trouble, girls, & two silly boys

Today was not exactly a great day for the Hofacker boys at ACS. Both of them got sent to the office for bad behavior :-( Joel had to decide his punishment -- no Nintendo DS for the entire weekend or no staying up reading at bedtime. I was pretty shocked that he chose no DS. I didn't realize that his reading time was so important to him. I'm wondering if he has another video game device hidden away in his room -- hmmmmmm. I might be doing some mother-sneaking when I'm finished here. Luke doesn't get choices. He got a spanking from Dad in the office and also doesn't get to play the wii all weekend. We're so mean!

Makenzie has been grounded for all of January so far for "screeching" at her brothers. Anyone who has heard Makenzie speak knows the potential for eardrum damage if she decides to "screech" (yell in a very angry, high pitched, loud voice). Her "grounding" was from friends coming over. Yesterday was the last day of being grounded, so she got to have a friend spend the night tonight. When I went downstairs, they were watching a Little Mermaid movie with a bowl of something between them. I asked them what they had in the bowl (the lights were out, so I couldn't see for myself), at least they were honest: candy :-) Oh great! That's JUST what they need! I reminded them to PLEASE brush their teeth when the movie was over and to be QUIET, being considerate of the boys just like they'll hope the boys are considerate of them in the morning :-) We'll see how that goes.

On Monday or Tuesday, Luke found out that he was invited to spend the night with his grandparents this Saturday. He went downstairs and was really quiet for a while, so I wondered what he was doing, but was enjoying the quiet too much to go ask. Eventually, he came back upstairs with his spend-the-night bag all packed, ready to go. He had his church clothes for Sunday and pajamas -- no underclothes, no toothbrush. He was only a little bit disappointed that we had to unpack the church clothes and wait a few days to leave :-)

Tonight, I put on my coat to go over to a friend's house warming party. When I turned around to tell Seth good-bye, he was standing there with his coat. SO CUTE!!!!! He wasn't too happy about being left at home while Mommy went outside of the house! He got over it when Dad put on a Scooby Doo movie, though :-)

Luke was teaching Seth his bad habit here:

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today's song: "Day by Day" by dc Talk

I live a simple life, take a day at a time.
I spend my mornings with God before I hit the grind.
The subtleties of darkness never cease to amaze,
As a physical world creates a spiritual haze.
Blinded by distractions,
Lost in matterless affairs,
Reaching through the darkness,
Trusting You will meet me there.
Day by day,
Oh dear Lord, three things I pray,
To see Thee more clearly,
To love Thee more dearly,
To follow Thee more nearly
Day by day.