A Good Day

Yesterday was a busy, busy day for us! We started by leaving the house by 8:40AM, heading off to the grocery store. But, this wasn't just a quick trip; it was a full-blown, full-cart, serious grocery shopping event. And, with summer in full-swing, I had absolutely no choice but to load up all 3 monkies for the adventure. Generally I choose not to take them with me, but we were desperate - out of literally everything - bread, lunch meat, fruit, juice, etc. We had nothing to eat for lunch, unless we wanted to suck peanut butter off of a spoon, but since Alex hates peanut butter, and I prefer mine with bread, I figured I would just have to suck-it-up and go. So, we did :)

After more than an hour, and a few extra sugary-sweet treats that I hadn't planned on, we were heading home to unload. The kids did remarkably well, and we even received a few words of praise from the store employees on how well they behaved! I was still a bit frazzled from trying to keep their squeels and laughter to a quiet roar, but I felt proud that my kiddos made it through the store without so much as a sniffle or whine! Granted, I'm not going to bank on everything always being that easy, but at least it was a good start to the day :)

Once we got the car unloaded (which turned into a 3-ring circus since all 3 kids wanted to help carry the bags into the house) I quickly separated the pantry items from the fridge & freezer items, put all of the cold items away, then loaded up the kids for yet another trip to the store. This time it was our local Target. It was here that Ian had a small melt-down, including a few high-pitched screams, but once I settled him down we made it through with almost no additional hoopla! By this point, my confidence was building.

Once home again, we happily (and quickly) ate our lunches, then headed out the door for a 3rd time. This time to play :) We made our way to my friend D's house where we loaded she & her son, then off we went to the bowling ally. Last week, while at the bowling ally with her son S, she had managed to secure a couple of free bowling passes (valid daily through the entire summer) for both Morgann & Alex. So we decided that an indoor game of bowling sounded like a splendid idea - and apparently the entire city of Tomball did the same! I don't think I've ever seen so many kiddos in one bowling ally in all of my life!!! They were everywhere, and, unfortunately for us, hogging all of the lighter kid-sized balls! So, it was up to me to help both Morgann & Ian when their turns came around. We made it through the 8th frame (with only one incident of the ball getting stuck on the lane because it just wasn't rolling fast enough), then decided to throw in the towel.

Our next stop, for the first time in almost 2 years, was the library! And, before you scold me for not taking the kids there more often, you have to remember that I have a very loud, hard-to-handle 2 1/2 year old little boy. I very rarely venture into a store with him, much less to a library where the #1 rule is to be quiet!!! But D had told me about a Science class they were doing with Bubbles, so we figured that it would be loads of fun for all ages. Unfortunately, when we arrived, we not only found out that the class she was told would be outdoors was being held indoors, it was limited to 50 children who's parents had made reservations. As you can imagine, we were all very disappointed. But, the librarian gave us a little sliver of hope by suggesting we stick around to see if maybe there would be a few spots left-open by 'no-shows'.

So we sat...for 30 minutes...hoping for at least 2 openings. While we sat, all of the kids found a few books to read, look at or discuss. Everyone of my kiddos was being extremely well-behaved, and my confidence was growing by the minute. When we hit that 30 minute mark, a well dressed, soft spoken woman came into the children's section and announced that they indeed had 5 spaces available for children aged 5-12, so off Alex & S ran, big smiles across their faces. But as you can well imagine, we also had a few tears from poor Morgann, who hasn't quite reached 5. She was completely heartbroken that she couldn't see the bubbles, and my heart hurt for her. It's no fun being too young. Thankfully, we were in a library full of books for her to look at, and D & I took turns reading to her, so her mind was quickly focused on other things, with thoughts of the bubbles all but vanished.

And so we sat, reading books to the remaining 2 kiddos for more than an hour! And, can you believe that little Ian had only 1 minor melt-down? I had to scoop him up and run him out the door into the hallway, then explain that if he didn't stop his tantrum, the library 'people' would make him go outside, by himself, without his mommy. His eyes got sort of big at that thought and he quickly quieted down, lifted his arms to me and said, "hode me". Of course, I couldn't say no to that, but my little false-hood worked - we had absolutely zero tantrums for the remaining afternoon.

By the time we finally made it back home, it was well after 5PM and all of us were completely worn out. Ian took a brief nap in the car between the library, D's house and home, but even he was still exhausted. What started out as a crazy, scary day, turned into a wonderful day for all of us :)

And, if you can believe this, I'm planning another library trip next Wednesday....someone talk some sense into me, will ya?