Monday Madness

Today was a hard day; the kids were SO naughty and I was feeling like I couldn't get anything done. In an attempt to make myself feel better, I sat down and wrote out the tasks I accomplished thus far (3:30pm). Here's what I came up with:

*I got Ambrose up, ready, fed, and to school (with 2 brothers in tow)
*Unloaded the dishwasher
*Loaded and ran the dishwasher
*Folded & put away (2) loads of laundry
*Washed another (2) loads of laundry
*Fed the kids breakfast
*Fed the kids lunch
*Fed the kids AM and PM snacks
*Showered (Yippee!)
*Picked Ambrose up from school (with 2 brothers in tow)
*Cleaned out & reorganized the linen closet and drawers
*Vacuumed the recessed light sockets in the upstairs bathroom
*Replaced (2) light bulbs in the upstairs bathroom
*Took down the shower curtain in the downstairs bathroom (AND cut up some of the material to use again)
*Hung a new shower curtain
*Talked to my mom on the phone
*Talked to my sister on the phone
*Talked to my friend, Kristen, on the phone
*Emailed Laura, Sara, Sue, Andrea, and Jesse
*Caught up on my GoogleReader
*Played a game of "Go Fish" with Ambrose & Athan
*And I managed to eat lunch, a snack, AND a 'secret' milkshake

Would you like a run down of what the kids did this morning? Here's what I know of (I'm sure I'll 'discover' more as the day goes on):
*Ate breakfast
*Ate (2) snacks
*Ate lunch
*Pooped (1 of which needed a diaper changed, the other needed supervision)
*Climbed onto the counter, got and ate candy out of the cabinet and also dumped a bowl of cereal & milk on the floor in the process of the raid
*Made playdoh balls (which are now embedded in the carpet)
*Got out (5) puzzles (at the same time!)
*Got out (4) board games (also at the same time!!)
*Played together, fairly nicely, in their bedroom
*Dumped out EVERY bin of toys onto the bedroom floor (Ahhhhh!!!)
*Along with more playing, reading, and watching a PBS show

And it's days like this that I couldn't even fathom before I had children.

Glad I was listening

I feel so thankful to stay home and raise our children. I'm especially thankful to have overheard these conversations this morning:

1st. (On the way to school in the backseat)

Alex (to Ambrose): Stop distracting me
Ambrose: Do you even know what distracting means?
Alex: no
Ambrose: Well... it's when there's something bad happening and you are doing something else and you try to pretend it's not happening.


2nd. (Alex and Athan playing in their room, doing their usual "Mommy Alex" role playing)

Alex -- "No, don't dump that out!" (Athan dumps whatever it was) "Great! Now I have to clean that up cause I am mommy."