Just a little look at yesterday. You probably thought it was just another Monday full of a little sun and a little rain. Little did you know in the city of Plano, there was a crazy lady...and then in the city of Dallas she appeared. Sightings of her throughout the day, actually!
So, I have a packed week. Chloe is at Princess Prep School camp at church the entire week. This camp cost money, $115 to be exact and that is only bc I am volunteering on Thursday. It gave us a discount. I check out my calendar and see, Chloe needs to be at church on Monday by 9. I have an eye appointment at 10am in Dallas and Laurel has a follow up with the hand surgeon at 12 in Plano. Then we have to be back at the church by 2 to pick Chloe up and another little girl up. So I plan ahead and pack L&A lunch so we will just eat at the hospital before their appt. I pack Corbin his breakfast cereal to feed him at the church, once we drop Chloe off and before we head to the eye doctor. I also pack him a bottle and some food for lunch. Off we go. We get to church early bc I have no idea where her class or anything is. I can see LOTS of cars and know it will be a little crazy inside. I hop out of the car and open up the back end. Only to find there is NO stroller! NO STROLLER! Did I mention there is NO STROLLER!
I need to back up to why there is NO STROLLER!
On Saturday I hosted a garage sale for the purpose of making $115 dollars. Notice that is the exact amount that Princess Camp costs. We had already done our "budgeted" activities for the summer, so this was extra and we agreed we did not want to take it out of any other budget. So, while I sat at the garage sale and sold my junk...Fred had to take the 3 babies with him to pick Chloe up from a birthday party. It was about 30 minutes from our house. He as so proud bc he got her around 12:15 and then took all 4 kids to McDonalds. He then got everyone back in the car and as he got in and started the car, there was no gas. He had run out of gas while cooling the car for the kids. He ran to the gas station connected to McDonald's, after rolling the windows down for the kids. They no longer sold gas. So, he put everyone in the stroller and they walked down to the gas station about a 1/2 a block from McDonald's. It was one of those that has a man in a little building with a slit he speaks through. Fred asked to borrow a gas can. The man said they only sell them. So for $10 he sold him a gas can that fit through the little slit. He got some gas and put it in the bottom of the stroller. Gased the car up and came home.
So, on Saturday night I said the car smelled like gas. I got the stroller out and removed the basket part to wash it. I put the stroller back in the car for Sunday morning at church. Sunday night I asked Fred to wash the basket part and set it out to dry. I wanted it for the stroller for our busy Monday.
Back to the shock of no stroller. I open the back and see no stroller. I just cried. I couldn't do anything else, but cry. I was so tired from our week/weekend and the week ahead of me. I got back in the car and drove in circles trying to think of what to do. Parking at my church is like trying to park "close" to the business building at OSU without risking a ticket. Impossible. I finally say, forget it. I call Fred and ask him where the stroller is. I wasn't sure if he took it out on Sunday afternoon at my mom's or at our house. It was at our house in the garage. He said I asked him to get it out when he cleaned the basket.........
I parked in the handicap space. There were 20 of them open. I felt spiritually challenged at that point anyway.
I get the kids out of the car and carry Corbin. Laurel and Anabelle and Chloe hold hands going into the church but walk as fast as a snail. It is ciao's as I thought inside. We wait in a very long line while the girls are being pretty good, yet a little silly and adventurous. I am now holding Corbin on my hip, 1/2 way on my back. He is so heavy! My cousin walks up with her girls and my girls run off in the crowd to them. I wrangle them back in line and Amy says, "What is wrong?" I tell her... We visit and she goes on. The man behind me comments on Corbin's shirt, "Chick Magnet." He is, even if he doesn't want to be with 3 sisters..
He says, "Your husband took your stroller out?" I said, "Yes, I think he thought he was being helpful...but I haven't figured that one out."
So I get Chloe checked in and we get to her room. She starts to cry and doesn't want to go to Princess Camp. I am sure you can imagine my dismay in this. She has NEVER cried about going to anything. So, I squat down and tell her she can't go all week if she doesn't go today. I also show her my sun burn and tell her this is because I love her so much and sat in the sun to make money to pay for Princess Camp. I also point out they all the children with us, got up early and ready and have been obeying so she could go to Princess Camp. She looks inside and smiles...she sees they are painting their nails! Off to Princess Camp she goes!
I lug everyone back to the car. Corbin does not get his breakfast because I have to get the stroller now. It is 9:35 and I have to go home, get the stroller and drive out to Dallas for my appointment. I would cancel at this point but I cannot see a thing! We get to the house, get the stroller. In the mean time, Laurel is so giddy because she gets to sit in Chloe's seat. That is huge to the twins. It is next to Corbin. He is rear facing so she is cracking him up. We head to the dr. I call to tell them I will be 10 minutes late and they are fine with it. I pull in 15 minutes late and rush to get the stroller out. I have plenty of snacks and busy toys already packed. My pre planning is paying of, right. Well, I have to get people out of the car strategically. I need Laurel first to buckle her in. Corbin next to buckle him in and Anabelle last as I will let her ride on top while I hold her. Not safe, but efficient.
