Mischief Anyone?

Where do I begin.... I believe there is usually one child in the family who is all about mischief and right now in our family, it appears to be our sweet little Benjamin. While he is the most loveable little boy he also likes to "explore" if you will and drive Mom nuts! Today was one of those days. Now I must admit, I wasn't the happiest Mom today (still trying to figure that out) but it was one thing after another. For starters...the kids and I were outside painting and playing. I was playing and they were painting. Just kidding! I was trying to finish some touch-up painting to the house while they were playing. To set the stage...we have a dog, named Sage, and she has a potty spot in the back corner of the yard which has sand and flat bricks around it. Unfortunately, Sage is not the only one attracted to this spot! Yes, you guessed it, while I'm on the step stool painting, Benjamin sneaks off to the potty pit. He likes to play in the sand. So, I go chase him out and try to explain to a two-year-old he can't play there. He then wanders off a little towards brother and sister. He did this a few times and knew he was in trouble when Mom got off the step stool and starts running. As time goes on, Ethan and Alys had been rolling the trash cans around and next thing I know, Benjamin is rolling the empty trash can over to the potty pit. Here we go again...as Benjamin sees Mom coming, the trash can has fallen over so what does he do? He climbs in it to try and hide! I must say, while I'm almost at my wits end, I couldn't help but laugh at the same time. At 3 we had him out of the trash can, in trouble again. Meanwhile, I still can't get my painting done. We do have peace for about 30 minutes or so. I had moved to working on the back door and was just inside the house. I had opened the paint can outside and set the lid upon this mini-fridge we have just outside the door and thought things would be fine. The kids were in and out, but I was right there. I mean c'mon...what could possibly go wrong now? Oh yes, I hear this "Mom, Benjamin's got the paint stick and lid and he's got paint on himself." Aarrrrgggghh! I couldn't believe it. So, we cleaned up and I was ready for bedtime! I'm almost sure he tried a little dirt today too. After all this action, I am happy to report that we all made it through the rest of the evening without killing each other and now I hear those nice, quiet sounds of sleeping children. All this so we can start over and do it all again tomorrow. And just in case you were wondering, and I know you were, our children do have real toys to play with. Who knows, maybe next week we'll try dumpster diving. Just kidding! Ya gotta love it; it's just been one of those days.