first. I could hear it getting a little rowdy... I peeked my head out the door and even though their room was not clean I figured I would give an inch, after all it is spring break, right?... so I told them to settle down and they could continue jumping for awhile before cleaning. Not less than 10 minutes passed and in came Eli bawling! Not far behind him was Evan... not crying, but MAD! I didn't even have a chance for my "oh, I'm so sorry" speech. Eli frantically pointed out the red hand prints on his neck while Evan was claiming self defense as he nursed his bloody nose... Eli had kicked him in the tenders, the nose, and who know where else! So my fairly mellow, well behaved boys had been outside (luckily, we have no neighbors) doing some ultimate fighting... strangling? kicking? I could not believe it escalated that fast and to that extent!

I felt my blood pressure sky rocket, along with my anger. Accompanied with both of those emotions was disbelief? The saying came to my head "boys will be boys..." I pushed it away "oh no they won't!" I thought "NOT My boys!!"

They knew they were in BIG trouble. After a long lecture about having the ability to seriously injuring other person, a guilt trip, and some more tears. they both sat in separate rooms, facing the wall for one hour while they "thought about it. "

I decided long ago that If I'm going to be the mother of boys... oh how I love boys... but I will not have boys who are rude, have no manners or who are too rough. I firmly believe that boys do not come that way... they are allowed to act that way, if that is their behavior! Now I add to my list... I will not have boys who strangle each other, kick others in inappropriate places, or who are violent...

I guess I need to work on refining those inherent boy tendencies now too??

after all of that... we had all calmed down and things were going better for a minute and THEN I asked Eli about helping his cousin Tristin gather eggs from the barn... "How many did you collect after the long winter?" I asked. Eli looked at me blankly, not sure how to answer. Evan quickly piped in "There were no eggs mom" I wondered aloud "how could that be?" Evan again answered "well...Eli and Drake broke them all last week." After a conversation like pulling teeth...I finally got to the bottom of it... (I think?)

Last week Eli went out to the barn, he gathered up the eggs (I'm guessing... 30 of them?) and while his younger, innocent cousin watched his bad example... he then proceeded to smash and throw them all over inside the hen house. the room is like 8x8! they had to have been dripping on them....WHAT? again disbelief... what was he thinking? and anger... seriously this is not even our property, or our chickens. my 7 year old son egged something? embarrassed... because my aunt and uncle probably knew already and were just too nice to say anything...thinking now I have to call and lamely explain that I don't have any idea what my children do half the time...but we are taking really good care of your house... (arghhhhh)

After another lecture on vandalism, being a good example and lying ( too many details to share here...) we decided that Eli would pick up EVERY scattered egg shell and scrape off the drips too- I was at my wits end!

Who are these boys and what have they done with my "fairly mellow, well behaved boys?"

I know, that boys will be boys... but NOT my boys...
I have a feeling that this is only the beginning though?! I pray for patience and strength, in raising these boys of mine... and the sense of humor my grandma Murray had while raising her boys would be nice too ...or maybe she only laughs about it now?

I know there is wisdom in her laughter... maybe that's all that matters.