Rice Anyone?

Sunday's Dinner I think is going down in the book as the worst dinner ever. It was sheer torture! Sundays in general have felt long since Elliott has been gone. We are home from church around noon and have the rest of the day with the kids. Nikki stayed home with her kids from church because they were up all night because they have colds. Everything was fine leading up to dinner and THEN...it was one thing after another. We were using the kitchen table to make Alyssa's invitations and decided to just eat in the Dining room for dinner. Kylee and Alyssa set the table while Nikki and I where in the kitchen making the salad. When we walked into the Dining room to bring in the food what do we find...Addison and a whole lot of uncooked rice. We had just finished vacuuming up a mess in the kitchen and BAM rice all over the floor. Their is a closet in my Dining room that I use as our pantry and have a bag of rice that is open at the top that I got from Costco. You know no bag of rice from Costco is going to be small. Addy grabbed a measuring spoon and was scooping rice onto the plates on top of the table. We had to hurry and clean up that mess, deal with Bryant and Briley, Ryann had just woke up from a late nap (and we know no kid is pleasant to be around when they wake up from late naps) and was crying because she wanted me to hold her, when anyone cries or yells our dog will bark/howl really LOUD and make the situation even more obnoxious, Kylee and Alyssa trying (but were denied) to get an early snack because they were starving, all while trying to coordinate all the food to be finished so we could just FEED THE CHILDREN. While I am coming and going in and out of the Dining room, Nikki is busy with Bryant and turns to see Addy is now on top of the table and is trying to scoop out some of the hot cooked rice. She grabs her down and we finally are about to say the prayer and the doorbell rings! Elliott's Dad who had been out of town stopped by just to say hi as he was on his way out of town. The girls were so excited to see him. After he leave we manage to finish the meal with a little fighting between Ryann and Bryant. Nikki had to hold Briley and feed her while she ate (ahhh life of a mother with an infant) and I managed to get Ryann out of my lap and eat a bowl of cereal. This meal now left cooked rice all over the floor to be cleaned up. Nikki and I just looked at each other and would shake our heads and laugh. I sat there thinking of Elliott and how he gets to have dinners in peace and how jealous I was of him. It also made me feel like I was in a Calgone commercial. Luckily, I pulled the Mom card and asked Kylee and Alyssa to do the dishes. It is so nice to have older children in moments like these.

The part that is missing would be the rice all over the floor!