when will I learn to keep my big mouth shut?

I was feeling pretty good Saturday night.

And then I posted all that stuff about Easter prep and jinxed it all.

Allow me to explain.

I went to the gym while Dan put kids to bed on Saturday night. I got an anonymous (since I don't have that number saved in my phone and I don't know who it was...but I have an idea) text from someone jealous of my relaxing Easter eve. To increase the envy, I let the texter know that I was on my way to the gym (since the texter was at Walmart looking for Easter basket stuff).

I ran 4 miles without stopping. I've never done that before. I came home and did some math. If I had been running at that same pace in a marathon, I would have finished in 4.8 hours. Wowzers! I guess I'm no speed demon on the treadmill. It felt good anyway.

Cate was asleep when I got home. Danny wasn't. He was playing in his room. He was still not asleep at midnight. He had fallen asleep on the couch earlier in the day so I'm pretty sure that's what gave him the extra energy he needed to not go to sleep, but stay awake and torture his poor tired mother instead.

Easter morning dawned with Cate crying in her room around 7:30. That's a good hour and a half (maybe 2 hours) earlier than her normal wake up time. She's a beast if she gets up early. It's not pretty. I usually just ignore the crying and hope she'll go back to sleep. Most of the time she does. She cried for a while and I eventually told Dan to just go get her and bring her into our bed.

She stayed there for a good 45 minutes while Dan went back to sleep and I tried to keep her happy watching clips of Dora and Wubbzy on my phone. I was very tempted to just put in my earplugs and go back to sleep too. I couldn't though. Cate knows how to call people on my phone. I'm pretty sure none of my frequent contacts wanted a wake-up call at 7:45 on Easter morning.



Around 8:15 I decided I'd had enough. I left her with Dan and went to see if Danny was awake yet. He was playing with his Legos in his room. Hallelujah! We did the Easter stuff together and ate the bunny rolls. Dan got ready and left for his church meetings. I took a shower and got ready too. Everybody was happy-ish.

And then it was time to get the kids ready for church. I chose Danny first since Cate was a bit off (from losing those 2 hours of sleep). She'd been a little whiny all morning but nothing I can't handle (with a few sips of Diet Pepsi...for me, not her).

I asked Danny to go pose in front of the window after I got him ready. Here's what he chose to do.



Looks like he needs to take a trip to the restroom but whatever. He's still handsome. After a few attempts at getting him to stop crossing his legs and give me a non-fake looking smile, here's what I got:



And then Cate came over. I pretty much count this as the point at which everything started to spiral down into the never-ending abyss of tantrum, tears and overall grouchiness.



Sure, they're cute. But she's not in her Easter dress. He's done with pictures and does not want his sister putting her arm around him. Oh, the weeping and wailing that occurred (a little bit of that came from me, sorry to say).

Dan came home in time to help me get Cate dressed. I can't remember if she was already crying or not. Probably. She didn't want her nightgown off. She didn't want her underwear changed (since the blue fishy ones were showing through the white dress and I don't have a slip her size...it's on my to-buy list now though). She didn't want her socks on. She didn't want her shoes on. She didn't want me to do her hair. All the while crying hysterically. Oh, it was lovely.

At some point the gathering on the front of her dress came all undone. It was loose and weird looking so off it came. I think that's when I had to really hold back my tears. It was so cute and matched Danny's tie. I'll see if I have any kind neighbors willing to try to fix it for me and maybe they can be cute together for Mother's day. They owe me.



I found a cute Plan B Easter dress in Cate's stash. Grama Bama had bought it for her a few weeks ago when she was here. It's still cute, just not what I had planned. I guess it was meant to be since the dress had polka dots just like Danny's tie. Not that it matters. It's just frustrating when I try and things don't go the way I want.

How do you like our family picture?



We managed to get Cate dressed and calmed down enough to snap a few pictures before leaving for church. These are the best of the bunch.



I'm just going to pretend that some day I'll look back at all this and laugh. That's what gets me through.



Plus the fact that they are so dang cute, even when they're tired and fed up with pictures. Cate liked the bunny rolls so much that she held on to that last piece and let it be in all the pictures with her. How sweet.



It's a good thing the true meaning of Easter is not a cute picture of little angel children standing together in their carefully selected coordinating outfits showing love to each other. If it was, I'd be a big fat failure indeed.

Cate cried most of the way to church. Good thing it's a quick trip.

She bonked her head on the door on the way into the chapel because she was busy not looking in front of her.

We made it home and Danny went with Dan to Grandma's house.

Cate fell asleep on the chair. Bad news.

Monday morning they both slept in past 9:30. I like to count that as my reward for surviving the shenanigans of the day before.

Here's the deal.

I'm trying to be happy and positive and hopeful. It's not my strong suit.

I've been feeling kind of blah and not very bloggy. Hence, no posting for a few days.

I want to remember the good stuff. I want to brag about it and show off my cute kids. Look at the fun stuff we do. Look at the wonderful things I'm teaching them. Aren't we all so wonderful? Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

Sometimes I think that if I admit to the bad stuff (like how Cate threw her toothpaste laden toothbrush at me on Monday night and I put her in her room and she cried and cried and cried until she was asleep and how she pitched a royal fit at the end of a princess birthday party yesterday afternoon because the birthday girl was actually going to keep the baby doll that she had given her and how I had to give someone an enema last night), then all the good stuff is that much more worth it.

It's the bad stuff that makes me feel like I'm doing a pretty crappy job at this whole mothering gig (because I'm the one who is supposed to teach those kids to not throw toothbrushes, that the gift stays at the house of the person you give it to and you should be happy about it and to not hold in your poop).

It's the good stuff that makes me forget (at least temporarily) about it. Or not. I don't really forget any of it. I just really like the good stuff a whole lot more than the bad.

* * * * * * *

How about I go ahead and end all this late night rambling with a few positives?

Grama Bama and Grandpa survived the tornadoes in Alabama. They're fine and their house is fine.

Cate and Danny both slept in until 9:30 this morning.

I pulled lots of dandelions in the back yard this afternoon (much to Danny's disappointment since he thinks the bees need them to make their honey).

I ate taquitos at Cocolito's for dinner tonight.

On the trip to Target last night to procure the aforementioned poop problem solver, I tried on a pair of summery pants in a size 6 just to see if they'd fit.

And last but not least, the enema got the job done.

It may have been a long, crappy week but everything worked out in the end.

(Don't tell me that Thursday night isn't the end because I'm just going to go to bed and pretend that it is.)