"You get what you Pay for" (?)

See that tent in the background? It sucked. It didn't do (at all) what you would expect a tent to do....which is to keep the weather outside (specifically, the rain), and to keep us comfortable inside. Z and I went into the tent to take a nap (on our sopping, wet sleeping bags), and we ended up getting literally rained on. It was drip-drip-dripping onto our faces, and I kept thinking it might be less wet if we laid in a puddle outside.
That is B right before the rain became torrential. Before we decided we could no longer survive outside.

We were (thank God) invited to wait out the rain in our friend's tent, and we are so thankful for that. Not only was our tent raining inside, but it was much less boring to spend the FIVE hours singing, talking (or yelling over the rain), and reading books with others than to sit in our soaking tent by ourselves.

I wonder why we can't ever find a decent tent.

Oh. Maybe it's because we keep trying to save money by getting them at Walmart.

Huh.

Crabby

Today, I have been saying things like, "Go find someone else to talk to" or "Nom (whine), I don't want to keep helping you" and "Please don't talk to me right now" and "You are really driving me crazy" and "I don't want you on my lap".

If I wasn't saying mean things to my kids, I was ignoring them so I could get "stuff" done around the house...

For instance, I wanted to go shopping today. We have no food.

I didn't go.

I couldn't open the Word document with my list on it. My computer kept crashing every time I tried.

The kids cried and pulled at my leg (and fought by my feet) while I tried.

I gave up.

Then, Z spilled coffee in the hall when he decided he was going to deliver a cup o' Joe to his beloved Papa.

Then, K spilled coffee on the bedroom floor...a whole cup.

Then, I spilled an entire bucket of dirty wet-vac water all down the stairs on my way to clean the aforementioned (how's that for a cool word?) messes above.

Then, I said mean stuff to the kids some more...

And K told me to leave for awhile.

So I went to buy milk and cereal (the only two things I could remember off my un-openable list).

And now my kids are crying and it all starts again.

I will try it this time with more patience.

Crabby.

Energy---served up with love

K and I spent about two hours laying on the floor while our kids played. Once in awhile, one of us would moan (or sigh or yawn). We were SO tired. At one point, K mumbled, "I need Energy!"
S bolted from the floor, saying "Ok, Papa! Ok! Energy? Ok....."
And then she was gone. We could hear her rummaging around in her toys. "Bam! Boom! Crash!" I assumed she was digging herself into a giant hole, as she whipped countless objects over her little shoulders. She was on a mission....seeking out the much-desired prize.
Finally, S came bursting in the room with her box of letters, threw them all down on the floor, and started sifting through them.
"N or G, Papa! N or G!" She was so happy to "understand" her papa's request and to be able to give him JUST what the poor guy needed.

Am I a Bad Friend?

I just want to confess...yesterday, I was in the van with a friend's kids, and they were fighting. These friends are 99% perfect whenever they come over. They generally do not fight, cry, whine, stomp their feet, scream, or kick at each other. (Do you even have to ASK where I thought of the verbs I listed here?!) I started to wonder if they were robokids. But, they FOUGHT today. One pointed outside and said, "Bus". The other said, "No, truck!"
"Bus!"
"Truck!"
"BUUUUUSSSS!!"

And then.....

"Up"
"No, down!"
"NO!!!! UP!"

And I was secretly smiling in the front seat....glad that these "perfect" kids were looking a little more like the kids that we are raising.

I am not, in any way, trying to say that our kids are "bad" kids or unusually naughty. I would say they are generally pretty good....with a few "normal" fights thrown in here and there. It was more that I thought this particular friend's kids were unusually good kids. (They still are good....just a little bit closer to the normal I know.) And I am secretly (not so secretly anymore) happy about this small discovery!