friday morning...

{i am planning a short-ish follow-up on my baptism post... but not today!}
and, i hope you enjoy the pictures i snapped of my morning from my iphone... i didn't even take the time to make them cute in instagram- dang it.

the professor is out of town.
jakob needed to be up at school by 7:15 am.
i was hoping for a 2 hour delay- didn't happen.
i don't have a lot of QUICK food-- because i like eating healthy.
only, healthy takes longer... and this morning i didn't feel like cooking.
i said a quick prayer- "Heavenly Father, help me think of something quick to feed these kids for breakfast."
and Jakob came up to me with a $20 bill in his hand.
he said he got that money from dad for dairy queen with the scouts, but scouts got cancelled so he was giving it back to me.
THANK YOU JESUS! (as my sweet neighbor used to say.)
we decided to head to the farm for breakfast.
old McDonald's.
i yelled for the little girls to get dressed quickly!

leah couldn't find any pants-- i told her to wear lily's because i still need to fold the laundry.
she said she could wear big socks to cover up the space.
Perfect!
i threw on a bra and wore the scrubs that i slept in.
i noticed that eve's cute little big toe had just ripped through her jammies.
she has lots of cute jammies-- but they are in baskets waiting to be folded.
my bigger kids were dressed warm, teeth brushed, hair done.
ellie wore her Uggs without socks (i hate that)... but overall we did good.
we sang a quick church song in the car.
i quoted Jacob 6:12 "O be wise, what can i say more."
we had family prayer while i turned into the middle school parking lot.
it was 7:18 am... Jakob jumped out as i slowed down, "run!  i love you!" i shouted as he ran through the slush into the school.
he's adorable.
we waved to the crossing guard again on our way to McD's
5 sausage and egg McMuffins, 2 plain sausage McMuffins, 4 waters= $15.75 (that's a lot)
ellie wanted to not eat and get the money instead for cookies from the bakery after school.
they pass Jillicious Bakery as they walk to the middle school from the Elementary school every day-- they are always begging for dollars-- i say only on friday.
So, anna and ellie got the remaining $4.25 from my $20 for after school.
anna said, "Yay!  Now I can buy a cookie for Maggie too!"
sweet girl.
when i had them hand up the trash, ellie had only eaten the english muffin and thrown the egg and sausage away.  seriously?
i handed back a bag of costco trailmix to supplement with some nuts and dried fruit...
it was one of those mornings.

past the crossing guard again (THIRD time today)- dropped drew off at the middle school.
he had been wearing snow boots and two pairs of socks, but decided to switch to sneakers when we arrived at the school.
i smiled at the discarded boots and socks next to me in the front seat-- i just cleaned out the car, but somehow half my house always migrates back!
drew had to dig through all my goodwill bags in the trunk to find his trumpet.
i thought what a cute boy he was.
his arms were full, he had jakob's egg mcmuffin to give to him, and he was missing his gelled claw (in the front of his head- it's his new style).
he groaned this morning to see that todd had taken the gel with him on his business trip.
i rolled down the window and screamed, "I LOVE YOUR GUTS DREW."
he shook his head, smiled and said, "Thanks mom!" as he pushed open those middle school doors.

we pass the crossing guard a FOURTH time on our way to the elementary school.
anna and ellie hop out of the car, literally, they're hoppy like that in the morning.
anna insists on a hug and a kiss, i think she's sweet even though that makes me a little crazy because there is a whole line of people behind us waiting.
ellie asks if i can bring her up a snack because she forgot hers, again.  i tell her to bring the trail mix.
she says "Mooooommm!", smiles, and heads to the school.
i love that those girls have each other.
i love being their mom.

i pass the crossing guard a FIFTH time as i decide to make a quick trip to the grocery store.
my girls are pounding on the window, waving and shouting hello to her, again!
i know that lady thinks i'm crazy.
once i was in a hurry and she mouthed the words, "slow down" to me.
i was miffed for a few days, but i have since forgiven her and we are friends again. :)
i notice her cute rain boots-- black and white check with a red border that matches her red winter coat.
if i was a crossing guard, i'd buy lots of cute rain boots, for sure.
cute rain boots are one of the best things about oregon.
i will pass that cute-footed lady another five times this afternoon.
my life is like that.
it makes me laugh every time she sees me drive by, again.

when we turned the opposite way from home, leah asked, "Where are we going?"
i told her to the grocery store.
she said in shock, "You're wearing your pajamas to the grocery store?!!"

