I don't know how we'll survive summer

Today has been awful! The tv's been off and we've been working (the girls definition of working is vastly different then my own). Oh the whining, stalling, complaining, fighting. It's been literally non-stop since they got up.

I discover ham base on Ean's floor. The boys were rolling in it! My house smells like a soup factory. The little turkeys, I don't know when they got into it! And I thought it was locked up. Grrrrrrr.

I hate seeing waste, absolutely hate it. It doesn't help that we've haven't had a paycheck for four months. Every little bit means oodles. We've survived on savings and we didn't have debt and we're receiving food from church. Oh and my mom has helped pay for "fun" stuff for the kids. Kate is in dance and Jane is in Tae Kwon Do (she's a green belt!)

Of course this isn't the first time somethings been played with in my house that shouldn't have been. Ean's made sandboxes in the middle of my kitchen using infant rice cereal, flour, whole wheat flour, sugar and I'm sure I'm leaving out at least a dozen others. Oh and the swamps that boy has made. There was the olive oil that he spilled on the counter, into the drawers and on the floor. I had to clean four levels of kitchen, I spent five hours on the mess (uh, it was a half gallon of olive oil) Then there was the dish soap, that dawn foam. I had it on top of the fridge so he couldn't get into it. He knocked it off with the broom, spilled and his little brothers were playing in it. That's two one year olds covered in dish soap. I frantically called my neighbor and asked (begged) for her to take Ean (then two). She did, which was a huge lifesaver.

The twins I rushed to the bathroom and started rinsing them off in their clothes. One twin, I think it was Greg had it in his eyes and he was howling. I can't imagine how much that must of stung. I had to rush to get Dave's hands rinsed so he didn't get it in his eyes either, or his mouth (blech!) My neighbor then took the twins so I could work on the floor.

Anyone familiar with dawn dish foam. It's twice as thick and guess what, it
foams!!!

I spent about an hour dumping water on the kitchen floor and sweeping the foam out. My back deck looked like a winter wonderland, a bubble machine gone wild from Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. Like my kids would have a hay day, if I'd let them. It only took six hours for the foam to die down to six inches or so. All the children survived and the twins were squeaky clean.

So I guess the ham base (about a pound) and my house smelling like a soup kitchen wasn't so bad.

I need to reflect on the past more often, it just might give me perspective for the here and now.