What a weekend in my shoes can do

Well. At least I kept my mouth mostly closed after he said that (See, Lord? I’m getting better!), but I think I at least made some kind of exasperated groan and told him that our conversation needed to take a break for the moment.

Conquered by his daughters.

Anyway, fast forward from that conversation to Friday afternoon. The weather was gorgeous, and Michael was off work, so we planned to have some afternoon family time at the park after school. We planned to buy everyone a little Sonic treat and then head to the park together. (We try to reward Gabe with a slushie after school on Fridays if he gets smiley faces on his behavior chart every day that week–why thank you, Sonic 2-4pm Happy Hour, for being an integral part of training our children in good character.)  To make a long story short, we all stuffed ourselves with ice cream and slushies at the house, and Michael ended up taking all three children to the park by himself.

Almost as soon as Michael and the kids got to the play area at the park, Gabriel told Michael that he had to go to the bathroom–“number two!”–so Michael grabbed Gianna and called out for Faith to follow them up the 50-yard hill to the restrooms. But of course, instead of following her father, Faith thought they were leaving and had begun to cry and wouldn’t move. So Michael had to put Gianna down and run down the hill to pick up Faith. On his way back up the hill with Faith, he saw Gianna running down the hill again and behind the building, so he had to sprint over to catch her, then spring back to the restroom with both girls, where Gabe was whimpering by the door. Once they were in the bathroom, Michael got both bigger kids installed on toilets, while Gianna ran wild around the bathroom “touching everything.” And there ended up being no running water in the sinks, so he had to wipe hand soap off the kids’ hands with paper towels. 

After they got back down to the park, the kids played for about 20 minutes before it was time to go home. Gabriel still had his slushie with him, and he told Michael that he wanted to “pour it out in a puddle.” Before Michael could stop him, he had poured it all out and then accidentally dropped the entire cup into the puddle. Michael told Gabe he had to pick up the cup and throw it away. Gianna had crept over to the puddle at this point and was just about to step into it when Michael lurched over to grab her, causing her to stumble and fall into it. Michael ended up stripping off her wet, muddy clothes right there, and he and the other kids headed back to the car. 

When they got back to the van, immediately Faith tripped on the curb, fell face-first into the median, and began crying hysterically. Gabe took the opportunity to run freely around the parking lot shooting arrows from the little toy bow and arrow set he had brought along with him. Also just then, Michael smelled something funny, and realized that little Gianna, who he was holding, had thrown up ice cream sundae all over herself, and had just sneezed and had two long columns of snot hanging out of her nose. 

I told you this was going to sound strangely familiar to some of us….:)

As if the Park Experience on Friday afternoon wasn’t enough, on Saturday morning Michael spent a few hours washing and detailing our Honda Accord while the kids played outside and I did housework inside. By lunchtime, Michael was a wee bit exasperated at being constantly interrupted in his work by all of the small fires he had to put out with his children. After the kids were down for Rest Hour, I took the opportunity to oh-so-casually point out how much of a handful the kids had been.

He knew it was coming.:)

I walked up behind him, hugged him, and asked him outright, but-ever-so-sweetly, “After yesterday and this morning, do you see why I can’t get a lot of things done during the day sometimes?” 

I didn’t even quite finish my question before we were both doubled over laughing. After some good-natured ribbing from his little wife, Michael admitted remarkably sincerely to having gained some insight into my daily life.

Well, praise God for laughter, and praise Him for our three busy little children! And praise Him for using an afternoon at the park to ultimately make both Michael and me a little more gentle with one another.