Julie E Sparks is my name!
So I get Laurel. She is dressed in a cute white sun dress with pink sparkly sandals. And the best part is she has on her cute pig tails. She tells me something about Chloe's seat. I look down at her only to notice she has found a pen in Chloe's seat and has colored all over her legs, feet, arms and hands. I can't believe it. I mean there is not a part of her untouched! I give her a little lecture while getting Corbin unbuckled. I clearly don't have time to clean her up before we get in there. I get Corbin out and am looking at his head. I notice something. That would be the pen on him! Laurel colored the side of his face and inside of his ear with the pen she used on herself! Apparently it tickled and that was why he was laughing so darn hard! I am mortified. What a great mom am I. While I get Anabelle out I tell Laurel about the bad choices she is making. We get inside and I check in. I get a wipe out to clean people up. The man next to me is playing on his phone, ignoring us. Thank goodness! I am telling Laurel that she will get disciplined(spanked) if she draws on the baby again. Anabelle is grabbing the snacks and getting in Laurel's face saying, "Laurel you a no no." Over and over. We get some snacks going and it is our turn.
The first room they take me to, lights are on and the kids are fine. I am feeling good about the appt. I have the option to do dilation which is 100% covered or this other thing that will cost me $35. I have to do the other thing bc they said my vision would be blurred for a few hours. I can barely keep the kids as much in line as I do with good vision. Can you imagine blurred!
We go to the next room and it is dark. Kids still seem fine. While doing this test of my peripheral vision Anabelle is painted my toes with her pretzel stick. Corbin is spitting...like across the room bc he can. Laurel is probably still coloring on herself, but I will never know for sure:)
Finally it is over. Anabelle is no longer painting my toes. We are off to the exam with the dr. But wait, where is Anabelle you ask? I don't know. I finally hear, "Eye Drops!" She has about 10 bottles of eye drops in her hands she has found. We get those put up and go to the next room. We are doing pretty well, until I point out I want to be fitted for contacts. Apparently that is a process and I didn't know that. So, they bring them in. While doing this the girls are emptying, no Anabelle is, the toy drawer the dr showed them. I am thankful the dr has 3 small kids and is a SHE! I finally tell the lady helping me to just stick them in my eyes and I can figure it out this week. She does. I got to check out and make a follow up appt and assure them I will not have the children with me. They all say, "Don't worry, they are so cute!" Next Anabelle is clearly beside herself and screaming! She runs to me. She has hit the mother load. She has 20 pairs of glasses she has found in her hands! I about die. I put them back and we RUN out! I put Anabelle in Chloe's seat. It is now 11:15. Is it Friday yet?
We head to the hospital and go in. We don't really have time for lunch. We will do that afterwards. The girls play in the little play area while I feed Corbin, who has just pooed his pants. But we don't have time to stop. He finishes his bottle with a minute to spare. We get to the drs office and I tell the girls if they touch the table(which has a hurricane bowl sitting on a squished up table runner) they will get disciplined. They listen. Wow...did that happen... yes..
Ok, I still had to save the bowl from hitting the floor bc Corbin has reached over and grabbed the table runner. And this waiting room is about a 4X4 foot room, so I can't really get him away from it. They call us back. We get in the exam room and Laurel entertains herself in the full length mirror. Anabelle just wants snacks, but there is no food allowed. They do surgeries in this office. So finally I entertain the girls with the Hokie Pokie. They did it with me the last 2 of the 10 times I did it. I am sure the Dr was ready and chose to little and probably watch me look like an idiot. He looks at her finger for 10 seconds and says it is fine. I am glad he make $40 every 10 seconds. Nice. I grab lollipops and we leave. We get to the car and I notice Anabelle has pink on her dress, the entire side of her white dress. Looks like yogurt drink from this morning. Oh well, that is the last thing anyone is going to remember about us today!
We head to the church by 12:30 and I get the girls seats and feed them lunch. Corbin finally gets changed and eats as well. Towards the end of lunch they start taking turns throwing grapes to each other. Important people walk by and are so sweet and say hi. I want to crawl under the table. Finally the girls tell me they are done and play! There is a great little play area at the church. I get them cleaned and pick up. I am getting Corbin and the girls take off. I get them to come back to me because their shoes are about to fall off. While I squat down I tell them I need a hug. The both ram me and knock me over. Laurel growls and giggles and Anabelle says. "I yuv you mommy." We all go and play. We get Chloe and get home....................
There is more, but that is about when I blacked out from the day.
Thank goodness I had to work today!
