Ladybugs & Stinkbugs

(First: a disclaimer. I apologize to my adoring public for neglecting to update you on my frequent comings and goings. The Facebook world has sucked me in, and has only recently deigned to return small amounts of my time, at various intervals. Beware Facebook!)

I used to think my kids were relatively calm. You know, they didn't do crazy things, climb the walls, or yell indiscriminately at all hours. They were obedient, happy and (relatively) quiet children. Then they grew. All of them. At once.

Today is an example of how the ideal picture in my mind has been completely shattered. I had a very late night last night, and therefore was pretty slow getting out of bed this morning. This means that Matthew fixed breakfast (which he usually does), and then they played for a while. After I finished up getting ready, I came into the kitchen - and stopped dead in my tracks.

Have you seen Jumanji? The movie with Robin Williams, where the board game comes to life? There is a scene in it where they accidentally let jungle monkey outs of the board game, and they infiltrate their house, and cause chaos. When they are in the kitchen, they climb in all of the cabinets, empty all the boxes, and just generally wreak havoc. This is similar to the scene I witnessed when I walked into the kitchen this morning.

Andrew had climbed up on the counter and was throwing little packages of ketchup (like you get a McDonalds) as far as he could across the kitchen. Matthew was IN the pantry - on the top shelf (which is exactly as high as our refigerator). And I do mean IN the pantry. He had pushed all of the food back as far as he could, and was completely curled up in the top of the pantry. Annie was on her way up, trying to get on the second shelf.

I could not speak. My jaw dropped, and I could not think of a single thing to say! The only thing missing from this scene was flour all over the counters and cereal on the floor. I seriously thought kids only did this type of thing in movies - NOT in real life, and CERTAINLY not in my house!!!

After spankings, scoldings, and crying, I ended up with a quiet house for an hour because I wouldn't let them out of their rooms. Still, I don't think it was worth it...