Crayons are cheaper than therapy.

It was a really long morning. Surprisingly, my attitude stayed relatively positive throughout. (thank you, Jesus!)

After we dropped the kids at school this morning, Jack and I went to Target. I needed to get a new nursing bra (Glamorous, I know. Hold back your jealousy). As he was snoozing in the dressing room in his stroller, a little boy (maybe 2 1/2 or 3?) in the room next to us began talking really loud and just screaming (you know, in an outside voice kinda way). Every other minute his mom would get frustrated with him and shout at him to be quiet. Finally, she officially lost her cool and said, "STOP SCREAMING AND JUST BE QUIET! HERE, TAKE YOUR HARMONICA!". I'm sorry, surely I didn't just hear you give your extremely loud child with no concept of proper "inside voice" levels an instrument that makes noise? Oh, but she did. Splendid. Baby is awake.

We hightailed it outta there, paid and drove to our next stop where I nursed him before we went in. About 20 minutes later we were in line and he started crying. I reached down to put the paci in his mouth and an older woman decided she would try and speak for Jack. "Oh, Mommy, there's just nothing coming out of that old thing. I'm just sooo hungry Mommy!". I was beyond peeved. I clearly handled that well when I looked up at her with an admittedly stank look on my face and said, "interesting, he just ate 20 minutes ago." Pardon me while I get on (another) soap box of mine. If you are genuinely interested in my child's feeding schedule, then, by all means, feel free to ask me about it (while please, for the love of all this is good, speaking in a normal voice sans "baby talk"). But DO NOT try and speak for my child and assume you know what he needs. *steps down*.

My printer ran out of ink (last week). Again. Of course, this would be right as I need to print Anna-Kate's birthday invitations and Jack's birth announcements. I went to Leigh-Ann's to print them, but it was giving me fits. So after printing only two, I left. Annoyance. I think I am the kiss of death to all things electronic.

I was so tired and starving so I drove through Wendy's on the way to get the kids. I would normally not choose Wendy's, but they have a value meal for $2.99 and I'm cheap and really wanted a diet coke. Got my food and as I was driving away I reached for my drink, took a big swig...and about spit it out. It was real coke. Bleh. Didn't have time to turn around, so I got the kids, then drove back through Wendy's on the way home (Admittedly, I have no shame as I cut off a couple of cars ordering and just went straight to the window). He didn't give me any problems, just a very strange look. O well.

When we arrived home Ryan decided it was his turn to contribute to my bad morning. He wanted to stay in the van and read books and was not even remotely interested in getting out. I pulled him out and shut the door and he began to throw a tantrum. I told him that was not OK for him and that he would be disciplined if he hadn't pulled himself together when I got back. After I put Jack down, unloaded their backpacks and put their lunch things in the dishwasher I walked back to the garage (which, the light had turned off, so it was dark) to him hanging onto the door. He looked up, saw me and dropped to the floor in a full-on flail. All I will say about that is that he took a super nap after all was said and done.

I came down and began swiffering my floor (I have the swiffer vac--which I love, incidentally). Anna-Kate was sitting there and kept saying "it's too loud" in a really whiny voice. I finally got annoyed and retorted an extremely mature, "you're too loud".

Later, as Anna-Kate and I sat at the kitchen table during our special time, she asked me to color with her. Why not, I thought. As I began coloring, the annoyance of the day went away and we really had fun. Something about staying in the lines and, for the first time in my life, being better than someone at something artsy (I choose to ignore the fact that that someone is not quite four yet...) gave me a sense of satisfaction. I really enjoyed myself and was in a better frame of mind to continue my day. :)

After Anna-Kate went upstairs I worked on a sewing project, but I'll write about that later. Then we went back to school for the kids' art show and met friends for dinner at Chick-fil-a (where I might have consumed a peach milkshake after my dinner...). Our friends put their kids down here and the adults watched The Office and chatted for a couple of hours. Ahh, a lovely end to the day!