Sonic and Smile

Maybe I've been living under a rock, but did you know that Sonic has "happy hour" everyday from 2-5?  You get half-price drinks from the "world's ultimate drink stop"!  I'm going to see if I can use "quotation marks" in every sentence (okay, I just cheated, but here's more)!  The other thing I just discovered is that we live within a few miles of "The World's Newest Sonic".  How do I know this?  They have a big flashing sign, so you won't forget.  After all, that's a much cooler thing to say than "Just Opened".

I became privy to all this amazing new knowledge yesterday, when all three kiddos were under the weather.  Riley was a complete wreck.  The poor girl was stuffed up, had a sore throat and was sporting a fever.  Noelle was a little better, and Brooks is still bothered by incoming teeth.  Obviously, we didn't have any big plans.  So at 3:00, I thought it would be good and fun to throw the kids in the car to get the girls a special cold treat.

We drove to the world's newest Sonic, where I learned about happy hour (woohoo!).  I ordered creamslushes (I think that's what they were called) for the girls and a raspberry Coke for me.  The creamslushes came with huge dollops of whipped topping.  The girls were thrilled.

See what I mean?!  Noelle was loving hers... clearly. 

But for reals, people, she did love it.  She loved it so much that she ignored my order to wait till we got home to eat the whipped cream.

Then she was so thrilled that, when we did get home, she accidentally knocked about 8 oz. of the stuff off the table onto her lap, her chair, and the floor.

But we did get her cleaned up, and then they watched Little Mermaid.  So, all in all, not bad.

But since we're looking at hilarious pictures of children, check out this one I took of Brooks.  Oh, there's just so much to be said.  It makes me laugh every time. :)

A gratuitous amount of cuteness

 It's Saturday, and what better day to catch up on all the cuteness that is the Green family, these days!  In no particular order... adorable kiddos! :)

Mornings

When the girls wake up, I like to let them hang out in their beds for a few minutes before I go in and get them.  The reason?  It's so freaking hilarious. 

Here's what's happening right now...

Riley: Noelle, there's a turtle on my pj's!
Noelle: Smoothie?
Riley: No.  There's a turtle on my pj's.
Noelle: Smoothie?
Riley: No.  Noelle!  Answer me!  There's a turtle on my pj's!
Noelle: (Silence)
Riley: NOELLE! I have a turtle on my shirt!  ANSWER ME!
Noelle: (Silence)

If that doesn't paint a picture for you, maybe an actual picture of their personalities will help.

Yep.  I think that says it all.

This is embarassing but...

... I'll tell you anyway.

Yesterday, we were hanging out at home, not doing anything too exciting.  Later in the afternoon, however, I developed a monster headache.  I popped a couple Ibuprofen, chugged two glasses of water and hoped for the best.  Nothing changed.  All three kids were up, but I thought it may help to take a bath.  I asked the girls if they wanted to watch a movie (wanna guess what they said?), and I plopped Brooks in his exersaucer and hoped for the best.  I knew the girls were fine, but I had never tried to placate Brooks with TV before. 

I was lying in the bath when the doorbell rang.  We've had quite a few solicitors, so I yelled out to Riley, "Don't open it!"  She clearly wasn't even thinking of leaving her spot in front of the movie because she quickly shouted back that she wouldn't. 

One minute passed. 

Then Kona barked.  Outside.  Where she had been for, uhhh, I'd say 20 minutes or so.  

"Oh, crap!" I gasped while I bolted out of the bath, threw a towel on, and ran to the back door.  I let the dog in and shuffled to the front door.  I looked through the peep hole.  No one there. 

So, let me just say, to the kind neighbor who brought back our dog--- sorry 'bout that. :)

Don't Say I Didn't Warn You...

Hercule Poirot, anyone?...  

Anyone?

Ruh-Roh. New Fun Stuff.

I just discovered the fun that is Picnik.  This could be addicting.

Here's the cute Well-Well cow...

And here she is again, after a little fiddling around.  

