I want my socks!

Today was not exactly a normal day in my house.  First off I remembered to set the coffee pot last night so I awoke to the smell of fresh coffee brewing from the kitchen.  In addition to that I could hear the sound of showers running.  This is extremely unusual as I almost always have to wake all of the boys up at least twice to get them going in the morning, but 2 of my kids actually woke up with their alarm clocks today.  By the time I got up to get my 8 year old up and ready, those 2 were almost completely ready for school.  We actually left the house on time – maybe even a few minutes early!

When I arrived back home 14yo E was sitting at the table eating breakfast ready to start his day. He is home today because he has had OSS for the past two days for telling his teacher that something was BS.  He used the initials and not the actual full term so this may sound a little extreme but this was the 8^th time he had been sent to the office this year.  That’s once for every month he’s been in school… which is actually an improvement from last year.

So today he is doing chores and patching holes he put in the wall this week.  Pretty happily I might add except for the fact that he is convinced his twin brother stole his socks this morning and wore them to school and keeps saying he is going to punch him when he gets home.  I have no clue which socks belong to whom, I just put all socks in a big basket when I do laundry and let them dig them out as they need them.  But I make sure to let him know that if he punches his brother there will be consequences.

On my way to pick the boys up from school I get a phone call from one of them asking if I have left the house yet and if I’m alone.  Yes and Yes.  Ok good because friends T, H, R, and RB all need a ride and he wants to make sure I have enough room for him, his brother and the 4 friends.  It is not unusual for T and H to “miss” the bus and need a ride, but R and RB don’t even live near me so I ask where they need to be taken.  Fortunately they are all going to T and H’s house right down the street, so I agree.  I did however draw the line with dropping my son off at T and H’s to hang out with the other 4 and no adult supervision, which he was not too happy about.  I also let him know that his brother thinks he has his socks and that he is going to be responsible for his reaction when his brother questions him about it. 

Before arriving home he decided to take the socks in question off and put them in his pocket.  Not because they belong to his brother, but he says “because they are mine and I don’t want him to try to take them from me.” Interestingly, he is wearing another pair of socks underneath them.  This turns out to be because the disputed socks have holes in the heels, but that doesn’t matter because they also have a swoosh on the side…

And this is how I ended up sitting in the house contemplating ordering the Total Transformation while one of my 14 year old twins was chasing the other around the neighborhood screaming “I want my damn socks!”

As far as I know, no punches were thrown – and my toilets are all clean - so I consider this day a success…