Break Time.

Today I became so exasperated by children crying, whining and screaming that I loaded them up in the car for no reason except to drive and get away from the house. I have been known to take the long route home after a trip alone to the store, but generally speaking, it takes a desperate situation for me to load everyone up and just drive. I used to do this all the time before kids, lots in high school and tons in college. But every parent knows that it is a minor miracle just to get everyone in the car. Not to mention why would I close myself in a small space with a screaming baby who has more snot than I thought was physically possible to have?

But as soon as I made my desperate housewife choice tonight, and loaded everyone in, I had a flash of brillance. The DVD case. We have a movie player in our car, but we rarely use it except for the occasional long trips and possibly trips to Dallas where that 30 miles takes as long as it would to drive 1/2 way to Houston. Tonight, though, with a DVD in the car, those fabulous wireless headseats and a baby who snoozed himself right to sleep, I was able to drive around in peaceful harmony listening to whatever I wanted on the radio. It was greatness. I had almost regained my sanity, when right in the middle of Power Rangers, SPD, Ethan said, "Mommy, I love you." And then the rest of my sanity returned, and we went back home to enjoy our bedtime routine together.