Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Failure as a single parent

So Vaughn was out of town leaving us to fend for ourselves once again. Apparently I don't have this parenting thing down because if I could tell you the mini disasters that happened while he was gone you would wonder what on earth I was doing & who was watching the kids. I only wish I took pictures of everything because it would be much more entertaining than listening to my stories.

We dropped Vaughn off at the airport & then went home to play outside. They look pretty innocent so far but they are plotting against me in their minds.




















When we came inside I went upstairs for maybe 3 - 5 minutes at most. I could hear Kaden & Ashlyn playing and laughing but nothing out of the ordinary. Kaden said "mommy I can't open this can you help me?", so I came down. When I walked down the stairs I found Kaden sitting on the staircase & Ashlyn handing him items out of my makeup bag. Fortunately what he couldn't open was my nail polish. He used my eye liner, mascara, eye shadow, concealer & lip gloss.




















Tuesday Kaden had a preschool field trip at Centennial Farm. It was a lot of fun but when 60+ kids are wearing the same colored shirt it's hard to keep track of which one's yours. Plus it was hot (which I never do well in the heat) & they placed the picnic benches next to mud filled grass. The kids pants, the stroller & all of our shoes were caked with mud. Lots of fun for me when we got home.
















Ashlyn completely passed out on the way home. She looks like I felt. Notice her upside down glasses?




















Kaden didn't nap & when Ashlyn got up she was full of it. I decided I needed a treat so I got to making some banana bread. Apparently it doesn't help to have your child sitting at your feet if you're not paying attention to what they are doing down there! I thought she was just playing with measuring cups but didn't know that she snatched the flour off of the island behind me.



















I decided to get the bread into the oven before cleaning up the mess. Big mistake! Charlie came in and started licking the flour up. Between her and the kids it got everywhere!




















Kaden thought it was so funny to watch Charlie that he started licking up the flour too. He doesn't normally do those types of things...that's Ashlyn's job!















The sad thing is that the day before I actually cleaned the floor under my stove by pulling out the drawer, sweeping, washing...I don't know why I even try sometimes. That evening Ashlyn decided to pull a full box of Capellini off the counter...right before my very eyes. Little pieces of broken pasta everywhere. I was so exhausted it wasn't even funny.

By the time today came around I thought I would be free & clear. Didn't go anywhere, didn't try to do anything, just tried to repair the damage to the house before we picked Vaughn up.

While Ashlyn was napping Kaden & I went outside to throw the ball for Charlie. We have a strict leash law in our complex so I keep Charlie on a 50ft makeshift leash even while playing with her. I misjudged and threw the ball past the leash length only to get yanked off my feet and drug across the grass by a 60 pound dog. I bruised my elbow, got a grass stain on my jeans & worst of all the incident was witnessed by a neighbor.

That's not all...several minutes later Kaden got wrapped up in her leash & has a rope burn from the friction & huge bruises from where it synched around his ankles. It looks awful but surprisingly he didn't complain after I was able to untie him.

Bottom line..............I don't think Vaughn should leave anymore. Apparently I'm not capable.

4 comments:

Roney Family said...

Poor Alice, I hate it when things go like that. Sounds like things were rough. That always happens when Reagan is gone also. It just gets worse with the more kids you have. Good luck friend!

ammonc said...

Alice, that's hillarious! At least your floor was clean enough for them to be licking it. Ashlyn looks like she has no idea she was doing anything wrong. And how funny that we would be posting makeup face pictures at the same time. Those Chase boys...
Katie

stephanie said...

hey alice! i hate to admit that i feel some comfort in reading about the mayhem!! ha ha. just know you're not alone. when i think about how my mom had 5 kids i can't imagine how she did it! with 2 things seem so crazy sometimes. your kids are so cute!!!

Colette said...

I finally have my computer here in AZ, with your address!! It's so nice to get caught up!
I'm sorry for lol, but I've been there and although it just isn't funny at the time, I promise you will look back- years later!- and find it wildly humorous!!
Hang in there! You are NOT a terrible mother, just a mother!!