I'm going to stray a little from talking about our summer activities to share with you another adventurous day in the life of our family.
I woke up a little late Saturday morning, having gone to bed late the night before. We drive about an hour on Saturday mornings to go to our karate class, which doesn't leave us much time to dawdle. The kids fixed oatmeal for breakfast, everyone got dressed in our karate uniforms and we started heading out the door. Scott came running into the house as I was just about to go out asking me if he had any ants on him. The front passenger side door had ants all over it. It had been a few days since we had gone anywhere and the ants had found a dead frog on the top of the door and some packages of unopened crackers in between the front seats of the van.
Yes, you counted right there is an extra person in the back of the van in this picture. We didn't have time to evict the ants from the front of the van so Scott moved to the backseat.
It was strange not being able to talk to my husband while I was driving. I actually had to call him on his cell phone to tell him about the truck that played leap frog with us. I hate when a vehicle passes me while I'm passing the one in front of me. They stayed right on my tale while I was passing and barely gave me time to move over before passing me.
Later another car in oncoming traffic tried playing chicken with me as they came into my lane in order to pass someone in front of them. I had to slow down and move over onto the shoulder of the road but I missed them. I told my husband later that it was probably good that he didn't see that one.
We arrived safely to karate only a few minutes late. We had a great class! I'm trying to get back some of my flexibility that I lost while I was pregnant. It's coming back and I feel really good while exercising.
After class, we needed to go grocery shopping. We also needed to find our bank. Our GPS was failing us! It said the bank was in the Walmart parking lot. Scott ran into Walmart while I drove laps around. No bank. But a Walmart associate told him that Kroger had the bank. Our GPS put Kroger in the middle of an intersection.
I have a friend that I knew could help us out because I saw her post that milk was only $1.99 at Kroger on her Facebook wall just a few days ago. So Scott traded places with me and drove while I sent a text message to my friend. (The ants had dispersed at this point and my husband came back to the front seat.)My friend was very prompt to answer and told us exactly where it was. She is much nicer than a GPS.
We arrived at Kroger and all 8 of us got out and headed to entrance. We were greeted by fire fighters showing off their truck to children.
Each of our kids got a chance to sit in the truck.
Elijah wasn't too sure what he thought about it.
Actually Elijah was more interested in the giant chicken that also greeted us. If I were his size, I'd be a little concerned about the giant chicken too. I was proud of him though he didn't cry or holler and he did hesitantly touch the chicken when I told him he could. He was a bit nervous but he kept saying, "Hi, Chicken!"
The chicken passed out water, chicken samples, and a balloon to each of our kids. Scott and I don't know which is worse last week's experience with Buddy Bucks (I thought we would never leave HEB last week with all the kids wanting to play the Buddy Buck machine) or this week's helium balloons.
I knew this would be a test of our parental patience when Jonathan lost his balloon before we even entered the store. Imagine if you can, 5 children (and a baby) following their parents around the grocery store with 5 helium balloons. I felt like I was either dodging balloons or getting hit by them everywhere I turned. On top of all that the bank gave us packages of cookies and we let the kids eat their three cookies.
One of the employees said that they were having some sort of kid appreciation day. I'm not sure how well most parents appreciate the effects of the store's good intentions.
Elisabeth became hungry and Ruth wasn't feeling well, so the 3 of us found a nice sitting area. Ruth and I talked while I nursed Elisabeth. Yes, I breastfeed my babies. I used to feel stressed about finding a private place to breastfeed. That was in my earlier years. Now all I need is a place to sit down. I use a blanket or a nursing cover for privacy. (I need to blog on my take on breastfeeding sometime. There are so many different levels of opinion on that topic.)
I just finished feeding Elisabeth when Scott finished shopping with the other 4 children. We made sure all balloons were secure and that all the younger children held one of our older hands. Scott and I always seem to be doing a head count. We started to leave when Jonathan exclaimed that he wasn't buckled. Why was he not buckled? Because of the balloon!
Okay, I'll spare you the story of our ride home. We arrived home safe and sound. But can you guess whose balloon popped just a few seconds after we entered the house? Jonathan's.
As soon as I heard it pop, I commanded,"Don't cry!" Okay, I may not have come across as very sympathetic but I did tie his string to one of his stuffed animals as a leash.
I guess the Lord must have known that I needed a little more practice in patience. :-)
Romans 5:3 "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience".
