All In A Day's Traveling...

This was one of those how-much-can-I-cram-into-one-day type of days. Where to begin? The 7 AM trip to Wal Mart to get a gift for Thomas' class party? Sure. Why not.

No, lets back up. To the 5AM nursing with Anna. Just so you know that my day really did start early. I could say, 'Not that I am complaining', but we all know how much I like to complain. About inconsequential stuff. So, yes. I was awake at 5AM. Seeing to my baby daughters needs. And she was needy. And stinky.

We were at Wal Mart by 7:20, me and Thomas. We rushed through the store to find a little gift for the child whose name he drew. Thankfully, we settled on something pretty quickly. Then we had to do the check out line. Did you know there were lines at 7:30 at that place? Seriously, there are.

Once we started out the door, Thomas looked up at me and reminded me I had promised him breakfast. Yes, that sounds funny, but I had skipped breakfast for the two of us in order to go grab a gift. I told Thomas we could get him something at Wal Mart. We sped back inside, where he would be content with nothing less than Oreos. Being the nutritionally aware kind of Mom that I am, I bought him Oreos for breakfast. I figured it really didn't matter much. It was a party day. I taught preschool long enough to know that on Valentine's and Christmas, it's a free for all the entire day. Candy, cookies, Kool-Aid, with some veggies tossed in here and there for looks.

So, yes. Oreos. Where is my gold star award for that, huh?

After dropping of my already sugar-buzzing kid to his mother's morning out class, I went home. The girls and I spent the next two and a half hours bathing, dressing, and getting our stuff together for a quick road trip. Then we piled into the van and went to pick up Thomas.

Wanna know what is rough about having one kid in a morning out program? Well, a few things, really. For one, I am not really getting the morning off. I still have three others to deal with. Two, when I have to take the entire gang to pick up the one, it means I have to unload everyone for a four minute round trip. And it was raining yesterday. Lover-ly.

We started down the road towards our rendezvous point with Lora Lynn to trade a few items. About six miles before our exit, I noted that traffic was backing up in the opposite lane. My mind started working out a plan for missing that back up on the way home.

We pulled into the parking lot of one of the town's finer dining establishments, and Lora and I quickly introduced ourselves to the newest member of the other's family. Unfortunately, this was not a visit. Just an errand. I am so glad to have that family back in the South Land. Where we can just meet in the middle for silly stuff occasionally.

True to Aubrey Form, I managed to break a glass jar filled with liquid. Because that is the kind of natural grace I was born with. Just ask my Mom. She will be happy to fill you in. Thankfully, it just cracked the jar and the liquid stayed in place while we transferred it to another container. I am thankful for small blessings.

Lora and I jumped back into our respective vehicles, each filled with children, and took off in the directions of our own towns.

Remember that backed up traffic I was planning my route around? Well, it took me over an hour to get to the exit I needed. In fact, Interstate 65 was a parking lot for about an hour yesterday. As in, turned off the vehicle, cracked all the windows, people milling about outside their cars, the girls in the car next to us making funny faces at my children, nobody is going anywhere ever parking lot.

AT LUNCH TIME!!!

While Lora had opted to actually feed her kids, I had given mine each a snack before we started out so that I could feed them at the table. It was a nice plan. A very nice plan. That never made it out of my brain. After 58 minutes (oh yes, I took note of just how long I was cooped up with four hungry and tired kids) there was movement amongst the ranks. 19 minutes later, I was up to my happy 70+ miles an hour. We took the first exit that boasted food and I fed those poor children.

As we pulled into our neighborhood, I started handing out instructions to the kids as to what they were to do once they entered the house. Within in 15 minutes, everyone was on their beds taking naps, and I was breathing normally. While the children slept, I made the necessary preparations for us to head to Huntsville for the afternoon. Doctor's appointment, a little bit of time devoted to my business, and the Family Date Night were all on order.

The original plan was to have dinner out as a family and then take a tour of the Botanical Gardens Galaxy of Lights. Folks, as you can probably imagine, it just didn't happen that way. After the doctor's appointment and the hand print stuff, Joshua and I made the command decision that the rain and fog was going to hamper the kids viewing too much to proceed to the gardens.

We opted for a nice sit down dinner at Cracker Barrel instead. We all managed to get into the building, made our way to the hostess station, and stated we needed a table for six. At which point the hostess said it would be a 25 minute wait.

The two biggest tables in the whole joint were empty! And there was not a soul on the waiting list in front of us!

I thought my brain would explode. Joshua kindly explained that we would just go elsewhere, that we just simply couldn't wait that long this night. You should know that the kids had already been trapped in the van for an hour and a half at this point. It helps to explain why we couldn't even conceive of waiting. Oh, and it was seven PM. And they hadn't had dinner yet. And I was tired. And their nap had been cut short. And, and, and...

We came all the way back to Cullman, an hours more worth of driving in the rain and waiting for the kids, before the Cracker Barrel here took all of two minutes to push together two tables for us and gave us the best server in the house. That young lady got a mighty tip, I tell you. Just for feeding me. And the rest of the family, of course.

And it didn't hurt that she praised my children liberally and commented on how good she thought I looked to have a two week old baby...