Sunday funday?

Clearly, whenever The Bangles wrote their smash hit Manic Monday, they did not have children that they took to church.  Sunday funday my rear.

Our morning was going pretty well until about 10-20 minutes before we needed to head out the door.  Then I decided I'd had enough of Walter's snot, so I ran interference with the magical demonic bulb.  Walter then began to yell.  And by yell, I mean much louder than any other normal human baby scream.  I'm now half deaf.  He yelled for a solid 8 hours. Or was it only 15 minutes? Whatever it was, he was seriously mad.

 

Meanwhile, Paul was manning Henry while also trying to pack the diaper bags.  Henry managed to pull something on himself in the pantry. So he started screaming.  Paul picked him up, comforted him, but also attempted to multi-task and put his shoes on as well.  As he rounded the corner to grab Henry's shoes, he bashed Henry's head into the wall. Let the full-on wailing commence.

We climbed in the car, turned up Henry's music (we can't go anywhere without the Precious Moments Sunday School songs lately), and turned the air-conditioning on full blast.  That's when the screaming from both children stopped.  Henry needed music and Walter needed the air-conditioner.  It was a peaceful, quiet (minus full-blast Zacheus) ride to church.

I don't think I started to feel normal and calm again until the Affirmation of Faith.

When we picked the kiddos up, everyone was in an awesome mood.  We made a brave and rare last-minute decision - let's grab something for lunch.  Like at a real restaurant. Tacos are always easy and quick, so off we went.  

 

 Happy, happy baby.

 Stare-off.

 Henry cracked first.

We finished eating and headed to the car. Henry has been in especially fine form today - he's been skipping, laughing, hopping, waving and talking to strangers, etc.  I think this fine mood made him especially brave - he decided to rip his hand from Paul and try to run through the parking lot.  Bad decision.  Paul grabbed his arm, leaned in, discussed the situation and possible consequences.  Henry decided to test whether Paul was serious.  Bad decision #2.  One spanking later, Henry was sobbing hysterically in his car seat.  And then he got more hysterical, because that's what tired 2-year-olds do.  And then he started coughing.  Oh crap. More coughing. Oh double, triple crap.  I threw a size 4 diaper across the car (as I was buckling a cooing, laughing, calm Walter in), and Paul did his best to catch the reappearance of lunch.  It wasn't necessarily all that successful....

We now have two children napping, 1 scrubbed car seat, and a load of clothes in the washing machine.  And it's only 1:30 p.m.

Paul and I work like a well-oiled machine during the week, and rarely have any issues getting the kids out the door by 6:40-6:45 a.m.  We don't need to leave for church until around 8:00-8:10 a.m., and more than 50% of the time, we end up in the car in silence.  Whether the silence is due to exhaustion or because we've been on the verge of a near fight, it seems like a rarity that everything moves smoothly on Sunday.  And this only seems to happen on Sundays. What is up with that?!?

So when you open up the church directory and see this family

 

please realize there's a 50/50 shot it's a minor miracle we made it through the doors dressed, in one piece, and with our clothes slightly clean.  If we look a little crazed, give us a few minutes - we should look much better by the time the sermon starts.