Chaos Marathon Week

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Oh what a week we’ve had! Life just does not get any better.

About the moment you say could it get any crazier… it does.

This is life my friend. And I am told God never gives you more than you can handle.

I have shared with you guys before my not so sweet love affair with my front load washer and dryer. To sum it up, the pair are less than two years old and are the absolute worse purchase I’ve ever made. Ever. I’ve bought used cars that brought me more joy!

These washers are so finicky and require more special care than I am able to provide.

A few weeks ago I unknowingly washed a pair of shorts with rock filled pockets. Within a few days it sent my washer into Chewbacca mode. It made some of the strangest sounds I have ever heard in my entire life.

Then suddenly in the mist of a full load of laundry it just stopped on Monday. I could not get it to reset. I could not get it to continue the load . The drain function would not work and I was lucky to finally get the door to unlock.

The barrel was full of water and soaking wet clothes. And the best part? The washer is out of manufactures warranty!

Every pot and pan and available towel (as well as a wet vac) were used to soak up the water that had to be removed from the washer so Lenny could take it apart and work on it. (This is hands down what I love most about this man. He can fix ANYTHING! I mean anything! It is like magic.)

That was our Monday.

On Tuesday we transferred Garrett back to our traditional public school. This was such a hard decision. Last year we were given the opportunity to attend a local college preparatory charter school. The first school year was pretty seamless. This school year has been extremely difficult and trying. He merged from an elementary setting to a middle school setting this school year and the level of independent responsibility and work load were unmanageable for Garrett. He was staying for tutoring up to three days per week until 5:00pm and then coming home and doing homework until 10:30 at night and still not grasping the material. I was reteaching him the work at home and at some point you have to say is this doing more harm than good? He was incredibly stressed. Let me just say Garrett has officially written his first thesis paper (yes, in 6th grade!) and we have now closed that chapter in our book.

It was such a difficult decision because you do not want to send the message to your kids that it is ok to quit, but we do want our children to know that we have to acknowledge our limits and set boundaries.  It is our job as parents to recognize these things for our children.

So this week we have been adjusting to the change in school and being back in the traditional public school setting.  Many of his friends have changed while he was gone for a year. That has been a little hard for him to digest. He is learning to be true to himself and choose his friends wisely. This is such a hard age.

Then came Thursday and Matthew was starting to pull at his ears. He has been congested for a few weeks, but it was just at bedtime and when he would first get up in the mornings. It seemed to be  allergy related and not virus related. Suddenly on Wednesday he had some drainage and low grade fever. After a sleepless and tear induced night we landed ourselves at the doctors office to find a bulging red ear drum. My poor baby.

And if having a sick baby was not taking the week out with a bang, our Thursday night just got even better. Lenny had recently repainted the living room and dining room and still needed to touch up on a few areas. He had left a paint can in a corner of the dining room. Apparently Luke needed a stage as he was the center of attention for a grand mischievous performance and he decided to use the half full paint can as his platform. I catch him as he is is mid jump and as he lands the can is knocked to it’s side and the pressure of Luke’s 40 pound body sent to lid flying across the room. And lots of brown paint.

For a moment imagine puddles of brown paint all over a $200 rug and our carpet. Image it splattered on the walls and Matthew’s play kitchen. Imagine Luke pushing Nick into one puddle of paint and Nick landing on his back. It was like making paint angels instead of snow angels. Clothes destroyed. Garrett and I were covered in paint as we scurried to clean this up before smaller children had official paint wars. Lenny was able to get most of the paint out of the carpet- I tell ya, amazing!

And today we have baby feet with remnants of dry paint. Calgon take me away!

Here is to a great week and a great weekend! Cheers!