What a WEEK! :(

Well, I certainly know that we have to take the good with the bad. There must be opposition in all things, and I was reminded of that this week. I don't know why or what was in the air but my children have decided to be destructive and naughty. Mostly Corbin I think, but I can't prove it. So here is the rundown:

Monday-Nate was post call, meaning he had just finished a 30+ hour shift and came home in the afternoon to sleep. I tried to keep the kids quiet and happy so he could sleep. It was a pretty normal day apart from Nate sleeping most of the afternoon, a good start to the week I would say.

Tuesday-Since Nate had the day off we decided it was a great day to go and get the car registered and to get our new Michigan Drivers Licenses. Let me just say that I should have done my homework. I thought that I had brought all of the documents we needed. The closest Secretary of State office was a good 10-15 minutes away on the freeway. So we got there around 11 and there were hardly any people there waiting. We were excited. Let me just go back a step and tell you that when we were trying to park a lot of the park was labeled 20 minute parking only. Nate remarked to me when I pointed this out "so you don't think we are going to be done in 15 min?", and I said "No, not unless I forgot something". There it was! The jinx! I need to learn to keep my mouth shut! So...back we go to the DMV office. We walk up to the desk and the lady looks through out paperwork that we brought with us and tells us that we need our birth certificates-DOH! Yep, I didn't bring those. Dumb dumb dumb! I had just had a conversation with a friend who had trouble getting her license because they didn't believe her birth cert. was authentic! Grrrr. So we leave. Nate and I decide that we have to do this today so he drops me off at a grocery/nursery with Madalyn, we had a great time there while we waited for him to come back. Then we high-tailed it back to the DMV. Well, of course a hundred people had come in our absence :( Ok maybe 20 or so. So we had to sit and wait. The kids were being pretty good until a lady with four kids age 2-10 showed up and sat down right in front of us. Her children were terrible! They were getting in our faces and makes weird noises to make my kids laugh. They wouldn't leave us alone and she didn't do or say anything to them about it. I think she was just happy that they were leaving her alone. So then of course my kids are getting all riled up to the point that when it's finally our turn to get up there they were fully excited and wouldn't be still or listen. Madalyn was in my arms and throwing herself back to get out. Corbin was all over the floor and pulling on Nate, making a lot of noise and being rowdy. So we were pretty stressed out by this time and angry. So the lady processed Nate and the car title. Then she looked through my papers and this is what she told me "You needed to bring your marriage license." My jaw dropped my fists clenched and I could have spit fire. "No one said I needed my marriage license, we were just here. Besides I had to have my marriage license to get my social security card." Well apparently they don't look at it in quite that way. I knew it wasn't her fault but I couldn't help being angry. The woman at the desk who sent us away the first time could have mentioned that little tidbit! So I got this lovely pass for the "return line" so I don't have to wait so long when I come back. Nice. So we trundled home dejected and despondent with only a bagful of peaches and pears and apples to cheer us on our way ( I say that because I thoroughly was not cheered by the presence of our new license plate). Then we had to hurry and get dinner ready for the missionaries. We sat down to dinner and the kids had a couple of bites and wouldn't eat any more. They were being very rowdy and loud so I was fine when they asked to be excused. We finished our dinner to the distant serenade of our children's happy screams coming from the other end of the house. We called them back to join us for the lesson and prayer which they did willingly enough but we regretted it. They were really full of it. During that time we noticed that Corbin smelled like lotion. After the Elders left we went to investigate. We asked him where the lotion was and he showed us by opening the door to our bedroom. And guess what we found...Corbin had gotten the stool from the bathroom and used it to get on my tall dresser and reach the spray bottle of sunscreen that was there. He then proceeded to spray into the ceiling fan which projected the lotion all over the room! Words cannot express the anger and horror of that moment. It was then that I realised that I did not really know the destructive power I had brought into the world so happily. But I knew it at that moment. We immediately put both children to bed and tried to clean up the mess. But to our wonder and amazement the lotion does not simply wipe away from the walls. It has managed to soak into the paint and leave greasy little spots all over. The fan and light bulbs of course were covered along with all of our bed linens. Also the clean laundry in the baskets and our one and only copy of Nate's latest Graduation photo. They had also gotten on our mirrored dresser and smeared the stuff all over it. I have never seen my husband sooo angry before. I was just numb with shock. How could they do this??? I couldn't fathom it. It was almost as though it had happened to someone else and I was just passing through. We did manage to get it all cleaned up, in a fairly short amount of time.

Wednesday- So we were still reeling from the shock of the night before. We tried to have a normal day. Madalyn went down for her nap as usual. I sat down to read one of the books I want to finish before school starts and Corbin asked to play outside. I said that was fine and out he went. He even remembered to close the screen door. I was impressed. It was loud outside owing to one of our neighbors sawing down trees in the forest behind our home, so I couldn't hear anything else. When it finally did stop, maybe 10 minutes later I heard a new sound. One I couldn't identify coming from the backyard. I got up to investigate and to my horror I witnessed Corbin with a large pointed plastic stick poking holes into the screens of our gazebo! I started screaming at him and he stopped immediately. I then put him on the fireplace and there he stayed until his dad got home. After that he spent the rest of the day on the couch. What has gotten into him???

Thursday- The last two days had left me blindsided and discombobulated. I was still angry and upset. So when they took their crackers and smashed them all over the floor of the playroom I had had enough! I put them both in time out and broke down. I just couldn't take anymore. The hardest part was knowing that they knew that what they were doing was wrong. But it didn't matter to them. They wanted to do it and they did it. Headless of the consequences. It was a good thing Nate came home at a decent hour and took the kids out to the store. I was contemplating a nervous breakdown. The looney bin was sounding quite nice by then.

So I am happy to report that I have squashed further efforts to destroy our property by simply following my children around where ever they go. It makes it excruciatingly difficult for me to get anything done, but it keeps them out of trouble. I took them to the beach yesterday and hopefully they got all of their "wiss and winegar" out. I sure hope so. I do not want this week oft repeated.

Sorry no pictures. You wouldn't have been able to see the lotion anyways and we were too angry and upset to fathom taking any.