You can eat off my kitchen floor!

Really!

The kids have eaten everything on their plates, or that's what we think. We are so busy talking at the dinner table!

"I'm done!" they say as they show us how big their

bellies are now. Clay says his big belly is just like Papaw Hodge's.

But under the table is actually where the food is being stored. Nuggets, fries, eggs, bacon, whatever they were supposed to have consumed. That's the menu.

Why can't I just leave it there? This way, when the kids get hungry they can help themselves.

Just kidding. Not that they haven't ever snatched a week old fry or nugget. Sweeping does help, but only until the next meal or snack. A real brain-racker is when you are sweeping the floor and you find a hard, shrunken noodle and you can't remember the last time you fixed macaroni and cheese or maybe Hamburger Helper.

And if they're still hungry after they said they ate all their food, then I send them to my van. I'm sure there are some McDonald's nuggets stuck between the seats.

Barry gets so aggravated about all the junk in my van.

Hey, his truck usually just transports him, not four kids. And with four kids, you never know what you may run into.

Now what would Nikolas and Alex have done if I hadn't had all those clothes that I grabbed at last summer's yard sales in the back of the van?

They were supposed to be playing basketball with the other kids at my Aunt Rita and Uncle Damon's at Thanksgiving. But something else caught their eye, the longest swimming pool they had ever seen, the CREEK!

Oh yes, they jumped in! Now, the clothes I had in the van may not have been the perfect size or color for their gender but at least they were dry!

One day the rest of the pile will come in handy, too. That's why I keep them there, beside the point that I don't know what I would do with them if I took them in the house.

You never can be too prepared when dragging four little ones around!