6:45pm

While we were outside, I decided to catch up on the latest news with our neighbour. While I was talking to him, the kids drew on the patio with chalk, which is totally fine. But why stop there? They also drew on Joel's new deck. And their toys. And Liam's pants. And Liam's face.

6:35pm

Now that the bubble mixture is all over the patio, what should we do with the giant bubble wand? I know! Let's smash Mom's cilantro plant.

Oh, and let's break the bubble wand in the process.

6:25pm

After dinner, we went outside to play in the backyard. One of the kids favourite things to play with is bubbles. So I put some bubble mixture into the green dish, so Ella could use the giant bubble wand. Two minutes later, Liam dumped out all the bubble mix and yelled, "Oh no!"

6:10pm

We have just finished dinner, and Joel is in the office looking up the address of the client he is about to go visit. His folder of Important Client Documents is open on the desk beside him. Ella wordlessly walks into the room, slaps the folder off the desk, watches as the papers fly everywhere, and then leaves.

Joel wouldn't let me take a photo of this, as the Important Client Documents are also Confidential Client Documents.

5:15pm

I'm trying to make a healthy dinner. Liam, on the other hand, is trying to make himself sick by searching through the trash can to find the ziploc bag that the frozen chicken breast came out of, and then sucking on his hand. I would have taken a photo, but I was too busy trying to scrub the salmonella out of his mouth.

12:30pm

The kids ate lunch, and then Joel and I cleaned them up and ate our own lunches. Joel made the mistake of sitting in Ella's chair, where 5 minutes prior to that, instead of eating her cheese, she squished it all up and rubbed it into the seat of the chair. It got on the back of Joel's suit pants. His dry clean only suit pants. Thanks, Ella.

11:45am

Back from the dentist (where both kids were extremely well-behaved), and the kids start playing with the prizes they got. Ella chose an egg timer, which is still intact. Side note: why would she choose an egg timer? And why was that even an option? Liam, however, chose an airplane. And this is what it looked like 3 minutes after I put it together.

10:35am

As I'm taking a photo of Liam's handiwork on the stairs, Ella points out the wall. I don't even know how that one happened. But Ella seems pretty proud of herself.

10:30am

Ella has a dentist appointment at 11:00, so I'm trying to get the kids, and all their stuff, ready to go. Liam is bored.

9:00am

The kids are dressed, so I head to my room to get ready. Which doesn't take long, by the way, when you don't wear makeup or shower. It's quiet in Ella's room (which is never a good sign), until I hear the Lego being dumped out. I go in to investigate. Turns out it's not just the Lego that was dumped out.

8:30am

Breakfast has come and gone, fairly uneventfully, and now it's time to clean up. Of course, I have the audacity to let the kids go and "play" while I put the dishes in the dishwasher. They decide to "read" instead.

7:15am

Now that Big Sister Ella is up, Baby Liam wants to get up, too. We can tell by the crashing noise coming from his room. As it turns out, he has kept himself amused by smashing the bottom of the blinds into the window frame, taking care to scrape it across the painted window sill as well. This wouldn't be so terrible if the bottom of the metal blinds had a plastic protector on it. Alas, that was long ago broken by Liam's smashing, so what is left is a sharp metal edge. All the better for scratching the paint of the windowsill and wall.

6:45am

The day begins as Ella wakes up and looks in her drawer for some underwear, only to discover that there is none left. It is laundry day. So she heads downstairs to the diaper bag, where we always keep a spare pair. Instead of just pulling out the underwear, she empties the bag. Good morning, Mom.