A coke kinda night

Ok, so I feel totally overwhelmed with the day and am just chilling in bed drinking coke out of a straw. Aw, the life. * A note to say that I wrote this on Saturday night but got delayed in posting it.* The day started off with Pete announcing, at 8:30am, that we should go to the Indy Zoo(we have a pass so why not use it). We load up the car and drive to Indy. The weather was rainy and in the 60s but we had a fun time. Jack, Thomas, and Pete loved the raining moments while Luke and I chose to use the umbrella for them. We were looking at the Kudus and talking about how cute they were when Pete said they were so cute that even mommy would like one in her bed excepting the horns (an If I Ran the Zoo reference) I mentioned that I didn't think the females had horns so sure why not. Then we walk around to the other side of the exhibit, and I am off with Thomas a little bit away from the rest of the gang when Jack and Pete start talking about kudus again. Jack decides he wants to ask me a question so he yells quite loudly (you know because I am not standing right there) Mom, are you going to sleep with a girl? At that moment quite a lot of eyes turned and looked at me. I said, oh you mean a female kudu? The eyes went back to what they were doing.

I was making Mac-N-Cheese for dinner, you know the Kraft box kind, super easy and my kids will eat it. Last night I made chicken gumbo and cornbread and none of it got eaten so skip it, too much work for kids to complain they are hungry after I already fed them. Anyway, as you may know it takes about 12-15 minutes total to make this delicious meal but in that amount of time my two youngest children still managed to get into all sorts of trouble. Normally making dinner involves Thomas standing in between my legs just screaming and crying and annoying the daylights out of me. Tonight when he and Luke go upstairs (to play?) I have no problem letting them go. Dinner is ready and I call to the boys to come downstairs. Thomas strolls in drinking beer. Yes, my darling 1-year-old was drinking daddy's left over last night beer. See last night Pete and I went to bed around 9pm, we were so tired, and Pete had brought his beer upstairs to bed thinking he was going to be awake long enough to enjoy it. Nope he promptly fell asleep and since we left early for the zoo we didn't clean up our messes this morning and then well I had forgotten about it. Now no worries out there people who think I am letting him get drunk there was still the same amount as last night but when I went for it he did take one more sip before I could grab it. Next is Luke who does not prefer beer as his method of rebellion instead he got into my makeup.Pete says I should not keep it under our sink because the kids can easily reach it as they have done before, but I have no where else to put it. I did hide the makeup bag in another bag which worked for a bit, but I suppose it isn't the answer to this problem. I was able to clean most of it up but pink lipstick does not come out of carpets-just saying. I worked on it for a very long time. It is lighter but still there and still noticeable.

Let's not forget about Jack. Now if you let Jack play iPad or watch tv he is a very agreeable boy, but tell him it is time to work his brain and you have another child entirely. First I had him do one of his summer math worksheets, he is very good at math and he knew how to do the whole worksheet- this wasn't the problem. The problem is that he hates writing; he isn't very good at it, it is difficult for him, and it takes him a long time to express what he knows. I was met with quite a lot of- why am I so bad, why am I the worst kid ever, and etc. Next we move on the reading. I told him he had to read me a book and he could pick whatever book he wanted. He picks a super hero book and we start in. At first he knows most of the words so he isn't pulling normal Jack moves to make reading unbearable for all involved. Oh but then it happens. There are a few words in a row he can't quite get and his first move is always to just skip it and pretend like it isn't there. Well, I don't allow that so he gets mad at me. Then he stops trying to sound them out or use context to figure out the word and he just stops and asks me. This I also don't allow. He has to try and if he genuinely tries and still can't get it I will tell him. He then moves on to fake trying to guess the word. Trust me you can tell it is fake and not a real attempt. When this doesn't work his frustration rises. He then moves in for fidgeting, opening and closing the book, staring into space, and finally the thing that just gets me so upset-- he starts saying (every 5 seconds ) my throat is really dry, it is really really dry. I can't read with a dry throat. My eyes hurt I can't see the words my eyes hurt. My throat hurts. Now, we know he doesn't need glasses so this is not true and once he starts quickly and correctly reading the words again all these maladies magically go away. Until then, it is HELL! No water Jack you are stalling. Well, if you want water you better finish the book so you can get some. Sorry your eyes hurt there is nothing I can do for that. Just read the book!!!! It takes an hour to read a small book. Sometimes I think, so what if I don't make him practice math, writing, reading, or chess? At least then there wouldn't be these power struggles in our house every day.

Oh the joys of parenting. Especially when Pete walks in and magically they are transformed into wonderful and happy kids who just want to crawl all over him to be near him.