WHAT is the DEAL? (Seriously....)

I swear my kids are waking up earlier and earlier. This morning I heard the first stirrings of life in the girls' room at 5:45. NO JOKE. This is how the morning went after that: 5:45 - I go in the girls room and QUIETLY tell them it is not even 6 yet, and that they need to get back in their beds and go back to sleep. I wander groggily back to my bed. around 5:55 the dog starts yowling to be let out. On my way downstairs I hear the girls getting up to let him out. Um, NO. I open their door and tell them I will handle it and to get back in bed. "But we want to get dressed!!!" "You can get dressed later! Get back in bed." I let the dog out, wander groggily back to bed. Around 6:10 I hear the girls being loud in their room. I fling their door open and they are dressed (of course). I tell them they will be on my floor if they can't keep it quiet. On my way back to my room I hear Spencer start babbling. I ignore it and wander angrily (no longer groggily) back to my bed. I try to tune out Spencer's increasingly irritated jabber, and then I decide what's the point? I get up and now I am blogging at eight o'clock in the morning. My kids are marching around singing at the top of their lungs, playing with each other, playing with the dog. Hello? Did you ever hear of QUIET IN THE MORNING? Amy, this is what your wedded bliss will eventually bring you! I will end on a positive note. Yesterday the kids and I went to the mall and I let them play at the playground. When we got there, there were several girls around Emma's age playing, and, of course, not a parent in sight besides me. Anyway, One of the moms had apparently left her teenage daughter in charge or something and said teenager had gone into some of the stores around the playground. So mom came back and the younger daughter was nowhere to be found. They had all the mall security up and running and everyone was flying around in a flurry of activity, trying to find her. I asked the mom what she had been wearing, b/c all the girls that were there parentless had left, so I thought I could help. The poor mom was trying to describe her through her sobs and I remembered with stunning clarity the day we lost Kenna at Walmart, and how the last thing any mother wants to do is describe what her missing child was wearing when they last saw her. Anyway, they found her after about 20 minutes. It did make me grateful for my little bratties.