Siblings and Sugar....Quite the Madness With a Happy Ending

My kids are hilarious!

You know Christmas is a day or two away when three children who are ten and nine kick you out of the living room and tell you to go on your computer and play Papa Pear.

They are up to something.

They told me they have a surprise for me. Gee, I wonder what it could be? Are they calling Ford Motor Company to have them deliver that shiny Escalade(any color) to our apartment?  Or maybe they have arranged a blind date for me...hmm...that would be interesting and the theme of many a Hallmark movie on some nights I'm sure, especially around the holidays.

I could name a few if you'd like.

Actually they are more than likely cleaning out there. I finally got most of my kitchen cleaned, dishes anyway, and took the bird out and threw it on the counter. He needs to thaw a little before he goes for his nightly swim this evening.  My son came in and asked me if they could tear apart the puzzle we did last night. That puzzle, by the way, was a freaking nightmare. It was only 100 pieces, but it took us almost an hour to figure it out. We all ended up putting pieces where we thought they should go in totally wrong areas of the puzzle.

How many polaks does it take to figure out a 100-piece puzzle in less than 30 minutes?

None in this house apparently.

I hear them rustling about in there. They want so badly to open "just one gift" in the morning. I told them earlier,"Look at this apartment! I've been cleaning all weekend, and it doesn't even look like I was cleaning all weekend! I just barely got the kitchen together!"

I got the deer in the headlight look.

Yeah, I got it from all three of them in unison.

Finally they leave the kitchen and go into a sibling huddle and next thing I know they are kicking me out of my own kitchen.

Well, okay then!

So I grabbed the remaining eight mini-cheesecake tarts out of the fridge, my can of Coke and I'm sitting in here now just waiting for them to give me the "all clear" so I can head back out to the comfort of my living room and under a nice warm blanket near the TV. Hoping to find some sort of movie we can all enjoy.

It's almost 11 p.m. here.  These kids have the energy of an Energizer bunny I tell ya. Of course I know why they do.

See, being that it's the last day before the two-day Christmas break presents flow in to all the teachers in mass amounts. So our teacher's lounge was lined with cookies, candies, cakes, fudge and the like that some of the teacher's just couldn't bring home as they had plenty of that stuff in their homes already. I kept all of mine though. I have kids and I share with them and some of the kids in our neighborhood too.

Also, our lovely boss gave us all a one-pound box of See's candies today. 

The secretary told us to take some of it home. My daughter wanted to take a whole box of cookies, and I told her "heck no! we have tons of that stuff at home, just take a few." So they took a few candies, a few boxes of Nerd's and some mini Snicker's bars and out the door we went.

So, my kids being kids started gnawing on all this stuff on the ride home from work. It's a good 20-30 minute drive depending on traffic. Needless to say, by the time we got home my kids were bouncing off the walls. Even my daughter, who is normally the quiet, sane one seemed to morph into this sugar-crazed zombie I had no clue existed. She and her two brothers were jumping around my living room with Nerf rifles in hand shooting at everything in sight. Yelling, jumping and wrestling, there they were, my sugar-laden kids with their bodies just jumping all over like popcorn in a pan. My son knocked my snowman family on the floor. I heard a thud and clink and thought "Oh, hell no..." went to look and saw them lying on the ground, we couldn't find the baby snowman and I was not a happy camper.

I had to walk away...count to ten....and not look back.

About two minutes later my son says, "FOUND HIM MOM!"

*insert deep sigh around here*

I even got a phone call and tried going outside. It was too cold out and I couldn't stay out there so I came back in...to MY room and shut the door. Next thing I know I'm being bombarded by my daughter and her brother opening up the door and hiding behind it.  They are yelling "Shoot him! Shoot him!" to each other and I'm telling them to leave.

No such luck.

I gave up finally and headed to my daughter's room for some much needed peace and quiet.  That lasted the remainder of my fifteen minute conversation with my friend from work and then as I was getting ready to hang up they started screaming again.

This time in the kitchen behind me. I told my friend, "See, this is what I have to deal with for the next three hours until the sugar fix wears off."

She laughed.

Of course she laughed, she's not here now is she? 

I laughed too.

Then I hung up.

So here I am.

Me, the few droplets of my soda now left and all eight cherry cheesecake mini tarts...gone. Poof! Just like that.

What is one to do with all this free time? I could write about ten more blogs.

I could clean my room.

*shivers at the thought*

Whew! I almost thought about actually doing that!

I could go and try some new make up and hair styles in my bathroom mirror.  Like when I was 13 and I use to sneak into my mom's bathroom after she went to bed(she worked nights) and I'd put on eyeliner and one of the lighter shades of eyeshadow as I got ready to hang out with my cousin or a friend of mine for the evening. Put on my Bonnie Bell lip gloss and Love's Baby Soft perfume and head out the door. Put on my  leg warmers and tapered jeans with the comb in the pocket.

Oh dear God....what am I doing here? I'm rehashing 8th grade!

Forget trying the new make up or hair do's. I think I'll just go hang out on Facebook.

Gotta be someone with more drama than I ever had on there.

Somewhere.

Or maybe some more cat pictures I can quickly scroll past. Maybe find a few more political rants from major news network commentators, or see someone's update about how they ate salad instead of a cheeseburger for lunch.


I got some amazing gifts today.  I will never forget the kindness and generosity of these children and their parents. Even a simple "Thank you for taking care of our little Jenny" or a card the children colored themselves  makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Life is good.

And I just got the all clear from my kids. My son blindfolded me and led me out to the living room. He removed the blind fold and what to my wandering eyes should appear??

A clean dining room table, living room and a lit Christmas tree.  They said it wasn't so they could get a gift in the morning. They said they just wanted to do something nice for me as a gift.

Now that is the best gift anyone can get.

Then they showed me a gift they wrapped for me under the tree. 

I love those kids with all my heart.

Maybe they just might get to open a gift tomorrow morning.

We'll see.