Real Life

This is a Wipeout course that Simeon drew, but really, I think it symbolizes our daily life.

I read two blog posts today about Perfectionism and Killing Supermom. I know that we all want to appear like we got it all together all of the time. In reality, I know I don't. I'd like to think I USED to have it all together, but my husband would probably tattle on me about the stellar tantrums I had when things didn't work out. I'd like to think I have it together now, but um...probably not.

Today I sat in my pajamas until 1:45. I had been up since 7:00. The only reason I showered and got dressed was because Isaac had an appointment this afternoon, and it's probably a good idea I not leave the house without a bra on. Curtis had an appointment this morning and had called me on his way home to let me know how it went (it didn't). I then realized the house was very quiet. I didn't hear the kids outside playing, I didn't hear them on the tv, or computers or games, and dang sure not doing their schoolwork. Then someone asked where Hannah was. She had just randomly hugged me and I didn't think anything of it. I heard the door open and close quickly, but no one claimed to be outside. A few moments later we realize Hannah's window was open and she was missing. At that exact moment we got a phone call that Hannah was at a neighbor's house with two big suitcases packed and announcing she was running away and had nowhere to go.

Curtis collected her, took her to lunch, and explained the "proper procedures" for running away, which is: write a note so we can talk her out of it discuss the situation or talk to us about her intentions. These suitcases were crammed with all her clothes, toys, books and I suspect a blanket or two. I've later learned she chucked those out her window and then slipped out the front door and rolled them two blocks down to the bottom of the hill. The reason for running away was that Jesse wouldn't share his bike and she just HAD to get away from all those brothers. (insert giggling here, but not really, because this could be a serious issue, but....still giggling)

Later today our adventures continued.

We refilled the bird feeders earlier this week because everyone knows the birds are gonna starve in the last week of September. This was just a ploy for the dog to hone her bird hunting skills. Yep, another bird was caught and killed by the dog. Ammon picked it up and brought it to Curtis for him to fix. Commence thorough hand scrubbing now.

Simeon decided he was going to learn how to skateboard today. He did have a helmet on, sort of lopsided, but it was on. Tonight we sit down and he's covered in tiny band-aids. One on his forehead, his arm, probably other places we haven't found yet. He told me "I scraped my head, so I'm not skateboarding anymore." I replied that I know I had seen him wearing a helmet, wasn't he wearing it to be safe? "No, I'm just not skateboarding anymore".

As Isaac and I got home this afternoon the dog got out. The boys chased her down as she ran up the hill, I got in the van and rode after them, but then couldn't find them. I assumed since I had instructed Hannah to keep Ammon in the house and lock the door, and Curtis was home cooking dinner, we'd be ok to divide and conquer. I find the boys and dog after my 7th drive by, I stop and while they are loading the dog in one house away from our's, Jesse yells out "AMMON!!" There was Ammon, standing by our backyard fence, starting out to go find the dog himself.

Curtis was making Coconut Baked Shrimp for dinner, with orange marmalade as a dipping sauce, peas and some chips. It ended up smelling like wet, burnt, dog hair, and then looked like a pale, slimy mess half baked onto our cookie sheet. Dinner instead was peas and tacos.

Joshua is suddenly stuttering.

It is like a three ring circus at our house. All of the time. There isn't a day that goes the way I wake up envisioning it, and yet I still end up laughing at the end of the day about all this stuff. My kids still went to bed clean, happy, fed and kissed. Or licked. Ammon seems to find licking my arm and shoulder hilarious. My house, for now, will never be perfectly clean or decorated and I've had to be ok with people coming over and seeing kid undies on my steps and trash falling out of the trash can, or as the case may be tonight, smelling like burnt fish, which is a far cry from apples and cinnamon or vanilla and nutmeg.

I have to say that I still find myself perceiving being judged because we've yelled at our kids, or had naked kids running wild in the front yard or my house looked like it had exploded (even though we can still get it presentably clean in just two hours). I worry about my hair, lack of makeup, hives running up my neck and shirts that are too short when I see other women that have a cute hair style, make up applied, and kids that don't run away with two suitcases. Why do we do this to ourselves? I ask that, but I don't really have an answer yet.

The two articles I read are linked below. Awesome people wrote those and worth hearing again if you haven't already read them.

The Disease Called Pefection

Killing Off Supermom