On the verge of having it together

I was so proud of myself this morning for remembering that is was St. Patrick's Day.  If I was one of those Pinterest moms, I would have made my kids green eggs and ham and decorated the house in shamrocks, but I was patting myself on the back for remembering to dress them in green shirts.  I even snapped a picture of Ellie in her Ireland soccer jersey.

When I was dressing myself, I realized my pants were still in the dryer so I pulled on some old sweats to wear downstairs.  I then got caught up in the morning rush of dressing, feeding, and rushing kids out the door. Luckily (Irish luck), I remembered that I was still wearing my sweat pants and I was climbing in the car so I ran back into the house to change.  I pulled up at Ellie's school still feeling like I had it all together, when I noticed men pulling big suitcases out of their cars.  I asked Ellie what was going on and she said, "Oh, it is school picture day today!"  Well, I guess her jersey isn't as bad as the free HEB Reading Rocks t-shirt she was wearing for class pictures when I forgot two years ago.

What I Did Over My Spring Break

For journal-ling purposes, I am going to attempt to recap all that we did last week.  I can barely remember what I did yesterday, so I am going to be stealing a lot from my Facebook.

We started off the break by having family movie night that Friday.  We rented Big Hero 6, something the kids loved.  Even Sam was interested for a little while until we put him to bed.  

Saturday, Tom took the kids to their cousin's birthday party at Little Beakers...it is like a science lab for kids.  I stayed home with Sam because he is a tornado. The kids had a blast, though. Then, we all went over to Mark's house to eat dinner and play Pickleball.  My cousin and her family were in town and my oldest brother and his family drove in from Tennessee.

Sunday was church as usual. And of course my #sundaybest pic.

Monday, I made good on my promise to Ellie and we went to the pet store to buy her two rats. She named them Aviva and Koki after the two females on Wild Kratts. She said if we had purchased male rats she would have named them Chris and Martin.  I think I will do a whole separate post on those rats.

Monday night, the family got together at my parents' house for games, but I didn't stay long since I put my kids to bed freakishly early.

Tuesday was rodeo day!  I love the rodeo, but, dang, it gets expensive!  A lot of the family was staying for the Tim McGraw concert that night and Tom and I were going to take all the younger kids home.  However, I ran into a coworker and she gave me for club-level seats to the concert!  I still needed to get Sam home, but Ellie and a few of her cousins were able to stay with the olders.

Wednesday, Ellie had a friend over from a playdate.  I can't remember anything else from that day. Clearly it was exciting.

Thursday, Dianna and I continued our tradition from last year and took Ellie and Kinleigh to a concert at the rodeo!  Since they were already able to go to Tim McGraw on Tuesday, it wasn't quite the big event we expected, but it was still a lot of fun.  Ellie and I shared a bbq loaded baked potato that I am still thinking about. Soooo good.

Friday, I took Ellie and one of her friends to go see the new Cinderella movie.  It was cute and everyone liked it.  Then, Jack had a friend over to play because I felt guilty about Ellie getting all the fun. 

Saturday, Tom took Ellie and Jack to the SpongeBob movie in the morning.  I am not really a fan of SpongeBob and I don't usually let the kids watch it, but I figured it was something to do.  Tom said the movie was dumb, but Ellie and Jack thought it was really funny.  Of course they did. Then Ellie and I went shopping in the afternoon for accessories for her rats.  Those rats.

And, finally, it was Sunday and Spring Break was over.  Here are my #sundaybest pics.

You know how I love dressing the boys all matchy-matchy.  I plan to do it until they are old enough to protest.  Sam had a cold and I don't think he was feeling well, because this is the position he decided was most comfortable at church.

So, looking back, I could have just summed up my break by saying: family, church, family, rodeo, friends, rodeo, movies, movies, church.

