Candy Cane Chaos

I guess yesterday went pretty well. . . Here's the run-down:

I had just enough time to run to the grocery store and pick up some cards and things before Aleia's rescheduled dentist appointment. We raced in, grabbed a cart, specially chosen by our preschooler of course, and commenced our search for something worthy of Great Grandpa Tanner. Personally, I think making it to one's ninetieth birthday is a spectacular accomplishment. . . . Jeffy naturally decided that he was "sooo hungry!", so I snatched a bag of Cheeto's off the shelf and we began shamelessly snarfing as we shopped. Charlie has kind of a problem with opening munchies before we've paid for them, but if it helps calm the yelping toddlers, I figure it's worth the loss of my dignity. As long as they have a bar code at the end when we reach the checkout line. . .

"You know, these would taste horrible with ketchup." Jeffy observed as we hit the party isle.

Indeed. : )

After fighting our way out of Maceys, we picked up an unsuspecting Aleia from school and headed over to the pediatric dentist's office a few blocks away. Here I performed acrobatic feats 'of dexterity and skill', standing on one leg, holding the baby under one arm, so I could hold Lea's hand while she got sealants on her 6 yr molars. The hysterical fits that child throws about things that do not hurt at all! Wherever did she get this high-strung personality? (Ha ha snort) We dropped her off at school, and headed back home. Once there, I attempted to catch up on some laundry, only to be foiled by screams from the living room, letting me know that the Binky (Lincoln) was once again scaling the Christmas tree, trying to get candy canes. It's his favorite thing to do lately. He'll skirt the tree until he spots a candy cane hanging low in the branches. Then he'll grab it and break it in half somehow, so he can suck on the broken end and taste peppermint. Honestly, ya halfta feel for the little guy. I mean, just how much rice cereal and smushed up vegetables can a person take? The problem is, he'll wander around the room and get gooey, slobbery shtick on everything, and we can't have that.

Later on, just after the baby had finally gone to sleep, I realized that it was time to pick up the big kids, and we had to try to get the little guy in the car without waking him up. I can't wait till Laena's car is fixed. . . I successfully rounded them up, but only after sitting in the car for 30 minutes, observing various high school shenanigans, and wondering if my kids were ever going to make their way out to the parking lot. We ended up giving Laena's unofficial boyfriend (lovebunny) Jordan a ride home, which made for a full load. After school we had nonstop friends over, playing on the snow hill in our front yard, cutting out Christmas pictures in the little kids room, (they never can figure out how to clean up their scraps), doing important detective experiments with Lisa's tackle box -turned detective kit- all over the house, and generally contributing to the craziness that is my life. : ) I suppose it would be boring to have a clean, organized house, and QUIET.

All this, and we were wrapping it up, just in time for the big "Sounds of the Seasons" Holiday gig at the high school. . . Dinner? Who has time? After all those lawsuits, McDonald's finally ended up figuring out a healthy well balanced meal, right? I really should clean out my car. . . Laena invited a date to her concert, so again, the car was packed. I sort of miss the mini-van. I wondered for a moment. . Did I have any make up on? A quick glance in the rear view mirror. . . Woopsie. : ) Well, at least we're all clean. . . The concert went pretty well, (Charlie met us there), except that Jefferson kept sneaking off and crawling around the auditorium military style so he wouldn't be easily spotted. What is it with that boy?

I could really use a back rub. You know, it's really quite hysterical that we Mommies are actually expected to pull all of this off. Honestly, I feel inclined to agree with my cousin Laura, when she said that she very much felt like hibernating this Holiday Season. Life can be exhausting.

When we were finally home, we wrestled the kids into bed, but then had to wait up - till ELEVEN - for Laena, our teeniebopper girliebob, who had gone out for ice cream with some friends. Hibernation, here I come. Except that Jefferson caught my sore throat, and kept us up half the night. : )

Where's that magic wand?