Stay Home or Persevere?

Our goal this morning? Go to Franklin Park and play. Time we got up and started preparing for the day? 8:30 AM. Time we left the house? 10:00.

I'm not sure if fate is telling me to just stay home, or if I'm suppose to buck up and just persevere. Today, I persevered. Other days, I just chalk up to a loss and start all over the next day.

This morning, I laid out the boys clothing and then sat in the living room eating my bowl of cereal when a baby started screaming. I set down my bowl and ran to the baby. Thus started the feeding/burping/changing/dressing cycle. During this time, I hear the boys go, "Uh oh, that's a BIG mess!" They had stepped in my cereal bowl, thus spilling it all over. Ugh. Baby #1 done, mess cleaned up, Baby #2 started. Meanwhile, the boys were instructed to get dressed and go potty. Joshua did as he was told, Thomas fooled around. Now, when it comes to leaving the house, it's like a finely tuned machine. One part is upset, and everything goes haywire. Once the girls are loaded into car seats, we have 10 seconds to 4 minutes of happy time before absolute hysteria hits. Therefore, it's is imperative to immediately pile into the van upon placement in car seats. Thomas, unfortunately, had not followed directions and was not dressed, nor did he have shoes on. Too bad. We left the house with him carrying his gear and the promise that I would help him once we arrived at the park. A good lesson in listening I hope. The girls had meanwhile spit up all over and were going for the 10 seconds of happiness and had already started the hysterical screaming. The screaming gets so loud that I have to yell to the boys to be heard over the screaming. We all load into the car. Thomas is upset he forgot his magnifying glass and monkey backpack. Too bad. Normally I'm a softie, but today I just wanted to get to the final destination. I had promised myself no more caffeine (to see if it helped the girls be happier) and failed as soon as we left the house...Diet Cherry Coke for me! We got to the park and Thomas looked at me, "Why do I only have one shoe?" Are you kidding me? Back home we go. Thomas' shoe is not where I saw him drop it...oh yeah, it's right next to his car seat. Ugh. Back to the park. At this point I'm thinking it might have been easier to just stay at home...but we persevere. We get to the park and unloaded and the rest of the trip is easy. I packed lunches for the boys (no reason to pack myself a lunch since I don't have enough hands or time generally). Mom called and brought me lunch and provided an extra pair of hands. The girls were nice and quiet and loved sitting in the sunshine, the boys played out all their energy. Life was good...until we got home. The boys are doing well and Thomas is actually currently asleep. Joshua is yelling at him to wake up, so that's awesome. Molly had her first blow out. Front to back neck to hairline. Awesome. However, 3/4 are sleeping, so I'm off to switch laundry and clean the kitchen. Plus, I have to shampoo the carpets after all the spilt milk this morning!