Let the Housekeeping Begin

I slept in my own bed last night! I started to wonder if I was going to around 3 p.m. yesterday – we hit major traffic heading up to the Denver airport. And it wasn’t even rush hour.

When we arrived at the airport, my mom got the sidewalk check-in clerk to help us (and a policeman to let her park her car behind his motorcycle – thank you, sir) and we got all 5 of our checked bags and an extra car seat off of our hands. The clerk said he couldn’t guarantee our luggage arriving with our flight since we were so close to the take-off time but a few minutes later shouted at us that our flight had been delayed an hour.

Totally a God thing.

But even so, we were still cutting it short, so my mom asked a security guard what we should do and she sent us down a special lane and we didn’t have to stand in line for security (which was good since it snaked around the entire state of Colorado). I was starting to think this was the way to travel – arrive late and everyone helps you!

And then we took the train to the concourse. The whole time I was thinking about what would have happened if our flight hadn’t been delayed. I even checked the clock when we arrived at our gate – our original flight would have left in 3 minutes. Which may have been iffy.

Anyway, they ended up delaying the flight another hour. I wasn’t so enthusiastic about that one but it did give us time to get Happy Meals. Except they forgot to give the kids their toys.

It turned out to be a non-issue because Drew helped himself to an airplane set in the gift shop. My mom came running back after him to where we were sitting and grabbed it and ran back, explaining over her shoulder that we had to pay for it FIRST!

Life lessons, life lessons.

The flight itself went fine (for not having a working dvd player, especially so). Of course Madeline started crying about how bad she had to go potty right as we were about to begin taxiing down the runway for lift-off. It never fails.

She and Drew later made friends with the couple behind us and caused quite the laughing ruckus. The guy could not believe how many cars Drew had with him (I couldn’t either – did those things have babies?).

But we definitely had our moments…Adelaide woke up and started screaming right when I was stuck under a sleeping Madeline. The flight attendants were great though and even held her for a little while.

All in all, we didn’t get home until almost 2 a.m. our time. Which is definitely past my bedtime. So I was thankful that all three kids slept past 10 this morning.

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Home again, home again, jiggety jig

Thank you, Lord, that Andy was home to take Drew to the ER. He got three staples — okay let’s not talk about that anymore.

It was pretty cute when they got home, Drew practically banged the door down exclaiming “I’m home!” And then proceeded to tell me how the doctor made his head all better. Andy even took him to Target on the way home for a new shiny car and also a pack of Skittles. So I’m sure he’s quite recovered now. He even shared happily with Madeline.

And speaking of Madeline, the entire time the boys were gone, she marched around with her monkey, baby doll, and purse gravely proclaiming she was taking her baby to the hospital to get its head fixed.

I wonder how many more days I’m going to have to listen to this.

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The Zoo, Revisited

I thought I could get away with cheating on my zoo post. But then I got a comment asking how it went and if I recommended taking a two-year-old visiting nephew there.

Honestly I would have written more about our big trip to the zoo but by the time we got home Friday afternoon, I was so tired and dirty I could barely manage to get dinner on the table and the kids to bed. Writing a coherent blog post seemed more like a far off pipe dream.

And then there were Fashion Fiesta closets to explore, and my own dishes to ignore. Priorities, see?

Anyway, we went with our little self-formed playgroup. I was sort of glad because Andy’s parents had bought us a year-long pass and the last time we went was way back in September, the day they bought it. I was starting to feel a wee bit guilty and wasteful about that. (But then again, it’s not like freezing at the zoo on a wintry day with a bunch of toddlers sounded like a whole lot of fun either.)

There were 5 of us mothers, two of which are expecting (and neither of those is me, just so we’re straight). 8 kids ranging in age, with Drew as the oldest. And he’s only 4. Let’s just say there was some chasing involved.

