Busy Day

I realize that my girls are still young and my days as a parent will only get busier and busier, but as I am now writing this, I feel like it will be nothing short of a miracle if I can get to the end of the post without a smattering of
"sa VNOvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv" where my head hits the keyboard as I doze off.
You see, this morning I decided that before sending a carpet cleaner off to my mom that I should "spot clean" the traffic areas of the house. So, I started my "twenty minute" venture in the family room, where after the first round I realized just how dirty my carpet had become. You see, the "dark spots" didn't go away after the quick once-over like I thought they would...instead, they stood out because the "clean areas" got cleaner & made the real grime stand out.
So, I started scrubbing by hand and soon my dark spots became the light spots & I had to start the entire process over, scrubbing the "dirty" areas. By the end of my adventure my carpet was definitely a few shades lighter than when I started, but everything else in my house fell apart.
You see, Rachel and Sarah heard the noise of the vacuum and realized I would be unable to hear them if they went outside. Fortunately, I was checking on them frequently & found them and had them come in. What I failed to realize, though, was that they brought with them a big thermos of dirt, mud and rocks. They took their "treasure" to the bathroom to "organize" it and when I went to dump the dirty water from the carpet cleaner in the toilet, I realized that the water I was emptying looked cleaner than my bathroom (which is really saying something since the water I was dumping was nearly black).
So, I sent the girls up to Sarah's room to play, cleaned up the bathroom, and went to check on the girls again. This time I found them in the upstairs bathroom, and after a quick inventory realized that I am now down one bottle of shampoo, one bottle of hair mousse, one roll of toilet paper, and 1/2 bottle of hairspray from where I was this morning. On the plus side, my hair ribbons have never smelled nicer--or been cleaner...and perhaps they will stay in place a little better now, too.
After cleaning that mess, I threw a load of laundry (consisting mostly of soggy towels and toddler clothes) in to wash and ventured to the family room to continue with my carpet cleaning.
I went to check on the girls again when it was time to empty the dirty water, and found them on my newly mopped kitchen floor eating blueberries from the freezer. Their clothes, hands, feet and the tile were all thoroughly purple by the time I found them & I decided it must be snack time.
Following a clothing change and a snack, I put Rachel in her bed (not that she slept) and gave Sarah the Nintendo DS to entertain her while I finished the family room.
I did in fact finish the family room & it is looking MUCH better now, and even gave the dining room a quick "once over" and it only took me four hours to do the two rooms if you include the time it took to clean up the interruptions :)
When I took the vacuum to my mom's house, I stopped to help her with her daisies because I wanted some starts to replace the aspen trees we had to take out earlier this year, but I think she could sense my exhaustion because she just gave me the flowers and sent me on my way. However, before we left, my kind sister, Haylee, helped me get the girls out of the car and laughed when she discovered that Rachel had taken off, not just her pants, but her diaper as well on the way down.
Now, you may not realize how impressive that is unless you take into account the fact that she was in a 5 point harness.
Anyway, we got home with the daisies & I got the kids out of the car, grabbed the shovel from the garage and opened the back of the car to get the daisy starts. Well, guess who had climbed back in the car and was using the dirt from the flowers as a sand pile? Yep, the diaper Houdini herself. Oh, she was a mess--as was the car.
But, I pulled her out of the car, and we all started weeding the front corner and planting the daisies and all was well until I decided to water the flowers and Rachel-Houdini-Sandpiler was playing in the mud that had pooled in the low spots of the flowerbed.
I gave Ellie the task of keeping Rachel OUTSIDE while I quickly took the push broom/shop vac to the back of the car. I was watching, as well, but when I finished vacuuming, I guess Ellie thought that was the cue to go inside & let Rachel walk, muddy footed, all through the main floor.
By this time it was nearly time for Becca's piano lesson, so I gave her a quick sandwich, gathered her books together and sent her on her way. Then I fed the rest of the girls and cleaned up the mud that had somehow multiplied and replenished itself along the way (or perhaps Rachel wasn't the only one with muddy feet).
Once dinner was done, I remembered that we were supposed to go next door for an ice cream social/family night, and I didn't exactly look presentable, so I raced upstairs to get ready, Greg got home & we all went over to the neighbors' house. It wasn't until we were leaving that I realized that Greg never even got any dinner.
As we were walking home, I told the girls they needed to hustle to bed, but they all remembered that we had promised to take them to the movie store to rent a movie for family night & so instead of going straight to bed, we made another venture out.
The girls are now all in bed, and I am typing on my laptop in bed, totally tuckered out & happily ignoring the mess that the girls made of the upstairs.