Children...

What else can I say? They are so darn cute at times, yet, constantly testing my sanity.

The other day I told Jason I wanted to make some gift tags, but dreaded the idea of dragging all the stuff out because children always want to 'help.' I ended up getting it out, and he laughed at me for using the term 'dragging it all out' since that is exactly what I did.

Can you imagine what happened next? Yes, children! They all left their beloved T.V. shows (which they rarely get to watch) and decided to join me at the table. I've got paper here, templates over there, stamps and markers somewhere, and next thing I know, all my things are being stacked on top of one another and now falling off the table. They have taken over! We had fun though, even with Cheyenne's grabby little fingers; taking things and running away screaming 'Nah Nah Na Nah Na' and touching everything, getting glitter-glue on her and everything else.

Then the last two nights have been a test of wills and strength. The girls play in their room and literally trash the place and then scream and cry that they have to clean it up. We told them all kinds of things to try to get them to clean that room: 'Aren't you supposed to be good little girls right now? Santa's not going to bring you anything when you don't mind your parents. He won't be able to fit another thing in this house if there's this huge mess.'

On and on it went. Screaming and yelling and crying and...where's the rum and coke? It finally came down to, "Obviously you have too much stuff. Let's get rid of some things and then there won't be so much to clean up."

And then the crying and wailing, "NNNOOOOO! I don't want to!"

"Then clean up and let's be done with it!"

"It's too hard!"

"Then let's get rid of some stuff."

"NNOOO! We play with it all."

"I can see that because I can't see your floor! So put it all away!"

"WWUUAAAHHHH!"

"AARRRRGH!!"

They finally got it done. Well, kind of. Everything seems to be thrown in the closet. My first thought is to pack up ALL their toys and then they can't make a mess, right? Seems a little harsh though. So my next thought is to go through their stuff and decide for myself what needs to go. What they don't know they can't miss. But then it's a job I don't want to do. Is it my turn to throw a temper tantrum? Guess it wouldn't be very 'mommy' of me.

But, something in our house happened over night. This morning those girls were ready and waiting for the bus to come - a whole 5 minutes before! That hasn't happened since...um...well...the first week of school? They are usually hollering and scrambling, while one of them jumps out the door, hoping the bus driver will see them on the porch as he drives past our house. Then they run down the street while he patiently waits.

Then they even apologized, "Momma, I'm sorry." Confusion on my face I ask, for what? "For not cleaning our room and making you mad. And we'll do our chores right when we get home and we won't screw around either." I believe my eyes popped right out! Did Santa visit them in the night and have a talk with them? I don't know, but I'm liking it. Do I still clean out their room now? But if I don't, I'm sure the change of heart they had will be changed once more once they are home from school. AAhhh, parenthood.

Even little Cheyenne is being a cutie this morning. She has been on edge. or rather, putting me on edge, for the last few days. How can she know Santa's coming and this is the time of year to test the parents? I don't know. But like I said, she is being so darn cute I've just been rolling with laughter.

In the morning she does her usual hang-on-the-pantry-door-knob and whine until someone opens it. She then says no, or, her favorite, 'no-pah,' to everything you offer her, until she decides she wants vienna sausages or cheese crackers for breakfast. This morning, however, she settled for oatmeal. I just grabbed a package and it was raisins and spice. Mmm, raisins, her favorite. She hasn't ever had this kind of oatmeal because the older two usually beat her to it.

Once it cooled down and she was in her high-chair, she became a jibber-jabber. "Momma!" she screams! I look at her and ask her, what? "UUHHH!" She has fished a raisin out of the oatmeal and has to show me. Then, "Momma," she has to show me that she put it in her mouth, and then, "UUHHH," she shows me that she swallowed it. Again and again she did this until all the raisins were gone and she was covered in oatmeal.

She finished it all and I got her undressed. Oatmeal everywhere! Her forehead, eyelids, hair and elbows included. I was rinsing out the wash cloth for the third time, when she says, "mess!" (a new word by the way). I look up just in time to see her throw her messy shirt in the garbage! I guess she thought it was too messy to clean up. I pulled it out and told her that's not where her shirt goes. She put her head down and started picking at her nails (what she does when she doesn't want you to be there) and says, "howwy" (doesn't quite have the 's' sound down yet, or 'r', but sure cute).

I was still cleaning the high-chair when she climbs in a chair to get to the table. She opened the box of colored pencils and dumped them out. She starts screaming "WAIT!" as they are all rolling around and falling off the table. She says, "Momma, uuhhh!" I say, "Yup, you made a mess. Now help me pick them up." "Mess!" she screams again as she grabs handfuls of pencils.

I got a 'high-five' when we were all done!