Tales From the Pew

Good Evening! Writing a Tale ON a Sunday! Basking in the moment.... :)

Today was fun. We were actually EARLY, and we had a family sit behind us that made US look quiet, so that was a nice change of pace. hee hee...

Actually, the problem behind us was they brought way too many things for their kids to play with and snacks. I wish the First Presidency would resend the letter to all the Bishops reminding the parents that snacks in the chapel are a no-no, but I had a giggle over Hercules trying to sneak away a bag of Oreos and staring sad eyed at the mom for goldfish. If you bring snacks people, expect to be irritated by the kids around you!

Hercules was the only child sitting next to me, so most of the Tales are about him - he was the wildest anyway. Iris and Venus played their connect the dot game the furthest from me. Apollo and Mercury played with cars in the middle, rolling them on the pew in front of them, crashing them into the carpet, whatever they could imagine. They weren't too bad though - they were quiet *crashes*. ;) The big thing was when Redbeard whispered corrections at them, they would stick out their tongues and melt to the floor in defeated defiance.

Then Orion snuggled Athena who sat next to her Dad who was having a hard time today, which I don't understand because I felt like they were doing pretty good. Athena and I had a giggle or two over some of the Hercules antics... because Hercules sat in between Redbeard and I.

Ready for these? Lol - that boy was on a roll! He started out reading the Hymns and when I would turn to the page we were supposed to sing off of, he'd tell me, "No, not THAT one!" Then he would try to "sneak" off, tiptoeing past the old man that stood between me and the door, but never made it far before his dad would give him THE LOOK.

They served sacrament and he chose one piece of bread, picked it up, decided he saw a BIGGER piece, so threw it back and picked up another. Redbeard ended up eating the cast away piece. Then when it came time for water he drove Redbeard nuts by insisting on getting a sacrament cup of water from the OTHER side of the tray...

Once we got past sacrament we tried to keep him happy, but he was having a lot of issues sitting still. I forget what happened, but I ended up taking him outside. I haven't mentioned on here but I have had a lot of pain in my shoulder, and the constant jarring from him (he was on that side of my body) was making it throb. So we went into the nursing mother's room and I let him crawl into my lap and we sat through the special music number and one talk with me rocking him. He decided he was ready to go, so we left and headed back for our chairs.

This time he tried to sneak a coloring book from behind us ever so slowly with the tip of his shoe... but I caught him. Another Mom behind us saw it and laughed - that made me feel better - some other woman *gets* it.

Lastly, during the closing prayer he *snuck* away again and made it across the room and came back before the *Amen* which was a good thing because Redbeard never realized he was gone! Of course, then he took off once the chapel doors opened and Athena ended up chasing him down... Redbeard said it was cruel that the brethern make us go through 3 hours of church and forbid us to drink alcohol.... what a kidder.

I know that sounds exhausting, but I thought it was a good day. (Of course, I went home early with my throbbing arm so Redbeard has his own tales to tell.) Herucles is a wiggly three year old - he's got plenty of time to learn to be still. I'm just not worried about it. Not yet. Someday soon he and his three brothers will be sitting together ready to serve sacrament with the other young men and Redbeard and I will have all the reverence we want. That is, until they sit with us and start smacking each other in the head like the family in front of us, but that is another tale. :D