Life's been good to me so far

What a lot of day!

We got up, got everyone ready and fed, and went to this new church that recently opened up down here - Christ Fellowship. It was kind of incredible, just in that there were 20 greeters spread out every 5 feet to guide you to where you were going, tables of cuban pastries, juice, coffee and so on set out everywhere, and a REALLY extensive children's program. Ananda was building with play-doh, watching a funny play, and dancing and singing along with other 1st and 2nd graders. Jake was being pushed around outside in a giant 6-seater buggy, fed cheerios and playing with toys with a bunch of other 1 and 2 year olds. And Isaac and Aaron were in 3 to 5s, where Aaron colored, had goldfish crackers and watched Veggietales as Isaac WAILED AND SCREAMED LIKE A MANIAC the *entire time*.

Before dropping the kids off at their respective places, I had to fill out forms, get cooresponding stickers for parents and child to wear (with numbers) - G took 2 and I took 2 - and they gave me a pager that would go off if they needed me. Halfway through worship, I was paged because Jake was upset and they couldn't calm him down. He was fine as soon as he saw me, and once he clung to me for a moment he was ready to go back in and play more.

So I peeked at Isaac. I saw that people were continuously trying to give him a snack, entice him with art supplies or distract him with jokes. NO WAY IN HELL. Isaac is the reason we haven't gone to church - any church - as a family in almost 2 years. He won't sit through a service at all, and has always acted this way in a nursery setting. We kind of decided that now that he's 3, and can understand what we tell him beforehand well (like that we're right down the hall and will be back for him soon), and would even have his brother in the same room, he just has to get used to it.

I had an attendant go in and bring Aaron out, and begged him to be nice to Isaac. I peeked through the door's window and saw Aaron offering him a seat, trying to give him a hug, handing goldfish towards him...all met with slaps, howls and backing away as if Aaron were the devil. Aaron can't take much of that and quickly went back to coloring with the faraway look that is his version of hands over ears. I think he was already a bit dazed from listening to it that long, anyway.

Then Isaac saw me looking through the glass. Cue A-bomb level tantrum as he struggled to get out the door past 2 attendants, screeching, scratching and shrieking. Because Grant had the sticker that matched his, and he looks nothing like me, and Isaac was pitching such a fit, they had no idea I was his mother and acted really weird about me trying to say it was ok and just grab him from them. Finally we got it sorted out, and I tried to hold him, squat and talk to him, anything. He was ok, EXCEPT that anytime any of them came over to offer him his coloring page to take home, or give him his snack now that he was calm with me in the hallway, or what have you, he started in with the fit again. *sigh*

The leader of the kids' program says that next week they're going out to the playground. He SEEMS to be hyped about that, and bringing his dinosaurs with him, and is saying things like "I missed you at church and I was crying, but then you came back!" so I have hope...

The worship - what I got to attend of it - was pretty cool. For those who know what I mean, it was like a good lot of camp songs followed by a premium Rex bible study. Grant loved it and I anticipate us returning. I missed communion, though, and talk of Lent, and wish there was some way to combine these two opposing "Types" of Christianity that I am drawn to.


Back at the ranch after church, Shaun came over, Grant whipped up a whole lot of yum (whole wheat angel hair pasta mixed into olive oil, garlic, onion, chicken, mushrooms and roma tomatoes, topped with fresh and powdered parmesean - mmhmm) and we watched Smallville. Then G took A and A outside, they cleaned out the van, and we went to a birthday party we'd been invited to.

En route, some fool ran a stop sign and we had to slam on the brakes mid-intersection. Apparently Jake's shoulder straps in his carseat have gotten loosened up, because he hit his face on the big plastic bar thing that goes down in front of him :/ He has a swollen cheek now, and kept popping off to tell me his mouth hurt while he nursed :( I feel so bad for him. He's good when he's not thinking about it or putting pressure on it.

The party was for the little boy who is part of the family who hosts the PATH chess club, so we knew people and it's a familiar place. He asked for donations to the The Heifer Project in leau of gifts, since he is a self-described spoiled only child with rich parents. I got to sit and talk to TWO women who had only homebirths (4 for one and 3 for the other), who are also park leaders, and are all about my birth plans, and the bonus is that rather than giving me most peoples' response about what an insane, over the top hassle going to Boston for a month must be, they were very, "What an awesome experience for the kids!!" It was a pool party with a Spongebob theme. And I tell you, my bathingsuit just keeps getting smaller and smaller as the months pass O_o The kids seemed to have a good time - the three bigger ones were mostly in the pool with Grant while I sat up on the deck with Jake chatting, or in the rented bounce house. Otherwise they were busily stuffing their faces with the abundant fruit, cheese, veggies with ranch for dipping (gag), and chips and salsa (I swear Aaron and Isaac cleaned out the whole bowl...) They had one of those pull-apart cakes, too, that consists of a bunch of cupcakes frosted on top as if they were a single solid confection.

Leaving there we headed to Wild Oats to get yellow dock, because this morning I scratched a mosquito bite and thin, pinkish orange blood went everywhere for far too long. Damn platelet bs $*&@($_()###!! etc. At least I know how to get them up again now. Hopefully I'll have a scab to pick in two weeks to see how it's working :p While at Wild Oats, I got a small bowl of their vegetable soup and a little bag of organic dark chocolate covered almonds (I ate nothing at the party) for the ride home. Bliss.


So we got back, and the bathtub and toilet started spontaneously backing up...septic tank junk. We're going to have to run a snake through to try to find the clog - EWW. This is where I don a hairnet and whistle innocently with my hands in my pockets...anytime I take a shower G gets HANDFULLS of hair out of the drain, lest the tub fill up to his knees and overflow while he showers. G Sr, who has his own bathroom, was like "I wonder what the clog could be - maybe one of the kids flushed a toy?" and I just exited stage left while they discussed it.

Dinner was stir fry on brown rice, with homemade flax banana bread for dessert*.

Tonight's agenda includes Little Miss Sunshine with a giant bucket of popcorn, once the kids have brushed their teeth and been read to and are in bed. Tomorrow, Grant serendipidously got ANOTHER one-time Key West job offer so we're heading down there. I'm hoping to catch up with my Aunt Michelle while we're in town; I haven't seen her since Laura's baby shower.

( *recipes )

Over and out.