Sometimes I Still Get Surprised

In conjunction with the fries from McDonald's, I'd gotten both Ian and Merry Grace a small water.  Somewhere between the school run and piano lessons, they started getting silly and before I knew it the peals of laughter had turned into someone spitting water on the other one.  As the chauffeur to four kids, my car is rarely (okay, okay...never) in pristine condition.  But even I have limits to what I can tolerate and spitting water is beyond that limit.  I told the two of them that when we got home they would be responsible for cleaning out the car.  That meant gathering up the things that people had left behind in the car (jacket, shoes, toys) and throwing away any trash that was lying around.  We got home, I got them started and then started cooking dinner.  I knew they weren't just cleaning up--I could see them out the kitchen window, and I could hear lots of talking and giggling.  I guess I just expected that there would be at least some cleaning taking place.  So when they said they were getting tired and wanted to come in for a snack, I went out to check.  Not only had not one single thing been picked up or thrown away, I was surprised to see what looked like a couple of red circles on the carpet.  Upon closer inspection, I discovered there were indeed red circles drawn on the carpet in lipstick.  Yes, that's right.  Lipstick.  There was also some white stuff that looked like it had been drizzled on the carpet.  Turns out, they'd found a packet of ranch dressing and drizzled it onto the carpet.  So not only had the car not been cleaned, shockingly, it was in even worse shape than before.  I consider my greatest achievement for the day that I did not yell at those two little rascals when I saw what they'd been up to.  I can't decide whether to congratulate myself on my self-control or kick myself for being so stunned that I was at a complete loss for words (angry or otherwise!)  Usually when the kids make some kind of intentional mess, I have them clean it up.  But after seeing their car cleaning attempt, frankly, I think I'll handle this one myself.  Tomorrow.