(More than) Fourinarow.net

…sucks.

Except for the first day or two of school when Jack was so excited he couldn’t stand it, I have had to wake him each morning to get ready for school. It usually takes him a while to get up and moving and by the time we need to leave I’m pushing, threatening and yelling.

Today, the first day of summer vacation, Jack was up on his own right around the time he would have needed to be up if he had school. What is up with that?

Before anyone had even eaten breakfast, Jack and Luke were in time out. Luke for throwing a fit when Jack was trying to help him (at my direction) and Jack for hitting his brother when he got tired of the fit.

They made up and I managed to get some breakfast into everyone without too many tears. Well, scratch that. Sam came up with a few tears when he threw himself onto the kitchen floor because he wanted juice but got milk instead. Then, because the tantrum wasn’t garnering enough attention, he picked up his milk and threw it across the kitchen. (Thank you sippy-cup inventors.) More tears came when he was told to pick it up or he’d be put in bed. He was put in bed. More tears. Five minutes later (between tears) he picked up his milk. And drank it.

After breakfast, the kids went upstairs and played while I checked my email. By 9:17 a.m. everyone was alternatively in tears and we had had several more time outs. Luke ripped a page from a book and then when we were outside to get sunscreen on, he ran around to the front door and peeled part of the “W” in “Welcome” off of the front door. (Have I mentioned that we’re moving? That we need to sell our house? For a profit?)

After yet another timeout, I announced that everyone needed to get ready to go to the park for an ice cream play group. You would think that for ice cream and friends everyone would line up neatly at the back door, shoes on, ready to go. But these are my kids we’re talking about here.

Instead, I had to chase Lukie down and remind him repeatedly that he needed Crocs on his feet. Unable to find them, I went upstairs to look and found Maria’s room torn to shreds. All of her doll clothes were all over the floor and all of her books and her new bookends were all over her bed. I felt like crying, but instead chose to yell and demand that Jack and Maria clean it up – perfectly – before we could go.

The playgroup went fairly smoothly… except for a scraped knee, some unrelated crying and a brush with poison ivy.

When we returned home, I put Sam down for a nap and the others in front of the TV so I could stain the front door. We had planned on doing it anyway, but Luke’s morning misdeed prompted more immediate action.

While I was working on the front door (which needs 8 hours to dry, by the way), Dan came home for lunch. Good thing, too, ’cause FINALLY someone showed up to fix the yard. (A month ago, CDE put in new cables, wires, fiber optics – something – and the people they hired to mark the yard did it wrong. The people they hired to dig up whatever needed digging up did it wrong. Our yard got trenched, people got fired, everyone pointed fingers and no one has fixed our yard.) Oh, did I mention that we’re moving? That we need to sell our house? For a profit?

So Dan went out to meet the guys here to fix the yard. They told him they’d have it all flattened out and get some seed put down in no time. That was the wrong thing to say. Mild-mannered Dan turned on his mean face, spewed a few choice words and demanded sod. Wonder how long that will take.

Things have calmed down a bit. Sam is still sleeping and the TV is still entertaining. Soon, though, I’m headed to gymnastics with four children, only one of which will be in the class. That should be fun. Thankfully, not long after gymnastics, Alex will be here to take over and we are actually going to go out with some friends!

Good luck, Alex. And if you can’t reach us tonight, I’m sure it’s because we accidentally left our cell phones at home.