My kids get up to a lot of crazy antics. Yesterday, the younger two decided they were having a girls' day. I have been trying to find words to communicate how amazing watching them bond over the Winter break has been. I simply can't, for more reasons than I can articulate. It's been a bumpy road in this house with regards to the kids and their relationships. Age gaps, interest gaps, and different needs have kept them from meshing for a long time. As parents we are finally seeing the fruits of our patience with the children. They have begun looking to each other for what is in common and celebrating without our intervention or direction.

<center>![ricardo-viana-105232.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmZmi1nXk2UuATwbtEWcR3kbaxPQexfVVAG7ACJyYC8fZw/ricardo-viana-105232.jpg)
*Photo by Ricardo Viana on Unsplash*</center>

About that girls' day: It all began with my youngest daughter's bed breaking. Kid 3 was on her bunk with her dad on her way to sleep when the bed frame fell through it's loft. They were both unceremoniously dumped on the floor without injury. Kid 3 is uncanny in her ability to positively reframe any situation. She was visibly shaken by her bed's sudden betrayal, but she immediately found a way to celebrate it as a "first." She does this constantly, and what she said in that moment was, "This was my first time breaking my bed with Dad!" 

I couldn't help but laugh, and neither could @nat5an. Hopefully it will also be the last time this ever happens. Kid 3 is five years old. Since she could talk she has been accumulating firsts. Just the other day it was her first time finding a particular lost Lego head on the floor. She was overjoyed. 

The girls' day came about when we had to replace her bed. Once the new bunk was constructed (thank you again, IKEA gods), our daughters decided a sleepover was in order. They promptly began their sleepover yesterday morning and it went all day and all night. They both slept in Kid 3's bed, shared their story time, and got into other mischief throughout the day.

Crazy antics. Here we are back where I started. The pair decided to bake a cake. 

<center>![rachael-gorjestani-197369.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmZsVKctT36PBqbzzH5s5xXVnHZM5TTXVCwoCR5oRkZYiV/rachael-gorjestani-197369.jpg)
*It ended up looking nothing like this. Photo by Rachael Gorjestani on Unsplash*</center>

True fact about me: I hate kitchen messes. I can't watch them happen and retain sanity. There is no joy in knowing they are going on for me, even if my daughters are laughing and wowing their way through a recipe. And especially when I walk into the kitchen to check on them to discover they've forgone mixing utensils and squished their batter together by hand. 

Sticky chocolate batter was EVERYWHERE. It was like a cake apocalypse. I had to very intentionally focus in on their relatively clean, smiling faces in order to not lose my shit. I sent them both to the shower where they used way too much soap but got clean and were out of the way while I put their cake in the oven. 

<center>![sunyu-381591.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmSnkBQqnASG3rrkvsKbpAoHjoVRifgyWomaobCKQe3u4V/sunyu-381591.jpg)
*Photo by Sunyu on Unsplash*</center>

I did not scream. This, in itself, is a miracle. Kitchen mess makes my body crawl with horror. I got it straightened out to the best of my emotional ability and chatted with friends on Discord. 

With my sanity intact, I was able to clean my kitchen while my children cleaned themselves. The cakes turned out even if they were a bit unusually shaped. The kids enjoyed them. My cleaning extended to the whole house which meant my partner was delighted when he walked in the door. There's really nothing better than walking into a freshly cleaned space, especially when you didn't have to clean it. 

Later, the girls spent the night snuggled together in the new bunk and planned a followup sleepover for the next evening. Their joy was contagious to the point I was almost able to forget the cake batter apocalypse. Alas, there are some things which cannot be unseen.

But to recap:

<center>![jeshoots-com-436787.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmZhfXa1psfWxCrnrwiBN8AVCv2cbzw1yogj1fasz8apqs/jeshoots-com-436787.jpg)
*Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash*</center>

> girls bonded
cake baked
house cleaned
no one screamed
sanity retained

Those are four big wins out of one potentially immense emotional disaster. I am one happy mama.

# Recent Posts 
* [Color Challenge: Saturday Indigo](https://www.steemit.com/colorchallenge/@shawnamawna/color-challenge-saturday-indigo-201816t135755721z)  (colorchallenge)
* [Color Challenge: Friday Sky Blue](https://www.steemit.com/colorchallenge/@shawnamawna/color-challenge-friday-sky-blue-201815t7620210z)  (colorchallenge)
* [Patience and the Two Types of Body Pain](https://www.steemit.com/life/@shawnamawna/patience-and-the-two-types-of-body-pain)  (life)
* [3 Microwave Meals to Teach Your Kids](https://www.steemit.com/food/@shawnamawna/3-microwave-meals-to-teach-your-kids)  (food)
* [The Two Types of Body Pain: Confessions of an Injured Gym Rat](https://www.steemit.com/life/@shawnamawna/the-two-types-of-body-pain-confessions-of-an-injured-gym-rat)  (life)
* [Color Challenge: Thursday Green](https://www.steemit.com/colorchallenge/@shawnamawna/color-challenge-thursday-green-201814t81637799z)  (colorchallenge)
* [I Want to Write with YOU!](https://www.steemit.com/writing/@shawnamawna/i-want-to-write-with-you)  (writing)
* [Poverty of (Self) Speech Coming Back to My Okayest](https://www.steemit.com/psychology/@shawnamawna/poverty-of-self-speech-coming-back-to-my-okayest)  (psychology)
* [Color Challenge: Wednesday Yellow](https://www.steemit.com/colorchallenge/@shawnamawna/color-challenge-wednesday-yellow-201813t73123415z)  (colorchallenge)
* [Color Challenge: Tuesday Orange](https://www.steemit.com/colorchallenge/@shawnamawna/color-challenge-tuesday-orange-201812t183042270z)  (colorchallenge)
* [Do my relationships often end in polarity?](https://www.steemit.com/life/@shawnamawna/do-my-relationships-often-end-in-polarity)  (life)

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/382917260022382592/388985975487070218/STEEMIT-BLOGGERS-GIF.gif <center>![APP.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmQ599LwdiqJJw5oko4MK4PHcPJCZkvk8ScrW9ojcJfGX9/APP.png)</center> <center>[CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE STEEMIT BLOGGERS ON DISCORD](https://discord.gg/gRypnga) <center>Animated Banner Created By @zord189</center>