“Whee!!!”

Whee! I thought? Oh that can't be good…

It had been a long day at work, up at 5:30AM, it was now about 6 in the evening and I knew the hungry horde would be waiting for me when I got home.

I decided I didn't feel up to cooking tonight, and splurged on a rare treat. I stopped at KFC, and picked up a bucket of chicken with a few sides. Armed with food to distract the ravenous wolves, I headed home.

Arriving at home, I sat the bag down on the kitchen table, and headed back into back room to tell everyone that food was here. I barely made it to the bedroom, and I heard it.

“Whee!!!”

My heart sank. That's never a good sound unless we are at the amusement park.

Whee is good at the amusement park. Probably not so good in the kitchen…

I turned around and ran back to the kitchen, following the gleeful “Whee's” that were getting louder and louder by the second.

“Lauren!!!” I yelled, not quite believing what I was seeing.

Dodging flying gravy, I disarmed my 4-year-old daughter who was standing in the middle of the table waving a now mostly empty tub of gravy. Somehow she had managed to fling the majority of the gravy into the whirring ceiling fan above her. Looking around, my heart sunk again as I realized the extent of the damage. Every surface in the kitchen was dripping with dark gooey gravy.

Lauren was still giggling and was coated from head to toe in gravy as well. Anger melted and I had a hard time not cracking up. Putting on a stern face, I said, “I'm very angry with you!” I picked her up and carted her to the tub.

A few hours of cleaning later, I wasn't cracking up anymore, but I couldn't really stay mad either. We finally ate what was left, and after putting the kids to bed, I crashed in bed myself. Another day of crazy down.

This happened about 11 years ago, and this weekend my baby girl started driving. Moms and dads…when you have your WHEE moments, learn to step back and laugh a little. These are the things memories are made of. They'll be old and out of the house before you know it, enjoy the little things while you can.