NOT Cool

So on Saturday, Stephen and I had our friends Ben and Melissa and their kids Tyler and Makayla over for dinner, and we were sitting at the table talking while the boys played in Titus's room and the girls finished their food...and we could tell that Titus and Tyler were having a great time...laughing hysterically in fact.

And that probably should have been my clue.

Thankfully, Ben got up because he thought he heard something besides their laughing. Both boys had dumped all the food out of the two fish food containers we had, and were using them as pails to scoop water out and throw it all over the floor and everything else...the boys were soaked, the floor was soaked, his dresser and clothes in the dresser were soaked, his toys were soaked...

NOT COOL!

Titus told me later they were trying to catch the goldfish (his name is Nahum), and he started to get more and more excited as he was telling me this because he actually got to touch him. Not so sure he learned his lesson if he is that excited about what he did.

Now I am normally not that attached to most of my things...which is probably good because with two little kids I expect some things to be ruined...it just happens. Everything will dry, we will borrow a carpet cleaner and it will be fine.

No big deal.

But wait...the fun continues...

After dinner, since it was nice outside we had a campfire in our back yard and did s'mores. Well Tyler had to go to the bathroom and then Titus said he had to go too, so Ben took both the boys inside. Sometime in the process Titus (who knows VERY well that he is not supposed to touch it) pulled down my "candle" (it has a light underneath so it melts the wax instead of using a flame). And we end up with this fun mess...

NOT COOL!

And then I became very frustrated...because I can live with my own things ruined, but when things get ruined things that AREN'T mine, that's when I take issue. Living in a parsonage, I should have known SOMETHING would happen with two kids (and a dog)...but it is still not our house, so I was upset...

Needless to say, Stephen and I spent most of the night after the kids were in bed cleaning up the fish tank and trying to get wax out of the carpet. We put the Nahum in an ice cream pail, which still was way too small for the goldfish (he is HUGE), and told Titus we were going to have to find a new home for the fish because of what he had done.

The carpet still looks terrible (and I still need to clean up the register), but as you can see, it is MUCH better.

I don't know if it was from the trauma of Saturday or being cramped into an ice cream pail for 24 hours, but on Monday morning I found Nahum dead in his pail. Later that day, when Stephen took Titus out there to see where he buried the fish, he told Stephen "Maybe we can find another fish, and then I can name him Frankie." We thought that was cute :)

Titus is still crushed...we have had a couple times now where Titus has completely broken down, sad that Nahum is dead. He was 100% Titus's fish, he had him for 2 1/2 years, and was responsible for feeding him every night. I feel bad, and it is so sad to see him mourning his little friend.

With all of this, plus almost every evening Stephen being gone this time of year with meetings for the church and coaching track...even though I love them tons, I am really getting to my end with Titus and Damaris. I am just not that great with kids to start with, and I end up getting upset and frustrated WAY too quickly...so it would be GREAT if you could pray for me these next few weeks as I am home a LOT by myself with the kids. It is just very hard working all day and then coming home to take care of the kids by myself, getting dinner while the kids are fussy because they are hungry, taking care of the dog, and dealing with the kids until they go to bed when they are fussy because they are tired. I feel like we are seeing the worst sides of each other :(

I am just tired. And grumpy. And sick of yelling at my kids, because they deserve better than that. I am definitely ready for a break...well, there is no break, but at least our "normal" routine and having Stephen around more...

I promise a more upbeat post with lots of cute pictures next time!!! Thanks for letting me share (as if you had a choice ;) ) a few of my frustrations with you, even though I know they are nothing compared to what others are facing. I just need to get a better perspective :)