Saturday mornings: Part 2 Just Trying to Relax

We like to relax on Saturday mornings. We like to sit at the table together and have a cup of coffee and talk about the day ahead, the weekend, our plans or goals. It is nice when we all sit down together, and talk, and laugh and linger. O how I love to linger at the breakfast table.

Unfortunately, we have these 3 little munchkins who like to do all they can to make sure that no relaxing, no talking, and certainly no lingering is taking place. There might be laughter, but it that kind of laughter that is on the verge of hysteria--or at least tears.

Let me give you an example.

On this particular Saturday morning, we had made breakfast, brewed up espresso on the stove, ala Bialetti, and sat down together at the table. Only it was one of those mornings when we got up from said table at least 20 times in 5 minutes for more toast, orange juice, milk, water, more cereal, a yogurt, more toast, a washcloth, to wash 6 hands and 3 faces and then, finally we sat down again. We urged them out of the dining room cause we were already a little tired of them (it was only 7:30 am) and just wanted to eat our breakfast. But they would have none of that.

James brought his Legos to the table where he proceeded to build things and ask Aaron continuously to build him a race car. Continuously.

William found the Lego instruction book and he wandered back and forth from kitchen to dining room asking continuously for Daddy to look at the book so he could show him all the things he wanted him to build.

Then he just laid in the kitchen booth and yelled to us to "come look at this one," and yelled at Lilly for trying to rip the Lego book. "No Lilly, don't rip it!" "Lilly's trying to wreck this book! Lilly is trying to wreck this book! LILLY. IS. TRYING. TO. WRECK. THIS. BOOK!!!"

When Lilly tired of torturing William, she took her favorite pot from the cupboard and began to play her favorite game.

Climbing in.

Sitting down. (if you can call it that)

Standing up and yelling "Da!" , which is her version of "Ta Da!"

She did it over and over again and would just yell "Da!" more loudly each time if we did not respond.

All of this was happening simultaneously.

The talking, the yelling the "Da"ing. All at the same time. I really need to film it some time because when we tell them how loud they used to be, they won't believe us.

And so Aaron and I sat there, in the midst of all the ruckus and pandemonium, and drank our cold coffee and ate our hard toast. At one point we looked at each other and said one of our favorite jokes, "whose idea was it to have all these kids anyway?"

Sometimes you just have to laugh so you don't cry.