Well, it only took 6 weeks...

...before the inevitable happened. We left a kid (Elizabeth) at home after getting into the car to go somewhere. Now before you string us up with a rope (a fine Texas tradition which in my opinion is not employed nearly enough in cases that warrant it), I would like to plead my case by presenting several facts that have yet to be entered into evidence. Here goes:

1. Sarah was not with us. Now before you laugh and say "What does that have to do with it?", let me take you back to a previous post where I stated that Sarah consistently reminds me about Elizabeth when I am following the procedures of my official "how to load a car with four kids" guidebook. Therefore she was not there to offer her observance that someone was not in the car.
2. Jeff was with us. Not that I don't love my husband and wish he could be around 24/7, but because he is not a part of the everyday routine we have, there was some chaos as to who had which kid and who was in charge of what. Because of that, my system was thrown out of whack. So now I realize that in future cases, he should participate as a casual observer when it comes to getting ready to go. A fact I'm sure he'll love...
3. It was the one who could not walk or talk. So she was unable to come screaming out the garage door in tears, cursing us out or babbling about all the therapy she will need in her teen years. Plus, since she isn't talking yet, we weren't able to figure out that her "talk" was missing from the sing-song melodic voices that I am able to discern with little to no effort. Ok, ok, I'm blowing smoke on that one. It's all I can do to hear the radio over the chaos and shrieks that constantly have me screaming "Can you quiet it down back there? I can't hear myself think!!!"
4. We didn't even make it out of our subdivision before we noticed she wasn't in the car. Thankfully the second row ceiling air conditioning vent was blowing down Jeff's back, so he asked me to face it the other way or close it. It's what caused me to turn around in my seat and notice she wasn't there. I will add that I am going to throw our visitor who was riding with us that day (who shall remain nameless ;P) under the bus. They were sitting in the second row and should have noticed the seat next to them was empty...
   
   

I really don't have any more excuses...errr, I mean reasons, very valid reasons, to present. All I can plead is post pregnancy insanity. You have to admit that it probably proves the "man on man vs. zone defense" theory of child rearing. And now you can be sure we will never do that again. But out of all four kiddos, this was the best case scenario (is there such a thing in cases like this?!) seeing that upon returning to the house to get Elizabeth, she was sleeping soundly in her carseat in the middle of the living room completely oblivious to the events that had just transpired.

I guess we won't be clearing any wallspace for all the "Parent of the Year Awards" we were expecting to win before this...

Everyone's A Critic

So we went out to eat at Babe's the other night. It's a great family place because not only is the food "kid friendly", it's nice and loud, so yelling Ashleys, screaming Kates, and crying Elizabeths get lost in the crowd. They also do some fun things, like inviting you to join the servers in "The Hokey Pokey" or servers singing karaoke-style over the mic. They also have a great jukebox that plays familiar songs.

One such tune playing that night was George Strait's "The Fireman", which to everyone's delight, Daddy started singing. Well, to almost everyone's delight. Jeff was sitting across from Kate, who was eating cheerios and apple puffs, and as he was belting it out in his booming tenor while making some choice faces, Kate started throwing her snacks at him.

Guess she thinks Daddy's singing should be relegated to the shower :)

The Circus Came to Town

And no, I'm not talking about our family :)

I love the circus. I look forward to it's return to town every year, and love the fact that the kids get just as excited as I do about going. I still can't decide what my favorite act is...the elephants that seem as agile as cats? The tigers that seem just one grumpy moment away from chewing up the trainer? Or could it be the trapeze flying acrobats that have me secretly thinking "fall, fall"? So you don't think I'm pure evil, there was a net...

We almost missed it this year. Elizabeth was due August 17th, so since I was unsure about the timing, I didn't buy tickets or mention it to the kids. Not that it really helped, because there were tv ads proclaiming "The Greatest Show on Earth" was about to roll into town, so "get you tickets now!" all day long for weeks. Because Elizabeth was early, Jeff and I were able to enjoy a night out with just Sarah and Ashley while my mom watched Kate and Elizabeth. Ah, the good old days when we could fit as a family into Jeff's Camry.

Now, as with all things, I'm a bargain searcher. That is not suspended just because I am delirious with excitement, so of course I had to go to Google and enter "ringling brothers circus dallas discount code" in hopes of finding some secret word only the best investigator would find. And ta da! Like a kid using their secret decoder ring to read the message passed along by their secret society compadres, I found a discount code for half off my ticket purchase :) I love the internet...

