“If The House of Pannek were a sitcom, my last hour would air during sweeps week”…. words taken from my latest Facebook status update. I had to type up this post tonight, because honestly, I can’t even believe the level of insanity that happened today. Actually I should narrow that down to the time between 4:30 and 5:30pm, because prior to that we were having a quasi-GOOD day.
Have I mentioned that the age of THREE times THREE is HARD??? I remember three being harder than two with both Noah and Eli, but NOTHING… I mean NOTHING like this. Strength in numbers is a very true statement, and not always in a good way. This age might just make me crazy yet. [I might add, that on several occasions I ‘vent’ to Matt about things I have to deal with while he’s at work. Typically it goes something like ‘if they don’t stop doing BLANK, it’s going to make me CRAZY!’. It’s always followed by a smirk, while shaking-his-head, eye-rolling, you’re-already-a-NUT, look. HELLO! I can give you 3 reasons (5 on most days) why!!!]
So late this afternoon, the littles were starting to feel the effects of not napping. One wanted me to ‘hold’ him, another wanted a snack, and the other was just crying for whatever reason. While holding #1, I poured juice for #2. #3 was hysterical at the pantry wanting me to open it up (definitely have to keep it locked) so he could ‘shop’. I opened the pantry lock for #3 and took the other 2 to the playroom, hoping I could plant #1 on the couch. When I returned to the kitchen I made some snack bowls of goldfish, only to turn around with #3 holding the box of Cocoa Puffs. I didn’t want to deal with any more crying, so I poured him a bowl, and he made his way back to the play room happy again. As I was closing up the box of cereal & Goldfish, I heard a ruckus in the playroom. I figured I had better go and see what was going on.
I found this in the middle of the floor…
Of course it was completely EMPTY… and of course my floor was completely covered in Veggie Straws. The dogs were quite happy for about 3 seconds, until they decided they didn’t like them. Figures.
I picked up the bag and walked back to the kitchen to throw away the empty sack, muttering to myself not-so-nice words along the way. Right about then, Noah called and said he and Eli were on their way home from school. (They’ve been walking home lately since the weather’s been nice, plus it gives them time to play soccer after school with their friends.) I was on the phone less than 30 seconds, and then headed back to the playroom to clean up the veggie straws littering my Pottery Barn rug.
Unfortunately, I had a bigger mess to deal with…
This, my friends, is what I call the ‘great pancake mix disaster’. I think my jaw hit the floor as I rounded the corner to this one, and I’m sure I just stood there motionless for some time until I could process what had just happened. This picture really doesn’t do it justice… not even close. You can’t even see the bottom layer of Veggie Straws… that’s how deep this stuff was. Things were happening so fast, I was afraid to leave them alone even long enough to grab the camera, much less worry with trying to get the ‘perfect shot’.
This is what I removed from the center of the mess… albeit an empty box…
Within in seconds of me discovering this nightmare, Noah & Eli were ringing the doorbell. I turned around and opened the door for them. Their eyes were the size of quarters when they came in, but they didn’t say a word (I think they knew…). I turned right back around to try and determine just how I was supposed to clean all this up…. only to find Aidan & Liam making snow flurries amidst all of this.
Unbelievable. They were both covered from head to toe in Bisquick… along with my sofa, the 2 chairs, the WALLS, train table, armoir… need I go on??? Seriously… look at Aidan’s face!!!
They tell me this one is responsible for the mess… I’m not surprised…
I shooed the 3 littles outside and told N&E they were officially babysitting until I got the room back under control…. which took almost an HOUR.
And if that wasn’t enough…
After everything was back to *normal*, I made my way back to the kitchen to figure out what to make for dinner. Noah & Eli had snuck upstairs and the littles were playing quietly. Quiet enough for me to hear them talking from the kitchen. I hear Luke’s little raspy voice saying something… “oopie”. He repeats himself, joyfully… “oopie, oopie!”. I’m thinking to myself, I think I’ve heard him say that before… what is he saying? Nooooooo… OMG… POOPIE!!! I hauled my *you-know-what* back into the playroom to find both Luke & Liam, sans pants. Of course they point at the floor and repeat the “oopie” word. Yes folks… it’s happened. I now have officially experienced what drives most MoMs to use duct tape on the diapers. Not pretty.
I FREAKED OUT, told everyone to FREEZE while I ran to grab some wipes, diapers & a sack. I was most concerned with finding out WHO this present belonged to before I had a bigger mess. I kept the foreign object in sight at all times while I quickly cleaned up the culprit (of course, it was LUKE!)… all the while shouting for everyone to STAND BACK.
Would you believe, that my DOG… who was sitting on the chair right behind me decided to FLIP OUT, during my FREAK OUT. He literally jumped over my shoulder to get down off the chair. I screamed “BECKHAM!!!” while he was in mid-flight, scaring him even more, and upon his landing, he planted his back left foot SQUARE IN THE MIDDLE OF the $%&#!!! … $%#@!&#!!!!! I am REALLY freaking out now which makes him RUN. You can use your imagination from here. Needless to say I spent the next hour cleaning and sanitzing the floor.
If you had asked me almost 13 years ago if my then, newly-acquired, last name would have any indication of what my future would hold, I would have laughed in your face. Funny how things work out, isn’t it?
So who wants to sponsor my sitcom???
Jeremy says
February 4, 2011 at 6:58 amMichelle, I absolutely love your post/blog, you make me laugh and smile in such a way that no other can, I would definitely sponsor you in a sitcom. 🙂
P.S. I couldn't figure out how to post my comment, so forgive me, I used my husbands email account. (Lisa Jackson)
Laura says
February 4, 2011 at 5:36 pmMichelle, I think it is time for Valium. And vodka. And a vacation.
nikandthetrip says
February 4, 2011 at 9:43 pmMichelle, I don't know what to say! we are in the same situation, with one less boy, as my girl is an angel. but the boys O-M-G! do your scream all the time too??
I can't believe some friends with same age kid have those nice cd/dvd piles, plants, frames, dangerous objects all over the place never been touched…I thought there is something wrong with me, maybe?? I really don't know what to do……