Saturday is a Special Day...

...the day we get ready for Sunday....and cram everything else possible in!  I definitely don't want to have a day like this again for a long long time!

March 1
6 :30-8am Get up and prep RS lesson (because I'm dreaming about it anyway)
8-9: Eat breakfast and pack up the car with sports equipment and diaper bag. Ry goes to work for an all day tutoring class
9-9:50: Hockey game (Brooke stays in stroller, erica doesn't run away too much-actually get to watch Adam a little bit)
9:50-10: get Adam changed into regular clothes and get everyone in car. Check email on my phone. notice the T-ball schedule. He has practice right now!  Skip getting smoothies and head to the park
10-10:45- Adam goes to T-ball practice sans equipment (his glove was in the car the whole time though :( and I entertain girls in car with snacks and a trip to the bathroom. Erica slept for a little while thank goodness
10:45 Spring Adam out of T-ball a little early (didn't matter cause he didn't have a helmet) and head to
11:00 gymnastics  The playground was open and the girls were entertained.
11:45 end gymnastics and change into ballet and diaper changes
12:00-12:45 Rachel at ballet Get Adam's help on playground until he's bored and then send him to the game room, "by myself?!"
12:45 Collect everybody and race to the car. Adam has melt down in parking lot and gets promised Jack in the Box. he closes his eyes and tries to sleep right away
1-1:30 drive through Jack in the Box (I get a much deserved soda!) and ask if the babies are sleeping (please stay awake till we get home!)

1:30-2:00 Change babies and put them down for a long nap Yeah! make Rachel a pbj cause she didn't want anything at JintheB. Finally get to eat my salad in peace!

2:30-3:30-put big kids in front of screens while I shower and do a load of laundry and dishes
3:30-4:30- big kids play outside nicely (bribed with cupcakes friend dropped off) and I prepped my lesson. I had to find food coloring which led to me cleaning out my spice cupboard (can we say 6 canisters of baking powder?!) and then I had to get my purse and diaper bags ready for the night so I cleaned out about 4 random bags
4:30-5:30  Get babies up and changed and fed and put off trying to decide what to give them for dinner
5:30-8: Melissa comes to babysit and I leave her to deal with the dinner problem. Drop off a gift to the girl whose baby shower I missed earlier in the day. Head to BJ's for another baby shower. Almost go to the wrong location and Leave my wallet in the car so have to get my friend's to pay and take off early to send Melissa home
8-8:30 hug and kiss kiddos goodnight
8:30-9:30 talk to mom on phone and gather up lesson and diaper bags for next day
9:30-10:30 wash face, jammies, and climb into bed. write in kid's baby journals cause it's been 6 months
10:30-11:30-catch up with Ryan and start planning vacations and tell him all of the funny things the kids have been doing. Like:

Adam, while telling Rachel how he was born: "I'm the only one who didn't get cut". R: "Well, how did you come out?" A: "I don't know, I just found a way!"

And Rachel while naming animals in a book, "Lola, Snuggles, adadkadkf, Bitch..." !!

11:30--fall asleep knowing I deserve it!

The pictures are in reverse order but I don't care!

Rachel's Special Day

So Rachel's special day has been hard to celebrate. We have been in Utah the last couple of years for Gpa's Bday. So we just told her it was yesterday. I don't have any pictures of it, so hopefully you can enjoy these "selfies" she took. She has become obsessed with taking pictures on my phone :)

Friday we picked her up from school and because of the rainstorm, we built a fort and watched a movie inside. Then since Ryan was out of town we had a "sleepover" together in my bed. She was so excited to sleep by me and I can't tell you how it warmed my heart to fall asleep with her little arm on top of me. She has been saying some really crazy things lately and it has been cracking me up!

"Is Santa Claus real?"

"Do you think he's real?"

"I think so, but I'm not sure. I go to sleep and get all confused about it."

That's my girl.

The Aftermath

Well, they've been in school for two weeks. And I'm exhausted. But it's not because of school. It's of what happens when they get home!  Like this unfortunate incident--a premovie night fight wherein Adam threw a bottle of Gatorade at Rachel's face. This is her 4th facial injury-and all four of them have been Adam's fault. Sigh. I can't complain--no stitches for any of them and a church friend took care of this one instead of Urgent Care. 

We've had some fun though...

And we started soccer...Coach Dorritty is our favorite :)

I managed to take all four kids by myself up to Utah for my gpa's 90th birthday. People have been wondering how I managed. Well, I didn't take any pictures if that's a hint. I actually did fine and had a lot of help (DVD's and sleeping babies) but I did have quite a bit of a breakdown and am only now feeling recovered five days later. I am human people :)

RachE

So these are some things Rachel has been saying this week: What the heck???


"I don't like being me. Are we ourselves forever and ever." "It's because it's boring being me. I don't like getting my hair done."

The next day:

"I don't like being me still..." Something else I can't remember that prompted me to ask--
"Do you like our family?"  Her response, "I love you, but I feel weird about it."
"What do you feel weird about?" "I feel weird about our house. I wish we had a different house."

Then today,
 "I don't like being me because of my teeth. Some are soft and some are hard."


Okay??? Weird and unpredictable. That's our Rach E!

Girl Talk

Rachel: "Hey, mom...know why we always say ye-ah to the babies?"
"why?"
"cause we don't know what else to say to them."

Disney on Ice

Rachel and I had a special surprise date together. I took her to see Disney on Ice. I admit I think I was more excited than she was. I'm not sure the show was really that spectacular or worth the money, but being with Rach E definitely was. When we were standing in line, she saw the poster for the show and threw her arms around me and said, "I love you Mommy!" She spent the whole show either eating snacks or with her hand on my knee and I loved every minute of it! And I love her personality--while she definitely loved the show and I saw the sparkle in her eye several times, she also was able to point out the issues with trying to portray Disney magic on ice skates. During Cinderella she would say, "That's not what the Prince sounds like." And during Rapunzel she noticed, "Her hair is not glowing." Or during Princess and the Frog, "That's not really a boat." It cracked me up! It might seem like such a simple thing to spend time with just her, but it's really only happened about twice in four years. So I was very very grateful for the opportunity-even though it meant I was extra sleep deprived the next day!

Rachel's Got Talent

I wanted to post this before I forgot. I thought it was so funny...

Girls

Rachel is getting me very ready for a life with three girls...we have done hair, nails, and searched the world over for the right clip on earrings. She did my hair for me one day, but we will not be posting a picture of that!

Ballet

I have a girl! Rachel has all of a sudden come to love the things that frankly I'm not that into. She loves getting her nails painted and shows them off to everyone. She tests all of her skirts to make sure she twirls. She loves all things sparkly, but if it's not sparkly she says, "it's ok" with a sigh. And she sure loved getting dressed up in her ballet clothes.  You can't tell by the pictures that she loved her class, but she LOVED it. And maybe next time we can get her to do the moves IN class instead of afterward. But don't let that sweet face fool you--she is the instigator of all potty talk in our house, as well as snarky comments like, "I'm only going to be a little bit good, not a lot good."

Girls Just Want to Have Fun

In January? we got invited to go see Beauty and the Beast in 3D...just girls. It was so fun! I didn't tell Rachel where we were going until we got there. She promised she would wear her glasses the whole time (she didn't, but more than I expected). She still talks about it. She even remembers the previews. I know because when we saw the same preview on TV she said, "We saw that! At our girl party!" So although I have vowed to never see a 3D movie again (they just hurt my eyes), seeing her insist on sleeping in her costume made it totally worth it.