My 2 youngest woke me up early this morning. Too early. After breakfast and destroying the house, I figured it MUST be getting close to nap time. Looked at the clock. 8:30. Dang it. I could tell they were getting bored and nothing good happens when they are bored, so I get the great idea to go to the splash pad. I even look online, like a responsible adult, and make sure it’s open before mentioning it to them, just in case. We got our swim diapers and trunks on, and me and the 3 younger boys headed towards the park while Madison, her 2 friends who spent the night, and Nick all stayed home sleeping. I pull up, and everyone was in the best mood. Good! This is going to be great! We walked in the gate and it wasnt long before the first melt down. The water cut off and as Gabes happily ran to the pole with the button to restart it, another kid beat him to it. I knew what was coming and braced myself. Gabes, of coarse, walked over crying. While trying to console him, the wind shifted and blew huge mists of ice water over to our table, soaking us all. It was so cold. Matthew and Walker joined in with Gabriel who was still crying from not pushing the button. So there I sat, soaking wet, cold, with 3 screaming boys. I finally got them calmed down, and just as the older 2 were ready to go play again, I moved one of the towels, dropping Gabes’ favorite jet toy. It hit the ground and shattered into a billion pieces. I heard his wet feet stop pitter pattering on the concrete and looked up just as he turned around. His eyes locked on the broken jet, his lip trembled, his fists clenched, and then it happened. Melt down #2. He dropped to the ground screaming as if he had just learned that one of his closest kin had died. I scrambled to gather the pieces as quickly as I could, all while saying, “It’s ok! Daddy can fix it!” outloud and praying “please let daddy be able to fix this” in my head. I gave him his superman that he brought to play with instead, and though not initially satisfied, he realized that superman would have to be good enough. He took superman and headed back out to play in the water. They ran and played for a while, then Walker limped over to me to fix his water shoe that had slipped off. I leaned down, turning my back on Matthew for 2.4 seconds when the man next to me said, “ma’am, your baby is licking to ground.” Of coarse he is. I spun around and sure enough, there sat a happy Matthew Linkin, licking a melted piece of candy off the ground under the picnic table. Hell broke loose when I removed him and threw away what was left of the blue tootsie roll, but I quickly distracted him with Walker’s batman toy that was laying on the table. Ok. Everyone was happy again. This happiness lasted approximately 5 minutes. That’s when I heard a familiar cry. It was Gabriel. I scanned the splash pad, only to see him walking towards me, again- full on tears . “What happened, Gabes?” So distraught that he was unable to talk, he turned and pointed to the tallest pole on the splash pad. The one with the buckets that randomly dump loads of water on unsuspecting victims’ heads and dang near washes them down the drain. There, at the very top of said pole, hung super man, his cape looped around a screw. Great. I covered my face with my hands, trying to figure out how I was going to fix this problem, when suddenly, the man next to me stood up, walked over to the pole, whipped off his shirt and smacked superman free from the screw and into the bucket. He then waited for the bucket to fill up, and suddenly it tipped over, and superman came crashing down. All was well in Gabriel’s world again. After thanking this man repeatedly, I decided that we had enough of the splash pad for the next decade, and convinced the boys to go to the playground. We walked over, and as I put Matthew in one of the swings, the other 2 ran to the volleyball court to play in the sand. All was well again, for about 5 minutes, when again, Gabriel came over crying. Apparently Walker had taken his superman and buried him somewhere in this 5 mile pit of sand and they couldn’t find him, and “he was gonna be gone forever!” I scooped up Matthew out of the swing and headed over. That sand pit got bigger the more we dug, I swear it did. We all split up and went on a mission to rescue super man, again. My phone rings. Its Madison. “Mom, dont forget I have basketball practice at 11.” “What time is it now?” It was 10:29. Great. So I picked up Matthew and grabbed Gabriel’s hand and told him we had to go and we would find super man later. (Cue next meltdown- I’ve lost count at this point). As I’m dragging him, screaming, across the sand, I stepped on something and heard a crack. I looked down and saw a red cape peeking through the sand and prayed that the cracking sound that I heard was my leg breaking and not this action figure. I slowly pulled him out of the sand and exhaled loudly when I saw him completely in tact! “Here he is. Now let’s go! Wait, where’s Walker?” Of coarse Walker had climbed up on the playset and was smiling at me from its peak. “Come on down, baby, we have to go get madison!” He sat one the slide, and counted 1….2…3… and…. nothing. Just laughter. This kid is taunting me! “Come on, Walker! We have to go now.” He ran up to a higher level, smiling at me through the bars. “Gabes, go get Walker please.” “My hands are full” he said, as I look down and notice that he’s holding one single little superman. I adjust Matthew on my hip and we begin our climb. Mind you, I am currently holding 3 towels, my purse, a baby, a shattered jet, an empty sippy cup, and 2 diapers. I reach the top just in time to see his blonde hair blowing in the wind on his way down the slide. I may or may not have cussed at this point. I’m tempted to slide, but I’m loaded up like a pack mule, so I turn around and head back down the steps. I catch Walker’s wrist just as he’s about to race back up. Oh no you ain’t either! We get to the car. I’m buckling in Matthew and feel something hit my foot. I look down to see Walker peeing through his swim diaper and INTO my shoe. Phenomenal. I get the other 2 loaded and buckled up, race home, load up 3 girls, drop one off at her house down the street, fly to the school, and squeal tires pulling in at 11:00 on the dot. I’m feeling proud. She jumps out and walks into the gym door. I pull out of the parking lot and onto the highway heading home where I hope to lay the boys down for a nap. Phone rings. Its Madison begging me to turn around because practice doesn’t start until 11:30 and she dont want to sit there alone. <sigh>. I turn around and drive back into the parking lot. She sits in the car with us until I finally make her get out at 11:20. We head home. I pull in the driveway, and walk in the house, only to discover that someone left the backdoor unlocked and the dogs have let themselves in and decided to destroy everything. Garbage and pee everywhere. I sat Matthew down for a second to make him a bottle and in that split second, he managed to knock over all the laundry that I had folded for over an hour that morning. Getting close to my breaking point now. I change diapers, dust off sand, and FINALLY lay the babies down. I make Gabes some lunch and begin cleaning. I hear babies playing. I guess no nap again today. Whatevs. I listen to them play as I clean up trash, refold laundry, and mop the floors. CRAP! I lost track of time and its already time to pick Madison up. I run I to the babies’ room and trip over all the sheets and blankets that are now on the floor from their beds that they decided to strip instead of sleeping. I also note the broken mini blinds from Walker trying to see out the window. I get them out of their beds and head towards the car. The next melt down is immanent. I’m currently sitting in the parking lot waiting for Madison to come out of her practice that should’ve ended 15 minutes ago, and I can’t help but think of those other moms at the splash pads sipping their coffee and reading their books as their kids played together happily in the water. How do you get to THAT level in motherhood? One of these days, maybe I will have it all together. Probably not any time soon, but maybe one day….