I am NOT a happy Mom!!! WARNING--this is mostly for my journal, not for the sensitive stomach!

I am NOT a happy Mom!!! I couldn't help repeating this to Emma every time I checked on her during her bath. Let me back up. . .Here's what happened. The weather is warming up around here which has posed a problem for me. All the neighborhood kids want to come over to MY house. Now, it's my fault, because I'm a softy and don't know how to say NO. So. . .our 6th grade friend (who always wants to babysit, but isn't really mature enough to do so) came up with this brilliant idea at 4:30 PM. Let's have a garage sale! Gehrig and Damian were thrilled to gather up some of their toys, my table, etc. They didn't bother to ask me. When I saw what they were up to, I tried to discourage them b/c I had too much going on to supervise. But, I didn't say NO!! I just said I'd rather they not do it. So. . .did anybody take my clue? No, they went ahead with their plans. So. . .I started making dinner. I had about 7-10 neighborhood kids in my back yard and then my boys and the 6th grader setting up in the front yard. Luckily, Genevee (our 4th grade backyard neighbor) was an angel and played with Isaiah during this stretch of time I'm telling you about. Emma was asleep. So. . .back to dinner. I would start on things and then check on the boys, go back to making dinner, check on them again. . .etc.

I realized that Emma should be waking up, so I went upstairs to check on her. I looked through the peep hole (made especially for the reason I am about to explain) because I couldn't hear anything. At first, I thought she was asleep and then I was able to make out her little form sitting in bed. So. . .I opened up the door and was hit with an awful smell! Yep, my 3rd poo painting child had been hard at work painting her bed rails and my two favorite stuffed animal dolls of hers! I picked her nastly little self up and got her into the tub. Then, I went back to her room where I had a big mess to clean up. I looked out the window to see the garage sale and noticed a toy on the table that I didn't recognize. I asked the kids where they got it and was told that Damian found it at the neighbor's house. I told them that they couldnt' sell the neighbor's toys. Then, I began cleaning the poop out of Emma's room. Of course with all of this going on, I was back and forth checking on Emma. I looked out the window again and found Damian carting a bunch of pretty white rocks he had taken from the other neighbor's front yard. And again, I had to remind them not to sell stuff that didn't belong to them.

As soon as I got Emma out of the tub and her room clean, I began to smell something else horrible. DINNER was burning on the stove! Of course! Anyway. . .to make a long story longer, I went outside and told the kids to clean up--it was time to eat our burnt dinner. They didn't get to it fast enough, so I told them that I would box up what was left and take it to DI. That worked! They started cleaning up much faster.

I sent everybody home, fed my family and put them all to bed! What an afternoon! I've got to figure out how to be a nice neighbor, but not have the whole neighborhood over every day. I'm going to learn how to say NO. In fact, I've already had to do it a couple of times since then.