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Five days a week, smack dab in the middle of the afternoon my quiet house melts into chaos the second these 5 children of mine come barreling through my door… backpacks full of homework, in terrible need of a snack and heads bursting with things they have got to tell their mother. It seems they want to tell me these important things as quickly and as loudly as they can, all at the same time. I find myself saying things like “Yes, oh really!” and “Wait just a minute, your sister is in the middle of her story” and “Please don’t spill the milk” and “Don’t cry, dear. Things will look up tomorrow” and “Doesn’t anyone want to eat a scrumptious carrot stick? Tastes great less filling…” and “Wow, you are kidding! How cool!” and “Yes, I can pick you up if you stay late tomorrow” and…well. It can make a girls head spin now can’t it. Sometimes I just sit at the edge of the counter and try to drink it in. A person needs to take a seat when managing 5 conversations at once.
Yesterday while the Whirlwind of Information was being tossed around my kitchen I noticed my little Aaron kept getting into the fridge…
and performing some kind of magic trick on many of my jars and bottles.
“This is so cool, Mom! Watch I am going to make the expiration date disappear. It’s an awesome magic trick! Just color over the date with a dry erase marker, blow on it…
wipe it with a paper towel…
and you will never ever…like never EVER see the expiration date again, like in your whole life, Mom. Really. Cool right!”
And it was cool until I realized that he had taken the expiration date off of pretty much every jar, container and and jug in my fridge.
And then we all laughed a hearty laugh and chuckled a lot at his quirky cuteness. And I didn’t even care if I never knew for the rest of my life if today’s milk was expired or not.
Because the honest truth is, the 3:00 chaos along with the Whirlwind of Information blowing around my kitchen isn’t going to last forever. The months, weeks, days and minutes that I get to keep all of these children of mine living here, under one roof, are ticking by you know. I can see that expiration date inching its way into my life…a little too fast for my taste. Especially with my oldest kids. (Can you believe my oldest son is a Junior this year! I know, right. How did that happen!)
I’ll take the 3:00 madness, the Whirlwind of Information, the spilled milk and especially the fabulous quirky cuteness. I’m not sure what I’ll do with myself when…
It Has All Expired.
(Maybe, I will finally be able to keep that blasted Stainless Steel Fridge of mine clean…don’t hold your breath. That thing is a bugger.)
What an adorable story! Yes, enjoy every moment, it gets really quiet when they leave home. But…the joy of seeing them as adults is just as precious!
This is one of the funniest things I’ve read in a long time! I love it when kids do things like this….of course I can laugh, because now I’m the grandma!
Enjoy every second of each day! Before you know it they will be off to college or whatever and the house will be quiet like mine!!
Such a sweet story! Kids do grow up so fast!
Enjoy it while it lasts! My house is always clean, my laundry is always done and I am bored out of my mind! My baby is in college now, my oldest lives 1000 miles away and I miss those days terribly. Glad you recognize what you have now. 🙂
What a great and very sweet story! I have an almost 4 year old girl and a 10 month old boy. Sometimes in the chaos I need to remember to just soak it in and enjoy these moments b/c you are so right that they will tick by faster than we’d like! Thanks for the encouraging and sweet story! LOVE reading your blog all the way over in Georgia! 🙂
I know what you mean! My oldest is a senior in high school, and I dread the day when he goes to college. I would go back when my boys were 5 and 7 in a heartbeat!!
It sounds like fun, to me!
I have a stainless steel stove… NEVER AGAIN.
My oldest got married in September and my youngest started Law School last summer so I really know what you’re talking about. It’s a mix of knowing you did a good job raising your kids and missing the schmutz. Their rooms still look the same as when they left them 8 years ago so I still have a place to go that has their essence.
Oh how I LOVE and MISS that cute family of yours!!! Cutest kids in the whole world (hands down!!) What a spectacular bunch of kids to go with their spectacular mother!