Why do I bother?

I planned such a nice dinner for my family tonight. Even with a broken hand I cut, stirred, whisked...nothing fancy, but all homemade and all made one-handed. We sang the kids favorite grace and things looked promising. Not for long. I looked to my right to see that Luke had totally forgotten his silverware. Food was in his hair, his ears, hanging from his eyelid. He had shoved the food not on his face into his milk glass and made a gooey wad of his enviornmentally friendly cloth napkin. On my left Jonathan had mixed everything on his plate together and was shoveling it in faster than he could swallow. Caitlin decided that she wanted nothing to eat and stood next to me howling. Gabe gave me grief because his food was touching. I tried the magazine recommended conversation starters with a bit of success. That was the highlight of dinner - besides the prayer. Sean came home as we were finishing (the kids were too hungry to wait until 6:30) he managed to eat a few bites before Johnny walked out into the kitchen and threw up everywhere! My wonderful husband cleaned that up while I put a Wal-Mart bag over my cast and threw the kids into the tub. I scrubbed them clean head to toe in record time and got them dried with the ONE clean towel I could find. Sean had to go back to work, so I got them in pj's and sat down to answer the phone. In the mess of the throwing up, I didn't get the table cleared off so ALL 4 kids went out and started eating what was left. I had made a delicious ice cream torte for dessert and they all got chocolate in their clean hair and on their faces and pj's. I got the dishes cleared and came back in to find that Sean had left the salt and pepper out. The triplets dumped both shakers on the table, the floor and apparently into my Diet Coke!!! (that is a sin in my family!) So I get that semi-cleaned up. I needed a minute to collect myself so I sat on the couch and called my mom. They snuck out to the kitchen. Luke climbed up onto the counter, got Caitlin's tylenol w/ codiene off the window sill, got the child proof cap off and dumped it in the middle of the kitchen floor. Luke now had medicine in his freshly washed semi clean hair, plastering his bangs to his forehead. The trio were fingerpainting in it and Luke was licking his fingers. I washed them up again, put them on the couch and mopped the kitchen floor. I am now waiting for them to fall asleep so I can go sweep the salt off the dining room floor and scrub out the trash can that caught 1/2 the throw up. Thankfully my mom did show up to drop me off a Lg. Diet Coke from Burger King.

Have a peaceful night my friends!