The Letter Carrier and 3 Dogs

Yesterday we were almost out the door, coats on, everyone had shoes but Claire and I had all the bags. As I reach for the doorknob there is a knock. I open it, expecting to see the letter carrier and there she is along with 3 small, excited dogs. The dogs are jumping and trying to get in the house. The kids are trying to run out after the dogs. I am trying to be polite to the letter carrier and simultaneously not let the dogs in my house. She says my these dogs sure are friendly. And I say yeah, where did they come from?! They aren't yours? she says. So I quickly decide to shoo everyone out because I can't keep these dogs from getting in my house. Claire is asking the letter carrier, repeatedly, if she can pet her dogs, she says they are not hers. Graham is shouting 'Dog!' I turn to lock the door and Claire yells 'Mom you forgot my shoes!' I defer the lesson on whose job it is to remember shoes for a later date. We get the shoes on, the chaos continues as we descend the stairs. The dogs are everywhere. I continue to repeat that we ask before we pet dogs and there is no one to ask so no we can't pet the dogs. I get the kids in and buckled and shut the door. Whew! Our neighbor Tim opens his front door and from the safety of our car we watch the dogs bound over to him. I roll down my window, I tell him our story, he tries to read the collars, etc. We watch the dogs run down our hill to continue their adventure. Still in the driveway Claire asks for a cookie. We had gotten a bag of cookies at the store yesterday and we each had one after the park the day before. I explain that the cookies are in the house. The tears start, first she can't pet the dogs and now she can't have a cookie. Through her wails she asks for a tissue. Graham yells 'Me too!', he watches her out of the corner of his eye and calmly sniffs and dabs at his eyes with the tissue. I am mentally exhausted and we are still in the driveway! Ha! I start up the car and we are off to the kids hair appointments!