This is my life.

It all started with 4 days of rain. After many days of being stuck inside the house, my kids and I decide to take an adventure. It has rained over 15 inches in our town, with more in the rural areas. School had been closed to two days (not that it matters, because we homeschool anyways).

Our first stop was the pet store. It's like a mini zoo, but free! We look at the cricket cages, we browse the parakeets and then we play with the kittens. Alyvia really wants three cats now! Uh oh!

We stop for a potty break. Empty bladders are a mom's best friend.

After that, we have a little bit more time before nap and I walk with the kids down the street to a Barnes and Noble. It's like a library, but really, really expensive!

We stop at the train table. I stop to feed baby. Of course I forget my cover, so I'm trying to hide myself in a small baby blanket.

Alyvia wants over 30 books. Of course I have to explain to her in front of over ten moms that we can only afford thrift store books.

My son starts holding his crotch. I see him doing the potty dance but I just can't get to him in time. So right in front of all of the really posh Barnes & Noble moms that are spending all their money on full-priced books, I have to take my son to the bathroom with a huge peepee stain down his leg. Walk of shame.

Of course I remember every-other kids' outfits except his. In fact, the only outfit that I have for him is his used Spiderman Halloween costume that someone gave to me at church.

We walk back to the car and every five seconds, I hear comments like, "Hey Spiderman!!" From random people. Of course my daughter gets jealous and wants me to put a princess outfit in my backpack for her emergency peepee outfit.

We get home and the kids want to play in the puddles. We get all of our rain gear on and we walk down the street to the local monkey bars and swingset. Instead of playing in the puddles my daughter decides to play with some fire ants. That was really fun trying to breast-feed and kill 100 fire ants are going up and down my leg.

My daughter gets bored of the fire ants and decides to sit and be a "pig" in a mud puddle instead of "playing" in them. By the time we leave, my daughter is one big mud-covered mess dripping from head to toe.

Every step she takes getting to the house was a "shlosh, shlosh, shlosh..."

I definitely don't want her dripping a muddy mess right up the stairs on my brand-new carpet. So I have to get my kids butt naked in the front of our door. They drop their clothes, right before the mailman pulls up!

I look at my house when my two oldest kids are playing in the tub upstairs. There is watercolor paint material all over the kitchen table with water splattered all over the floor. Their "masterpieces" litter the tile. There are 101 tiny dinosaurs all over the living room floor. There are muddy splats going up and down the stairs (I was so careful!!) There's still cereal caked under my kitchen table. Three piles of dishes line my counters. Homeschool workbooks are piled all over the coffee table.

My house is a mess!

I wish I could say that today was an abnormal day, haha! You haven't seen anything yet! My life is one crazy mess! I have had to learn to embrace the mess and the chaos! It's been a struggle!

While everyone was excited to get their kids back to school away from them, I was planning lesson plans and trying to figure out what I'm gonna do with three kids for eight hours-a-day every single day.

I never get a break from them. At 9 o'clock at night when they're all sleeping, it reminds me of the song from Annie that Miss Hannigan sings half-drunk with stress when they're all asleep... "Little girls, little girls.. Every night I eat, sleep and drink them..."

But the more that I see what our world has become, the more that I see how much hurt and pain is going on. I'm so grateful that every day that I can see my kids grow up, I can do work at their pace, I can be the greatest influence in their lives and I don't have to worry about them being hurt or worried about them roaming around the neighborhood after school. I don't have to worry about them getting sick or lice from class, I don't have to worry about that awkward time in the lunch room where they can't find friends, or people punching them in the bus (personal experiences). I can just hangout with them and relax and know that every minute is a gift!

The best compliment I got was today when I was pulling the stroller into Barnes & Noble and an elderly lady looks at me and the three kids and says oh "I bet your life is full of love." I nod my head as I push my big double stroller through the doors and say "Yes, yes it is."

But then right after that, she comments, "And I bet your life is CRAZY too!" Story of my life.

Christal

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