My sweet, sweet boys

A morning

As the school year progresses, I feel more and more like I am losing my mind.  This morning is a perfect example.  I wake up at my normal time (5:15) and wake the kids up at their normal time (6:00), so everything is right on schedule.  Ellie makes her breakfast while I put two waffles in the toaster for the boys and start packing lunches. The whole time I am doing this, I am peppering Jack to get moving.  He is complaining about his ear hurting (very unusual for him), so I do the working-mom thing and give him Tylenol while crossing my fingers. He sits down to eat, but then decides he needs to wash his hands. Even though the clock is ticking, I am not going to argue with that impulse so off he goes to the bathroom.  Sam, in the meantime, is throwing fit after fit.  I assume he is mad about his sippy cup so I pour his milk into a different one.  Still mad. So I just give him a juice box even though they are strictly for packed lunches.  He throws it on the floor. I then think he is mad about his waffle which he has only taken one bite of and shoved away so I give him a fruit/veggie pouch which he squeezes all over his shirt in anger.  At this point, I finally figure out that his pants are too tight at the waist and hurting him (and they are also way too short, where were my eyes???). Normally, I don't negotiate with terrorists toddlers, but this morning I am willing to do anything to get out the door. In the meantime, Jack finally returns from his 5 minute hand washing session only to discover his waffle is now cold.  I put it back in the toaster and start pressuring Ellie to brush her hair and get her shoes and socks on.  I wipe Sam up and grab a different outfit that I determine Ms. Donika will have to put Sam in because I have NO time for that battle. Jack still has yet to take a bite and we are now past the 6:30 mark.  I tell him he is the slowest person I have ever met, which makes him cry.  I then tell him he has no more time to eat and to get his shoes and socks and take his waffle with him to go.  He moves in slow motion to do so while Ellie decides she needs to give the dog a treat.  She hums and sings and talks to the dog while my brain explodes. Then, I am frantically gathering backpacks and bags and extra clothes and herding everyone out the door.  I drop Ellie off at her school and then take the boys to Donika's where I then realize I forgot to write her a check yesterday and Jack needs to take a check to preschool today for his tuition. I also realize I forgot to give Ellie a check yesterday for her before-school program, so I try to make a mental note to actually remember tomorrow (not likely).  I frantically write checks and then drag the kids out of the car into the house.  I give Donika the extra clothes and apologize for Sam in advance.  Then, on the way to school, I realize that I don't remember Jack taking his waffle to the car. Since today is a preschool day, and preschool is at Tom's high school with his coworkers and several of his students/athleyes, I decide it would make us look bad if he tells them he is hungry because he didn't get breakfast.  So I text Donika to tell her that I forgot to feed him and to please give him a snack before taking him to preschool. She then tells me that she always feeds them breakfast when her daughter eats.  (Apparently, my boys have been eating two breakfasts a day...why do I even stress about feeding them?!)  Miracles upon miracles, I make it to school on time and class begins smoothly.  I am mid-instruction when the fire alarm goes off (not a scheduled drill) and once again I am herding kids out the door and into the gray, rainy day.

Weekend recap

Tom had a track meet on Saturday so he left before the kids woke up and didn't get home until after they were in bed. It was up to me to take them to their back-to-back practices (totaling 3 hours) and I was not looking forward to the cold weather and trying to corral Sam. The thing with Sam is that he is very, very heavy. And he can wriggle and fight with the best of them if you are taking him somewhere he doesn't want to be. In this case, it is the baseball fields because he wants to be at the adjoining park. For Ellie's practice, this isn't a big deal because, even though they want the parents there helping out, they don't REALLY need me to be there. Jack's practices are a different story. It is frowned upon to just leave them at that age. Plus, Jack is still a little squirrely at practices and often needs my redirection. Since it was so cold on Saturday, I had the genius idea to let Ellie and Sam play in the back of the (locked) SUV (don't worry, I didn't leave the keys) while I watched Jack's practice a few feet away. Jack was wiggling and dancing around in the outfield so I walked over to see if he needed to use the restroom. He assured me he didn't. I asked again. Again, he said he didn't. You see where this is headed? So, I decided to walk back to the car to check on the kids. Ellie told me she needed to use the restroom so the three of us walked over to the pool area to use their restrooms. I was gone maybe 5 minutes max. When I got back to the field, the coach told me they had been looking all over for me and that Jack had peed his pants. Yes. He peed his pants WHILE I was in the bathroom with both his siblings. It did get me out of the last 30 minutes of practice, though, because it was too cold to let him run around in wet pants. I didn't take any pictures. Some things don't need to be preserved for posterity.

That night, I decided to watch The Swiss Family Robinson with the kids since Netflix would be retiring it March 1. When I was 10, we went to Disneyland and my parents let each of us pick a souvenir. Being the nerd that I am, I picked a book...The Swiss Family Robinson. I proceeded to read it about 5 million times. I really wanted to live on a deserted island with exotic animals. And I REALLY wanted to ride an ostrich (until I went to an ostrich farm as an adult and realized how dangerous they actually are). Anyway, the kids LOVED the movie, but, once again, I was reminded the childhood faves are often pretty ridiculous when viewed as adults. Oh well. I did pull my 26 year old copy of Swiss Family Robinson off the bookshelf for Ellie to read. She did and has already finished it.

Sunday was church as usual. I always attempt to color-coordinate the kids and I for church. Not really make them all matchy-matchy (although you know I love that, too), but at least make their colors go together. Don't ask me why, my brain just likes it. Anyway, this time I actually jumped in the #sundaybest shot because I was so proud of my coordinating skills. And, yes, I do know that church is more than just a fashion show (as a friend so nicely pointed out on facebook awhile back). 

Oh yeah, and then Tom broke the Sabbath and took Ellie and Jack to go see McFarland, USA. He hadn't seen the kids all weekend and really wanted to spend time with them. The kids loved the movie and Tom LOVED the movie. He even admitting to getting teary-eyed at the end. Awww, my cute coach-husband...I kind of adore him.