When you don't have anything nice to say.....

We had to finish up our taxes yesterday - my hubby had them started but didn't have all the documents he needed, so once he picked Bella up from school he headed over to the tax preparers office with the understanding that I would follow along once I got off work.

Brian had both kids with him, and as I made the half-hour drive to meet up with them I remember wondering to myself - how on earth is he going to keep them busy? My question was answered when I arrived and saw Bella happily slurping from a 20-oz. orange soda and eating doritos and M&Ms. Bubba had a bottle half full of orange soda (yes, I was horrified) and was eating M&Ms that Brian was crushing for him, apparently so he wouldn't choke. How very thoughtful.

I got there just as the kids were finishing the snacks that their father had so thoughtfully provided for them. I sat down at the other chair in the little cubicle and the children proceeded to go absolutely insane - they were all hopped up on candy and soda, and apparently the excitement of seeing old mom after a day away was just to much to bear.

They started pushing and shoving each other to get to me, and then there was a fight over who got to sit in my lap. Bubba won, eventually, and proceeded to alternately shove his approaching sister in the face and yank on the cord of the printer that was beside us. I was trying to keep him contained when Bella grabbed a pair of scissors off the desk and started waving them around like some sort of scissor-armed swashbuckler. I took the scissors away and while I was distracted with that Bubba knocked down a pen caddy, sending roughly two dozen pens clattering to the floor. I was trying to pick up the pens and keep Bubba from them, so he started screaming and kicked his sister in the face, who started whining. When I sat back up to put the pens back on the desk our tax preparer said, "Wow, your kids were so much better behaved before you got here. I guess Daddy is the disciplinarian in this family".

I couldn't even say anything to respond to that. At first I wanted to defend myself ("They were good for him because he was giving them soda and candy!"), then I decided to ignore it, then I wanted to say something snide, but in the end I said nothing at all. I felt utterly defeated. Eventually I just let it go, but not before sulking about it for a little while. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think that is the kind of thing you should say to someone. Especially not someone who is about to write you a check for a rather large sum of money for your services.

I seem to fall back on my 'say nothing' strategy quite often. It doesn't make me feel any better, but I don't always trust myself to have a kind reply.

Brian did get his comeuppance, however, for allowing the rampant sugar intake: halfway through his bottle of orange soda, Bubba threw up all over him. And orange soda baby throw-up is smelly, let me assure you.

We are getting ready for our vacation - we leave a week from Friday! This is our first family vacation ever - not just our first with Bubba. We have gone to visit family either in southern Florida or over in Louisiana, but for some reason it was always Bella and myself or Bella and Brian, never all of us together. And not only will it be my little family, but my mother-in-law and father-in-law are going, too. My sister-in-law moved to Virginia Beach last year, so we will be visiting with her, her husband and my new niece, who I just can't wait to meet and spoil. And we will all be together for Easter, which will be nice.

We are planning on visiting Colonial Williamsburg (we are going to rent a costume for Bella so she can walk around in period dress), checking out the VA Beach Aquarium and hitting up a really cool children's museum that is nearby. It should be lots of fun. I loved Williamsburg, so I'm excited to go back. It's going to be a big trip and a fun trip.

I bought a new book the other day to read in the car, and it's killing me to have a new book that I can't read. I actually made Brian hide it from me today, just so I can't get to it. And on that note, I'm off to find something to read. If only I knew where he hid that book....