Life, Family, Trying to Be Happy
It’s that time of year…back to school time! It’s time for parents to breathe a sign of relief or cry. Whatever suits you best!
Of course, the day would NOT be complete without a little friendly teasing from your older brothers…which caused this…
Which I was able to turn into this…
They didn’t even look back…
To think at one time she was my baby girl.
She is growing up. Beautifully. Okay, so I couldn’t go completely wordless.
I have to admit something in this post. I left my 10 year old and 8 year old in the van while I dropped the younger two children off at daycare. I know lock me up now! Mind you, the daycare is attached to a church in a very safe neighbor with no drive through traffic. It is a secure spot behind the church with only one entrance/exit.
While I was walking out of daycare, this older gentleman, who I have never seen before, stops me and asks if I am the owner of the silver mini-van. Uh, yeah, I am. What did my kids do? In my mind, I’m thinking he was mooned, someone stuck his tongue out at him, the two kids were fighting to the death in the back seat….
The story went in a direction that I did not expect. He claims my son was in the front seat trying to move the gears. He went on and on about how dangerous it was, blah, blah… I thanks him for the information but I knew it didn’t sound right. While Peyton may be ornery, he would not try to drive off in my car, right?
As soon as I got into the car, the both kids started telling me about how this weird man tried to get in the car and told them not to mess with the shifter. Come to find out my son was turning on the window wipers which are to the right side of the steering wheel where a gear shift is sometimes located. In my Honda van, however, the gear shift is closer to the radio panel than to the steering wheel. Since it was raining and both kid’s stories matched up, it made complete sense.
So in fact, in an effort to be “safety” conscious, this man freaked my kids out by trying to get in the car and talk to them when he was a stranger to them. I know he was probably harmless but they didn’t know that.
I don’t really know what the point of this story is besides the old man probably went around telling everyone he knew about an untrue story about a kid trying to move the gear shifter while the mom wasn’t in the car….the things that irritate me…
Last night, my mom had both of my youngest kids over to spend the night. Somehow Sofia maneuvered her way into going. I think it was the “I’m going to your house” in a sweet voice combined with her you can’t say no to me smile. Who can say no to that?
While we were doing the kid exchange in town, Eli kept asking me to go home and get his bike. Uh, no, we live across the county from my parents and I would be 35 minute round trip not including all the chit chat time! I suggested he offered my brother $1 to come to our house and get it. He doesn’t have anything better to do, ha!
After arriving at the house, Eli was bugging my dad and brother to drive to our house and get his bike. My dad, not knowing Eli had never rode a bike without training wheels, suggested Eli ride my youngest brother’s orange bike. My youngest brother (9) gives Eli a little push and he is off! Seriously, it was that easy. He wasn’t even wobbly or anything.
I was told he did have a few close moments but it doesn’t sound like anything we had with our two older children.
I feel a little guilty because Eli had been asking us to take his training wheels off his bike since he turned 5. According to Eli, once you turn 5 you can just magically ride your bike with no training wheels and he was right!
Here’s the video my mom sent me of Eli taking off on his bike (note he is wearing a safety helmet!):
While this was all going on, the two older kids and I decided to make it movie night at our local theater, which is really cheap $2 for kids and $4 for adults. Plus, the concessions is just as reasonable. We watched Night at the Museum 2 and while it was funny and enjoyable and it was a little over the top!
It was odd to be a movie and not have to really chase anyone around. Hannah and Peyton sat in the third row with friends who were also at the movie. I sat completely by myself and was actually able to enjoy the movie. Minus the two times the kids wanted money from me for popcorn & cokes! It was really weird.
You said What?