That Kind of Day

I'm a self-admitted night owl, and this is the time of night when I usually sit down to blog. Once everyone is in bed and the chores are done, I feel that I can make the jumbled mess in my brain somewhat coherent.

But tonight, the night owl is worn out.

It was just that kind of day.

The kind of day where, as always, I fed, clothed and tended to the bodily functions of four little people.

But I also took the four of them to a play date, ran the crew around outside for an hour, helped Amelia make a fall wreath for Thanksgiving (photos of that later), wrote a fundraising letter for a board I'm on, dealt with a bad case of diaper rash, wiped away tears following two major head bumps, made a pan of bars, attended a neighborhood meeting, and then wound up counting ballots in the neighborhood association elections.

I'm generally tired at the end of a typical day around here. Throw in the play date, fundraising efforts, baking and election dealings, and I'm plumb tuckered.

And all the kids are NOT asleep.

I took Amelia to the neighborhood meeting with me this evening. Divide and conquer, you know. It was at 7:00, so I figured we'd be home by 8:30 at the latest. I was wrong.

Amelia was so well behaved. She colored quietly and whispered to me when she had to talk. Well, until I stood up to talk. Then she stood beside me and yelled, "Why are you standing up and talking, Mom?"

Then I wound up doing the ballot count, and it got a little late, as in a full hour past Amelia's bedtime. Amelia, God bless her, hung right in there, thanks to more than one neighbor who admired her coloring and talked with her while she waited patiently.

Unfortunately, someone put about $15 worth of quarters in her. Or gave her Pixy Stix to snort. So now she is in bed, but decidedly not sleeping.

She's wound up, and wound up good. We haven't seen the likes of this since Halloween and the requisite sugar overload.

Remind me tomorrow that a good civics lesson is worth the pain, won't you?