My House Full of Chaos

I titled this blog "Writing My Chaos"  appropriately matching the feeling of my life. Last night I flipped through a few of my friends posts on Facebook and seriously wondered how some of these ladies do all that they do. I can't even keep my floor swept for longer than an hour. Think I am kidding? Come on over.

When it comes to cleaning, my life feels like the movie Ground Hogs Day. The same thing over and over. I spent two weeks dejunking and organizing my home. When I finished, the house shined. I was proud of my accomplishment. Everything had its place and everything in its place. That lasted THREE DAYS! My kids have this thing where they have to get into everything, move it around, then hide it where they can't remember. Beyond frustrating. At the moment, I can't find my wireless mouse, my son's DS, or any of our cordless phones. We've replaced the phones yet again they are gone and nobody seems to know where either of them are. Hey, it helps avoid telemarketers.

My house is never quite either. Seth turns the volume up full blast when he watches movies. It wouldn't be so bad if he wouldn't play the same 30 second clip over and over until you are about ready to be committed to the looney bin. At the same time my other son, Dom, turns his game up on the computer, as Paisley and Riot raise their voices to a scream to be heard. I just have to go one by one to each child and turn things down. It's nuts.

This is my family, chaos and all, but I love them. All I can do is smile and enjoy the sticky finger prints on my walls and cherish every kiss from these kids. I wouldn't know what to do with that thing called "free time".

Police Escort

Our Sunday afternoon started out pretty calm as we ventured out for some family time. The three older kids on the bikes with Jess and I pushing Riot in the stroller. Half way through, Seth sped up leaving us about 20 yards behind. Dom caught up to him so Seth wouldn't be alone. Earlier, before we had left the driveway we had strongly stressed to the kids that they were to stay on the side of the road and only go around the neighborhood loop. Not too worried about there being any problems because this was our normal route.

Jess and I sped up our pace to a  jog while Paisley peddled her bike to keep up. We watched as the two boys became small figures down the street that connected to a highway. As we came closer we noticed what looked like someone joyriding down the middle lane. YEP! That was our son, Seth. happy as a lark, weaving through traffic.

Our hearts sank and we booked after him. Dom, sped toward us, panicking. He told us he didn't know what to do when Seth took off in the road. He told us he'd stayed on the sidewalk and kept yelling at Seth as the cars whizzed by honking at him. I assured Dom he did nothing wrong and it was good he'd stayed out of the road.

Meanwhile, Jess got Seth to safety and we got back on the side road that led home. Again Seth sped ahead, but headed home. Jess took off through the ball diamonds that separated us from our house to get his motorcycle to coax Seth the right way.

Well, wouldn't you know it, just as Jess leaves, a cop drives by. Seth saw him too and turned around, so did the cop. I was able to stop Seth and the cop got out and told me a few calls had come in about him riding his bike down the middle of the highway.

Yeah, there I am, all four kids, and my husband had flown the coop. Seth knows that when a police officer gets out of his car, it's most likely not good. He started to bawl. I mean, breakdown, biggest of melt downs, bawl.

On the inside I go into panic mode thinking, "How am I going to get all the kids with their bikes, the baby in his stroller, and a melting down Seth home in one piece, with a cop watching?!?! I'm going to get my kids taken away for sure."

I explain to the cop how Seth got away. Thankfully this cop knows us and is being very kind. But, I am also thinking I'm going to get in trouble some how. The cop smiles and asks what he can do to help me.

He ended up taking the baby and Paisley in the cop car and loading the stroller and bike in the trunk. Dom and I tried to help Seth get back on his bike to get home. Well, Seth is still freaking out. I totally understood, A COP IS FOLLOWING US. Like creeping behind us. I laughed. I shouldn't have but I did. I knew why Seth was flipping.

One of his favorite movies is Monster House. The kids in the show get into trouble and the cops do the same thing, inch behind them. But, those kids end up getting eaten by a house. So, I totally got why he was a little stressed.

The officer noticed too and had Seth get in the back seat of the car. This is where it gets even better. I guess the neighborhood thought it would be great to go for a walk at this same time. Well, they all got to see the cop load my son in the back seat. Jess showed up at this time on his motorcycle as well. Good timing hun. Miss all the dirty work.

Jess got escorted home by the cop with kids inside and Dom and me riding the peddle bikes behind them. Dom kept saying, "Wow, it's like our family is a parade!"

Yeah, that's us. Never a dull moment!