Chaos

Morning: Molly cries. Nearly non-stop. (I assume 2-year molars again)

Afternoon: Twins sleep. I try to work. Claire has 4th-grade girl in to play at our house all afternoon, so I thought I'd get a lot done, but I had constant interruptions from the two and I had to keep telling them to be quiet so that Molly wouldn't wake early and repeat crankiness from this morning. I'm not sure why a 9-year-old couldn't keep Claire more occupied. I didn't get enough work done.

Hour before dinner: we walk to HyVee where Molly throws tantrums because I won't let her out of the stroller. Neighbor watches me bark at my kid and I mumble craziness to her about wanting to kill my children (said jokingly, but through gritted teeth, so who knows what the neighbor thinks of me now). I look like a wild woman racing through the store hoping to contain the public tantrum. Upon returning home, Molly still cries while waiting for dinner.

Dinner: Lily refuses to eat her roasted chicken (as always). I make her cry because I make her eat two bites.

Hour after dinner: bathtime for the twins, and 4th grader somehow reappears in my house to play with Claire. Lily decides to pick up Molly's slack and do the crying. She cries over the hair brushing and the nail clipping. I put the twins to bed and thank my lucky stars that I shouldn't hear anymore crying until around 7:30am tomorrow morning. But wait! I'm not done with the crying. Claire throws a crying tantrum when 4th grader has to leave at 8:30pm. I tell Claire to control herself or she won't get more play time with the 4th grader. Claire goes into hardcore pouting.

This evening: while Kyle helps with Claire's shower, I find a tornado has hit the basement. Seems the 4th grader and Claire pulled out every toy in the basement while I tried to work. I get stuck cleaning the mess while debating what reward/punishment system I can put in place to ensure this doesn't happen again. Then I start this post, and even as I wrap it up I'm still not getting any grand new perspective on my day. It just wasn't a good day. I don't want a repeat of this one.

Fortunately, tomorrow will be here soon enough.