"I didn't do it, Mommy!"

I had just one wish for today – besides getting everything I needed to do done, I really wanted to find the time to upload some Czech records about my ancestors to my genealogy blog. I’ve been wanting to do it for the last few days, but not been able to. So, after getting the boys ready this morning, sending Kolby off to school, picking out the clothes and cutting Eli’s, Camden’s, and Isaac’s hair for the family photos that I had forgotten we have scheduled tomorrow, getting the kids down for naps, making a dessert and preparing a gift for a wedding shower tonight, I finally had a chance (about ½ an hour until Kolby gets home from preschool and the boys will all get up for naps) to try to get some work done. Then Isaac came down with a messy diaper. No big deal, that won’t take too long. Then, mid-diaper change, Camden came down with red paint all over his hands. (As you can probably tell, naptime hasn’t been very successful at our house lately – the boys would take a nap just fine, but now that Camden and Isaac both know how to open doors, even with the baby-proof doorknob covers on, it’s hard to keep them in their rooms long enough for them to relax a minute and realize that they are actually tired). Apparently Camden had gone into the study, where Michael and I had started to put up shelving in the closet and so there’s lots of stuff out that needs to be organized and put away, including a little bag of craft paint and paintbrushes. Camden, while holding up his hands covered in bright red paint, informed me that he didn’t do it. He said Eli did. That’s pretty believable, since it wasn’t too many days ago that they came downstairs and Eli had found the only markers in the house (in the closet in the study) and colored all over Camden – on his face, his neck, his back, his legs, and in his ears. So, the idea of Eli painting Camden’s hands wasn’t too far fetched. I went upstairs to find paint all over a piece of sandpaper that they had found, and on the hardwood floors (I’m so glad we don’t have carpet), and Eli asleep in his bed. I’m still not sure about that – I wouldn’t put it past Eli to paint Camden and then quickly go to sleep so as to point the blame to his little brother, but maybe not . . . But, anyways, after cleaning the floors (luckily I found it before it had dried all the way and it all came up), cleaning Camden’s hands, and scrubbing the paint off of his jeans (I got almost all of it out), I put Camden to sleep on the couch, and all 4 of the boys actually went to sleep. But, Kolby just walked in from school, and we just finished a long discussion about why Mommy can’t handle him inviting two of his friends over to play right now. And now I’d better get Kolby’s hair cut too. And I only have two and a half hours before I’m supposed to be at that wedding shower, so I probably aught to consider getting out of my pajamas that I’m still in from this morning, and making myself at least somewhat presentable. Sometimes lately I start to think that maybe having 5 kids in 5 years was biting off a little more than I could chew – but, then again, if I only had 3 kids I’m sure I’d feel like I was just as busy and they’d get into stuff just as often. Oh well, everyone says that the kids grow up way too quickly (which I can already see, by how grown up they are already starting to be), and that I’ll miss it after they’re bigger. I guess I’ll eventually get to a point in my life when I’ve got spare time (hopefully), so I should just not worry about trying to get it all done at once. (Or maybe I won’t be too tired tonight after the wedding shower, and I can come home and get some good work in on the genealogy stuff then). :)