Once upon a time there were three kids who loved to paint … and terrorize their mother.

Michelle stretched her legs and took a sip of her chilled chardonnay as she glided gently back and forth on the porch swing. She watched thoughtfully as the warm spring breeze danced petals along the sidewalk, and listened as the birds chitter-chattered in the tree above. Somewhere off in the distance, she could hear the familiar buzz of a lawnmower. She took a deep, deliberate breath and imagined inhaling the sweet scent of freshly shorn grass. Right now, at this very moment … BLISS. And then:

“MOOOOOOOOM! LOOK at what he did! He painted Cinderella’s hair GREEN! Cinderella’s hair is NOT green! And he didn’t even STAY IN THE LINES!”

Michelle opened her eyes to find her daughter Olivia, arms outstretched, brandishing a still-quite-wet canvas of multi-colored Disney princesses. Her son Jake, the apparent offender, was crouched at the bottom of the stairs, completely unperturbed and inspecting a plump, wooly inchworm.

“Olivia, the set comes with five different paints, so he can color Cinderella’s hair whatever color he wants. Where is Ella?”

At that moment, a screeching flash of color came bursting through the screen door. It was Ella, Michelle’s youngest, dressed in nothing but a diaper and covered head-to-toe in acrylic paint. With the way she gripped the paintbrush and wailed as she zigzagged across the yard, she resembled a tiny aboriginal warrior in the throes of battle.

“So let me get this straight,” Michelle said while pinching the bridge of her nose. “You’re upset that your brother painted outside the lines, but you just sat idly by as your sister used herself as a human canvas?”

“Which one of us is the parent again, Mom?” Olivia said sarcastically.

“Don’t remind me,” Michelle said with a smirk and one eyebrow raised. “Now go put away the rest of the Disney paint sets while I hose down your sister.”

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