Semi-figured it out...

Why do my kids lose so many toys? Why are they so restless at night that they keep mommy up all hours? Why do I feel the constant brain fry? Why is the house so messy?

Here's partly why.... My kids can't seem to focus on anything for more than five minutes. I wanna play water table - I want lemonade - I don't want lemonade, I want vanilla milk - where is my optimus prime? - where is my ogre's helmet? - why aren't the movies in their cases? - I can't find my alien's head - I want to watch Star Wars - I want to watch Kung Fu Panda - I want to draw - I spilled the crayons - can we make cinnamon rolls? - can I knock on the neighbor's front door? - Can we play a game?

ALL in the last 10 min.

AND... they follow me outside if I hang a pool towel on the deck railing - they follow me down the basement stairs if I do the laundry - they barge into my room while I change clothes - they get into the toothpaste and hand soap - they use the feather duster - they hide the pull-ups and diapers - they open the refrigerator door and take the Coke out - they partially eat the American cheese and put it back.

ALL right under my nose as I try to get ANYTHING done in the house.

They talk at the top of their lungs all day long - they fight - they cry - they have tantrums - they tattle - they throw toys to all corners of the room (some we NEVER find again) - they spill EVERYTHING (I can't tell you how many surfaces in this house are sticky right now - how many are fingerprinted, crayoned, smudged or just plain dirty) - they track dirt on freshly washed floors.....

Maddening, right? Wonderful too? All in a day. Count our blessings, right?

Enjoy the images of messy summer fun (and one neat and pretty high schooler - yep - almost wrote middle schooler...).

Gotta go... something is burning (as usual)....