Supper at the Maseda house~a little bit of calm and a whole lot of chaos

What was supper like tonight? Crazy, chaotic, a zoo; yeah, I think those words would accurately describe what transpired tonight. To begin the evening, Braden informed me that the mashed potatoes and the green beans that I put on his plate were gross. I told him that I loved to know that he didn't appreciate what I had cooked. The conversation went something like this. Braden looks down at his plate and says, "This is gross." I reply, "I'm so glad to know that you don't appreciate what I cooked." With shock on his face Braden says, "I didn't say that." To point out the facts I reply,"You just said that the food was gross." Braden clarifies, "I just mean the mashed potatoes and the green beans are gross." (the only other things on the plate were grapes and pizza loaf) To make sure he likes some of the meal I ask, "So, you are saying the pizza loaf is not gross?" He reassures me, "No, I like the pizza loaf." Then he quickly adds, "Didn't we have this yesterday?" I add a new word to his vocabulary by explaining, "Yes, we are having it again, because we had some left over; we are eating leftovers." "We don't usually have leftovers, because Daddy is here; he usually eats most of it and takes the rest to work." This conversation was followed by a conversation about how Braden calls Rich Swiper the Fox, because Rich swipes our food and takes it to work. If the food is so gross though, I don't know why he cares. I would like to point out in my defense, that Brooke ate three helpings of green beans, three helpings of grapes, her pizza loaf, and her mashed potatoes, and she looked at me in the middle of her meal and said, "Mama, you are a good cooker!" Yay Brooke! Well, yay for the comment, but not yay for her behavior. After the critique of my cooking, Brooke and Braden pretended their forks were a mama and her son, Brooke proceeded to talk loudly in a made up language known only to her, Braden pulled his shirt over his head, Brooke kept getting out of her chair, Braden continued to sing, "Calling all super readers!" and "Super Why saved the day!", Brooke ran around the kitchen yelling to no one in particular, "I'm gonna knock you out!", and Braden then got on all fours on the floor and pretended to be a dog. While this was all going on I was chopping up grapes, beans, and bread for Emma, attempting to eat my own supper, trying unsuccessfully to start conversations with Braden and Brooke, and trying to discipline while keeping my cool, wishing the entire time that Rich was home. Sounds hilarious I know, but the humor of the situation didn't hit me until the end of the meal. At one point during the meal, I was thinking that I would probably look back at tonight and laugh, but I wasn't feeling any tinges of laughter, just frustration, exhaustion, and a longing for Rich to get his hiney home. It wasn't until I looked down at Braden on the floor, down on all fours, tongue hanging out, panting like a dog, that the laughter hit me; in fact, the humor of the situation and sheer ridiculousness of everything hit me so fast, I had to leave the table. I knew that there was no way I could keep the laughter in, so I quickly walked away to laugh in secret and then returned to the table. I thought that I had composed myself, but realized very quickly I was wrong. I had promised Braden and Brooke that we could play hide and seek after supper, but of course after their behavior, that was no longer an option. While Braden and I were still sitting at the table, waiting to see if he could at least stomach two of his gross beans, I told him that we wouldn't be playing hide and seek after supper. He innocently asks, "Why?" I thought, he has GOT to be kidding me, but I kept my cool and replied, "Let's see, you and Brooke have been crazy tonight, you were down on the floor pretending to be a dog...", and that is about as far as I got before I broke out into laughter and so did Braden. SEE, Rich NEEDS to get home; it is usually at this point that I cowardly run away from the table in a fit of laughter, while he stays and deals with the hoodlums until I am composed enough to return and put on the parent face. Don't get me wrong, I don't always loose myself to the laughter, but there are just some times that they are just sooooooooo stinkin' funny! I would like to point out though that I did quickly regain my composure and finish the conversation and the discipline, but I do so miss the other team member of the tag team! Hurry home BOY!