Australia, Anyone?

Yesterday was an "Alexander Day" for me. Granted, I didn't go to bed with gum in my mouth and there isn't gum in my hair, and I never buy cereal that has a prize inside, so I wasn't too disappointed when there wasn't one, but I think I might have taken that flight to Australia if it had been offered.
Rachel has not slept at all for the last two nights. She has woken up at about 2:00 a.m. and gone back to sleep between 6:30 and 7:00-right when I need to get up to get Becca off to school. So, needless to say, I wasn't exactly starting out on the right foot yesterday, and somehow my kids know just what not to do when I am not at my best.
They started the morning out right by pulling the mattress off Becca's bed, the books off of the shelves, and dumping their cereal and milk all over the floor. Then, when I was putting Rachel back to sleep (they woke her up when they were jumping on the mattress) they pulled all the laundry out of the dryer and on to the floor (yes, that would be the floor that comes in out of the garage that isn't exactly the cleanest floor in the house). Then, when I tried to get some of that picked up, they went upstairs and took Rachel's pacifier, trading her for a dinner roll. I tried to put Rachel back to sleep, but she was so ornery it was evident that she wanted nothing to do with her crib.
So, I decided to forget about the house for a little while and just do something fun with the kids. We colored pictures, danced to some Christmas music and played out in the snow. Then, when our tootsies were about frozen, we came in to watch a movie and relax. I gave Rachel some Benadryl and put her to bed, when I got a phone call. When I got off the phone, I came downstairs, and discovered that my little darlings had: clogged the toilet, taken another roll of toilet paper out of the bathroom and turned it into confetti, transformed carrot cake into cheesecake by dumping a bag of shredded cheese on it and squishing it into the carpet, and played Hansel and Gretel with yet another of the dinner rolls I had planned on using that night.
Well, I had just started cleaning up the carrot/cheese cake mess, when I heard the tortured cry of a baby who had once again been prematurely awakened. I went upstairs and found Rachel once again binky-less, but this time with my eyeliner, which she used to color on her sheets and her face.
So, when Greg called just then to tell me that he was going to be home from work late, I probably wasn't the best wife, but at least when he got home dinner was on the table and I had remembered that "Some days are like that...even in Australia!"