giving thanks

So we drove to Houston last Wed night & I thought Auston was going to pull his hair out. I finally came flying over the center console & even he ducked. Ryan decided he was just going to fake cry for no reason for as long as he could & Jacob & Luke decided it was time to yell potty talk back & forth to each other. You know, like poop on a girlfriend & poop in your underwear.... fun stuff like that. So once I jumped back there & set everybody straight, they all fell asleep, which was nice.
The next day, poor Auston caught our bug & then my mom. Sorry guys, I thought we'd been over it for long enough... this bug is a fiesty one!
So we had a brilliant idea to get all 5 grandkids' picture taken. The dad's wisely backed out quickly so Mom, Gretch, & I took Jacob, Luke, Ryan, Gunner, & Riley to Kiddie Kandids, which is inside Babies R Us. We get there between our check in time & our appt, which should be fine, right? So this oh, we'll go ahead & call it a family, is ahead of us. Now I don't want to be mean, well at least not in writing, so I'll just say that I'm not sure who would want pics of this group, but whatever makes people happy, right? Well they take over an hour to take their pics. We tried to split up, but Luke & Gunner are such buds, they had to be together & that was too much for Nanny, understandably. Of course, I forgot to give Jacob his med, so every time someone talks over the speaker of the store, he starts yelling or making loud noises. Ryan is not a baby anymore, so there's not a chance he's going to stay buckled in the cart while all the big boys are running around. So I found a toy isle & we sat down & played toys for an hour. Well, I sat down, the boys were all over the place.
All in all, they did very well. I had warned Mom & Gretch that 9 times out of 10, you will pick the very first pic taken, because the more you ask children to sit in weird poses, all in each other's space & look at a goofy woman making weird noises, (or in our case, singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", well done lady) your chances of getting a better one fade rapidly. And cute smiles on all of them? Not a chance. By the time we were done, Ryan was crying & stepping on the baby to get out of the pic, Gunner accidentally elbowed Riley in the head, & Jacob continued his usual loud noises. Luke has a sideways mouth face, but you can't see the ink on his shirt he wiped on right before they called us. If you look closely, you can tell Ryan was crying, but the crazy lady managed to get 1/2 a smile. Riley is definitely thinking WTF??? Gunner & Jacob look adorable & just pleased as punch. Oh how I "treasure these days, because they go so fast"................................. hey, I'm trying to do what all the random older ladies in stores tell me.............................................................
So later that night, it's bath time. I've got Luke & Ryan in there & run to the bedroom to gather up their pjs. The sweet neighbor girls show up, they're, I think 10 & 11?? Somewhere around there. So I'm talking to the girls about their Thanksgiving & I hear Ryan crying from the tub. So I run in there just in time to see Luke bounding out of the tub & throwing on a towel. He's yelling "Mama! Ryan pooped in there! I wouldn't have gotten in if I would have known he was going to poop in there!" So poor Ryan is squatting & crying in an empty tub, (Luke had let the water out) with (I'm sorry) turds in both hands. So I grab some tissues & take them from him. I turn to throw them in the toilet, & Luke is sitting on top of it. I yell, "Luke, get off!" He says, "Why?" I say, "because I need it!" So he jumps off, & I throw them in. Luke says, "That's disgusting." Really?? Do I need a play by play from the almost 5 yr old? I think not.
The girls disappeared quickly. I'm sure they heard "poop" & bolted...
Ryan is still obviously disturbed by what has just happened. He's still crying & holding his hands towards the faucet to wash them. So we clean up & move on with our evening. Treasure these days.....


This morning it was back to school, finally, for Luke & Ryan. Luke has gotten very serious about school, he seems sooo ready for Kinder to me. He had spilled some water on the floor, so he went & got paper towels & laid them on the mess. I hear him say to himself, "check that box." So he puts on his backpack & says," I've got everything I need, right back here."
Mama went & got a pedi, went to Kohl's & lunch with Monica, & then to Southlake Town Square. A much needed pampering day for mom.