Day Ten: The BEST LAYED PLANS...

I was going to be a good mother today.


I had a great day planned. This morning wasn't a "throw some cereal at the kids" kind of morning... no, Mama cooked eggs. Then we headed to the gym so that I could get in my hour of cardio. I told the kids that after the gym we were going to drive to The Ledge where we would take on their climbing wall. Lauren is an amazing climber. She doesn't need a "climbing wall" because she'll scale anything. If we're at a restaurant or hotel that has a rock face, don't turn your back or she'll be 10 feet up the wall before you know it. I told the kids I was nervous about trying to climb and Lauren gave me some tips about "finding a place to grip" and "finding a place to put your feet." You know, the important stuff.

Then... they started to fight. And they didn't quit. And I warned them... I said "if you guys keep this up, we're going home." Unfortunately, I'm a mother of my word and the children forgot that fact and they kept on screaming and arguing and picking at one another until I had to turn the car around and head home. No climbing gym for us today. Instead, we had a long day of cleaning out closets, bagging clothing and shoes for Goodwill, reorganizing children's bedrooms, and NOT watching television.

I was not popular today.

So sadly, I didn't get to conquer my "outside of the box" goal today of scaling the walls at The Ledge. Instead, I needed to parent. And by the end of the day, the kids each made "I'm Sorry" cards for both Eric and myself and they presented them to us at dinner.

Maybe I did conquer something today, after-all... I'll take a small victory when it comes to the kiddos.