a walk

everyone says that you are outnumbered when you go from 2 to 3 kids, as there are only 2 of you. however, when you decide to take all 3 out on a walk you are really outnumbered. it was almost 60 degrees today, so I got the boys all in lightweight coats and decided to take a walk up the driveway. I knew there were puddles the boys could jump in and throw rocks in. As we were leaving the garage Luke found a lawnmower and started pushing it, of course Graham wanted it so we did half and half ,with Graham having the first half of the driveway. When it got time to switch, Graham decided to throw a fit and threw himself down. Of course, it is wet on the driveway. So I get him on his feet, but he won't walk, so i leave him and keep walking, but turn around and he really hasn't gone anywhere. So once again I try to get him to walk and take his hand, and have to half drag him, as he is still unhappy he doesn't have the lawnmower. So I end up picking him up and carrying him. Half way down the driveway again, he wants to walk, so I let him walk and he again pouts and won't move. So I carry him the rest of the way to the road. There everyone is happy and we walk around the circle. On the way back, Graham has discovered the puddles and wants to throw stones in them. Every 5 steps he has to stop and throw like 4 stones in each puddle. Eli, who is strapped to my back, starts to get fussy, so I am trying to get the boys to hurry up no the way back, since it took us 30 mins to go down. Well with stopping every 5 steps it took a long time. About half down, Luke went ahead with he lawnmower. Not a big deal, he won't run away, and I can see him as i keep trying to get Graham to walk faster and quit throwing rocks. Well then I realize, Luke is going to go inside. The problem is that he has stepped in every puddle and mud he could find on the way down the driveway. So I am trying to drag Graham/run to get Luke to stop as he either can't hear me yelling or is choosing not to. But it was too late, he made it into the house. Luckily he stopped right inside and didn't leave muddy footprints all over the house. He got his boots off and just had his wet socks everywhere. So the moral of the story, is to have everyone walk at the same speed, or to not allow children into the house by themselves. Not walking in mud puddles isn't an option!!