I live in a zoo.......

.......these are the monkeys! I know you are probably thinking those adorable little boys? What can this woman be talking about. But.....Don't let those innocent looks fool you. They are soooo busy, especially lately. This morning was the last straw as I finally through my hands up and called on extra help....Daddy! They had been sent to their room a number of times for getting in to all kinds of mischief, hiding and eating the loaf of bread, turning on the washer (of course, there were already clean clothes ready for the dryer when they discovered this new game), sneaking out the back door (which is a big NO NO as we do not have a fenced back yard), hiding and eating cookies, dragging their ride on cars in from the garage, just to name a few. Well, exasperated, I took each little monkey by the hand and led them to their time out destination once again, and went downstairs to plot out my next plan of action. I was so tired and called Meg for a minute. After the phone call I went to retrieve them and I was shocked once again at what I saw. You have to know their bedroom is pretty much stripped to nothing except for their beds, bedding and a few stuffed animals. I also put potty chairs in there for their use while they are sleeping. They were clean. When I opened the door, two little boys were laughing delightfully in the middle of both mattresses that had been pulled from their toddler beds, sheets and blanket removed, and one mattress had a huge tear up the front of it. Meanwhile, both boys had used their potty chairs while in time out and had tipped them over! (BIG SIGH) At this moment they are asleep now, and I am breaking my diet and pigging out on Oreo cookies! I feel defeated. I'm sure once I get this chocolate in my system I will be able to better figure out what my next plan of action will be, just kidding. Seriously though, I am really wondering how a person gains control with so many little children around. They are in one thing and then right on to the next. They are so dang sweet and cute it's hard to be mad at them. They throw their guilty sticky fingers around me and smother me with hugs and kisses -- I become putty in their hands! Last night I left the kitchen for a moment and when I returned, 2 pitchers of juice were spilled all over the table. One of the boys had stripped his wet clothes right there and left his clothes in a heap. When I came by to the kitchen, no one was there. They had all gone upstairs to change into "clean, dry clothes" on this particular instant, Hallie was with them, as she often times is although I am sure she is not the instigator but definitely is another monkey living in our home. Notice once again, the innocent, sweet looking face? I'm finding it to be so much easier if I just take the kids and leave in the morning, the zoo, the park, the aquarium, a ride in the car, etc. The only problem with doing this, is that it is hard to get the day to day stuff done, cooking, laundry, cleaning etc. If anyone knows of any great ideas to share, I would love them! Here some pictures of some of those days lately when we just take off and play....

Some pictures from the aquarium. The kids loved it here!

The boys loved the sharks!

We love the library! They do so many fun things.

No one ever tires of the park. Sometimes Dad meets us if he has a few minutes for lunch.

This is a special valentine that the little kids made for daddy!

We went to the zoo and this elephant was so entertaining. Unfortunately our trip was cut very short. Between Jesse not feeling well, he had just gotten a couple stitches in his lip the day before as well as a tetanus shot and Nathan had an accident in the bathroom (If you have little boys, it's a very good idea to make sure their pants are all the way pulled down to their ankles when they need to potty or they might accidentally spray on their pants making them very wet, and if this happens to you at a zoo, don't count on the gift shop having any sweat pants, shorts or anything like that. They only have T-shirts & sweatshirts!)