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My sister Wendy shared this to my Facebook page. It's fitting for... well my life. And probably any mom who all of a sudden has a bunch of kids and is not quite sure how that happened.

I feel like nobody knows me better than my neighbors. Even though I don't talk to my next door neighbors much, just a hi, how ya doin' most days, they see parts of me I don't really like to show the outsider. Parts that are reserved for close friends and family... people I trust. Unfortunately, there's just no getting around it. They are there, every day, morning, noon and night and it is impossible for me to keep this crazy unkempt person hidden from them.

I love going to church because I usually have my hair and make-up somewhat done, even if it's on the way there. I'm always on time because my kids wake up at the crack of dawn and we have like 3 hours to get ready. I usually am wearing something flattering and I'm usually in a good mood because I'm dropping all four children off with someone else. Bless those Sunday School teachers. Yes, most Sundays I would say I seem like one of those ladies that usually has it together, and with four kids 6 and under. I'm sure there are moms (who don't know me) asking themselves how I do it.

They should talk to my neighbors. My neighbors get to see the Sunday morning Amie that's throwing shoes in the car along with the children. Someone is always crying. Someone is always tattling, and I usually have to run back in the house like 8 times because... well I don't know why. I forget stuff. And throughout the week, these people get to see me in my stained t-shirts, laundry day jeans and mismatched flip flops. They get to see my unwashed hair, my mascaraless eyelashes and my braless poopie diaper trips to the trash cans out front on trash day. They hear me yell at my kids, they see their naughty behavior and my lack of control. They see the crap falling out of my van when I open the doors sometimes.

Tonight was one of those evenings. Dan is at work of course. It started out nice. It was about 4:30 when Mari and I headed to the park with "dinner" because our children are like wild animals that cannot be caged in a house and expected to be tame. They need the wild outdoors. So off to a very close park we went. I've learned never to go to a park more than a few minutes away during the afternoon because there will be meltdowns while trying to leave and on the ride home. But that hour or so of sanity and fresh air and another mom's company is totally worth it. So we sat on our blanket and made fun of a lady who brought her toddler to the park in white slacks and $100 shoes. Just to clarify, the toddler was wearing white slacks and $100 shoes. A 2 year old. Yeah. Totally justified mocking. We snickered as she freaked out when our dirty little toddlers made dust clouds near her toddler's clean outfit as she continually dragged her kid away from ours. It was a nice late afternoon.

But it came to an end when Angus became too fussy to manage and 6:00 drew near. So I started to push now screaming Angus in his stroller to the car. Addie attached herself to my leg and cried to be carried because my blanket, purse, "dinner" bag and stroller with a screaming baby didn't look like enough for one person. I picked her up, gave her a kiss and told her she needed to walk so of course she tripped and fell and lost it so I had no choice but to pick her up. After getting the sad babies and annoyed big girls (who knows why) into the car, we made our way home. When I arrived, I opened the doors of the van to a sleeping Angus. He fell asleep literally a block from home. So I grabbed my sleeping baby and told the girls to unbuckle Addie and "help" her into the house. Usually she's like a sheep and needs a sheep dog or two to guide her where she needs to go.

So as I was walking up the stairs to Angus's room, I heard a happy squeal from Addie and a panicked yell from Mya and knew their sheepdogging had been unsuccessful. I walked out, still holding sleeping Angus and looked for the kids. Jason, my next door neighbor, was out front. Perfect. He pointed down the street with a half smile. I was like, thanks for your help dude. And there I saw Addie running down the middle of the street with Mya and Winter chasing after her. Mya was yelling at Winter not to chase her and Winter was yelling at me to come help. There was no time to do anything with Angus but set him down on the floor inside so that's what I did. He woke up of course and began to scream. I darted out the door after my escapee and grabbed her after she had rung the doorbell at the Anderson's. (They live about 5 houses down on the other side of the street)

Wow, this is a long story. I'm almost done. So I go to open the door to the house and Angus is right up against it and I can't open it more than a few inches. He begins crying louder and I realize there really isn't any other way in the house because everything is locked and I don't have keys. Eventually Winter was able to squeeze through and move my poor little chubster out of the way so I could get in. Ugh. One hour later, everyone is in bed and I'm freaking exhausted. And now I'm writing about it.

Yeah, I'm sure Jason is like, wow it's a wonder those kids are still alive. I feel the same way. He has two part-time kids ages 7 and 10. He will never understand.