In my pre-child mind I imagined the early evening, after dinner and bath but before bed, to be a time of solitude. James and me, and our imagined children, each curled up with a book, reading alone or to the kids. Maybe some light music playing in the background. Maybe the kids playing quietly on the floor with puzzles or building something with their Lincoln Logs - working together to build that log cabin on the box. James and I sipping a hot drink as we enjoy watching the kids.

I know you will be shocked when I tell you that our evenings do not resemble that fantasy at all!
First of all there is nothing quiet about our house, and definitely not our evenings. Secondly we would never have drinks, especially hot, anywhere in the vicinity. And thirdly they have not learned the life skill of playing together nicely.

Unless you call this nice.

or this.

My boys just aren't wired to lounge around and play quietly.

If someone is not being tossed around they start to get grumpy.

I have learned to just sit back and watch. I throw out the occasional "be careful," or "that's too high," or "too rough, be more gentle." No one listens. I don't even think they know I am talking.

But I am there when someone needs a little moral support. Wil especially likes to come over for a hug between rounds.

It gives him that extra gumption to get back in there.

As things slow down Wil finishes off with his most favorite activity. Sitting on James' stomach and bouncing up and down as hard as he possibly can. While beating James' chest.

Remarkably, when it is time to go to bed they all comply and make their way upstairs without a fuss.

I'm sure somebody out there experiences what I imagined in my pre-child mind. As with so many things in life I have had to readjust my own thinking of what family life looks like for us. And while it makes me feel like I am in the middle of a three ring circus sometimes, I wouldn't change a thing.