One weekend my wife took Sophia, our youngest at just more than a year at that time, with her to see her parents and left me with the three oldest kids, aged 4, 6, and 8 (no way we get afford to all go!).
She was leaving on a Friday and returning Sunday evening. On the Saturday, the older girl Marisa and younger boy Nick were having a footrace in the street. Marisa was winning, so Nick showed his nature as a competitor by sticking out his leg and tripping his sister. I watch in horror as she bounces head first on the concrete, loosing a tooth and scraping her face into a mess. I grab her and do what I can to help her, but before I know it the older boy Ryan lands a punch or two on Nick in retaliation for making Marisa cry.
Nick now needs ice for his black eye, and as I grab the ice Nick and Marisa jump Ryan in vengeance for his attack on Nick. Before you know it, all the kids look like they've been in a car wreck.
The next day I pick up Lori and Sophia at the airport. Lori is greeted by the three kids I was in charge of, who are overjoyed to see their mother. When their greetings are done, I kiss her, and she looks at me with a bit of fire in her eye and says..
"I leave you in charge of them for one day...
one day...and this is what happens. And school pictures are tomorrow, too!"
That was the year all the kid's pictures looked like they'd been through a tornado.
And, I've never been left in charge of three kids for a weekend since.
