February 23

Today was awful.

Just awful.

It left me ready to quit homeschooling, quit parenting, quit everything.

The children were out of control, they all had snotty noses, and I was an awful mom.

Then my oven died. 

My birthday is tomorrow, and I have been moping about the fact that there are no good dairy-free, gluten-free birthday cake options for me. I finally found a recipe I thought would be satisfactory, bought the ingredients last night, and this afternoon was supposed to be my time to bake the cake. Except my afternoon really should have been filled with homeschooling, but I was going to bake the cake anyway.

And then the oven died. 

I was so upset. All I wanted was a stupid birthday cake that I could eat without triggering my stupid eczema. And now that won't even happen. And the children were like wild animals, and I didn't like any of them, and Eli only napped for 45 minutes... it was seriously just an awful day.

One highlight: Caleb rocked his spelling words for the week. His handwriting was great, he spelled everything perfectly... he was so proud of himself!

 I gave him a celebratory sucker, and then he asked me to take a picture of him.

He told me to send this picture to Chris and tell him that he got "a sandwich with a toothpick with that red covering". That child. I have no idea what is going through his head most of the time.

Then I tried to get dinner started. Eli was ready for his afternoon nap, but I really had to get things going before I put him down, so I was hoping he could just soldier through. The child busied himself with emptying the cabinet where I keep my pots and pans.

I particularly like the sock in the saucepan. I like to think that he's experimenting with a new recipe idea: Sauteed Sock.

"What, Ma? Why are you taking my picture?"

This child is into everything!

After dinner (luckily, the meal I had planned for tonight was easily modified to not require the oven), I told Chris that I either needed to go to bed and have a good cry, or go to the gym. I chose the gym, and I'm glad I did. It was packed, but I snagged a prime parking space and the only free machine. Then, my current favorite show on HGTV was on (Fixer Upper, in case you're wondering). Then, I ran into my friend Jen and had a nice chat with her. 

I'm not sure if it was the exercise-induced endorphins, or the solace of an understanding friend, but I felt much better when I got home. Even better, I returned home to this: 

Chris and Eli and Lily were chasing each other around the coffee table.

Eli thought it was hilarious!

And then all the kids joined in! Eli loves being the center of their attention, and being in the middle of all their action.

And Caleb especially loves Eli.

Yes, it's chaos, but it's a beautiful chaos, and it's MY chaos.

And then, all of the kids raced up and down the hall, competing to show me how fast they all were. It was hectic and loud, but they were so happy and it made me so very happy, too.

Or maybe I was just happy they were going to bed. Whatever.

Tomorrow is my birthday, and it is going to be a busy, stressful day. There is supposed to be a major snowstorm tonight. Tomorrow, Caleb has his swimming and fitness class, then speech therapy, Chris will probably be working to fix the oven, and we will probably end up having berries and whipped cream/ non-dairy coconut whip as my birthday cake. But still, I have four little darlings who are so excited to celebrate my birthday, and that counts for something.