So yesterday was day 2 of having the 'extras'. I must admit it was a little chaotic. It was all of 5 degrees for a high yesterday, so going outside to play was not an option. After all the games had been exhausted, and the natives started getting restless...we decided to change venues and go to the 'extras' house for a few hours. This turned out to be a pretty good idea if you ignore the fact that my 3 year old came up from the downstairs in tears because the 6 year olds had locked her up in a box...I think therapy later will end up cheaper than a nanny now...at least I'm hoping so. I was the youngest once and it is a hazardous role, but if she can just make it past 12, the sailing gets a lot smoother...just 9 years to go....
On the way home from the 'extras' house, the snow-covered icy road turned out to be more treacherous than normal. While we were innocently waiting at a stop sign to turn left, a college boy in his daddy's truck got distracted by some deer that were 'playing' on the side of the road...he slammed on his brakes and slid right into us. No one was hurt, but my bumper was cracked and the poor kid had to call his mom to confess that he crashed his dad's truck because the deer DO actually 'play'...just like in the song. The antelope were off on another range I guess.
So today my husband has the day off as it is New Years Eve. As was expected, it is 8:30 am and he is in the garage 'fixing his truck'....tonight he is signed up for voluntary patrol with the sheriff's office. I think is speaks volumes about the difference between men and women that he is willing to put himself in mortal danger on a very drunken night over staying in a house full of 6 kids. So....I will be needing some ideas about how to entertain 6 children under the age of 9 till midnight...which I am certain they will be successful at staying up to see. I have a bottle of sparkling cider, but I'm thinking I need to take a trip to Target for a deck of cards and some Advil. I'm kidding, I rarely get headaches....at any rate, any time-killing-activities suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Really.
I'm off to make the chocolate chip pancakes Greg promised the kids he would make if they would just 'go to sleep' at 9:30 last night. Oh wait!...he just walked in...he is frozen solid, but the truck is fixed and now I don't have to cook. Hooray for a second adult...
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Stupid Costco...
So, while my trip to Costco yesterday was successful...meaning everyone survived including me...I have a new found dislike for the place. I bought muffins ''for the kids'' for breakfast, thinking, ''what a nice lady I am to buy muffins for everyone while we have 'extras' visiting''. :) Little did I know, I was actually sabotaging my working out with Jillian. See, I don't really think of Costco muffins as 'cake' per se, but that's essentially what they are. I mean really. So I have effectively eaten one and a half 'french toast' Costco muffins between last night and this morning...as if cutting them in half reduces my intake. . .and if I think of it in terms of cake, I feel disgusting. But Costco has this wierd way of seeming 'okay' because its such a good bargain. I would never just go spend $7.00 on individual cakes for everyone (--I mean, how unhealthy can you get?), but BREAKfast...now THAT'S an essential...I mean everyone eats breakfast right? And $7 for 8 people to eat breakfast is a good deal...especially if you cut the muffins in half! So I am now blaming Costco and their 'trick marketing' for the reason I just ate 3 pieces of cake in 8 hours. Jillian would yell at me. She'd say ''how badly do you WANT to be here!!?? Do you WANT to lose this weight?? ....because it seems like you are not committed!" To which I would whimper in reply "No! I reeeeeeallly want to lose this weight, but they TRICKED me! They didn' t say it was CAKE! I can say no to cake! But it was breakfaaaasssst!" And then I would turn on the tears and sobbing and hope she bought it.
Stupid Costco.
Anyway, I woke up early this morning because last night I was trying to get all six kids to go to sleep without much more giggling and horsing around. I ended up laying on the 2 feet of futon mattress that was available on the floor of the girl's room and reading them a story. Then I had to pretend I was asleep so they would follow suit. . .only I really fell asleep. I woke up at 5am with someone's hard-head in my back and wishing the futon mattress didn't have springs....I still cant feel my shoulder...overall it wasn't such a bad night, but I think tonight I am going to have to come up with a new strategy. I was going to take them sledding today to wear them out so its easy to go to sleep, but its only supposed to be 3 degrees today so that might be out...depending on how desperate I get. I will let you know what innovative entertainment ideas I come up with. Perhaps one of my friends will spare me the trouble of using my brain and come up with something brilliant for me. I can only hope.
Stupid Costco.
Anyway, I woke up early this morning because last night I was trying to get all six kids to go to sleep without much more giggling and horsing around. I ended up laying on the 2 feet of futon mattress that was available on the floor of the girl's room and reading them a story. Then I had to pretend I was asleep so they would follow suit. . .only I really fell asleep. I woke up at 5am with someone's hard-head in my back and wishing the futon mattress didn't have springs....I still cant feel my shoulder...overall it wasn't such a bad night, but I think tonight I am going to have to come up with a new strategy. I was going to take them sledding today to wear them out so its easy to go to sleep, but its only supposed to be 3 degrees today so that might be out...depending on how desperate I get. I will let you know what innovative entertainment ideas I come up with. Perhaps one of my friends will spare me the trouble of using my brain and come up with something brilliant for me. I can only hope.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Costco...
So I thought I would update and let you know that I am in fact still alive after the trip to Costco. . .just in case you were worried. I was.
So I decided to take just the 4 little ones and leave the two older boys home. Turns out that was a brilliant idea since I got many, many, many inquiries as to whether ALL FOUR girls were in fact mine. I could only claim that the little blond one wasn't mine, but I can only imagine the looks and questions I would have gotten if I had brought the boys too. I think it helped that they were wearing new Christmas outfits and their hair was relatively neat. The other day I went out to Costco and all of us were in ragged clothes looking like a bunch of hooligans and people were avoiding us and giving me dirty looks for 'overpopulating' the world. I'm sure they were thinking that if I can't clothe them properly, then I shouldn't have had them...what those people might not understand though, is that parents rarely have much control over what their children choose to wear out in public. Therefore, MY girls can often be seen in public wearing their favorite shirt which they refuse to give up to the 'hand-me-down' cause...often the shirt is 3 sizes too small. They actually DO own clothes that fit...they just can't stand to see their younger sisters wearing their favorite shirt so it remains 'just fine mom!' and 'it fits perfect' for far too long.
