There are many cons to Dave being out of town. We miss him dearly, and I don't ever get enough sleep because I stay up all night doing various projects. But there are also, hidden in the mix of missing him, a few pros. I must admit I get a lot done around the house...serious things happening this week. We also do a few more spontaneous things that he'd surely talk me out of if he were here. Some of them work out great like me taking all five kids out to dinner on the spur of the moment by myself and it actually being FUN or one night Max, Elle and I just felt like swimming after we tucked the little girls in bed so we swam 100 laps in our pool in the dark...seriously one fun night (we decided that was the first of our new "Tuesday Night Swim Club" meetings until it gets too cold). But other ideas turn out to be a little crazy and I realize I need Dave around to talk me out of a few things once in a while.
Tonight was one of those nights. As soon as practically the entire neighborhood left our pool after quite a big pool day, I grabbed the kids, told them to put on any crazy kind of outfit they could find, and packed them up in the car to go check out a photo shoot place I'd found the other day. I had these grand visions of the amazing shots I'd get...all my sweet children joined together holding hands in perfect poses with a fabulous sunset behind them. I'd capture the love they have for each other and their sweet personalities perfectly. I decided to myself that this would be the time I'd get the shot I've been dying for that I could enlarge to hang in our bedroom. The light started fading faster than I had expected, so I scrambled to get the kids' chlorine-riddled soaking wet hair brushed semi-decently as my visions of grandeur started to fade and the kids all started whining that they didn't want to go. I insisted they were going to love it once we got there and shoved them in the car. This "photo spot" is on a busy intersection but it looked oh so inviting for a great photo shoot and I really want to test out some new places before the busy season starts. So we park the car, get everyone out, play "frogger"crossing the busy street with five kids, maneuver around two big irrigation streams to get to a good spot, everyone's whining and complaining, Max and Elle are fighting over who has to hold Lucy, the light is fading fast and I'm getting more and more irritated that no one is following my directions. I start clicking away, unknowingly standing on a red ant hill resulting in that creepy crawly feeling that bugs are crawling all over you for a half hour after. Then Max gets bored while I'm taking pictures of the girls and throws this huge dirt clod in the air which promptly hits me smack in the neck. Keep in mind that all this time hundreds of cars are passing by in every direction undoubtedly wondering what in the world this crazy lady is doing there on the busy street corner with five small, annoyed kids. As the sky gets darker and darker I give in to the wailing and we head back to the car, not without Claire almost getting hit. I thought this lady in the car was going to start giving me a lecture about not trying to cross busy streets while herding kids and holding a baby, a big camera bag and a prop stool in the dark...and she may have been planning on it until we looked at each other and realized we totally know each other.
So, we chocked that one up to needing Dad around to keep us a little grounded, and came home and had some big bowls of ice cream to get us all cheered back up again. After I tucked the kids in bed I uploaded the pictures...and some of them made the horror of the mayhem fade a little. Keep in mind that the kids picked out their own outfits and that their hair was still straggly and damp from the pool...that'll explain a few things...
