I'm Back

I know it has been a while. There's been a lot going on around here! For one, I started working. I'm working 3 very part time jobs, but it is keeping me busy. I love them and it is actually nice to get out of the house. Two of my jobs are on weekends or evenings, so Jack is with the kids. My other part-timer is on Wednesdays and I have an awesome sitter who comes and does endless art projects with them. You know, the art projects that you dream about doing when you have kids, but when you actually have kids, the mess and clean-up involved is just too much sometimes. Yesterday, she collected leaves, cut out a tree from a box, painted the tree, had the kids paint the leaves and then hot-glued the leaves to the tree. First of all, I would never have even thought of that and secondly, it wouldn't have turned out as cute as hers did. Oh, she does the art projects and takes wonderful car of my kids even with her 1-year old daughter whom she brings each time. Gotta love it!

Here's how the week has started:

Monday: I had to get to a triplet group meeting (Jack was out of town) so our next door neighbor was coming to babysit. I had 20 minutes til she came. I was making dinner and on the phone making a Dr. appt for Ellie. I took out some ingredients to make a salad for the kids, but when I went to get the 40 grape tomatoes, they were gone. I could have sworn I took them out, but maybe I had put them back in when I was opening and closing the fridge. Oh well. I went to the playroom to get the kids and lo and behold, all 40 of my tomatoes were spread around the playroom CARPET and smooshed. It looked like they stomped to their hearts' content on the tomatoes on my carpet. And, for a bonus, there was pulp and seeds in their hair. I have never been so mad at them! I get frustrated, yes, but never livid, can't-breathe-mad. After a short rant, I told them to get to their kitchen chairs pronto.
I had 15 minutes to clean the floor and at least start dinner with them before the sitter came. I had to pick up all the tomatoes, pulp and seeds and then got out my awesome carpet stain remover and sprayed away. After about 10 minutes, I went back to the kitchen to get them their dinner.
All the time I'd been cleaning, they had been sitting in their chairs, SILENT! To have 3 2-year olds sitting silent is a miracle. I proceeded to give them their dinner and lecture them. They ate for 10 minutes in silence. I'm not kidding!!! A full 20 minutes of silence!
Ellie said she was done so I got her down and knowing that she was the one who pulled the box of tomatoes down, I got down on her cute little 2-year old eye level and told her, "Don't you ever take anything off this counter again. I'm not mad anymore."
She followed up with, "Mommy all done mad?"
"Yes, baby, I'm all done being mad."
Liam pipes up, "Mommy happy!"
"No, baby, I'm not quite happy yet, but I'm not mad."

Tuesday: They were playing happily in the kitchen with all the pots and pans, so I took a few minutes, meaning probably 4 minutes total, to run upstairs and do a load of laundry. Just as I'm coming back down the stairs, Ellie says, "Mommy clean hands?" Uh-oh. There was a white creamy substance all over her hands and as I turn the corner in the kitchen, there is a chair pulled up to a counter and pots and pans all over the floor. Wait....the creamy white substance is all over the pots and pans too, and my cupboards, and Lily and Liam. As a result of my master detective skills, I deduce that they have pulled the sunscreen off the counter, unscrewed it and wiped it everywhere! Note to self: sunscreen does not come out in the dishwasher, nor does it come out if you use scalding hot water and dishsoap. If you're invited to our house for dinner, the dinner you are served may have a slight sunscreen taste. The excess wine that we will be serving will take care of that taste.

Wednesday: I went to work and maybe stayed a little later than usual. :)

I'll work on getting pictures up.