It's been awhile

I really do not have any good excuses for not blogging more. Kids and life I guess. For some reason, the words just haven't been there. I think it's because I hear things my kids say and think how great it would be to write about them, but forget when I get in front of my computer. Six and Four have really come up with some lines and questions. Four is just trying to keep up with those boys and figure things out. They think they are so cool because they can read and do math. She's still learning. Six wrote the number 7 backwards and immediately got a note book to do math problems. They have been ready still, but this was the first math he's written all summer. N has the next week off. I'm hoping they will do math one of those days. Baby Girl's personality is shining through. She's such a happy baby. The kids love to be around her still. The other day she spent 30 minutes in the girl room. Four came and asked me what a book said. She was reading to Baby Girl. She counted the Carebears in the story. It was cute to listen in on their time together. Baby Girl also spent some time in the boy room. No reading went on then, but she did get lots of attention. I hope these were the firsts of many. Quality interactions with the siblings. She really responds to people and is always beaming at me when I change her diaper. Our adventures today just got me thinking, wow, this is really my life. Not in a bad way, just borderline chaos. We were out the door by 10am. We dropped off some formula we aren't going to use at the church. I also gave them my formula coupons we won't be needing. I'm thankful the Abortions Alternative agency will take them and put them to good use. Side note on this group, the Knights of Columbus gave them money for an ultra sound machine. The lead Knight shared this with us at mass one week a few months ago. He said the machine had already saved 4 babies. I was in tears when he said that. It touched me and surprised me at the same time. I didn't think I would have such an emotional reaction. Hormones I guess, but also a truly awesome thing. I hope we can support them in more ways in the future. Back to our day: We were early for swimming lessons. No big deal, everyone had brought with a notebook and were drawing something to pass the time. I fed Baby Girl and 15 minutes went by without incident. Swim lessons were great. Poor Daisy had a rough 16 hours thanks to a new dog. Long story, but the dog no longer resides at their home. After lessons, we decided to hit the stores. We discussed three, but I knew two would be the most we could fit in. Gas prices are low, but swim lessons bring us half way to town. I figured we should just get what we need since we were near the store locations. Everyone packed their own lunch. They ate in the car on our way to the store after lessons. This pleased the people. They were ready to eat after all the swimming they had done. It was 1 o'clock when we got to our first store. I left the diaper bag in the car since we were going to be quick. First mistake. I'd just changed Baby Girl at the pool before we left. We are halfway through the store and I hear this terrible noise from her diaper. I was carrying her since she'd been fussy. This was supposed to be quick. Quick it was once these noises started coming from the tiny body in my hands. They were loud and stinky. I feared a leak, she's been known to have them. We raced through to the two sections I needed to look at. Flustered and slightly off track, I just grabbed a couple things and headed to the check out. In the end, I wished for other items, but couldn't concentrate at the time. Upon our speedy arrival at the check out, we were behind the slowest lady possible. UGH. She didn't hear or smell the tiny bomb I was holding. Finally, we are checked out and make it to the van before anything came out. What a mess, but under control thanks to changing pads, Huggies, lots of wipes on supply and a diaper duck. Don't leave home without him! After all that, I'm already exhausted and we haven't even hit our biggest store yet. We weren't getting all our groceries for the week, nothing crazy like that. I just wanted Six to get a t-shirt for his friend's birthday gift. Waffles were on sale, they and granola bars were the only food items to purchase, oh besides jelly. My mission was hair accessories. Mum put the idea in my head via Baby Orchid. I wanted to make fourth of July hair accessories. I also wanted to pick up a red skirt for Four, but that thought was quickly forgotten. By the time we decide on which ninja shirt to get, Baby Girl is exhausted and ready for a nap. I try to calculate my moves in the store, start on one end and work our way around. We find a Snoopy onesie for Baby Orchid. Something else to get in the mail in time for her birthday. We already gave her a gift, but it was a good price and she's going to be one. We head to the craft section to get my ribbon. I'm slightly overwhelmed, not knowing which ribbons I should choose. Navy, red white and blue, maybe a pink to make some others, etc. The kids find clearance stickers and are asking to get some. Sure, we're working on a project for Uncle Dv. Stickers will come in handy. I pick some ribbons and eventually we're done in the craft section. On to the granola bars. But wait, here's the fish stuff. We need the water conditioner. Granola bars, check. Jelly, check. But wait, we've forgotten diapers. Back to the baby section. Check out the clearance and find some broker twist ties for hair for 75 cents. They will work perfect for the clips I want to make! But wait, we've forgotten waffles, back to the freezer section. We hit the 20 items or less check out. We're probably close to 20 items or over, but oh well. No line and the other check out is WAY down the store. By the time this is all done, it's 3 o'clock. I'm so exhausted. All that on a granola bar, I didn't pack a lunch. We get home, get the waffles in the freezer and that's it. I was so exhausted, but eager to start my project. We were meeting Zinnia and her group at the park later, I wanted to give her oldest some of the hair clips with her birthday gift. N comes home and deals with dinner. He also takes Baby Girl and Four to pay our rent. Of course it took the entire time they were gone to figure out how to make my project. I manage to squeeze out a few clips before we have to be to the park. It's hot, but we haven't seen them for quite some time. Great time at the park. Home for baths, a snack and bed. Play date tomorrow, we're making pancakes! Hoping to get more clips done, I'll post some pictures. We don't have a shortage of girls around needing hair accessories. I'm excited to try something new! Thanks to Mum for the ideas and all the girls around for the inspiration.