OOOOOHHH I am so MAD

So I was just on the phone with my mom, who mentioned that the house seemed rather quiet. Indeed, it did. I bragged that my kids had been playing quietly together for the last hour in their favorite spot - the kitchen corner cabinet (it's an empty cabinet right now, waiting for the kitchen remodel to continue).

I had even managed to get some of my homework reading done, and was feeling rather smug.

Until I entered the kitchen.



Now, I had carefully put away Miles' art easel and all the tempera paints and paintbrushes sitting on it. I also warned him that he was not to get it out, because Eleanor was too little.

Well, I suppose he did obey literally. But he managed to find the closed bottles of tempera paint and the clean brushes, not to mention the watercolors. And as we all know, we need water to use watercolors, and he managed that too. In case you can't tell, the floor is semi-flooded.

After my initial (less than affirming) reaction, I dragged them both bodily into the bathroom and told them to strip for a shower.



All this time, my comments are being cheerfully punctuated by little consolations:
"Oh, it's OK, Mommy!" (no, it's NOT!)
"Well, I sure won't do it again this time!" (True, because you won't be allowed into the kitchen again)
"That's a lot of paint on my clothes, huh, Mommy?" (no comment)
"Eleanor wasn't supposed to paint. She DID paint, Mommy. THAT's not OK, is it?" (Aarrrggghhh!)