The First Word Every Child Learns & The Joy of Left Turns

So... today.  Today was officially insane.  I got up at 6:00 (yes a.m.) after worrying all night long that I would oversleep.  Showered and dressed by 6:30 when W came to make sure I was on schedule (good boy!) - and ready to tackle my day head on!  In the next two hours I managed to singlehandedly get 4 kids off to school (driving 3 of them and shooing the other out the door on time) with lunches where required and perfect hair for picture day for the youngest three.  Now, anyone who knows Po is aware that his "perfect hair" is pretty easy... but the other two are girls... picky, fussy, want to have their hair their own way girls!  We won't go into the details - but it all got done and we ended up at the school on time, even a little early since I was the official Picture Day PTA volunteer!  This is slightly more than your regular volunteering at the school because I was there for 5 1/2 hours - but I did get a $21 picture package out of the deal - which was a nice perk.  M was a wonderfully patient little angel aside from the 5 minutes when it was her turn to smile.  We had packed enough snacks to last 6 hours (or so I thought) as well as books on tape, coloring books, ballerina barbies, and a Nintendo game that she can play.  The food lasted about 1/2 an hour, but then she was able to wait until lunchtime to eat her sandwich at least!

Once picture day was out of the way I ran home, got W to watch the girls and took Po off to Cub Scout Camp - picking up 3 other people along the way.  T was home soon after so the girls were in good hands!  I spent my evening corralling my seven 8 and 9 year old boys in a park FULL of 8 and 9 year old boys - all wearing the same dang shirt!  Most activities were fine, but we finished at the "fishing" station - where the boys were invited to remove their shoes and get into a large shallow trough full of Rainbow Trout that they could "catch" with their hands and then release...  well, since we were the last ones there the fish were... shall we say lethargic?  Or maybe we'll be more honest and say dead.  It was gross, but I was the only Mom neurotic enough to borrow the hand sanitizer from the cooking station and douse the boys with it.  LOVE those germ busters!  

Might I mention that when they asked me to pick up the boys and hang with them that nobody mentioned that they might come home soaking wet and smelling of fish?  I was thrilled when the boys that came in my car were cautious about getting too wet.  A big apology to my friend Mary who ended up driving home the soaking wet ones, I hope you can get the smell out!

My point?  Every toddler worth their salt can say NO... so why can't I?

And left turns...  really, what's so exciting about those?  Well, you see - about 2 months ago the bulb in my signal burned out - and our car being one of the more difficult brands, we had to take it into the Dealership for the bulb to be replaced...  come to find out that our bulb is actually so specialized to the brand of car that the dealership had to order the bulb from a different dealership!  While waiting for it to arrive and waiting for myself to find a good day to leave the car (it also needed a few other things) I found MANY ways to get around town without ever turning left.  There were a few scenic routes to be sure, but I just refused to turn left unless I was on a nearly abandoned street...  I really didn't have time to get pulled over!  So when the bulb was finally fixed this week I was thrilled - it has been such fun to come home from that obnoxious Discount Store everyone hates without going through the PetCo parking lot, straight across to Albertsons, turning around in their parking lot and then getting back on the road home!

If only I could always get such a kick from the small joys in life!