3 Hours and 15 Minutes

That's all it took.  Three hours and 15 minutes.  I got off work at 5:00 and Ernie drove me home, stopping to mail my sister's tax forms on the way....so I'd guess we got home about 5:20 p.m.

By 8:35 p.m I had said good night to the rest of the family and escaped upstairs and closed myself in my bedroom.

Geesh.

It made me think of the nights when the boys were younger and it was so crazy that when you finally got them to bed and it was quiet you just wanted to cry.  I'm happy to say it's not like that any longer (there IS light at the end of the tunnel for those of you still in that phase) but last night it felt like it.

From the moment I got home----well, actually it started with a phone call from Owen ON the way home----people just get kept asking things and wanting things and talking and being LOUD and it never STOPPED. The only one who didn't drive me crazy was my beloved husband although he did manage to char the rib tips he was doing on the grill to a fascinating degree of doneness.  They were black and practically fossilized. Huh. There were a few bits here and there you could eat.  I don't know what happened as usually he's a master but perhaps it was all the CHAOS of the evening....

There were lawn mowing dramas, there were playstation network dramas, there was homework drama... There was Leo LOUDLY skyping with three of his friends as they worked on a commercial for a new server one of them is setting up...so it felt like four boytweens were in the kitchen with their voices reverberating through the house.  Owen was hyped up and over hungry and over tired by the time he was working on his homework (bad planning I know) so he began to make NO sense.  I told him I couldn't figure out whether his brain was going faster than his mouth---or the other way around.  Either way---something was out of sync and he WOULDN'T SHUT UP!  It was as though he'd been gulping caffeine pellets all afternoon.  The TV was on, Owen was talking, talking, talking, Leo was skyping....  I finished my burned bits of food and finally said...."I'm going upstairs to read" and fled with well deserved glass of wine and my kindle.  And just like those long ago nights of deep breathing after I finally got the toddlers into bed, I just sat there for awhile before I could even begin to read.

Three hours and 15 minutes.

Good lord but I love my babies.....

Thank GOD I love my babies....  

And please notice in these pictures that Owen's mouth is OPEN in almost every one....