It was a fun night complete with a pre-circus meet and greet, daredevil motorcycle moves, watching an elephant "paint", hot dogs and popcorn, and lots of soda that translated into only 2 trips to the bathroom. I also had the added bonus of surveying the almost full arena and thinking that most of them probably payed full price. Suckers!

Jeff filled in as photographer for the evening (since I was sans babies in need of formula, diapers, snacks, changes of clothes, pacifiers, milk, wipes, water, and band aids, I was also without my diaper bag which holds my camera) with his camera phone. Here are some pictures of our fun night out. Enjoy! And if you didn't get a chance to go to the circus this time, there is always next year!

Here is Ashley having fun hula hooping, a trick she learned on the Wii :)

Sarah and Ashley "clowning around"

Ashley was in heaven trying on costumes and posing for the camera

The famous "painting elephant"

i...

I saw this on a friend Way-Way's page, and loved the thought of filling it out. She was right, though, it is a lot harder than you think!

*i am: always looking for a new adventure to share with my family


*i dream: of a house that stays clean for longer than 2 hours


*i think: the world would be a better place if we lived life through the eyes of a 5 year old


*i know: what it feels like to be loved unconditionally


*i want: to rent a convertible for a week and take a road trip with Jeff, just the two of us


*i have: everything I ever wanted and more


*i wish: I could have Cindy Crawford's body without having to do anything to maintain it


*i hate: when people judge you without even knowing you


*i miss: playing sports competitively


*i fear: I will die young and miss seeing my girls grow up


*i feel: happiest taking in the simplest pleasures with my family


*i hear: better than my husband, apparently, because he's still snoring when the baby cries at 3am


*i smell: almost nothing since having broken my nose in my youth


*i crave: lots of things at different times...hmmm, tonight I think it's dinner out at a Mexican restaurant...


*i search: for somebody's shoes at least once a day


*i wonder: what my children will be when they grow up


*i regret: Not having met Jeff earlier in my life


*i love: that Jeff loves me when I am feeling my sloppiest, most run down, crankiest, disheveled, and fattest ever. And that he tells me so everyday...


*i ache: when I think of never getting to know my son Matthew


*i care: little about what people think of me...I know who my true friends are


*i always: say "I love you" and "drive safely" to Jeff every morning before he leaves...always


*i am not: one to dwell on the past


*i believe: in angels


*i dance: with my children because it always makes them laugh


*i sing: slightly off key, way too loud, and mostly to country music tunes


*i cry: in Jeff's arms because he always makes me feel better


*i don’t always: stop completely at stop signs


*i hope: to one day travel around the world


*i fight: very seldom


*i write: these blog entries hoping to entertain at least one person


*i lose: my temper when driving...I like to yell at people on the road because they can't hear me


*i listen: to Billy Joel's greatest hits so much, Sarah can sing along


*i can usually be found: trying to catch up on laundry (hasn't happened yet...)


*i need: to remember that the house doesn't always have to be clean before I play with my children


*i am happy about: George Bush leaving the White House


*i desire: my life to continue on this happy path for as long as it will take me

The Logistics of a Quick Trip

Growing up I always marveled at the courage of parents who had large families (and when I was 12, large was 4 or 5 kids). To be truly honest, it was like a train wreck you couldn't help but stop and watch, when you saw kid after kid after kid getting out of a car or following one another in the grocery store while the Mother screamed "don't touch that...put that down...no, we don't need a 5lb package of M&Ms". Basic questions always flashed through my head, like "I wonder how many gallons of milk they buy from the store a week?" or "how do they afford shoes for everyone?"...

Flash forward 20 years (OK for those of you keeping count, the real number is 23 years), and now I find myself as one of those crazy people with kid after kid after kid (after kid) unloading from the car, being shuffled into the grocery store as I scream "don't touch that...put that down...no, we don't need a 5lb package of M&Ms, the 1lb pack is enough!" But even only after 5 weeks, I'm happy to say that we have our system down pretty well and trips to WalMart, Target, and the grocery store are pretty easy. Just like packing a trunk for a big car trip, there is a science to getting four kids into a car to go somewhere.

Step 1: 1:30pm (I'm not suicidal, so I usually reserve these trips for after naps and lunch) Yell at everyone to get their shoes on because we are going somewhere. Answer 20 questions about where we are going, why we need to go there, what we are going to get, and if we are going to be back by 2 because Zach and Cody is showing on Disney Channel. Marvel at the fact that the 1 year old is the only one with her shoes on, besides me. OK, they aren't on yet, but at least she's holding them up in the air towards me while making a grunting sound.

