My work day finally ended and after feeding Maddox lunch I was able to finally get him down for a nap. I was going over in my head the many things I had to do for that day in order to prepare for friends who were coming over for an early dinner at 5 pm.
First I had to go pick up Skylar from school and do a last minute grocery trip to pick up some last minutes things for dinner. I of course forgot the bread, but thats ok. Mitch was home, prepping for the dinner party.
As I walk in the door I notice out the back window to our backyard that there are clothes scattered about. I was confused at first asking myself how in the world did those clothes get back there? When I went outside to investigate I saw that there weren't just "some" clothes, but an ENTIRE wardrobe of clothes and toys scattered through out the entire backyard and deck! I knew then that Maddox, who was suppose to be napping must have opened his window and threw out all these clothes. I was furious! I went upstairs and asked him WHY did you do this? He just shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't know". I was just too upset to deal with him, so I let him go play with his sister while I cleaned up. I saw that not only did he open his window but he some how or another puncture a large hole in the screen window and then shoved that out onto the ground. His bedroom is on the second floor!
It took me close to 45 minutes to clean up the entire yard, because not only did I have to pick up all those clothes, but I also had to clean up a couple of stuffed toys that our dog, who was in the back yard, had tore up and had scattered stuffing all over the yard. While cleaning I knew that there was other stuff that need to be done before our friends arrived and THIS was not apart of the plan. I had to just keep telling myself, I have plenty of time, I have plenty of time.
Finally I was done and able to scorn Maddox properly. While cleaning up the mess and looking up at his window and thinking about how he had to open it and the dangers of him opening the window from the second floor scared me. All I could envision was him falling out of the window and landing on his head onto our back deck and killing himself. Of course the vision in my head was graphic and horrendous (I like to think the worst case scenario moments playing through a mother's head is normal). I had to get across to Maddox how dangerous it was that he opened his window. So I plain and simply told him that by opening his window he could have fell out and died. I let him know that it was wrong to open the window and if he did it again he would be severely punished. He understood me perfectly well and I just pray that he does NOT do something like that again.
It was 4:00 when I was done cleaning up the yard and I still had so much to do, including cleaning up the house and preparing dinner. I had to just keep telling myself, I have plenty of time, I have plenty of time.
The house was finally cleaned enough to be presentable and even the playroom was clean. I had not yet started dinner, but everything was laid out for me. I was however able to make cheese and crackers for our friends to munch on while I cooked.
5:00 on the dot our friends Caley and David arrived with their 2 little girls. Us 4 adults hung out together in the kitchen while I cooked and the 4 kids ran around the house playing. I made chicken marsala, garlic mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus and an italian salad. Caley brought over a secret recipe caramel dessert that was fabulous. We all had a great night together and it turned out that I did have plenty of time after all.