Most of the time I am not a fun mom. Its ok, I can admit it. I yell at my big kid a lot. Not because I like to yell, but because for some reason my normal speaking voice is inaudible to her 4 year old ears. I can talk and talk and talk, but until I yell, she simply can't hear me. I spend a lot of time counting, or threatening to count, (1-2-3 Magic, if you get to 3, you dole out a time out). Leila hears a lot of "be quiet" "stop that" "be nice to your sister" "put that down" "its time to go now!" You get the picture. I don't like it, I wish we could be buddies, and have fun together all of the time, but the fact is, she is a bit out of control, and I owe it to her and the rest of the world to keep things under wraps in the hopes that when she leaves my home without me, I won't get a call to come and get the beast.

I love my kids, I love to please them, and I really love to surprise them. Today we went to visit a friend of mine and her babies for a while after lunch. Leila REALLY didn't want to leave, but I made her. We had the talk that we frequently have these days when she is being forced to leave somewhere that she wants to stay. The talk goes something like this, "Leila, you know that Mommy wants to take you to fun places, but if you want to get to come back you need to be a big girl and leave when I say it is time to go." After a couple of rounds she usually gets it, and today was one of those times. On the way home she said to me, "Mommy, I really didn't want to go home." So as we turned off towards our summer home and approached the elementary school that we drive past nearly everyday, I pulled into the parking lot and said to Leila, "How about we don't go home? Wanna get out and play?" And so we did. I followed my girls around the playground trying to snap pictures and also keep Thea from taking off and out of my reach. Leila wasn't interested in slowing down for a photo op, and I can't blame her, this was stolen playground time. This wasn't a typical planned trip to the park, this was an out of left field, pull into a parking lot and explore a playground she had never seen before kind of afternoon.