Summer Vacation

I was looking forward to summer vacation this year.



The dredgery of making lunches every morning and rushing four kids up and getting them ready every day, winding our way through construction to get to the bus stop has certainly been taking a toll on me. Especially with the addition of longer days (read: brighter and later nights), kids just plain don't sleep . . . and only one actually sleeps in while the rest somehow still wake up with the roosters at 5am. (Murphy's Law has it that the kid who sleeps in is the one who needs to get to the school bus by 8:30am.) It makes for very miserable days (and nights).



So it is no surprise that I would be longing for summer vacation. (If they want to stay up late, hopefully they will all find a way to sleep in late.)



I also have a lot planned. Images of picnics at the parks, bike rides, long walks in the countryside mingled with some highly effective (and somehow fun) home schooling swirled around in my head. Naturally, we'd be having such a lovely time through all of this there would be nothing but relaxed moods and smiles on everyone's face.



Hmph. The key word is definitely WAS.



Summer vaction doesn't officially start for us until noon tomorrow and by the way today went, I'm already signing my papers to be committed.



Besides the crankiness that has been circulating through our house of sleep-deprived kids and parents and the heat of a new house without a/c, I got a little sneak peak of my summer today.



Of course there will be squabbles. (Hopefully not too many.) But this morning I heard screaming in the kitchen. Jackson had tried to get a watermellon off the island, with Avery's help and it had smashed into her nose, causing some swelling and bleeding. (Always a fantastic way to start the day.) Then there was grocery shopping with miserable kids . . . who of course had to pee as soon as we got there . . . and had to urgently poo when we were 15 minutes from our house. The shopping trip is always fun, kids jumping on and in the cart, adding to my grocery pile, and taste testing select foods along the way.



And then there was this afternoon. I've been trying to cut back on TV time and without a yard, it means unsupervised room time while I attend to cleaning or Liv. Apparently, someone (names have been changed to protect the guilty from their parents' anger) thought it would be fun to climb on a certain new bed and grab a certain chandelier and swing across the room. When the power went out in the house I assumed it was some construction stuff going on . . . until that certain little someone came down to "rat", er PIN, it on a smaller little someone.



Seriously, what the heck were they thinking?



I went to inspect the light and the cord had been cut and the fixture was hanging down 3 feet. I had to cut the power and try to refeed the cord into the holder and hope that a) it didn't fall down on its own and b) wouldn't catch on fire. Ever. Especially since some kids seem to NEED the light on ALL NIGHT long.

It's going to be a REALLY LONG summer.

Today Was A "Slit-Your-Wrists" Day

before I even left the house.

After a week of the stomach flu rotating from Brad, Jayden, Avery and myself (the latter two haven't fully recovered), and a night's full of "cat naps" between Avery and Liv, Jackson informs me that he feels like throwing up. At breakfast.

How do I send him to school when I know how awful he must be feeling? And yet, I tried to pursuade him to go since it would be easier for him to be at school than running a week's worth of post-poned errands that had to be done TODAY (because our fridge and cupboards have been empty for two days, and Jayden's birthday party is tomorrow).

As I sat in the bathroom with Avery's second round of diarrhea in five minutes, I wondered why I thought shopping with three (sleep deprived and miserable) kids yesterday would have been worse than today.

I loaded up the van with supplies for a full day excursion as we hunted for all things Star Wars, and did a major food stock up. And slipped a pink potty, just in case.

Every which way we went to get out of our development was blocked by three construction trucks . . . it seems that every construction worker in Ontario (maybe even Canada) are here working. This made us late to drop Jayden off . . . but I just couldn't drag all the kids in to sign my name on the "late sheet" when we were 3 minutes late. Jayden would just have to take the heat for me today.

About 15 minutes into our travel time I smelled something fruity in the car. Almost vomit-like. But not the old vomit that still lingered slightly from Christmas. This one seemed new. I finally caught a look back at Jackson. He was covered in orange juice vomit.

I asked how bad it was.

"Not too bad. It's just on my shirt, my Bakugan cards, my Bakugans, my shorts, the car seat, my socks, and some landed on my socks and the floor."

That put Wal-Mart on the first of my list of stores to visit. And, when I realized it was a super centre, it cut my shopping by three stores. With whiny, some barf-reeking, kids in tow, and five pool noodles hanging out of the bottom of the cart, we raced around finding supplies for Jayden's party. After finding some new clothes for Jackson, and loading up on Lysol wipes, I attempted grocery shopping. (At least there were a lot of plastic bags at the ready!).

