12:00 Pull up to the parking lot where the 10 year old should be arriving soon from his sleepover camp. The girl wakes up. This is not good news. She normally takes a 3 hour nap. Since she had a short nap, this means she will be grumpy for the afternoon and will not go back to sleep. I change her diaper in the now 106 degree heat.
12:10 10 year old arrives, I am overjoyed at seeing him. I have missed him terribly (and not just because I had to take care of his animals while he was gone). He is casual and cool about seeing me but obliges my needing to hug and kiss him. He proceeds to tell me every single detail of his camp experience.
1:00 Pick 13 year old up from his internship. He is also casual and cool about seeing me (gotta love the teen attitude). He does not mention the morning sidewalk fiasco. It is a silent agreement that it will not be spoken about again.
2:00 Arrive at the first library of the day. We have movies and books to return. I am hoping that the big kids can run inside to return them and get the books they have placed on reserve. That plan is quickly changed by the little kids, who insist on going in the library. The 3 year old demands that I read him every single movie case before he decides on which movie to check out. The girl picks a movie that is not appropriate so I gently remove it from her chubby little hands. She makes sure that the entire library can hear her voice her complaint about me removing the movie. She then picks a new movie and refuses to let me see it. She runs amok in the library with the movie held behind her back. When the kind librarian says "hello" to the girl, the girl shrieks like a banshee and hides the movie under her dress. While this is going on, the 3 year old is attempting to choose between 2 movies; the riveting Curious George or Goodnight Gorilla. He finally decides, I think we are in the clear to leave but he then declares that it is time to choose a book. The above scenario replays itself in the book section. I change the girls' diaper in the now 107 degree heat.
2:30 Arrive at the second library (yes, we use 2 different libraries). The same scenario replays itself yet again.
2:45 Home at last, I rush to throw a load of clothes in the laundry since the power company has asked its' users to conserve energy between 3 and 7.
2:50 The girl and the 3 year old run into the laundry room, both yelling "Shaving Cream!" The 3 year old has drawn all over himself and the girl with multi-colored markers and tells me it is their shaving cream.
3:00 While changing the girl's diaper, I keep smelling a terrible odor. I thought it was her diaper, but no. I then realize that I am still wearing the shirt with the poop on it from earlier in the day. Yuck. Gag reflex kicks in.
3:05 The 3 year old comes into my closet, where I am attempting to change my shirt without getting poop on my skin or hair. He has a pair of scissors in one hand and a clump of what I hope is his hair in the other hand.
3:10 The 3 year old has decided to draw targets for his pretend gun shooting practice. He sits at his desk and makes 53 targets that require his usage of an entire roll of tape to place around the house. The girl copy's him so we now have about 100 targets taped in a variety of places around the house. Luckily, they do not place a target on my rear. I take advantage of their feverish target making and manage to unpack 2 boxes. This is great progress considering we moved 3 months ago and I have only managed to unpack half of our boxes.
4:00 The girl is begging me to take her outside and push her in the swing. It is 108 degrees outside. I am not going out. She will swing for hours if I let her. I do not enjoy standing in the heat and melting while she is swinging. I explain to her that while she is a native Texan, I am a native Californian and have not yet acclimated to the Texas heat and probably never will. Luckily, the big boys offer to take her out and push her and her brother on the swing. I take advantage of their willingness to melt outside and I make dinner.
4:30 A neighbor boy, we will call him "B" arrives at the house. I am surprised we have not seen him sooner since he tends to spend a great deal of time here. I don't mind because he is super nice and actually helps me with the little kids. I have also found that he does not mind doing chores for me! The 3 year old runs to him, yelling "B! You are here, I love you!" Hmmm, I have never had that kind of reception from the 3 year old.
5:00 The 3 year old is getting restless. Before others start getting hurt, I pull the mattress out of his room, prop it up against the couch and he goes wild charging into it over and over again. This keeps him occupied for the next 1/2 hour and the rest of the household is spared being charged into over and over again. Thanks for stepping up mattress!
6:00 My husband arrives home from work. He is exhausted, probably because he was fixing the pool pump and pouring concrete at 3:30 this morning. He allows the kids to use him like a trampoline until he can't take it anymore and we eat dinner.
6:30 We play games, read books and have a rare quiet and fun evening together as a family. The 13 year old teaches us a magic trick that none of us understood. The 10 year old does handstands. When things start getting a bit too wild, the big kids are sent outside to round up the animals and put them away for the night. They also empty the kitchen compost into the big composter outside and take out the recycling.
7:00 The girl is exhausted since she didn't have her full nap. She cries during her bath while I attempt to get yellow marker out of the inside of her ear. She tries to climb into her crib. She is asleep in less than a minute. One down, 3 to go.
8:00 The 3 year old is showing no signs of sleep coming anytime soon. I remember that he took a nap in the car earlier which means that there is no telling how long until he goes to sleep. I am attempting to get some lesson planning done since our homeschooling year starts in a few weeks. He snuggles up to me and asks me to read him some books. I can't resist and put everything aside. He has picked his current 2 favorite books: Henny Penny and The Snowy Day. I enjoy these books as well and have a good time reading them; the first 15 times. After that, I was done. Anyone with little kids knows that they love the same stories over and over and over again. Joy. The boy can tell that I am wearing down and he declares that he is ready for bed. This is suspicious.
8:30 My husband lays down on the floor in the 3 year old's room and within 5 minutes I hear him snoring. He is also blocking the door so the 3 year old cannot escape. I pick up the house as best as I can.
9:30 All children are in bed, either asleep or pretending to be asleep. It doesn't matter to us as long as no one is asking us for another glass of milk, another snack, another book, to play monopoly for the 100th time, etc. We decide to watch a movie.
9:35 We are both sound asleep.
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