Mr. Zookeeper gets home and I can't wait to tell him that I got the kids to eat "squash muffins" and they didn't know... I end the bragging moment with "mom- 2 points". It goes the other way as well. He walks in to find me scrubbing ketchup off the wall and my only reply, "kids- 3 points".
We seem to subconsciously operate on a point system to determine if it's been a good day or bad day.
At the end of every school year I anticipate a fun filled summer just me and my wild animals but always have the unknown waging in my mind. What am I going to do? I don't have a 1:2 ratio like they're used to. It's just me! Sometimes me with them and sometimes, sadly, me vs. them. So in honor of summer vacation coming to an end, I thought we'd do a tally to see who got the best of who.
First day of summer break; kids still wake up at 6:00 am. (kids- 4 points)
First day of summer break; kids still go to bed at 8:30 pm. (mom- 4 points)
Tiger floods bathroom. kids- (5 points)
Rhino realizes what times we eat and does a count down to each meal by the minute. (kids- 3 points)
Puppy isn't sure she likes having brothers home all day. (kids- 2 points)
Monkey thinks it's fun to help Tiger flood the loft, since the bathroom door is now locked. (kids- 10 points)
Mom buys a trampoline. (mom- 15 points)
Rhino learns how to get his own breakfast. (mom- 3 points)
Tiger learns how to work the microwave. (kids- 3 points)
Puppy wants to be in charge. (kids- 2 points)
Monkey decided she no longer wants to wear diapers but can't be bothered with a toilet. (kids- 4 points)D
Summer school. (mom- 5 points)
We go camping. (mom- 10 points)
Tiger learns how to climb trees. (point to be determined by what he does with this new found skill and knowledge)
vacations and daily fun, activities, projects and never ending snacks and surprises. (mom -33 points)
Mom hears garage door open and runs with the speed of cheetah on a hunt. (mom- 5 points)
Mom finds Tiger and Monkey in van, sitting front seat buckled up with keys in hand. When I ask where they're going the answer comes, "to city for french fries". (mom- 2 points for catching them and kids- 3 points for nearly giving mom a heart attack) All of the sudden the safety feature on the ignition isn't so annoying anymore.
Tiger discovers where we hide his potato products. (kids- 5 points)
Tiger forgets to close the freezer door after getting his potato products out and defrosted 47 lbs of meat which I got to cook up. (kids- 11 points)
Mom spends 3 1/2 hours on hands and knees scrubbing tile floor. (mom- 10 points)
Puppy and Monkey dump dirty water back onto clean tile. (kids- 8 points)
Rhino and Tiger entertained themselves while mom spent so much time on hands and knees cleaning tile floor. (kids- 4 points)
Mom is in good health and gaining energy back. (mom- 10 points)
Kids have natural kid energy. Rhino spends endless hours wandering the halls waiving his stick around quoting movies. Tiger decides that play is a child's work and decides to use his curiosity against me. Puppy is too smart for own britches and has a hard time dealing with her brother's limitations. Wants to constantly play with friends and eat chicken noodle soup every day because she hasn't had any yet. Monkey joins ranks with Tiger- after all, he is the fun one; when not attempting to escape I find them both in the garage sitting on top, yes- on top of the van. (kids-16 points)
These are just some of the more memorable moments of our summer together. No matter how I plan, what I anticipate or how many locks I have Mr. Zookeeper install, we always have to leave room for the unexpected- sometimes it's good, sometimes it results in me doing a lot of cleaning up afterward but I LOVE our time together!
So as I look at our scores it's natural to wonder who came out on top. Some days they definitely got the best of me and that's when you just nod your head, go out for ice cream (or french fries) and get a good nights sleep to prepare for retaliation in the morning.
But with all of these calculations going on surely someone must have a higher score! Who won this summer battle?
We have each other through it all and so I guess that makes us all winners- so who needs to add it up anyway- I mean, (what's the point)?
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