In Between the Craziness

Tonight was a crazy combination of tons of delicious food, overtired and extremely strong willed toddlers, and leaky pipes.  Yep, a very strange combination, indeed.  I decided mid-morning, that I wanted to make a big Irish St. Patrick's Day dinner for us and our neighbors.  The kids spent most of the day in fairly good moods, and I was able to pull off the big feast, even though I had had very little time to plan or prepare.  Our neighbors and their kids arrived right on time, and it looked like we were in for a nice evening of good food and great conversation.  That's right, we forgot that life doesn't work that way.

We both have very strong willed two year olds, and ours was the first to rear his very adorable but oh-so-frustrating head.  Christian started screaming about a minute after we all sat down to eat, and wouldn't stop.  He had already been to, and come back from, time out once, when I started to take him in again.  On my way back to the bedroom I met up with my neighbor who announced that she had found a bunch of standing water in the corner of the kids' room.  We investigated while Christian wailed, and sure enough, there was a ton of water that had come from somewhere.  The "where" was the big mystery.  We concluded that it must have something to do with the spigot that is right outside of the children's' room, and then discovered water leaking from an outside vent.  Not good.  After moping up the standing water and deciding that there was no constant water flowing, we decided there was nothing more to do than sit down and finish our meals.

We finally had Christian calmed down by giving in and letting him watch a movie, the older kids were happily terrorizing each other, and it looked like we all might actually get to talk.  Then our neighbors' youngest started to demand attention.  His poor mother couldn't make him happy, no matter what she tried; it was just one of those nights.  We must have started the same conversation five times.  He was finally sated with a movie on the lap top.  Divide and conquer, it is the only way to be a parent and a friend at the same time.  It finally looked like we were in the clear, when Tes approached us looking forlorn, and announced she had had an accident, and was soaking wet.  Into the shower with her!  Whew, who knew St. Patrick's Day would be so exhausting?

Try as we did, my neighbor and friend had to make an early exit, because her son was threatening to be sick, just as mine had finally settled down.  That's just the way it is once you have kids I guess.  We said hurried good nights, and promised to do it again soon.  I had to laugh.  Despite all the drama and disasters, I had actually had a great night.  I am glad that even though my life is a mess, and even a fun night with friends turns into a disastrous adventure in parenting, at least I can recognize the beauty in the few moments we had in between the craziness.