Relief! And a Story!

The pie is in the oven. Now if I can just manage to wait the three hours required before I eat it. One to cook, two to rest, every second torture. Also torturous? My camera is all cleaned up and ready to come home, but my kids are sleeping, so it stays trapped in it's retail prison. Blast.

While I have some time to kill, let me tell you a story. On Sunday I mentioned that my kids were driving me a wee bit insane, especially Sam, in regards to disregarding every word that comes out of my mouth. We had our little 'run away from mom' incident at the Y Saturday afternoon, but Saturday evening was when he pulled out all of the stops.

SOB's chairman hosts a welcoming barbecue every year in mid-July after the new residents start. It's the kind of thing where most everyone in the department shows up, even if for only to make an appearance. We headed over and for a while things were going well. Our hosts had a big back yard and some balls for the kids to play with, plus there was a hammock and swing set for them to mess around with as well. My kids, in particular, loved the hammock. They would climb in and beg for me to swing them, and I obliged. I snapped a few pictures of them looking adorable together in there, and the evening seemed like it was going to go just fine.

But somewhere along the way, Sam flipped his internal switch from 'cute' to 'evil' and all hell broke loose.

The swing set was an older, metal model and the slide was high and steep. Despite several sharply worded warnings, he continued to push and be rough with the littler children, his sister included, while at the swing set. After several time outs, he was banished from the swing set all together. Then he started snatching balls away from the kids playing in the yard.

Finally, he ended up back in the hammock with Lucy, and pair of sisters. They were all playing nicely when the two sisters' older brother came over carrying their seven week old baby sister. He proceeded to get into the hammock with the baby as well, and I asked my kids to move away so that I could snap a photo of the four siblings together. The boy looked about thirteen or fourteen, and was rightly protective of his baby sister. He asked that no one touch the baby. I repeated that to my kids, and again asked them to get out of the hammock. All the while I'm snapping pictures.

Lucy, while unhappy, obliged and got out of the hammock. Sam, on the other hand, wouldn't budge. All of a sudden he started to lean over. I shouted, 'Sam! Don't you touch that baby!'

And here is the last shot I captured right before I grabbed my son by his toenails and dragged him back to the car.

Now do you see why I need pie?