Anyway, I digress.
So I made it to Costco and back, and managed to remember to buy the TP...which is really good because we were completely out...
Till the next time, I better stop blogging for today lest it looks like I haven't actually DONE anything but type on my computer while my dear husband has been slaving away at his tedious job.
Next installment to be made when something noteworthy pops up. . . or I'm just really bored...but I promise to make it sound like it was a LOT of work...that way you can be impressed and I will have a good excuse for not having the 700 pieces of Mr Potato Head picked up off the living room floor.
Till then... :)
So I decided to take just the 4 little ones and leave the two older boys home. Turns out that was a brilliant idea since I got many, many, many inquiries as to whether ALL FOUR girls were in fact mine. I could only claim that the little blond one wasn't mine, but I can only imagine the looks and questions I would have gotten if I had brought the boys too. I think it helped that they were wearing new Christmas outfits and their hair was relatively neat. The other day I went out to Costco and all of us were in ragged clothes looking like a bunch of hooligans and people were avoiding us and giving me dirty looks for 'overpopulating' the world. I'm sure they were thinking that if I can't clothe them properly, then I shouldn't have had them...what those people might not understand though, is that parents rarely have much control over what their children choose to wear out in public. Therefore, MY girls can often be seen in public wearing their favorite shirt which they refuse to give up to the 'hand-me-down' cause...often the shirt is 3 sizes too small. They actually DO own clothes that fit...they just can't stand to see their younger sisters wearing their favorite shirt so it remains 'just fine mom!' and 'it fits perfect' for far too long.
Anyway, I digress.
So I made it to Costco and back, and managed to remember to buy the TP...which is really good because we were completely out...
Till the next time, I better stop blogging for today lest it looks like I haven't actually DONE anything but type on my computer while my dear husband has been slaving away at his tedious job.
Next installment to be made when something noteworthy pops up. . . or I'm just really bored...but I promise to make it sound like it was a LOT of work...that way you can be impressed and I will have a good excuse for not having the 700 pieces of Mr Potato Head picked up off the living room floor.
Till then... :)
The fun begins
So I am attempting to do the unthinkable task...I am watching two extra kids for 4 days. When I agreed to do this I didn't think it was really all that big of a deal...a few extra kids...extended play date...my kids stay busy...their parents go out of town for a wedding...everyone is happy.
Well...so far I am two hours into it and I am re-thinking my idea of how easy this will be.
Upon the arrival of the two ''extras'', my saintly children turned into insatiable snack machines...offering every good treat they could reach in the pantry and finding new hunger pains for the pretzels I bought months ago that until now have gone untouched. I am not complaining about that...at least they are being eaten, but I have discovered that I will be needing to take a trip to Costco with all six of them to acquire more snacking goods.
Also upon the 'extras' arrival, the noise level went up about 60 decibles...I'm thinking that tuning them out with my headphones plugged in to my laptop is not such a great idea as my 3 year old just came out wielding a giant water gun that she filled and is assaulting us from the top of the stairs and has drenched the leather couch in 2 fast squirts. I had to take the headphones off while shouting 'NOooooooo!!!!' and sending my 9 year old in after the assault rifle while my 8 year old mopped up the couch with the blanket...that is now sopping wet.
So I put my laptop down for a minute, thinking...'feed them...its lunch time...then they will be sitting and their mouths will be full.'
It turns out they don't like peanut butter and jelly (big surprise) and they are all full from the snacking. Hmm.
So now that the two six year olds have decided that none of the games in the house are that fun...and all of the new Christmas loot has been assessed and discarded as 'rubbish'...they thought that throwing the 3 year old down the first 5 steps to the second platform by her hands and feet would be funny....One blog, lots of crying, and 6 really full children later, I will now be heading out to Costco....wish me luck...I may or may not survive this venture to write a second installment.
Andi B--starring in the new adventures in babysitting.
Well...so far I am two hours into it and I am re-thinking my idea of how easy this will be.
Upon the arrival of the two ''extras'', my saintly children turned into insatiable snack machines...offering every good treat they could reach in the pantry and finding new hunger pains for the pretzels I bought months ago that until now have gone untouched. I am not complaining about that...at least they are being eaten, but I have discovered that I will be needing to take a trip to Costco with all six of them to acquire more snacking goods.
Also upon the 'extras' arrival, the noise level went up about 60 decibles...I'm thinking that tuning them out with my headphones plugged in to my laptop is not such a great idea as my 3 year old just came out wielding a giant water gun that she filled and is assaulting us from the top of the stairs and has drenched the leather couch in 2 fast squirts. I had to take the headphones off while shouting 'NOooooooo!!!!' and sending my 9 year old in after the assault rifle while my 8 year old mopped up the couch with the blanket...that is now sopping wet.
So I put my laptop down for a minute, thinking...'feed them...its lunch time...then they will be sitting and their mouths will be full.'
It turns out they don't like peanut butter and jelly (big surprise) and they are all full from the snacking. Hmm.
So now that the two six year olds have decided that none of the games in the house are that fun...and all of the new Christmas loot has been assessed and discarded as 'rubbish'...they thought that throwing the 3 year old down the first 5 steps to the second platform by her hands and feet would be funny....One blog, lots of crying, and 6 really full children later, I will now be heading out to Costco....wish me luck...I may or may not survive this venture to write a second installment.
Andi B--starring in the new adventures in babysitting.
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