Once upon a time...

Once upon a time there was a gorgeous morning on a February in Texas!

We spent the morning reading versions of Little Red Riding Hood in bed, then the kids wandered outside playing their own version of Little "Pink" Riding Hood. The toddler got another haircut (I'm an obsessive hair clipper with him), and big sis was making mud pies and salads of grass and surprises! Quite a lovely homeschooling day.

The birds were chirping, sun was shining. My toddler and I got suited up in our painting gear, and had a jolly old time finishing up the white coats of paint on the wooden crates for our vegetable garden. Then I got us all cleaned up, laid him down for a nap, took my own siesta on the couch, and all was well.

Then 3:00pm came.

First I needed to wake up the toddler and get everyone out the door for a quick trip to the doctor office and some other errands. All I needed was a blood draw, but if I had learned my lesson the past two times I would have brought a bag of activities or books or something besides a few mints and some Life Savers. The kids tend to last for about 10-15 minutes reading magazines and watching medical-info-TV, but then we start to have whiners, dancers, and sprint runners in the waiting room.

30 minutes into our comical experience, a nurse comes out with some forms and explains that the phlebotomist is gone for the afternoon and I'd need to go to a lab for the blood draw. Great. Back to the car. Keep in mind there are constant sisterly arguments. Who will press the elevator buttons, who holds the magazine, who unlocks the car door, who picks up the dropped pencil on the floor of the car? Etc. etc.

I also really need to pick up a package at the post office that will be mailed back to the Rodeo if I don't pick it up ASAP. It's for a field trip with 80 kids registered (that's going to be interesting!), so I can't let them down! I run home to get the postcard about the package and arrive at the post office for a quick wait. But ahh...the worker points to the card...I am at the WRONG post office! So off we go again...

At this point I'm closer to the lab, so I decide to do the blood draw before driving to the far-away post office. But the map to the lab was horrible, and after driving into several places and turning around, I finally call to find out it's right in front of our neighborhood! We make our way inside, go up the elevator, and sign in.

This guy was not happy to be in the stroller again. "Why, Mommy?"

Tick, tock, tick, tock. After 15 minutes no one has even opened the window to see that I've checked in. I knocked on the glass but no answer. Finally, someone yelled out for me to come to the door. I brought the kids back with me and after looking at my forms, seeing what the blood draw was for, she started laughing hysterically...more on that later...

After the blood draw and potty break, including one child who insisted on washing her hands 3 times, we were off to the other post office. I waited in line while the kids ran around, thankfully getting only sweet grins and compliments from those around us.

Only two more stops to go. It was time to break out my literal "Life Savers" again!

And another true "life saver" for me today!

The HEB trip was fairly uneventful, up until the end where Stevie was insisting on getting "in the back" of the cart which was full of food! Here the girls are trying to find pita chips and hummus while I try to console SJ to no avail.

We get to the checkout and the girls run over to redeem their "Buddy Bucks." Whoever invented the play money that allows them to win dozens of prize balls with numbered stickers inside that make it only to our car and the dumpster...well, I'm not sure what to say. At least the girls have 5 minutes of fun!

Meanwhile little man in the back of the cart insists that "Me Helper!" as he offloads all my groceries.

How to better end this day, on the dark and trafficked roads, than a trip to the craft store? Genius.

Only one thing we need. Only flowers for our Lenten craft. But SJ wanted this sword and hat, and screamed when he was pulled away. Ellie wanted miniature plates for her dolls and MC cried that she wanted to get a charm for her grandma. Somehow we made it home with only the flowers. Somehow.

The sacrifices and acts of kindness began immediately so as to earn some flowers for the Lenten cross.

And this pregnant mama certainly gave herself a flower for surviving that kind of afternoon! Wow.

(YES, baby is due in October! I am 6 weeks along and have an ultrasound on Monday. We are all thrilled. Please keep us in prayer for an uneventful pregnancy, and especially that we will see a sweet little babe with beating heart on Monday :-)