Peaches and Cream

Not every day is "peaches and cream" over here in the Vargas household.  Today the peaches were rotten and the cream was spoiled!
My morning started off with all 3 kids waking up at the same exact time, 10 minutes before I had my 1st cup of coffee.  That's never a good sign.  And, because I hadn't had my coffee yet, the 3 of them requested breakfast right away - something they rarely do.  Kyle wanted waffles, Savannah wanted yogurt - changed her mind and wanted cereal - changed her mind again and ended up eating a bowl of raisins.  Bella couldn't decide what she wanted, which is always fun to deal with at 6:45a.  Not.  By 7:30a I was feeling more than a little frazzled.  Jim had to leave for the day at 9:30a and therefore needed two lunches made.  Bella and Savannah needed to be dressed.  I needed to tutor Tommy in reading.  And most of all, I needed a pot of coffee!
I eventually gulped down a couple of cups of coffee but it did little to turn my day around for the better.  I had just put the last load of laundry in when Savannah had a lake-sized accident all over one of the bedroom floors.  The bedroom floor that I had just washed, of course.  My frustration level continued to climb as my level of patience dropped down dangerously low come lunch time. Kyle was mad because I asked him to change his bedding, put away a basket full of (his own) laundry and change out of his too short, super faded, ripped to shreds camo pants (oh, the horror!).  Bella was feeling "emotional" and kept bursting into tears over the smallest things..i.e. "there's too much toothpaste on my toothbrush!", "my orange has a SEED in it" and - my all time favorite of the day - "my fruit punch tastes TOO FRUITY!!"  Savannah was being a typical toddler - doing things out of spite (throwing crayons, stepping on toys, pulling hair, drinking water from the dogs dish...).  It doesn't happen often, but sometimes the 3-1 ratio can feel overwhelming, especially when it's combined with endless amounts of household chores.
After lunch I was feeling optimistic because I knew that school time and nap time would be happening soon, both of which bring quiet with them.  But not today.  Oh no, not today.  Today, Savannah boycotted her nap.  She thought it would be more fun to strip naked and pull all of the sheets off of her bed.  Preschool was a flop with Bella as she pretended to have forgotten the alphabet and was not interested in doing what she was told to do - Me: Bella, what letter comes after "B"?  Bella: Ummm, the letter 4?  Me: No, Bella.  Not numbers.  We're not doing numbers, we're doing letters.  Let's practice the alphabet.. Bella: A, B, C, 1, 2, 6, H, L, 7, 1...  And then I had to deal with Kyle and the "video game issue":
Like most boys his age, Kyle loves video games.  Star Wars, Minecraft, Lego Batman - all "non-violent" kid games.  Some of them are even learning games.  Since Kyle is (usually) up the earliest in the morning I allow him to go down to the man cave and play video games until breakfast.  He usually plays for about an hour - sometimes a little longer.  After that he's rarely allowed to play again during the day/night, although lately that doesn't stop him from asking *constantly*.  He usually starts asking the minute he's finished with his school work and then he will continue to ask until I end up yelling "you are not playing any more video games today so please stop asking".  When he realizes that I'm not going to give in he mopes around the house, which drives me insane.  So today we had a long overdue conversation about it at dinner.  I explained to him exactly why I do not allow him to play video games for multiple hours each day.  I reminded him what initially sparked us to "unplug" the t.v., back when he was only a toddler.  I told him how it doesn't have anything to do with how well he does with his school work or how great his behavior is etc.  I'm not saying "no" to be mean, rather I'm saying it because I care about his health and well being.  He really seemed to grasp what I was saying to him and I felt good about how the conversation went...and then, as we were getting up from the table, he said "So there's no video games tonight, right?  I mean, I won't ask anymore, I'm just checking.." 
Good grief.
I spent all day scolding, yelling and cleaning up messes. No amount of reasoning with the kids seemed to work.  I know they're only little kids.  I know they require lots of patience.  I know that I love them with all heart.  I know that I love being home with them all the time.  But sometimes you just know when to throw up the white flag.  Sometimes there is great power in numbers.  Today, the mini army that I helped to create overpowered me.  They were victorious; I'm exhausted.  But, God willing, tomorrow will be better.  Tomorrow Kyle will remember our conversation about video games, Bella will remember the alphabet and Savannah will remember that she is indeed potty trained.  And even if they don't remember these things I can guarantee you that I'll have at least had a cup of coffee before doing anything.