The Longest Day

Well, not that anything particularly bad happened today, but it was one of the longest days of my life.

The kids are each at their own stages of rebellion, and it keeps me on my toes all day long. Eric is a young teen in the making, with attitude, language, strength and volume to compliment it all.

Emma has decided that listening is optional, and the angrier I get, the more she laughs.

Owen is terribly two - and when he misses his nap, as he did today, he's 2 x 2.

We went to see Jenny's cheer leading competition today, and everyone really enjoyed it. Near the end, everyone was a little restless, but grandma rose to the occasion (as she always does) and it worked out well.

However, on the way out, there was a snow hill, which Eric and Emma decided to climb. Then Eric ran down it and ran away, Emma fell down it and scrapped her knees, and Owen decided to take the opportunity to run out into the street. Needless to say, I wasn't pleased, and there was a lot of yelling. And the spectators who stood and watched, well, they could have been more help.

Then we came home and baked cookies, watched movies, snuggled, played Lego, all the while, putting out the miniature world wars that erupt from the kids.

Really, each of them are wonderful as long as they are alone. It's the dynamics between them all that make it difficult. They are never all happy, someone is always getting hurt, there's a lot of yelling at each other, hitting, etc. Sometimes, I try to stay out of it and let them work it out themselves, but it rarely works out for me.

Anyway, tomorrow is another day. And even though each day has times when it seems unbearable, whenever I am away from kids, they are all I can think about and I can't wait to be with them again.