Oof.

Sheesh. I'm not gonna lie- today was a tough one. Sometimes bed time is just so nice. I love these nuggets but, today needed to be done. I. am. tired. My patience is gone, and when Jack called me into his room he said "oh, I thought you'd have your mad face on because I needed you". Heart wrench. Mom fail. I guess a 630 bedtime, and a clean house will allow me to recoop a bit and start tomorrow fresh.

Things started out great this morning. My BFF took Lucy for a few hours, and I headed up to the kids rooms with a garbage bag. You all know a mama means business when she does such a thing.

Straight to work I went. Sorting, tossing, and scrubbing every inch. If I ever was concerned my kids are hoarders- today was certainly not going to convince me otherwise. So many "treasures". Bleh.

Got Lucy off to school and settled the others into quiet time.

Woke everyone up a bit early to bring Uncle Caleb to work- pretty good deal- he babysits and I drive him when he works at the location farther away from his house.

We rocked out. Especially Jack.

Then we got to school to pick up the Lucinator. This is where things begin to fall apart. Violet decided that today was the day she no longer needed to be carried and should walk. A 17 month old walking really slows things down quite a bit, and the rage that happened when I picked her up was just not the battle I was going to choose to fight. So- we walked.

Lucy hops out of school begging for the standard list- 

1. Can I please have a sleepover?

2. Can I please go to a friend's house?

3. Can we please go on a date? 

As you may realize, these are all "special" things and much to her devastation they can't happen every day. And so begins the daily battle after school. But first- let's close her social hour out with a dramatic wave out the window as we pull away.

Oh, and this is also when Jack told me he told "the other mom" that I hit him on the head with a thing that zaps people. No. Idea. What. He's. Talking. About. But would love to know what the mysterious other mom thinks about me.

Back to the begging and pleading- normally it's done and over with with the reminder of snack or something minor, but today was different. She had much bigger plans. I had hoped to go for a drive or something but turned around due to attitudes. This was the rest of the drive home-

Sigh. 

Stuck to my guns though and survived the next 45 minutes of hell. That's the trickiest thing for me is to not absolutely lose my cool when someone is losing their mind. I mean- she seriously lost her mind. Full blown rabid gorilla child came forth. 

She worked it out in her room, and once it seemed things had calmed I approached with caution. She said her piece, I said mine, and we moved on with the day. 

A riveting game of hungry hungry hippos followed. Which is actually quite challenging because mini nugget tries to pull the game off the table the whole time. So not only must you focus on chomping- you need to actually hold the game down. Takes lots of mental strength. Grow little minds, grow.

Next was another low when Jack went from this

To "wow, I made a disgusting mess"

Clean it up bud. "Never"

Time outs are hard.

But he's much less stubborn than others in this fam, and after a sobering minute on the stairs, cleaned up the mess :).

While in the cleaning zone- Lucy got to work as well.

Love when they ask to vacuum. It's the one chore they actually succeed in.

Now, what happened next I cannot explain. It was a momentary lapse in mom judgement. Based on years passed, and the day we'd already had- I never should have attempted it. But alas. I went for it...

Valentine card signing extravaganzaaaa! 

1.5 hours later. Lucy's are done. Though she did need some dramatic refreshments to get her through the process.

Jack successfully signed a grand total of one card for his class. We'll take baby steps on this. 

By now, Jack says "I'm actually going to die if I don't eat RIGHT NOW" 

The glitch with this is that Dan (who has dinner) is stuck in traffic. 

We spend the next 45 minutes flinging emotions from highs of wild play to deep dark lows of hunger and exhaustion. 

Finally Daddio walks through that door, and life improves. 

Of course, I set dinner out, and nobody is hungry anymore. "I think I had too many fishies". 

Ugh. Ok. Eat dinner or go to bed then. 

They both chose bed, and my goodness I didn't stop them. 

 I could have done without the last 4 hours of the day today. So. much. weeping. That was definitely today's low. It's also midterm week for Dan- which is always killer strain on him.

However, the kids have been upstairs as I've typed this, and seemed to go to sleep "the first time" tonight. Thank goodness.

And a nice high is that we're pursuing some new job options for Danny- which is quite exciting. For anyone who has a spouse in school- I'm beginning to realize there is a light at the end of that very long tunnel. Hang in there!

I'm going to do something brainless and recharge. Tomorrow is a short day as I have a super fun girls night out planned starting at 4. Woot!! Things will be better tomorrow for sure!! Over and out.