We gagged our way through the monkey exhibits first. Sometimes I really just could not believe the smell. The kids, of course, didn’t seem to notice. We wandered around outside a good bit (elephants and the like), and also went to this indoor playroom (term used loosely).

Since it costs almost as much as a mortgage to eat food from the zoo restaurants (term also used loosely), we brought our own lunches and ate outside on one of the picnic tables. Ellis and Drew pretty much ran around in the mulch instead of eating. Well I guess they had the Frito bag… Drew also took it upon himself to push over the huge zoo garbage bin.

More of those proud moments in parenting history.

I wish I could tell you that I, being the responsible mother that I am, set it to right. But I made an executive decision to leave it for the zookeepers. After all, I still had to touch my baby and didn’t think giving her some sort of contractible disease would be a very motherly thing to do.

After lunch we went to the petting zoo area. Which was great because it’s all contained, with a huge farm tractor (non-functioning) right in the middle. I bet you can guess where Drew stayed the whole time.

Other than the highway robbery in the form of $0.50 for a half-handful of pellets to feed the petting-zoo animals, it was fun for everyone. Madeline was a little skittish about feeding the goats, which are clearly just practically starving; but she did manage to hold out two separate pellets (with a little, er, help from me).

Unfortunately my kids took their shoes off, and since the petting zoo ground is made of dirt, their feet were a nice shade of black when we left. I was still scrubbing dirty feet a few baths later.

We saw the giraffes, zebras, and stopped at the polar bear exhibit (“paula bear” a la Madeline) on our way out. Of course Drew and Madeline fell asleep within a nanosecond of getting in the van and their only nap that day was driving home. Makes for a slightly-cranky evening all around.

So that was the longer version of the day at the zoo. Taking only one two-year-old will be practically like a vacation.

Except minus the pina coladas.

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Variation, Part 2

Yeah, so Adelaide’s didn’t fit.

At. All.

I had to take out the sides and let them out as far as I was able and happily, it fits now.

(Otherwise I might have cried.)

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I’m sorry, I just can’t help it

I could eat that dress with a spoon.

And all the dress fabric is now gone.

*sigh*

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See What I Mean?

They tried to eat the cones – plain – right through the side of the packaging. For breakfast.

Clearly they need food immediately upon waking up.

It reminded me a little of those gerbils Micah and I had when I was in sixth grade. They would also nibble through just about anything.

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Case of the Missing (Broken) Salt Shaker

If you haven’t read the previous post, you need to do that first. For context.

Okay, so last night I scoured the internet for a replacement salt shaker. There is none to be found, folks. When I realized that, I might have panicked just a little bit. I ran downstairs and hauled the kitchen trash up to our bathroom and I am not too proud to admit that I actually dug through it in hopes of rescuing the broken pieces of Mr. Salt Shaker. Diapers and all.

I was going to glue it back together and cross my fingers, so to speak.

But, there was no Mr. Salt Shaker. Anywhere.

I had another mild panic attack. So this morning I’ve been a litle on edge about how to break the news to my mom-in-law. When she came out to the kitchen I decided to dive right in and asked her if she got the pieces out of the trash. She didn’t know what I was talking about. I told her the whole saga, only to find out she didn’t care about Mr. Salt Shaker. Her response was, “do you know how many salt and pepper shakers I have?!”

So, who got those pieces out of the trash?

At least it’s not my burden anymore.

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I Just Realized…

that I have some Southern Baptist friends who may read this blog. I hope that last post did not offend anyone. It was just supposed to be funny in typical bloggy fashion.

We’re Reformed Presbyterians (currently PCA, to be specific) and believe the occasional beer (or other alcoholic beverage) is o.k.

I hope we can still be friends.

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Found!

Yeah, so I found my set of keys in the bottom pocket of my diaper bag. I shoulda known. I do vaguely remember checking the bag on Sunday but clearly I wasn’t very meticulous. We still couldn’t have gone to playgroup though because that bag was in the van. Locked.

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