Sometimes I just hate being the grown-up

The weather here has been gorgeous. Fall is getting so close and the leaves are gradually changing. I think it's going to be a very pretty fall because we've had the rain that's necessary. At least that is what all the locals tell me. Everyone around here has been decorating their houses for fall and/or Halloween. I've always loved this time of year. I talked to a friend about where to find a pumpkin patch and found out there is one only about ten minutes away! It even has a hayride. My mind was already making plans for our Saturday. Maybe I would even take them out to breakfast then head over to the pumpkin patch and pick out pumpkins and take some cute fall pictures. Oh, it was going to be so fun. Or, as Holly puts it, I'd get my "Norman Rockwell moment". Nothing wrong with that. I also was going to head over to Sam's last night and pick up a few groceries and maybe find a new family movie that we could all watch together.

Then it all blew up in my face. I dropped off the girl who watched the kids yesterday (I had school and they didn't). All the kids wanted to pet the hamster that her sister was holding in their yard and I was talking to the mother so I told them they could. Then they wouldn't get back in the car and Ayden was screaming bloody murder b/c they all left him behind. The mother went, "Oh no Caleb!" I looked and he was riding the motorized scooter in the street, which he doesn't know how to ride and a car was coming. He got to the side and stopped. I told him, "No more Caleb, get off." I turned around to say something and the mother said, "Oh no Caleb," again as he was running into her suburban! So they all piled into the car and I told them that I was not going to take them to Sam's because 1. They didn't get back in the car when I told them too and 2. Caleb crashed the scooter. Ayden screamed like a Pterodactyl all the way home because he was still so angry.

We get home and I said, your chores better have been done. I should have known by the way they ran into the house that they didn't do their chores. The trash can was overflowing, there was a pile of dirty dishes in the sink, the dishes had not been unloaded from the dishwasher and the table had stuff all over it. Not just glasses and such but 'stuff'. So I fussed and fussed and they all begin to move toward their chore area. Then, the worst of it, I went into the bathroom. Someone had gone #2 and had not flushed. That is gross, but in a household this size, it happens. I said who was in here last. Then I was informed by Brooklyn that she saw it and no one would admit it was them - so she left it!!!!! I flipped out. We'd had two girls over, the babysitter and her sister that is Brooklyn's age. I had two guests in my home and this is what they were greeted with!! I was so grossed out and embarrassed. The visit to the pumpkin patch drifted away in a vaporous mist. I really did not feel like rewarding them after the mess they left in the house after being home all day. Not only that but I found out that Bobby had told Brooklyn there was to be no cooking. She said she didn't 'hear' (there is a lot of that going on) and they cooked anyway - making a huge mess. Oh well, so much for my Saturday. I hate being the grown up. I really wanted to go to the pumpkin patch. Here, I'll pretend aren't these photos nice? LOL