Bedtime Hi-Yah

I have always wanted to be a mom and have loved being one since I became one almost 7 years ago (wow how time goes by quickly!). I will definitely say being a mom it is a lot harder than I ever could have imagined. When the first child arrived I realized wow, I am really selfish with my time and then the second child arrived and again I realized I am still really selfish! Then the third comes along and there is no time to be selfish anymore...although when I find myself getting really impatient with the kids, I realize it's when I'm selfishly wanting to do something for myself.

Speaking of getting impatient with the kids, bedtime comes to mind. I don't know about your house, but bedtime is one of the longest most dreaded parts of my day. It is an hour long process and more than that some nights. Every night it's the same thing. First we do bath's or shower's now for the boys. Which is nice, the boys can get in the shower by themselves and bathe so really I'm just having to get Izzy in the tub. Although, both boys would use an entire tank of hot water just standing in the water and never touch the soap. So I'm constantly having to say "Carter/Caden hurry up", "have you even started washing","your brother would like some hot water too"...the list goes on. Once we are all out of the tub & in PJ's we go to brush our teeth, which usually goes pretty smoothly. Yes I have to go in after wards and clean up all the toothpaste that has gotten all over the sink, toilet, and floor, but nevertheless teeth get clean. I hope. Then we all pile up on mom & dad's bed for family worship. Which lately has been reading through the Bible with the kids Jesus Storybook Bible. Then off to the bedrooms. I take Izzy and rock her for just a few songs. Her favorite is the Gigi Song. This is a song my mom a.k.a. Gigi started singing to her, where we go through every member of the family and say they love Isabel. Gigi loves Isabel, PopPop loves Isabel, Kay-Kace loves Isabel too. You get the picture. Ben takes the boys and that is where the challenge comes. Caden is usually fine, he's usually ready. However the boys share a room. Carter is the thinker and he knows how to get his dad. Since it's right after family worship Carter usually comes up with questions like, dad, "how is God three person's?", "where do we go when we die?", "where is Heaven?" and Carter knows Ben can't resist to not answer these biblical questions :) If he's not asking Biblical questions, it's, mom, "what's for lunch tomorrow?", "After school can I have a snack?", "who's picking me up from school?".....the list goes on!
However last night Ben and I thought, the kids really didn't seem all that tired. The boys had a birthday party earlier that day, but didn't use ALL their energy. It was bedtime and we had finished the pre-bedtime stuff. So we asked ourselves the question, how do we get them tired enough so that they will stay in their beds and NOT get back up for one more question. Then Ben had the thought, he used to take Karate, why not teach the kids. What a great idea!! So we pushed the couch back and for 30 min. straight they stretched, kicked, and punched. Not at each other of course. It was their own little workout session. You know what, it worked :) Not one time did any one of them get up to go potty one more time, ask for water or call us in their room for one more question. This may become part of our pre-bedtime routine.