i'll take sanity with a side order of peace, please

most days, i'm over the moon about this mom gig...

but today?

oh, today....

i'm happy to share just about everything with these little people that walk around at half-height in my home

my time

my money

my hobbies

my energy

my bowl of ice cream

my last french fry

and sacrificing for them is, for the most part, pure joy

they've taken over my home

my body

my sleep

my conversations

but when they threaten to take my sanity....

well, that's where i draw the line

let me explain

yesterday was glorious

the weather was just perfect and we headed to the steele county fair, where we had a total blast!

 it was peach's idea for us all to wear MN Gopher shirts...too sweet!

the highlight of the day was dancing to the music coming from the polka wagon

but we also enjoyed walking around, feeding the animals at the petting zoo (including a giraffe!), riding the ferris wheel and taking in a bunch of other over-priced rides

the girls were wearing face-splitting smiles the whole time

then, we headed home

one of my little lovelies (who will remain nameless) screamed (and i mean SCREAMED) the entire 45 minute ride home...fun

upon arriving home, we tucked three exhausted girls into bed just KNOWING that after all that excitement, they'd sleep good and late

wrong.  sparkle was up three times during the night and the other two?

up with the sun.

three cups of coffee later i thought i was getting into my groove

but then one of my precious littles (who will also remain nameless) was caught breaking crayons (again)

and it just went downhill from there - one ugly infraction after the next...

 she proceeded to soak the couch in urine (nice), eat some potentially toxic berries from the tree in our neighbors' yard (after being specifically instructed not to) and then came in the house to boldly rip a page out of a library book, proudly announcing that it could be fixed with "jus' a lil' tape"

bath time was grand - little mischief herself dumped half the tub's water over the edge while i was trying to locate a washcloth

and then we have our third lovely in the background bossing the whole family around, telling everyone what to do, when to speak, who did what and why she is right about it all

one violator pulled another's hair

someone left their underwear in the middle of the hallway

three puzzle pieces made their way into the toilet

and there is questionable stickiness all over the kitchen floor

j and i are just looking at each other, shaking out heads and wondering what in the WORLD we've gotten ourselves into

i feel like i spent the ENTIRE day correcting, rebuking, disciplining and redirecting

oh, wait...there was that call to poison control about the berries...so i guess not the WHOLE day, but darn near

not to mention that Sparkle has decided she wants nothing to do with anyone other than me, so she screamed so loud during my 90 second shower that J had to lay her down and leave the room

right now the littlest is sleeping and the other two are watching Tom and Jerry while eating fruit snacks

i know, i know...

in a former life (one without children) i would have frowned upon rewarding bad behavior with television and sugar

BUT, upon having children i realized that movies and fruit snacks are not a reward for disobedient children

they are a reward for parents who made it through a day like this one without placing them in the yard with a FREE sign on their backs

i feel like hiding and letting the neighbors put them to bed
the kind man from poison control just called back to see if tulip was "acting like herself"
i said "yes" but i thought "yes, a little too much like herself....anything non-toxic you could recommend to help us out with that?"

ugh. not gonna' win any awards for my attitude today

whew - good thing tomorrow is a new chance for us all :)