It just never turns out like you pictured....
Well it's the end of the day, and all the kiddies are sleeping (ah!). Did your Easter turn out like you imagined? I sometimes feel like my life should have the song from Mad TV's Lowered Expectations playing in the background...
Our day started out around 6:30 when I heard the TV on downstairs. Guess what - the Easter Bunny did not get the eggs we'd colored yesterday morning hidden before Evie made it downstairs! Uh oh. Luckily, he'd filled their baskets and nibbled on the carrot Evie left out for him; phew. Of course, she did ask about it later; my intelligent response? oh, he must have forgotten to put the eggs out. Crap.
So the other 3 kids head downstairs and it's actually Sarah who notices their baskets and calls "Happy Easter everyone!" I love that girl! By the time I've made it downstairs, they've all been into their baskets and have mouth-fulls of candy. No pictures this year, because we're sucky parents. It's only 7am and the day's off to a banner start.
After a breakfast of cold cereal (I was going to make French Toast, but they wanted Cookie Crisp - who am I to argue?) the kids and hubby are all hanging out enjoying the morning while I jump in the shower. I've got the morning all planned; we're going to 'snack' the kids at 9:30-ish, get them dressed for church, take pictures BEFORE church so everyone's happy and awake, then have church/lunch/naps. HAH.
The snack went fine, but it takes A GREAT DEAL MORE TIME than you plan to get 4 kids ready for church on Easter Sunday! Jason hates to be changed so it's like wrestling a cat into a bag; William? who knows what he's doing; Sarah? she's fairly cooperative and likes to look pretty so she's easy; Evie just wants to goof off in her pigsty (I mean room) so she's always the last one downstairs (to be fair, I was trying to do something with her hair, but it just ended up down.) Matt, trooper that he is, was dealing with this while I dried my hair.
By now, it's 10:30 and I'm still drying my hair; Matt's trying to take pictures of the 3 little ones (they all looked miserable so I'm not sharing!) and then hustle everyone into the car; my visions of getting all 6 of us in a picture (using a tripod, no less) are down the drain. However, we did make it to church in plenty of time to get a seat and 'recover' before the service began.
The one comment that stands out in my mind from the sermon was this: "Jesus loved children; he didn't view them as amusing at best, or an annoyance at worst; he truly loved them for who they are". I really tried to take that to heart. And then we went home.
Jason was all but asleep in the car on the ride home (we live 5 minutes from church) and I was really debating what to do with him; I wanted a picture of all of us together, but figured he was down for the count. But he perked up when we got home, so we decided to go for it. Of course, it's now noon in April and it's chilly out, so we end up doing our default 'pictures on the steps by the front door' because the light is best there and the rest of the house is not fit for viewing (well, it just looks crappy as a background for a picture. anyway.) We try a few combinations of shots, and here's the best for your viewing pleasure:
You can't tell I want to chew nails, can you?! Ha ha! No, Matt is not in any of these photos because we didn't want to waste time with the tripod, we figured we'd get a shot of me and him later while they had lunch (never happened). So. We get the little ones lunch (with much screaming from Sarah that "she wants CANDY!") and finally off to a nap. Matt puts on golf and I get ready to run 3 miles (I'd run 10 if I could to get out of the house for a little while!).
William decides he'd like to come with me on his scooter, like he did last week, and so begins my 2 miles of interval training: me racing after him as he zooms away only to come to a complete stop so he can pick a dandelion. Then racing off again, and stopping because something is in his eye. And then racing off again, until he falls. It was a slow 2 miles. So I leave him at the house and continue on for my last mile, which turns into resistance training as I am running into a 15 MPH wind. No wonder I'm tired now.
If you're still with me at the this point in my long-winded post (I haven't posted since Thursday, it's all pent-up - sorry!), I'll just say that we managed to have dinner without too much incident, and then went to my wonderful neighbor's house for an egg hunt and dessert, which was so so nice! And then we came home and I promptly dumped milk all over the floor.
