I’m not sure how it happened… really. I know Daddy came home… he’s been gone for a week, so everyone was pumped! Kids were running EVERYWHERE… seems more like 10 kids then 4. And loud… wow. We finally got them to listen a bit and go upstairs. Mom, T and I were sitting at the table finishing dinner and talking about all that happened this week.

The S came running in to tell me that G was bleeding. I heard no tears… so I told her to tell him to come talk to me. Pretty soon he did so… and showed me a skinned little toe. I guess he scraped it on the wall (he’s a boy who’s almost six… I don’t ask) and did make it bleed. S, being the “bandaids will fix everything” kind of girl she is, ran to get him a bandage.

With that ordeal out of the way, T went outside to look at the places we had two trees removed from. Mom and I were still talking and the kids were off playing. Then S begins to say something about baby medicine  and K playing in it. I really wasn’t paying attention, but it started to sink in. Grandma began to repete S to make sure she understood what she was saying. At the same time I turned to mom… “Do I smell baby powder?” We got up and went to the hall.

Then we went a little deeper.

Then we rounded the corner.

Oh, yeah… that’s big fun to clean. And so are the covered children.

Apparently, when S got the bandages, she handed K the baby powder. K quickly discovered it was lots of fun to dump on the floor. Grandma, T, the boys and I discovered it’s not so much fun to clean. I am sure the house will smell like baby powder for weeks on end… maybe that’s not a bad thing when people come to see the house???

Between Nashville and Chattanooga there is a big hill (when you grow up in the Rockies it’s hard to call much else mountains!) you have to drive over. The rocks had to be cleared in order to put the road in. The result is rock walls bordering the interstate. They are very pretty.

Since we’ve had a good bit of rain lately, everything is rather wet. There were several places where the running water created waterfalls on these bordering rocks.

After seeing several of these, J said, “It’s like when Moses struck the rock and brought out the water!”

For dinner on Saturday we went to Medival Times and had a great time! While we were enjoying the dinner knights were participating in their tournament. They also started passing out carnations to the ladies in the audiance. After the first pass of flowers, S really wanted one. Our Yellow Knight, spotted her, and called her “Precious.” The second pass and S was trying to get his attention… to which he responded, “I’ve got something for you.” And she, ever the drama queen, pouted because she didn’t get one.

After one of the tournament games, our Yellow Knight came right up to S, joust in hand, and pointed at her. Tied to the end was a scarf. We pulled it off, and S blew him kisses. When we untied it, it read, “Queen of Love and Beauty.” Very sweet!

Once she got over the idea that it was not a flower, we tied it around her neck, where she proudly wore it the rest of the evening.

As we exited and walked to the van, S was excitedly telling me how much she like the Yellow Knight and all that we did for the evening. Only she wasn’t watching where she was going. “Watch out S. S watch out!” But she didn’t watch out… she ran face first into a pole in the sidewalk. OUCH!

One more thing to top off the weekend: As we were looking for a place to eat breakfast/brunch/lunch, I jumped out of the van and ran into Cracker Barrel to find out there was a 30 minute wait… don’t think so… So back to the van… to find the window in the passenger seat down… when I question T about it he described a “loud noise” that he thought was too much pressure on the window. He tapped the switch to open it a crack… and it went all the way down… and would not come back up. At first it was a horrible grinding sound and then nothing… it would not go up, it would not make any noise. So yes, from Atlanta to Nashville with the window open… I think my hearing is almost back.

And tomorrow I will spend my day, with four kids, in the mechanic’s office…

It’ll probably be when the girls are, say 21 and 24!

Today I thought  I would do something nice for my family. I found some great looking strawberries and thought I would make some strawberry shortcake. I also thought I would make some chicken soup, since it’s been cold.

Once home and everyone settled I started on dinner. As I looked at the directions on the box to make the shortcake, I thought I would double the recipe. I’ve got kids running everywhere and I’m trying to work out in my head what I need to do. One of the the things it called for was 1/2 cup sugar… I can do that one in my sleep. I measured it out and poured it on top of the mix in the bowl… and then read that it was to be set aside for the STRAWBERRIES and that what should have gone into the mix was a total of 6 tablespoons! Ugh! So I did the best I could to pull sugar out and move on.

Once they were in the oven I started cleaning up and trying to move on to dinner. I had changed my mind from soup to baked chicken and was working on a coating. I took two phone calls. I broke up fights. I pulled the shortcakes out of the oven before they were fully burned. I scooted hungry children who had already had TWO snacks out of the kitchen. Oh, but then my night went down hill…

S came into the kitchen with her rain slicker, trying to wipe an unknown white substance off. “K put medicine on my jacket.” Oh? How did she get the medicine? She can’t reach it… I followed S to her room. Here’s what I found:

Now for the record, the only reason K is laying down is she would not old still for me to take the picture… she wanted to keep putting her hands in her mouth! Yes, I said in her mouth… they were COVERED with Happy Heinie… a home made diaper rash cream mixed with equal parts Desitin, Lotrimin and Neosporin with a splash of Maalox. Not only did she put them in her mouth… she KEPT putting them there.

