One for the books.

Every night before we put the kids to bed, we have a little routine where we read scriptures (meaning Nathaniel reads and I try to keep the kid's screaming to a minimum) and we pray together.  To accomplish this seemingly simple task, we have to have our children pretend they are either a butterfly or a dragon, respectively.  It's really quite the process.  A routine to precede a routine, if you will.

First, Ember slides on her belly proclaiming, "I'm a caterpillar!" until she reaches my lap where upon she slithers on top and locks my arms around her waist until she is comfortably assembled in her "cocoon."  I have told her she needs to listen to the scriptures and be reverent during the prayer before her cocoon can open and her butterfly wings are revealed in all their imaginative glory (to which she reminds me, "Caterpillars don't have arms to be reverent with...").  She is then permitted to float around the living room for a few minutes before picking her story for bedtime.
The dragon simply claims his milk cup and then slowly backs up his little diapered bottom into his daddy's lap to assume the position in his "dragon egg." Same rules apply though much less of a process.  But still really adorable.

This silly little game usually works really well for us! They sit quiet (mostly) and pretend to listen and for a second we actually feel like, "okay, we get them. This is working!"
Then, every once in a while, we have an episode like last night that keeps us real humble and reminds us who REALLY runs the house.

The little butterfly decided to mix things up last night and bounced on to my lap and plopped herself down so we were looking at each other face-to-face.  Her little arm flung up to reveal my iPhone she had found on the floor....and then she let go.  The little white brick went flying...into my face.  I flopped sideways with my hand over my eye then ran to the kitchen where I removed my hand to reveal blood! I totally burst into tears HAHA, which sent Nathaniel running in followed by our sweet worried little girl.  Thaniel was getting ice, I was washing the blood off and trying to tell Ember "Mommy's ok! It was an accident!"  Then she slipped on some spilled water onto her ankle and starts sobbing! Akston is now hysterical and Nathaniel's just running around trying to comfort everyone. HAHA! It is so funny now. It was awful then!

He swooped up the kids and left the room.  I soon heard Sofia the First playing in the background, the kids were quiet, and he comes in with his medic hands equipped with hydrogen peroxide and a butterfly bandaid.  He fixed me up...his pathetic, sobbing, bloody wife who just got beat up by a 3-year-old with an iPhone. hahahaha  The best part: He then puts his arm around me and says, "I think you handled that really well." HAHA!

Oh man.  You can't win 'em all.  But when you do... it looks a lot like last night.  Messy, tearful, painful, adorable, emotional, forgiving, nurturing and happy.  Just not so much reverent and quiet...but we'll get there.