Crazy Boys!

Sometimes I feel like I use this blog to make my boys sound perfect. They are not. I am not a perfect parent by any means, nor is Rob. We are an imperfect family trying to figure it out as we go. Some days are fantastic while others are barely survivable. Yesterday was barely survivable. In fact, it goes down as the worst day I've ever had with the boys. I'm blogging about the day simply so I can look back at it some day and laugh. At this point I'm still nowhere close to finding the humor in the day.
The day started out like any other. I poured some coffee, the boys and I cuddled for awhile then I went off to take a bath so we could start our day. When I got out of the bath that's when things went downhill...fast!
I walked into the hall to find 4 bottles of acrylic paint opened and spilled on the carpet, wall and door. I walked into the living to find a couple bottles of spices dumped on the carpet. I walked into the kitchen to find the crafts that I had bought for the boys (to last a couple weeks mind you) opened and destroyed. I went in the boys' bathroom to find more paint and spices spilled everywhere. I went in their room to find a different container of spices spilled on the carpet and E's bed. I was livid! After much scrubbing, I was able to clean up most of the mess. On a side note, the spices countered the smell of the wet carpet from earlier this week when E flooded part of the master bathroom.
After running a couple errands, I told the boys to clean out my car because they had trashed the backseat. When they said they were done, I went out there to find what was in the backseat all over our front yard. I know some of you may be thinking that I should've been specific in telling them how to clean out the car but I had been. I was very detailed in telling them where everything should go. Plus they know it already. After they assured me the yard was cleaned up, I went out to find that one (or both) of the boys snapped all of the lighted candy cane decorations aligning our walkway, making them impossible to salvage. For the rest of the day, it was little things....the boys fighting, lying, etc. It was a day I didn't want to repeat. This morning I found one more act of destruction that took place yesterday to top it all off. P SCRAPED 13-17 into the back of my car! One day it'll have to be buffed out but this morning I wasn't about to get mad all over again. I wasn't about to have the same day today. I couldn't. I had cried enough tears yesterday, as had the boys. There were spankings, time outs, raised voices, the gnashing of teeth, letters from Santa about the Naughty List and much more.
Today is a new day and, thankfully, 1000x times better!! I'm so thankful that those bad days are rare. I'm not naïve to think we won't have more of them in our future but if they can be spread out so I can recoup a little in between I'll manage. I'll learn as I go as to what works and what doesn't on days like yesterday.
And maybe, just maybe, some day I'll look back at this blog, remembering this day with laughter instead of tears. My crazy boys!