A Day In the Life of: A Trip to Tin Star

So it's time for another edition of A Day in the Life of....One mom's way of finding the humor out of life with three small kids. We have been stuck in the house ALL week because I have been sick. Now all you moms out there know what this is like....after a few days of not getting out, no school, and no playdates, the kids become like wild, caged animals....just chomping at the bit to get out of their cages and go crazy! So some friends called and asked us to meet them at Tin Star, which we did. It wasn't one of our worst outings, but it definitely wasn't our best either. I was blocked in at the table on all sides by carseats and kids so when I tried to slide out of my seat, I knocked over my huge 32 oz drink FULL of ice onto my lap.

ME (Thinking to myself): AWESOME! This is JUST the way I wanted to start out my lunch experience. Now I get to sit here and feel like I wet my pants throughout the rest of our lunch. Our food comes and we eat without too many problems other than me feeling like I peed myself and then it happens....the kids run out of food. Now all you moms out there know what this means. As soon as your kids run out of food they become bored and that is when everything turns south. Emmy decides to start running laps around the restaurant and when she does, she slips on the leftovers of my drink spillage and falls flat on her face. Screaming ensues. Damage control happens. We get everyone back in their seats and try again. The next thing I know, Easton has his boots off (yes he wore brown cargo khaki shorts with cowboy boots to the restaurant and we just went with it today) and is crawling around under the table on the nasty floor with no shoes on....GROSS! Of course Emmy and her friend Owen decide that if Easton is doing it, they should too. Awesome! Now we have three kids crawling around on the nasty floor under the table! We get them back in their seats again and I try to continue my conversation. I start to feel a shoe kicking me in the back. ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?! I'm about to rage at this point because that is so rude and those of you who know me know that I have a serious foot/shoe fetish and I DON'T like to be touched with feet OR shoes. I turn around and Easton has his boots on his hands and is using them to "walk" up and down my back to get my attention because he wants to show me his blister. He shows me the blister and I tell him that he is going to have to put his boots back on.
Easton: "NO! I can hop on one foot like a bunny rabbit to the car."
Me: "NO! You most definitely can NOT so put your boots back on.
I continue my conversation and a few seconds later I hear this:
Easton: "MOM! Look at me! I told you I could hop like a bunny rabbit." And just like that my son is hopping around Tin Star with cargo khaki shorts on, one cowboy boot on his foot, and one cowboy boot on his hand which he is using to slam down on the tables as he passes them.
Me: It's time to call it a day.

***WARNING**** - This next part will contain sensitive material (aka POOP stories).
We get home and both kids run inside and start fighting over who is going to get to poop in the "chosen toilet." We have four bathrooms in our house and I don't understand for the life of me WHY they have to poop in the same bathroom, but they do. Of course Easton beats Emmy to the upstairs toilet which means she sets on the little potty-training toilet to poop. Yes people, that means it's the toilet that does not flush so I have to scoop the poop out with my hand, throw it in the toilet and then clean the toilet out with Clorox wipes....WHY, WHY, WHY can't she just poop in the other upstairs bathroom!?!?! So after I am done cleaning Cohen's blow-out diaper, I go in the bathroom and have not one but TWO bottoms to wipe and a potty training toilet to sanitize. I wipe Easton and wash his hands and then get to Emmy. I finish wiping her bottom and then it happens....that moment as a mom when you forget all the crap you have to go through and realize that ALL of it...the poop, the throw-up, the screaming, the fits....ALL of it is SO worth it. She grabs onto my legs, looks up at me with those precious brown eyes, scrunches up her nose and takes the palm of her hand to push her glasses up on her face so she can see me better, and says...
"Mom...You are my mommy. You help me ALL day long (pause while she looks up at me adoringly through her ridiculously cute glasses). 'Sanks Mom.' (aka Thanks Mom) I love you."

WOW! Talk about melting my heart. These are the moments that I realize they are growing up by the minute. That I am going to blink my eyes and my son is going to be walking into high school. That I am going to blink again and my daughter is going to have a white dress on and be driving off into the sunset with her new husband. And it makes me realize that I want to hold onto these moments and treasure them....even though I am wiping bottoms and taking care of kids while I am sick and cleaning up throw up and breaking up fights. Because when that day comes that she drives off into the horizon in her white dress holding her husband's hand, I know that my heart will break and I will want to give anything, ABSOLUTELY anything to go back to that moment when she said, "Mom....You are my mommy. You help me ALL day long. Sanks mom. I love you."

And on a lighter note...Here is Emmy's new thing - dressing herself! This is what she came down wearing this morning. A lovely ensemble with a leopard print/rose dress paired with chocolate brown multi-colored polka dot tights and to top it off....a competing leopard print bow. But isn't she still just the cutest thing?!?!?!