Another Day in the Life...

this morning started off fairly normal... we did have to take daddy to work today since we picked him up yesterday to run errands and left his car at work.

when we returned home, i got all the supplies out necessary to build a really cool gourd bird feeder. of course, i end up doing almost all of the work while the kids run amok and throw this morning's newspaper all around the kitchen. jack is intermittenly interested and at one of these points, he and i work together while maria and luke unroll the entire roll of easel paper in the other room. maria and luke then return to the kitchen where maria grabs the bag of dried apricots and shoves about 40 into her mouth. i think there are some poopy diapers in my future.

we finally finish our project (crooked, but functional) and head upstairs to play for a while. everyone is really playing nicely together and enjoying themselves (i even compliment them!) the phone rings. it's tony! i haven't talked to tony in a year and i'm thrilled he's called. i try to sneak off to another room to have a quiet conversation. one minute later here comes maria. then luke. meanwhile, jack is in the hall with the new box of 200 pullups. i hear ripping tape and know the house is about to be decorated, so while managing to maintain a conversation, i nip his intent in the bud.

i choose another room and lock myself in. seconds later i hear screaming. very LOUD, hysterical, screaming and crying from my daughter. unable to put it off, i put tony on hold and assess the situation on the other side of the door. jack has thrown maria's precious blankie over the bannister. i tell maria to stop crying and run back to quickly finish my conversation. tony and i had been discussing a possible visit. he's probably second guessing now. i hang up and i walk into the playroom to find EVERY SINGLE toy dumped out of the bins and off the shelves. a jack tornado has struck.

i force jack and maria to restore the toys. as maria puts blocks into a bucket, luke happily takes them out, causing more hysteria. i pry luke away so maria can finish her task (after reminding her 23 time of her job). luke then turns to tormenting jack by removing all of the trucks he has linked up against the wall. more hysteria. i distract luke again and the kids finish their non-stellar cleaning. currently, everyone is back to calmly playing with the occassional sibling torment in between.

it's only 11:26 in the morning...