Some yin and yang for ya ...

I am on borrowed time right now - kids fighting like crazy people - and I've already been told by my Milo that I am "not the best Mommy" because I reprimanded him and sent he and Enzo upstairs for tormenting Lil. Olivia was on MY computer (hello - I don't have a laptop in my room) Facebooking all morning. All of them are full of demands for sugary, crappy breakfast food and, truthfully, right now - I just don't care. For some reason, too, they seem to think they need the big, heavy comforter to lay under all the time - despite the fact that our house still feels like it has too much humidity in it due to the high, sticky temps outside - and they leave that and chip crumbs and little tiny toys and crayons and books ALL OVER my downstairs. I had to take Milo to the doctor today for a follow up to his anemia (he is a bad eater and... they only detect it because he gets blood tests so often due to his Stage 2 Chronic Kidney Disease - far better than the Stage 4 or 5 that he was born with - wish it would entirely go improve, but.... anyway - good news - doctor not concerned, saying most kids are a little borderline at this age - bad news - another follow up blood test, which will not be pretty ... kicking, fighting, yelling). So ... Milo was my buddy all morning for his early, early appointment and while we went to the store. Now, like I said, he is angry - and... while I typed this, has already emerged from upstairs to demand yet another sugary drink and report that Enzo hit him. Now, I hear Enzo's "whiny, I've been wronged voice". Great.

Yesterday WAS a fun day - my kids and the neighbors -even little ones down the street - played forever on the swingset / treehouse (they call it their "clubhouse") most of the day. Hubby and I were excavating our storage unit under our garage. We had a bunch of old furniture and Mac boxes and other random yard "stuff" hauled away months ago, but... now we have the boxes that belong to his brother (from high school, it appears - took a serious trip down 1980's lane while organizing that mess) - dishes that his Mom says are not hers (but are) and have now been hosed off on our back lawn, making it look like an archaeological dig out there - old wood from various projects - other boxes from hubby's own office - more..... Truthfully, it was a little interesting to see all this stuff - old albums - espresso cups bought on a long ago trip to Spain - stationary with hubby's late father's signature on them - a stamp that bore his MD signature :-). We sort of mused about how it was nice that we had these little bits of our Dads' professional lives to share with our kids - Olivia has many of my Dad's old office pens (of course, my brother, the scavenger, has hidden or taken many of the expensive ones) and other desk "stuff" (where she used to sit and color while he did bills, etc.) - a photo of Enzo Ferrari hangs in my boys' room - a gift from the Ferrari people back when my Dad used to deal with them a lot - had hung in his office for a long time (he gave it to Enzo, loving that they had the same name - my Dad was a "sportscar guy"). Just kinda nice...

End of day, we went to a friend's birthday celebration - a lowkey trip to see some jazz in the park among friends. Our little ones met a new friend (actually, they knew eachother as babies, but...) and had a great time visiting a new playground, dancing to music and walking back to the house for some food with her. At the house, grown ups (including Olivia who had a kindred Calvary camper spirit among them) ate and chatted over decadent food and drinks, joking an laughing while the kids played tag, make believe, monkey in the middle and more. Our friends are avid art collectors and some beautiful and interesting pieces in their house - among them a large metal sculpture in the backyard - a big bird that lights up - and it, of course, fascinated the kids. It was really nice to see people we had not seen in a while - talk with friends we do see often - and meet new people (not to mention that our other dear friends - angry baker and brood - left us some REALLY good chocolate cake while we were gone - MUST HAVE RECIPE - Olivia ate half of it before we could even taste it :-). Trite but true - the friends part, that is ;-).

OK - so it has taken a loooong time to write this post today due to disturbance after disturbance after... you get the picture. We have been through several iterations of our morning - the furious and fast to the dr, to the store, unpack the car, wrangle wild ones constantly asking me for food and drink while I work phase - the lay around, fight, complain, break the Wii (hooray!), whine, mill about, get into trouble phase - now, the industrious play in the "clubhouse", put Barbies in the water table, drag riding toys to the front phase (and, for all my complaining, I DO love the faded, beaten up riding toys in the garage - I love the yard littered with lacross sticks, bats, balls and moldy "under the sea" toys for the water table - I love the tacky, bright pink Barbie debris all over the deck - the herbs going to flower - the grill that we use ALL THE TIME - the owl to scare the squirrels that Lil thinks is her friend - and, now, the view of the "clubhouse" from the deck where I watch them swing and do the crossbars and hide out in the top. ALL our chaos makes me happy. Speaking of... they have invaded yet again - demanding water, lolling all over each other (so someone will soon be hurt), so.... must go.

Photo: On the way home from the doctor early this am, I called to check on everyone before heading to the store.... and Lil wanted to talk to me - and... she sounded so grown-up to me... I just HAD to come home and find some sweet baby pics of her. This looks like about this time of year - two short years ago - wow. Little aside here: I love how she says "tiss" instead of "kiss" - so cute. See.... she's still a baby :-).

OK - fighting and crying has hit an all time high..... NOT even noon. What to do with the rest of the day .....

Quickly - congrats to Aarti as winner of Next Food Network Star and Holli as winner on Hell's Kitchen - they were my favorites :-) - though... nice job, Herb, on NFNS. And.... sorry to see Kenny go on Top Chef - though looking forward to this week.... despite the fact that this might be the most boring season yet.