Mommy vs. Kids Day 1

Well, Jeff is off to San Diego today.  So he is going to enjoy 4 kid free days, 3 kid free nights and 70 degree weather.  He had to pack a jacket.  Life is not fair.  Especially when you consider the fact that my work trip next week is in Arizona.  The temp there hovers around the same temp as the sun.  Anyway, in Jeff's absence I will be taking over the blog.  You will find my version is a lot more detailed than Jeff's.  This is due to the fact that I am a girl, I've been with them all day and that I am chronicling our days for Jeff since I usually have his attention for about 5 seconds on the phone. 

Today I took a vacation day to be with the kids since Miss Lauren is enjoying a much needed vacation in Cabo.  I don't mean to minimize anyone's job or their commitment to their work, but I don't care how hard your job is Lauren's job is harder.  This is evidenced by the fact that this summer many family members have invited Lily to come stay with them for an entire week.  The twins have received no such invites.  Its not that they are bad kids or undisciplined or that our family members don't love them whole heartedly.  Its that there are 2 of them going through the Terrible 2s.  No easy task for anyone to take on, even us, and we made them. 

Our day had an inauspicious beginning.  It appears that our baby boy has discovered that diapers come off.  He is clearly a Strait based on how comfotable he is in his birthday suit.  For those of you that don't know, Strait men have an anversion to clothing and apparently it is hereditary:

I had to chase him around my room for a few minutes to get a diaper back on him.  This is very similar to the sprint he does to avoid going night night.  Apparently our boy is a nudist at heart.  The poor boy was having a rough morning.  First, he found out we have a no diaper, no bottle policy at home.  Second, he had to endure another of his sister's attempts to make him look pretty or cute depending on their mood.  I was wrapping up some emails for work and I heard Lawson start to cry.  It was more of an offended cry rather than a hurt cry.   I looked over and Abby was trying to put a clip in his hair.  Not just any clip, but a glittery clip with an Easter Bunny on it.  He will put up with having to play with pink toys, princess balls and even being decorated with marker, but not a glittery, Easter Bunny clip.  He has standards.

Thankfully, our wonderful neighbors invited Lily to come over to play with their son Jake.  This allowed me to hit Target to shop for groceries with only 3 kids instead of 4.  This also allowed Lily to have someone her own age to play with for once.  I often get asked how I grocery shop with 4 kids.  Yes, I grocery shop by myself with all 4 kids.  A lot of times Jeff or Miss Lauren will come with me, but circumstances will arise where I have to bite the bullet and go it alone.  Here is the cart configuration I use.  Lawson in the front, twins in the basket and Lily walking beside me.  I also keep a hand held basket in the bottom of the cart to hold most of the groceries since the twins tend to sample items if they are in the cart with them.  We will get home and discover bite marks in the turkey hot dogs, cheese or half the grapes missing due to the twins helping themselves during the shopping trip,  Here is a before and after shot of the grocery cart:.

Before:

Here we are with the groceries and the kids in the cart:

The trip to Target went relatively smoothly.  Abby only bitch slapped Chloe once.  That's about as good as it gets for us.  I also learned that the twins really are listening to every word we say.  During our trip to Target Chloe looked at me and said, "Seriously!?!  Seriously."  She also said, "You have got to be kidding me!?!"  Both times referred to her accomodations in the cart.  They both also told me that Lawson is being Widiculous (Ridiculous-for those of you that don't speak 2 yr old). 

While the twins nap we let Lily play or rest while she watches a movie.  Usually, Lawson will wake up before the twins so he gets to play with his big sister.  As you can see he really loves to get some attention from his big sister.  I did have to explain to Lily that she can't put her little brother on the couch and just walk away.

After naptime I decided to take the kids to the pool.  Its a great way for them to work off some of their energy before bedtime and they love it.

Our kids are scared of many things dogs, wasps, trains, etc.  However water is not one of them.  Lawson really loves to splash in the pool, the twins will jump in and out for hours and Lily will swim until she just can't keep going.  So at the end of the swim we have hungry and very tired kids.

 Tomorrow I go back to work so I won't have so many details about the kids' day.  I am sure Miss Lauren will have plenty of stories for me when I get home.  We have all missed Miss Lauren and we can't wait for her to be back.  She will be greeted by the kids like the rock star that she is.  I told her that she will never have another job where she will greeted so enthusiastically.

Only 3 night nights until Daddy comes home.  Daddy, we miss you very much!  We hope you are having a good trip, but we can't wait for you to come home.