The Downs

Some days are ups and others are, well...downs. Today is one of the downs. We went to a fire station field trip today. It was so fun. The firemen were awesome and we got to put on uniforms, "drive" the fire trucks, etc. Quinn and Chloe loved it.

After that we went to Dublin Park with the kids and moms that went to the fire station. It started off fine. Chloe actually sat at the picnic table and ate some of her lunch. A few minutes later, I heard one boy burst into tears. Chloe kept filling his hole with sand. Just to bug him! He was working so hard digging and she continually dumped sand into his hole. As I walked up, one mom said, "I already moved you once Chloe."

This may not sound like a big deal but imagine you trying to frost a wedding cake and someone keeps sticking their finger into it and taking licks. This was Josh's masterpiece - his wedding cake. Chloe just had to ruin it, repeatedly.

Several other little things happened along the way but the final straw was when Chloe threw shovels full of dirt at one of the littler kids that was there. He was so upset, his mom wasn't too happy (Chloe has a strong arm & good aim). She also knows better! Joe called as I was leaving because being there was more stress than it was worth. I burst into tears and another mom, coming back from her car stopped me to talk about it. You get the picture.

It's is just so frustrating at times. Quinn and I (and Joe when he isn't working) are like the professional cake decorators and Chloe is always sticking her finger into our cakes. Everything we are trying to do - from cooking to building dinosaurs is 100 times harder than it needs to be. I really feel for Quinn. Today, he was punished (had to leave the park) because of his sister's behavior. I know that this happens to others too but he seems to get a disproportionate amount of "unfair" stuff.

Last night, Joe and I were doing the yard. I ran out of gas. Joe went to get some and I went to put the rake away. Chloe was told not to go near the lawnmower. Instead of listening, she proceeded to dump cups of water on it. Later that night, Quinn and I had a meeting for his school. While we were gone, the fire department and police department were here! Chloe decided to drink some hand sanitizer, despite its foul taste. She's fine.

Please pray for us. Need more ups, especially when we are in groups!