Hot Date.

It's been a long couple of weeks around here. Tim has had a big milestone at work and so has been putting in a lot of extra hours. The really nice thing about his job is that he's able to come home, have dinner, help me get the kids bathed and bedded down and then go back to work for another couple of hours. It means I miss out on our evenings together, but I have an extra set of hands during what I find to be the most stressful time of the day (the last hour before bed, lord help me!) And the kids don't really know that there dad is busier than usual, so there is slightly less screaming around here. Because some days, there is A LOT of screaming. The other day Ellie sat and bawled and whined when I wouldn't give her the spoon that I was actively using to feed her brother. And Adam has developed this ear piercing shriek that makes me want to abandon him on a hillside rather than help him with whatever his problem is (usually that I am holding him down and not letting him crawl around half neekid after a diaper change.)

I AM A MONSTER. That is my new refrain, especially when Ellie asks me accusatory questions, like "why didn't you bring my Hello Kitty socks?" Because I am a monster.

Today though, we got to ditch our lovely offspring with Mimi and Pa and go on a much, much needed date. Liquor was drank. Food was consumed. And we talked about how much we adored our human children, because that's what happens when we have a little space.

As you can see, Adam had a lovely afternoon.

I'm sure part of the craziness is the fact that it's been raining off and on for the past few days, and we're used to doing a lot of outdoors activities. On Friday while Adam was napping Ellie begged to go outside, so even though it was chilly, I let her put on her bathing suit and head out into the back yard. She splashed in some puddles, and did some excellent worm rescuing.

She has been so funny. The other day in the car, she started talking to me about tarantulas, and I asked her what she knew about tarantulas. She told me that they are spiders, and they have tiny hairs all over their bodies. Then she asked "where do spiders poop?" and I said they poop in their cages. NO. She corrected me that they have little pillows, and they poop on their pillows. The things that come out of her zany brain constantly amaze me.