Time to Vent

Why is it that one day I absolutely love my job as a stay at home mom and I have these sweet little pictures in my head of well-dressed, well behaved, CLEAN kids who sit quietly playing board games in a spotless house....and the next day I am ready to hide in the closet in the fetal position whispering on the phone with some government offical about changing my identity? First of all, I have a completly skewed vision in this crazy head of mine, because the picture I just described has NEVER been the case...well, maybe once for like 5 seconds, but as a general rule, that is just not how it is. I guess when I am away from them, I only think of the good times. Recently, though, not being away from them AT ALL, has caused me to think about only the times when they are covered in mud from head to toe at 8 am wearing their Baby Gap jammies, that I can't even stand for them to get syrup on, much less mud. Who cares if I got them on clearance? They're good jammies. Anyway--the mud, the crying, the whining, the pea gravel that somehow "jumped" onto the grass in a huge pile, the plucked marigold buds that were just about to bloom, the toys that I am continually stepping on, tripping over, picking up, threatening to give away...all these things seem to be all I can think about when I have a moment to think. Granted, adding 3 extra kids to the mix every day doesn't help (I babysit), but somehow, even without the 3 extras, it is still non-stop fighting, bickering, mess-making, complaining. When does school start again?