a few good days

Thursday, the kids and I slept until 9:30.
Had breakfast, cleaned, and then met Kimberly for lunch.

She and I had good mommy conversation including similar struggles in life right now with parenting these ages.  (both of our kids are just weeks apart, opposite genders)
We chatted about our plans in the near futures including possible job changes for her, and Lance and I's desire to start the building process on our forever home, sooner than later-- but still being unsure how to sell this house without going broke to get out of it.
We had a laugh over the fact that my firm stance on no character clothes had dissolved, as Maddox was sporting a Mario t-shirt and Beckham a Mickey one...
and how she too has let down her control-all approach since her little girl, Cambrie, was sitting in her kindergarten class that day in light up shoes.
My kids cooperated and we had a great time.

I left there and ran across the road to a nail salon to return a wifi device to a friend that I had borrowed for vacation.
I knew she wouldn't let me pay her, so I snuck to the counter in stealth mode and picked up her tab.

From there we got gas, came home to a clean house, ate dinner together, and call was manageable.

The boys fell asleep in my arms, were placed into their own bed, and Lance and I fell asleep on clean sheets, fresh out of the dryer.

Thursday was textbook for a good day.

So good, in fact, that I knew Friday could only disappoint.

***

Friday morning Lance's alarm went off.
At 5:30--
and then 536 more times after that.
With Katy Perry blaring as if she were live in concert.
And his cell phone alarm ringing out in between songs.

Each time I kicked him and elbowed him and threatened to pull the thing out of the wall and burn it...
or suffocate him with a pillow and smash his phone with a hammer,
He told me to hush, and that he was "about to get up."

Just as I assumed, he woke up Maddox.
Who moved to our bed, and then had a real break down full of tears and dramatic woes, when Lance left.
Which woke up Beckham,
who also moved into my bed.

Then the neighbor directly behind us let their dog out--
and their back porch light was like a freaking search and rescue beam into my window--
and I was totally over the day.

But we got up and headed to Candace's.

She had found out that there was going to be a free Doc McStuffin's fair at the FW Museum and asked if we wanted to go.
Of course we did.

It started at 10:00 and we made it there about 10 minutes after that.
I am not certain on the square footage of the museum but it does house multiple dinosaurs, so it is fair to assume it is large.
There was already a line wrapped well around the building and the temperature outside was only a few degrees shy of 387.

We placed ourselves, 2 toddlers and a 5 year old in line and began inching our way towards the bracelets.

It didn't take long before we were pouring sweat, moving our youngsters like pieces in a game of checkers into spots of shade no larger than a pillowcase, turning McStuffin information sheets into make-shift fans, and cursing the idea all together.

Inch by inch, we hung in there.
And the kids were total troopers.

A man from the gig came around passing out empty water bottles and Maddox spied a Ozarka station and asked if he could fill them up.
They weren't washed but I figured it was better to hydrate him with a dirty bottle than not at all, so I said yes.

Except a man working for the museum said no.
I was having a terrible time understanding him at first and he kept talking about the extension cord and telling me no.  I was standing on the extension cord so I stepped off, reached around him straight gangster, and filled her up.

He kept going on about I needed to go around the building to another station and an elder lady behind me was trying to explain that her daughter was nursing and needed water and he said "this isn't about nursing, this is about the machine had been placed too close to an extension cord,  You don't need to use it."

You know me.
I let him have an ear full about heat exhaustion and a poorly ran system, 12,000 sun soaked toddlers and the liability he was putting on the place.
Candace let him hear Audrey, cry over and over about being thirsty.
And he finally moved the machine away from the cords.

I think we called that a win.

We finally made our way to the front of the line, just to receive our gold bracelets and hear, "come back at 2:00"

Sweet Jesus.

So we went back inside, paid for an over-priced and nasty lunch and laughed at how crazy this had all been...
Candace and I can honestly turn anything into face cramping- belly laughs.

We headed back out around 1:00, whipped ourselves into line and entered the gig at about 1:30.

The kids seemed to like it but we decided that next year we will just scroll past the advertisement and resume our usual plans at the Chickfila play area.

Sweat dripping from every square inch, we loaded into Candace's minivan and decided that ice cream was mandatory.

The Dairy Queen we chose did not disappoint, as it completely fit our theme for the day.
My orange Julius tasted like it was made with my Snoopy snow cone maker circa '93 and watered down orange juice...
And Candace's double chocolate something-or-another blizzard , came out as mint.

The thing is, if I am ever going to be held captive and beg for ransom, I'd choose Candace to be my sidekick.
We would either find a way to make it hysterical and fun or they would pay someone to come take us off their hands, because crazy takes a new level when you double it.

At least 6 different times Friday, I had to hold my finger up and make her quit talking so I didn't spit out my drink.

Like when the man who looked like he had just been released from MHMR started trying to make conversation about how pretty Audrey was.
Candace and I both try and keep it short and polite and move the gang on past--
but then there's Maddox.
Who God obviously just said, "Meh.  Just build another Holly, but put a penis on it this time."
He will talk to a tree.  And most of the time he is completely oblivious to everything around him.
Maddox gave the man all but his social security number in the time it took us to dump our trash and all I could do was laugh as Candace tried to cut ties with our new friend.

Good times.

We came home, bathed, (had a slight panic attack when we found a lizard in our bathtub) and were hunkered down before 8:00.
My favorite kind of Friday.

***
Saturday I had to work.

It was busy--
really busy...
but not stressful.

I wasn't surprised with another date from the hubs this Saturday,
but I did come home to a clean house-
and in my book, that's equivalent.

We had Mexican food...
I got a nap...
And the rest of the day was spent on the couch watching college football and eating rootbeer floats.

I laughed as I watched Lance get so frustrated at how his clean house quickly turned to crap--
because,
let's be honest,
I say the same thing hourly.

TCU won but the Longhorns lost...
And he was equally as frustrated about that.

***
Today I deep cleaned and did all of the laundry.
Lance had to work but came home to food ready for the grill and fall candles burning.

I am not a huge football buff,
but I do enjoy being home,
and good food,
so for that--
I love football season.

It has been a few good days.