Weekend Adventures and More

Last week kept me busy with the kids on spring break. Not only did I have my three kids, but I also babysat Monday and Tuesday evenings. Tuesday night, Belle spent the night with the neighbors. Wednesday morning, she asked to go to the local park with them. I packed up the boys a little later, intending on taking them to a separate park in town, but passed Belle along the way and returned to get her. We went to a new park, ate lunch and the kids played for maybe ten minutes before I loaded them up and brought them home. It was cold! It was after noon but it was only showing 56° when I got into my car. So I told the kids that we would get up Thursday morning and go to the park before the rain that was coming in. Wednesday afternoon, Hubby let me know he was coming into Tennessee again before going into Mississippi but wasn't coming through our hometown on his way through. He asked if I could bring him his wallet and being the good wife -ahem- I did. It was 7:30pm before I got home to heat enchiladas for supper.

Thursday, we were up by 8:30, eating, changing and ready to go by 10. So the kids, neighbors kid and I went to the park and while we were there met up with my other neighbor, her hubby and Little Man that I watch. The kids played a good couple of hours before I brought them home for lunch and of course I totally forgot to take my camera so that I could grab a few pictures. Thursday evening, I drove back to Tennessee to get Hubby for the weekend. On the way home, we made a few stops because we were hungry and I had no desire to come home and try to cook. We stopped by Little Ceasars, because pizza you don't have to wait for is always a good thing, Dollar Tree and for gas. This Dollar Tree that Hubby went into? It was such a big store that you could get lost in it! I so need to live near a dollar store that size! We were driving home, listening to the radio and eating pizza when a Kenny Chesney song came on. I don't remember which one but I do remember that it was one of his "tropical" songs. A couple of minutes into the song Hubby asked if I was seeing what he was seeing. I turned around to find Brady in the back seat bopping his head to the beat. What Hubby couldn't see was not only was he bopping his head but he was moving his hands hula-style. When Brady finally realized we were watching him, he grinned his big grin, turned bright red and never missed a beat. I so wished I had a video camera!

Friday was busy from the moment we got out of bed. I started out washing clothes and trying to get all of the dishes into the dishwasher. Hubby worked on building a shelf to put in the van that we could put the portable DVD player on it so the kids could watch it without me having to hold it on the arm rests of our chairs. I went through six loads of laundry (I think), two loads of dishes, boiled 30+ eggs and let the kids dye their eggs. By two, we were walking out the door, loading up the kids and heading to Indiana for the night. We got into Indiana right around 5, unloaded the kids and Hubby stayed behind with 4 of the 7 kids while my oldest sister-in-law, S, and I carried three of our kids to the grocery. We picked up salad stuffs, corn on the cob, and ice cream to go with the steaks and hot dogs we were having for dinner. By the time the food was ready, Hubby and me, his sister S and her husband J, his sister C and her boyfriend M, as well as our ten kids (and M's nephew, nephew's girlfriend and their baby) were all accounted for. There were 19 of us in this house and it was loud to say the least. Surprisingly, no one got hurt.

Saturday morning, we had to be at the soccer field for my middle nephew's game. We sat, bundled up on the sidelines, as the kids kicked the ball up and down the field. Afterward, we went back to S and J's house for lunch (can't go wrong with leftover steaks) and waiting on two other nieces before heading off to the zoo. And yes, I forgot my camera at home for this trip so I didn't have it for zoo pictures either. We were severely outnumbered for this trip, with four adults and 9 children ages 3-11. We saw a hippo, lioness, lemurs, tiger, giraffes among other things. One of the last places we stopped was at the monkey cages. S, J and I got a good laugh watching as the younger monkeys chased each other around the branches in the cage when all of a sudden one jumped from the branch to the cage, right in front of where Hubby and I were standing. I saw the monkey coming but Hubby had no idea what was happening until after he had already ducked and raised his arm to block the flying monkey stopped by wire. Needless to say, he didn't find it as funny as we did! We used our cell phones to try and capture a decent picture of all of the cousins together at the zoo. Here is the best one I got:They are all seated in order of age with 3 of S and J's kids first at ages 3, 4, and 6. Next is C's youngest daughter, 7, Brady, 8, C's oldest daughter, 9, Belle, 10, S and J's oldest son, 11, and Bryce, 11. We were missing the eldest of the group, C's son who will be 15 this week. He had other plans. S and I then left the kids with Hubby and we went Easter shopping. I had already bought the kids candy, but still liked getting their gifts. She didn't have anything. Two and a half hours later, we got back to her house to load up our kids and head home. Nothing like getting home at 1am only to have to hide Easter eggs. We finally made it to bed around 2.

Brady was up at 7:30 Easter morning, anxious to see what the Easter bunny had brought him. He was disappointed that he didn't get a Nintendo DS (so was I), but excitedly picked the basket that held a Wii game he wanted. Bryce also got a Wii game but Belle was harder. She doesn't play the Wii a whole lot and it really didn't suit to get her a game. So she got a bunch of little stuff. She's been carrying around her purse, make-up box, lip gloss, fingernail polish, fingernail art. The only thing she hasn't been into is her flip-flops and that's because it's really too cool right now. Here's a picture of them hunting eggs in the living room:
I spent yesterday playing catch-up. When we left, I still had four loads of laundry to wash. I swear by the end of yesterday, I had washed another six loads and still had four more to go! Today, I've washed three of those four loads and the only reason I haven't washed the last loads is that I haven't felt like cleaning the bathrooms so that I can wash those rags. Ugh!

I love to watch the kids get up on Easter and Christmas mornings, all excited to see what they got. Then comes the rest of the day, with me and them in a haze from lack of sleep, and the grouchies. Unfortunately, the grouchies ran into today with Brady. This morning, he got up, ate his cereal and went to brush his teeth. I told him he needed to empty his bowl and put it in the sink. His response? "Mom! You're wasting my time to brush my teeth!" So I responded as simply as I could in his terms.

"So I guess then you won't be wasting your time playing the Wii this afternoon." Man, the cereal bowl was in the sink faster than I've seen in a very long time!

As I sit here now, I hear the bus coming down the street. The kids first day back after spring break was today so the first day home will be a little rougher than usual days. But I have already gotten the enchiladas prepared for supper (just need to be put in the oven) so that's one less task I have to face. I only have to get them to eat them. Now I'm going to attack homework, Wii time and snacks.