I probably should have called around to see if any local dentists had root canal openings today, because that probably would have been a calmer, easier day. These kids (boys only) woke up on the beastly side of the bed this morning and just did not stop.

I got everyone up this morning and let them have dry cereal and fruit around a small table in the living room while I got dressed and packed a snack bag for the day (Jackson had an appointment and God forbid my kids go anywhere without food). This is a special treat that they do once in a while and they usually love it. Today, they shredded their mini wheats and jammed them into the sofa, the cracks in the table and ALL over the carpet. We needed to be out the door soon, so I make them quickly clean up what they could manage, while explaining to them that this upset me and they can not do this again. After making more of a mess “cleaning” than I ever thought possible, I sent them downstairs to find their shoes and wait for me while I quickly got dressed. I heard a loud thud, and figured they had simply dumped their play tool bench over again, but went down to check anyway, and this is what I found. What you see is a dehumidifier that they apparently thought looked better in the horizontal, empty position. It actually was way more of a mess than it looks. It took just about every towel we had in the house to soak up the disaster which got all over the carpet, in the laundry room, and all over the hallway tile. Clearly, I wanted to do an extra load of laundry today.

After the appointment, the boys were not so nicely playing with each other. They each wanted something the other had and the sharing concept was not appealing to them. At one point, Jackson walked over to Joseph, pushed him down on the floor, took what he wanted out of his hand, and said “Thanks! See you later!” and walked away. They served multiple time outs today, and when we left to pick big sister up from school, they decided (as I was driving) that they want to be barefoot, so they took their shoes off and tossed them throughout the car. One of them almost hit me, too. I do not know what the heck goes through their minds. As we were walking through the parking lot, we all overheard a mom telling her son “Just because someone else says that doesn’t mean it’s nice.” We kept walking, until Jackson stopped in his tracks and started yelling across the parking lot “That’s not nice! Not nice! You go in time out!” Military school might be an option for these two.

Also, out of all of my children, I can’t even say I was too surprised to see this one sitting at a table with a murder mystery, making a phone call. He was probably asking Siri where to hide a body.

Taylor has been pretty awesome lately, as always. She is starting to get irritated when I ask her questions about school though. Instead of talking about ponies, sparkles, and her boyfriend all day, I ask her how her day was, what she learned, etc. Yesterday, I think she had enough of the friendly conversation. She told me she played in the sandbox at recess with some friends. I said that sounded like fun and asked which friends she played with. She sighed heavily, looked up at me and said: “Shovel and Pail, Mom. That’s who.” I think that was her way of ending the conversation.