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Saturday, June 25, 2011

Random Real Life: Part VI

Anyone wondering how long I’m going to keep this up?!

lola bella lola bella (2)

Bed at 10:30ish last night. Up at 1:15 with Luke who wasn’t feeling well. Tooth hurting (please tell me there isn’t a root canal in my future!!), got Ibuprofen. Couldn’t go back to sleep. Lola up at 1:45, fed her. Finally back to sleep. Lola awake again at 4:30. Fell asleep feeding her. Crawled back in my own bed around 5:45. Both Luke and Lola awake at 6:30.

Tired, tooth hurting, throat sore (still!!), head congested (still!!), house a disaster (still!!), and lots of errands to run today (a Saturday) with four children. Russ was working in Salem. Sigh.

The boys have no sense of urgency. They hear ‘get your tasks done; we have to leave shortly’ as ‘please enjoy yourself; snails will be rewarded.’ They even knew there was the possibility of bread sticks at the mall, and still they goofed off. We dropped books off at the library--they lost the privilege of going in because of their unwillingness to do their tasks this morning.

We *finally* made it to Target. I looked down at Luke’s feet. No shoes. Levi had the brilliant idea that I should just buy him some more when we got in the store. I told Luke he was free to buy some with his own money. Levi told me it was my job as a parent to buy shoes for Luke. I told him I already bought Luke three pairs of flip flops. My obligation was fulfilled. It was Luke’s obligation to get them on his feet *before* we left home.

nice shoppers

I told the boys that it was their responsibility to stay with me, not my responsibility to stay with them. We filled the cart with all the boring necessities of life (Benadryl, chocolate, wipes, dish soap, birthday cards, toothbrushes…) which always add up to a staggering amount of money. I saw two DARLING sundresses for Lola that I had to pass up. Leif and Levi wouldn’t stay with the cart no matter how many times I told them the rules. At the check-out Luke announced to the checker that he had poison oak and diarrhea. She made a noble attempt not to laugh at my expense. Luckily I know her, she has grandchildren, and she is always entertained by my crazy family. Luke was much more willing to part with his money for a pack of gum. Go figure.

crazy shoppers crazy shoppers (2)

There was wailing and gnashing of teeth when we didn’t get bread sticks. I told the boys that was the consequence of not following the rules. Luke complained that HE had. Only ‘cause you had no shoes and couldn’t get out of the cart, kid. No shoes=no walking through the mall. Sorry Charlie.

I knew better than to push my luck at Costco. I hoped to get back there after Lola’s afternoon nap, but it didn’t pan out. Lola and the boys are in bed, but Leif keeps getting up like usual. It is always a struggle to get him to sleep. I wonder if I’ll have the energy to ‘clean’ the house before heading to bed, myself…

And in other random news:

A blistering 72 degrees today. With blue skies, that is about perfect in my opinion.

Lola’s fingernails grow SO quickly and they are ridiculously sharp. I often look like I’ve been through WWIII. Why don’t MY fingernails grow that quickly?!

I’m mulling over the idea of finding a kids’ ballroom dancing class for the boys. Is that crazy?

Levi’s first swim meet tomorrow. Russ is competing, too!

And now I shall ‘clean’ the kitchen, which is a very different thing from cleaning the kitchen.

13 comments:

Mirjam said...

Ah, poor you ;)

‘please enjoy yourself; snails will be rewarded.’ (this made me laugh, amongst other things you write)

Looked like they had a great time! ;))

Hope you have a restful Sunday! :)

Sarah said...

i was chuckling through your post too. i really enjoy your blog even though i hardly ever comment.

i'm hoping you'll keep up the random real life moments or at least make it a weekly feature.

happy sunday to you!

Timi said...

I love your funny photos and your post ♥!!!
It's about real life...:o))

Dawn C said...

Melatonin! It works wonders at night when they cannot sleep and its natural. Just an idea:) Love the blog and was so happy to see you have had the energy to do some of it lately.

Anonymous said...

I am pretty sure you will look back and laugh at all this someday.

Rachel said...

Heidi, just wanted you to know how much I've enjoyed your Random Real Life series! I've been reading your blog for awhile now. As a fellow homeschooling mama from Bellingham, WA I love the honesty and humor I'm always sure to find here. Hang in there. Hope you get more sleep tonight!

The Hayes Zoo said...

Oh my heck...what a great post Heidi. The song, 'I Will Survive!' is ringing in my ears after reading this. :)

If you want to drive we have a great studio for ballroom dancing. It's been AWESOME for Riley. I drive almost an hour some days (traffic sucks) but it's soooo worth it. You and I could find a coffee shop and commiserate...er...contemplate and encourage 'real life' together.

carole said...

I'm sure many others are telling you this as well - - but I thought it was worth making sure you know that there are some little boys on the East Coast who have uncannily similar behavior.

I am often heard saying, "I'm not in charge of keeping track of your shoes," and am getting very tired of asking, "have you checked the shoe shelf? have you checked your room? have you checked out by the sandbox?" Truly - Will has so many pairs of shoes that his capacity to lose them is practically supernatural!

And the last time we were all at Target I had to remind Ian and Will that "we do not run inside stores." ha!

I laughed at Levi's attorney like reminder to you about your parental obligations. That boy!

From time to time at Target I've permitted the boys to each get a slushie, which keeps them quiet until we're about 1/2 way through the store. At which point they all make that lovely straw-suck sound - you know, when the juice from the slushy is all gone but there's still slushy ice, so why not suck/slurp just in case something will come up that darn straw!? :)

April said...

I too am enjoying this series. I can totally relate to the no shoes thing. I finally gave up and just let them keep their shoes in the car. They only wear them when we go out anyhow.

betsy said...

I love your "random real life" posts and will be sad when they stop...perhaps because I so relate. Please keep them coming! It is nice to laugh and know that I'm not alone. :)

Anonymous said...

hi heidi....boy, i take a couple days off from the computer and look at all the fun "real life" stuff i had to catch up on! love it. really. love. it. and i agree, making this a weekly feature would be awesome for all us other "boring, normal" moms out there to read so we know we are not alone. blessings on your day!

connie

Alison said...

This was hilarious to me, as I (like many others) felt like I was reading about my own life. It made me think maybe I should write down our "real life happenings" in hopes that they will be funny to me later. It's DEFINITELY frustrating when I'm in the middle of it! Well, I'm off to 'clean' my kitchen. :)

Marta said...

I have been reading your blog for probably about 2-3 years now and never commented...maybe it's because I now have a 10 month old daughter of my own and I very much appreciated you telling about what happens in your real life...or maybe, it's just because this post literally made me laugh out loud. Hilarius, and yet so sweet. :)