What I did today. . .

*Woke up at 5:50 to the sound of a hungry 10 month old.
* Nursed him and rubbed his cute little fuzzy head.
* Showered, made coffee, and held 3 little boys in such a way that they all thought they were sitting on my lap and sipped coffee without burning anyone!! :-)
*Checked email, my calendar, and made breakfast.
* Kissed Erik goodbye.
*The boys and I prepared a small cooler with bottles of Gatorade for the garbage collectors to pick a drink from. Posted a sign on cooler instructing them to do so and letting them know we appreciate them. Oh, yes ma'am, we appreciate them!
*Got boys dressed and ready to play.
* Put Erik Daniel down for morning nap.
* Boys played inside while baby slept.
* Erik Daniel woke up and I took boys outside to play and to wait for garbage truck.
*An hour later, sweaty and still waiting. Decide to regroup, make lunch, and have picnic in the 90 degree heat.
* Hear garbage truck coming. Boys are giddy! Garbage collectors see cooler and wave with big smiles.
* Boys are more than pleased!
* Hey, wait a second, they took the cooler! They weren't supposed to take the cooler ~ just the Gatorade! This concerns Joshua. I assure him that we can replace the little cooler. All is well. Joshua says to JCT, "Doesn't it make you feel good to do something nice for someone else!" I think he has heard that line before??? :-)
* Finish up lunch and head inside for afternoon naps and rest-time.
* Nurse Erik Daniel and put him down.
* Sing to Elijah and put him down.
* Settle big boys in their room with puzzles and books.
* Go downstairs and spend 30 minutes looking for a babysitter to watch the little boys while I take Joshua to 2 birthday parties on Saturday. No babysitters available.
*Call Erik and complain that I cannot find a sitter to save. my. life.
*Unload dishwasher and reload.
*Straighten kitchen.
* Read a friend's blog.
* Tell big boys that they can come back downstairs.
* Hear Erik Daniel waking up, nurse him, and pack diaper bag.
*Wake up Elijah and load the boys in the van to go get hair-cuts.
* Call 2 of Joshua's friend's moms on the way to salon and ask if they could possibly take Joshua with them. Strike 2 and 3.
* Joshua overhears me talking on the phone and from the back of the van I hear my sweet boy say, "Mom, I don't have to go to both parities. Really, I don't. Just don't worry about it. I don't have to go. I'll just stay home."
* I assure him that I will get him to both parties ~ no worries!
* Spend the rest of the drive threatening JCT not to touch anything that doesn't belong to him at the salon.
* Get to salon. Load Erik Daniel in stroller and walk inside. Want to cry when I see a customer sitting in our hairdresser's chair with wet hair. Begin to point out chairs for each boy to sit in when I notice sidewalk chalk sitting on a little table.
* Ask Ann (hairdresser) if we can play with it. She says yes, and we head out to find a little corner of concrete to write on.
* Ann comes out to get us, and boys get hair-cuts.
* Laugh at my Elijah as he is getting his hair-cut. The child who never sits still looks as if she has put him in a trance! :-)
* JCT obeyed! He managed to keep his hands to himself! Hooray! Ice cream for everyone!
* Drive to Sonic.
* Make one last attempt at finding a babysitter.
* Bingo! The brave soul agreed to watch my boys! :-) God be with her and bless her abundantly!
* Pull into parking place at Sonic and order ice cream.
* Receive order, get boys out of car seats and head to picnic table area.
* Grab entire roll of paper towels from van.
* Feel like Mother of the year as I walk my well-behaved little boys in a straight line to eat their ice cream.
* Oops. Not feeling like Mother of the year anymore. Mother of the Year would have realized that eating ice cream in the summer heat would not be a good idea. Ice cream is literally running down their arms, their shirts, and onto their shorts and crocs.
* Have to laugh at what a bad idea this was and at how adorable my little men look with ice cream goatees!
* Try desperately to clean them as they eat all the while holding Erik Daniel on my hip.
* Attempt to sit down and look as if this is easy and very much under my control since I have a captive audience of hamburger eating folks gawking at me. But, when I sit down Erik Daniel grabs the roll of paper towels on the table behind me, and it falls to the floor unraveling all over the dirty concrete.
* I attempt to collect myself and the runaway paper towels without dropping the baby!
* Praise God when one by one they begin to finish their cones!
* Head back to van.
* Go to the library because I love books, and it just makes me feel good and peaceful.
* Let the boys pick out one book each, then head to the front to check them out.
* Realize that my library card is at home in our library bag. Where else would it be?
* Ask if she can just look me up in the computer.
* She says she needs to see my drivers license.
* No problem, only it is in the car. So, I leave books at desk and haul all four boys back to van. Elijah begins crying because he thinks we are leaving without his Barney book. I assure him that I would not do such a thing and try to explain that we are coming right back.
* Go back inside, check out books, and head to park. . .
* Yeah, I'm a sucker. They asked and the park was completely vacant, so I said yes.
* Drive to park, load Erik Daniel in stroller and head out to play.
* Again feeling a bit like mother of the year until I hear. . .
* Wailing and Gnashing of teeth! JCT realizes that he! has! a! blister!
* Go back to car where I remember seeing that someone stuffed their sock in a cup holder. I have been meaning to bring it in for a week at least, but I'm glad that I didn't! Give JCT the sock to put on and head back to play.
* Play for 30 or so minutes until JCT is almost asleep on the swings, then load everyone back into van and head home.
* Get home, make dinner, bathe boys, read to boys, take out Rain, slowly one by one put boys down.
* Take 2 Extra Strength Tylenol for my aching legs, get a glass of milk and three chocolate oatmeal cookies and sit down at the computer. . .
* Talk to Erik, and now I am calling it a day.
* Amen.
* And, amen, and amen, and amen.