Frith O’Steen

- Hi guys! How was your day?

- Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!

- Hey, you guys set up the tent today! Great way to spend a rainy day. So, where’s Mommy?

- She’s in the tent!

- Wait – what?

- Mommy’s in the tent!

- Why is Mommy in the tent?

- She’s in there taking a time out with Boo-Boo Bear.

- Boo-Boo Bear the ice pack? Um, why is Mommy in the tent with Boo-Boo Bear?

- Sutter might of broken her nose!

- What? How?

- Mommy climbed in the tent to take some quiet time while we were playing, and said that if she couldn’t see us, we couldn’t see her, and then Sutter said “Mommy!” and dove through the window of the tent and crashed on top of Mommy’s nose! Mommy sure is a good screamer.

- Why did Mommy need quiet time? What were you doing before that?

- (Baff! Baff!) Like Sutter said…we took a bath!

- That sounds safe enough…what happened during the bath?

- We danced! (Peanuh Buhah Jellwy Time!) Yeah, that’s right, Sutter – we did the Peanut Butter Jelly Dance!

- Wait – you danced in the tub?!

- No, Sutter tried to dance in the tub and Mommy said no that was too dangerous so we got out of the tub and then me and Sutter did the Peanut Butter Jelly Dance naked like ducks in the bedroom!

- Um…what did Mommy do then?

- She laughed and said that was funny, and then she tried to get us to put our pajamas on and then Sutter didn’t want to and so I didn’t either and then we duck-walked down the hall and Sutter kept trying to do it right by the top of the stairs cuz it echoes really good there!

- That doesn’t sound very safe.

- That’s what Mommy said too! Well, she said something like “Sutter! For the love of Peter Paul and Mary – who are they, anyway, Daddy? – Get away from the steps!”. Then she grabbed him and bumped her elbow and it didn’t sound very funny because she yelled again but she said she hit her funny bone.

- And then?

- Then Sutter screamed super loud – did you know he can scream really loud, Daddy? He sounds like this –

- No, that’s ok! Please don’t demonstrate – I know your brother can screech at a high volume! Did he do it a lot today?

- No, only after bath, during dinner, when he couldn’t get his trucks to work right, and when I took his toys from him…

- Decker! Why would you take toys from your brother? That’s not nice!

- I had to stop him from wrecking more stuff!

- Um…MORE stuff? What else did Sutter wreck today?

- Just a book…he dropped one in the potty today while Mommy was going to get him some new pull-ups. But he cleaned it up! Mommy came in and saw Sutter wiping up the floor with his bath towel and he told her “I cwean up!” Since he cleaned up his mess, I don’t think Mommy should have gotten so mad. And she was able to dry most of it with her blow dryer, so it was ok!

- What were you and Sutter doing while Mommy tried to clean up the mess?

- We were good and we played nicely by bouncing on your bed! Until Sutter fell off and cried…and then he said “that was awesome!” and climbed back up again.

- Wow – it sounds like you three had quite a day. Was the rest of it pretty quiet?

- Yeah! When Mommy put up the tent, we helped by holding the sticks, except they kept bumping against the lights and the bookshelves in the living room, but I know that you fix anything in the world with tape and krazy glue, so it was ok! I told Mommy not to worry!Then Sutter and me put in the sleeping bags and Mommy tried to get us to take a nap but we were too excited to sleep so we kept running into the kitchen and then running super fast into the tent and crashing! That’s fun – especially if you do it really loud!

- Did you have any quiet time at ALL today?

- Yeah, we watched our “Wall-E” video and I got to do the remote all by myself and I learned today how to turn up the volume and guess what Daddy it goes all the way to 50! That’s really loud! Mommy made us turn it down though, after the glasses in the cupboard started shaking. She came running downstairs and was yelling “Earthquake! We’re having an earthquake!”. What does duck and cover mean, Daddy?

- I think it’s what your mom is doing right now, little dude. Well, let’s get you both to bed and give Mommy some more quiet time in the tent, yeah? Wait a minute…where’s Sutter?

- (Mommeeee!) CRASH.

- He’s in here….ow….good night, boys!