Perpetual Motion

I might title several of my entries that. I hit the ground running (ha, I knew you'd like that joke) with Natalie and I heading to the MOMS Club board meeting (did ya know I'm the prez? I'm real important). So the kids played while we hashed out a calendar and tried to brainstorm a way to save our group (participation is sucking).
Then I realized I had 10 minutes to get Natalie to school, her first day back. Made it just in time and Larry met me in the parking lot (he had to take B) and Natalie ran to the arms of Mrs. Thompson. Mrs. Thompson sent Natalie a postcard thanking her for the Starbucks gift card. Natalie has been carrying that postcard non-stop since, and even slept with it. Then she picks it up and "reads" it over and over. "Dear Nattie, Dankew (thank you) for the pesent (present) Wuv, Mrs. Thomson." So needless to say both kids were very happy to see their teachers and get back in the routine.
Then I ditched Lar to go have lunch with Mrs. Morris, aka Carly, aka our Nanny. She is trying to get knocked up and it's all that's on her mind, and I think it's completely adorable. I am a sucker for pregnant people and engaged people. I love to celebrate, and those kinds of people are the most fun to celebrate and go wacko over. You can't spoil them. I just want to suck up their joy and breathe it all in. So I love to talk about EVERY detail about being pregnant, and when to test to find out, etc. Love, love, love it.
Picked up Nat and headed to Theresa's house to drop off some hand me downs for Nate (Nate and Nat are 9 days apart, cute, huh?) and visit for a bit (trying to find a PT daycare, no leads from T)
Then home for an hour before packing up the kids and heading to Basketball practice! Brady is loving this sport, and the coaches are great (2 or 3 college age guys that really have fun with the kids). Then home again, to play, in the blink of an eye both kids were naked and fighting. Luckily Lar was home to help tag team bed time. It's so tiring to do the bed time routine by yourself for 2 kids 6 nights a week. Pull out the cheese for my whine. I love bedtime, I get to have time just to be with each kid, but the dang process takes 45 minutes. But they deserve that time, I'm just not great with routine, so it's a lot for me to do this everynight without getting lazy.
Satuday tomorrow... I hate Saturdays. Nothing to do and Larry works ALL day. Wait, tomorrow is Tuesday. Shit. Nevermind. Tuesdays are kind of lame too I guess if I thought it was Saturday.

Larry just said it's snowing. Ugh. Can't we go to SoCal yet?

Ugh...

I just found out that our full-time Optician gave his notice, we'll see if he makes it for the last 2 weeks. What a train wreck this guy is. I'm not sorry to see him go, though his leaving puts a strain on the rest of us in the office. I have a cryin' buddy at work, I tried to get her over here tonight to drink our sorrows away and celebrate good riddance. But she has a night job. I can't get nobody to drink these Smirnoff Grape drinks with me, and I've noticed that 2 are gone. Larry and his girlfriends ;) Poker girlfriends that is. I used to be that girl, until sleep became more inviting that sparring with a table full of young men. I can cuss and tell the dirtiest joke at the table! And I beat those boys at their game too... they tease me, but they fear me. It's a delicate dance when I scrap with all of them. So I've had to play a few times to let them know 'I can kick your ass, I CHOOSE not to humiliate you in my home'.

Last night we went to the pool. Loads of fun, it's like the pool cures everyone's temperament. The kids never fight, and giggle and splash the entire time. I save pool days for when I think we are all going to implode and the pool washes those awful moods away. But last night, it had just been too long since we'd been. Brady wants to start lessons again, I'm begging him to wait until Nat turns 3 so I can stop getting in the pool with them, maybe even use the time to do some laps?

Nat turning 3... I just went through her stored clothes today, and it's all 3's and 4's. She is so tall she wears a lot of 4 shirts, but she is so skinny that the 3 pants fit length wise, but she has perpetual plumber butt. And the 2's are to short, and the 2 skirts are obscene on her now, so I can't get away with those. I just can't believe she is 3, time is speeding up!

Another boredom buster and "I'm going to kill you if you don't stop trying to kill each other" peacekeeping activity we do is go to Little Bugs. So we made a haul there today. It's getting harder and harder to find anything for B, so Natalie usually comes home with the most loot from there, which is fine since I bought Brady a really nice Firefighter costume (actually "turnout gear") that he has been wearing ever since we got it yesterday. He tried to sleep in it last night, but he's used to sleeping in the buff, so buckles and suspenders proved to be overkill. I figured it was worth the investment since he won't give up the costume that is a size 3, he wears that thing a few times a week, and it's entirely too small. So Natalie is his "Captain" and he is the "Chief, see mom, it says it on my helmet" I can't tell him that both helmets say "Chief".


Basketball league starts tomorrow at 11:15, I think B is going to like this more than Soccer. Me too, Basketball stays indoors, Soccer progresses outside. I don't want to be a Soccer mom, I just wear the uniform and drive the van!

Recovering

I took the kids on a field trip today to one of their favorite places... the dump! To the dump, to the dump, to the dump-dump-dump! I FILLED the entire cabin of the minivan with cardboard, only cardboard. Brady had to scale the pile to climb into his booster, thank god he can buckle himself now, I'd have never made it back down without supplemental O2.

Then we stopped at Freddie's to return a couple of things (absolutely no waiting to return stuff, Larry said the same thing is happening at Costco... are people waiting for the weekend?) And the kids thankfully wanted to go to the playland. But I gotta say, that playland sucks ass. Every time I take the kids there, there is a video playing and the attendant is hiding behind the counter, as far away from the children as possible. I want to shop at Freddie's because the prices are better, and grocery shopping is so much easier solo. And I know my kids are having fun when they are at Haggen. Last time I went to pick them up at Haggen I was told "4 more minutes mom". They were building towers to knock down, coloring together, being read to. I know it's free, but there is a drastic difference in the time my kids spend at each place. I felt so guilty leaving them at Freddie's playland, that I went and retrieved them and finished shopping with them, so at least someone would be talking (yelling) at them.

And I have to say, the fighting in my house hold between my children is slowly decreasing. This summer I thought I might run away and never come back I was so exhausted from the CONSTANT fighting. Plus it brings horrible flashbacks to my childhood, and the deep running loathing I had for my little brother (sorry Rich, love ya now, thanks for not kicking my ass now that you can). They actually PLAY together, and LAUGH with each other, and sit QUIETLY together. This sounds so cheesy, but it truly makes my heart smile that they have a love for each other and that there is hope that they will have happy childhoods together instead of separately. I'm a total cynic to the worst degree, but when I see these sorts of things, I really SEE them.