Step 2: 1:35pm Mix a bottle for Elizabeth, put it in the side of the bag. Make sure I have diapers and wipes, and a few snacks for Kate. Get a sippy cup for Kate and put milk in it. Try to put it in the bag before Kate sees it. Too late, give Kate the bottle. Yell again for everyone to put their shoes on.

Step 3: 1:40 Put Kate's shoes on. Try to help Sarah find her shoe that Kate has left somewhere in the house after putting it on her hand and crawling around with it. Try to explain to Ashley although while cute, the two inch Cinderella platform heels she has on probably aren't the best choice to be walking around the grocery store with.

Step 4: 1:45 Notice that Kate's diaper is a little thick, decide to change her. Decide to make it an assembly line and run Elizabeth through since I had everything out anyway. Put Elizabeth into her seat, thinking we are about 5 minutes away from leaving. Go out to car to put diaper bag in, notice that Kate's bottle is not there after having given it to her earlier. Go back inside to look for bottle. Can't find it.

Step 5 1:50 Enlist everyone's help to find Kate's bottle. Look under couches, ottoman, tables, but it is nowhere to be found. After 5 mins of looking, decide it's just easier to get a new bottle.

Step 6 1:57 Ask if anyone needs to go to the bathroom. Get 2 shouts of yes, and observe as two otherwise intelligent kids run to the same bathroom and push, shove, yell, and cry that they were there first. Remind them that there are four bathrooms in the house, and one of them needs to go to another. Listen for a minute as they then fight about who should be the one to go, before taking action and making one leave.

Step 7 2:00 Hear oldest yell from my bedroom that there is no toilet paper in our bathroom. Tell her it's under the sink, only to have her respond "no it's not". Go to the guest bathroom to look under the sink, can't find any. Go upstairs to girl's bathroom, and take 3 rolls to put extra under my sink for future use. Go downstairs to give roll to Sarah, open up sink cabinet to put extra rolls in and see 4 rolls stacked up. Remind myself she is only 7...

Step 8 2:05 Go out to garage and open garage door. Start the car so that it can cool off a bit before we get in (seeing that the wonderful Texas temp that morning was holding at 99). Go back inside to get Kate, tell Sarah and Ashley to turn off the TV so we can go. As I am buckling Kate in, try to explain to Sarah that no, I have not forgotten Elizabeth. I will go get her and bring her out when I have Kate strapped in.

Step 9 2:13 Finally on our way to the supermarket. Spend the 3 minute car trip running through my head how I am going to handle the logistics of unloading everyone once we get there. Realize when I park that I forgot my grocery list. Decide that pizza for dinner would have been a better option...

I now realize I have the answers to my questions. How do they afford shoes for everyone? Easy, everbody only had one pair. That way it was much easier to keep track of them. And how many gallons of milk did they buy a week? None. It was much easier to have a cow grazing in the backyard they could milk as needed. That way, not only did they not have to mow the yard, they never had to make a "quick trip" to the grocery store for milk.

In The Pink

Now that our destiny has dictated a house full of estrogen, I decided that the inevitable should happen...a very pink bedroom! I spent the weekend redoing what will now be Elizabeth's room (don't worry, Kate has already taken to her new room, which has also been redone in pink, brown, and sage) in what Jeff first described as Pepto Bismol pink! After I spent a good two days giving it two coats and painstakingly taping the walls and using painting caulk to ensure nice crisp ceiling lines, he was smart to change his opinion to "It's not actually that bad, I think it's just because it is so different". Maybe I have perfected my "dagger eyes" look!

I recovered the seat cushion (by hand, no less, which is why it is only half finished...I still have to do another pad for the back) with a brown and pink polka dot material.

The sign on top of the armoire says "sweet girl".

Kate's new bedroom. There is still some furniture rearranging to do, but she loves it so far...even if it does have the smallest closet.

Hook 'Em Horns

3 weeks old. As a University of Texas alum, Daddy couldn't be prouder. It took Kate a couple of months before she mastered "Hook 'Em Horns".

Cuddle Bugs

Ashley loves helping me with Elizabeth. Sometimes it doesn't work out all that well (think poopy diaper changing with no supervision), but for the most part it is very helpful and appreciated. The best, though, is just seeing big sister holding and loving on her little sibling. Hopefully the bloom won't fall off the rose too quickly. The longer they are cuddle bugs, the further off "sparring sisters" makes its debut.

Yum!

I love chocolate pudding pops!