For Every Action There Is An Equal and Opposite Reaction

So - from the title of this post you would be safe in assuming that today was not all sunshine and starlight. That's not to say it totally and absolutely sucked either but it definitely had its moments.

First the good part: it snowed! But before you get too excited we're talking light flurries that were fun to watch, gave me hope of good things to come, made me feel all giddy inside, drove Kaylen to the brink as she desperately wanted to "..go sledding and eat snowballs! Can we now?" and made the day seem different. It was good. It amounted to nothing, but it was still fun.

The not so good parts: The kids decided in all their wisdom that while I was busy elsewhere that they would have a tea party. No big deal - we see tea parties daily around here and yes, it involves real water. Never a real big issues before...... yeah. It was a big deal this time. They decided to fill the play tea pot, the play coffee pot and several play pots and pans with water, take them carefully to the kitchen table and then dump them all as fast as they could to create a "waterfall" so they would go swimming. *sigh*

I rushed into the room upon hearing the torrential downpour *inside* my house and discovered Kelton on the floor under the table "swimming" in a pool of water. Kaylen was pulling apart the table (where the table leaf would go) so that the water could more easily reach Kelton. A large pile of towels later (have you ever noticed that spilled water always appears to be a much larger quantity than it was in the original container?) it was cleaned up and the children were in their rooms so mommy could have a time out and assess the damage. Coloring books - soaking wet. New workbooks - soaking wet. Other art supplies/papers - soaking wet. All trashed. *sigh*

After that all settled down Kaylen wanted to make a new art project that we had printed off and made yesterday (a casualty of the water) so the two of them went to do that. I went in to start the newly created load of laundry which meant moving the current load from the washer to the dryer and folding the load that had been in the dryer and putting it all away. Dakota called and I answered the phone on my way to fold the clothes. I wasn't gone from the room three minutes when I heard screaming and crying and Kelton yelling "MOM! Kaylen fell of the chair and hurt herself!" Then I heard Kaylen screaming "Kelton BIT me!" She was a mess of sobbing and hysterics. I looked at Kelton and demanded he tell me the truth (which I could already figure out) and he fessed up that he bit her because she wanted to print out the project but he didn't want to.

Much chaos ensued. Kelton was sent to his room, Kaylen's bite was washed out and iced. He did a lovely job on her leaving a welt, an immediate bruise and two tiny vampire teeth punctures. Dakota, still on the phone, asked to talk with Kelton and I swear to you - he about had a heart attack that mom wanted to talk with him about what he did. I gave a small smile to myself thinking how for him it must be what it felt like when moms would say "Just wait until your father gets home!" Dakota got to be the heavy for this one and I enjoyed being able to say "You heard what she said. If you can't behave yourself you will go to directly to bed for the night." It took the pressure of me and he had no one to fight with about it.

Once I calmed Kaylen down and got her working on her project things felt a bit more in control. Kelton came out and apologized to her and they had a little heart to heart as in her saying "Kelton you really hurt me." and him saying "I'm sorry." and her saying "You no do that EVER again, ok?" and him saying "OK."

From there on out, they were pretty good. After a short lived but nerve shattering meltdown from Kaylen because she wanted pasta for dinner and me saying no (she had it for lunch) they both ate really good dinners. Kaylen played well by herself for a bit while Kelton vegged out with the TV. Finally bath time and bedtime rolled around.

This is one afternoon I was not sad to see over. Of course, after they were both asleep I just stood and looked at them my heart full of love and sadness over all the things that had happened.

Hard to believe a few short hours ago I wanted to lock them both in a closet. (I'm kidding.....sorta.)