Raising little gents and ladies

This morning my heart filled with pride when my 5 year old was going to help his 4 year old sister decorate her tree down in the basement playroom. He said, "Ladies first" as he ushered her down the stairs. I was beaming. Then he shut off the lights, slammed the door and yelled, "SUCKER". And there went my moment.

Aaah, the life of a stay at home mom trying to raise 4 little people to be upstanding citizens. It doesn't help that earlier in the morning, while my husband lovingly played with some of Alex's new birthday gifts with the boys, my 40 year old child won a Bey Blade battle and actually said, "Woo hoo...I won...you guys are the loooohooohooosers". Really? He went on to say he got caught up in the moment, so he is now in time out, which is actually taking Alaina and Alex to Kmart, in search of extra lights for the bushes outside. That, in itself, is punishment for a crime much worse than the aforementioned one, but I need to make sure this type of game playing does not repeat itself.

As for my little ladies, they are very civilized when they are not "shaking their booty" and lifting up their shirts like Toddlers gone wild. I'm not quite sure where they get their dance moves...I only wish I had them at the clubs 10 years ago, instead of my usual cabbage patch.

I can only hope and pray that we teach them to be kind, patient, loving, empathetic people who know how very lucky they are and who give back to those who are not as fortunate.

If I wrote a Christmas list to Santa, I would wish for this for everyone.
Then I would send him 8 tiny reindeer cupcakes for his time. Check these adorable treats out.

Found this on Tablespoon.com and just thought it was too cute not to make! Cupcakes of your choice, Chocolate icing. Then use pretzels for ears, Nilla wafers for the face, and white m&m's for the eyes with a bit of black gel. Then you can use cadbury chocolate balls, or anything round and tasty!