I was planning on having this lovely post about Easter, and all the bloggers I've found who are inspiring me to ask myself some hard questions about my faith, and here I am bitching about my life on one of the most wonderful religious holidays of the year. Because it's hard to be a Mom (or Dad!) to four young kids when you don't have any family nearby to share the joy and pain with you on a daily basis, and pitch in on occasion if need be. It's hard to adjust the ideal you have in your head of how things should be to the reality of your life as it is right now, and just take it as it comes and enjoy it. But I'm trying. And I'm really glad it's spring and my peach tree is flowering - in 2 years it will bear fruit, and everyone will be a little older, and things will be easier in some ways, and I'm sure harder in others. I hope you had a Happy Easter. I think I did.
Our day started out around 6:30 when I heard the TV on downstairs. Guess what - the Easter Bunny did not get the eggs we'd colored yesterday morning hidden before Evie made it downstairs! Uh oh. Luckily, he'd filled their baskets and nibbled on the carrot Evie left out for him; phew. Of course, she did ask about it later; my intelligent response? oh, he must have forgotten to put the eggs out. Crap.
So the other 3 kids head downstairs and it's actually Sarah who notices their baskets and calls "Happy Easter everyone!" I love that girl! By the time I've made it downstairs, they've all been into their baskets and have mouth-fulls of candy. No pictures this year, because we're sucky parents. It's only 7am and the day's off to a banner start.
After a breakfast of cold cereal (I was going to make French Toast, but they wanted Cookie Crisp - who am I to argue?) the kids and hubby are all hanging out enjoying the morning while I jump in the shower. I've got the morning all planned; we're going to 'snack' the kids at 9:30-ish, get them dressed for church, take pictures BEFORE church so everyone's happy and awake, then have church/lunch/naps. HAH.
The snack went fine, but it takes A GREAT DEAL MORE TIME than you plan to get 4 kids ready for church on Easter Sunday! Jason hates to be changed so it's like wrestling a cat into a bag; William? who knows what he's doing; Sarah? she's fairly cooperative and likes to look pretty so she's easy; Evie just wants to goof off in her pigsty (I mean room) so she's always the last one downstairs (to be fair, I was trying to do something with her hair, but it just ended up down.) Matt, trooper that he is, was dealing with this while I dried my hair.
By now, it's 10:30 and I'm still drying my hair; Matt's trying to take pictures of the 3 little ones (they all looked miserable so I'm not sharing!) and then hustle everyone into the car; my visions of getting all 6 of us in a picture (using a tripod, no less) are down the drain. However, we did make it to church in plenty of time to get a seat and 'recover' before the service began.
The one comment that stands out in my mind from the sermon was this: "Jesus loved children; he didn't view them as amusing at best, or an annoyance at worst; he truly loved them for who they are". I really tried to take that to heart. And then we went home.
Jason was all but asleep in the car on the ride home (we live 5 minutes from church) and I was really debating what to do with him; I wanted a picture of all of us together, but figured he was down for the count. But he perked up when we got home, so we decided to go for it. Of course, it's now noon in April and it's chilly out, so we end up doing our default 'pictures on the steps by the front door' because the light is best there and the rest of the house is not fit for viewing (well, it just looks crappy as a background for a picture. anyway.) We try a few combinations of shots, and here's the best for your viewing pleasure:
You can't tell I want to chew nails, can you?! Ha ha! No, Matt is not in any of these photos because we didn't want to waste time with the tripod, we figured we'd get a shot of me and him later while they had lunch (never happened). So. We get the little ones lunch (with much screaming from Sarah that "she wants CANDY!") and finally off to a nap. Matt puts on golf and I get ready to run 3 miles (I'd run 10 if I could to get out of the house for a little while!).William decides he'd like to come with me on his scooter, like he did last week, and so begins my 2 miles of interval training: me racing after him as he zooms away only to come to a complete stop so he can pick a dandelion. Then racing off again, and stopping because something is in his eye. And then racing off again, until he falls. It was a slow 2 miles. So I leave him at the house and continue on for my last mile, which turns into resistance training as I am running into a 15 MPH wind. No wonder I'm tired now.
