My Neighbors Will Question My Sanity

Everyone has days that seem to be pure disaster but for some reason I think that I’m blessed with them a little bit more than others?  The morning wasn’t the best. It wasn’t terrible but it was the best. Princess Newbie and I were both under the weather and not feeling too great because apparently you shouldn’t drink the kinda yellow milk. Live and learn and drink white milk. She laid in front of the TV and I hunkered down on the couch and got through the morning.  Then the older two ate lunch, princess Newbie and I shared a cracker and we worked on their school work and life seemed to be picking up a bit in the afternoon. We might just make it through this day after all.  But no. The oldest girls had been clearly instructed about getting dressed for swim team and bringing clothes in the van to change into for church after swim along with shoes and all their supplies for Awanas. We picked up and all loaded into the van for the tenth of a mile drive to the pool (it’s 4 houses down) at 4:40 pm. We usually walk to the pool but my plan was to drop the older two off for their practice and then run and get them dinner to eat before I dropped them off at church.  All I had eaten the entire day was a few crackers and I didn’t really want to cook.  I backed down the driveway a little too quickly and took a little off roading adventure but we got there in time.  Of course as one of the girls hopped out of the van she realized that she didn’t have her goggles and went into a fit of panick. Being the good mom that I am, I drove her the thirty seconds back to the house to look for them. They couldn’t be found and swim practice was 1/4th of the way over so I told her she would just have to borrow a pair if she wanted to go. More wailing and crying persisted but we drove once again the thirty seconds down the street and I dropped her off and waited to make sure she got in the pool alright. Princess Newbie on the verge of drifting off in the backseat with no shoes on and unbrushed hair when I saw the swim team director walk back out of the pool with my sobbing child, looking for me. I had to pull the little one out of the car with no shoes, looking a little ragged, and deal with a child that did not like her choice of goggles to borrow. Oh my. Momma bear was not that pretty.  It was now 5pm.  Then of course Princess Newbie had spotted the playground that is next to the pool and did not want to get back in the van to go get dinner, she wanted to play. And a day of not eating anything caught up with her and she went into full meltdown. So we stayed, got her shoes out of the car and played. Or she sat in my lap by the slide because that was all she wanted to do.  Finally the older two were done  at 5:30 and we sprinted to the van where we discovered that the other girl had forgotten her underwear so we drove back to our driveway before I decided that she was just going to have to wear her bathing suit under her clothes and so we backed out of the driveway once again. This time we got all the way to the first intersection before the same goggle loosing child screamed, “I can’t find my other shoe!”.  This is not a joke and those are not cheap shoes so I turned around and we went home first to check in the driveway and then immediately pulled right back out and drove down to the pool (again) to look in the parking lot there since it must had just fallen out of the van. The shoe was not to be found. So I told her that she would have to wear her flip flops to Awanas, which made her upset and she started to loose it again. Momma Bear round 2 showed up and the crying stopped. Once again we left our subdivision and made it this time to Taco Bell at 5:40pm to try and grab them some dinner before church, which started in five minutes. The good news is that said child found her other shoe behind the seat while we were in line ordering at Taco Bell. The other good news is that I did not bang my head into the steering wheel upon this revelation. Of course though once we got to the window to pay I discovered that my wallet was not in my purse. I told the lady at the window with very red lipstick this kinda hoping that she would take a little pity and hand over one drink because I was dying of thirst but she just rolled her eyes and closed the window.  So we drove back to the house (5:45pm) and I ran inside to get my wallet and the other child was able to change out of her bathing suit and I threw a piece of cold pizza at each girl to eat in the car on the way and then we finally (finally!) drove to the church without an issue and got there at 6pm right as they were splitting up into groups and going into their activities for the night, we barely made it.  Finally Princess Newbie and I went and grabbed some food which really helped her perk up and she was back to her old self with the extra saved up energy to boot by the time we had to go pick them back up. Poor Mr. Byrd had to work late and just go to relive all of this via very long texts with his frustrated wife. The girls each reached a huge milestone in the Awanas club tonight so we topped off the night with frozen yogurt where Princess Newbie dropped hers face down on the floor and I guess all the yuckiness of the day came back big time because the poor girl just lost it. There was sobbing and wailing and apparently a woman who doesn’t like children that cry right behind us. Poor girl, poor momma, poor older two girls that had to tolerate me.  The day was just a failure of epic proportions, or so it would seem. But really everyday is a day to be thankful for something and yes it was hectic but I spent it with three children that are incredible. Yes, they fight, cry, and loose things (non stop) but they’re here with me and they are just learning about life, I can’t fault them for not doing it perfectly.  So even though the day seems horrible I am thankful for it.  P.S.  Popcorn flavored frozen yogurt topped with Golden Grahams cereal? Sounds gross but do it. Just do it, you’ll thank me.