I have made several trips to the cities in the last week. Funny how this stirs the pot of my small town soul.
I have grown accustomed to this little river town and like living here as long as I don't have to leave too often. I get used to the privacy, the wildlife, the space between cars, the quiet skies without airplanes, and the mostly normal looking people. But for some reason, when I get back in the city I realize I miss the action, the diversity, the opportunites, the arts, the shopping conveniences, the proximity to the Mass we attend. When I have several trips to the city within one week it totally eats me up that I ever consented to moving so far away from the metro. I don't know how my dh can stand to commute. He endures the drive beautifully. It's his downtime. Anyway, we are here and God has to have reason for that. Sometimes He even lets me know what they are.
I took my eldest into a Lands' End Inlet to look for shoes. We didn't find anything for her but I was certainly sidetracked by all of the beautiful women's clothing. Made me wish I were a size twelve with an office job. I briefly considered giving myself permission to buy nice clothes in a much larger size for my homeschooling mom job but quickly realized that spit-up and leaky diapers would not be a great thing for $100 sweaters.
Did you use your two for one Caribou coupon two weekends ago? My dh and I did. I discovered that the Northern Lite Coolers taste much better than the hot versions. Much better, if you are counting calories. If not, stick with the Turtle Mocha.
According to the dentist, because I don't floss and just had my fifth baby I had two cavities in need of fillings. For some reason (because I have more than three kids?) every time I have my mouth propped open and full of stuff the dentist chooses to talk about the Duggers, Octo-Mom and people who adopt Russian babies with fetal alcohol syndrome. She spoke about this with her assistant, of course, because I could only grunt in response. I think they should provide keyboards for their patients so we can join the conversation.
I tried to indicate to the dentist that my jaw was hurting from being open so wide so she kept sticking a needle in my gums to numb me up some more. By the time I left I was numb all the way up my left side to my eyelid. After a quick trip to Lakeshore Learning Store we visited Joe at work and met his co-workers. I did the best I could to speak clearly with a mostly numb face. He had time for lunch so we took all the kids to one of those Neapolitan pizzerias. My spinach, artichoke, asiago pizza tasted as gourmet as it sounds, but since half of my lower lip was still numb I bit it several times. Hard. I am still suffering the consequences.
Lakeshore Learning Store has some tempting merchandise for homeschoolers, does it not? Good thing the prices are not so tempting. Quite the splurge for those whose education budget is solely out of pocket. I resisted buying anything this time (pat, pat on the back) but my son had money saved up for some Egyptian digging kit that he wanted.Never mind that he won't be studying ancient Egypt until sixth grade.
We did not make it to the MHS chocolate exhibit on Saturday. My Friday Costco trip got moved to Saturday and it just took too long to drive thirty minutes there and thirty minutes back and unload groceries and eat lunch. The thought of an hour drive to St. Paul was just too exhausting. Maybe another day, even if we miss the free chocolate samples that were offered on opening day.
We did, however, make it to Underwater World the day before, on Friday. We all got in for less than $20! The new seahorse and jellyfish exhibits were worth the trip. Afterward we stopped at the American Girl store. My girls were thrilled but my son, he was in tears. Real tears! That place was torture for him. Another mom noticed and shared that her ten year old boy was also in tears. A trip to the Lego store was an effective antidote.
The Blogger's Tea never really happened, bty. Some of you have asked. Only two, maybe three said they could come so I did not put it on my calendar. Then one friend got me confused about the date, saying that she would love to go on the 11th so we did, just the two of us. One more thought she could come that day and we waited twenty minutes or so for her but she was not able to make it. We did have the proprietor take our picture buy my eyes were half closed so I won't be posting that one. It was still a nice mom's day out and a needed reprieve from the stress of getting school off the ground once more. Maybe next year?
I still need another day to my weekend. We didn't get to take a long hike through the woods but we did walk a considerable time through a corn maze on Sunday. We were reminded of our time there last year - Little Princess was two and a half and still not talking much. In the middle of the corn maze she must have felt fed up and demanded, "GO HOME!" Her speech made great strides after that.
I may not be getting to enjoy all the activities I dream up or even have enough time to be out in this glorious autumn weather but I have to remember that I am still in the season of life where caring for the babies is more important that my chipping toe nail polish, having time for crafts or running a 5K. If we just had the older three I am sure I would have much more "me time" but as Margaret reminds us, "I would certainly not be me without them. In them I haven't lost my identity; rather, I have found it."
My little ones are happy and healthy. My baby is healthy and thriving. I love being my baby's mama and spending time holding him, nursing him and cuddling him. I love how much my other kids love him and realizing what a gift we are giving to them by having more babies. I love how chubby and entertaining he is and from the comments his video clips garnered y'all can see why I am not a daily blogger anymore. He is too yummy and I am too tired from giving 100% all day to everyone and everything. I am tired in a good way. If I get enough sleep.
Enjoy the autumn season - there are so many wonderful fall posts out there celebrating the colors and crisp air. Every single October of my life I feel the way I do now - that I am too busy being in the thick of a new school year to properly enjoy (and bake my way though) this wonderful, glorious month October.
Blessings to you all! My readers are always in my prayers.
