Aaaaand we're back. I'll give you guys a play by play of the week, then let you decide how it went:
Wednesday:
Wake up at 4:30 am. Pack a few last minute things, get kids up and in the car. Leave around 5:30. Nick calls me at 6...I forgot Colin's presents. Gah. I turn around. Get back home and leave around 6:45, morning rush hour is now in full swing and kids aren't going back to sleep. Get to Karis' house around 11:15. Go play with the neighbor's baby goats. Come home, Nicholas is fussy. Colin's nose is running like a faucet. Great. Nicholas starts urping a little vomit every 10 minutes. Double great. Kids go down for the night, Brynn and Colin are sharing a room and they are up until nearly 11.
Thursday:
Brynn wakes up around 6:15, and I have to run fast to get her so she doesn't wake up Colin too. Too late. After breakfast, we take the kids to Wal-Mart to do some shopping before Colin's birthday party. Nicholas screams like a banshee the entire time, resulting in me having to carry him because he was trying to hurl himself out of the shopping cart. So I'm carrying him and pulling the shopping cart behind me. During check out I leave him in the basket part of the cart so I can pay and stuff, and a creepy employee comes up to Nicholas and puts her freaking arms out and asks, "Can I take you? Come here cutie." I give her the death stare, but she doesn't budge. Nicholas starts screaming SHRILLY and throws himself as far from her as he can get. Good boy. She leaves. It's raining and cold when we leave. Of course. We take the kids to McDonald's, and it is seriously the most ghetto McDonald's ever. The play place is n-a-s-t-y. Nicholas fills two diapers with diarreah...very appetizing, I couldn't finish my lovely looking chicken club sandwhich after that.
Friday:
Randy volunteers to watch the kids while Karis and I go to breakfast and stop in an antique mall, and we spend two blessed hours away from the evil urchins. I get some awesome antique books (Rebecca, The Insiduous Dr. Fu-Manchu (published in 1920!), and Pointers for Parents, a hilarious parenting book from 1947!) Seriously that was amazing to get away. Back at the ranch, we get the house ready for Colin's party tomorrow. Nicholas now has a runny nose and a fever.
Saturday:
Day of Colin's party. Randy picks up the cake and it looks NOTHING like Karis ordered. No-th-ing. So I drive around Amish country in the middle of friggin nowhere trying to find black icing to fix it. None. Whatev...I'm sure it will taste just dandy. Party starts at 2 pm. Colin's cousins (Randy's twin sister's kids) are the MEANEST kids I've ever met. Blake, the younger one, kept INTENTIONALLY coming up behind Nicholas and SHOVING him with BOTH HANDS down. Then, they kept whacking ME with this air pump thing leaving WELTS all over my arms. They also helped themselves to open half of Colin's presents and stealing all of his toys. One of the guests includes a guy who I, um, slept with/quasi dated in college. Yes, I was a big fat pirate hooker back in the day. Anyways, this would be the first time we saw each other in 5 years since Karis' wedding, and before that it was when we were IN college. He's there with his wife, her kid, and she's pregnant. I feel like a tramp. He was really nice though, and I ended up talking to both of them about the glories of dealing with a biological dad (her son is from a previous marriage). Speak of the devil, Brynn's dad and his wife show up around 4 to pick her up for the next two days. Boo. On the bright side, Randy's brother, Matt, has brought three of his horses over and takes Randy and I on a two hour GLORIOUS two hour ride. All of the horses are under 4 and EXTREMELY spirited, so they are about as far from those sack-of-bones trail horses as they get. Once Sadie (my horse) took off at a full gallop and it took all of my knowledge from my high school friend and riding with her every week to get the darn thing to stop. After that, it was pretty uneventful, except for Sadie bashing my knee into a freaking tree and making it swell two times it's size and turn into the prettiest bruise I've ever seen.