I cleaned the girls up (and yes, spanked the older for getting into something she should NOT have been in), put K in the play pen and made S sit on the couch. I got back to dinner… and called the Vanderbult Children Nurses Hotline… I just needed to know how concerned I needed to be. The nurse was GREAT! She asked some questions, thought K would be ok, but she also called poison control just to make sure.

All things considered… K is good, all be it a bit greasey. I REALLY am glad they are all sleeping now. Tomorrow WILL be a better day… it has to be!

I’m pretty sure that’s how the headline might read. I’m not sure where that visual takes you, but let me back up a bit and try to clear it up for you.

See it all started when I found these cool plastic eggs… they already had pre-wrapped non-nut candy in them! Oh the joy of not sitting down to stuff 60 little plastic eggs (yes… 60… S needs one dozen for her hunt, and each of the boys have been asked to bring 2 dozen for theirs… do you have any idea how long that takes????). Some of the packages had 12 eggs, some had 16… all for $4.50. I bought several different kinds… all total I ended up with 72 eggs and no stuffing!!!!

I also picked up four little metal buckets for the kids… the three older get to take theirs to school for their hunts, and then Ganny will bring more to our house on Saturday for the kids to each do a hunt at the house. We will be swimming in sugar!

Today, I packed S’s little eggs in her bucket… that way they are at school and I don’t have to worry about forgetting them on Thursday… Yay for Mommy planning ahead – maybe I am getting a hold of this Mommy of four thing! Sigh, if it was only really that easy…

We arrived at school, cutting it very close on the time. I got the two girls out, coats on, nap mat in one hand, back pack slung over my shoulder, K on the other arm, and S proudly carrying the little eggs and we start into the church. I got stopped by a grandmother who was worried that someone had left their infant in their car… (it’s 37 degrees… and I think the baby was sleeping, so I’m sure Mom didn’t want to get her out in the cold) but grandma was concerned that it was cold out and the baby would be cold in the car…

She and her grandson headed in and I turned to head into the church again… Come on S! And about that time I heard it… not sure I can describe the sound a metal bucket full of 16 plastic eggs makes as it hits the black top… I turn to find the bucket laying on it’s side and plastic eggs shaped like animal faces bouncing down the hill at me. With not a free hand on my body, I started trying to herd them using the skills all those soccer years taught me. I’m sure I looked more like I was tap dancing though. And every time I had some sort of stopped, and reached for others, the first ones started going again… did I mention we were on the side of a hill? I dropped S’s mat, and pick up 4 or 5 in my one now free hand, and drop them in the bucket. I look back to see S’s mat rolling like a tumble weed across the parking lot… and get stuck under the church van. I look the other direction – my child is running like a crazy woman after these eggs – IN A PARKING LOT!!!!

Now, I am trying to corral plastic eggs and a four year old. “S… come back…” as she runs around the car… thank God all the cars were parked and most of the parents had already dropped their kids off. She comes back around, very stressed, “The pig, Momma, I gotta get the pig.” Oh yippy, said “pig” is now under a car… in the middle, between the rear tires, where she can not reach it. I try… no luck… now I’ve got to put my 16 month old down in the parking lot, crawl under the car to rescue the “pig” and make my child a happy girl.

With all 16 safely tucked back into the bucket we turned and made our way back to the church… passing the mother whoes child was sleeping in the car… so yes, she is fine. And no, S did not spill the eggs anymore. Her teacher, once we got into the class said the title ought to be “Supermom saves eggs!” I don’t know about that… but if there had been a video camera, we could have won the $10,000!

I just had a moment of panic…You know, those 10, 15 or even 30 seconds when all you can do is think of the worst things that could be happening RIGHT NOW… Those things that can be life changing – and NOT in a good way.

I was cleaning the washing machine (it’s been a while, and it was gross… how do clothes get clean like that?) and had been engrossed for probably 15 minutes. I then stepped into the kitchen. I looked through my kitchen window (for those who have not been in my kitchen… there is a window over the sink that over looks the living room sitting area) into the living room and couldn’t find K. “Where is she and what is she into?” ran through my head… as did all the messes a 16 month old can make and I was going to have to clean up…

THEN I remembered… I put her in the play pen, which by the way is UNDER the window and out of my line of sight…

Go ahead, laugh, I am… NOW… 😉