But with Jackson moaning and groaning about not feeling well, Avery sampling the produce and breads, and Liv screaming (because, hey, why not?) I had had enough.

My "stock up" included: 2 packs of kool aid drink pouches, lettuce, brocoli, 7 rolls, 300 g of turkey breast, fruit roll ups, and some cheese.

In the check out, Jackson was holding a pack of gum. Usually I don't buy anything they grab in the check out, especially gum, but since it was "Winter Fresh" and he was throwing up, I thought it might be okay. Once in the car, he opened his gum to show me that the entire thing was EMPTY. Either he had picked up some random garbage off the floor, or some other kid (I hope) had emptied while in the check out.

I ran around the car to get Avery buckled in. She was holding some Carmex.

"Where did you get that?"

"The ground."

"Yuck Avery, don't pick things up off the ground. They are gross." I chucked it away.

"Eww. Spicy!" I knew what that meant. She had eaten some.

I blared the music, hoping it could take me to a happy place since the trip home consisted of 25 minutes of whining and screaming, some actually by me. Once we got home, it climaxed.

As I sat to nurse a cranky baby, listening to two other kids whine about why they don't want to eat, but need juice RIGHT NOW, I tried to call someone . . . anyone who might be in a more sane state.

Every number was busy.

Seriously?

I got so desperate I even called my cell phone. It was mysteriously busy too . . . apparently the construction workers outside cut our phone line again.

I think we will all take some long naps and try to pretend today didn't happen.

As I finished writing this, Liv threw up all over me and the wood floors. Perfect.

Looking for Dresses?

You know you are! Have you ever wondered where you can find/buy high fashion, modest dresses??

Look no further!

http://www.shabbyapple.com/

They have a bunch of cute dresses for a steal!! Happy shopping!

To Dine For

Well, the dining room isn't finished. But it's mostly finished . . . for now. We have one more chair to buy for the immediate future and then eventually we will be looking for window treatments, a buffet, another 4 side chairs and then a pair of interesting end chairs. And maybe a rug.

Wow, there are a lot of things needed to "complete" a room. And since we have so many other rooms that also need completing, I will be very content that I have a beautiful chandelier hanging instead of builder's globes, and a dining table that no longer floats alone in a room . . . or is surrounded by costco $13 special black folding chairs.

The chandelier was hung by Brad and myself and what a chore it was! It has made us seriously reconsider hanging our 4.5 ft by 3.5 ft chandelier in the foyer . . . 18 feet up!

Fortunately, it looks amazing and (much like how a newborn quickly fades the memory of labour) we have foggy memories about sore arms and sweat from the hour it took to hang.

Glamour Sleep

The nursery has come a long way from those early days in January when I armed myself with a paint brush and a few main pieces of furniture.

I knew from the first moment when I read "Russell the Sheep" that it would make the best nursery theme and couldn't wait to use it. I think it turned out beautifully. The other kids' nurseries were done up pretty nicely, given the fact that we were renting, but this one is my favourite by far.

A "Russell the Sheep" book was sacrificed to make this bedroom come to fruition. (Because hand-painting each of those sheep just wasn't going to happen.)

I love how cozy and relaxing it is. And I especially like how Liv turned out to be a girl so I could throw in some sparkling accessories and reuse some of Avery's pink bedding.

It's just a whimsy, glamorous room. I hope Liv likes it as much as I do! (By the way that she stares at the chandelier and the sheep on her walls, I think she does.)

Splish, Splash

Splish, splash, Liv was takin a bath,

Long about a Wednesday night. Yeah.

Rub-a-dub, just a relaxin' in the tub,

Thinkin' everything was alright.

Well, then I heard a strange noise, saw some bubbles float up fast,

Where did the jacuzzi come from?

I heard my mother ask.

Splish, splash! I saw more bubbles blast.

Well, how was I to know I was in a jacuzzi tub?!

I was a-splishing and a-splashing!

Noises were a-happ'nin', Water was a rollin'

Then I started laughin', oh yeah.

Blip, blop, another bubble popped,

The noise gave me quite a fright,

Ho, hum, Where'd the bubbles come from?

There wasn't any soap in sight.

Well, I felt something inside me, right before another blast,

A funny feeling told me, I might have passed some gas.

A-well-a splish, splash I began to laugh!

I was havin' so much fun, mom let me stay in some more.

I was a-tooting and pollutin', Gas just kept on passin',

I was just a-laughin' , splishin' and a-splashin', yeah.

Splish, splash! What a fun jacuzzi bath!

All powered by natural gas! :)

FYI: These photos are clean and censored. Those suspicious rolls are, in fact, some of Liv's FOUR thighs.