I awoke from a dream-filled sleep this morning to the loud sounds of John’s coffee grinder accompanied by the cries of Will.  I headed up the stairs as Will headed down, obviously scared by the loud sound he had produced by pushing buttons he shouldn’t have been pushing.  We walked upstairs together to turn off the machine and it became obvious that Will had apparently been trying to make coffee.  A whole bag of ground coffee was spread over the floor along with a whole container of creamer.  “Oh no,” I thought, “Is this day merely an extension of yesterday?”

You see, yesterday was one of those days that I wonder how in the world I would survive if God had decided to give me twins.  Will had a friend over yesterday and those two just about drove me crazy.  Will and Seth have been starting to act like a team now and then to get into trouble, but Will found the range of trouble he could get into was enlarged by having someone his age to work with.

The afternoon started out just fine.  But I realized that when your guest starts eating crumbs off your dining room floor, that 1) it’s time to clean your floor, and 2) it is probably snack time.  I cleaned off the table and put all three boys in chairs for snacks.  While they ate I swept up the floor.  Then I went to fill the dishwasher and returned to find their snacks all over the just swept floor.  I got on to them, and swept up the new mess.

The boys went to play while I tried to fold laundry.  When they joined me and started getting into my bedroom stuff I had to send them out of the room.  I soon decided to go check on them and headed over to the other side of the house.  It is funny that the laughter of children takes on an entirely new meaning when it is combined with the sound of running water.  I found all three boys in the bathroom running the bath water and playing.  I sent them out of the bathroom, finding that it was hard to keep my voice patient at this point.

Later they went back to my bedroom when I wasn’t there, spilled my bobby pins and undid my made bed.  My frustration was continuing to rise.

Still making the mistake of not sitting down to play with them, I still kept trying to accomplish  my chores and phone calls while I “trusted” them to stay out of trouble.  The culmination point came when I walked down stairs after answering emails to find that Will and his friend had managed to open a brand new canister of hot chocolate mix, complete with foil seal, and spill it all over the floor.  They both were covered with the powder and their faces showed signs of having enjoyed a few samples as well.  Seth was busy playing with my phone and playing messages (or so I thought).  As I went to get a broom to clean up the mess my phone rang and one of my friends called to ask if I had just called her.  Apparently Seth had managed to call her.  At first I thought he must have managed to dial all 11 digits in order to call her, but John figured it out later.  She was the last person I’d called on my home phone, so he would have just had to push redial.  As I was explaining the situation to her I was also trying to now keep 3 kids out of the pile of hot chocolate.  At this point, they were picking up handfuls to throw in the air.  I eventually got it swept up and pulled out the vacuum.  I debated about throwing the boys in the bathtub, but I could only imagine the troubles that would cause, so I decided to merely vacuum off their dusty clothes.  Will was the bravest and went first, then Seth, and by that time Will’s friend had decided that I wasn’t out to get him with the vacuum and stood still while I cleaned him off to.  Then we washed hands and I vacuumed the living room rug.

It was time for me to leave and the babysitter was late, so I went to call her and when I returned back downstairs I found the boys using the baby powder roller to paint their faces.  They had also been licking it as well.  I took away the roll and then thankfully my sister walked in shortly afterwards to take charge so I could leave.  She told me later that they had managed to find some envelopes of hot chocolate mix and bit holes in them.  🙂  But for the most part they were better for her as she actually sat down and played with them.  I think they were getting tired at that point as well.

So now that you know the history of yesterday, you can fully appreciate my horror at awaking to an upstairs filled with coffee aroma.  I guess that and my living room filled with hot chocolate aroma could count as my Christmas spirit since I haven’t gotten up the energy to decorate yet this year.  🙂  After this morning I am also now more fully convinced that it was my son that was instigating all the trouble yesterday and not his friend.