"buckle your seat belt." i insisted.  that kid is always unbuckling.
i know, she should be in a car seat...  we've got to get one of those big kid ones.
i could hear that eve had gotten the costco trail mix, but when i went to unbuckle her, i was surprised to find her buried underneath trail mix with a mouth full of peanuts.
that baby! it's a miracle she didn't choke.
she was smiling wide with peanut drool down her chin.
cute girl.  she bit down tight as i tried to sweep the nuts out of her mouth.
i laughed and she laughed back.
i asked lily why she gave eve that bag.  she replied sweetly, "because mom, eve was hungry."
it was one of those mornings.

you see, i'm not a super-trendy dresser.
we don't spend a lot of money on clothes.
but, we always look nice.
there are MANY days when i look cute, my kids look cute, and nobody ever sees us.
of course, we see half the town on the one day we're not even dressed!
having a lot of kids, it really bugs me when we LOOK like scraggly orphans.
you know, peanut butter faces, hair not done, toes poking through our pjs, a mom who just woke up...
today, at the grocery store-- we were THAT family.
but, we were smiling and happy in our orphan-ness.
can you see eve's toe sticking out?  cute orphan baby...

i let the kids sit in the cart that looked like a fire engine.
i bought dark chocolate chocolate chips for the chocolate-dipped macaroons i want to make.
and a bag of junk cereal so i don't have to cook tomorrow morning.
and stuff for our PASSOVER dinner-- i love doing passover with my kids.
and, i love buying fun jewish food to celebrate with.
i LOVE the symbols of Christ that are found in passover and i love that my kids can imagine what the Last Supper was really like.
Passover is one of my favorite family traditions.
i bought a lot, so we can invite over another family!

i stopped too long looking at the dried beans, and lentils, and couscous...
leah said, "Come on Mom!  I need some more gas!"
(a reference to the fire engine, not the beans...)
she makes me laugh.
i bought a whole bunch of dried beans-- because i love them.
i always buy them.  but, i never cook them.
i'm afraid i like the concept of lentils better than the reality of lentils.
but, oh they speak to me there on the counter with all their old-fashioned coolness and bright colors- white, orange, black, green... lentils are cool.  just sayin'.
sandwich bags, snack backs- check.
as we went down the isles i kept shaking the cart back and forth- telling the girls to stop driving so crazy.
they were erupting in giggles.
sometimes i would pretend to crash and ask if they had any brakes on that thing.
lily said she couldn't find any and leah laughed saying, "You're just kidding aren't you mom?  lily, mom's just kidding."
they are funny girls.
i wasn't all fun and games.
twice leah climbed out of the fire engine and sat on top of it.
i had to use my serious mother voice to insist that she get down or loose all hope of every driving the fire engine again.

a trip to the bathroom.
for me.
i couldn't hold it.
i hate going to the bathroom in the grocery store.
i had to leave my cart-- leah and lily had to go too.
i put eve on the floor-- it was clean looking, but still nasty.
i just wasn't coordinated enough to do what i needed to do and hold her at the same time.
she crawled under to leah and i cringed-- i can't believe i put my baby on the ground in the bathroom!
my girls were screaming back and forth through the stalls and completely hysterical that eve peeked under.
when i came out, i saw unfamiliar feet in the fourth stall-- i laughed.
it was bad enough we were so loud and crazy when i thought we were alone-- but someone else HEARD our craziness.
hah!
i hope eve didn't peek in on that lady.
we washed our hands GOOD and headed back to our cart.
oh man!  i just realized i still forgot to get BREAD.
i got distracted by the cutest little appetizer forks that were silver $4.99 for 24.
i didn't get them, but i may go back.
wouldn't they be cute in lunches?
i did buy the fun polka dot cupcake liners-- pink and teal with white dots.
and some easter sprinkles- because leah begged.

