Let me tell you about MY NIGHT.......

This evening, I had my nose out of joint. My little naughties were much naughtier than usual. The house looked (still looks) like a bomb exploded in it. Pretty much the only noises I heard all night were "Crash", "Whack", "Scream", and "I'm telling Mom!" I spent two hours making soup with one arm while holding the baby in the other. And then those rude little things refused to eat it and sat at the table saying "Ooh, this is so yucky, mom." Reuben managed to "accidently" tip his soup over so he didn't have to eat it while the others spread biscuit crumbs from floor to ceiling (exaggeration, not quite to the ceiling, but really, almost!) There was also actual punching at the dinner table. After dinner, I excused myself to go cuddle baby Jude to sleep. I instructed Jonah to go turn on the t.v. to the pbs channel for the kids, hoping against all odds to have 15 minutes of quiet so I could get Jude to drop off into dreamland. No such luck. Reuben had taken the batteries out of the controller and lost them so there was no way to turn on the t.v. For the next 30 minutes there was a steady stream of kids coming into my room to tattle tale: "Mom, Reuben filled the bathroom sink with biscuits and turned the water on." "Mom, Jonah accidently broke a picture and there is glass all over the living room." "Mom, someone peed on the floor and I slipped in it" (no confessors). And on and on it went. I finally got Jude to sleep (the smallest Crandall cannot fall asleep unless his head is laid snuggly on his mother's arm) and had dozed off myself, when I heard three happy, excited voices by my bedside. My sweet stinkers presented me with handwritten love notes, mangled biscuits left over from dinner and ice water (note to self: never, EVER, make biscuits again). And another surprise was waiting for me upstairs:



Well guess what, me wee boys, I love you, too! And you may count yourselves very lucky that I've changed my mind about our theme song for next month being "I'm gettin' nuttin' for Christmas, cause I ain't been nuttin' but Bad!"