seriously.

we got the tree and put it up.  it involved:

 

to the tune of the 12 days of christmas...

 

4 arguing kids...

 

3 broken ornaments...

 

2 obsessive animals...

 

aaaaaand

 

1 very aaaaannnnnn..........gry mom.

 

that's another story for another time.

 

but it did end with my sad, yet satisfying declaration that i will do it myself next year.

 

i will do it alone...during the day...with a mug of hot chocolate and my christmas music playing...and i will put aside the non breakables for the kids to do that evening.  and if they want a football game on in the background instead of rockin' around the christmas tree...then so be it.  and if they want to fight over who's ornament is who's...knock yourself out.  and if they decide that they are more interested in playing hide and seek with the ornaments...no biggie.

 

it's a win-win.

 

****

 

mine and chad's 13th wedding anniversary was tuesday.  i was looking forward to a quiet night together...and picking out our anniversary ornament.  instead...i ended up at home...helping the kids with homework while chad coached colt's basketball game.  he came home for about 15 minutes before he had to leave again to turn colt's football equipment in.

 

we decided to try to salvage the evening by ordering take-out and watching a movie at home.  i had the kids bathed and fed and homework done so that we could have the rest of the night.  we heard them up at 9:30...paused the movie...and went to see what was going on.

 

 

this is what was going on.

 

they had decided to draw beards and mustaches on each other with PERMANENT marker!  when asked "what on earth they were doing" (a phrase made popular by my own parents) they each pointed the finger at the other.

 

i guess aiden went second...because hers came off with a little bit of force.

 

but all the scrubbing and on-line marker removal techniques in the world wouldn't get that art masterpiece off of chase's face.

 

he went to school yesterday with a red, raw face and remnants of a blue mustache.

 

and then when they got home...they had to work for me because they showed such "poor judgement" (another way of saying "y'all just made a really stupid decision).  plus...they didn't go to bed when i told them to.

 

i mean...seriously.

 

last night...i walked into chase trying to tie the cat's tail in a knot.

 

literally.

 

what is going on these days????  it's like they've swallowed dumb decision pills or something.

 

chad assures me that we will laugh about all of this.  someday.

 

i guess so.