Pushover? Who...me?

Last night the REAL parents returned from Mexico to relieve us of our post as FAKE parents. Overall, I have to say things went well! Even if we had a few minor issues like getting soaked because someone thought it was fun to splishy-splash while getting their hair washed or experiencing a major meltdown because someone didn't want to put on their pull-up.
On the ride home Daniel and I had our own post-mortem of the week's events. We were both in agreement that we felt like we had learned a lot about child-rearing, and we never want to have children (totally kidding!). Of course it's going to be different raising our own children, but I think that we saw the importance of discipline and CORPORAL PUNISHMENT (although we ourselves never administered any spankings this week). I learned very quickly that during the first couple of days the kids were "measuring us up." They wanted to see just how far we would be pushed, just how late they could stay up or just how much they could work the system.
I started out thinking that we would just have fun, the kids would love me and it would be such a treat to have us taking care of them! That lasted about 10 minutes. I had to banish any fear of the kids disliking me when it was time to be firm, and I had to learn to FOLLOW THROUGH. This was so difficult for me! It seemed to come very natural to Daniel. I would see him get on Jordy's level and be extremely firm with him. Sometimes Jordy would start to cry and say mean things to him, but Daniel was unphased. He stood firm and made himself clear, he enacted discipline swiftly and left room for Jordy to reconcile himself. It was great!
I, on the other hand, had to overcome my own tendency to be....a pushover!
The first few days were exhausting and difficult, but by Saturday and Sunday I think we had demanded enough respect that the last two days were pretty smooth sailing. The kids even sat perfectly through the service on Sunday morning (although they MAY have been bribed a little with crayons and trail mix...maybe...).
Waking up this morning (after the sun was up!), I got myself some coffee, read a little, ate a little breakfast, watched a little news...and I started to feel so restless! For the past 5 days I have been waking up before dawn and getting little kids dressed, wiping oatmeal off the walls, planning activities, having maybe ten minutes to get ready and pop a few Cheerios in my mouth. What a week! What am I going to do with myself?

Well...in just one week I will be stepping on a plane for eastern Europe to go see my favorite missionaries in the world: My Family! If you want to get to know my parents and my brothers a little better you should visit their cool blog at www.the-lundgaards.com . It's really my dad that writes, but he has some pictures of the rest of the family and lovely Slovakia linked around the page. I am so excited to see them!
Until then I'll be hitting up a few grocery stores to purchase goods from the 2390423-item list of "everything an ex-pat needs to survive in eastern Europe." Among the items are things like peanut butter, M&M's, and cotton panties for four-year-olds, just to give you an idea. And I am happy to do this (I love you, mommy!)!!!
I'll definitely be taking and posting pictures of my adventures in Slovakia, so be sure to tune in!