This weekend is our annual MOPS leadership retreat- the one weekend out of the year that we get together to plan the upcoming MOPS year. This is always one of my favorite weekends of the year, and this year is no exception. Unfortunately, I didn’t take a pictures, so I thought I’d share the photos from the beach the other day. 🙂
When I picked the kids up this evening they begged to go to the beach. I wasn’t too keen on the idea, because today was incredibly hot, but I agreed we could go for a little while. When we got to the beach I shoved the van key, my phone, and a protein bar in my pocket.
The waves were calmer this evening than they were yesterday, so I allowed the kids to play in them for a little while. Baby E really enjoyed having the waves splash over him as he sat in the sand. Big E wandered out further than normal, and C enjoyed digging on the beach. We stayed much longer than I anticipated, and by the time we got off the beach it was already after 7. We went over to the outdoor showers, rinsed off, and headed back to the van. That’s when I realized it…
The key in my pocket was NOT the van key. It was the car key. My van key was securely locked in the van. Great. I have three hungry, tired, dripping wet children (one of which was only wearing a diaper at this point) and no way to get in the van. I had a moment of anxiety as I thought through my options. I’m the adult! I have to figure this out and I can’t freak out, cause my kids will freak out! We live close to the beach, so we could walk home, but I don’t have  spare key for the van, so that wouldn’t be all that helpful. I could call a tow truck. I wonder how much that will cost. Then I saw the police car parked a few spaces down. I approached and the officer rolled down his window. I explained my situation and that I was locked out. He didn’t have any tools, but he said he could call around and see if there was anyone nearby. At this point the kids are freaking out that we will never get in the van, but I assure them in a calm voice that we will be just fine.
After a few minutes the officer says there is no-one around to help, so I might need to call a tow company, but he would keep trying. I weighed my options and looked at my incredibly hungry children. I made the spur of the moment decision to wait it out a little while longer in the hopes he could get ahold of someone. In the meantime, I broke my silence about the nearby ice cream store having italian ice, and I dragged all three kids to  get some (Yup, Baby E was still just in a diaper.)
The kids were super excited when I explained they were having ice cream for dinner and suddenly they completely forgot about being locked out of the van. All attention was on ice cream. We each got a mango italian ice and we headed back in the direction of our van. By the time we got there, another police officer had arrived and he had the tools to break into the van. It took him less than a minute and he was in!! I thanked him profusely, and the kids and I sat down on the sidewalk to finish our ‘dinner.’ When we got home, we supplemented with some buttered bread, cherries, and peanut butter and celery sticks.
We ran out of time for a proper bath, so the kids went to bed sandy, but incredibly happy. They fell asleep quickly, too!
So while tonight was certainly a mommy-fail, I’m going to claim a mommy-win as well! 🙂
Enjoying ‘Dinner.’
I have a sore throat. It’s my only symptom, but it is annoying. I can’t sleep with a sore throat. Try as I may, as soon as I drift off, the scratchiness gets very bad and I wake up gagging. So last night I only got about three hours of sleep. Pair that with the previous night, in which I had also only gotten three hours of sleep (because the kids kept waking me up), and when I rolled out of bed this morning I was so tired, I felt nauseous and dizzy. I decided to call out today, instead of battle a long commute when I felt so awful.
So I got up, got the kids dressed, dropped them off at the sitter and came back home. I ate some breakfast and crawled back into bed shortly after 9 am. I tossed and turned for awhile. The last time I looked at the clock, it said 10:15. Shortly thereafter I fell asleep. When I woke up I was very foggy. I rolled over and grabbed my phone. It read 3:41!!! How was that possible?!? I had lost almost my complete day! I had told the sitter I would pick the kids up at 4, but I let her know that wasn’t going to happen. I got dressed, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and headed to the store before picking them up.
We went to the beach for a little while, came home, had dinner, and then took baths. It’s going to be an early bedtime for mommy tonight. Here’s praying that everyone sleeps!
*I took photos, but I’m way too tired to upload them tonight.*
We stopped by the house this evening on the way to the beach so I could change and grab our beach pass. As I opened the door I was hit with a stench that is unbearably disgusting and yet unsettlingly familiar. I stood in the entryway as my mind raced to place the smell, and as my thoughts coalesced, I held back the urge to gag…
Rotten raw chicken.
I had made chicken noodle soup last night, and I had put all of the chicken packaging from the raw chicken in to the kitchen trash, and having forgotten about it, rushed out the door this morning without emptying the can. The smell permeated everything. I held my breath as I quickly emptied the trash, and set up a diffuser with some oils to fight the odor. I was happy I had agreed to take the kids to the beach, because there was no way I could make it very long in the house.
