The Day After

Well...if Christmas is a day of wonder the day after is certainly lacking in any amount of being wonder filled. I think people have some of the worst attitudes ever around the holidays.

He just gets cuter

Brad and I loaded everybody up and headed into town for feed, hay, houseshoes for Garrett.... since he had been woefully overlooked in that category......and other odds and ends. Since trash had to be taken we were on a time schedule and had to be home by 5:30 before trash closed. We headed to CiCi's first for a pizza treat and then onward to accomplish our errands. With Garrison and Grant dressed in matching shirts and camo overalls and Garrett in a different shirt and brown corduroy overalls they were obviously not looking too much alike. But, as it never ceases to amaze me, we were once again asked numerous times throughout our day if the boys were triplets. Brad was finally able to witness the whole twin girls/triplet boys questions too. In our kindness we went through their ages and everyone was filled with admiration at our little brood. The compliments poured forth and, due to the manners that have been beat into them, the children thanked their admirers. Some days are worse than others and I suppose given the highly populated outing the starers were just more obvious. Wal Mart was packed and it seemed that everyone stopped in their tracks and stood to stare and count, watching us all the way by. Some people did not even try to be conspicuous as they counted aloud "1,2......3,4,5.....6,7!!!!!" as we passed. I just laughed. Yea.....you people can count! I know I signed up for this when we chose this lifestyle but it never really stops amusing me. It does feel kind of odd though when a whole entire isle stops to watch you coming, stares as you pass and then turns to watch you retreat. I cannot help but be filled with pride as the children happily laugh and talk. Grayson pushes the stroller with Garrison and Grant in it and Brad pushes Garrett in the cart with Gavin riding on his back in the pack smiling at absolutely everyone. They are clean, well dressed and happy......not to mention breathtakingly beautiful. Of course, as I write this they are all down the hallway screaming and fighting over 5 pennies each claims is their own. Oh.....based on the sounds floating this way I think Aubrey just resorted to biting Garrison and Evye hit Aubrey seeking to punish. Yep.....my beautiful little family.

The new do

But as we shopped it was becoming obvious that the hour was growing late and we needed to pick it up to make trash, Garrett having not had any sort of nap at all was wearing way too thin. By the time we made it to the checkout Garrett was at his wits end and the world knew it. With every line having no less than 104 people waiting we were in for the long haul. To make matters worse, Garrett's ear piercing screams were heard by the shopper's not only waiting in line with us but by the shopper's who occupied the dairy isle at the back of the 400,000 sq ft store. Aubrey was pulling every bit of candy off of the displays and Grayson and Evye were both begging for something. To this day I'm still not sure what. Unbeknownst to me Garrison and Grant were within arms' reach of the glass bottled Frapuchinos and, having been overcome by boredom as we waited, were man-handling them. Brad's good mood was fading along with the children's. I finally steered the stroller and screaming Garrett of of the line, that was now nearing the register, and out into the open away from the millions of tempting sugar filled choices. With hundreds of thousands of passerbys giving some outrageous go to hell looks I was now becoming quite irritated. I tried to smile kindly and just say he was in need of a warm bed. By the 104th evil, wicked look I'd about had it. After having stated smilingly to one old hag that he just needed a bed she said wickedly and full of contempt "Well........he needs something." Having never been known by my quick thinking abilities or wit I was at a loss of a good retort. So, in a soft quiet way I just said way too kindly "Merry Christmas to you too." There was no doubt he got the attention of the entire front of the store that happened to be checking out at that inopportune time in his life. People glared and stared and huffed and puffed and it just made my determination to stick it out right there with them even greater. One sweet looking, softly wrinkled with many love lines type of granny finally came by and said kindly "Oh, honey, he's just worn plum out. I betcha he'll be out as soon as you clear the parking lot." I wholeheartedly agreed with a kind smile of my own and on that note decided we'd head out and wait for Brad at the Suburban. I stuck him in and let him scream it out while the children played in the bed of Brad's truck that was parked next to us. The feeling that accompanied shutting the Suburban door on his screams was quite the relief. My ears were ringing by that point and no amount of Chips Ahoy was going to pacify him in the cart or Suburban. Grayson and Evye had become painfully whiney and asking for every form of liquid they could think of. They declared dehydration by the time we arrived home.

The Foot Obsession.....and it's soooooo cute!

When Brad finally made it out to the truck we all piled in and he headed for the feed store with the girls and Garrison and Grant while I headed to the gas station for a coke with Grayson, Gavin and the still screaming Garrett. He settled down while I was in there only to start up again over the fact he had been jipped out of a drink. With nothing left to do to quiet him and quite at my own wit's end we were driving down the freeway and I just started screaming with him. Grayson looked up quite shocked and then went into fits of laughter. He chimed in with me and, admittedly, it was a stress reliever and felt quite good. After only a few minutes of counteracting Garrett's raucous screams he began to finally hush. I think he grew tried of hearing me scream. Ummmmmmm......yes. That's how I feel about your screams, son. He would pause for a second or two and then try to start up again. But everytime he started I just jumped right in there with him and eventually he quit altogether. They certainly don't give you that tip in any parenting books to help quiet your overly tired child.........but, hey.....it worked.

Her Baby

So, the day after certainly did not quite hold the magic that Christmas did but it was fun. Well, I suppose fun is relative, as all of life is. It's always fun to get the compliments, hear the world ooh and ahh over your children and to be told you don't look like you could possibly have more than 1 or 2. I actually was guessed for being 22 with my 1st baby on Brad's and my most recent date night. I laughed and told the guessing group of girls the truth.

Doing sister things. Evye's Tide-ing some dirty spot out of Aubrey's uniform. She was supposed to be folding clothes so just look past the clean clothes baskets laying around!

So it was that we brought a very tired group of kids home and put them all to bed. We had all of Thurs free to stay home. Brad cleaned up the trailer in preparation for our San Antonio trip next weekend and then Friday we were off to spend the day with Nanny and Pawpaw once again. Since the doors of communication are open and communication is flowing we cannot stay away now and they are longing to see the children as much as they can. So with eager hearts we all anticipated Friday's trip.

Cooing and talking to everybody