Lee and I went out of town for a night to celebrate my friend Kelley’s 30th birthday. It was 24 hours with no kids (although I did talk to them about 5 times). The kids are still alive and my mom survived, so that’s all that matters. There were some tense moments though. Keaton and Justis went to their friends house after school and were supposed to be home by 6:30pm. At 7pm my mom called me to let me know they were not home yet, had not called and she could not get an answer at their friends house. But they safely returned around 8pm and got quite an earful from Grandma Cathy. And on Saturday morning, Justis wanted to go in to Keaton’s room. Keaton said no so Justis punched him. These are really just every day occurances in our house. But if you’re not living it every day it probably can be upsetting. I guess I should have made mom a list of things she will more then likely see in a 24 hour period. So for future reference here’s the list (in no particular order):

* The words “I hate you” will be hollered at some point. Could be towards you. Could be towards a sibling. But no matter who it’s directed at, you will most definitely hear them.

* Something will get broken, ripped, torn or stained. If you’re lucky it will just be the newspaper, but it could be a doll, a chair, a plate, the carpet, a window…really anything is up for grabs.

* There will be tears. Honestly, if you can go a whole hour with no tears from anybody, you should give a shout out to yourself and big pat on the back. Or maybe you should pinch yourself, cause you’re probably sleeping and who knows what just happened during that cat nap.

* The kids will tell you one thing and then do another. If they say they are going to play in the backyard, check for them in their room. If they say they’ll be on their computers, check the front yard. We’ve been investigating some good homing devices we can implant in their heels, but we haven’t found anything yet. Until then, keep your eyes open and your hearing aid on high.

In all seriousness (if that’s a word), I don’t think people really understand how much work it is to take care of five kids. Our house is always chaotic and always a mess. Once your willing to get passed that, we’ll be good. Sometimes I wish I could have nice things and not worry about them getting broken or ruined. And sometimes I wish I could sit in my living room and watch a whole movie from start to finish without any interruptions. But then I get a big sloppy kiss on the cheek or a huge toothy grin or some beautiful artwork on the fridge (sometimes it’s even on a piece of paper, rather then just directly on the fridge). Somebody will come home with a big A+ on a test I grilled them on for an hour or they’ll ask me (old, uncool me!) to play a game with them. That’s when I know it’s all worth it. And I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

This was too hilarious not to take a picture. Spencer had on this ski mask, Keaton’s soccer shin guards and Keaton’s soccer cleats. I said “What are you doing?” And Spencer responded, “I’m the Shoe Wearing Ninja.”

Click on the picture to see it bigger.