Rotten raw chicken is one of my triggers. When I smell it, little alarms go off in my mind and my body tenses up. Two weeks after 9/11, when we were finally allowed back in our apartment, we opened the door and were greeted with that exact same smell. There had been raw chicken in our fridge, and two weeks without power in the September heat did quite a number on it.
In the years that I have been married, there are two jobs in our house that are distinctly Tim’s- emptying the trash, and removing any expired chicken from the fridge.
It’s funny how a smell can bring us back to an exact moment in time. Thankfully, tonight the flashback was brief and we were able to resume our evening. When we returned home, the oils had mostly done their job, and there was only a slight hint of the smell by the time I put the kids down.
Yup, the kids are definitely home! 🙂
Why must weekends fly by so quickly? I absolutely love having my babies home, and today we made a day of spending time together. Unfortunately Tim had to work, but I took the kids to church, home for pizza and nap time, and then we started our rock hiding adventure. We went to the stinky bridge and hid a few and then it was off to Starbucks (where we hid some more) and Mommy fueled up for the rest of the evening. Then we went to the park, hid some rocks, and played for awhile. McDonalds for dinner and then off to the beach for fun in the sand and water. Finally back home for playtime with some neighbors, watermelon for snack, and bedtime way too late!
Now it’s late and I have a pile of dishes to tackle before I get sleep, and while I’m exhausted, all the activity was worth every minute this weekend. Here’s to a fresh week and a new start. 🙂
They are growing way too fast!!
He insisted on hiding *all* of his rocks right next to his brother’s or sister’s.Â
Happiness is…
At long last, my family is home. It’s been a long week without them and I was thrilled to see them pull up at the house. I loved all the hugs and kisses from them!
C informed me that she plans to move in with her Aunt Julie and they are going to join the circus. They decided that living together would help them to save money. Aunt Julie is going to be a trapeze artist, and C is going to be an acrobat that does stunts while riding a horse.
At least they have a plan!
For now though, I’m so happy they are all snuggled in their beds and under the same roof!!
My mother sent me some photos this morning of a craft that C came up with all by herself. Apparently she found a tissue box and a plastic easter egg and decided to make a birds nest to put into one of the plants that my mom has at her house. I was really impressed with her little project. Such a sweet little girl!
They agreed to leave the nest in the tree until I get a chance to get out there for a visit so I can see it in person. 🙂
On the way home from work this evening I stopped an picked up some supplies for the kids to paint some rocks to hide around our town. It wasn’t until I was home that I found out they weren’t coming home this evening, so I decided to break out the rocks and paints and give it a try. I completely lost track of time, but I did have fun painting. 🙂
I have an overactive imagination. I always have. I have to be careful what I watch or read, because it’s very easy for my mind to get carried away and before I know it, I’m in over my head.
A few weeks ago I discovered reddit. There’s a subreddit there called AskReddit, and you can go on and ask a question and random people from the internet will answer you. It’s much more anonymous than other social media outlets. The questions vary greatly from things like, “What’s the best joke you’ve ever heard?” to “What’s the worse way you could possibly die?” Last night I ran across one that asked what was the creepiest or most mysterious thing you had every experienced. I clicked on it and followed a rabbit trail I had no intention of following. For about a half hour I scrolled through story after story of peoples’ strange experiences. I’m sure a lot of them were lies, and many were alcohol or drug induced. Some seemed easily explainable and some were just downright creepy. There was one where a girl woke up in the morning from camping and was scrolling through her phone only to find pictures of herself sleeping in her tent. Another one was a man in the middle of nowhere, miles from civilization, when he hears the sound of something approaching, turns around, and sees a man on a unicycle ride right past him. Some talked about how they were almost kidnapped as children. Others talked about strange noises in their houses, odd animals in the shadows, or strange lights in the sky.
When I looked up from my phone I realized that it was way past when I should have been in bed. It also occurred to me that reading those stories was probably the stupidest thing I could have done right before bedtime, especially when I was home alone. My imagination started running wild and I heard sounds that weren’t there, and suspicious shadows creeping up the walls. But, I’m a grown up and it’s silly to be nervous in my perfectly safe house, so I took a deep breath, turned off my lights, and hopped into bed. As I pulled the covers up to my neck, I chided myself for being so ridiculous.
And at that exact moment my closet door swung open with a loud, menacing screech. I jumped out of bed and screamed. I looked around for something to use as a weapon to ward off whatever monster had been hiding in the depths, and as my heart pounded and my eyes adjusted to the darkness, Molly nonchalantly walked out of the closet. Apparently I had closed the closet door, unaware that she had been napping in there. My heart was beating so fast as relief flooded my body. She had given me quite a startle and it took awhile to calm myself down enough to fall asleep!
Apparently Baby E was ‘helping’ with some painting today. Oops!
Is there anything better about childhood than building a fort?!?!
eatingwithsavages 