My kids were a pack of wild howler monkeys today.

And don't think it was because of Easter candy. The bunny came early to our home and they had their sugar-fest yesterday.

No, it was the compounding effect of crazy going on that encouraged them to continue the madness. Yes, I'm sure of it.

We have a friend, Mike, that likes to help with the twins in sacrament meeting. Unfortunately, he makes things worse. He thinks everything the twins do is funny. He does recognize their behavior as naughty also, but he laughs at it which eggs them on. It was utter madness.

Peachie must be teething or something because she would not go to anyone today at church. Not the ladies that like to pass her around or the 10 and 11 year old girls who love to cuddle her. She wanted to sit on my lap as I played the piano in Primary and play it with her feet. Peach did not want to stand next to the high keys of the piano and play them. That resulted in her screaming which brought a kind person over to see if they could hold her-- which resulted in more screaming. She wouldn't even go to her beloved Pookie when his class came in to Primary for singing time/sharing time.

There was a few hours of calm after church when I allowed the kids to watch the Veggietales movie, Jonah, that Grandma W. sent. I let them watch it twice. Hey, I needed a nap. So I was mostly napping on the couch while they watched.

It was shortly after that I let Bun take a shower. I explained to him how we properly and thoroughly wash ourselves from head to toe. When you're 6 1/2, you sometimes need reminder instruction on how to shower. Bun decided to turn it into a shower-bath. Then at some point the bathroom turned into a water park. He told me later as I was squeezing out towels, "I didn't know it was flooding the bathroom, I was just running back and forth in the bathtub."

Squeezing out towels wasn't fast enough. So I got my thirsty mop and started sopping it up. It didn't seem to make a difference. There was still 2 inches of water on the floor in most places and a minimum of 1 inch in the higher places. Yes, the entire floor of the bathroom was soaked.

So I got out the Little Green Bissell machine. I offered a prayer to Heavenly Father which included "Please let me know if this is a bad idea and will electrocute me."

I started sucking up the water as fast as the Little Green machine let me. It got to the fill line incredibly fast. I emptied it and continued. I focused on the water pooling at the base of the cupboards-- fearing if it was there any longer there'd be water damage and could possibly cost hundred of dollars to repair. It was filled four times and emptied before I noticed it slowing down in that one area.

During this time the twins watched me at the doorway of the bathroom. I told them, "Stay there buddies. It's very wet in here and dangerous." Last thing I needed was a cracked skull and an ER visit.

The twins ran off and would come back sometimes with Peach. I called to Pookie, "Come get Peach away from the bathroom please." He'd scurry her away.

I continued with the Little Green machine. It was very helpful. And then the twins reappeared with a look of pure fear on their faces. I could hear Peachie crying. I could feel the adrenaline pumping. I raced into the living room expecting to fight off some bad guys and protect my babies.

But it was just the oldest four running amok in the dark keeping the lightswitches off whenever the twins tried to turn them on. I stood their for a minute as each one in turn noticed me standing there and then acted like it wasn't them.

I was livid. Mostly it was the lying that set me off. "It wasn't me! I wasn't turning them off! I wasn't scaring them!"

I sent them to time out corners, took away their playdate privilege (which saddens me because that means I don't get to go play with my friend too), and warned them, "You better not say a word. I'm calling Logan and Tyler's mom and NOBODY is going tomorrow. Instead you will be learning how to scrub every tiny bit of the bathroom. If any one of you is not showing obedience in learning how tomorrow, NOBODY will go to their house for a rescheduled time. Is this how you want to spend Spring Break?" There was a collective groan from the oldest four time-out detainees and then silence as they listened to me leave the message. The looks on their face to each other said, "She actually did it. She cancelled our playdate."

Everything after the flooding/terrorizing of small children seemed anti-climatic but still bothersome. Like: the kids trying to peel boiled eggs that had Egg-arounds on them and then proceeding to dig out the bits of egg they could get to and eat them (instead of oh, removing the egg-around before peeling), or also anti-climatic was the weird smeary substance from the trash can into the dining room (about 8 feet) which I quickly figured out was yolk from the boiled eggs and bits of white from the eggs swept up by a helpful Gabbers, the twins breaking into tiny bits plastic eggs and scattering them around the living room like confetti, Pookie stealing Hammy's stuffed duck and being mean to it, and then Bun's stuffed cow shortly after the duck-torture.

So glad it's bedtime. I need the madness to slow down.

Thanks for listening!