oh, this is another long one...  i won't tell you every isle of the grocery store.
well, except i think i already did.
we headed out and i did make a comment to the checkout lady that we don't always go in public looking so scrubby.
she laughed and said it's just one of those fridays.
when we got to the car i realized that i didn't pull far enough forward when i parked so my suburban was totally sticking out--
i'm horrible at parking!

in the grocery store, we went through the book isle and leah saw a book she wanted me to buy.
i told her we could stop at the library afterwards.
so, we were off to the library.
only, the sign on the door said the library didn't open till 10am, and it was only 9am.
{i lied here.  i couldn't see the sign on the door and it was cold, so i googled "philomath library hours" on my i-phone and saw that it opened at 10-- i love my i-phone.}
i wondered if red box had the Muppet movie-- the one in our town said red box had it, but they were out.
i googled red box and saw that the other McDonald's in corvallis had it in stock.
i drove 20 minutes away to get the Muppet movie.
listening to talk radio, while my girls looked out the window at the "popcorn" on the trees.
that 20 minutes of talk radio is all the news i usually get for the day.

it was a beautiful ride, and i got the movie... but, we still had 15 minutes before the library opened.
so, we went to see the animals at the vet.

i think they board animals too...
anyway, my girls were SO excited.

we read the information on the bulletin boards and looked at the pamphlets.

by now i was mentally writing this blog (and taking pictures) so i was more laughing at our appearance than embarrassed by it.
my kids are really CUTE little orphans.
and i'm a... happily frazzled mother of many!
a well-dressed business lady looked sideways at me as i ushered my kids into the front seat of my car and held my baby while i started it.
she didn't know i was just going to the library at the other end of the parking lot.
while she was watching, i picked my nose just for good measure.
{no, i didn't really.  but i should have!}

we took a quick trip to the library.
how i LOVE books.

eve is a menace in the library-- although it is heaven to her.
she LOVES to tear books off shelves.
i was searching adult fiction the first time eve started emptying a shelf.
i could hear my girls scream-- "EVE!! NO!! MOM, HELP!!"
i laughed and reminded them to whisper in the library.
leah responded emphatically, "MOM!  IT'S OK YELL WHEN EVE IS DESTROYING THE LIBRARY!"
(i noticed a few curious patrons casually make their way to the children's section and then smile as they saw me re-alphabetizing the lower shelf.)

i saw an idea this week where a lady dresses up as a book fairy and brings her kids each a new book, explaining why she picked that book for them.
this lady was a bit over the top in her dress-up and in the cool huge boxes that she carried.
at first i thought it would be too expensive for me to do... but then i thought it would be funny for me to do with LIBRARY books.
I think our version-- the ghetto book fairy, may come visit this Sunday afternoon.
i'm pretty excited.
my kids will get a kick out of seeing me dressed in their princess clothes...
i had so much fun finding books (a picture book and a chapter book for each big kid, and some fun books for the little kids).
it is so fun being a mom.
and, i'm not sure you'll get a picture of this-- so just imagine!

eve started fussing while we were checking out-- she was ready for a nap.
i had to take two trips to the checkout counter because i didn't have my library bags with me.
leah had a huge pile of books to check out-- she loves the Japanese comic books.
i hate them.
oh well.
i laughed again when i was leaving the library.
there was my white suburban ridiculously parked, again.
this time i pulled into my parking spot far enough, but i was very crooked.
i snapped a picture and buckled everyone up.

on the way home we had to stop while two dear crossed the road.
can you see them in my picture?  yeah, me neither...

i wondered if these were the babies we used to see all around, all grown up?
seasons.
climbing the road to my house it was foggy and romantic.
my baby was asleep before i pulled into my driveway.

my baby is asleep and my girls are reading library books while i write this post.
it's too long.
i know i need to read over it to catch all my typos...  and i know i made too many references to what we were wearing this morning when really- it wasn't that big of deal.
just a little bit funny, that's all.
but, it's lunch time and nap time and my time is up...

i hope you have a great friday!!
i'm going to... um, get dressed and fold laundry and watch the Muppet movie and make coconut macaroons (i linked to the recipe in my last post.)

life is good!