Summer Days

Justin's Door

Annalise's Room

Joining Forces

It was a day when I was battling that ever present television at the same time I was trying to salvage my quickly dwindling patience. As you can see by the "No Grouches Allowed" sign on Justin's door, it wasn't pretty.

The two of them were told that they had to find a non-electronic way to entertain themselves for 2 hours before I took them to the pool. You would have thought I'd asked them to live in exile for the rest of their lives for the tantrums and drama that followed. The bike riding idea was out because, "All I can do is ride laps around the dumb neighborhood!" and the reading idea was quickly ruled "waaaaayyyy too boring!" Imagine my delight when they settled on performing an Irish step dancing routine to the recorder (played by Justin) for me. That was when I declared myself a grouch and they were sent to do something that was not only non-electronic, but quiet as well. I was not a fan favorite at that point. The resulting activity was the two of them sitting in Annalise's room together, making signs to keep "The Grouch" (and each other) out of their rooms since I promised to leave them alone as long as they were in there.

Tonight, after the pool and dinner, they allowed each other past the "keep out" signs and linked themselves together to play a football game. They were on the same team and I heard them both giggling and groaning at the same time depending on how the play went. They were so happy in there playing together that they managed to weasel an extra half an hour out of their mean old Mom. For all the fighting they do, when they join forces against a common cause (generally me), they sure do make a great team!