okay, enough with the house stuff...

...let's get back to our regularly scheduled rambling.

(even though I know I still owe you pics of SJ's room)

UGHHHH
Today was one of those days.
And this is going to be one of those posts. Venting and complaining.

I had high hopes of a really good day. We've all been having a pretty good week. I've actually had a good balance around here of getting a lot of work done and still being really involved with the kids. And they've actually been doing really well, getting along with each other and not too much whining or anything like that. We've been playing lots, swimming, having lots of art time, we've been working on Savannah's writing, the kids have been helping me with lots of "chores". I just felt like we've been getting into a really good balance around here. I should not think such things aloud.

Well let me just explain that Friday is going to be a busy-ish day. Ryan, as always, will be home at noon and then as soon as the kids get up from naptime, we're going to head back out to Columbia for a barbeque at Mike and Kasey's. Saturday we're also going to a neighborhood barbeque.
So I was feeling like today we should get out and devote some real "fun time" since I might want to buckle down and do another hard-core day of unpacking/organizing (read: ignoring my kids except to feed and regulate squabbles) on Thursday before we're on the run for a couple of days.

So I decided to take the kids "into town" to explore a new park or two and maybe meet Ryan for lunch. I searched around on a couple of message boards and made up a list of a few parks to try (I was specifically looking for water play areas... didn't find all that much). Then Ryan suggested *of course* Chick-fil-A for lunch, and the only one in the area just happens to be around the corner from one of these parks I found. So a plan was formed.

Well the morning didn't start out the greatest. To let you in on just one of the many highlights, Savannah has decided -on her own accord- that she needs her haircut again (so it's easy to do again). We finally got out of the house by about 9am. And then proceeded to get lost. Well, not lost exactly, but it took us way too long to get to the park. Let's just say it was enough for Savannah to start complaining "why do we keep turning around Mom?!".

So we get to the park (and have to park like a mile away from the play area) and we play for a bit on one of the playgrounds. I had made the mistake of telling Savannah there were sprinklers to play in there, so she was impatient and wanted to get to playing at the sprinklers instead of this first playground. So we made our way over there and there was no where to park our stroller anywhere near the sprinkler area. There were already numerous moms camped out at the tables and the grass in that area. In the shade. So we were stuck camping out in the middle of nowhere (in the sun) with our stroller. The kids ran around the bigger playground for awhile, but it was so hot, I kept encouraging them to go play in the water. I don't know why exactly, as the longer we were there the more crowded the small water play area got. But all along the far side of the playground there were workers replacing a fence. Yes, the edge of the squishy soft play surface came to a ledge overlooking a sheer 5 foot drop down to the pond area. And there was no fence up. So everytime Sawyer came down a slide or ran out around a part of the climber on that side, I had to run over there and pretty much herd him away from trying to run right off the cliff. Okay, so I guess that's why I was trying to get them to the other side and keep them in the sprinklers.
Anyway, after we'd been there for about almost an hour, they finally decided they wanted to get wet. And just when they were starting to really run around and through the sprays and have fun... Sawyer fell. Flat on his face. On the cement.
I saw it coming and it was not a pretty sight.
And of course, I had left our towels in the car. For one, I didn't believe they would really get that wet (my kids don't love sprays and sprinkles... they are definitely more swimming and splashing kind of kids), and two- at our pool, we don't really dry off... it's just so sunny and hot that we are dry enough after walking home, so I thought we'd be fine till we got to the car. I wasn't expecting a mouth gushing blood. So I had to fish him out of the middle of the sprinklers and then use his shirt and my skirt to sop up his blood and drool. And we all know how much blood and drool can come out of an injured mouth. And to top it off, I had brought extra clothes for Savannah and extra shorts for Sawyer, but no extra shirt for him since I would take his off for him to get wet. Well, now it was wet all right... wet and bloody.
So now it's time to go meet Daddy for lunch at the mall!

And of course I've never been to this mall, so of course I park as. far. away. from. the. food. court. as. possible! And of course after I finish getting Sawyer cleaned up and we make our way into the mall (and across the whole mall to the food court) the kids are whining and fighting. And then Ryan calls and says he's still 10 minutes away. And of course it's not really 10 minutes, it's more like 20.

Anyway, we had a relatively nice lunch. As I walked through the food court (browsing, but knowing we were all going to be eating Chick-fil-A *don't ask*) I found I was starving. And you want to know what I was mentally putting on my tray? Chinese food, a Cookie Dough Blast from Sonic, Stawberry Cheesecake from Chick-fil-A, Oreo cheesecake from the cheese steak place, and some kind of snowcone shake from some other place. Um... dessert anyone? Gee, I didn't realize I was an emotional eater.

Well we got home without any other big bumps. Sawyer fell asleep on the way home, but thankfully still laid down and slept another two hours in his bed.
Once we got home I realized, crap! I needed to call a preschool this morning. They are only in the office in the summer on Wednesdays from 9 to 1. And crap! we left this morning at 9. Good thing I remembered... oh crap! it's 1:10!!
Crap!

And the rest of the afternoon wasn't much better. I was very much counting down the hours till Ryan came home to distract us from our day. Except that he worked late. So I go to start dinner without him, and find my potatoes have all gone bad, so my menu goes out the window.

I'll wrap it up now, and just say we made it to bedtime. And speaking of, I think it's about time for mine. I think I'll be getting up on the other side of the bed tomorrow.
We're on our way to the weekend now, right?!

**Oh and I almost forgot: I brought my camera with us today, thinking I'd get some nice pictures at this great park. Um, no. I barely pulled it out. And just when I did, and like I said before, when the kids were just starting to have tons of fun in the water I had just snapped about three pictures and then....
yep, the fall. I got it on camera (so not on purpose!).
And yes, he did catch himself on his hands... And then kept going right over the top of them and crashed on his face.
Poor kid. I mean look at how much fun he was having running, dancing and galloping around the sprinklers. I didn't even get a real picture of his happy little face...











And I didn't even take a picture of the aftermath (and we all know how I like to show off the injury pics!), that's how fed up with our day I was.

Okay. I'm done complaining now. I'll be back tomorrow with happier thoughts!