You Know that Age Old Lemon into Lemonade Story????

After some "big girl" time painting pottery and having lunch out with some friends, Miz N and I "borrowed" Miss Giggles from Splash Mommy next door, loaded her into her assigned car seat, and then went to pick up Little Man.  It truly is a surreal experience to sort of "test run" my soon to be full-time family.  Today's "trial-run" was one fought with expected twists, turns, and a needed decision of where to place "time-out" for a 2 year old.  Sigh.

Found out that Little Man is a car dancer.  He was bopping his head forward and back the entire car ride home.  Then Miss Giggles thought it was funny and started her famous, crazy giggle which lead to more dancing and even moving from side to side.  

I had gotten the clothes stashed away to deal with after returning from Michigan, but still had all the toys to deal with.  Granted, it took probably double long putting them away when one was constantly taking out what I put away, another was escaping to other rooms to play with anything except toys, and another was bemoaning the fact that she only had little kids to play with.  But the good news is that look of the living room has changed drastically from last night, everything has a home, and my house is surrounded by toddler toys (which seem to take up a lot more space that school-aged toys.

Already loving having the rocking chair my parents brought down from Michigan when they came.  (Did you notice I got the big picture hung up...finally!)

Not sure how I screwed up the labels on this, but too tired to bother to fix them.  The "toy chest" used to hold special blankets and quilts from my youth, but it has been transformed and the few sentimental items I used to keep "out" are now stuffed under my bed. :-)  All is good.

Then about 5:15, I realized that Little Man was "starving" and getting restless as a result.  I got him into his seat and Miss Giggles soon followed and while I got the fish sticks and mac and cheese started (don't judge...we are leaving for Michigan in two days and the refrigerator is bare!), the kids started in on the first course of applesauce and peaches.

And then all hell broke loose about 5:30.

The power went out.
Seriously.

All of it.

Did you know it was around 118 degrees in Phoenix today?

Fish sticks half cooked in the oven.
Mac and cheese water just boiled.
And the electricity is out, out, out.

The neighbors all had power.  I ran outside and checked the breakers - and all seemed fine.  I got SRP's number from Splash Mommy (realizing now I should get these emergency numbers out so I have them available in times like these) and they said that they would send someone out and for me not to go anywhere.

Three kids, me, no electricity, no dinner backup - and I begin to wonder what I have gotten myself into and maybe I am in way over my head like a few people have suggested.

I feed them some "snack food" as we wait, and pray, that the maintenance man shows up soon.  We get done and down from pre-dinner to attempt to play the time away, but melt downs begin to happen as the native grow restless and as the mama begins to slowly unwind.  Diapers have to be changed which lead to deciding not not bother to dress Little Man, which leads to Miss Giggles deciding to strip (it can happen crazy fast and you have to catch her before the diaper is gone too), which leads to Miz N not wanting to be left out and before I know it I have three basically naked kids running around the house.

(Side note...as I kid I used to babysit my cousins at my aunt's house and would chase her two boys around and around a circular pattern in their house and I remember then desiring to living in a house with a similar layout when I grew up and had kids...and well, I forgot about that desire until yesterday when we were running around the circular path chasing each other and playing peek a boo with Little Man.  God is good.)

So the semi-naked kids start running and squealing and I find myself sitting in the chair mulling over what to do about dinner and about the next few hours, and the wait, and the big bill this could mean if it's in fact not an SRP issue, and the fact that I am getting hotter by the minute.

Then I feel a voice inside say "Let Go.  Enjoy."

You see...I remember being a new teacher in Arizona and experiencing the first rain storm here.  The kids went nuts.  As a life-long Michigander, I truly didn't get it.  I ended the day frustrated, annoyed, and feeling like we didn't get anything accomplished.  I remember sharing the account with my mentor teacher who shared that she and the kids turned off the lights, laid flat out on the floor and stared at the roof and once the main part of the storm stop, they got up and wrote poetry about it.  I had looked at the experience as a pain, as a major inconvenience, as a thorn.  She had looked at it as a time for bonding, for learning, for fun, for memories.  I can't say I always do well at remembering this lesson - but I can't tell you how many it comes back and "haunts" me.  It's the classic lemon into lemonade story...except I've always been a fixer, a problem-solver, a control freak.  So I usually just try to ignore the fact that the lemons are sour, or go out and find replacements for the lemons, or sit back and stare at the lemons and debate where I went wrong.

So, I got off the chair and I took those three semi-naked kids into the big bathroom, stripped them totally down, filled up the roman tub, and threw them in one-by-one.  They played, they laughed, and they splashed me to the point of not being able to wear those clothes.  No tears. No fighting. No drama.  Just kids being carefree kids and a happy mama with the biggest smile on her face while kneeling these in soaking wet clothes.

My three splash-crazy kiddos.

The tub time had to end at some point...the little people had to eat and I can assure you that the remaining hours before Little Man was picked up and Miss Giggles was walked "home" was full of tempter tantrums, drama, a seemingly endless mess at the table as we attempted to find food to eat for dinner - but it was also full of kisses, cuddles, laughter, running, jumping, playing, and did I mention laughter?