There goes my sanity!

Why is it that some days seem to go so smoothly? Everything is in the place that you remember leaving it, you're on time to everything, and thing just flow. And then come the days that your children keep getting up all night, you can't find your keys, one or more of the kids have poopy diapers when you're trying to get out the door, the kids won't stop arguing and fighting and won't listen to you, and then you go to cook supper and one ingredient is missing from what you were planning on fixing. It's days like these that I just go hide in my room for a little bit when my husband comes home from work.

Even though I have these tough days, it seems like something can always bring me back (at least temporarily) and make me smile and/or laugh. Today was "one of those days" and I was having a serious talk with the kids. I brought them all in the living room, sat them down on the couch and had a chat. I had gone on about how fed up I was with everyone not listening to me and not obeying me and when I got to the part where I said, "I'm going to give you a time limit and whatever is not picked up by then, I'm boxing up." It was then that my onery, charming middle child, Jake said, "Even our underpants?" The other boys looked at me to see my reaction and I couldn't help but smile. I tried so hard to keep a straight face, but it just wasn't working. The other kids roared with laughter and the more I tried to keep a straight face, the more I smiled and eventually laughed. Eventually I got my point across, but it took extreme control. I'm really worried that this is how Jake is always going to get out of trouble now.

"In raising my children I have lost my mind, but found my soul." - Lisa T. Shepherd