Be a Dead Horse!

When we left for Guam we sold our van and so for the whole three years we were there we used a sedan. Many times I missed my van. The kids just needed more room to spread out.  They were sitting on top of each other and so used the opportunity to annoy the living heck out of each other and me!  As we were driving around the state from one set of grands to another before we picked up my new van, the kids were doing normal thing in the car: driving us CRAZY!!

One day I had just all I could take of the noise - I don't even know what they were bickering about and I didn't care. They were just going on and on about something.  I finally yelled, "Enough! Quit beating the dead horse!"

They sort of shrugged their shoulders and said, "Okay" then slumped down on each other.  I found that a little odd, but I didn't pay too much attention. I was enjoying the quiet.

For the next ten to fifteen minutes I enjoyed the pasting scenery. Every now and then I would hear some giggles, but mostly quite until William piped up, "Mom, can we stop being dead horses now?"

"Uh,? What are you talking about?"

"Well, you said to be a dead horse, so we are. Can we stop now?"

I couldn't stop laughing! "I didn't tell you to BE a dead horse, I said to  stop beating it."

This is was their turn to say, "Uh? What do you mean?"

When Drew and I could say a few words without laughing we explained the idiom of "beating a dead horse". "Oh!!!" They all explained!! "We get it now!"

It still amazes me how the kids can make me so annoyed one minute to laughing until my sides hurt the next! What a crazy bunch I have!