Recovering

I took the kids on a field trip today to one of their favorite places... the dump! To the dump, to the dump, to the dump-dump-dump! I FILLED the entire cabin of the minivan with cardboard, only cardboard. Brady had to scale the pile to climb into his booster, thank god he can buckle himself now, I'd have never made it back down without supplemental O2.

Then we stopped at Freddie's to return a couple of things (absolutely no waiting to return stuff, Larry said the same thing is happening at Costco... are people waiting for the weekend?) And the kids thankfully wanted to go to the playland. But I gotta say, that playland sucks ass. Every time I take the kids there, there is a video playing and the attendant is hiding behind the counter, as far away from the children as possible. I want to shop at Freddie's because the prices are better, and grocery shopping is so much easier solo. And I know my kids are having fun when they are at Haggen. Last time I went to pick them up at Haggen I was told "4 more minutes mom". They were building towers to knock down, coloring together, being read to. I know it's free, but there is a drastic difference in the time my kids spend at each place. I felt so guilty leaving them at Freddie's playland, that I went and retrieved them and finished shopping with them, so at least someone would be talking (yelling) at them.

And I have to say, the fighting in my house hold between my children is slowly decreasing. This summer I thought I might run away and never come back I was so exhausted from the CONSTANT fighting. Plus it brings horrible flashbacks to my childhood, and the deep running loathing I had for my little brother (sorry Rich, love ya now, thanks for not kicking my ass now that you can). They actually PLAY together, and LAUGH with each other, and sit QUIETLY together. This sounds so cheesy, but it truly makes my heart smile that they have a love for each other and that there is hope that they will have happy childhoods together instead of separately. I'm a total cynic to the worst degree, but when I see these sorts of things, I really SEE them.