Let me start by saying that as I type this I am listening to CD snore away on the bottom step of the stairway upstairs. She has been sleeping there for 5 nights now because there are bugs in her room--granted there are bugs (Japanese beatles and box elder bugs) all over the house and have been for weeks. But evidently there aren't any on the bottom step. And yes there are, I've checked.
Tonight was the elementary school sock hop. Last year P's mom took TO and then told her that they'd go together again this year. However, she ended up dog-sitting and couldn't come down. I wasn't able to find a sitter, so the 4 kids and I trooped off to the sock hop--thank goodness for my sling. Omega was more than content to be carried that way the entire time.
The party started at 6:30 and we got there around 6:45. The noise level in the entire school was almost unbearable for me. I wasn't able to hear LE or CD unless I squatted down and they talked directly into my ear. And my children are not quiet children to start with.
We enjoyed the pizza dinner--and by we I mean TO, and possibly LE. For $3 a piece, each of the kids got a huge slice of greasy pepperoni pizza, a handful of carrots and dip and water (there was a choice of pop, but I chose water for everyone). CD picked a few pepperonis off of hers and ate a few carrots. LE ate all his carrots and about half of his pizza. TO ate her pizza and ignored her carrots.
After supper, we headed into the gym for dancing. And I still can't believe it. But the entire gymnasium was lit by one strand of white Christmas tree lights. We're talking a whole gym, filled with 5-11 year olds running around and lots of parents and younger siblings too, is completely in the dark. It was close to impossible to keep an eye on the kids. So, I found my one position on the floor and stayed there. TO went off with friends and kept coming back to check in like I knew she would do. Surprisingly, LE was scared in the dark gym and stuck pretty close to my side. So did CD. At 7:30 they finally turned the lights back on for the hula hoop contest and everyone crowded to one corner of the gym. They had all the kids that weren't going to be hula hooping sit in a semi-circle, and I let LE and CD go join the kids--TO was waiting her turn to hula hoop. And as soon as the contest started, the kids started standing up--and because I wasn't right next to LE and CD, because there just wasn't room--I lost my line of sight. I was so frustrated. I knew a general direction of where they were, but being short myself, and having short kids, there was no way I could see over the rest of the grown ups standing around. LE finally got tired of not being able to see and came back to find me, I sent him back in to get CD and we spent the rest of the contest behind the crowd--they ran around with the rest of the kids that were too short to see.
After TO came back--none of us got a chance to see her hula hoop--I decided I'd had enough of it. Omega was almost asleep in the sling and I was exhausted trying to keep track of all 3 of them. We got home at 8:15pm. All in all, I think 1.5 hours with 4 kids in terrible crowds by myself was pretty good. I know that they would have liked to have stayed longer, and maybe if we had, they would have gotten to do some of the dances they'd been practicing in school. But, I was the bad mom that made them come home. I was the mom that knew I'd met my limit for the night.
Next year, I'm going to try to arrange for a sitter and only take the school age kids. It really was too much for me to have all of them there, and I'm sure next year Omega will not be content to be hanging out in the sling. I'm proud of myself for doing it, but I don't think I'll do it again--at least not by myself.
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I ordered my cloth diaper detergent today. I found a website that had free shipping on any purchases over $49 so I bought 4 bags in order to get the free shipping. I haven't ordered more of my new diapers though. I'm still holding off. As much as I love them, it does seem to be a waste, since I already have enough diapers. A girl can dream though. When I do decide to order some, my favorite cloth diapering website has free shipping--so there's no rush.
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I made a list of my ideal housekeeping schedule. How often I would sweep and mop and vacuum, etc. If I'm supposed to have a 1 year, 5 year, 10 year, etc. plan for my life--why not have a final goal for my housekeeping. Let's face it, it's pretty much non-existent right now. I broke my list down into each room and decided what I would do ideally, if procrastination and ambition never played into it. Now, I'm going to pick one thing to start with and do that for an entire week. Then add another item each week. I'm hoping that by having a clear cut goal, I'll be able to see clear steps in my achievements. Yay for me and all that!
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