There's also a feature with mustaches and other assorted facial hair(s?).  Watch out. :)

Snap.

Today has been... rocky for me. I guess it started last night when I tossed and turned in bed for well over an hour before falling asleep. I even put my compression socks on to try to help the situation. True, this isn't all that uncommon for me (the not sleeping, that is), but it seems to be getting worse lately. Enter, this morning, 4:48. Brooks wakes up. I go and put his paci in his mouth and comfort him till he's quiet. Then I do that five more times over the course of the next hour or so. I feed him and hope that will lull him to sleep. It didn't. So 7:00 found the two of us sitting together, me with a dazed look and a cup of coffee, him with a big gummy grin. Sigh.

The girls got up shortly after. I got them their drinks and breakfast. I lugged a clearly-tired boy around. I tried to put tired boy down for a nap. No dice.

At 8:45, I couldn't really take it anymore, so I told the girls that we were going somewhere. "Somewhere" was apparently the beginning of the end.
Riley: Where are we going?
Me: I don't know.
Riley: But can you tell me where?
Me: I would, honey, but I'm not sure.
Riley: (starting to lose it) But can you tell me when I'm snapped in?
Me: I really would, Riley, but I don't know where we're going.  I just needed to get Brooks in the car, so maybe he'll sleep.
Riley: BUT CAN YOU TELL ME?!
Me: Yes.  As soon as I figure it out, I'll tell you.
Riley:  While you're driving?
Me: Yes.
Riley: When we're in the car?
Me: Yes.
Riley: But I'm tired!
Me: Do you want to go home and sleep?
Riley: (bellowing) Noooo!
Me:  But you're tired?
Riley: I want to sleep somewhere else!
Me:  We can't sleep somewhere else... just at home.
Riley: (inconsolable tears)

I swear to you that I really, truly did keep my cool this whole time.  Even though the tears didn't stop, no matter what I said.  And even though Brooks was STILL AWAKE!  What?!

We ended up going to Trader Joe's, where Noelle almost lost it when I didn't let her fill her cart with veggie chips.  Then Riley almost lost it when I let Noelle put one bag of veggie chips in her cart.

We headed home.  This was around 10:00.  That makes it over five hours since Brooks woke up.  He was still awake.  Then... he fell asleep.  For 10 minutes.  Then we got home and he woke up.

I unloaded the groceries, and we headed over to this little children's consignment shop where I was going to deliver my old fall and winter clothes, which I had just washed and folded nicely yesterday.

We get there and I lug in a filled-to-the-brim Rubbermaid and an equally full paper bag of kids' clothes.  A nice lady held the door open for me because try to picture me with a Rubbermaid on my hip, a bag perched precariously on the stroller, one little man trying to kick said bag off and two little girls swirling and twirling around while Mom tries to pull the stroller with her pinky.  We finally get in the door and I bring the clothes over to the counter where I am quickly informed that they're closed for clothing until the Fall/Winter switch, which is July 3rd.

Outside, I  maintain control.  Inside, I'm pretty sure I actually felt something snap.  I said, "Okay!  We'll come back then!" and I went back to the kids, still lugging our clothes.  The girls wanted to play with every toy in the store, but I had just lost my last ounce of will, so I told them it was time to go, and I REALLY needed them to listen because it was really hard for Mommy to get everyone and everything to the car.

We walked out and my bag of beautifully folded, freshly laundered clothes ripped and sent its entire contents tumbling into the street.  I felt the tears start welling up.  But I quickly chucked the Rubbermaid in the car, corralled the kids in, told Riley that "I don't care if you want to stay; we have to go" (not my best moment), grabbed the clothes in a big armful (though I was tempted to just leave them) and left. 

And that is how I ended up standing in the kitchen, stirring mac and cheese for the girls and scarfing three hummus, wild rice and avocado wraps (I realized that I forgot to put the chicken in when I was 2 wraps deep.  Dang it.). 

Please, tell me that the kids will nap for the next 8 hours.  Please.