all the way around

i took these on friday... my attempt to do structured activities when we didn't have school...

ethan put his hands behind his back, asked me "guess how much i love you?" and said "all the way around."

i melted.  i mean.  could life be any sweeter?

apparently he told that to his nana as well.  and after some investigating, i think that his grammy taught him that gem.

m e l t

in other news, i am on the mend.  i am sure you didn't know otherwise, but last week i had a crippling sinus infection.  why on earth, when i started to feel bad on monday, did i not call my friend who is married to an ent guru?

i wish i could say that was the first major mistake of the week.   last week was a week of extremes... great things... crappy things...

let me back up... sunday evening.  my mother-in-law is at my house... we are talking about my husband's upcoming trip and how she would be dropping him off at the airport the next morning.  she says, "do you have all his hotel and rental car stuff squared away?"  i think it was more of a space filler type question.  not really wondering if i had done all of that.  because surely, the night before, it would be done, right??

wrong.

completely. slipped. my. mind.

so sunday night i booked things, and spent awhile on google maps trying to make sure things were indeed squared away.  and i made these great little packets with hotel/car rental/driving directions from point a - b- c- and back to a.  beautiful work that should have been done a while back.

so he leaves... the kids wake up.  ethan acts like a turd.... its all a little fuzzy.  but i am sure it had everything to do with the little guy not listening to me and not wanting to get dressed.

i make it to the grocery store and start having some sort of anxiety attack where i have to remove my jacket and scarf and find a bottle of water to start drinking.  its a busy week.  i'm off my game.   too. much. to. do.

but it wasn't.  i mean, i think that my not feeling 100% started compounding my natural stress over a busy week.  a meltdown in the grocery store is not normal.  it didn't help that i had forgotten my list.

and it didn't help that i had a list of expectations in my mind of what fun filled things i should do with the kids while the weather was perfect.  the zoo.  the stock show.  the botanical gardens.  take ethan to ride his bike.  insert mom guilt here for not getting any of those things done.

at preschool pick up, all ethan talked about was his friend's blue pen.  a pen that folds.  that was a promotional pen.  that was sent in the mail.  the kind with a minimum order.  the type of gimmicky pen that won't be at staples.  i would have spent $10 on a pen at that point to end the constant whining about the pen. he didn't shut up about blue pen for a week.  it got so bad at one point, i bought him a transformer to shift the focus off the pen that i couldn't produce.  you'd have done it, too.  don't be judgey.

anyway, we ended up spending the afternoon with a dear friend.  my friend was welcoming and generous and invited us to stay for dinner since faustino was out of town.  which, i have to say, it is a beautiful thing to share a meal with friends.  in that sense, the week was off to a fabulous start.

one thing that must be noted, is the fact that my friend's backyard is a child's paradise.  and my children were using 140% of their energy.  and might have been incredibly overtired.  and we might have had a very sleepless night that night.  one were my wiggly little cuddler savannah managed to fall asleep on my for half an hour or so.  and in that moment, it didn't matter how tired i was.  her sweet little sleeping face on my chest, and ethan snuggled next to us, was all that mattered.  it was beautiful.

but it was also 3:30 a.m.

and it beat me down the next day.  and i had a crick in my neck.  whatever.

i did a boat load of cleaning and errands on tuesday.  things that had to get done.  things that sucked the time and energy out of me.  but i ended tuesday with food in the fridge, my list checked off, and a clean house - including laundry.  i was exhausted.  my sinuses hurt with every step i took.  still prideful that my body could heal itself.  what. was. i. thinking.

wednesday came  and i enjoyed a morning visit from a sweet friend that lives out of town.  we ran errands... nothing special.  but it was nice.  i am spoiled to have such a good friend.  the best listener.  she's the one that is up-to-date on everything.  a week where i only talk to her a couple of times is strange... its usually more like 20 :)  but it was nice to see her in person.


anyway, after our visit and school pickup, my mother-in-law watched my kids so that i could work my junior league rodeo shift.  i love working my rodeo shift every year.  i even had new boots this year...but, each step of the way, from box to box of that matinee, all 5 of the whopping programs i sold... i felt my face.  horrible.  and why on earth had i not called for an antibiotic?  its like i was torturing myself.  my sinuses were taunting me. 

by the time i picked faustino up from the airport that night, i felt like death warmed over.  however, a wonderful thing worth noting:  my mother-in-law had made homemade chicken noodle soup that afternoon... so at least i had good food to eat that i didn't have to cook.  comfort food, in fact.

and then, luckily, my mother swooped in to save the day.  she stayed over on wednesday night to sit with our sleeping kids, while i picked my husband up from a long three days of travel.  and on thursday morning, i slept in half an hour later while she fed the littles breakfast... then it was off to the dentist, off to bible study, and bible study lunch... and costco because... i was co-hosting bunko.  and i managed to squeeze a junior league meeting in before that because lord knows i need all the meeting credits i can get at this point.

whew.  add in there a moment where i wanted to kick in another snarky mom's teeth and another moment where i thought i might walk out of bible study...

as one of my friends said: what?  both of those happened this week?  i would be emotionally fried.

well put.

and those of you who are friends of mine on facebook might recall the long thread of us bashing mom guilters.  i should print it off and read it every couple of days.  :)  thank you.

now, for thursday, add in time with friends... friends that i had not seen in awhile.  bunko was fun.  even junior league was fun.  and even parts of bible study were nice.

then friday came.  i rested.  i skipped a large chick-fil-a playdate because, quite frankly, that sounded like a small slice of hell.  it rained.  the kids were out of school for the day and where i normally am sad i don't have a morning of solitude, i was was singing praises that the kids could stay in their jammies late into the morning and i didn't have to push them to get ready.

and that was my week. 

i started taking the antibiotics on friday... and things are looking up.  and now that i feel better, i guess i didn't realize how crappy i felt. 

this weekend we spent time outside.  made more homemade ice cream.  i started reading a great book.  i managed to scrape my energy together and cook some decent meals without resorting to my freezer stash of organic costco goodies.  and while it took three days to do it, i posted this to the blog.  sheesh!

xoxo, s