I woke up a little late Saturday morning, having gone to bed late the night before. We drive about an hour on Saturday mornings to go to our karate class, which doesn't leave us much time to dawdle. The kids fixed oatmeal for breakfast, everyone got dressed in our karate uniforms and we started heading out the door. Scott came running into the house as I was just about to go out asking me if he had any ants on him. The front passenger side door had ants all over it. It had been a few days since we had gone anywhere and the ants had found a dead frog on the top of the door and some packages of unopened crackers in between the front seats of the van.
Yes, you counted right there is an extra person in the back of the van in this picture. We didn't have time to evict the ants from the front of the van so Scott moved to the backseat. It was strange not being able to talk to my husband while I was driving. I actually had to call him on his cell phone to tell him about the truck that played leap frog with us. I hate when a vehicle passes me while I'm passing the one in front of me. They stayed right on my tale while I was passing and barely gave me time to move over before passing me.
Later another car in oncoming traffic tried playing chicken with me as they came into my lane in order to pass someone in front of them. I had to slow down and move over onto the shoulder of the road but I missed them. I told my husband later that it was probably good that he didn't see that one.
We arrived safely to karate only a few minutes late. We had a great class! I'm trying to get back some of my flexibility that I lost while I was pregnant. It's coming back and I feel really good while exercising.
After class, we needed to go grocery shopping. We also needed to find our bank. Our GPS was failing us! It said the bank was in the Walmart parking lot. Scott ran into Walmart while I drove laps around. No bank. But a Walmart associate told him that Kroger had the bank. Our GPS put Kroger in the middle of an intersection.
I have a friend that I knew could help us out because I saw her post that milk was only $1.99 at Kroger on her Facebook wall just a few days ago. So Scott traded places with me and drove while I sent a text message to my friend. (The ants had dispersed at this point and my husband came back to the front seat.)My friend was very prompt to answer and told us exactly where it was. She is much nicer than a GPS.
We arrived at Kroger and all 8 of us got out and headed to entrance. We were greeted by fire fighters showing off their truck to children.
Each of our kids got a chance to sit in the truck.
Elijah wasn't too sure what he thought about it.Actually Elijah was more interested in the giant chicken that also greeted us. If I were his size, I'd be a little concerned about the giant chicken too. I was proud of him though he didn't cry or holler and he did hesitantly touch the chicken when I told him he could. He was a bit nervous but he kept saying, "Hi, Chicken!"
The chicken passed out water, chicken samples, and a balloon to each of our kids. Scott and I don't know which is worse last week's experience with Buddy Bucks (I thought we would never leave HEB last week with all the kids wanting to play the Buddy Buck machine) or this week's helium balloons.
I knew this would be a test of our parental patience when Jonathan lost his balloon before we even entered the store. Imagine if you can, 5 children (and a baby) following their parents around the grocery store with 5 helium balloons. I felt like I was either dodging balloons or getting hit by them everywhere I turned. On top of all that the bank gave us packages of cookies and we let the kids eat their three cookies.
One of the employees said that they were having some sort of kid appreciation day. I'm not sure how well most parents appreciate the effects of the store's good intentions.
Elisabeth became hungry and Ruth wasn't feeling well, so the 3 of us found a nice sitting area. Ruth and I talked while I nursed Elisabeth. Yes, I breastfeed my babies. I used to feel stressed about finding a private place to breastfeed. That was in my earlier years. Now all I need is a place to sit down. I use a blanket or a nursing cover for privacy. (I need to blog on my take on breastfeeding sometime. There are so many different levels of opinion on that topic.)
I just finished feeding Elisabeth when Scott finished shopping with the other 4 children. We made sure all balloons were secure and that all the younger children held one of our older hands. Scott and I always seem to be doing a head count. We started to leave when Jonathan exclaimed that he wasn't buckled. Why was he not buckled? Because of the balloon!
Okay, I'll spare you the story of our ride home. We arrived home safe and sound. But can you guess whose balloon popped just a few seconds after we entered the house? Jonathan's.
As soon as I heard it pop, I commanded,"Don't cry!" Okay, I may not have come across as very sympathetic but I did tie his string to one of his stuffed animals as a leash.
I guess the Lord must have known that I needed a little more practice in patience. :-)
Romans 5:3 "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience".
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