October 10: Funny disfunction — owies and flies

Last night we went over to a friend’s house and NO ONE napped. So all kids were catching flies during the ride home as early at 6:30 PM. We carried them from the car to bed – this was the earliest bedtime ever for the kids and they all slept well. That meant that they all woke up well and full of energy – even Big Bro.

Highlights of the Morning and Commute:

• I wake up to Red and Big Bro in our bed, laughing and playing. They woke up so early and were so playful. They play with my alarm clock and wing up turning it on at full blast, which they think is hysterical.
• All of the sleep with all the kids leads to a VERY relaxed morning where there are NO tantrums and everyone is agreeable. Twins and Red eat cereal and Big Bro has a bagel. We are REALLY running out of food because we are going to leave for a 10 day vacation soon — but we have no bread (it is moldy), no jelly, no fruit, ….. let’s see how long we can stretch this out with a family of six.
• Kids get dressed without a problem; Twin Husky has fun playing with choo-choo trains, putting the tracks together and linking up the trains. Twin Crazy has having fun drawing with a magnetic board.
• I put in some laundry, pack up the bags, and get the car ready. I make some instant coffee. I am hungry this morning.
• Everyone seems to be sneezing/sick which puts us back a bit, but we are still very early. since we are so early we all get into the van together and make all drop offs together.
• 1st drop off: Red. She is there early and drop off is so smooth. She is such an outgoing kid. 2nd drop off: Twins. We have a lot of clothes and diapers and wipes and medicine with us today – just in case they need it. 3rd drop off: Big Bro. I take him to his lineup, he is excited for the day. He has goose-pimples and is cold (I know) but he doesn’t want to put on his sweatshirt. I guess he doesn’t think it’s cool. I need to take a better look around at what the other kids are wearing so I can get him a proper jacket. Hubby and I then make our way to the Ferry. The parking lot is not full – Columbus Day.

I’m now on the ferry and it is so gray; looks like it will rain. I have a lot of work to do in the next 3 days before vacation. I have preparation and still some speakers to secure for the next two big meetings – and I also have to close out some major things from the last two forums. I think these 3 days are going to be packed. I need to take a deep breath and plow through it — my four left feet are going away and I feel like I can attack this stuff without too much stress (hopefully).

I’m really looking forward to vacation. We’re heading to Florida where my father lives – I will get to spend more time with my family which I really need. And Red and Twin Crazy will be flower girls in a wedding which we are looking forward to. I hope they can do it OK without being too scared. I think they both have the personalities to do just fine. After the wedding we head to the beach for a week – and even though we have the kids I’m hoping to grab some thinking time, some reflective time. I need time to stand still and catch my breath.

Highlights of My Working Day:

Today was the kind of day where looking back, I wish I would have gotten more accomplished. I needed to settle back in the office from last week’s travels but not lose any momentum… I still have two meetings to organize (and fill dropped speaker spots) but also think through the last week of meetings and organize the next steps coming out of those meetings. There were some administrative distractions today as well which cut into my thinking-time. I think that if I hit the ground running tomorrow, I will be able to accomplish more – and I think that if I knock things out in the morning I will feel more productive and hopefully continue the traction throughout the day.

I’m on the ferry now headed home. I am tired. Very tired. I still don’t think I’ve caught up my sleep from last week. I am gearing up for vacation and still feel like I have so much to do at work and at home to prepare. I’ll try to start to pack tonight — I need to organize dressy clothes (wedding) as well as beach clothes for afterwards – and do this for 4 kids as well as myself. I’m going to start to do that tonight if I have the energy.

I’m looking forward to kid pick-up. I didn’t get a chance to do this at all last week so I’m looking forward to being in that role again.

Dinner and Bedtime:

Things were pretty crazy/funny at first. I was on my own and honestly, it was like a comedy routine in the house:

• I pick up Big Bro and we both go over to pick up Red.  She has a little zip lock bag of snacks that they assembled at pre-school.   She asked to have something and I said it was OK for a little, but it would be good to share with Big Bro.  I thought she would share some pretzel sticks but she wound up picking the only cookie in the bag and then split it in half for her and her brother.  I thought that was so sweet.  Big Bro said “thank you” to her with conviction….   how sweet.
• Big Bro shoots down my idea of home-made macaroni and cheese because he likes the job of mixing the powder cheese with milk.  As soon as I park the van and try to organize bags and our things, he swiftly gets two packages of boxed mac-n-cheese out and proceeds to open the boxes, dump the powdered cheese in a cup, and ask for milk so he can start stirring.   That kid is too independent for his own good.  I can’t believe he tricked me like that.
• Twin Husky plays with train tracks and trains and gets frustrated.
• For some reason, Big Bro decided to take off his jeans and walk around the house in his underwear.   This led to an accident in the house.   Big Bro and I were running around and horsing around, him saying that he wanted my keys, and me saying that I wanted some “peace”.   I started tickling him saying that I wanted “peace, peace, peace” while he wanted “keys, keys, keys” and his bare leg scraped against my rings — his poor leg was all scraped up and bleeding a bit.   All kids started to come over and look at his “owie”.  Twin Crazy even kissed him to make him feel better.  Big Bro, being very dramatic, was acting like he just broke his leg.  We put a band-aid on it and he wound up crawling over to the dinner table in his spot.
• Twin Crazy saw a fly and continuously started to make scared, anxious sounds while running over to me and holding my legs for protection.
• Twin Crazy and Twin Husky start fighting over a rocket ship scooter, and then a Barbie doll.  Twin Husky has trouble putting all of his “things” in the trunk of the rocket scooter and starts to get frustrated.
• Twin Husky and Twin Crazy keep asking for more chicken but everything is gone.  I didn’t even eat anything yet.
• Hubby comes home and starts chasing the fly with a dish towel – he came close two times
• Twin Crazy starts serving herself more mac n cheese
• Hubby takes out nectarines for dessert and starts to slice one.  Twin Husky is on his lap and steals the other nectarine and starts chowing down on it before Hubby has a chance.
• Big Bro turns and asks me “why does my penis itch so much?”.   ??!?!?!??!?!?!?  I guess its time to take baths/showers tonight!
• Twins run upstairs to take a bath when they hear this
• Baths were uneventful
• Bedtime routine was quick – these kids are tired.   Red wants her book read to her like she is the “teacher”.  I guess pre-school is really making a mark on her.

Red acting like her "teacher" during bedtime stories