Road Trip.

I have never been to my dad's house. He lives in the Seattle area and we've never made the trip. Flying is expensive.. No good when I've been pregnant (I would get sick just driving a mile away to the store so...). Didn't consider it an option when my babies were little.

I've had this huge need to see my dad lately- I've really been missing him. Drew was wonderful and told me to just fly up for a weekend and take Kaitlyn with me. But then we had to figure out how to get kids to school and he would need to take at least a day off of work.. so we figured why not just have all of us go.

We decided that since my kids don't enjoy even driving 20 minutes to my in-laws that we had better break the 12 or so hour drive up. :-D (and now you understand where the kids get the "crazy" part from haha)

Now, before I continue, I want to acknowledge that this is a public blog. And I would also like to mention that we have a security system for the house.. door alarms, window sensors and motion detectors. DO NOT BREAK INTO MY HOME!

Moving on. We left early yesterday morning. I was pleasantly surprised at how well my children did. Investing in a DVD player for the van as a christmas present was definitley smart. As well as the $2 million dollars worth of snacks and activities for the car that I purchased at Walmart. We only stopped once for lunch and to run around in Twin Falls, ID.

After 5 plus hours of driving, we stayed overnight in Ontario, OR (just past the ID border). The kids were SO excited to go swimming! I thought the water was a little cold so I sat on the steps. Kait agreed with me and wouldn't even let her feet go in.. she'd raise them up as fast as she could. Carson totally surprised me as he was the same. Other than a little foot dunk, he sat on the edge by me.

My only exception is when Hayden was playing on the steps and lost his balance and he went under and kept going forward.. I hopped right in and grabbed him all while holding Kait up. Neither child was happy about that experience.

After almost an hour, I took the little ones back up to the room and let them play in the tub. They enjoyed that MUCH more. Drew played with the kids in the pool for another hour.

After everyone returned and quickly showered and was slathered in lotion/creams/eczema creams we decided we were all starving.

Sizzler was just down the road from us so we went there. I haven't been there in years but I know that my mom likes going there. The kids were thrilled to see the buffet.. I think most children enjoy that.

Aubrey had a little of almost everything. Hayden had FIVE plates of food. Ok, actually it was cottage cheese, cheese, croutons and fruit, fruit, fruit. But still, FIVE! Not bad for the kid that doesn't eat much. (btw, while driving he has been telling us every twenty minutes or so that he's STARVING- growth spurt anyone??) Carson ate pretty much the same thing as Hade minus the fruit (not by choise- I wouldn't let him.. Carson + fruit = icky diapers

For my dinner, I ordered lemon chicken and broccoli plus the buffet. As I was about finished with my plate, I had 3 pieces of broccoli left. I was about to eat a piece when I noticed something on it.. possibly a piece of rice.

It was NOT rice. Not, at all.

Ew.

It was totally a meal worm or some other NASTY bug. That had been cooked and was attatched.

Double ew. Ick. Barf. Nasty.

I asked the waitress to get the manager. I pointed out the nastiness and also that they had overcharged me for a $5 children's buffet. (I know I have a lot of kids but come on now!)

When he returned, he handed me the entire $47 back. Nice.

This was the best part though, during our dinner we had observed a guy that took an entire bunch of bananas to his table. Who does that!! Well, he TOOK THEM HOME! Sooo funny. Who need grocery shopping when you can swipe items from a buffet, right??

I'm pleased to report that the kids all went to sleep pretty easily and they all slept the entire night. Well Hade managed to sneak into the bottom of our bed at some point (no wonder I felt squished- it was a Queen).

And today we have been driving all day as well. Only stopped once so far. It's going so-so. Carson keeps yelling and Kaitlyn was crying for awhile until she finally fell asleep. I'm SO excited to see my dad and step-mom though.. YAY!!

Props to Drew for driving the entire time. Although really I think it's because he would go crazy if he was me and had to turn around every 2 seconds to acknowledge our children as they say something (does Hayden ever stop talking???) or yell for requests of food, books and coloring books, etc.

Ok, that's all for now. Tinme to change the movie! And maybe throw a cookie at Carson for yelling, again.

April Fools.

I love April Fools. So much fun!!

I've been trying to figure out what I could do for today. Have to be selective in my choosing as Aubrey *detests* jokes of any kind played on her. They make her cry.

For breakfast, the kids ate cereal. Before pouring the cereal in I put in drops of food coloring. Then when I poured the milk in, it changed colors.

I did orange for Hayden (his favorite color) and blue for Carson.

Want to see their reaction???

Oh that's right, I can't, because they flopped to the ground about how awful it was. I had to dump them out.

As they ate their once-again filled cereal bowls, I retreated to the bathroom to do my hair and make up.

I called Hayden in to show him.. I CUT MY HAIR!! (had to lighten the picture a lot so you could see how short it is)

Hayden said, "Um, I guess it looks pretty."

Fine. FINE. I tried to smile as I said, "APRIL FOOLS!" It was just tucked under.

Then we talked about what other jokes we could play.. this is what we came up with.

Setting up the scene: Hayden is dying of heat. It's SO hot outside. He's wearing shorts and a summer t-shirt.

We acted this out at home so he could perform fully at preschool. We giggled the entire way there. Just before we walked in the door I had him take off his coat.

He walks in and proceeds with the above look. "Whew, it is SO HOT outside today! Can you believe it???"

Teacher: You're wearing shorts.
Helper lady: Um... hot? Uhhh....

Hayden: snicker, giggle, gasp

Teacher: Really, you're wearing shorts???

Hayden: APRIL FOOLS! BAHAHAHAHA

Teacher: Oh, ha, ok.. but wow, you're wearing shorts.

Then they noticed my hair. And the other kids and their lovely outfits.

(don't be fooled, she loved posing.. uh.. yeah..)

She gave us the So you're THAT kind of a family smile.. We smiled back.

Now I just need to plan our dinner for tonight. Colored food is apparently out. Any other ideas?? Or good trick ideas??

How about good ideas for Drew? The "I'm pregnant" joke is no good.. last time we did that I ended up with Kaitlyn and my baby factory is CLOSED!

55 pounds.

This past week I have decided that I need to attack my (walk-in) closet.

Ok, it's always a huge mess (it's my "pile of shame") and I say this all the time, but this time I meant it.

I had EVERYTHING on the floor that was mine so that I could go through it all. It was a LOT.

I had clothes in there from after I had Aubrey: And she turned 9 this past week. I haven't worn them in years.. but I DID like them at some point in time and just didn't want to get rid of them. I spent money on them! I'm a "things" person (to my husband's dismay) and I often refer to hot spots as Organized Chaos.

Anyway, as I attacked, I also let go. I'm not going to wear the pink plaid shirt from 9 years ago (I know- Pink Plaid??). Black bootcut stretch pants from 9 years ago? Haven't considered them an option in years. I have jeans that are much too big.. 2 sizes too big from my super chunky days that were years ago. Maternity pants? Don't need them. Maternity shirts? Buh-bye. (actually I did keep a few that don't look "maternity".. the extra space in the cut is helpful with my big rear end.. but I wont' ever fess up if I'm wearing one, so don't ask).

I even got Hayden to help me out a little while Kaitlyn and Carson went "swimming" in them.

After FOREVER I was able to declare that I was at a stopping point and felt quite accomplished.

Presenting: 55 pounds of clothes.

I now need to go through everything and hang it all back up. Yeah.. putting it all down was probably not my best idea. For now, it's all laying neatly in piles. Good thing I rock at procrastinating.