This Afternoon

Since we've had such a crazy week, I decided we needed to get out of the house this afternoon. Preston took a good nap and woke up talking to himself and laughing so I figured the mood was right and we should head up to the Treehouse Museum for a little while.  I got Preston's shoes and socks on and then Dylan thought he needed a bath (he said his bum hurt) so I got him in the tub and decided to put on some makeup while I was sitting there watching him.  He commented on how much he likes it when I wear makeup and how beautiful my lipstick is. Funny kid!  You know you don't get ready enough when your kid thinks it's a special moment when you wear makeup.  Anyway, I decided to run into my bathroom and make sure my hair was looking okay too.  No sooner do I walk away than I hear Dylan's infamous scream, "Mom, the baby's in the bathtub."  I screamed and ran to the bathroom to find Mr. Water Boy in the bathtub fully clothed.  Of course I had to put his shoes on ahead of time.  Stupid me trying to be so prepared.  The kid only has one pair of shoes that fits  him right now.  Blasted all!  I had to dig out some 2-sizes-too-big hand-me-downs from Dylan.  I have to say, it's pretty cute though. Here is a picture I took.  I took a really cute one of just him, but it's lost somewhere.  It disappeared after I uploaded my pictures and I already deleted them.  Dang it!  Sometimes I hate computers.  Who knows where it went?  Look at the kid though.  He is completely oblivious to the fact that most people don't bathe fully clothed.  Just as happy as can be.  Silly baby!  

So I finally get Preston dressed again (the third outfit of the day since he pooped all over his first one).  We make it to the Treehouse Museum and I read the sign that says they're closed Fridays and Saturdays in October at 3 p.m. for The Enchanted Woods.  It was 4:30.  I tried to talk Dylan out of the Treehouse, but he was looking forward to it so we decided to try the Enchanted Woods.  I paid, put my stuff in the locker and the people came to take our tickets. Oh yeah, so I had to pay instead of just being able to go using our pass.  Grrr...  The second I hand the tickets to the Enchanted Woods person, Preston poops.  So I have to send Dylan with the teenagers running the thing so he doesn't miss it, run back to the locker, get my keys, go out and get my changing pad and diaper, run to the bathroom and change the kid.  I catch up halfway through the first story.  We get to the second story and I realize how much fun Dylan is having.  He's finding dragons so he can save the princess and is participating well.  I decide it's worth it.  We get to Little Red Riding Hood and Dylan has to pee.  What?  I grab the kids, the camera, and their treat bags and run to take care of that.  Come back and we've missed the second half of her and the first half of Annie Oakley.  Man!  Preston is running everywhere and I'm still bugged that I have to pay for a 1-year-old who doesn't even hold his own bag himself. What kind of a rule is that?  We go through everything else and at one point, we get a cookie from the Mad Hatter.  I use it to bribe Preston to sit on my lap and eat instead of run around. The kid smears chocolate chip gooey hand crud all over my beige pants.  I get through the rest of this "should've been pleasant", "why did Marcos have to work late tonight" moment, get everything and the kids out to the car (no easy task), only to have Dylan tell me he has to go to the bathroom again.  I knew he shouldn't have had a full sippy cup before the Treehouse Museum.  I throw the stuff in the car and take the kids back in to have him go to the bathroom.  I don't know what went wrong, but he decides not to actually pull his pants down and tries to pee over his pants and underwear (sorry, but you need details to understand the story).  Of course you can't aim when you're already pulling the thing up, down and around.  So he pees all over the toilet seat, floor, back of the toilet...everywhere!  Now I get to clean the whole mess up with what I have to work with in paper towels while my kids soak themselves in the kid-sized sinks.  Meanwhile, friendly Enchanted Woods worker walks in to witness the whole fiasco.  I have no pride left.  I'm a parent of two boys, but really, it was embarrassing.  After our hour of fun and games, I strapped the kids in the seat belts, just grateful to not have to chase anyone around for 20 minutes while I drove home.  Then I realize I don't have a gift for my nephew's party tomorrow and my sister, Angie, who was going to buy it is not coming down from Idaho because of the weather.  So I head over to Target to try to find something suitable for an 8-year-old boy.  It took me forever!  Phone call after phone call and choosing and changing my mind.  Ridiculous!  I finally head home at 7:30 when Marcos calls to tell me he's home.  I pull up and realize I have yet to feed my poor young children dinner.  It's almost bedtime.  I gave up even thinking about it.  We drove to Papa Murphy's and got a pizza to throw in the oven. Needless to say the kids were over an hour late for bed.  The craziest part of this whole story for me is that most moms experience this kind of chaos on a regular basis.  It's a crazy life trying to be a parent!  Now, just pray that my kids actually sleep well tonight...we could really use the rest!