We did a lot of running around. A LOT.
We had to pick Emily up from her slumber party. And then drop The Dude off at his playdate. *giggle* OK, I know it drives him nuts when I call it that, but I think it's funny. He was actually going to hang out with his best friend to do some fantasy football stuff that I really don't understand. But, it was his first day off in almost 2 weeks and he got to go and hang out with the guys and have fun - he deserves it.
Anyway, after we dropped him off, we headed to the mall to get haircuts for the older 3 kids. If any of you have seen that advertisement from JCPenneys for the free haircuts for kids throughout the month of August - it's true. The only "catch" that I ran into was that in order to put a tip on my card (I had NO cash with me), I had to buy something. So I now have a teeny tiny bottle of lotion that I had to pay $2 for in order to use my card and add the tip. Oh well.
While we were there, a couple of friends came by to visit and to get some of the strawberry jam that they had wanted. One of my girlfriends brought her brand new baby boy, so I got some quality baby snuggles in before I handed him back over to her and let her take him home. It's funny - even after having 5 kids, I still forget just how tiny they are when they're born! This baby isn't even 3 weeks old yet, so he was tiny!
After we left the mall, we came back home for a while so that I could get some things done around here, and then we had to take Daniel to a birthday party about 10 miles from here. It was at a park, so rather than drive back home to turn around and drive back to get him, we just hung out in the park and the kids played for a couple of hours.
It was funny. I sat on a bench and watched the kids and observed other people in the park. We were between 2 parties, and the difference in them was amazing. The party to my left was a Mennonite family - the women and girls were all wearing their beautifully simple dresses and sneakers, and the men and boys were all wearing jeans and button-down shirts.
To my right was a group of people who couldn't have been more opposite. This group was a mixture of every horrible stereotype that could be imagined. Biker guys wearing denim and bandanas, macho women wearing halter tops, skinny guys with cigarettes and no teeth, guys with long hair and tattoos and girls with no hair and more tattoos.
What fascinated me the most about these two extremely opposite groups of people was that the kids - all of the kids, including mine - were playing together on the playground. They had no preconceived notions about each others' appearances. They saw each other as an opportunity to make a new friend, even if it was just for a few hours. They didn't judge each other by the way that they were dressed or their hairstyles or what their parents looked like. They were just there to play.
Wouldn't the world be a much better place if everyone could have that attitude?
Anyway, after we got Daniel back from the party, we ran home and the boys got baths, and then we went and picked The Dude up from his friend's house and took him back to his house, and then we came back here and the kids went to bed. In the meantime, I got a call from my father to let me know that my mother had fallen again and is back in the hospital. I don't know much other than she broke her wrist and her upper arm (on the same side) and she'll be having surgery, possibly as soon as today. I haven't heard anything yet, so I'm just going on the No News Is Good News assumption for now, otherwise I might lose my mind. It's more than a little frustrating to be so far away and not be able to help, but all I can do is wait for news.
The rest of the day today is filled with laundry, cleaning, preparing the sand plums that I picked the other day to get them juiced, getting the kids ready for school tomorrow, putting the finishing touches on Sarah's new bookbag, and all sorts of other fun stuff.
If I get her bag done today (I need to, since her first day of school is tomorrow) I'll post pictures of that later.
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IT'S ALWAY SOMETHING AMY. SO SO SORRY FOR YOUR MOM. I KNOW WHEN I HAD THAT BAD FALL BACK IN NOV. I REALLY THOUGHT I WAS A GONER. I LOOKED LIKE SOMEONE BEAT ME UP AND I'M SURE THE CREW THAT CAME FROM THE FIRE STATION THOUGHT SO TOO. I WAS ONE BIG MESS FOR A FEW WEEKS. I WISH YOU LIVED CLOSER TO YOUR MOM. WE ALL NEED HELP AT OUR AGE. IT'S JUST NOT FUNNY WHEN YOU SIT AND HAVE TO LOOK AT THINGS THAT NEED TO BE DONE AND THERE IT SITS. NOW SHE'LL NEED HELP EVEN MORE. I HOPE YOU HAVE FAMILY THERE TO HELP. KEEP US POSTED. GRANNY
ReplyDeleteLuckily, she's doing much better now. She is at home, and they're holding off on the surgery for a week or two - and she may not need to have it at all. So we're just in a bit of a holding pattern right now.
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