What I see are garden spikes. What my son sees is a pile of arsenal to be assembled and put to use in battle.

I went to bed last night thinking I painted my dining room the color a first time mom would paint the nursery because she closed her eyes during those crucial moments in the sonogram. Ya know? In other words it was a bright sunny yellow and I was very uncertain about the whole thing.

This morning it’s looking more golden in the sunlight. But still.

Now about those boys of mine. Lord help me. The youngest one should be thanking his lucky stars that he is still among the living. He is getting into EVERYTHING leaving a path of destruction in his wake. I can’t let him out of my sight. Yesterday he decided he was hungry and got into the bagels and honey. Which sounds harmless right? Except he decided the prime spot to prepare the bagel with dripping glops of honey was on one of the new COUCH CUSHIONS!!!

Today, he broke a wooden rocking chair that his three siblings have used before him. Apparently, is wasn’t built sturdy enough for the strength of Levi the Super Destructo Boy.

He’s found a fascination in coloring on the walls and woodwork. Little tiny swirls here and there all over the house.

God? Hello? Help. Help me not throw this child out in the pig pen or better, lock him in the chicken coop. But I don’t think my conscious could subject those poor animals to Levi’s wrath.

The oldest boy mowed the grass too short yesterday, even though I tell him mow it high so you don’t kill the grass. So there were heaping mounds of cuttings setting atop the grass which we made him rake up last night. It turned into a family affair with Clay and Seth raking and everyone else picking up the piles. At least I had a lot of grass clippings to mulch with. I don’t think he’ll make that mistake again. It’s a big yard to rake and his arms were burnin‘.

And then there’s Ike. This boy is an emotional roller coaster. He weeps when he loses anything and he loses stuff every five minutes. He put a toy airplane on the hood of the van because obviously that’s where you should put your toys and I’m sure you know where this is going. Yeah, the airplane is probably on the North side of town in a pot hole. Oh the tears, the shame, the despair. Lord have mercy.

And now summer is starting and I’ll have all these boys here all day testing my patience. June begins NO TV MONTH which means I won’t have the luxury of saying, “Go watch a movie” or “Go play the Wii” to assure they are sitting still and not destroying anything or losing anything.

Parenthood. It’s a party of masochistic proportions.