Peanut Gallery

Kids bring joy. 

The proof is in their faces. 

Happy Weekend :)

Losing It

Good thing he is cute...

The day started out great. Mike and I have been taking turns getting up each morning with the kids. So every other morning I can lounge in bed for a minute, read, or when Im feeling motivated, exercise. I headed out for a quick jog, stretched my legs and cleared my head.

Back home I got right into the swing of things. Breakfast then showers for all four of the little cherubs. Combing hair, finding matching socks and getting my work clothes ready for the afternoon. It was only 9:25 AM so I gave myself a hearty pat on the back for getting things done. Then the phone rang.

"Hi Lauren, it's Judy. Are you coming for Supervision?"

I stood up my Supervisor, who comes in early just to meet with me. It hadn't even crossed my mind. I felt like a loser. As I put the phone down and continued berating myself, Colby walked in and flashed a winning grin along with a bright red Sharpie permanent marker....uncapped!

It was on the hardwood floors, big swirly circles of red. It was on every white panel of wall going down the hallway - his own little red gallery. It was on two rungs of the banister, 3 windows, the child seat my grandmother used as a baby and on the floors in 3 different rooms. It took me over an hour to scrub it all away.

Glancing at the clock again I realized I had 40 min to shower, make lunch, pack school bags and get E&D on the bus. Just as I stepped one foot into the shower I heard, "Mom!!! There is blood on Colby!"

It looked like he was shot in the forehead. Blood streamed down his face and covered his hands. I wiped him up, realized it wasn't that bad, and held my little guy close. He was very upset and took a long time to calm down...too long.

It wasn't quite noon and I still had to find T-Ball equipment, put out their uniforms, lay out the PJ's, get Ty to his sports class, change cars with Mike, and get to work to for the 6 appointments I had scheduled that night.

I tried to explain all of this to the cop leaning into my window on the side of the highway at 9:45 PM. A license? You really expect me to know where my wallet is?!

Im lucky that is all I lost.

Pet Practice

We love animals. All of us. We are regulars at the zoo, heck we will settle for a stop at the pet store for a little pet fix. We often dream about the pets we would have (Donkey!) and plan what we will name them. But now we have something even better, a puppy cousin. Uncle Mark will occasionally drop 4 month old Gunner off for the afternoon, the night....or 5 days! Although his visits come with their own little challenges (mud, stealing from the baby, puppy bites) we love when he is here.

 He is our favorite hiking companion and he always comes back when we call him. I like when he runs up to check on the fastest kids and then circles back to check on us slowpokes. The kids love when he is in the car and insist that we drive slow on our street so they can climb in the back and ride with him.

 Gunner has figured out that where there are kids, there is bound to be food! I love when he perches next to the highchair, especially since it means less clean up for me. As much as we love him, we still love when he goes home...evidence enough that waiting is best, for now.