Dog House

If the kids had it their way today I would have been fired and replaced by four highly trained and individualized caretakers. Let me elaborate (but not exaggerate):
A. Beau didn't like me for taking him to Hobby Lobby (aka "The Store That Turns My Child Into The Devil") because he would rather play with me at home in his room. He could play in his room for hours and wants me to, too, and no, it does not count if I am reading a book or talking on my phone or (heaven forbid!), falling asleep. I was also a mean mom for cleaning his bum because it stunk, telling him to get off the counter while I was making dinner, and not making soup for dinner (he hates soup but he thinks he likes it, see "E."). He was also mad at me for holding Marianne (see "D.")
B. Jacob was mad at me in his dark brooding way for a large part of the afternoon because I was unavailable to cut out dozens of circles for him so he could turn them into planets (see "C."), and because I don't have black paper and I was unwilling to paint his room black so it could properly replicate the solar system. He was also mad at me for making him empty the dishwasher and putting on a boring movie for quiet time (that he actually loved.) He was mad when I wouldn't take him back to the school to give his teacher her gift that we just finished, but was then happy when I caved and loaded everyone up and delivered said teacher gift.
C. Bekah was mad at me for giving her the wrong colored cup of chocolate milk for breakfast. I think I was still a little sore from a similar episode the night before because I just picked her untouched cup of milk up and threw it in the sink. Then she was mad at me for that. And then for telling her to choose between a fit and school. (She chose school, thank goodness...that's one of those threats that I really don't have the will to carry out.) After school I was mostly on her good side because I was helping her with her teacher gift all afternoon. "Helping" is a stretch because she was also very caught up in the "boring" movie (see "B."). But when I was not helping with her gift I was in trouble (see "D."). I was also in trouble for something before dinner...oh yeah, when I asked Beau to put his shoes away but Bekah grabbed them instead and Beau screamed at her to give them back but she just ran to his room and threw them in and then Beau allegedly threw them at her because he was so mad and then she collapsed on the floor screaming, "Someone help me!" for the next fifteen minutes but I couldn't (and didn't want to) because I was holding Marianne and making dinner (see "D." and "E.").
D. Marianne was mad at me for putting her on the floor. Period. Except for the blessed 30 minutes when she somehow dug deep within herself and found the will and the ability to happily exist among the toys, carpet, crumbs and trash on the floor. She did take a couple of naps during the day, too, but not at the times I would have chosen (still grateful though!). Read: I held her all day. Or sat next to her on the floor/couch/chair.
E. I made noodles for dinner. With sauce and meat and cheese all mixed in. With salad. Enough said, I am the devil. At least that was until they all tried the noodles with sauce and meat and cheese and loved it. Mom is not a crazy witch trying to make dinner miserable, thankyouverymuch.

So now it's 10:07 and the house is quiet with everyone in bed and I just can't bring myself to go to sleep because I finally have a minute to do anything I want and so I'm writing this post to get the rest of the day off my chest and now I'm going to go paint for a minute...want to see my latest creation? Look up "Eagle Nebula." This is that: (the left side is just scrap, fyi).