Sunday:
Nicholas and Colin are in full throes of their goopy running noses, so I vote no church. Karis and Randy agree, so we play hookey. We do absolutely nothing all day, I read an entire book, "Everyone Worth Knowing" and it was hardly worth reading, but whatever. It was nice to stay in our pajamas all day. Around 4 we decided to go for a walk because it SEEMED sunny and warmer. By the time we got the kids ready and left, it was darn near 40 below (joking) and windy. Nicholas screamed the. entire. time. And I carried him the. entire. time. Then it started raining.
Monday:
Brynn came back! Unfortunately her dad forgot the most important thing I sent with her. Her "Mackie", a hand quilted, unique blankie that her great-grandmother made for her while I was pregnant that she must have every night. He offers to bring it back, but that's a 2 hour round trip drive for him, and I wouldn't make him do that. So he's going to mail it, and now I'm paranoid that Mackie is going to get lost in the mail. THAT would be beyond tragic. Within 10 minutes of being home, Brynn informed me that she went swimming with them, and went under and came back up and was choking and threw up. I was already nervous when they said they were taking her to an indoor water park...that made me absolutely petrified. We have taken her to numerous pools, lakes, parks, and the freaking ocean and she's never gone under and choked to the point of puking. Gah. We decide to go see the goats again. This time its freezing, muddy, and the kids just want to leave. So we do. Colin now has a fever of 102, Nicholas a respectful 101, Me 100.5 and Brynn has 100.5 as well.
Tuesday:
We make out a shopping list because I'm going to make Coq au Vin for dinner. Karis makes pancakes for us. Nicholas hardly touches one when the day before he snarfed down 3 1/2. 10 minutes later he comes over to me, crying, and urps up a little white vomit. I take him to the sink to clean him off. Thank God I did because he proceeded to barf his ever loving guts out all over the place. All over my hand, my sleeves, himself, but thankfully, mostly in the sink. I debate staying until tomorrow like we were going to. I call Nick. Somehow we get in a huge fight. I pack all the crap while my sick boy sleeps. I load the van in the freaking rain. Brynn throws a fit because she thought we were staying one more day. Nicholas wakes up screeching. We drive home. Nicholas has the sickest, grossest, most foul odored diaper forcing me to pull over in a creepy parking lot in the middle of nowhere and change his diaper with the side door opened while fighting the 50 mph gusts that the weather man warned me about. We made it home, ordered a pizza, and called it a night. Nick got home around midnight and I absolutely could NOT get enough of him. I kept smelling his skin (it smells amazing 'raw', no soap or lotions or body spray...just skin...gah, I love it), kissing him, it was great. It would have been better if I wasn't fighting cramps and nausea, but whatever, I was just happy to have him next to me again.
So there you have it, the worlds worst week-long vacation. There were 4 glorious hours I spent without sick, whiny, cold, tired kids, and of course just hanging out with Karis made it worthwhile, but my. gosh.
Oh, and my camera stopped working on Monday. But here are the pictures...
The boys the first night. Colin will demonstrate the various ways one may play with himself...
There's the full front on grab:
Giving a little attention to the backside:
Underneath the right leg maneuver:
Both boys making sure it's still attached:
Cute kid + Good lighting = Tons of pictures...
Karis and I still can't believe we have kids that can play together!!
Nicholas got over his fear of baths!
Yum.
Brynn joined!
I wish SO BAD that this one was in focus!!!
They are all miraculously covered in the right places in this one!
Crazy Nicholas on a mission!
Getting some fresh country air!
Lovely mud:
Brynn looking creepy with the baby goat!
Colin's terrible cake:
What Karis picked out:
Brynn getting the party started:
Colin loving his cars!
Yum.
Evil kid #1: Blake
Evil kid #2: Korbin
The birthday boy!
Getting ready for our walk through the icy tundra...
I love this one!! They're holding hands!
He hates touching the grass..
"Ugh. I cannot believe Mom is making me get up on my OWN"
Colin's dorky outfit...
Nicholas really does love playing outside...
He kept eating the stones...
Yum.
His new thing is to pick up stuff...balloons, balls, toys, and in this case, muddy rocks, and hold them high behind his head, and drop them. He thinks it's the most hilarious trick, and does it over and over and over.
Drop.
Aaaand then my camera stopped working. Gah.
No comments:
Post a Comment