Our weekend...the good, bad, and ugly

Well, we did it. As most of you know, Eddie and I have a philosophical problem w/ spanking children. We don't believe in it and have never touched our children in any way other than w/ love (gag! I know...). But, remember how I said a few entries ago that Owen was rotten? Let me elaborate......Owen and Eddie got tickets to go to a professional soccer game tonight w/ another dad and son. I told Owen the only way he could go was if he laid down in his bed, lights out, for one hour tonight. He had two soccer games Saturday (and Emmett had two....that will be the next story) and we spent five hours at the sports center. Then, we went to Olive Garden for lunch/dinner and he was exhausted! When we got home, he decided he didn't want to lay down and how about we just go to the pro soccer game next weekend? I said, no problem and it wasn't...until bedtime. It was at that point that Owen decided he was ready to lay down, so he could go to the game. No deal! He lost control. Screaming, kicking, hitting, tearing through the house.....not staying in his room. Pretty much a repeat of what he did last weekend. We tried everything. Eddie sat and held him a while trying to get him to calm down. He just flailed around and said he was going to the game! Fast forward one hour later.......while all of this is going on, I say to Eddie .....he needs a spanking. Then, things were almost comical. With Eddie saying, "well, I don't want to do it." And me saying, "I don't want to do it." Finally...Eddie did it. 4 swats that couldn't have hardly hurt him. Sadly...it worked in calming him down. He stayed in his bed. Although, he said he couldn't sleep because his bottom hurt. So....to prevent this scenario from every happening again: we had a family meeting on Sunday to talk about behavior and punishments, reward for good behavior. I'll keep you posted. Spanking is SO NOT me and Eddie's way of thinking. I'm not sure we could do it again, so we have to come up w/ a better solution.
Part two: Went for Emmett's teacher conference on Friday and they told me that cognitively he was ready for kindergarten, but socially he was not. So, I guess we're making a good decision about not sending him next year. They also said we really needed to help him build self confidence and I should push him to separate from me a little more :(. Em has been talking about playing soccer for a while now and we tried it about a year ago. He got to the field and couldn't do it. After the conference I called the sports center and signed him up for a team. Saturday he would have his first practice and game. He was super excited. Eddie took him to buy his own soccer ball and shin guards Friday night. (We have 13 balls at our house, but they are all Owen's...God forbid, Emmett use one of those!) Saturday we get to the soccer field and Em flips. I can't do it...I can't do it.....But, we pushed. Pep talk. Pep talk. Pep talk. And, Finally...SUCCESS!!!! He stayed on the field and participated for both practice and the game! And, he's excited about next week. YEAH! Of course, as I've mentioned before this means we will spend 5+ hours at the soccer center every week.