If you're still with me at the this point in my long-winded post (I haven't posted since Thursday, it's all pent-up - sorry!), I'll just say that we managed to have dinner without too much incident, and then went to my wonderful neighbor's house for an egg hunt and dessert, which was so so nice! And then we came home and I promptly dumped milk all over the floor.
I was planning on having this lovely post about Easter, and all the bloggers I've found who are inspiring me to ask myself some hard questions about my faith, and here I am bitching about my life on one of the most wonderful religious holidays of the year. Because it's hard to be a Mom (or Dad!) to four young kids when you don't have any family nearby to share the joy and pain with you on a daily basis, and pitch in on occasion if need be. It's hard to adjust the ideal you have in your head of how things should be to the reality of your life as it is right now, and just take it as it comes and enjoy it. But I'm trying. And I'm really glad it's spring and my peach tree is flowering - in 2 years it will bear fruit, and everyone will be a little older, and things will be easier in some ways, and I'm sure harder in others. I hope you had a Happy Easter. I think I did.
Oh girl, I cannot even imagine trying to get 4, FOUR kids ready for church! On Easter Sunday, no less.
ReplyDeleteMy husband has to be at church early on Sundays, to run the sound, so I'm left alone to get the girls ready. We stayed up SOO late last night, so it was hard to get going this morning. BUT, I did it! And we were only about 15 minutes late, lol. We did manage to get a family picture after church, but only b/c I demanded it! I've regretted it so badly in the past couple years, not getting a family picture on holidays.
Then I worked for like an hour and a half, busting my bum to get the church books done, so I wouldn't have to go back this week with Saylor. I barely got my food, then it was time for the easter egg hunt. As soon as I sat down to eat again, Saylor took off. Of course my husband was off playing softball by then, so I had to chase her again. At one point, I sat on a dugout bench with Saylor away from everyone and wondered why I was feeling resentful about somethingthat I should be LOVING and CHERISHING. And I do. But sometimes it's so easy to just get caught.up. In the chaos. Ya know??
So all that to say, that I totally get it. Don't feel too bad. I say focus on that good word from today. Focus on the good things from your day. You have 4 wonderful kids. A wonderful husband. You're all healthy. Don't pass the time along too fast. You'll regret it later. :)
Happy Easter Jen! I don't want to sound all super spiritual, b/c believe me, I'm not, but I'd encourage you to really try and remember that today we celebrate Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. For us. He cared SOOO much for us, that he hung on a cross and died. How much then would he care about all those little things in our lives? He cares. For you.
You look wonderful in the photos ! Your children are darling and you will look back on this many years from now and forget the hassle and remember the sweetness.
ReplyDeleteIt is so hard to get children ready for church on Easter Sunday, thank God I can motivate with "There's going to be an egg hunt!" Nothing motivates more than candy, right?
The best line I heard in church this morning was this: "Despite all our troubles, Jesus took care of the hardest one didn't he?".
Keep the faith girl ! Love the new polka dot blog trim.
Oh, I can feel your frustration and know how you feel. When all is said and done, it's just another day!
ReplyDeleteOH I hear you! I need to stop having a plan because when it doesn't work out I get angry and grumpy and then no one has a good time.
ReplyDeleteYou look gorgeous!
Since becoming a mother, "Ha!" is pretty much my mantra.
ReplyDeleteI only have three children, but am still in the "adjusting" phase, I guess :) We went to the early morning service, and my girls are not used to getting up early! I had to have them all ready and out the door by 7:45. Not sure how we did it, but we did, with a few minutes to spare. I was so glad we did, we had a great message that morning!
ReplyDeleteYour family is just gorgeous, btw!
I love your humor! Your blog reminds me of my sister with 13 kids. She'll write something similar that usually ends with "I'm now typing this with a bottle of wine in the closet..." Such a crack up! And you wouldn't trade these 4 for anything in the world, would you?
ReplyDelete