Just One of Those Days...

On a good day, this slight dusting of flour over every surface of the kitchen would've been enough to make me a very unhappy camper.  Those who know me, know my desire for order doesn't really allow me to see the possible hilarity hiding in these messy situations (my poor kids).  So on a migraine filled, stomach churning kind of day like today, this mess made me want to call it a day and head for my bed.  But Nathan was off doing home teaching at the time, and I'd already gotten out of parenting duty this morning, as Nathan let me sleep through breakfast and then through church because he knew I felt awful.

So what did I do when I just wanted to flip out?!  Well...I pseudo flipped out. "What did you do Lauren?!" I shouted while watching the airborne flour container hit the ground with a mushroom cloud of white dust. How did I let this happen you ask?  Well, I was in the process of making dough when Olivia needed my help in the living room...and Lauren capitalized on my absence.  Or so she thought before she ended up covered in flour dust.

Once Lauren heard me shout, she took off running her first of multiple laps around the kitchen table while crying and drooling everywhere.  Leaving a cloud of flour every step of the way...oh, and her diaper.  She ran right out of it apparently.  On her second lap around the table she stopped and cry yelled at me while rubbing her eyes, "What are you doing mommy?! Why aren't you helping me?!"

And I admittedly wasn't helping her, because I was trying to get my phone to capture this spectacle.  Oh wait, I didn't mention that by this point, Olivia had come into the kitchen and was shouting at Lauren, "No! No! Lauren! Not okay!"  I picked her up and placed her on the counter to keep her out of the mess while I was retrieving my phone.  By the time Lauren stopped to question my actions, Olivia was in a full blown cry-fest, right alongside the now doughy Lauren.  Oh joy.

Lauren was in hysterics now, and the only way I could calm her down was by telling her to stop crying so I could take a picture and show it to her.  No lie. It works every time.  She loves to see pictures of herself, regardless of what she may be feeling at that moment.  So I used it to my advantage here, apparently as a coping mechanism.  I must've worked on me too, because I found myself calming down too.  After seeing her picture Lauren wanted to go and take a bath, of which I was happy to oblige.

Check out how much flour she got in her ear! And this is from the flour dust cloud alone.  No direct ear-to-flour container contact was made here.  Needless to say that the bath water resembled some kind of modge podge mixture by the time she was washed off and hosed down.

Once Lauren was out of the bath and dressed again, she saw the mess in the kitchen and began to cry, "I'm so sorry mom. So sorry".  I gave her a hug and began the clean-up task just in time for Nathan to walk in and save the day (i.e. taking the girls for an afternoon park play session, so I could finish cleaning up and mopping solo).  What a Sunday! And all before dinner...